Goblin Green or Alpine Meadow?

 I finished the Swiss this morning.

Simple base colour used - is it Goblin Green or lush alpine meadow , you decide…

I have padded out the Swiss with some Copplestone and random figures to represent a Swiss Home Guard unit. As for the resin prints l have major reservations. My resin French were charming, immaculate prints, I want to say castings, force of habit l guess. However the Swiss have strange twisted limbs, huge hands , odd poses and tiny rifles. I was going to send them back but realised there are no other 28mm Swiss available that l know of on the market. So I ran with them. A combination of painting and not peering too closely afterwards has worked ok.

The tanks were a different matter. The panzer 39’s are crisp models and a joy to paint. I finished them like the infantry with a coat of gloss varnish, please don’t faint.

Now to get them on the table in a wee game…

Swiss Family Gruber or why are you painting Swiss ?

 Disclaimer- this Gruber family is not Swiss not were my ancestors but a lot of the family like the country a lot.

What prompted writing this post was a surprise raised as to why one would paint up WW2 Swiss…

As a result of being on family holidays to Switzerland l sought out and bought books on the Swiss Army.

These are just a selection of those l have. My interest in the Swiss takes in the Burgundian Wars, the Sonderbondeskreig , WW1 and 2 and beyond, not to mention the Napoleonic period - because I saw monuments in the Alps on family holidays.

These were bought in Interlaken in a wee tobacconist/ stationers. They are Elastolin, composition material and are Swiss soldiers circa 1970. 

They are my pride and joy and sit on the bookshelves. My father , seeing my liking for these and the modern plastic 40mm Elastolin used to periodically buy me figures from an importer who published a typed list of figures he sold. These came through the post in wee grey boxes , containing tissue wrapped toys.

I am using this chap as a guide for painting my 28mm resin figures.

Circa 1947 my father went on a coach tour to Switzerland. The house had musical boxes and wooden figures he returned with. After my mother’s death whilst clearing out her house l found this scrapbook with hand drawn maps, photos and writing by my father - an account of the holiday.

The coach company brochure from the aforementioned scrapbook. 

My uncle and cousins go regularly to Switzerland for summer or winter family holidays. I last went in my early twenties with my parents and particularly enjoyed the National Museum in Zurich where l went for a day trip by train.

I have much more Swiss material on my blog - http://armyredwhite.blogspot.com/

Some photos from it-

The soldier in the top photo holding the bazooka thingy reminds me of Terry Scott…

I collected a 54mm 1914 Swiss army for the Little Wars Centenary game organised by Paul Wright. I posted it to the wrong address ( to save me carrying it on the train) so it never took part in the celebrations. I did get it back later and enjoyed the Centenary toy soldier jamboree with a borrowed army.

Finally just to say do read up some Swiss military history, it is fascinating. Who knows you might paint up some Swiss figures of your own…

That was the day that was

 Big day in the Duchy. Google has mixed the picture order up , don’t know why!

Saturday VWC , great company and photos of projects. First for Model Railway photos this week- PD Hancock’s layout or rather part of it.

Overnight Friday to Saturday my toilet ceased to function, wouldn’t flush , so stressful. It was in backed up in the garden.

Three men working late morning to sort it, successfully thankfully.

Buying the Christmas tree, not a visit to Narnia.

Working on WW2 Swiss during the VWC. Note very nice models of Panzer 39 tanks.

Late afternoon and my daughter fits the lights on the tree , looks magical imho.

Another view of the Swiss, mainly commercial resin prints with a few metal additions.

Finally curry and Strictly final. A big day of highs and lows…

A welcome distraction

 

Stirrers etc

 Another day at home, things moving forward on many fronts . Spent much of day doing this-

The building nearly finished, touch up bits, highlight stones on pavement and maybe front door painted.

The pink after toning down a little.

The pink paint applied and drying on the radiator.

Coffee stirrers added to give a 3 d look rather than flat mdf.

The Austrian pioneers were keen to help in this project.

I didn’t have to cut the stirrers/ timber all on my own.

The initial gluing of stirrers to mdf with school glue and l am liking the look

Found the mdf  building and horde of coffee stirrers. We will see how it turns out…

Chchanges

 Over the last few days our plans had to change due to a member of the Ducal Household not being well. Events were cancelled and commitments unable to be upheld. In practice it meant that l was at home when l expected not to be. A case of being around if needed and waiting a lot . I wasn’t feeling terribly like wrapping gifts or sorting things or even painting figures. So I pressed ahead with rebasing and painting some mdf buildings l had got cheap at a Wargames Show in 2024. 

The buildings were bought from a Warbases rummage box, built and ar an excellent price.

I thought they would go well with my Conflix resin buildings I use for gaming 15th century to 20th Century.

Undercoated and left to dry on the radiator.

The painting process begun…

Figures soaking in water prior to removal from their old tired basing . 

Rebasing on acrylic clear bases, a controversial choice to some folk.

The job continues…

Cavalry and skirmishers completed, with most infantry done. Command bases coming along…

The first of the buildings completed. Not bad at all and table top useable. I will be in the house today mostly and hope to try the other building. The Ducal House member is moving forward but it will probably be a marathon rather than a sprint…

W of the W

The chances of anything coming from Mars
Are a million to one, he said
The chances of anything coming from Mars
Are a million to one, but still, they come

Photo opportunity suggested by 
Orlando Keily tea light lantern blown over in the storm and lying where it landed. Curious figures added…

An amiable array

 There are many rules that I have enjoyed using over the years but one that stays with me is the Wargames Holiday Centre Malburian Rules. Not that l used them there but often in my own home. They were fun to play, easy to learn and gave an excellent game. I look back on them with great affection. The other day l came across these on the shelf in the Ducal Library-

I got them nineteen years ago and they are an adaption of the aforementioned rules for the mid 18th Century. They were penned by the redoubtable Phil Olley. A quick read through and they came back to me and are just the ticket to use with my mid 18th century collection- mainly Hessians, Austrians and Jacobites. However there are a few basing considerations to take into account-

This is the basing suggested by the rules and the one l use currently with the Austrian forces. Four bases with four figures on each. Has worked well for me . However the Hessians and Jacobites, not to mention the 1780s imagination collection are based thus-

                                Six figures per base and a unit in Grim Panoply would look thus.

 I am thinking of running with the above five figures a base and a unit in Grim Panoply would look thus.

So that’s where we are on Thursday morning. Real life has intervened and my plans have changed so part of today will involve the continued rebasing project.

On that subject a big thank you to the Saturday Virtual Wargames Club members who gave me excellent advice on how to remove figures superglued to washers and pennies. It worked a treat- thirty minutes in the freezer and a tap or twist and bobs your uncle! Here are these fine fellows ( not painted by me and an unexpected retirement gift some years ago) off their old bases and ready for action-

Stormy Weather

 Been wild of late here in the Duchy. I have braved the rain and wind to go about my business successfully kept dry with a decent coat . However matters were a tad more dramatic on the Penedredfel Light Railway where this this happened-

Work to repair the station and perhaps make it more wind and watertight will begin today.

Finally an appropriate musical treat to start the day-

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RmSqzQt05A8