Wednesday, December 7, 2011

No Joy In Mudville...

Regiment Lorraine
Though you might well think I have dropped out of sight these past few months...with nary a post...I'm still here though still struggling with life's complexities (read: money...and work). I'm going to get back on the horse this holiday season and devote some quality time to getting the Lead Gardens back into trim.

In the few months that I have been away from the blog, I've taken up 40mm home casting in a serious way by virtue of a storage room clean-out of piles of old figures that instead of trying to unload on ebay (which seems to be really flat these days...) I got the notion to buy a few Prince August molds and turn those old figures into new 40mm stuff. I've got a lot of metal that I accumulated over the years and it has really played out in the casting as I don't have to buy metal ingots.

I've managed to build a basic old school horse and musket force (both sides) for almost nothing save the start-up cost of the molds. I decided that since I had already collected a nice 25mm collection of 18th century Imaginations, that I would base this new collection on historical SYW French and English units with a few fictitious light infantry and such to spice it up a bit. In that effort the fantastic Seven Years War website  was my weapon of choice as far as units, painting, as well as names of commanders and such. Much more on this throughout the month. But suffice to say, classic gaming is alive and well here at the Lead Gardens!
British 12th Regiment of Foot
I have been also toying with getting some 40mm semi-flat French and Indian War stuff from Irregular Miniatures to further spice things up.

These are some images of the Prince August castings. I have been much inspired by the blog Ilkley Old School and Battlegame of the Month in this endeavor which is really great if you've not had a chance to read these two fantastic blogs.
The mighty 12th Foot... 2 wings of 16 plus a grenadier company (8 figures) in all it's glory!
 I'm going with the unit organizations found in the  "Charge" rules minus one company or troop...so basically I'm using 2 company or troop units instead of three...it seems to work with 40mm better than three which would cover a lot of table space.

I'll be sure to post better pics and more comprehensive battle reports this holiday season since I have some time away from work (...the academic's life has it's perks...)

In the meantime it seems I literally can't seem to give away a collection of nice 10mm WWII Pendraken stuff!? on eBay...so I'm giving up on the ebay thing and I'm posting some pics of them here and if any of my faithful readers are interested just drop me a line at ddugas@vt.edu and make me an offer...here are some pics (just ask me for a detailed list if you are interested)...they are painted to a high level and I know you'll love these minis if you are in to this scale!

















All the best for your Holiday Season!—littlejohn

9 comments:

Bluebear Jeff said...

For light troops for your "English", might I suggest a look at the "Légion Britannique" amongst the Hanover forces?

There is excellent information on the http://www.kronoskaf.com site.


-- Jeff

Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said...

Looking good! I've seen some of these painted as flats and absolutely beautiful but I found to my surprise 2 years ago that I like the clean shiny Toy look best.

I esp like the Brits. I've been mulling over adding some Brits to my mob and dipping back into the Forest Primeval. I think the fully round PA frontiersman and Indians will work well with the semi-flats but I haven't tried it on table. (no Mohawk hairdos but..) The guy in buckskins and cap makes a good Ranger anyway.

I think a grenadier with cap cut down slightly might make a decent light infantry figure as well.

Glad to see that you've been busy having fun. (and I hear you about ebay)

-Ross

tidders2 said...

Nice 40mm figs. I also use my spare lead to cast 40mm figs from PA and Creartec moulds.

I've opted for infantry battalion sizes of 28 - 4 command plus 2 cys of 12; cavalry size 18 - 2 squadrons of 9.

I'm just about to restart work on my 40mm project (the pile of lead has grown). One side is PA + few Irregular; the other a mix of Creartec + Irregular + Sash&Sabre.

-- Allan

william smith said...

If you are making a move or are going away for a short time then one question that will plague you is what to do with all my goods. The easiest answer is that you can store it with warehouses or with self storage facilities. Self Storage facilities are a good option as you can save a lot on costs as you take care of a lot of work like packing goods on your own, transporting them yourself, etc.

Self-Storage Sydney

Mosstrooper said...

Great looking 40mm figures, have been agonising over getting some of these molds for a long while .

abdul666 said...

Good to have you back!
Go 'free wheeling' with the light troops: in this project you'll express your creativity only with them.
Best wishes for 'The Real World™'.

Jean-Louis

Mark Dudley said...

Jeff

Excellent - welcome to the fun.

The figures look great - based singly is by far the best way to go.

Mosstrooper - are you going Vapnartak in York ? If so I am putting on a game with my PA collection

Mosstrooper said...

Unlikey to make York which is a great pity as I have been in past and found it a great little show - combined with York which is always great .

littlejohn said...

@Jeff: The Hanover lights look pretty cool, every unit had a different coat!...thanks for the suggestion.

@Ross: I checked out you suggested frontiersmen and Indians on the PA site and looks like I'll be asking for a few molds for this Christmas...and BTW do you know if the 42mm Irregular FIW flats look worthwhile?

@tidders: I've not had a look at Creartec, I'll be sure to check them out, Thanks!

@Jean Louis: many Thanks for all the encouragement over the years! It's interesting how a blog has kept me focused through the hard times...

@Moss and Mark: Thanks guys...I'm jealous cause I have not been to a gaming con in a long while, but perhaps I'll be able to hit "Cold Wars" here in the states.

Many Thanks everyone, really glad to be back on the horse!