Welsh Nationalists for a Very British Civil War

 Finally got round to photographing my Welsh Nationalists prior to their first game, a solo one in the coming days. Many moons ago Al Front directed me to some reading about the interwar Welsh Nationalists. It has , along with the official source books , provided me with some ideas. So what moves my wee lead chaps?  Simply put they are Europe focused rather than uk focused, desiring to be part of a greater whole. They look to France for support . Support in terms of weapons, equipment and expertise..Some have become Roman Catholic as part of this . Some wish Wales to be a nation in a wider Catholic Europe. Others of a non conformist background are suspicious of such a view. There are tensions but the VBCW has given them a chance to move…

In the rules the units have a Quality and a Morale rating.

Enough chat now for the lead-

Headquarters, with a Mari Lwyd replacing a standard, local poet as commander, with French , on leave , senior nco for advice. Veteran and Determined.

French Volunteers, former soldiers and politically motivated. Uniformed in blue in Chasseurs de pied uniforms. They are Regular and Determined.

The local village and townsfolk. A little suspicious of the French, the RC’s and poets. In their everyday clothes and with what weapons they were given and could hide.They are Green and Low.

The Teulu , highly motivated volunteers who have taken to the mountains and form flying columns. Equipped with French equipment and weapons. They are Veteran and Determined.

The miners. They are mixed in their enthusiasm for this struggle, equipped with rifles. They are Green and Steady.

Finally the rules below by Eric Turner , via Society of Daisy , will be used.

I will report on the scenario in my next post…

On the workbench : Laketown

 These are coming along very nicely. Warbases mdf structures and coffee stirrers put together by me.

Painting is the next job followed by some thought on buildings , boats and backdrop.

Alfresco

 After an agreement with the Margrave of Trompenburg these  54mm or 1/32 scale regiments have come into my service.

Regiment Stoorkopf after their long march north. A few repairs to uniforms and bayonets is required. This will be accomplished with paint and varnish

Here they are parading in the shadow of the Alpine Planters. Service will be both alfresco and internal.

The regiment below , Peinwik, are in need of some repairs to their standard which broke on the march. This should be accomplished without much difficulty at all. 

Further information about the history of these troops can be found at the blog of their creator-

http://marsinarcadia.blogspot.com/

The men arrived in splendid uniforms which are a credit to Springinsfeld, who raised them originally.

Meanwhile the track was cleared yesterday afternoon and newly purchased batteries got out.

Alas the wheels went round once and stopped for good, so far.

The back light was working and the front lights too. The wiring is fragile involving soldering and l am loath to muck around with it too much.

Hopefully normal service on the PLR will be stored very soon.

May is bustin out all over

 The Penedredfel Light Railway has decided it is necessary to curb the foliage threatening to take over the line and stations. Over the coming weeks a great deal of work is needed -

Laketown

 I’ve been working on figures for Laketown from the Hobbit.

I liked the vibe of the costumes from The Hobbit film but had no desire to use the official figures for many reasons, including the fact all my other figures for the project were Vendel Miniatures.

I looked at art from a variety of sources for ideas and inspiration.

The figures , as of yesterday, looking really full of character.

A further view of the Laketown troops. I am pleased with the vibe which is Rus and Slav. I had a sprue of Vikings in 28mm which I built but abandoned as they were , unsurprisingly, too Viking for the project. 

I wanted something eastern with a variety of armour styles.

The famous JRR T illustrations. Ideas for watercraft perhaps…

Another interpretation of Laketown, I like the houses and bridge mechanics.

The figures just out of their respective ( and charming boxes) which are by Drabant Miniatures and are beautiful, crisp, flash free 28mm figures. Beautiful castings and a joy to work with.

I enjoy working on figures as l listen and look in on the Virtual Wargames Club on a Saturday. A cup of tea or coffee and inspiring company makes all the difference. Yesterday these arrived-

Looking forward to opening these and seeing how they will fit with buildings, coffee stirrers and other scenic items

Garden mainly

 A few photos, mainly of the garden. Note the John Ruddle figure on guard in the alpine planter, the hedgehog seen yesterday evening and a couple of interesting buildings noted on a wee visit to Edinburgh yesterday.

Back to my roots.

 Figures based now , varnished and just needing a finishing touch or two.

They have come out well and I found my bat swarm and ogre/giants today too.

Recently l asked a rules question on the Wargaming in Middle Earth Facebook group about what rules would work best with 30-40 figures a side. There were lots of helpful suggestions from a knowledgeable and friendly group of folk. I was taken by this one-

Fantastic Battles is a brilliant fantasy game and superb for doing Tolkien battles. But if you are looking for a small scale skirmish game then MESBG is perfect. It's a brilliant game and the profiles for the various heroes work very well. The previous edition is probably it's best manifestation

So after a little research and further chat l ordered Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game core rules and The Hobbit army lists. They arrived whilst I was sitting in the garden this afternoon. I was able to have a wee look at them over a cuppa.

The system was not new to me. When the set below came out circa 2001 Jan made a point of making sure l picked up a copy although we were in the midst of major family health stuff at the time. I recall the game being a welcome distraction and diversion. I played briefly around that time with the starter set and a few additional metal figures. 

I next played the game in terms of the figures after Jan died , added to them but probably played with other rules.

So here we are in 2026 with a later, but not latest version of the GW game system. I am looking forward to  trying the rules out with my Vendel figures and some others l have been planning round. So things come round full circle in a way.