Thursday 8 November 2012

Where’s McWally?

Hidden somewhere in the picture below is a lone casting of BC/44 93rd Sutherland Highlander, charging. If you can spot him there may be a small prize (but then again there probably won’t).

 "The Thin Red Line"

Regular readers of this blog will know that my Hinton Hunt armies are all from the Napoleonic ranges and this is my only model from the 20mm Crimean War range, a very thin red line indeed.

 I tried a couple of times to paint more lace detail on the shoulders but just couldn't get it right.

As a teenager I thought briefly about wargaming the Crimean War (I remember getting my Airfix marching Guardsmen to assault a dressing-gown hill defended by Confederate looking Russians) and I did once consider buying some of the Hinton Hunt figures. However, Marcus Hinton never finished off his Crimean War range, and as there were no Russian cavalry or artillery for either side (how can you have a “valley of death” without Russian guns?) I gave up on the idea.

 A view of a Highlander that no Russian would have ever seen!

My thanks to John C for providing me with this figure and helping me to fulfil a boyhood dream. It’s possibly the smallest wargame army I’ve ever possessed but I had fun painting it all the same.

13 comments:

lewisgunner said...

Now come on Ian, how about the check pattern on the sock tops. Are standards slipping here?
:-))
Roy

Stryker said...

Sadly Roy I believe they are - I didn't paint any detail under his kilt either...

lewisgunner said...

That thing under the kilt is flash Ian, just trim it off
Roy

Stryker said...

The unkindest cut of all!

Anonymous said...

The problem with the Crimea is all the figure ranges I like are incomplete. I have not given up on the idea however-I still think Mr. Scruby is my best bet.

Paulalba said...

Hi Ian, he maybe from the Crimea range but he looks as though he would slip right into waterloo no bother?

Nice figure.

'Lee. said...

Lovely figure Ian and great paint job. I have alwasy thought the Crimean War would make a great wargaming subject.

Stryker said...

Matt - It seems that wargaming the Crimean War is not main stream enough for manufacturers to make enough return to finish their ranges, same problem as another interest of mine - the Boer War.

Paul - you're right there, he would fit in. I do have a unit of HH Napoleonic Highlanders waiting in the wings but this model is nicer I think.

MSFoy said...

No - I spent a lot of last night looking at your first picture, and I can't see anything. Is it a catch question? Can I have another sheet of paper?

Very nice indeed. Intrigued by the comments on poor coverage of the Crimea by principal makers - I have occasionally thought about the Crimea as a gaming period, but had little idea where I could get figures. If S-Range are a bit out of scale, Scruby must be a good shout - hadn't thought of them - especially since a slice of their Franco-Prussian range will fit in as well.

Kilt might be a problem in mosquito-infested areas?

Lovely figure - cheers - Tony

Stryker said...

Lee - Yes, it's a good one because of the relatively small armies. I really liked your idea a while back to use plastic figures and some of them fit well size-wise with HH.

Tony - looks like nobody will walk off with that prize then! I like the look of Scruby as well - Matt has some nice pictures of some on his blog.

lewisgunner said...

If I can get my rear in gear when I get back from son's wedding trip I will try and send some photos of my 20mm Crimean set up to Ian and he might post one or two here.

Roy

Stryker said...

That would be good Roy!

Markus Schenk said...

Nice model. Excellent paint job.
On the positive side. It will be an easy win with no Russians at the other side...O.K. also a it boring when it comes to tactics..