Moving on or scenes from the work bench

The latest Strelets figures are coming along nicely. Some off the figures are incredibly well attached to the sprue and can be hard to remove, especially for one who doesn’t trust himself with a sharp modelling knife. Note arrival in the background of a couple of tankettes purchased from Etsy or maybe EBay. Figures on sprue, painted , strong tone applied then varnish, gloss of course! That was earlier yesterday.

Post basing. I will explain a little more later about what each base represents. Note 3.7  cm TAK 1918 printed anti tank guns. A big thanks to DM of the VWC who printed these for me in three scales! Note too 28mm cattle being got ready for a game later today. This was the state of play yesterday evening.

Closer look at the figures prior to completing the basing and touching up to add fine detail or flaked paint due to taking off the sprue.

All in all coming along nicely…

 

Wind and wuthering or the Perils of Penedredfel

 

The wild winds and rain yesterday blew the station over not to mention those working there . At least the rain cleaned things up a bit 

The sorry state of Penedredfel Station resulting from my daughter’s splendid efforts to scrub the slabs.

In other news the engine remains out of action due to fibrous plant material on the line now jammed in the cogs linking the locomotive power to the wheels.

And the next box

 Inspite of feeling yucky l have begun the next box-

Here they are in all their plastic glory. Sadly no random Strelsi figures in this box.

Inspiration off my bookshelves to help choose a colour scheme…

Am going to paint the helmet and jacket green, do equipment, weapons and flesh, leaving the trousers the grey plastic. Then the wash…

Possible anti tank gun to be utilised by the force…

Here they are the first sprue finished last night prior to varnishing. Green not showing as much as I would like , perhaps a thinner wash…

Now thinking of a name for the army of these chaps from a former empire…

Matters diverse

 Having avoided bad flu/colds over the winter l came down with a stinker on Thursday, the eve of my birthday.

My middle daughter has worked hard recently on the garden and on my birthday l decided to give the train the first outing of the year. Unfortunately almost immediately the train took some fibrous plant material into the gear wheel where the motor connects with the wheel and stopped immediately. So far l have been unable to get it out.

Two thirds of the family came round for a meal on my birthday , the others being down with a bug.

Daughter number one made a Schwartzwald cake as the birthday cake, it was excellent.

I now am officially a State Pension recipient.

Earlier in the day I had been out briefly to see a local art exhibition and have lunch. Note Barbour padded jacket  which was my present from the family. 

Also got this from them, should come in handy with Bolt Action etc.

One of the paintings l saw at the exhibition.

Much of Thursday was sitting around miserably listening to the cricket.

My daughter working hard in the garden this week.

Jan would have been 64 today, kept thinking  of the Beatles song…

Did little as feeling a tad vile . Did make the VWC which was as enjoyable and stimulating as ever. Some work was done on the third and latest box of Strelets. 

We have been enjoying my Christmas present of late especially with the clear nights and full moon.

 

The Angelica is coming out and will be six feet later in the season.

The Rhubarb too has returned with the promise of good eating ahead.

 

A few Transilvanian recruits

 Finished a few recruits for Transilvania -

A tankette representing the motorised elements of the cavalry regiments. Note the Transilvanian colours to aid aerial identification.

A Skoda 75mm Mountain Howitzer to support the infantry.

Finally in some boxes of Strelets each sprue comes with a 17th century Strelsi figure. This was the case with Italian figures l recently used as Volare Cantare troops. So l popped the four figures aside and had a wee think. What I came up with was using them as woodsmen/hunters/ trappers with no formal military training but good shots. They were recruited in times of war by the Transilvanian army. They will be deployed in my games with a defensive ( last line of defence ?) role , probably to hold a wood village or bridge . They can retreat but not advance. We will see how it goes…

Thoroughly modern Alfonso or the Army of the Duchy of Volare Cantare

 

Duke Alfonso’s favourite things are dancing and playing tennis but he realises a chap must keep up with the times and have a thoroughly modern army.

Duke Alfonso’s best friend is a rather extreme poet . Alfonso and him flew over Vienna together and dropped poems not bombs Alfonso had an awful cold the day the poet and his chums went to Fiume. Alfonso was rather relieved and has discovered the extreme poet is more extreme than Alfonso cares to be.

Alfonso loves the new , the shiny and the modern. He has shiny planes as part of his army and tankettes too.

There are mountain troops to patrol the high passes and mountain howitzers to help them. Engineers wait to build bridges and more.

The back bone of the Ducal army however are the infantry regiments l to Xlll.

Alfonso loves the art work of his futurist artist friends but finds their politics too much. But their canvases are so forward looking…

The Duke even had a go at painting in the style himself, with some success. Storm clouds are gathering, Transilvania is on the march as are its friends an£ enemies. Reluctantly the Duke will have to pop the tennis racquet away, clean the paintbrush and prepare for harder times ahead…

What l did for World Toy Soldier Day…

 

This is what I did for WTSD- painted , based and crewed two 1/72 mountain guns, painted some trees for the forthcoming game with these figures, touched up the paint l had flaked off when taking the painted figures off the sprue and added some sand to make better basing for the mountain troops.

Another angle of the above work…

Opened the door to the postwoman bringing me some more Strelets to work on and opened the package up.

Trees, mountain guns etc at 08:05 this morning having been assembled yesterday. That’s the Volare Cantare Ducal forces completed now. An order of battle and fluff in the coming days…

Happy Toy Soldier Day to all my readers! Huzzah, Huzzah and Huzzah for the hobby!🎉🎉🎉