Thursday 24 October 2013

Hardy's Ale, Hinton Hunts and other matters.


Bit of a mixed bag today for you photo wise, been quite busy on the commission front but I have still managed to get a bit of painting for myself and added more command figures to the 15mm AWI's. This collection is really coming together now and expanding at a fair rate, to the point where having so many singly based figures is getting a bit of a drag. I have reinforcements coming from Peter Pig (hopefully tomorrow), so I'll keep painting as I'm really into this period now and the PP's are just perfect for my painting style. As you can see I have experimented with some movement trays (of course from Tony at ERM), but I'm not sure they work in this scale for me, would be great for larger scale figures though. I'm continuing to stock up on 55mm hexes for the new board.

Commission work.
'Town Guard' unit number 2 for Tony completed (20 figures) plus a 12 figure firelock unit. For John I have painted 3rd Georgia Cavalry Regiment, these are Hinton Hunt figures and charming little figures they are too. I have more HH (Union) cavalry to do plus these fine castings of ACW standard bearers and artillery officers (below). Don't think I have seen such nice flags before and I will enjoy painting them...... certainly preferable to painting a plain cast flag.

Hardys Ale .... 1981!
Had this bottle on the kitchen dresser since moving into this house in 2003, and never really thought much about it, but I took it down for a look the other day and it says it keeps well for 25 years plus!! Could it really be drinkable still? Thought I would take a couple pics for 'Steve the Wargamer' a man who clearly enjoys his beers.





As the wife and daughters are off to London next week to see 'Jessie J' at the 02 arena and will be staying up there overnight I'm planning a run of solo C&C AWI games, and I hope to bring a small engagement from the White Plains Campaign to the table.

Loadsa pics.....

20mm firelocks (for Tony's collection).


'Town Guard' unit #2 (for Tony's collection).


Hinton Hunt Confederate Georgia cavalry - 20mm - for 'Old John's' collection.



A few more command figures in 15mm .

A trial movement tray.

20mm Hinton Hunt ACW figures - for John's collection of course.

Just look at those flag castings!


8 comments:

  1. More good work! Especially like your treatment of the Confederate cavalry. Nicely done!

    A relaxing day of soloing gaming without interruptions...what could be better?.

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  2. Some very fine looking fellows there Lee. The Civil War types in particular. The movement bases look good too. Is the footprint too large for you?

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  3. Wonderful work on the HH Confederates Lee. Marcus Hinton was a founding member of the Southern Skirmish Society and was obviously keen on the ACW. Strange though that his ACW figures are a bit lacking in animation however your treatment of them is excellent. Enjoy painting the flags!

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  4. Those Hinton Hunt OPC Reb cavalry are just wonderful - surely one of Marcus's very best sculpts. The castings are particularly crisp too, so they must be early ones. By the time I had some of these chaps (once upon a time) the moulds were in a bad state. Not wishing to disagree with Bold Stryker, who is a guru in all matters HH, but I think that the static pose is good for ACW cavalry - they didn't do a lot of wild charging, I think. Anyway, great job.

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  5. Can't remember if I've said it or not but my gosh the 20's you've painted look good. Not that the smaller ones don't but I really like what you've done with the 20's.

    The movement stand looks attractive and practical for C&C style games, esp for a campaign famed for 'loose files'.

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  6. You are doing some great work.

    That ale looks tasty. My wife and I used to live in a flat very close to the old Eldridge & Pope brewery in Dorchester, and were daily accosted with its yeasty aromas - I understand the old brewery has been decommissioned now.

    All the best,
    John

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    1. I have a bottle of the very same stuff sitting on a shelf in the war loft....! Hate to think how old mine is... at least 30 years... I remember I bought two bottles and gave one to my grand-dad, only to be reminded by everyone that he was unlikely to be around in 25 years time... charming! Sounds like a series of solo AWI games is the perfect excuse for a ceremonial opening?? With a nice plate of cheese and crackers that would make a most satisfying repast!If you do open it, can we have some tasting notes, please.. :o)

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  7. Thanks for all the comments. To reply to some of the points raised - the HH Reb cavalry are probably the first HH figures I have painted and they did require a slightly different approach to my usual style I found as a lot of the detail is 'flatter' than I am used to. The horses were enjoyable to paint once they were cleaned of flash between the legs etc. I'm pleased with how they turned out bearing in mind here that I'm painting at 'commercial speed' so I have to come in at a reasonable time scale and work quite fast. The 10 figures represent 5 hours work. The flag was supplied by John and I tried to brighten up the red and white - I'll probably add '3rd Ga. Regt' to the flag before they go. I was surprised by how soft the metal is.

    Movement trays - they're a great product and of course supplied with the cut out 20mm bases. As my figures are based on 1p coins I asked Tony at ERM to check for me and he duly informed me that 1p coins are in fact 20.2 mm but would fit well, as indeed they do. But I just think they look a touch too 'loose' order for my liking. I have a huge bag of these 'basing kits' should anybody wish to try a few samples - I don't think I'll be using them myself.

    I do intend to have an evening of solo wargaming next week, to give the C&C AWI rules a good work through. I have chosen the White Plains campaign because 'AD' did so much research and has detailed maps etc on his 'Mini AWI' blog which is a superb resource for AWI gamers as it contains a lot of original primary source material........ the bottle of Hardy's Ale may indeed be ceremonially drunk at this time and I'll raise a glass to my late father in law to whom this belonged and was my constant drinking companion for many years in many fine pubs up and down the country - together we sampled many a great beer, his favourite remained Young's Special and the seasonal Young's winter warmer (can't recall the name).

    Cheers all,

    Lee.

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