91st Highlanders Piper

I have been looking for a long time for a piper for the 91st Highlanders, and I thought I had found just the model in the Foundry range in their Highland Infantry Command blister. When I found I could order this through my FLGS, even better.

Now, I am fully aware of scale creep, and indeed that the Spartan miniatures are on the top end of the 32mm range, some might even say heroic 32mm. However, I have a Reaper colonial figure that fits in quite well, so I thought this would be a similar size to that, smaller, but not noticeably so. I had not taken into account the age of the Foundry line. These guys are from back when 25mm really meant 25mm, so the piper I wanted from the pack really is quite diminutive when compared to the rest of the section. I think I'll paint him up anyway, after all he's just the musician, and not one of the firing line, but I think he may have to be raised up on some kind of mound on his base to make his height, or lack thereof, a little less noticeable. Maybe I'll hide him behind some sandbags.

On the Foundry website, some of the minis look rather heroic in scale, and maybe some of the non-trooper minis are a little taller, but this guy is the same height as a kneeling Spartan mini. This is going to take some thought. Still, I do love the mini, and he comes with pipes and pith helmet, which means no conversion is needed to make him fit with the section in any other way.

Trip back to the old Country, Part II

Earlier this month, I had a second trip back to the UK in almost as many months, this time for a happier occasion (more weddings, less funerals, but you'll have to look elsewhere for the pics of all the kilts).

I will however use this picture from my visit. It will of course be clear to you all why this Glaswegian relic of a former age has geek cred.

This time, a much shorter time spent in my parents attic, but with more space in my suitcase. Fortunately I had put things in order on the previous visit, so only had to pick up a couple of boxes and stash them. I also found out that there's a new games cafe opened in Edinburgh, right next door to the flat I sold there not a year ago! Why couldn't that have been there at the same time as me? Anyway, on with the haul.

First off, the things I picked up from storage:

Urban War rules (in magazine form). These were too heavy for the last trip, but with all the UW minis I have brought over, I figured it was time to have the rules to hand. Of course, I have access to pdfs (downloads here), but I do prefer paper versions, despite the space they take up.

Void TAV MKIII resin kit. This is more for Void than for UW, but I do so love the mini, and I intend to use it in some fashion for UW even though I don't think vehicle rules for the game exist (I'm sure it won't be too hard to house rule something). The kit i have differs slightly from the one pictured in the link.

Empire Army. Lastly I picked up 2 boxes of old school WFB minis, mostly metal, with a few plastic pikemen in there for good measure. These will be used for my Bretonnians, and/or Empire, in the case of any local WFB gaming. I say army, but really it's all infantry, as I left my few knights and artillery pieces. There will surely be more pictures of these in the near future, especially as there are some nice oldhammer minis amongst them.

Whilst there, on a quick visit to Static, I also bought:

MacBeth. I have had one eye on SAGA for a while, even going so far as to painting up some Vikings, but the release of a Scots faction, with a leader as infamous as MacBeth at the fore could not be passed up. Of course the real MacBeth and the Shakespearean version are not to be confused, as it seems the original version was actually quite good at the king thing.

Napoleonic British Peninsular war Officers. There's always room for more Napoleonics. I'm sure these can be used to back up various of the rank and file figures I already have, be they riflemen or highlanders. Planned for use in Drums and Shakoes or Sharp Practice.

Highlander Missile Troops (bow and musket). From Warlord, these are kind of multi use,

I also bought and had posted to my parents house, some Prussians from the war of 1866, when North Star were selling off their old stock to make way for new sculpts I think. I'm sure I can put them to good use in something Victoriana, for example, as troops for IHMN. The Jaegers from this batch are already prepped and primed and in the process of being painted, so more on them soon.

A visit to WH Smith's meant I picked up the trio of magazines (Wargames Illustrated, WSS and Miniature Wargames). The first two I can get here, eventually, but the third is not an option. I was less impressed with Minature Wargames this issue (I have only read two issues), as it held less of direct interest to me.

To round out the wargaming related purchases, I picked up another book on Churchill at a discount book store (there's not enough of those over here), this time more on his political career than his military career, but it fit with my other current reading. Be on the lookout for a review of Young Titan soon.

My my, the summer just got a whole lot busier with all this stuff to work through!

Black Watch Infantry Piper Conversion

So, in my last post, I mentioned I was planning to convert one of my Infantrymen to a piper. With the help of the Victoria Miniatures Piper conversion kit. At first, I thought to use the running man as the base for the conversion, as his gun was a mis-cast anyway, but on closer inspection, he was not the prime candidate. The knife man seemed to have an overall better pose, with the reloading guy being next (at least his head is down, which might make it easier for him to reach the mouthpiece, but more on that later).

The only real thing I had to do for this was cut his left arm off, as his right arm already comes separately, so as far as conversions go, it's pretty simple. I blocked in the spaces between the body and the new arms with greenstuff, smoothed it out, and there you go.

The arms from Victoria Minis are not a perfect match however. They are for GW style 28mm heroic scale, and Spartan, although 32mm figs, they are pretty slim built and fine of feature. This means if you look closely, they piper has huge hands compared to his section mates.

The other issue with the arms was the cuffs. So I GSed in some new cuffs in an attempt to match with the rest of the section. They look pretty rough, but a coat of paint should help hide a multitude of sins in that department.

Lastly, the pipes come separate from the head in the conversion kit, therefore the mouthpiece doesn't reach the mouth. This means he's taking a pause from playing I guess, but it did mean I didn't have to re-sculpt the mouth to make him play. I have since looked up pictures of bagpipes, and it seems the actual mouthpiece is really long in real life, so maybe I'll redo this to get him mid-tune.

 

So on with the rest of the section. I foresee at least one other conversion with the minis I have, probably using the arms I cut off this gent to replace the mis-cast gun I received, along with a few bits and bobs on the rest of them, just to make the unit a little more unique.

Kingdon of Britannia: 91st Highlanders, the Plan!

I finally recieved my two Osprey Men-at-arms books I had ordered from Amazon. I am looking forward to reading through them, and inspiration has already struck on two fronts. Firstly, I have found the scheme I wish to use for my Rocket-Hussars who have been patinenly awaiting a coat of paint, and secondly I have found the scheme I wish to use for my third section of Rifleman. I have decided to go with the 91st Highlanders, as shown on the left hand image on the cover of the book (as well as on the plate inside of course).

Whilst this means I can use the figures supplied by Spartan games without too much modification (no need to go all in for the leg swaps to get kilts) to make Highlanders, I will still need to practice my green-stuff skills in making the fancier pockets on the jacket, and I'll have to modify the cuffs slightly. And yes, this does mean I will have to paint the trews tartan, but that was inevitable. At least I can get away without the head swaps I had initially thought I would have to do, although I am not saying never on this, as the odd glengarry in the unit really makes a difference in feel for the unit, and is another way to set them apart (and get round duplicate miniatures), along with a kilted musician to help the unit out, they really should look the part.

I guess this means the South Essex has been put further down the list, as it'll be a long time before I think I'll need to field three units of Line infantry in a game, unless they get recruited to help out my Gun Section. Afterall, I have already used their colours on my first HMG section, and a sergeant. Seems a bit of a demotion for the mighty South Essex, but what can you do?

Infinity: Highlander Cateran

A lovely model isn't it. Not OTT in it's stance, but realistic, and the scenic basing really sets him apart from the other sniper models, who stand in (what I think to be) an unrealistic fashion. I like it, so I ordered one. However, whilst ordering it, and looking at the pic online with the guy at my FLGS, we wondered if he really came with that 40mm scenic base, as it is larger than the 25mm base he is fielded with in the rules.

So which was it, normal base and that's just a pic, or a larger base with included scenery.  The answer?

Both!

Yes, that's right, the box contains the normal 25mm base, and a larger 40mm base. This means that you have the option of either the large scenic base, as shown below, or to base him for use in game.

Option 1: Full scenic

I'm a bit miffed by this, as one of the reasons to buy him is the way the model is set in all the pictures of him online, but yet you cannot use him like this in game (well, I guess in theory you could, but he'd be making a big target of himself all the time, which is not what you want from your sniper). How dare you give me choice? What do you think I am, some kind of hobbyist who spends his time modelling and tinkering with models? Oh, wait, right.

Option 2: Game legal

So, the question is, what to do? I could go with option 1: do him up on the full 40mm scenic base, with the realisation that I'll hardly ever play the game anyway, and when I do, suck up the larger base for all the difference it would likely make. Or is it to be option 2: go with the smaller base, with the small rock/staircase that is included, thereby being completely game-legal, but to my mind, losing some of his charm.

Option 3: Can't be arsed!

There is of course option 3, where I try to arrange some kind of set-up with wires/magnets/mirrors, where I can display him on the full base, and take this apart to be able to field him on the game-legal 25mm base. This sounds the most fun, but is in the end the least likely option.

Option 4: Half-way house.

Most of those I see in the forums (well, ok, I found 2) were based on the 25mm base with half the wall added. This goes way over the edges, but still doesn't look too bad. Seems to be a half-way house between most of the scenics kept, and large (but not 40 mm base size) presence on the battlefield.

Decisions, decisions!

Caledonian Highlander Army WIP

Here's the WIP shot of the Caledonian Highlander Army I'm working on. The SAS  has been quickly finished to less than table- top, but is the most complete. Next up is my piper/medic for my Caledonian Volunteers. The mini is Piper Bill Millin, from the Warlord Bolt Action range, but he fits in perfectly with the scale. I would have prefered if he were wearing a glengarry, like the rest of his squadmates, but I can live with the beret as I have yet to source heads wearing glengarries. I'd also like to add a rifle, like his comrades, just to bring the mini up to the same tach level as the rest of the group, but I don't really think it'll be an issue, afterall, the Highlanders in this game seem a little behind the times technologically speaking. Also, from my limited exposure to the game, the mini doesn't have to replicate exactly the arms he is allegedly equiped with in game. A red cross on one of his packs and we're good to go.

You can see I've started to try the tartan on the volunteer on the far right of the threesome. They'll be wearing government issue, or Black Watch tartan. I found a neat little tutorial on how to paint it and other tartans here. I think I'll be using my fine point marker for the black lines, to tidy up the join between blue and greed, and also to keep the line uniform. However, there's a sheen to the marker pen from some angles I'll have to work around. Maybe a layer of matt varnish at the end to tone it down.