Tag: SHQ miniatures

A Genteel Fiasco part 1

Autumn sees me on the move – the other partizan is done and now it was the turn of Fiasco in Leeds.

In contrast to the Newark show I reckon I was about fiftieth in the queue despite arriving about fifteen minutes before the doors opened.

The dock hall is a sombre black lined but very high ceiling cavern! Today there was plenty of space due to less traders and some missing games and others, compared to previous years.

Maybe it was a bit of half term effect as numbers held up during the day?

I was done trader wise in thirty minutes in terms of checking out who was there and what was on offer. So I could then home in on those traders that took my fancy.

Caliver books and Dave lanchester books absence meant that the show was book free except for some stalls typically selling old ospreys.

There were plenty of games being played and in that sense the show was vibrant. Few straight demo/display games or showstopper demo only tables but again every table that set up was playing as far as I could see. Gaming tables for gaming and there was plenty of variety on offer.

Some traders were clearly doing excellent business while others looked a bit too quiet from their owners early doors looks.

Now I went back in the afternoon and I reckon it was still as busy as at ten. You don’t get that at other shows where there is an initial rush and then numbers dwindle.

Fiasco was enjoyable as you could shop without the scrum at many of the big names traders.

I had no particular buying plans for what is really yet another convenient Yorkshire show.

I ended up buying a few things that were wanted plus some surprises.

A few tables caught my eye.

Recycling partizan……

Ok so I forgot to snap this one in the dock hall lucky for you I caught it at partizan

Winter…….

Ice flow was a favourite board game of mine but no one else liked it so it got the heave ho – wargaming on ice anybody? This looked an engaging fantasy game with bespoke rules

The Yarkshire Wargamer presented his Italian wars game nineteenth century style. Think ACW with vineyards and garibaldis – no not the biscuits!

Live recording as Yarkshire man throws a double six seemingly to order….

I chatted to the what a cowboy gamers who were typically happy to converse over their lunch break hence no fighting on the board…..

Warlord game – boardgame/wargame crossover? Maybe a take on what Zvezda art of tactic sought to achieve?

Buying wise I am still looking at nearly mechanised….

Airfix trusty old kit

A Japan surprise from EWM

These vehicles I bought from the friendly helpful guys at battle zone games

Grubby tanks yielded this ancient Tower in more ways than one from one of their bits and pieces boxes.

I had a chat with Mr Grubby himself as ever willing to talk to his potential customers and just not sell even though he was very busy. He has now selectively cast SHQ/Kennington and has sold them on request. So I need to get an order in for some 1848 Saxons!

https://norber1424.blogspot.com/?m=1

Artillery feature at actual size miniatures. I found a miscasts box – bag ‘em yourself for 1 pound – a bargain I reckon. The owner even helped me match the barrels to the carriages! Chapeaux as cyclists say.

Well that’s it or would have been except Fiasco has a fantastic addition. The royal armouries is a minute across the square.

A decent range of traders and games means this show is worth a visit in 2025

Unlike partizan (an agricultural show facilities wise) Fiasco has tons of food options – even gluten free – proper tea for one yes two Yorkshire tea bags in that pot: And table service. The wrap? I was technically late for the breakfast menu at the museum cafe but they knocked me up a gluten free bacon sandwich with some imagination-the wrap was “loaded” with bacon.

Part two properly covers my museum trip. But you’ve read that already – probably…..

Footfall measure? – last valley still had stock on the shelves a couple of hours in. But at least you could shop like human!

Next up……

Nice to see 1848 Danes on show in the promo flyer

Tags garibaldi, garibaldi wargaming, garibaldini, mid 19th century wargames, miniature figures, risorgimento, SHQ miniatures, wargames, wargaming, Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe, wars of italian unification, wars of the italian unification

Mid 19th Century Wargaming miniatures painting wargaming

1st Schleswig Holstein – the Rebels uniforms 1848

Post author By lorenzoseventh
Post date 28th May 2024
2 Comments on 1st Schleswig Holstein – the Rebels uniforms 1848

The Rebel forces in the Schlieswig Holstein War comprised local pro german forces including those who had served in the Royal Danish Army. To these were added many volunteers alongside their numerous allies.

The rebel cause had wide spread support from states within greater germany at this time “the Confederation – in its post Napoleonic form”. Notable were Prussia but also Saxony and Hanover. Austria was a significant objector and refused to become involved. Although they did apparently send rocket troop batteries.

Initially Rebel uniforms were a mix of Danish, improvised and various state uniforms. Later the Schleswig Holstein regular Rebel forces obtained a more distinct uniform for themselves.

Prussia was a stout ally to the rebels initially before signing the first peace treaty, the federation itself refused to sign it – you get fascinating politics during this war

This makes the war fascinating in terms of uniform, lots of german states still preserved a distinct character in their uniforms while fashions were still a mix of the Napoleonic coupled with more recent french led fashions such as the kepi. The Pickelhaube (invented in Russia and made a success by Prussia) and the Frockcoat (from the dresscoat of Napoleonic times) were now noticeably popular in german states. The classic mid to late century Prussian uniform dates from the 1840’s.

The smaller flat top tapered shako was in wide use long before it identified again with this time British Crimean troops or indeed the Rifleman of Prussia who kept it till world war one.

Oldenburg line infantry sent by the federation

Therefore Armies comprised troops still wearing napoleonic uniform alongside others who would not look out of place in the American Civil War 13 years later and even subsequent conflicts.

Tags 1/72, 1/72 metals, 1/72 plastics, 20mm metals, hat 1/72, hat miniatures, mid 19th century wargames, miniature figures, miniatures painting, painting figures, painting miniatures, SHQ miniatures, strelets, strelets 1/72, Vienna Treaty Wars, wargames, wargaming, Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe

miniatures painting wargaming

The Painting Pedestal 24b the confederacy marches….

Post author By lorenzoseventh
Post date 10th Jan 2024
6 Comments on The Painting Pedestal 24b the confederacy marches….

So I will kick off the painting pedestal slot in 2024 with some more pickelhaubes.

In this case it is some Oldenburgers. These chaps are again a straightforward repaint of Hat ww1 german infantry. The pickelhaube sculpting works to my advantage having a higher crown. This gives a nod to the the Pickelhaube design prior to 1870.

And 1848 was still a time for Shakoes. Another contribution to the German Confederates is this unit of Saxons. They are SHQ Napoleonic Hanoverian’s. I have not been able to track down a suitable officer/musician/flagbearer set as it appears the SHQ ranges are incomplete.

I really like the facial sculpting on these SHQ metal figures. This is notable because with 1/72 plastics the mould line/flash and sculpting often all come up short at the face.

Of course at 3 feet – my normal viewing – this is all academic.

Tags 1/72, 1/72 metals, 1/72 plastics, 20-25mm, hat 1/72, hat miniatures, mid 19th century wargames, miniature figures, miniatures painting, painting figures, painting miniatures, SHQ miniatures, the painting pedestal, Vienna Treaty Wars, wargames, wargaming, Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe

new additions wargame shows wargaming

Supply Chain 2021

My hobby has again been sustained by a supply chain. In my case 2021 has seen my ebay activity trail off while I have increased my buying with a few hobby companies.

Thank you to everyone (in no particular order!)

Cronwallis – ebay supplier from Oz who provided some rare 1/72 plastic figures for my Fauxterre Napoleonic Mythical Realm. Also I secured a supply of Russian Napoleonics who will see life as my Milan Guard – one day!

Model Hobbies supplied a lot of Napoleonic 1/72 figures and many Waterloo 1815 figures for my Wars of the Italian Unification project
Black Forest Hobby were a source of some hard to get figures and rulessets
Other ebay suppliers included ms-plueth (dutch/belgians), model148 (for peninsular war types) and rasweetrampwp who provided some WW1 belgians which I morphed into Neapolitan Chasseurs circa 1860.
buchunversum supplied a very valued book – Funcken 19th century army uniforms with german text – britain/prussia/france 1815 to 1850. Crucially it shows the evolution of french and german uniforms from shakoes and breechs to pickelhaubes, kepis and trousers.
SHQ provided 20mm metal napoleonics
Hannants provided numerous 1/72 plastic figures mainly for my mythical napoleonic armies
Caliver books provided invaluable titles for my new interests in european wars between 1848 and 1866. The Schleswig War of 1848 was probably my most satisfying buy – I just did not expect such a gem of a book. (see lead image for details). America in Algiers circa 1820 was a complete surprise!
Irregular Miniatures have supplied some very useful 20mm figures for my Italian and French forces fighting over Rome in 1848 and all Italy in 1859
Warrior Miniatures have provided 25mm troops for what will be my Fauxterre post Napoleonic forces
Wargame Vault supplied me with “A Gentlemans War” skirmish rules in pdf format.
Perry Miniatures provided their Carlist Wars ruleset
Paul Meekins Books supplied a 100 year old copy of a trilogy on Garibaldi’s wars
Games Lore supplied 5 Parsecs from Home sci fi rules

On the high street I bought figures and kits from Antics in Plymouth and Monk Bar models in York while Wonderland of Edinburgh supplied many sets of 1/72 figures including Crimean era

I managed just two shows where the following traders provided some excellent material.

Pendraken for bases
Colonel Bills for 20mm WW2 metals
Dave Lanchester Books who have provided some really excellent source books most recently on 19th century sea warfare and Vichy France at War
I have written up about Fiasco 2021 traders here and Recon 2021 show traders here.

Operation Hight Street

For some extra fun I have tried where possible to run my sideshow WW2 wargame project by buying in person at shops/traders. It has not been easy. Yet I have bought quite a bit of material from those few trips I did manage.

So I hope our hobby suppliers continue to prosper and provide us with figures, scenery, rules and other materials to enable us all to enjoy a hobby that lets you escape into your imagination.

Thank you

1/72 scale figures Mid 19th Century Wargaming new additions wargaming

The Supply Chain and the end of the year 2020

Post author By lorenzoseventh
Post date 22nd Dec 2020
2 Comments on The Supply Chain and the end of the year 2020

“The Supply Chain” is a bit like “hospital beds” a term overly used and missing out the crucial part – “people”. No hospital staff and well beds are useless. The same goes for all suppliers, despite the digital/AI/automation hype, people are still the crucial aspect of suppliers and the services they operate. Their work, largely hidden, is what makes our modern world go round.

Even my hobby activities rely on supply chains, as I do not make my own figures or write books I want to read for that matter.

right now I am gathering some reading material about Italy in the mid 19th Century

My supply chain for wargames has been of necessity online for about 10 years. Although when I think about it I was “online in the 1970’s because if you wanted certain figures you could not buy them at your local store.

I remember back then you could buy the “centre companies napoleonic british infantry” provided that was roughly 5 of each in advancing pose only (hinchliffe I believe) – that was all they had.

So I discovered direct postal sales long before “online” was even dreamed of. And in those days I did not go to shows either, having no means of transport. And anyway I don’t think I was even aware of them as a shopping opportunity.

I bought all my Warrior Miniatures by post in those days. and I still have a few.

So this is a big thank you to all the “people” who provide my miniatures, paints, scenery, brushes, books and the like. Either at shows (remember them) or by post (online).

In some ways nothing has changed although I seem to remember the cost of postage was truly massive to my mind back then – and I was trading in metal too.

superb service from Hannants to drive my latest project – the unification of italy…..

In alphabetical order some of my popular “suppliers” have been

Abe books – various out of print book editions
Antics online – for 1/72 plastics
Colonel Bills – for coat d’arms paints mainly at shows
Coritani (Magnetic Displays) – scenery, paint brushes mainly at shows
e Models – for 1/72 plastics
Hannants – for 1/72 plastics
Irregular Miniatures – 1/72 metallics
Lancashire Games – 1/72 metallics, scenery, rulesets
Models for Sale – for 1/72 plastics
Model Hobbies – for 1/72 plastics
Pendraken Miniatures – for mdf bases
SHQ – 1/72 metallics
Too Fat Lardies – rulesets
Warbases – for mdf bases
Wonderland Models – for 1/72 plastics and kits
World books – various out of print book editions

Tirelessly working to give their customers great service.

Currently reading this great summary of a complex story – needless to say garibaldi looms large yet the story is kaleidoscopic!

So thanks to them all for allowing me to pursue my hobby even in the midst of a global pandemic.

wishing every one a safe and secure christmas and a better year for all in 2021

wargaming

Shieldwall

Many years ago, although it seems only recently to me, I bought several titles from the Warhammer Ancient Battles booklist – they included Siege & Conquest – all about the siege; Chariot Wars; the WAB basic rule set itself; The Chinese Warring States and all that plus Shieldwall. A fairly random mix you might say which is correct.

I never really bought into Warhammer or Games Workshop after I returned to wargaming in the late 1990’s. I dropped neatly into 15mm and DBA. The 600mm square tabletop battlefield, relatively small metal mountains that could be painted and a simple ruleset that was popular all fitted my constrained interests and time.

And yet despite plenty of enjoyment 15mm became a compromise and once the restrictions on table size were removed I returned to the idea of 25mm (old style) which I suppose is my roots. Despite buying some 28mm figures that size has failed to ignite my interest.

I have discovered that 20mm/25mm or 1/72 is the figure size that appeals to me: Sufficient in size for each individual warrior, painting repays in the visual look while the table top is of the order 6′ x 4′ or 1.8m x 1.2m which is my limit.

And my 25mm wargaming odyssey has taken me back to the past with 1/72 plastics displacing metals but in the modern style from prolific manufacturers such as Zvezda, Strelets, Hat, Ceasar and the occasional Orion, Mars, Emhar and ok even vintage Revell. But it is not all plastic – tumbling dice miniatures have offered up some really nice figures to compliment the plastics. And so to have SHQ, Newline and Irregular Miniatures.

One thing I have done since returning to the hobby is read and that includes reading rulesets. In fact reading them more than I play them!

You need only one ruleset to play wargames for any one period. So I can’t explain why I have dozens. Yet rulesets are personal statements. In their way they seem to me someones interpretation of history albeit through their take on gaming mechanisms. So they are still history books in a way and thats how I consume them.

I only have historic wargames rulesets – fantasy wargaming is something I left behind in the 1970’s – Sci-Fi I could never get my head round.

And fantasy was for me doing dungeons and dragons in the 1970’s before it all took off. And yet my historical interests have always been tempered by an interest in historical fiction. Not the Sharp novels ilk. More a case of a parallel universe where so much is instantly recognisable yet the story lines, characters, countries have different names.

Each to their own as they say.

Well being inclined to Anglo-Saxons at the moment I dug out the Shieldwall book which I kept because like Chariot Wars it felt like a well researched and back then a well designed package. I never played the WAB ruleset with Shieldwall. Just maybe I might give it a go now.

Of course it is approaching vintage (25 years plus) and oldhammer is probably in the Oxford dictionary as a particular type of old wargamer already.

The constant theme though is to enjoy reading history, enjoy imaginative history and paint miniatures and if with a fair wind play some games. In short it is escapism – taking pleasure in playing with imagination.

metal miniatures normans in the south

Metallic and Plastic Infantry for my Normans in the South

Post author By lorenzoseventh
Post date 15th May 2020
No Comments on Metallic and Plastic Infantry for my Normans in the South

Having reviewed my thoughts on horsemen for my Normans in the South project I am going to take a quick look at infantry. Did you spot the SHQ 20mm in the lead photo?

At least tumbling dice and SHQ are still offering metals in the traditional scales of 20/25mm and 1/72. And they carry good detail, have realistic posing and are not too bulky. I may mix in some command foot with strelets figures on some of my fighting bases.

Tags 28mm plastics, anglo saxon strelets, burgundians, citadel figures, Garrison Figures, Lamming Miniatures, normans in the south, perry miniatures, SHQ miniatures, strelets 1/72, strelets normans, tumbling dice miniatures

metal miniatures

Normans in the South using 1/72 metallics

Post author By lorenzoseventh
Post date 10th May 2020
2 Comments on Normans in the South using 1/72 metallics

Without drifting too much into the issue of scale in wargaming, this post covers my solution regarding mixing metallics and plastics for my Normans in the South project.

So the lead in photo shows horsemen because this is where the most pronounced differences tend to show up.

left to right we have

Strelets 1/72 Norman cavalry

Tumbling Dice 1/72 Norman and Saxon cavalry (command figures!)

Citadel 25mm Mongol cavalry

Citadel 25mm Saracen cavalry

Lamming 25mm Norman Cavalry

Greenwood & Ball (Garrison) 25mm Viking Cavalry

Lancashire Games 25mm Malburian Cavalry

Typical BIG 28mm cavalry (ok he gets a base as well to make the point)

It is also worth noting the base thicknesses in these photos.

What I have found is that in the raw you notice height, bulk and head size. These then affect how you see the figures. Once painted and based the differences seem to be less pronounced.

The last shot shows – SHQ 20mm saracen; strelets 1/72 norman; Hatt 1/72 ElCid cavalry; Tumbling Dice 1/72 norman and lastly another Hatt 1/72 Hun.

Bases are similar thickness so no adjustment needed or to be exploited.

OK last point – my solution.

Using some maths – 12 inches or a foot being 304.8mm for my purposes. Now assuming someone 6 foot high you get the following in real height of 1828.8 mm; at 1:87 (HO) = 21mm; 1:76 (OO) = 24mm; 1:72=25mm; 1:65=28mm and 1:56=32mm (fractions ignored)

So marrying 20mm (1/87) and 25mm (1/72) figures should be tricky although apparently less than 25 to 28mm.

But here is the rub research by a top university shows that the average height of people living in england changed as follows.

167cm pre roman; 170cm roman; less during the dark ages (no figure given because it was dark!) 172cm circa 1066 and 173cm by the 1100’s. Then it drops until recovering to 173-174cm during the period 1400 to 1650. Heights then declined to less than 169cm by the 1800’s! by 1970 we were averaging 177cm.

So that means for a 1/72 warrior he could a 23mm celt; 23.6mm legionaire; 24 mm norman; or a 23mm british redcoat again in the 1800’s. In short averages throw up millimetre differences so actual variations in height will be even greater. So in 1/72 a 21mm (4foot 11inches) high figure next to a 24mm (5foot 11inches) high figure is possible. Add to that variations in helmet shape and size and freedom beckons.

Finally it really comes down to the figures you like, I like the SHQ Saracens, I like the tumbling dice norman and saxon commands and I like the strelets norman and saxons (yes with hands the size of heads!)

so my solution has to be : I will take some notice of scale, maybe more about bulk than height, and paint the figures I like. I can always squint at the jarring mismatches when they do happen.

Happy Painting & Wargaming.

postscript – scale creep was always with us and good enough in “charge or how to play wargames” anyway. Are those “half round lancers on ponies?”

Tags 1/72, 20-25mm, citadel figures, Garrison Figures, greenwood and ball figures, Lamming Miniatures, lancashire miniatures, normans in the south, scale miniatures, SHQ miniatures, strelets, strelets 1/72 normans, strelets normans, tumbling dice miniatures