Wednesday 5 July 2017

40 Years ago - A trip down memory lane

Good Morning All

Its a beautiful summer's morning here in SW London and its all right in my little world, that is apart from the fact that I got made redundant last Friday. The writing was on the wall that this was going to happen as far back as Christmas so when it did happen I was not too surprised.

At the moment I am confident a new career lies just around the corner and who knows maybe something completely different. The timing works out well and this weekend the Shed family jets off to SE Asia to tour Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. The three week break will do us all good.

Anyway I digress and I find that with this new found freedom I am cracking on with those jobs that have been put off too long and clearing a lot of clutter in our lives. This morning I dragged out a big box of old magazines and discovered that my White Dwarf collection is still there. Prompted by a request on the Lead Adventure Forum for back issues of said magazine I though I would scan through some of the copies.

To my surprise issue 1 states that it was published in 1977 - June/July - that makes it 40 years old. This means they have been in my possession since I was 12 years old - that is very scary.






I have got pretty much every issue published up to issue 60 - some are in great conditions others have not fared as well. Depending upon the offer I receive I may choose to sell bit would be interested in the thoughts of my followers before I take the plunge

The following pictures are some of my favourite covers








Catch up soon...



Sunday 2 July 2017

Napoleonic Project part 11 - The Portuguese Allies

Hi Folks

Apologies for the lag in posts but things have been rather hectic in my life...

Up today are my trusty British Allies - the Portuguese. Three infantry battalions, a battalion of Cacadores, the officers and a gun battery join Wellingtons ranks


If however you missed the big post on the french infantry head here
http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/napoleonic-project-part-10-french.html


First to take the field are the Cacadores -  known to Wellington as his 'fighting cocks'

I bough 24 of these guys from Front Rank and they are fine fellows - I went with the Barretina Shako for these skirmish troops. The flags were acquired from the Line Infantry boxes from Warlord.





The Line Infantry are all from Warlords plastic range and can be bought quite cheaply on ebay for about £16/box inc postage. Very simple figures that have the option of wearing stovepipe or barretina shako's - mine all got the stove pipes.

Each regiment has been given a different colour facing - red, yellow and sky blue.

The flags came in the box





Of course I needed a Portuguese commander in chief and these two smart chaps were sourced from Fronk Rank


The Division mustering for inspection


The final piece of the jigsaw was to give this unit its own artillery - again sourced from Front Rank - just waiting on a base from Wasbases



So whats next....

Well I have almost finished the British Heavies and no doubt these will feature in the next post..





Just a quick recap of what is left to finish this project...

PAINTED


  • British Command Stands (10)
  • British Artillery - 6 Artillery pieces and crew
  • British Infantry - 12 Battalions painted (inc 2 Highland & 1 Rifle)
  • British Dragoons - 1 Regiment
  • French Dragoons - 1 Regiment
  • French Artillery - 6 Artillery pieces and crew (pictures below)
  • French Curassiers - 1 regiment painted in brown coats as there was only one regiment in Spain
  • French Chasseurs a Cheval - 3 regiments
  • French Light Infantry - two regiments 
  • French Line Infantry - 10 Infantry Regiments
  • British Hussars - 1 Regiment
  • Portuguese line Infantry - 3 Regiments
  • Portuguese Cacadores - 1 Regiment
  • Portuguese Command
  • Portuguese Artillery (still needs basing)
  • British Heavy Dragoons - 1 Regiment
  • British Household Cavalry - The Blues Regiment
To be painted - 

  • French Hussars - 2 Regiments
  • French Lancers - 1 Regiment
  • British Light Dragoons - 2 Regiments
  • French Old Guard - I regiment (I know they did not fight in Spain)
  • French Command
  • French Light Infantry 1 regiment
  • French Line Infantry 1 regiment
  • French Swiss Infantry 1 Regiment