Scientific Advisors – Splendid Chaps, all of Them

Who are these strange chaps?

Well, they claim to be ‘scientific advisors’, although they’re nothing like the scientists I’ve ever come across!

For a start, they all insist on being called Doctor John Smith - the Doctor for short, and when they turn up (seemingly at random), they always bring with them some sort of mobile laboratory disguised as a police box. How they manage to carry out any experiments in such a cramped space is beyond me…

Heresy Miniatures

They are, to a man, very eccentric – if only in their dress sense (ranging from navvy jackets to frilly shirts). They can also sometimes be overheard muttering to themselves about how the civil war shouldn’t actually have started (then again, that’s something we all wish), claiming that King Edward VIII should really have abdicated and that, by rights, his brother should be on the throne!

Crooked Dice

Apparently these odd fellows are determined to investigate the source of this ‘anomaly’, by attempting to, and I quote: ‘neutralise the temporal paradox and reverse the polarity of…’ well, something or other – one tends to get a little lost when talking to the Doctor!

 

Personally I think that, while each one of them undoubtedly possesses a brilliant scientific mind, they are all completely bonkers, and are only sent to assist us when HQ has had enough of their wittering and wants one of them out of the way for a while…

 

Some lovely ‘temporal traveller’ miniatures from Heresy and Crooked Dice that I have been meaning to treat myself to for ages - happily some birthday money has allowed me to indulge!

 

For a change I’ve actually taken my time in painting these, as opposed to my usual base-coat and quick-shade method, allowing me to experiment with shading, highlighting, drybrushing and such. I’m very happy with the results!

Civvy Street

I thought it was high time to add some more non-combatants to my VBCW collection. Luckily my mate Giles had emailed me asking if I wanted to add anything to a Wargames Foundry order he was doing (taking advantage of their 20% discount offer).

I plumped for their 'British Characters' set from their excellent Home Guard range, which conssts of a vicar, verger, scary-looking nun, policeman, ARP warden, an elderly chap, a lady of a certain age and a woman with a bicycle.

I also added the 'Max Normal' figure from their 2000AD range, as I think he doubles up nicely an important bank manager/businessman type fellow. He's a bit larger than the Home Guard range, but seeing as I based these on a variety of bases I had knocking about, they all vary in height anyway.

These civvies can be used as tabletop decoration, objective markers or plot points etc. and add a nice bit of character to my collection! (And no, I didn't paint the 'W' on the warden's helmet - luckily I found an old transfer sheet in my bits box.)

"Conservatism With Knobs On"

Getting my grubby mitts on a set of Blind Beggar’s uniformed female militia got me thinking… I was originally going to paint them up as a women’s BUF unit, but in the end decided to go for one of the smaller right-wing units – the British Fascisti.

The British Fascisti was formed in 1923 by Rotha Lintorn-Orman: an upper middle-class daughter of an army major who served in the Women's Reserve Ambulance and Scottish Women's Hospital Corps during the Great War and gained a penchant for dressing in male uniform.

Like many of her class she was virulently anti-communist, royalist, patriotic and pro-empire. Alarmed by the rise of the left she sought out others with similar beliefs to form the British Fascisti – it’s name inspired by Mussolini’s movement. However Lintorn-Orman’s group was originally more a royalist organisation, as opposed to an explicitly fascist one, leading extreme right-winger Arnold Leese to label it ‘conservatism with knobs on.’

Composed of largely of minor aristocracy, obscure politicians and disgruntled ex-army officers, the group suffered from numerous splits, especially after the general strike, when the anticipated socialist revolution that would allow the BF to spring forward and save the day never materialised. Soon it was eclipsed by larger fascist groups. Riven by factionalism, the group dissolved in 1934, with Lintorn-Orman, dependant on alcohol and drugs, dying in 1935 amid rumours of hedonistic parties.

In the VBCW universe, the British Fascisti is reborn as war breaks out by Lintorn-Orman’s fictional equivalent, Emma Picton-Bryant, who returns from a Swiss alcohol addiction clinic to reform the group. Soon cadres of British Fascisti militias are operating – sometimes as an adjunct to the BUF, sometimes as rivals.

One such cadre, a female section under the command of Lady Lydia Gravie-Browning, has been training with the forces of the BUF’s Lord Cirencester in Gloucestershire. Refusing to be relegated to traditional women’s roles, Gravie-Browning has been vocal in her demands for the group to take a more active combat role. Fed up with her constant (and to his mind, rather shrill) badgering, Lord Cirencester has arranged for this cadre to be transferred to the Three Counties Legion in Herefordshire, where their dark blue uniforms will at least make a change from all that black.

The minis, from Mason's Blind Beggar line, are painted in a rough approximation of Picton-Bryant's uniform, as shown in the Solway sourcebook (minus armbands - I couldn't face painting lots of tiny F's, plus it makes them faction-neutral enough to use in other forces if need be).

(A test piece in BUF uniform - based with a spare bike to act as a messenger/runner)

Crickey, My Bikey!

According to Roderick Spode, every Englishman should have in his possession an honest, British-made bicycle. Surely everyone had a bicycle in the 1930s, but what about their 28mm counterparts?

The trouble is, do you really want to double the size of your VBCW collection by making bicycle mounted versions of all your troops? Sure, Wargames Foundry and Warlord Games both do infantry on pushbikes (I have a unit made out of these figures), but even so…

Luckily I discovered that Dixon Miniatures, in addition to also making bike-mounted troops, also sell pushbikes on their own.

Mounted on whatever small bases I had to hand, these make great ‘mounted’ markers for any unit so inclined to pedal. Two packs gives you enough to give an entire infantry section a bike each, or have a single marker for each section and plenty left over for scatter terrain, objectives and such.

If, like me, you have a two or three minis lying around spare (in my case the survivors from my WW2 Perry plastic sprue and a smidgen of Greenstuff), you can base them with a bike to create messenger/runner (er, peddler) figures too.

These Dixon bikes are very easy to put together (simply glue the handlebars into the hole already provided) and don't take a lot of cleaning up.

"I were right about that saddle though..."

Tanc Bustio!

Two BUF tank-busters have gone over to the Welsh!

Way back in December 2011 I converted four Wargames Foundry WW1 British trench raiders into tank-busters for my BUF. I was never really happy with how I did two of them. One was carrying a large wooden beam (to lever off tank tracks) which would have taken several men to carry in real life, while another had two sticky bombs which could be mistaken for party balloons.

Realising that I hadn’t any uniformed tank-busters for my Welsh nationalists, I decided to re-model/paint this pair for that faction. The chap with the piece of wood now has a more manageable crowbar, whilst the other chap, now sporting an Adrian helmet thanks to a head-swap, wields two less balloony sticky bombs.

Quick, bish-bash remodelling, but they haven’t turned out too badly. English tanks beware!

Ladies Day

‘Clickclickclick’ – Mrs. Norris knitted, as she did habitually, the sound echoing through the village hall – all patriotic bunting and memorials to the fallen. “Well, it’s for the jumble sale” she would say when challenged.

“Well it’s very annoying!” snorted Miss Prendergast, drawing herself up in haughty dowager indignation. “Lady Deirdre Ffaines-Muir has called a special session of the Townswomen’s Guild and all you can do is clatter those confounded needles!”

“It’s for the jumble!” retorted Mrs. Norris.

Mrs. Williams sighed. “Will you two please stop bickering for once? It’s so, well, provincial… Lady Deirdre, please continue.”

“Thank-you,” said Lady Deirdre, ignoring the interruption with practised grace and studied indifference. “In our last meeting, as you know, we agreed that desperate times need desperate measures, and we voted unanimously to take up arms, should the village come under peril.”

“From Communists!” spat Miss Prendergast.

“From Fascists!” growled Mrs. Norris.

“Yes, quite,” continued Lady Deirdre. “You all volunteered to collect whatever weaponry you could find and, husbands notwithstanding, have brought a fine collection of shotguns.”

“Frank was most supportive,” Mrs. Williams said with a superior smile, knowing full well the battles her less sophisticated comrades had had with their other halves.

“And it’s to his credit Mavis. Now, for my part I have contacted a couple of friends in The City, who have sent me a couple of little presents…”

She turned to the table besides her, and removed the cloth covering it with a flourish, drawing a murmur of appreciation from her audience.

“Rifles?” asked Mrs. Williams. “Frank said he couldn't get one for love nor money! And machine guns!?”

The clicking stopped.

“I’ll have that big ‘un,” said Mrs. Norris, her jaw set with determination. “My Albert was a Lewis gunner during the war. Never said anything about it except in his sleep, and I spent enough years listening to him jabbering on to know what’s what.”

“Well if she’s having that thing, then I'm having the Tommy gun!” Miss Prendergast grabbed the weapon and peered down the barrel. “Can’t be too hard for an educated woman to operate.”

“That’s settled then,” said Lady Deirdre. “Alas there aren't enough to go around, but with the shotguns we’ll at least be able to mount proper patrols and, God forbid, take to the field if we are needed.

“Although Frank says that the LDV are more than capable of defending the village.”

“Huh! Does he now?” chuckled Mrs. Norris, slapping a drum magazine into its mounting and flicking up the rear sight in a single effortless motion. “That’s nice.”

Some lovely figures from Blind Beggar Miniatures - armed housewives!

Last Past The Post

(Drum roll......)

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you....

THE FINAL* THREE FIGURES FROM MY LEAD PILE!

Firstly, the remaining Pass of the North US cavalry figures, painted up as Anglican League mounted command.

And finally, bringing up the rear, this BUF mounted officer from Footsore Miniatures (Musketeer as was).

Now, where did I put those plastic kits?

*For now at least.

Herefordshire Yeomanry

During the last battle of Titley Junction, the loyal forces of the Herefordshire Regiment TA were forced to rely on a locally raised civilian militia cavalry for their mounted arm. These horsemen, while no doubt very keen to do their bit for King and Country, ended up trotting back and forth along the rear and not doing very much at all.

Therefore the local military authorities have been given leave to raise a more professional cavalry force from the ranks of the TA, to be christened the Herefordshire Yeomanry. It is to be hoped that these mounted infantrymen will add the necessary dash, aggression and élan when the forces of the King once again square up to the traitors and rebels and retake the lost positions around Titley!

Another unit finished in my bid to clear the lead mountain - some WW1 British cavalry from Great War Miniatures (with an extra converted Pass of the North chap to make up the numbers). They have been painted in the same colour scheme as my New Ironsides, so that they can be mixed together and used for either Royalist or Anglican League cavalry.

Lead Pile? Cobblers!

A couple more figures from the lead pile painted up - a chap lying on a bed (possibly injured) and someone doing a spot of cobbling. I can use these for non-combatants, dioramas, scatter etc.

You might have noticed that my output has risen recently. This is because in real-life a change in job role is possibly on the cards, which might cut down the amount of free painting/modelling time. Therefore I'm working my way through the lead/plastic/raw materials pile while I have the chance.

These two minis are from the Perry Miniatures ACW camp followers set (bought second-hand from the Lead-Adventure Forum), elements of which I have used in other VBCW bits. The bed/table thing was given to me by a kind chap on the Very British Civil Forum.

Border Horse

The sound of thundering hooves is echoing around the hill and valleys, shattering the peace and quiet of the border country. Bandits and raiders beware - the Craswall Border Horse are here!

I've had an idea for a unit of civilian militia cavalry rattling around my head for some time, inspired by a film I saw at the local Borderlines Film Festival some years ago.

'Real Life on the Black Hill' was made from home movie footage shot by a housekeeper for a Crawsall farming family near the famous Black Hill in the 1950s. As well as including some fascinating insights into a rapidly vanishing way of life in and around the Black Mountains, the film also showed the local farmers breaking in the wild Black Mountain ponies.

These men were expert horseman, and would often descend from the hills with their semi-wild ponies, either for the pony sales at Hay, or to exhibit their riding skills in rodeos at the local country fairs.

In fact my father remembers these shows. After watching the film, he recounted, with a gleam of mischief in his eye, how on one occasion, one of the exhibition riders had the same name as him. When this name was called out over the tannoy, he sauntered off towards the ring, much to the amazement of his mates!

So this unit is inspired by these skilled Black Mountain riders. They are mainly Reiver Castings civilian cavalry, with the numbers made up by some converted OOP Pass of the North US cavalry figures I acquired second-hand.

Carry On, Doctor

I am pleased to announce that distinguished medical practitioner Dr. Kenneth Tinkle has joined my VBCW collection.

Fresh from Harley Street, this eminent fellow, a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps in the last war, has donned his regimental tie and is heading out once more to the battlefield to provide care to the wounded.

Joining him are three volunteers, namely Sister Hoggett and Nurses Clarke and Parkin. The latter pair are dressed in an approximation of a WW1 Voluntary Aid Detachment Red Cross nurse uniform, while Sister Hoggett's uniform markers her out as a Trained Nurse.

Finally, accompanying the myopic medic is Tinkle's faithful batman/bodyguard, Henry.

Some fun figures from Blind Beggar Miniatures. The doctor and nurses comprise the Medical Practitioners pack, while the chap with the shotgun is from the Gents in Bowlers set.

Crate Expectations

Y'know, sometimes I wonder if I'm posting stuff just as an excuse to make mild puns out of the title...

Ahem, enough introspection. I've painted the last bits from my order from Fenris Games, namely these crates and/or wooden boxes. I haven't based these or glued any together, so that they can be used for scatter, barricades or whatever.

They're very nice pieces of resin, and the woodwork really shows through my indifferent painting (as usual I'm not 100% happy with how these came out, and they look better in these photos than they do in real life).

The eagle eyed among you may have spotted a British police box lurking among the trees in my last post - another bit from my Fenris stuff (the decals were found on the net and printed onto a label by the way).

Speaking of police boxes, I had a cracking time at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff the other day - well worth a visit!

“When we looked back again, that dark thing was not to be seen…”

An ancient and jagged stone stands deep in an old English wood. Steeped in legend and dark warnings, the place is shunned by all right-thinking locals, for it is said to be haunted…

Just who is the mysterious figure lurking on the periphery? Has Canon Albrecht returned to reclaim his scrapbook? Do the remains of Abbot Thomas still guard his treasure? Has Professor Parkins blown that whistle again?

Recently I’ve been re-reading the works of one of my favourite authors, M.R. James – in my opinion Britain’s foremost writer of ghost stories.

This set me in the mood to do something different, and so taking a break from my terrain-fest, I dug out a figure from Blind Beggar Miniatures’ Dark Clergy set – kindly sent to me as a freebie (thanks Mason!)

The trees you will read about in my next post, the standing stone is a piece of bark, the boulders just bits of left-over putty and the figure a vengeful spirit from beyond the grave (or possibly some silly blighter poncing around in a bed-sheet.)