Paint for Victory - Part 1

In a thread on the Very British Civil War Forum, "Taking a Swing at Lead Mountain," the original poster suggested a communal effort to make a concerted effort to get some of our laggard VBCW projects completed.  I posted that I had a number of figures just undercoated that needed to be completed before my game on May 17.  So it looks like we have a target!

Here is the first picture of the progress:

Last night I painted the shoes and puttees or riding boots on 22 infantry, 2 mounted officers, 3 foot officers, and 2 3-man heavy machine gun teams.  They'll get their pants tonight.

These are Battle Honours figures from Old Glory 15s/19th Century Miniatures ( link ) here in the US.  Some of the figures sculpting is a little crude but they look very nice when painted, plus the price and shipping was very reasonable.  They are glued to roofing nails that have large flat heads and held in a block of Styrofoam.  The nails give me a good purchase and I can angle them just about anyway I need to paint the various bits.

More later!

 

 

 

 

 



Additions to Very British Civil War Forces

I've added some more troops to upgrade my Revolutionary Naval force and my British Union of Fascist force.

The Revolutionary Naval company has augmented its headquarters element with three additional figures - a Leftenant resplendent in his whites (but with a red armband to show his "true" colors) and two seamen (front left and right).  The senior petty officer (back left) who was in command as been relegated to 2ic while the petty officer (right rear) now carries a banner suitably engrossed "Maritime Defence Force."  The figures are a mix of Pulp Figures (leftenant, from pack PBT 16) and Brigade Games (packs BG-WIAG 15, 16, and 17).  The banner is courtesy of Leics-Gamer from the VBCW Forum [link].  I also added two more riflemen to each of the rifle sections in the company.

I've also replaced my old "true 25mm" British colonial naval gunners with bigger 28mm 20th Century British naval figures from Pulp Figures (pack PBT 16).

Although they are not really in "gunner" poses, they'll do until I can find something better.  The gun is one that I have had for a very long time (as you can see from the "yellowing" of the white enamel paint).

The Revolutionary Naval company is now up to strength of 35 figures (5 in HQ and 10 in each rifle section) plus a 4-man gun team.

The British Union of Fascist (BUF) local forces from east Essex (Colchester area) have added an expanded headquarters element and a third rifle section.

Now called  the Bolton Rifles (banner and name courtesy of Leics-Gamer again), the expanded headquarters element has a captain (center), leftenant (far left), sergeant (right center), banner bearer (left center, obviously), and a rifle grenadier (far right).  These figures and the ones in the Third Section (below) are from Pulp Figures (packs PGS 15 and 16).

The Third Rifle Section has a sergeant (center with raised hand), eight riflemen, and one rifle grenadier (kneeling figure next to sergeant).

This completes the BUF Bolton Rifles to a company of 35 figures (5 in HQ and 10 in each rifle section) plus a 3-man heavy machine-gun team.

Now I've almost completed all the units that I have on-hand.  I still have to complete painting a new figure for the Squire of East Bergholt (a special Pulp Figures model), a section of mercenaries who will, initially, fight on the Anglican/Albertian side, and two Daimler armored cars for the Royalist armored force.

I've also identified some possible cavalry and infantry additions to the Royalist/BUF forces and cavalry additions to the Anglican/Albertian forces.  But it will be a while before they are ready for combat.

 

BUF Special Assault Section

Ever since before Christmas I have been in in painting doldrums.  But I took this week off from work and have used part of the time to finish a 10-man section of British Union of Fascists Special Assault Service troops for my Very British Civil War forces.  The figures are Pulp Figures German troops in coalscuttle helmets, PGS-08 and -10.  http://pulpfigures.com/products/category/6

The leftenant in charge of the Special Assault Section is a hardened veteran of the Great War and the Freikorps fighting in the early 1920s.  He is armed with a Bergnman MP 18 with a straight magazine.

The entire assault section - one leftenant (above), two sergeants (each armed with a Bergman MP 18 with TM 08 "snail" magazine), five riflemen, one rifle-grenadier (kneeling), and one grenadier.

Those of you who are fans of David Weber's Honorverse science fiction books will recognize the uniform colors as belonging to the State Security forces of the People's Republic of Haven.

This unit will eventually have its own "armored" vehicle as soon as I can convert a Crossley with added "armored" sides, etc.  These troops are all veterans and will be used by the Colchester Royalist/BUF garrison to crack any "hard nuts" they encounter.

Snow Day in Central Mississippi

After warnings yesterday about the approaching winter storm, we awoke this morning to gently falling snow which had been proceeded by some freezing rain.  Although the Jackson area only got about 1" of the white stuff, it was enough to just about paralyze this deep south burg.  Bridges iced over and all the local schools closed.  It was worse south of here, with southern Mississippi getting up to3" of freezing rain, sleet, and snow.  They even got snow and ice down on the Mississippi Gulf Coast which is very rare.

 

Since I didn't get a call from my box or hear a TV announcement about the state government offices being closed, I drove into work, taking about twice as long to get there as usual.  Then about an hour after I arrived we were told to go home since the governor closed all state offices except for mission critical personnel (of which I'm not!!).  The drive home was even slipperier than the drive into work.  And this evening we heard that the state offices won't open until noon tomorrow (Wednesday) so I get to sleep late for a change.

 

Here is a picture of Col Campbell's quarters on this infrequent snow day in central Mississippi, taken about 3:00 pm when I ventured out to retrieve the mail..

 

 



Houses from Michaels

Last Monday I was out in northeastern Jackson metropolitan area and stopped by the Michaels store.  While there I found a clearance area containing a number of different size and shape paper mache boxes.  There were four in the shape of two story houses which I bought for 99 cents each.  Even if I botch the "artwork" to decorate them as houses, they were well worth the expenditure.

A Royalist officer and a BUF commander pose in front of a newly acquired house.   As you can see from the ruler, it is about 6" tall to the ridge of te roof and 7" to the top of the chimney.  The roof comes off so that things can be placed inside, which also means we can put troops inside.  I'll decorate these with  doors, windows, and other trim.

A view with the roof removed, showing the front dormer and the side chimney in better detail.

Two of the houses side by side, each being about 5-1/2" wide and about 4-1/2" deep.  I think they will look good both as stand alone buildings and as row houses.

More later as Campbell's Construction Company works its "magic" on these.



Liberty Bell Legion Additions

In my last post, I described a unit I have created for my Very British Civil War gaming - the Liberty Bell Legion, raised in the United States to oppose the Fascists surrounding the British throne.  The company headquarters and the 2nd Rifle Section have finally been outfitted and have joined the anti-Royalist forces in southwestern Suffolk.

 

Company Headquarters section - (from left) first sergeant, company commander, standard bearer, runner, and company executive

 

 

Better view of the Legion banner

 

 

2nd Rifle Section - lieutenant and eight riflemen

 

The Legion has begun field training with the Anglican forces around Bury St. Edmonds.  A third rifle section is still being outfitted. All the Legion units will join the anticipated actions against the Royalist and BUF forces in eastern Essex in the spring.

 

Some Yuletide Painting

My painting has been going slow these last several months.  I just finished a new unit for my Very British Civil War forces and am working on a new unit for my French and Indian Wars forces.

Very British Civil War

First Section of a company of the Liberty Bell Legion

 The Liberty Bell Legion was formed in the mid 1930s as an adjunct to the more progressive wing of the American Democratic Party.  Initially they were used to raise funds to ensure the election of progressive candidates to the US Congress and to state legislatures.  But when the constitutional crisis broke in Great Britain and the Fascists began to influence the British government, many members of the Liberty Bell Legion traveled to the British Isles to offer their services to oppose the Fascists in the British government.  Organized into independent companies, these volunteers quickly went to various places where more socialist Anglican forces were in control.  One place was the Anglican League command at Bury St. Edmonds, where the 1st Section of the 3rd Liberty Company soon arrived.  The rest of the company are still getting outfitted (painted) and will join them before too many days are past.  They will soon see action as the Spring campaign commences.

These figures are from Falcon (US) Miniatures' Boxer Rebellion line and are US Marine officers and enlisted.  I've had these figures for a number of years.  The impetus for this unit was a flag that Leics_Gamer posted on the Very British Civil War forum of the Liberty Volunteers from New York state.  That was quickly morphed into the Liberty Bell Legion and, as they say, the rest is history (or alternate history, rather).

Banner of the Liberty Bell Legion to be carried by every independent company

I only had enough figures to form 9-man sections instead of the 10 I wanted, so if any American readers of this post have some these Falcon Miniatures Boxer Rebellion American Marines in the advancing pose, please get in touch with me.

http://colcampbellsbazaar.blogspot.com/2013/12/looking-for-few-good-men.html  Thanks.

French and Indian War

The other figures that I am painting are some of Der Alte Fritz's incomparable Fife and Drum American Revolution militia.  My war gaming buddy Lord Sterling picked these up for me at Historicon back in July.  I finally began painting them.  Although I'm not far along, they are looking rather good.  I'll be using them for a colonial American unit fighting against the dastardly French deep in the backwoods of America.

Part of the militia unit in progress

I hope all my readers have a very nice Christmas holyday and a happy new year.