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!🎉🎉🎉

Volare Cantare units

 Been working on some Volare Cantare units-

Firstly some tankettes, resin . 

Wanted to distinguish the Duchy’s mountain troops. They are a militia recruited from mountainous areas of the Duchy , specialising in mountain warfare. I decided to use grit to suggest rocky terrain, might make the bases less green more barren browns or greys…

Duchy engineers depicted in a similar way to those of Transilvania using spare tools from a Perry sprue, Eight Army I think.

Another view of the mountain troops. Yesterday l ordered a couple of mountain artillery pieces on eBay, hoping them to arrive later in the week. Run out of Army Painter Strong tone and my green , hope to pick up locally tomorrow or Wednesday.

If anyone has any Strelets WW1 Austro Hungarian infantry in gas mask or no gas masks l would be interested as l can’t track them down at all…

Opposition

As l can’t get into town this weekend l ordered a box of the above as opposition. They arrive by post yesterday afternoon.

I expected grey plastic but was not deterred by the blue , well a little.

Here are some first attempts at painting yesterday afternoon and early evening.

All in all they have come up nicely so far.

State of play when I left them to dry overnight. I will continue this morning. The figures will represent the forces of the Duchy of Volare Cantare. For those who haven’t ventured into the Duchy here is a wee introduction from thirteen years ago -

https://tradgardland.blogspot.com/2013/09/imagineering-volare-cantare.html

 

The Army of Transilvania

Inspired by Bob’s Belle Epoche forces for the Portable Wargame l organised this army from beyond the woods, near the mountains , lakes and forests , a little east of the former Empire and just around the corner from The Duchy of Volare Cantare. The Jazz Age meets The Tambal Age more Hot Club de Carpathia than Paris. The army of Transilvania -

The army consists of regular infantry, militia, bicycle mounted infantry, dismounted cavalry and a small but enthusiastic unit of engineers.

 The army on parade-

Five regiments of regular infantry including one machine gun one

Five regiments of local militia 

Three of bicycle infantry

Two of dismounted cavalry who had disposed of their horses and traditions and await mechanisation 

One of engineers , proud products of the new school of military engineering in the capital

Wonderland or the joy of model shops

Most of my hobby purchases are made online except for paint and other modelling supplies which l get locally. I buy some figure related stuff at shows buts that’s about it. 

Saturday saw me having a wee wander in Edinburgh. I decided to pop up Lothian Road and see the reopened Filmhouse. It played an important part in my youth when one could see films for 50p on a Wednesday afternoon. I went a lot, for at fifty pence you had nothing to lose . I digress. Anyway across from the Filmhouse is Wonderland . It was always a great shop but one for modellers rather than wargamers being filled with a cornucopia of model railway, radio control and kit wonders plus toys. It hadn’t been graced by my presence for ages and l can tell you it now has loads more for the wargamer in terms of Perry, Wargames Atlantic and other 28mm plastic figures. An excellent selection, well worth a browse. My plan was to see if l could get a wee manageable project in terms of task and price. I waited to be hooked in , I was open to a hobby dérive if you like . The idea was to browse in the 1/72 plastic toy soldier bit of the shop. And so l did . Periods and choice galore. In the ended was taken by a box of Strelets figures ( Marmite like you either like loath them, l find them charming if a little crude occasionally ) which you see the box of above . WW2 Romanians. They would serve really well as interwar imaginations figures for a Transilvanian Army. I bought them for £7:50:for 48 figures with ideas forming in my head. The purchase reminded me of fun browsing for toy soldiers in my local post office in the Sixties where the post mistress was kind and patient.

The figures unboxed, washed in detergent and drying prior to painting. I was reminded of Craig David’s song 7 days but something similar “ bought them on a Saturday, painted them on a Sunday by Monday we fighting on the tabletop…” 

Beginning the process of painting and planning what to do with them…Saturday.

Painted , given a dark wash and drying . The helmet and cap figures would serve as regular infantry with the fur hatted chaps being militia.

A coat of gloss varnish whist still on the sprue to seal everything on Sunday.

Cut off the sprue and bases painted, Monday morning early. If I had possessed suitable mdf bases the task would have been finished but after a hunt l realised I needs to order some…

So here we are Wednesday morning early, waiting for the bases to arrive, the figures then being based and used on the table. A cheap, fun wee project to lift the spirit and offer some gaming fun. Opponents will be interwar Austrian imagination and or The Duchy of Volare Cantare…
 

Update

R

Life has been quite stressful of late and remains so . Sometimes l feel like a soldier on a range walking forward and firing at targets as they pop up. Successfully sometimes, sometimes not.  My hobby seems more butterfly flitting even than usual. I have not felt the vibe but carried on. It is not helping that Blogger only allows me to upload photos at random. One in thirty or forty attempts work. So annoying as blogging has become at the core of my hobby.

The mdf house has floorboards, plaster walls and is moving forward. I have based some figures on clear bases which look good equally in doors and out.

A kickstarter arrived from the States and looks interesting but have really given the rules set the attention they deserve. Looking forward to trying though.

Going to try and clear the table for a game when l can be bothered. Think a wee game will enthuse me…

Painting some Night Watch figures and opponents, note clear bases . 

Furniture moving forward at a snails pace but l am very pleased with it…

That was the week that was in the Duchy of Tradgardland.