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

Saturday, 18 May 2024

A Splendid New Book…

Greetings …

One of my (not so) guilty pleasures are Battleships…

Ironclads, Pre-Dreadnoughts and Dreadnoughts… 

I have a few books and a few French and British Ironclads deep in the lead Alp…

I also find encouragement from my chum David Crook on his excellent blog…

http://awargamingodyssey.blogspot.com/

And this excellent YouTube channel…

https://youtube.com/@drachinifel?si=5J5RgU_joVRGwjEs

Now… My lovely daughter knows this… And she is very clever and very generous…

It’s my birthday tomorrow and she came round to give my presents and take me out for a meal today…

She brought me this big old beauty of a book…


This is part of an eight volume set… I think I know what is coming to me over the next few Xmas’s and Birthdays 😁…
The drawings are superb and full of details…
I know I won’t be rushing out and building huge fleets of ships but I will certainly be thumbing through these pages and enjoying them for what they are… Little works of art.

Here is some of the content…









Have I got a big smile on my face…

I have a big smile on my face 😁😁😁

All the best.  Aly


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Monday, 13 May 2024

Shiny Napoleonics… The Glasgow Wellington.

Greetings …

Recently while doing some research related to my Shiny Napoleonics I came across these interesting and unusual etchings…



They appear to show the great duke wearing what is possible an unusual form of sombrero…
I have never really seen the likes of this before but I understand that ‘local’ headwear came in many shapes and sizes…

On further reading I discovered the autobiography of a certain Corporal “Drinky” More…*

He states that the good Duke sported this headwear quite often as he felt that the unusual shape of the brim covered his impressive nose admirably…
He also adds that he was prone to wear a similar hat ( on an occasional Saturday night) after he returned home to Scotland…
His friends apparently christened it a Glasgow Sombrero…

Here are my efforts at reflecting this unusual form of dress…




The figure is a Lamming Staff officer… I used this because I only have one model of Wellington and and I would rather hang on to him and use him as he is.

* It is said that Drinky More only sobered up twice between the start of the Peninsular War and the Battle of Waterloo…
He took part in nearly ever action and battle… not necessarily in any fighting condition… His comrades once said that he moved so erratically that the chance of a musket ball hitting him was almost zero…
His autobiography was almost certainly written by his landlady and at the time was described as utter balderdash…. And badly written balderdash at that.


The Glasgow Wellington… Splendid.


All the best.  Aly












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Saturday, 4 May 2024

Shiny Napoleonics… More Trees.

Greetings…

I managed to pick up nine more of the very charming Merit Alder trees…

I have assembled and painted them in the same way as I did with my previous ones…

https://alystoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2021/09/shiny-napoleonics-merit-alder-trees.html

They have turned out nicely…. There is actually a bit more contrast between the trees and the bases but I think the sheer amount of green is confusing the camera.

I would like to get some Poplar and Fir trees at some point … I shall be keeping my eBay eyes open.

The only bump in the road was when I almost sprayed them grey instead Matt varnish… 😳

Both tins had clear lids… I have now sprayed the lid for the grey…. Grey.😁


All the best.  Aly

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Wednesday, 1 May 2024

Shiny Napoleonics… The 3rd Regiment Etranger 1811-1814 (The Irish Regiment)

Greetings…
Here we have my version of the French Napoleonic ‘Irish Regiment’…

The 3rd Regiment Etranger 1811-1814. 

My inspiration for this unit was the work of my good blogging comrades…
Matthew from Hinton Spieler.


And David from Miniature Minions…


Of course for inspiration read ‘shameless copying’ 😁

So… Here we go.





The figures are Ros 25mm Figures…
For more information on this company may I suggest Bobs excellent blog…

I did have to do some work on them… Shortening the coat tails and gaiters then adding short swords to the Chasseurs.
The command are Minifigs…
When I bought these figures I originally thought they were Minifigs… And they do fit rather well with both ‘S’ and ‘Intermediate’ ranges.

For the standard I used a GMB Designs French light Infantry flag which I altered to say 3rd Regiment Etranger … This does not survive close examination but works okay for me…

The Uniforms are… Foundry… Forest Green Shade 26B.
The Yellow bits are… AK Interactive… Volcanic Yellow AK11042.
The Red bits are… Citadel… Evil Sunz Scarlet.
The Green bits are… Citadel… Warboss Green.
The White bits are… Citadel… Pallid Wych Flesh.
The Gaiters are… Citadel… Corvus Black.

Everything was given a wash of Aly’s Brown Liquid then highlighted with the original colours… The lighter colours were then given an extra highlight to pick them out a bit more.

The paints were Citadel, Wargames Foundry and AK Interactive.


The bases are as always…

https://warbases.co.uk/product-category/bases/round-cornered-bases/mdf-rc/

The Flag is GMB Designs…

https://gmbdesigns.com/


I have read that the Ros French Infantryman is one of the ugliest figures ever made…I am sure I have seen worse.

They take a bit more work than Minifigs or Lammings but I am very pleased with the results.

The Butterfly has managed to land on something new and interesting…I will reveal more when I have painted something…. There is also some more shininess on the go. 



All the best   Aly


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Sunday, 14 April 2024

Shiny Napoleonics…. French Foot Dragoons.

Greetings….

Another shiny thing…

The French 6th Regiment of dragoons… Deployed as infantry…

I got these lovely Garrison Foot Dragoons from Rob Young and absolute age ago… And typically when I decide to paint them my Sarcoidosis ( look it up if you must but take my word for it… it sucks. )decides to flair up and just for fun it has affected my right eye… 

It is a condition that just keeps giving 

They took a lot longer to paint than I thought they would….But I persevered and now they are done.

Maybe not as slick as I would want them to be…

Anyway…Here you go.



To add insult to injury as the varnish was drying on these I discovered that at the battle of Jena there were two composite regiments of Foot Dragoons that were attached to the Imperial Guard… Meaning I could have mixed the facing colours instead of just using red… Ha! Well… maybe next time 😁



The Tunics are… Foundry… Forest Green 26B.

The Breeches are… War Front (Scale Colour)… Braun SW28.

The Waistcoats are… Citadel… Pallid Wych Flesh.

The Gaiters are… Citadel… Corvus Black.

Everything was the given a wash of Aly’s Brown Liquid… Then highlighted with the original colours… some of the lighter colours were given an extra highlight…

The paints are Wargames Foundry,Citadel and Scale Color.

The bases are as always…

https://warbases.co.uk/product-category/bases/round-cornered-bases/mdf-rc/

I am going to take it easy for a while as my eye issues calm down…but I have some nice shiny Irish Legion on the go… plus all the other butterfly nonsense 

All the best   Aly




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Tuesday, 9 April 2024

A New Book…


Greetings.

A while ago I was asked to make a short talk at work about art that has inspired me…

There were no restrictions as to whether it was historical or fantasy… it was about what inspired me…


Baron Louis Francois Lejeune…

I’ve always loved his work… There is so much to see in every painting… Lejeune was a serving officer in Napoleons Army and was at a number of the battles portrayed in his pictures….

Although only in the French language I am fortunate to be surrounded buy French colleagues… So if I need any help it is very close…








There are so many good ideas for interesting vignettes to be found in every picture…
I would love have a nice sized copy of The Battle of Moscow/ Borodino on my wall…

Pretty pictures and not toys…I know.
Shiny things next time…

All the best. Aly
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Monday, 1 April 2024

Shiny Napoleonics… Prussian Command.

Greetings…

More Shiny and this time it’s a couple of command types…

Both are conversions and are also (mostly) Hinchliffe…



This first one is a converted Blucher figure… A simple head swap… The head came from another Hinchliffe figure… A French officer on foot…
The horse is a relatively early model as it was cast without any reins … I made mine from flattened fuse wire… 

Next up…



A Prussian Fieldjager acting as a messenger…
This is the body of the French officer that donated the head to Blucher ( It’s all getting a bit Frankensteinian here).
The horse is an early Minifigs with saddlery add in Greenstuff.
These were a lot of fun…

Everything was the given a wash of Aly’s Brown Liquid… Then highlighted with the original colours… some of the lighter colours were given an extra highlight…

‘Bluchers’ Coat is… Citadel… Administratum Grey.
The Collar is… Citadel… Evil Sunz Scarlet.

The Fieldjagers Coat is… Foundry… Forest Green Shade 26B
The Trousers are… Ak Interactive… English Grey AK11020.

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