Tuesday 4 September 2018

Fool’s Gold

Following my recent splash on eBay it was Goya who helpfully pointed out to me that my Guard Horse Artillery figures were probably worth their weight in silver. I think he was exaggerating but I thought I should paint them rather than leave them too long in the lead pile to get full value for money.


The figures (all vintage ones) are:

FN/180 Officer, pointing
FN/181 Gunner, with porte-fire
FN/184 Gunner, with pair of hand-spikes
FN/185 Gunner, with ammunition bag


When I pulled out my other gun crew (painted ten years ago) I realised that I’d made a few mistakes with the uniform. This meant I had to do a little bit of updating so that both crews matched, and I also re-varnished them in gloss to conform to the new house style.

Footnote: FN/85 Gunner, with ammunition bag does not appear in my old Hinton Hunt catalogue (circa 1974). My suspicion is that the listing was left off in error as it should be at the bottom of page 2, the figure is certainly a vintage one.

19 comments:

Rob said...

Sweet - gunner with ammunition bag is my favourite, there's something about his face the way you have painted it - real character.

Stryker said...

Rob - it's not just the painting they have been superbly sculpted, some of Hinton's work at its best!

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Rather spiffy fellows!

Best Regards,

Stokes

Lee said...

Fine figures Ian ..... and one of my favourite songs, also a vintage classic :)

Independentwargamesgroup said...

Beautiful. I always wanted this unit when I first saw their images many years ago. Sadly they were out of my price range then. So nothing has changed really, well done.

Stryker said...

Cheers Lee!

Stryker said...

Robbie - I did have one crew back in the early 70s (after saving my pocket money) but was disappointed with my painting efforts back then. Eventually I sold it along with the rest of my collection for next to nothing!

MSFoy said...

Beautiful - really nice job, and a lot more fun than silver. How many extra dice to Guard Horse get, then?

Wellington Man said...

They are little shiny masterpieces, Ian!
How many French batteries is that now? Seven? You're going to need a lot more Landwehr to absorb that lot.

All the best
WM

Phil said...

Very very nice!

Stryker said...

Foy - they did originally get 2 extra dice but I got rid of that rule - perhaps I should reconsider!

Stryker said...

WM - you've been counting! There will eventually be one more line battery bringing it to 4 each guard/line. If you remember, the Landwehr fall 6 at a time with no effect on their morale!

Stryker said...

Thanks Phil!

Mark Dudley said...

Ian - you have turned lead into gold, you are an alchemist with the brush.

Stryker said...

Thanks Mark, that's the best way to look at it!

the Archduke said...

Beautiful paint job, Ian. I have a soft spot for your earlier battery which died heroically saving my blushes at your birthday bash.

Stryker said...

Archduke, yes what brave fellows!

James Fisher said...

Vintage figures + classic paintjob = wonderful effect!
Worth their weight in... for sure!

Stryker said...

Thanks James!