Nostalgia Pt. I

Exploring My Roots - Or, Hazy Memories Refocused

Cartoon from Miniature Wargames #20, Jan. 1985.

At one of the shows I attended in the last year or two, possibly/probably Salute 2013, I discovered a cache of old wargaming magazines, including a tranche of Miniature Wargames dating back to the time when I began buying that magazine. This was the first wargaming magazine I ever saw (The only other similar mag I'd seen prior to this was Military Modelling, but I'll go into that another time.), let alone bought. In a fit of nostalgia, something that I see from my time online and at shows appears to be fairly commonplace amongst us, I bought all the issues that I believed I may have formerly owned.

MW#20, Jan. '85: the first wargaming magazine I ever bought. The cover show the French attacking the Redoubt at Borodino. Did this, my first wargames mag, sow the seeds of my current 1812 obsession?

Reproduced Above is cover of the earliest issue I have in my current collection, which was also, I believe, the very first issue of the magazine that I ever bought, way 'back in the day'. It's issue #20, from January 1983, the month in which I turned thirteen. My oh my, how long ago and far away that now seems! Actually it was 29 years ago, and a little shy of nine miles away, the latter according to the AA's online route planner.

Reproduced below is an advert for Minifigs, from the same issue, and of a kind I saw regularly and grew to be enchanted by. I liked ads that featured decent pictures of the figures, as I felt better informed thereby about any potential purchases. I still prefer to order figures knowing what I'm getting. As is explored by others in an interesting thread on TMP (In any scale, what's the worst Napoleonic figure?), I too was stung once or twice, in my callow youth, by buying sight unseen. Once I started buying this mag regularly (-ish), Minifigs were to ultimately become the main source of my Napoleonic figure collecting.

A Minifigs ad from the same issue. I love their title font, with the figures in the I's.

Miniature Wargames often featured figures by or from the collections of guys like Peter Gilder and Doug Mason, both as cover art and feature illustrations. I usually only bought copies of the mag when Napoleonic scenarios were featured on the cover. Anyway, in the last few days I've been consumed by an obsessive passion for the history of the hobby, and also the history of my relationship to that. I was amazed and intrigued, for example, to find out that Salute is the same age as me, both having 'started' in 1972.

I was even more amazed, dumbfounded even (well, almost!), when, turning the pages of this first copy of my first ever wargaming periodical poichase, I came across the following feature:

Is there where I got the title of my blog?

The article, by Mike Blackledge*, is excellent, addressing all the themes I intend to address here (in the fulness of time) very succinctly.

... had this lain dormant in my mind, seeding the idea that ultimately gave me the title of this blog? I have no idea, if I'm honest. But I do like the almost evolutionary-cum-genealogical feeling that finding and reading this gives me. I feel as if, in digging deep into the past of the hobby, I'm rediscovering myself. It's a great feeling!

* Can anyone tell me anything about Mike Blackledge? Searching for him online has proven fruitless, in terms of finding anyone of that name with clear wargaming links.

Shiny 'Toy' Soldiers

Part of Peter Gilder's amazing Napoleonic collection: Boney himself avec lancer escort.

One of the many things in these magazines that I always loved, but in this instance was also perplexed by, was the gloss finish on Gilder's Napoleonic figures. I note now (not sure if I'd spotted this back then) that his WWII stuff didn't seem to have undergone the same treatment. Ruminating on these themes over the past few days lead me to discover some delightful blogs, such as DC's superb 'unfashionably shiny', which in turn lead to me finding Doug Mason's blog.

A parallel line of inquiry was developing, regarding the decline of the wargamer's high street shopping options. In my home town of Cambridge there have been, over the years, several shops selling 'toy soldiers'. The ones that chiefly figured, if you'll pardon the pun, in my life as a youth were, a model shop whose name I forget, on King Street, where I could buy Airfix 20mm plastics (and Tamiya 1/35th, etc.), Games & Puzzles, on Green Street, which sold Citadel fantasy stuff, and The Toy Soldier, the most short-lived of them all, on Bridge Street, where I could even get, for one blissful if short period, packs of Minifigs Napoleonics.

The only shop of this ilk that remains anywhere near me, at least as far as I know, is the wonderfully old-fashioned Ely Cycle Centre, which sells all sorts of stuff, from bicycles, to Lego, dolls, model kits and yes, even wargaming figures. When I went looking for pictures of the shop online, to illustrate this post, I found a fellow calling himself Fraxinus, and one of his blogs has an excellent little photo-essay tribute to the shop. So, having borrowed one of his pics to show you the shop-front, I'd suggest you click the foregoing link if your interest is piqued.

In Blackledge's brief but fascinating article, he discusses how things stood back then, enthusing about the massive range of options the gamer had. Right now we have even more to choose from, in every sense, from figure-scales to periods. All of this was swimming around my brain at the same time as the parallel line about disappearing shops of yesteryear. And in this connection I discovered that the London shop Tradition, which only closed very recently, had an affiliated factory in Royston, just down the road from me.

Did I ever actually visit this shop?

All of this makes me somewhat rueful about my long absence from the hobby, as I'd dearly have loved to have visited the London branch of Tradition before it closed. I might have done so: I have dim memories of visiting a shop selling toy soldiers (one of the strongest aspects of my memory is of a dark reddish coloured shop-front: but I remember walking between the museum and the shop, and I don't recall the river intervening... hmmm!?) when I once visited the Imperial War Museum.

Also, as a freelancer with my proverbial finger in several pies, I'd love to have spent some of my time earning money painting figures for the Royston-based production wing. I did actually do some paid figure painting in my teens, for a company that was based in Wisbech. Who would that have been I wonder? If only my memory was less foggy!

All this nostalgic exploration eventually lead me back even further, to stuff that predates my own involvement in the hobby. And I find now myself, somewhat to my own surprise, quite drawn to some of those older figure ranges - I spent quite a bit of time exploring Peter Laing figures, a development initially sparked by the above-linked thread on TMP, where they get a thorough drubbing - like early Hinchcliffe, Minifigs, and Hinton Hunt. When I found the following picture of Marcus Hinton outside his shop I felt as if I was entering some kind of sublime Mr Ben fantasy wargaming world!

I Intend to explore this 'olde-worlde' of wargaming by buying some copies of the Tradition magazine, which is being reprinted (quite probably via print-on-demand), and perhaps even getting a Hinton Hunt collection started. The above picture comes from a brilliant blog on things Hinton-Huntonian: Hinton Hunt Vintage Wargames Figures. For all that we've lost the high street shops themselves, it is wonderful that modern technology is making finding out about all this stuff and connecting with other enthusiasts that bit easier. 

28mm Perry Salute 'Boney Crossing Alps' Figure

Jacques-Louis David's 'Napoleon Crossing The Alps'

Jacques-Louis David's 'Napoleon Crossing The Alps' is one of the most iconic paintings from that colourful era that bears the name of the man also known as 'Le petit Caporal' and 'The Corsican Ogre'.

This painting features on many books about the Napoleonic era, unsurprisingly (and is currently the screen-saver on my various mobile devices). But the image hasn't just become popular over time: in Napoleon's and David's own time it was also immensely popular. So much so that David ultimately painted five versions of it.

When I returned to the hobby, I was on a mission to find out if someone had sculpted this fantastic image as a miniature. I felt sure someone must have. And in the end, after buying a few other Napoleons, such as the Warmodelling 'Borodino' 15mm figure pack (Napoleon seated on a chair with one foot up on a drum, accompanied by a telescope-wielding ADC), I learned that yes, there was such a figure.

Made for Salute (I don't know which year), and sculpted by one of the Perry twins, it was also sold as a limited edition by Foundry, raising money, if I recall aright, for a charity in aid of an ailing friend in the industry. Every show I went to I'd buttonhole and badger anyone I thought looked like they might know about the figure, and ask how I could get one (I don't do eBay, so that was out).

And finally, at last years Salute I got lucky. I can't recall who it was - if the guy who posted the figure to me reads this, please remind me who you are, so I can thank you in public! - but someone I mentioned it to said they had a spare of this figure, and would post it to me for a modest amount (and it was modest, probably very little over the postage cost).

Having had the figure for some time now, and having nearly gone mad and blind painting a bunch of 6mm stuff, I figured a break from the micro-world would be good. I spent a while perusing the various David paintings, cogitating on which one to work from, and eventually plumped for this one:

...known as the Belvedere version, because I like the colours and the contrast in this reproduction best.

I did consider amalgamating aspects of several, and in the end I probably will have done so, to some limited degree. My choice was also governed in part by liking the white/grey horses better than the piebald or the brown.

Alan Perry's Napoleon Crossing the Alps

I contacted the Perry's via their website, to find out a bit more about the figure: Who'd sculpted it? When and who for? Is it still in production? Alan very kindly replied. Here is the relevant part:

'I made it many moons ago, in the early-mid 90's I think. It was for charity, connected to someone who worked at Foundry. If anyone has the mould it'll be Foundry.'

Having applied a black undercoat not long after receiving the figure, I finally started painting it properly last Saturday, blocking in some base colours. This whole paint job, like all my figure-painting at present, is done entirely using Humbrol enamels.

Then, on Sunday, I worked a bit on the horse. Both of these occasions were very time-limited.

And only today did I finally get a good few hours to work at it, in a leisurely yet intense way.

The above pair of pics are lit by a lamp in what I call my overhead 'midday' lighting position. The remainder below are lit with the lamp in what I term a 'late-afternoon/evening' position!

Whatever I or anyobdy else thinks of my painting skills here, I have to doff my bicorne to Alan Perry. I think it's an amazing little figure, full of the vitality that animates the painting.

It's interesting to note the differences between the sculpt and the painting. Some are very minor, such as how the sword sits relative the overall pose, whilst others are more major, like the less reared-up pose of the horse, and the fact Boney has both gloves on, whereas in all the David paintings his upraised hand is sans gant.

At present I'm building armies for Russia 1812 in 6mm and 12mm, but I like the idea of having 28mm figs for key commanders. This figure would be the first such commander, and they don't come more key than Boney himself! I have a fabulous Murat from Gringo 40s, waiting in the wings. 

My rendering of this beautiful Alan Perry miniature is still unfinished, at this moment in time - the gloves, sash and sword all need doing (as well as sundry other little details, plus a bit of general tidying up) - but I'm already quite pleased with it. That's reasonably unusual for me, so I'm doubly happy/chuffed!!

Stirrup of Figs

As a footnote: the following pics show how one of the stirrups was incomplete on my casting. I used some superfine white Milliput to make a repair, before undercoating it. This is my first successful conversion (attempts to add plumes to some AB 15mm Polish lancers were abortive!) since resuming the hobby, and I think it's come out okay.

Right foot with stirrup.

Left foot: note missing stirrup!

My Milliput repair: does it look a bit clumsy?

Well... I reckon it looks fine once undercoated.

UPDATE: 17/7/2014 - Nearly finished the painting!

I managed to squeeze in a little more work on this figure last night. The three pics below show Boney as he stands now, complete except for his gloves, and a little bit of tidying up and some washes to bring out some detail here and there. 

I have to say that I feel this is my best paint job to date. I am actually pleased! A lot of the credit has to go to Alan Perry, for sculpting such a beautiful and iconic figurine.

I've more or less followed the Belvedere iteration of David's work, only diverging from his colour scheme in that the horses 'cummerbund' (or whatever it's called: the band under the saddle, going around its belly) is brown in mine, and Napoleon's coat is a lot lighter/bluer. I like the 'tricolor' effect this gives: blue coat, red cape, white sash (and horse... -ish!).

There's a show dedicated to miniature figurines coming up fairly local to me, this coming Saturday, 19th July: Figureworld Model Show, in Oundle, nr. Peterborough. I intend to visit and see what I can do by way of a nice base for Boney.

Painting Progress: Traffic trauma, The Duellists, & Adler 6mm French ADCs

'Ooh... me nuts have fallen off!' Cue 'Carry On' style laughter...

The Right Irreverent Sidney James.

Actually the scenario was far from being funny: as I drove to work yesterday one of my wheels nearly came off the car! A weird rhythmic rattling noise had started a day or two earlier, but was quiet enough and regular enough I though it might just be a stone in the tread of a tyre (something similar happened a short while back, and it turned out to be caused by a metal bolt getting embedded in a tyre).

But this time the noise suddenly started to rather rapidly get much louder within a single short journey: it was warm and sunny, I had the driver's side window half-open, and in addition to the rhythmic clatter, a noise like a flock of angry seagulls was steadily growing. At first I thought it was some kind of avian activity, but as it continued for several miles, growing steadily louder, with hardly a bird in sight -and also altering noticeably whenever I passed any sound-reflecting object like a building - it dawned on me that it was most likely to be the car.

By the time I realised I was the source of this panoply of worrying noises the steering wheel had also started vibrating, gently at first, but quite rapidly turning into a pronounced juddering. The rapid deterioration in drive quality and safety meant I felt I really had to stop and investigate. Upon doing so I discovered that the driver's side front wheel was just about ready to fall off!! Two wheel-nuts - including the locking-nut - were missing, and on one of these the bolt it should attach to was also gorn... shorn right orff!

So I had to call the AA out. As I type this the car remains at the garage, leaving me stranded at home. All of which is not very welcome, from many perspectives. But there has been one upside: instead of spending my day teaching kids how to play drums I got to spend it painting more of the lead pile. What I'll be doing with the rest of the day depends upon the garage. I'm just glad I wasn't bombing along the M11, as I would normally have been doing later today. 

Anyway, enough of potential near-death events. Let's get on to something far more serious and important: tiny little soldiers!

I love these little fellows: they -  Adler 6mm Napoleonic French ADCs - came as a bag of 10 figures, six in the late-style shako (not ideal for my 1812 russian scenarios) and four in busbies. During painting I dropped the stick they're all glued to, and one of the plumes snapped off of a gent sporting a busby (I felt very lucky not to have trashed the whole bunch more comprehensively!). Can you guess which one?

I started these Aide-de-Camps on Tuesday, and photographed them Wednesday. Like all of my painted 6mm figs, they're not 100% finished, or based. One thing I'm holding off on at present is a final wash, to bring out any fine detail. I've dabbled with white-spirit thinned enamels (and even used them a bit on these in places), plus I have a tin of Army Painter 'Quickshade', which I've tried on a few larger scale figures. But I'm not entirely happy with either, results wise. Any suggestions?

The above pics show these little dandies from their right hand side, whilst the following are shot from their left.

At some point fairly soon I guess I'll also have to decide how to base the ever-growing ranks of painted troops... Hmm!?

I like to photograph my figures under different lighting conditions: I usually start with the light directly above them, a kind of electric midday, if you will; then I like to take some more pics lit from a lower angle, with a more late-afternoon/evening feel!

As usual I used all my available books as uniform ref. Didn't bother with the net this time. 

The Funckens were particularly useful during these painting sessions, as they have several pages showing multiple mounted ADCs. Very helpful! Rousselot's ADCs are, by comparison, a rather dull lot. I didn't stick rigidly to copying any of them, as such, but just used the reference material as a guide.

Practically all material that deals in any depth with the topic of Napoleonic uniform-ology is agreed that things could be quite confusing, what with constant changes to regulations, the whims and foibles of those paying for and providing the uniforms (which would I expect be especially true of such dashing young blades as these ADCs), and then the rigours of life on campaign.

Essentially these are all dressed as hussars, although their rank and privileges allowed them to jazz up the basics a fair deal. I do love the uniforms of the French hussars, they are the epitome of Napoleonic grandeur and swagger. Who could resist? 

If you find this kind of get-up seduces your eye, you should check out Ridley Scott's feature film debut, The Duellists, in which Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine portray the historical characters Lieutenant Gabriel Feraud (of the French 7th Hussars) and Lieutenant Armand d'Hubert (ADC to Brigadier-General Treillard), who did actually become locked into a protracted period of duelling, as depicted in the film. 

The DVD cover of the version I have.

The film is kind of odd in some ways, and I may go into that more at some other time. One of the oddities is the contrast between the effort and expense lavished on the very convincing uniforms and the fact that Carradine and Keitel make no effort to modulate their strong American accents! When you get plummy English Frenchmen talking to sassy Noo Yoik or laid back Californy Frenchmen, it does feel a trifle weird.

'En garde!'

A rare pause in the action wherein Keitel is not actually attempting to kill Carradine.

These two publicity shot show the uniforms nicely, but the film itself is very, very beautifully shot, and much more atmospheric than these images suggest. These photos, which undoubtedly have a charm of their own, actually look rather 'technicolour', or perhaps even hand-tinted!?)