Merry Christmas from Col Campbell's Barracks

I hope that the readers of my little blog have a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year! 

Mrs. "Col Campbell" (on right in blue shirt) and other church ladies stuff hand-made and decorated stockings for the kids who have to be hospitalized on Christmas Day.  This is an annual tradition at our church.



And now a selection of Christmas trees for your enjoyment.

 

The "Campbell" Family tree - this year with lights for our new grand-daughter's first Christmas.

The Chrismon tree of the "Cammpbell" family church.  The decorations are all hand-made by church members over the years and depict the many signs associated with Christ's birth.

The tree at the Colonel's place of work.  This is a year-round tree whose decorations change with the season.  And yes, it is placed in a green metal trash can!

Although not a tree, this is in honor of the 50th anniversary this year of the animated "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" production.  It belongs to one of my co-workers who really enjoys the program.


The top floor contains my contribution on the left - a "Klingon"-type troll who has joined in the festivities!

 



Latest Painting Results

Since I completed my figures for last month's Colonial Barracks convention I haven't been very keen to do any painting.  But lately I have come out of the doldrums somewhat and completed some figures for my Very British Civil War forces.

This 3" mortar team will join the Royalists as a heavy support weapon for the 2nd Battalion, Essex Regiment.   They seem to need it since the Anglicans and Socialists have that truck mounted naval gun.  They can also be used in WW2 games, which I did today in a mash-up between the British and some Jerry soldiers which resulted in a draw.

 







These two lads, the sniper on right and his spotter on left, provide another "special" weapon for the Royalists.  maybe now they can keep the crew of that darned naval gun ducking for cover!  You've seen these lads before in an earlier post.  This just shows them after they've had some shading added and had the bases flocked.

 

 

These two chaps are "extra" figures from two different command sets I've acquired recently.  The one on the right holds a map book while the other has just doffed his helmet after a long, hot trek to the front lines.  I'm not sure what they'll be used as but their addition will be welcome to the Royalist forces.

 

That's all for now.  More Later.



Happy Thanksgiving to All!!

Colonel Campbell's Barracks wishes a Happy Thanksgiving to all its readers, both here in the USA and throughout the world. 

And I personally am thankful for a happy and healthy granddaughter, now 5 months old.

Serenity - "Size matters not!"

 

And she enjoyed her first Thanksgiving meal - dressing, mushed up field peas, cranberry sauce with applesauce, and a bit of pumpkin pie.  Yum, yum!

 

 

Serenity and Mommy (daughter of mine #2)



 

Jim

 

 



Sunrise at Col Campbell's Barracks

When I went out to get my morning paper this Saturday, the rising sun was really lighting up the underside of the clouds to the east.

Unfortunately my picture doesn't do real justice to the vibrancy of the cloud colors.  It almost looked like the clouds were on fire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Fife and Drum Figures

Back last year I purchased a group of American militia figures from Jim Purky's Fife and Drum line.  After many moths of them sitting around primed and then partially painted, I finally had the impetus I needed to get them finished - a last minute French and Indian War game at the Colonial Barracks convention on Nov 7-9.  [Yeah, I know, this post is late.]  But without further ado, here they are:

[Click on picture for a larger image.]

These figures are very well sculpted by one of the best in the business- Richard Ansell.  They are well proportioned with weapons that are realistic and not "telephone poles."  My painting was done quickly to get them ready for the convention so there is no shading and the bases are completed.  I'll go back and give them a wash to bring out the details and do some terrain effects on the bases.

I still have Jim's drummers and fifer to complete as a vignette for my horse and musket forces.  These are the ones designed as a logo to replicate the "Spirit of '76" picture. 

British Sniper Team

Back in June, I bought a two man British sniper team made by Great Escape Games.  In preparation for a game today, I've been painting on the team, as well as another British soldier.

The sniper team consists of the sniper (middle) and his spotter (left).  The soldier on the right was a part of a purchase from last spring who finally got painted.  Although you really can't tell too well from the picture, the sniper's head covering is in a green and brown camouflage pattern as is the "ghillie" covering of the standing soldier's helmet.

The sniper and his spotter set for action.

Although I'll be using them for Very British Civil War, these are WW2 figures and will be useful in those games as well.  I'm still working on the 3" mortar team from June as well as another individual British soldier from the batch obtained last spring.

 

See this post for pictures of the unpainted figures.   

September Painting



For my game at the Colonial Barracks convention in November, I needed a number of differently armed figures for the troops in the army of the notoriously unstable warlord.  (See http://jacksongamers.blogspot.com/2014/09/send-in-marines-play-test.html for the play test report.)  So I sorted through my mountain of unpainted figures and came up with two units of poorly armed "native" figures to join the ones I was using that were already painted.



The first batch are eleven Foundry Belgian askari in straw hats.  They are counted as being armed with percussion rifled muskets, even though the game is set in the 1930s.  The white lines on the front designate the forward center for facing during the fire sequence of the rules I am using, "The Sword to Adventure" which is a variant of "The Sword and the Flame."

They are joined in one command by nine musket armed tribal warriors, also from Foundry.  Eventually both of these groups will join my Darkest Africa forces.



The second unit is made up of descendants of escaped slaves, called Maroons in the local vernacular because of the reddish-brown color of their skin (This by the way is historically accurate, the maroons being escaped slaves from Jamaican plantations living in the interior hill country.)  These guys are armed with percussion smoothbore muskets but are also decent hand-to-hand fighters.  Their leader is in the red shirt in the center whose name is Daddee John, an ancestor of P'hat Daddee B'wonah, the President for Life of the Republic of Bongolesia (with apologies to Murphy).



This is the other half of the Maroons.  Although they fight for the notoriously unstable warlord, they really don't like him at all and, given the chance, would shot him in the back.  These figures are from Foundry's Pirates range.  They will join my small collection of pirates figures after the convention.

 

While these figures were fun to paint as I could almost let my imagination run away with me on their clothing, the last batch were more of a staid group, being more "armed civilians" for my Very British Civil War forces.

These armed civilians are from the Artizan Design partisan and guerilla lines that Brigade Games carries.  Their clothing also works for 1930s British.  Their leader is in the center and you can tell from his beret and leather jacket that he is a veteran of the Spanish Civil War.  They'll join the other armed civilians I already have.

September was a very productive painting month with 50 figures painted and two buildings made.  I think that I am finally out of my summer painting slump and I hope that the rest of the year will be just as productive.