ALY MORRISON'S "BUTTERFLY" ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF WARGAMES AND TOY SOLDIERS

Tuesday, 3 December 2024

Lion Rampant… Medieval Muggers.

Greetings…

Here is another addition to my Wars of the Roses collection…

Dastardly Medieval Muggers…



These are more lovely figures from Athena Miniatures…

https://www.athenaminiatures.co.uk/product/vignet7e-12-give-us-your-purse

I am not entirely sure how they will fit into our games… But they were a lot of fun to paint.

I have painted them as Boucherie (Israel) and Tudor (Matt) mugging Hastings (Hastings)…

Why?… You may ask…

Well it’s a dirty job… And someone has/had to do it… 🤣

The Blue bits are… Citadel… Kantor Blue.

The Yellow Bits are… AK Interactive… AKA 11118 Ochre.

The Hose are… Foundry… Drab 12B.

The Red bits are… Citadel… Mephiston Red.

The Belts are… Citadel… Skrag Brown.

The Green bits are… Vallejo… 70.967 Olive Green.

The White bits are… Citadel… Pallid Wych Flesh.

Everything was given a wash of Aly’s Brown Liquid and then re-highlighted with the original colours.


The paints are Wargames Foundry, AK Interactive, Vallejo and Citadel


The base is as always…

Things have been a bit slow on the painting front at the moment… I am moving stuff ( slowly) down into my cellar work/hobby room… This will take quite a bit of time…I have an embarrassment of unpainted lead to move 😱
And I am also suffering from a not very entertaining eye condition… Which is taking its time to go away…

Sigh!…

It is actually starting to improve…

I’m just an impatient old sod…

Sigh!…

🤣🤣🤣

All the best.  Aly


Monday, 18 November 2024

Shiny Napoleonics… The Wellington Way.

Greetings…

Here we have a Prussian gun and crew painted in the ‘Wellington Way’.

One of my biggest influences when I started my Shiny Napoleonics collection was Wellington Man (AKA Matthew) from The Hinton Spieler Blog.

https://thehintonspieler.blogspot.com/

Just looking at the gem like quality of his toys made me want something similar for myself…

I realised recently that I have never tried to paint anything in his particular style… 

Matthew has rather conveniently posted some tutorials on his blog…

https://thehintonspieler.blogspot.com/p/how-i-paint.html

I have followed his guidance as close as I can … But I have used acrylic paint as I am not brave enough to use Humbrol Enamels…




The figures are PN 32, 33, 34, and 35.



The Cannon is FNA 4… I think.

The Tunics are… Citadel… Administratum Grey.

The Trousers are… Citadel… Mechanicus Standard Grey.

The Gaiters are… Citadel… Corvus Black.

The Gun Carriage is… Citadel… Russ Grey.

The paints are Citadel…

This was an enjoyable little project and I am very pleased with the results… I will definitely be painting more toys in this style.

All the best.    Aly


Monday, 4 November 2024

A New Book… Battlefields of the Marne 1914…. An Illustrated History and Guide.

Greetings…

I picked up this rather nice book at the Oxfam Book shop in the town centre today…

Battlefields of the Marne 1914… An Illustrated History and Guide.

It’s one of the Illustrated Michelin Guides to the Battlefields (1914-1918)… Published in 1919.













As you can see it’s lavishly illustrated…And filled with plenty information to help you find your way around the battlefield…
And in pretty good condition considering its age…

All the best.  Aly

Saturday, 2 November 2024

Shiny Napoleonics… The Thuringian Battalion… Part 4

Greetings….

At long last …. They are done.

This is the command stand… 

I have represented them in the later Prussian style uniforms..The infantry are PN 35.. The Officer is PN 8

The Drummer is PN 23.

They carried no flag…




A rather pleasing workmanlike appearance…
I am really glad they are finished…

The Tunics are… Citadel… Kantor Blue.
The Trousers are… Citadel… Administratum Grey.
The Gaiters are… Citadel… Corvus Black.
The Greatcoats are… Citadel… Mechanicus Standard Grey.
The Muskets and Backpacks are… Citadel… Mournfang Brown.
The Facings are… Citadel… Hoeth Blue.
As always everything was given a coat of Aly’s Brown Liquid and then highlighted with the original colours.





The whole unit…

The figures are Minifigs…

The paints are Citadel…





Sunday, 27 October 2024

Lion Rampant… Drink Lots… Drunk Lots.

Greetings….

Here is another character/ vignette base for our ongoing Lion Rampant Wars of the Roses games…

Drink Lots (Somerset) and his cousin Drunk Lots (De La Pole)…

They have found themselves on opposing sides in this “Cousin’s War” but will always go “ party mode “ when they find themselves within drinking range…


The Dark Blue bits are… Citadel… Kantor Blue.

The Lighter Blue bits are… Citadel… Teclis Blue.

The Yellow Bits are… AK Interactive… AKA 11118 Ochre.

The Hose are… Foundry… Drab 12B.

The Red bits are… Citadel… Mephiston Red.

The Belts are… Citadel… Skrag Brown.

Everything was given a wash of Aly’s Brown Liquid and then re-highlighted with the original colours.

These were really fun to paint… And I am sure we will find a use for them

The figures are from…

https://www.athenaminiatures.co.uk/product/22-vignette-8-drunk-soldiers

The paints are Wargames Foundry, AK Interactive and Citadel


The base is as always…

All the best.  Aly



Wednesday, 16 October 2024

Another Visit to Edinburgh…

Greetings…

I didn’t go to The Other Partizan this year…

Because I went to Edinburgh… 

It has been quite a while since I’ve been there…

https://alystoysoldiers.blogspot.com/search/label/Edinburgh%20Castle

This time I went with my friend Chris and his mother Joyce… Chris had invited me to join them and be their guide.

They were both over in the U.K. to attend the annual Games Workshop 10 Years Veterans dinner dance and wanted to visit Auld Reeky, 

Joyce had been there many years before and it was Chris’s first visit….



We traveled up by train on the Sunday and ended our journey in a rather splendid hotel… The Scotsman.

Next day we headed out on our adventures… Mostly in and around the Castle.

Yes… That is Scotland… Yes… That is a blue sky.

The weather was fantastic…




Views from the Castle Esplanade…


Since my last visit they have introduced a pre booking system… Which seemed to be designed to create queues…


St Margaret’s Chapel… 




 More beautiful views…



Boom… Boom… 


This is the Scottish National War Memorial…


This is where the Crown Jewels are kept…






Inside the Great Hall











Exhibits in the museums… 




Military rations… 








The Prisons of War exhibition….



Out from the museums and into the castle grounds again…
I think the One O’Clock gun is having a snooze…

By the time we had seen all we wanted to see it was late afternoon so we headed down the Royal Mile to the Deacon Brodies Tavern for delicious pies and beer…





Then it was back to the Scotsman…
 
I was actually quite surprised by how much time we had spent in the castle… Clearly time flies when you are enjoying yourself…

This was a genuine flying visit… Chris and Joyce were heading to London the next day and then back home to the States…And I was heading to Nottingham…It was a fantastic weekend and I am delighted that they invited me along.

Thank you Chris….

All the best.  Aly