A Treasured Memory on eBay

[Pre-Cabinette Archives c.2017]

One of my abiding wargame memories was discovering Miniature Wargames magazine when I came across issue 13 (June ’84) in a shop and snapped it up.  This magazine, set up by Duncan Macfarlane, was truly excellent and issue 13 a stand-out issue – the gem in the crown being Andy Callan’s ‘Landsknechts in Devon’.   Many of the pictures in Duncan’s magazines are fixed forever in my head – so I was delighted when trawling eBay to see some Hinchliffe ECW figures that I was sure had been featured in that magazine.

The figures on eBay included a two-figure base including a hand-painted standard which was clearly the same as that in an Ian Weekly article in MW13.  The hand-painted flag is so distinctive that there is no doubt it is the same figure.  Of the other figures purchased from eBay only the one directly behind the standard bearer also featured in the MW photo - see below.

Needless to say I couldn’t resist owning this piece of my past and acquired the figures, although back then I had no ECW army for them to join.

Having obtained these, for me, iconic figures, I wondered if their history might be even more illustrious than the pages of MW.  A quick search of the TTTV ‘Battleground’ episode ‘Edgehill’ soon revealed the figures were also stars of the small screen; the tell-tale flag can clearly be seen in the detail of the screen-grab shown below.   

Since then I have acquired a pair of ECW armies and these classic figures now take the field for Parliament as Sir William Tyrell’s troop, as that seems the best match for the flag that I can find.

Napoleonic Norwegian Ski Troops

First appearing in an earlier work in progress (WiP) post, I've finally called a halt on painting these guys.

I can't say I enjoyed painting these or am that pleased with the end result.  But I'm pleased to have finished them as the thought of them waiting on the painting desk was deterring me from painting.  The final trial was basing them on some MDF bases - first time I've ever used these.  It wasn't the MDF but the snow that caused the problems; it took me three attempts to get something passable.

Anyway, here are a couple of close ups:

As these figures were gifted surplus figures from a friend's participation game being prepared for Salute '25 I shall offer them to him as giveaways for players.  

On a more positive note, and as a beneficial side effect of basing these figures, I used the surplus Milliput (I always make up too much) for a sandbag emplacement and some shell craters for my 20mm WW2 figures.

The PoO in the Light Box

Having just completed my Hinton Hunt Prince of Orange I thought it an ideal opportunity to try out a light box I bought with the hope of improving the quality of my photographs.  So, here he is:

As usual, close ups show up the difficulty I always have with metallic paints - why will they never flow like other colours?  As for the light box, it doesn't seem to produce enough light and I had to put a box under the back drop (need some better back drops) to bring the figure nearer the lights.

All in all, I'm a little disappointed with the light box, but then it was the cheapest I could find (c. £7) so I guess cheap is as cheap does.  Unfortunately, it hasn't really answered the question as to whether it's worth investing in a more expensive version.  If it weren't overcast days, I'd be happy using natural sunlight but waiting for better light at this time of the year seems hopeless.