The latest sets from Italeri

We’ve just received the latest releases from Italeri and very nice they are too! First up is a set of Napoleonic Scots Infantry. There are 36 models in the set, three sprues containing 12 poses. They are crisply moulded and well detailed. There are two sergeant figures and a drummer. The only ‘missing’ is an officer figure and an Ensign would have been nice but otherwise a great addition to the Napoleonic range.

Next up is a set of World war Two American Infantry in Winter uniforms. An ideal set for those wishing to re fight the Battle of the Bulge and the advance into Germany during the late war!

Again, you get 36 figure in 12 dynamic poses on three sprues. I particularly like the Grenade launcher and the radio operator. Both sets of figures come with a clear painting guide on the back of the boxes and in this respect Italeri are better than most manufacturers, so much so that I have been using their boxes as a reference for some of my 28mm models.

Finally, the last release is a 1/72 scale fast build model of the fearsome German 88mm Flak and anti tank gun. The fast build models are designed for wargamers and allow you to build a reasonable replica without all the fiddly bits! The kit also contains 8 crew and look as though they are dressed for Desert warfare so this set will go nicely with the recent DAK Afrika Korps and Paratroops in tropical uniform. All of these sets are now available in my ebay shop ready for despatch now!

Albion Alloys at Arcane Scenery

I’m very excited to receive my latest range, the Albion Alloys range of Precision Metals. On first glance, you might think, so what, it’s just metal! If you are at all into scratch building or converting models though, you will be as excited as me. The range of Albion Alloys consists of Aluminum, Brass & Copper tube, rod, sheet and channeling in various sizes. Of course, as the name suggests the pieces are precision engineered and cut to the specified sizes and they are incredibly useful for modelling projects. Primarily designed for model engineers, these pieces are incredibly useful to modellers and wargamers.

The tubes slide fit into the next size up ( telescope) to enable you to build pistons etc. The rod is ideal for pinning models. If nothing else, using the tube to replace the post on flying stands will ensure that your model doesn’t snap off during games! The micro brass tube can be used to replace gun barrels to make them look more authentic and you can even use the tube to make shell cases. The channeling is great for model Tanks, for making brackets etc.

I will be carrying a range of some 60 different types of Albion Alloys in my ebay shop as part of the Expo Tools range and I will also be adding the range to my independent on line shop in time. As well as the lines that I hold ready for instant dispatch, I am also able to order most of the Albion Alloy range, including the larger 1 metre lengths. If you would like details, please contact me through the shop email.

Napoleonic Flank Companies!

It’s been some time since my last blog on the subject of Napoleonics but I have been busy painting and my Army is steadily growing, along with my knowledge of the period. My main reference in building my army has been the superb book, the Waterloo Companion by Mark Adkin. It really is a first class reference book and if you are at all interested in the period, I suggest that you must add it to your library!

The main fighting unit of infantry in the British Napoleonic army was the Battalion. You will often hear people refer to various Regiments when talking of the units at a particular battle , for example, the 27th Inniskilling Regiment. However, the Regiment in the British army was more of an organisational title and it was the battalion that actually took to the field. Some Regiments consisted of more than one Battalion; two or three were possible, but it was unlikely that there would be more (There were of course exceptions). In this case, the battalions would be numbered, so the first battalion of the 27th Regiment would be noted as 1/27, the second, 2/27 and so on.

A battalion consisted of around 800 men when at full strength. In reality, it was extremely rare for a Battalion to be at full strength whilst on campaign. The actual numbers varied from just over 700 to as few as 500. At the Battle of Waterloo, some battalions were below this number, due to casualties suffered at the battle of Quatre Bras. Regardless of numbers, the battalion was divided into 10 Companies, each usually commanded by a Captain. Eight of the Companies would be known as Line or Centre Companies and would be numbered 2 to 9. The other two Companies were the Flank Companies. Company number one, deployed on the right of the line was the ‘Grenadier Company’ and usually formed from the biggest & bravest soldiers. Company number 10, was the Light Company and whilst usually deployed on the left of the line was also used as the skirmishers for the Battalion. These troops were usually the best shots and the smallest and fastest in the Battalion. They were often deployed well in advance of the battalion and if trouble threatened, they needed to be able to get back to their lines quickly!

Flank Companies were distinguished from the Centre Companies by the size of their Epaulets and the colour of the plumes on their Shako’s. Flank Companies have the big ‘wing’ type epaulets ( first two models on the left of the pic.) as opposed to the’ tufts’ of the Centre company’s and the Grenadier Company would have all white plumes whilst the Light company would have green plumes. In addition, the officers in the Flank Companies tended to carry a Curved Sword or sabre as oppose to a straight one.

So having blathered on long enough about the technicalities of Flank Company troops I’ll show you in the next article how I put mine together.

New releases from Zvezda – Great War Germans

Another eagerly awaited release has just arrived from the Russian Model Soldier manufacturer, Zvezda.

The set is of World War One German Infantry and this represents a new period for this Company. Up until now they have focused on Ancient and Historical figure sets, so it is nice to see a set from the First World War. The figures are nicely moulded and as you can see the infantry are wearing the Pickelhaube helmet and so will be suitable for the early period of the War:

As you can see, they make nice models when painted. Here is a picture of the back of the box to show you the number and type of poses included in the set. I think that the machine gun is particulary good. The set is currently available from my ebay shop.

New 1/32 Scale German Mountain Troops

I know that I keep on about it, but the new releases are coming thick & fast and I’m struggling to keep up with them, so the blog has been on the back burner for the last fortnight. I will catch up with my Napoleonic articles soon, so please bear with me. The good news there is that I am still painting and my first Battalion is now complete.

Airfix are continuing with their steady stream of new releases and re tools/ reboxing. This set hasn’t been available for some time and has been eagerly awaited by collectors. The set contains 29 unpainted figures and 20 accessory pieces ( mainly ski’s!). So there are plenty of figures for your collection. As with all the current 1/32 scale Airfix figure sets, they are moulded in hard plastic to make it easier to paint them and allow the experienced modeller to convert them. ‘Head swaps’ with the German infantry set being the most straight forward conversion, allowing you to produce Figures for the Russian front in winter!

All in all, a nice addition to the range and of course, available for my ebay shop at

New Saxons Sets – Thegns & Fyrd from Wargames Factory

The dash to plastic in wargames figures continues with the release of Wargames Factory’s Saxons. As usual for this company, the figures are 28mm in scale and you get good value for money with 32 figures in each box.

The Saxon Thegns were the wealthier, armoured warriors, usually the body guard of the local warlord or chieftan and formed the hard centre of the Saxon Army. When these men locked shields to form their shield wall, they were a tough nut to crack and won many victories in battle. It had seemed to me that the Saxons were the fall guys of history as they were remembered as the losers of the Battle of Hastings to the Norman invaders and they are constantly portrayed as the under dogs to the Viking Raiders of the time. However, the Anglo Saxons held off the Vikings and under King Alfred, eventually beat in them battle to establish a stable, wealthy kingdom of England. As to being the underdogs, have a read of Bernard Cornwells Saxon stories to see what a tough bunch they were!

The Saxon Fyrd made up the bulk of the Saxon army and consisted of the less well off, everyday folk, called up from the local area to form a militia. As such, these warriors would be less likely to wear armour and would carry a variety of simple weapons, such as axes (from the farm, rather than war axes!), spears and bows. It was the Fyrd that were lured off the hill at Hastings by the Normans and this was evidence of their indiscipline and lack of military training.

The sets themselves are very nice and the moulding is crisp and well detailed. The two sets share the same Arms & Shields sprue but the Thegns set contains torso’s with Chain Mail armour where as the Fyrd set has unarmoured torso’s.

Apologies for the quality of picture. The focus doesn’t do justice to the detail present on the models. So here’s a better shot of the heads!

The heads, arms, weapons and shields are all seperate, enabling you to create plenty of variety for your warriors and there will be no problem in producing a very convincing warband with these figures. The sets retail at

My First Napoleonic Skirmish!

My British Napoleonic army is steadily growing and it has now actually been on the gaming table. Even though I have only finished 40 figures, I was able to join in with a skirmish game that was played at the club that I attend. The skirmish rules were actually written by one of the club members, Richard, and worked really well, allowing us to play with a small force of Napoleonic Infantry rather than the normal large battalions. Basically, we were re-creating the sort of adventure that you read about in Bernard Cornwells’ ‘Sharpe’ novels. So we had a great game, lots of fun and I’m pleased to report that the French Army was prevented from stealing the gold from the Spanish Villagers!

On my last Napoleonic blog posting I said that I would discuss the difference between British Flank & Centre Companies and why there are different sets for Waterloo Infantry & Peninsular War Infantry. Of course if you are a veteran of the hobby you will already know the answers but if like me, you are a newcomer to Napoleonics, these things can be confusing and a barrier to starting your own army. So this is what I’ve discovered and if anyone out there reading this has any extra information or would like to correct any error that I may make, please contact me through my shop email and I will publish your email through the blog. Unfortunately, due to the huge amount of spam that I was getting through the blog, I’ve had to turn off the comments (Thank you to the Russian & American spammers and the Pharmaceutical suppliers that have contributed so far….).

So when deciding what British force that you are going to field, there is one final decision that you need to make. Are you going to model a force from the Peninsular War or do you fancy the period around Waterloo? Or to put the question another way, would you like to have your Line infantry wearing white trousers or grey? Now that’s a gross over simplification that totally ignores the historical perspective but essentially that’s the main difference between the two troop types. If you are desperate to have an army that will fight in Spain & Portugal with all the allies & enemies that go with them, then you need the guys in the white trousers. If you want to fight Waterloo and the associated battles, then grey is for you! There is one other significant difference, the type of hats worn by the officers & troops. In the peninsular, it was the stove pipe shako with the plume at the front for the troops and the Bi-corn Hat for the officers. At Waterloo, the troops wore the Belgiac Shako with the plume to the side and the officers wore the same except that the cord on the front was gold rather than white.

There are some other subtle differences but if you stick to the above, you will be about right. Remember, although the button counters of this world will delight in telling you exactly what shade of underwear the Coldstream Guards were issued with in 1815, we are trying to create an army that looks good on the war games table and in war time troops had a habit of improvising and adapting equipment, even in the 19th century. So you will see troops on campaign wearing a mixture of uniform in different shades and states of wear and tear. If you are happy with that simplification, join me on my next blog article on the construction of my Napoleonic Army and I will start to assemble some figures. Oh! and I’ll get back to you regarding Flank & Centre Companies!

Bolt Action Waffen-SS

I am in the process of reading Antony Beevor’s latest book, ‘D-Day’. A super read if you are at all interested in military history, even if World War Two isn’t your subject. Antony Beevor is one of those clever historians who manages to combine the big picture of army groups and brigades manoeuvring against each other with the accounts of the soldiers that were there doing the actual fighting. It’s riveting stuff and the truth of war appears to be stranger and more horrific than most fiction.

Beevor is not particularly complimentary about General Montomery and from the evidence presented, Monty appears to have been suffering from a bad case of over inflated ego. However, the idea that somehow the British and Canadian Forces were slower to break out of the Normandy beachheads than the Americans ( and therefore were perhaps less of a fighting force) is put clearly into perspective when it is explained that the British were facing the cream of the troops available to the Germans, the Waffen SS. Whilst in the main, the Americans were fighting the German line infantry, including many Russian and other foreign conscripts.

The Waffen-SS were the cream of the German army, well armed and equipped and highly motivated to the point of fanaticism. In Beevors book there are tales of Waffen- SS troops refusing medical treatment from the Allies, prefering to die for Adolf Hitler rather than surrender. There are many examples of SS troops fighting well and within the bounds of what we can call ‘civilised war’ ( if such a thing exists), but too many incidents of brutality occured throughout the war, tainting their reputation. That said SS units fought courageously, sometimes ferociously, against great odds until the wars end in Berlin, 1945.

Bolt Action Miniatures, the WWII section of Warlord games have just released their Waffen-SS set containing 20 metal soldiers. They are, as always from this Company, beautifully sculpted and produced and a must have set for any WWII wargamer. Also available are two support packs, An HMG-42 machine gun team and a PAK 40 antitank gun and crew. Heres a picture of the painted models courtesy of Warlord.

German Imperial Guard!

I couldn’t resist showing you these conversions. They ‘re converted from the new Bolt Action WWII German plastic set, with added Imperial Guard weapons and equipment.

I think that the guy with the flamer looks great! These are the first of what will be an Imperial Guard squad and they are going to look superb on the war gaming table. If I wasn’t so focused on my Napoleonic army & Necrons I’d have a go myself. Her’s a few more pics!

I’m already thinking that a Tiger tank in this scale would look pretty good as well. Why not a whole Imperial Guard army made from WWII Troops. Now there’s food for thought!

Plastic German Infantry from Bolt Action – sprue shots

We’ve just received a sample sprue set from the new Bolt Action plastic World War Two German set that is due to be released later this month. Bolt action is the Second World War ‘section’ of Warlord games, the company responsible for the superb ranges of Romans and English Civil war figures. Up to now, the Bolt Action releases have been in metal or resin but it was only a matter of time before the Company released a plastic set.

As with their previous releases, the quality is superb and the production from Renedra plastics is first class. The detail on the MG 34 and MG42 supplied on the weapons sprue is amazing. I dont think that my photo’s will really do them justice but here they are!

The scale is 28mm, which means that they are ideal for the ‘Rules of Engagement’ rules set. They are also very well priced at

I owe Clive Owen an apology

I remember watching the film ‘King Arthur’ a while ago. It’s the one about the fall of Hadrians wall that stars Clive Owen as a Roman Officer and a group of Sarmatian Warriors that were on one last mission to rescue a group of Roman nobles for the clutches of the Barbarians in the North. It also starred Kiera Knightley, who whilst looking very attractive in a languid sort of way, didn’t really convince me that she was the warrior queen Guinevere on the grounds that she doesn’t look as though she ‘s got the strength to draw breath, nevermind a war bow.

Anyway, I digress, although, it was a worthwhile diversion just to have an excuse to put a Picture of Kiera in my blog. The point was that the film looked at the legend of Arthur from a new historical Perspective and set the whole legend at the point when the Romans were leaving Britian rather than in the Middle ages.

I found all this a bit too much to swallow and was particularly sceptical that a warrior group such as the Samartians would be in the service of Rome in Britain.

Well, I was wrong. I was lucky enough to have the time to go and visit Hadrians wall recently and I’ve got to say that it is well worth a look. We went to the fort at Birdosland and I was surprised to find that it was garrisoned by the Dacians and that the later history of the wall seemed to support the the idea in the film that as the Romans pulled out the existing population would have become self governing and the existing garrisons would have stayed on. Even more thought provoking was just how much wasn’t known about the ‘dark days’ as the romans retreated from the wall. So the premise of the film isn’t so outlandish after all.

So I think that I’ll be having another look at that film and this time enjoy it as a possible version of what might have been and not get too sniffy over the historical facts. I bet it will have some great ideas for wargaming scenarios as well…..

Finally, here’s a picture of Julie ( my Wife) impersonating a Roman Guard at Birdsoland Fort. Now, if she had been around at the time, she would have sorted out those Northern Barbarians…….

Even more new releases…Pegasus Models

I really like Pegasus Models as a company. Yes, I know I say that about all of my suppliers but I would n’t stock anything from a Company that I didn’t like. So why do I like them? Well they choose interesting and lesser known subjects for their models. I mean where else could you find a set of Californian Indians or Gold Miners?

So the latest release from Pegasus is a box set of the World War Two German Tank, the Pz-38T Light tank.

Although, the Tank served with the German Army , it was actually a Czech designed vehicle that was acquired when the Germans invaded Czechoslovakia. Considered to be one of the best light tank designs of the Second World War, it saw action in Europe and on the Russian front. The box contains two models , with 27 parts per model. Assembly is straight forward and the models are really ideal for wargaming and with a bit of detailing work, they will also make into fine replicas. At