British battalion gun

I’ve taken a pause from painting my 60+ figure French battalion, and have added a  gun to the previously completed British battalion.

My 28mm Minden Miniatures project aims to recreate the units from the movie Barry Lyndon.  As far as I recall, there were no British guns in the movie.  But there was a French battalion gun.  So I’ve decided to do the same for the British, and give them a battalion gun.

I’ve painted the crew as redcoats from the regiment, rather than as blue-coated Royal Artillery.  The Minden figures aren’t exactly correct for this (some of the lace is different between the gunners and their infantry comrades), but such small details don’t bother me … I just want the overall effect.  Anyway, bear in mind this army is based on a movie, not on real-life, so anything not portrayed in the movie is totally up to me!

The gun itself is a left-over Minifigs Napoleonic piece, so is totally inaccurate! 

I’ve also painted a few of the Minden generic casualty figures.  These are sculpted to represent no particular nation, so their uniform details differ from their uninjured fellows in the battalion.  But, again, it gives the effect I want.

Blog stats look like a seismograph

The stats graph for this blog looks like it has been hit by an earthquake itself!

The overall earthquake damage in Christchurch and the surrounding areas in Canterbury is horrendous. I wish all wargamers in that area well.

Update on earthquake damage

Stacky has reported in with an update on the damage to his wargames armies during the recent Christchurch earthquake:

The salvage operation is nearly complete and although casualties have been high, the only fatalities have been some large resin figurines that have been decapitated and shattered beyond repair.

I have been extremely fortunate that I should have my armies back to fighting strength with some rebasing and a lot of glueing and touch-up paint work. My medieval army has lost a lot of broken spears that were part of the castings (mainly Bretonian spearmen from Games Workshop) and the cavalry units seemed to have come off worst, losing riders, swords, carbines and standards. That said, most should be repairable. However, the long awaited display cabinets are write-offs … but will be covered by insurance.

I do wonder how any plastic figures would have stood up to such an episode. Although some cannons, limbers and wagons came to pieces, most figures only had bent or broken muskets, bayonets and shako plumes. Almost all the standards broke away from the bearers, as to be expected, but the florist wire that I use for them is very strong and none broke.

My scene investigation revealed that the two drawers at the bottom of each cabinet were open at the time the units toppled. In fact, it is most likely that is the reason they toppled, as these drawers had all my unpainted lead in them. Hence, with the quake moving in a south to north motion, the drawers swung out and the weight in the drawer brought the units crashing down.

So I have learned three lessons from this experience:

1. Always secure such furniture to the wall.
2. Don’t have your lead mountain all together in a drawer that is not secure … the weight of it may surprise you.
3. Don’t use balsa wood for bases! All the mdf bases remained undamaged (so I will be eventually rebasing all my units to mdf).

I have my miniature collection insured and separately named on my policy. However, this is really only for a total loss such as a fire, hurricane or burglary. It might be something worth considering, taking into account the cost of replacement and the hours of painting.

I have spent today bracing all the other book cases and wall units in the house for when we get the next big one … but hopefully not in my life time!

My 8 year old son, Seamus, has been more concerned for my figures than I have
been. He has put all the recovered ones into line, placing all the broken
standards together on my gaming table … and it looks a bit like the roll call
after the Charge of the Light Brigade … riderless horses, bent and broken
lances … some figures are bent sideways as though wounded or drunk … and many figures are missing from stands. When I first saw the mess I was disappointed and just closed the door and thought that I could deal with it later. I also knew that it could have been preventable if I had secured the units when I had thought of it a week or so ago.

C’est la vie!

Wayne (just sitting through another wee jolt as I write)

A wargamer’s report from Earthquake Central

Wayne Stack, a fellow Kapiti Fusilier and wargaming mate from Christchurch, has reported in from Earthquake Central!

 

We are still having aftershocks here in Christchurch as I write this…but nothing like the big one earlier this morning. Coming from the West Coast of the South Island, which is on a fault line, I had considered myself experienced in earthquakes, but I certainly got a huge fright with this one. We live in a new house which I suppose needed to satisfy building regulations regarding earthquakes, but I thought the house was going to collapse when it struck.

 

We immediately lost power, phone, etc, and were huddled with our young children under a doorway for half and hour as further shakes came. Being in the dark obviously made it more terrifying.

 

However, I was pleasantly surpised to find very little damage. A large framed print had moved sideways and punched a hole in a wall, while sadly, the main damage was to my wargames room.

 

Two glass display cases that held all my painted figures have tipped over and smashed, with the figures spilling out causing considerabe damage…..plenty of glueing, painting and rebasing to be done in the months ahead. The thought had crossed my mind a week or two ago that I should secure the cases to the wall, but never got around to it.

 

We live near the airport on the west side of the city and got power back on mid morning, meaning we could watch the reports on TV.  It appears to me that the worst damaged areas were in the Central Business District and the east and northern parts of town which are on sandy soil. I have spoken to a number of people who have lost chimneys, had windows smashed and the usual glassware broken. 

 

I consider that we have got off lightly compared to others but it maybe quite a few days before we get the water mains working again. There have been reports of minor looting in the CBD but this was more likely by drunk opportunists who in the area after a night out.

 

I’m off now to take some photos of the damage for insurance purposes and to take account of the ‘butchers list’ for my troops….

 

 

You can see the devastation in Wayne’s wargames room in the above photo [click the pic to enlarge] , including the two display cases which took a king hit.  One is fully on its front, the other is leaning crazily aginst the table with figure bases spilling out. 

 

Wayne sent me another message a bit later:

  

Have only sorted one cabinet so far, which had my ACW and Zulu War stuff in it. Lots of bent bayonets, rifles, pistols and flag staffs … riderless horses, missing shields and smashed wagons … and two knackered cabinets. Yet to salvage my Napoleonic and SYW troops, but not looking that flash. It would be safe to say that my armies won’t be campaigning for a few months until repairs are done. Still having plenty of aftershocks but they will hopefully die off over the next day or two. It feels like you are standing on a boat and swaying.

 

So, sadly, Wayne’s little lead and plastic guys did not survive too well.  I’ve asked if there is any way we can help him. This is also a salutory lesson to those of us who live in earthquake zones to secure those display cases to walls. Wayne’s last comment:

 

My suggestion is to go to your local hardware shop and get some bracing brackets this weekend!