Thinking about "A Very British Civil War"

After reading several blogs and battle reports about the gaming genre known as "A Very British Civil War" (VBCW), I thought that I would look further into this, to me, fairly new bit of imagi-nationing.

My first step was to get a copy of Paul Eaglestone's A World Aflame: Interwar Wargame Rules, 1918-39 published by Osprey.  My dealer friend (and Army comrade) Rudy Nelson of Time Portal Hobbies was finally able to procure a copy for me.  I finished reading through it today and have been intrigued by the possibilities of not only using this for VBCW, but also for our Back-of-Beyond China armies.  Usually we use Larry Brom's The Sword to Adventure, available from Sergeants3.  But AWA will give us a more "granular" game than TSTA.

The next step was to see what sort of troops I could throw together from what I have on-hand.  And actually I could get a nice little force, from East Bergholt, Suffolk [edit - location changed].

The Squire of East Bergholt and his cronies (and cronyettes) of the East Bergholt Hunt Club.  The Squire has done his share of hunting in Africa and has surrounded himself with like-minded hunters and huntresses.

The East Bergholt Civic Guard is composed of some of the Baron's retainers and respected citizens of East Bergholt.  They have great loyalty to the Squire and to their small village.

And finally, the East Bergholt constabulary, led by Detective Inspector Foyle.

That's all for now.  We'll see how things go.

Snow! In Mississippi ?!?

Yes,  we had snow in Mississippi this morning!  After receiving warnings from the National Weather Service last night, we awoke to 2-3" of snow this morning.  While most of the roads were clear, the bridges and overpasses, especially on the Interstate highways, soon iced over.  Snow is such a rarity here in the deep South that our road crews aren't as well equipped as those further north.  The state and city road crews did what they could, but still schools were closed or their openings were delayed.  Even state offices were delayed in opening (which is why I'm posting this so early and from home!).

The front of my house after the snow had stopped coming down

One of my across the street neighbors with the last of the snow coming down

My car, covered by 2-3" of snow

Off my back porch

The woods behind my house

But this will almost all be gone by this evening.  That is one of the good things about a deep South snow - it doesn't last long!

First Painting of 2013

My first painting of the new year continued two themes -- American Revolution and clearing off the painting desk.

So I began with completing the painting of four Ral Partha pack mules/donkeys that I acquired sometime last year or the year before.  They sat, partially painted, on an upper shelf on my painting desk for months.

Four Ral Partha pack mules with their muleteers

My interpretation of William Washington's Regiment of Continental Dragoons uses Miniature Figurines figures.  I have had six troopers painted and mounted for several years.  Finally I obtained three command figures and three more troopers so I could upgrade the regiment to six 2-figure stands.

William Washington's Regiment of Continental Dragoons

The flag is purely speculative.  One of the command figures was a mounted standard bearer, so I had to come up with a flag.  I do not know if any of the Continental dragoons carried flags, but this regiment in my Continental army does.