More cavalry! This time they go back even further in my painting history. I painted this regiment way back, probably around 1991. These were my early days of painting wargames figures (forgetting the splashing of Airfix figures with glossy Airfix G5 dark green when I was about 8 (I think this was the colour everyone used if bring and buy stands at shows are anything to go by!).
These are not painted to the standard that I aspire to now. Experience counts! But I do still like them for their shadeless honesty. It gives something of the toy soldier look to them. I also like to view them and compare them to the progress I have made since those days of the early 90's.
What I have done in the last couple of weeks is to re-base them. Gone are the individual bent pieces of card with flock (worn off!) and now they are on MDF with basing done to my current methods. I very nearly retired these figures, but they still have that something about them and they fit in size-wise not too badly with the Bicorne/Renegade/Redoubt troops. Actually these figures are still on their card bases but you cannot see them. I glued those bases to the MDF before adding the texture. This increased the height of the figure by about 1 - 2mm so making them fit in so much better.
The manufacturer used the method of casting the figure to the saddles. This gives an unfortunate 'camel rider' look to them as the cast saddle cloths are thick metal. As an aside I have just remembered that these old figures were once displayed on the very large meeting room in the Headquarters of the Prince of Wales's Division. The meeting room table was massive and I had enough of trying to wargame on my barrack room floor...so....I found the perfect place! The Headquarters table. I had access to it for one night only but it raised the interest from some very senior officers (pity most of my figures were Minifigs then but hey-ho!)
Anyway, these figures are no longer produced and haven't been offered in the manufacturer's catalogue for some time now. Can anyone guess who they were made by? I will let you know if no-one guesses correctly!
Very nice! The helmets are really impressive!
ReplyDeletePhil.
Hi Phil, Thanks for your comment. Yes I like the helmets too, it seems that just about every other figure maker gives a variety of soft hats, tudor helmets and lobsters in each pack. I really want to be able to have lobsters for all my rank and file, especially for late civil war. These had just that. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Jason:
ReplyDeleteThey don't look bad at all, especially with e rebasing. Are they Hinchliffe by any chance?
See http://madpadrewargames.blogspot.ca/2012/11/and-there-was-much-rejoicing.html - it seems your blog has won an award. :)
Many thanks for the Liebster nomination Mike! :-) It is an honour. I'm really glad you enjoy my blog. Maybe I should give my English Civil War cavalry 'Liebster Pot Helmets'.....(Groan...I can hear the tumbleweeds....!)
ReplyDeleteI can say that they are not Hinchliffe cavalry. I think the answer will surprise a lot of wargamers (even if you are the only person to have attempted a guess so far!). I will give it a few more days and I'll reveal the answer. :-)
No more guesses made so I'll give the answer. The figures were made by Front Rank. I bet that suprised a few people :-)
ReplyDelete