Walls, etc.

At MilleniumCon in November of 2008, I bought a batch of various types of walls - stone, timbered, and wicker gabions.  The only problem is that I can't recollect if they were made by Ed of Two Hour Wargames or Al of Askari Miniatures.  :^(  I'm hoping that one of them will add a comment to this posting and tell us how we can obtain them.

Added Comment:  As Ed said in his comment to this post, these products are available from Acheson Creations.  Looks like he has a large number of very interesting terrain pieces and various forts and buildings.

The first piece is a 2.5" segment of four wicker gabions.

They are pictured with an Old Glory Eastern Woodland Indian.

The second type is a 3" timbered wall that is constructed with log walls and packed with earth.

A Foundry British light infantryman is firing from behind it.

There are also two types of 2.5" stone walls, one with several upright wooden posts at one end.

 

Here shown with a Conquest Colonial Ranger firing at the enemy.

And the other is just a slightly tumbled down stone wall.

Shown here with a Redoubt Colonial Ranger.

I've already used the wicker gabions in my Assault of Fort Khalaam Victorian colonial game last summer and the gabions and the timbered walls in the 18th Century Action at Eisenmuhlen game from this past fall.

These pieces are cast with some sort of pearl gray plastic or resin that feels very slick.  Even after washing them in warm, soapy water,  I had to spray them with Krylon Fusion paint for plastic before my brush-on primer would stick to the entire surface.  But that was just a small bump in the road to getting them painted and not a reason to avoid them.

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Bland

The last figure completed in December 2009 (and in fact the last in 2009) is Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Bland, commander of the 1st King's Dragoon Guards.  Bland is a Dixon dragoon officer who will (eventually) lead three squadrons of the 1st KDG, although all that I have on-hand now is a single squadron, still unpainted.

Bland is a real person, the nephew and heir of Lieutenant General Humphrey Bland, colonel of the 1st KDG.  Although I don't think Thomas Bland was ever in the 1st KDG, he will be for my imagi-nation purposes.

He is painted as close to the uniform of the 1st KDG that I could get.  the only thing that I wasn't able to paint was the red and blue rolled blanket roll on the rear of the saddle and the blue line in the center of the gold trim on the saddle cloth and holsters.

He will also initially command my Brittanian forces as they battle the Gallians and Imperialists both in Europa and in and around the Capitania General de la Florida in the southeast of the Brittanian colonies in the New World.

Rangers, Frontiersmen, and Iroqouis Warriors

Joining Major Rogers (see yesterday's post) are the rest of his American Colonial Rangers (Set A from Conquest Miniatures).  Like Rogers and all the rest of the Conquest figures I've just painted, these were very easy to paint.

Along with Rogers and the Rangers, his command will also consist of six frontiersmen (Set A from Conquest).  These intrepid adventurers will mesh well with the rangers.

And finally, we have six stout Iroquois warriors (Set B, Conquest) to round out Rogers command. They are all armed with muskets and either a tomahawk, a round headed club, or a spiked wooden combat stick. Eventually I'll add another six Indian warriors so that Roberts command will have 12 whites and 12 Indians.

I'll soon be posting a picture of the interim Britannian commander of this band of diverse figures, which includes the light infantry, rangers, and colonial grenadiers from an earlier post.  I say he is an interim commander because he is a Dixon British dragoon officer.  He will eventually be replaced by a more universal looking command figure, part of a group of Old Glory figures I received for Christmas.

These will be the last 18th Century figures I'll be painting for a while.  Next I will start on some more late 19th Century Victorian Colonial figures - Egyptian infantry and cavalry, British naval brigade, and Arab opponents - for my annual Colonial game at the Gulf South convention, Bayou Wars, in June.

More December Painting

I've had this figure sitting on my painting desk, partially painted, for well over a year.  Even though I would see him every time I sat down, I just couldn't seem to get the urge to finish him.  But over the past month I've painted about 30 American Eastern Woodland Indians and suddenly it seemed to be the right time, even though "Chief Joe" is for my Wild West gaming.

Chief Joe was one of the free figures provided to Old Glory Army members during the 2007-2008 period, I believe, as part of the line of Western figures.  According to the write up provided with him, Chief Joe has seen a whole batch of American history, from President Lincoln's assassination through Bill Hickok's murder and the raid on Northfield, Minnesota, to the "Shoot Out at the OK Corral" in Tombstone.

Now Chief Joe will grace the streets of our mostly nameless Western towns in our Wild West games here in Jackson, Mississippi. 




This figure was actually painted back in June prior to the Bayou Wars convention in New Orleans.  But since I had him out as a guide while I painted the rest of his rangers, I thought that I would take this "more formal" picture.

His other eleven compatriots, all from Conquest Miniatures, are not quite complete.  Their picture will grace this blog before the end of the year.





This is the first post I've done using the new editor.  Although it will take me some time to get used to all the "gimmicks" and can say that I like it so far.

Trains on Christmas Day

For as long as I've been working at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, there has been a model railroad set up at Christmas. Until Hurricane Katrina damaged the Old State Capitol in 2005, the trains were set up in the Senate Chamber. Starting in 2005, they have been set up in the main conference room in the Winter Archives Building.

The layout is set in a fictitious Mississippi town called Possum Ridge, in about the 1940s-1950s, and is O scale, standard gauge. It has period buildings that have been built over the years by a number of model railroad enthusiasts. It is run by volunteer engineers.

The front part of the layout depicts Possum Ridge's Main Street while an Illinois Central passenger train (either the City of New Orleans or the Panama Limited) makes it way "through the Mississippi darkness down to the sea" (to paraphrase the words of Steve Goodman, as sung by Arlo Guthrie). The volunteer engineer talks with Lucy Allen (facing, center), the Director of the Museum Division, and a visiting family.

Here is another shot of Main Street.

One of the many scratch built buildings is the Possum Ridge Museum (with "Lulu" Allen as the director), which is a refurbished "Possum Trot" house originally built by the Osborne family in 1824. "Lucky" Osborne is a master craftsman who has had a hand in creating much of the scenary at Possum Ridge. (You can see more of his work on this page.)

This completes my "homage" to Christmas. I hope that everyone who has stopped by has enjoyed the Christmas trees and the Possum Ridge model railroad. As I said in yesterday's post:

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Depression Era Christmas Tree

Our final tree is from the Depression Era (1930s). One would expect a "grim" looking tree with jobs and money scare, but as you can see, it wasn't. Surprising what human imagination can conjure up out of common items, isn't it?

As electricity became available to many Mississippians in the 1930s, electric lights were added to Christmas decorations. Families continued to use a combination of handmade and commercial ornaments. Since money was scarce, one family chose to wrap up "messages" addressed to loved ones as gifts. Other decorations included paper chains and glass balls. Toys under this tree include Popeye (ca. 1935), an airplane model of Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis (ca. 1930-1940), and Tootsie Toy trucks (ca. 1933).

I hope that you have enjoyed these Christmas trees. From all of us here at Col Campbell's Barracks, here's wishing you:

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND
A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Victorian Christmas Tree

Continuing with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Christmas decorations is our Victorian tree.

[Please click on the picture for a larger image.]


This late Victorian Period (1870-1890) tree is decorated with handmade ornaments common to that era, including gumdrop rings, paper fans, red satin roses, and cornucopias filled with nuts and sweets. Commercially made ornaments were also available at this time. A German tradition from this era involved the placement of a pickle on the tree. Legend had it that the child who spotted the pickle first on Christmas morning would receive good luck for the coming year -- and an extra present. Dolls continued to be favorite toys, with the decade of the 1880s marking a shift from adult dolls to baby and child dolls.

Tomorrow will show a Depression Era (1930s) tree.