Carabinier

I'm gradually accumulating a range of spare figures and parts from all the new plastic figures out there. Some useful, some less so but you never know. The Perry French line box has half a dozen skirmishers which it seems a shame not to make the most of. However the fact that there are only 2 basic torso/leg variants mean that making a full unit of these figures is a little challenging no matter how many ways you attach the head and arms.

Nevertheless I thought that I see what I could come up with. This first chap is a Light infantry Carabinier with one arm from each of Perry and the Victrix Guard Grens sets. I am sure there are issues over cuffs and such like but frankly I'm not that fussed. I'm working on some others and would be interested to hear if anyone has any links or ideas over conversions of the torso model I referred to above. I've got my GW greenstuff and liquid greenstuff stood by so all thoughts welcome.

 

Warlord

My son has a box of Warlord German infantry which I hadn't really looked at until recently. I'd seen a number of critical comments on the 'cartoon' style of these figures so I thought I should check them out for myself. Et voila, a late war stormtrooper:

He's not finished yet. I still have the base to do and you can see that the varnish is still wet but hopefully you get the idea. He's a bit 'Normandy' in appearance but I could not tell you whether the assault rifle is an anachronism or not. If so, apologies to the purists.

Regardless of the paint finish, what a great figure. Assembly can be fiddly but that's what modelling is all about eh? After numerous slender, Perry waifs the chunky style was very welcome and the detail in every part of the figure was tremendous. As for cartoony, well, I know what people mean but frankly I would say this. Apart from the elite painter surely for most of us the three layer finish is designed to create a unit that bears reasonably close scrutiny whether in the display cabinet or on the tabletop. If you start to single out solitary figures then the cracks will start to appear. Three layers is in itself a cartoon style and if the figure provides a supporting template then so much the better.

So hats off to Warlord for creating a well defined and hefty figure. The rest of the box looks pretty good too but the thought of all that splinter camouflage leaves me a little nervous.

If I won the lottery then my figure of choice would be Elite miniatures. They can be pretty rough and ready in places but the final effect is fantastic. They look like they mean business.



 

Napoleonic Swiss

Finally finished! Painted to represent the 4th Regiment during their time with the Emperor. They'll be on eBay soon but if you would like to own them before then, then please drop me a PM. I should say that the Eagle is missing from the photos but is sitting on the painting desk waiting for the varnish to dry.

 

 

 

Question

There are a couple of figures in the Perry Napoleonic French Battalion Command pack whose function I am not sure of. It's not a terribly good photo but hopefully it shows enough - essentially he's wearing a metal helmet with fore and aft plume and carries a halberd with a pennant.

Apart from looking terribly smart can anyone tell me what this chap does? Why are there 2 of them? What colour is his flag? In fact any links would be gratefully received.

Thanks
 

Falklands

Something a bit different to the normal fare of model soldiers..........

In April 1983 I was coming to the end of a Falklands tour and found myself in Port Stanley with a few days spare. So I decided to take a walk out to Moody Brook and to the battlefields beyond and have a look at the ground that the Task Force fought their way through. I took several photos and thought that viewers might like to see some images of the terrain before the Engineer clearance teams tidied everything up.

This was the time when the main road from Stanley to the countryside (or camp as locals called it) was little more than a mud track. I guess that today with the link to Mount Pleasant airfield its a lot easier to negotiate. Minefields were prevalent on both sides so I picked my way along to the western base of Mount Longdon. Immediately striking was the sheer difficulty of the rocky slope that 3 Para fought their way up. I have photos of the positions somewhere but haven't been able to find these so I'll keep looking.

Anyway first photo is of an Argentine recoilless rifle positioned to the eastern side of Longdon. Its arc of fire is facing south and you can see to the left the start of the slope to Tumbledown.

I'm not sure what the feature to the right is. Harriet, Two Sister's or Goat Ridge? You tell me! The gun is positioned to cover the Stanley Road which you can see as a vague line running left to right across the centre of the picture. I estimated the range as 800-1000 metres but it was certainly dominating the ground and the minefields either side. I cannot say how this weapon was used during the battle but there seemed little evidence that it had traversed right (facing west) where the main attack came from.

Moving further along Longdon turns into Wireless Ridge where I found this German made 20mm AA gun. I understand these were used in a ground role - certainly there were a lot of empty cases dotted around. The crew quarters can be seen just above the shield but I guess that grateful British troops were quick to use them once the clearance had been completed. Thats Longdon in the background and you can see how open the ground is to anybody firing at troops advancing off it.

I should say that Longdon was covered in piles of gathered British equipment like cairns dotted along the axis of advance. This was being cleared by the EOD teams. I left the kit alone not only out of prudence but it seemed morally dubious to help yourself - during the battle, yes, several months after, a definite no. I did however find an empty Argentine utility bag just flapping in the wind so I thought, why not?

Coming off Wireless Ridge you arrive at the old barracks at Moody Brook where some kit was being assembled.

There were 12 of these armoured cars and some were subsequently shipped back to the UK as war trophies - I think the HCR have one in their Windsor barracks. Those that weren't found their way as hard targets to the ranges (Observation Rock?) on west Falkland.

So there we are. Hope this may have been of interest. Please feel free to use the photos but credit would be nice!