Zulu War Colonial Cavalry Unit

I wanted a mixed mounted unit for my Zulu War rules " Nothing Remains But To Fight "and with the packs available from Empress Miniatures I was able to make a 12 figure unit without having any odd figures left over. The unit consists of 4 Natal Carabiniers , 4 Natal Mounted Police , 2 Newcastle mounted Rifles and 2 Buffalo Border Guard . All of these units did take part at Ishandlawana and rode together on patrol and bodies were found together in or close to "Durnfords Donga " the famous last stand of that controversial hero (or villain) of the battle . The figures are very nice but come with huge amounts of flash in the most awkward places and a lot had the helmet spike misformed or even missing so I had to improvise to replace some of them .Overall very chuffed with them and now I can play test the mounted rules now I am happy with the Infantry rules as I may have mentioned my rules won the best participation game at Triples this year and we had great feed back on them ,so hopefully the play tests on mounted and artillery units will be as good .

The unit moves from the bush to the cliff edge 

Dismount for the last stand . 

Frostgrave

I was invited to the Wedneday games night at the Wargames Emporium in Sheffield for a demo game of the new rules from Osprey and Northstar , Frostgrave. A fantasy treasure hunt game ,I had seen the figures on Northstars site but didnt know much about it so I went along with John Grayson to see what it was all about . We only played the Demo version so a lot was left out but I have to admit we were both hooked ,it was a quick brutal fun game ,the wizards arn't all powerful ,in fact they can end up doing more damage to them selves if the dice roll wrongly ,speaking of which my first 3 rolls on a D20 all resulted in1's so you can see how the game went for me . The game reminded me a little of Mordhiem but a lot quicker and lots more fun using all the Magic and treasure hunting rules will had more fun and stratergy and make the game last longer than the 30 minutes it took us .There is also a campaign system which allows you to buld your band and increase all their powers and skills . Overall great night and a fantastic game which we both agreed will be creeping into our collections .

A shot of the Emporiums lovely terrain and figures 

A close up of the action 

Cheap Russian Armour

The Works chain of stores are selling 20mm die cast Russian AFV's at £2 per vehcle ,they are originall from a Russian  part works and some later appeared in an eaglemoss collection as well ,  and sell at between £8 and £15 each on evil bay so grabbed a few for different projects. Lots of different kit but all Russian but this included lend lease staurts ,grants and other bits of worth a look if WW2 or cold war 20mm is your thing

More MDF scenery

A few more bits of scatter terrain in mdf a nce selection from TT Combat and Multiverse gaming terrain .all of it was great value and went together very easily I especially like the vending machines 1 type of which even has acurved front something I have not seen before in this type of material . . Both companies also had excellent delivery times both delivered within a week . 10/10

All the items together

A set of six vending machines from TT

1 set of barriers from multiverse

again multiverse this time construstion lights

2 sets of street lamps and sewer covers again multiverse.

I will hopefully get these painted and in action soon .

Fleet Air Arm Museum

 This fantastic museum is next door to RNAS Yeovilton and is dedicated to the history of the Royal Navies air power .Spanning WW1 through the cold war and Korea up to the Falklands and the future of Naval Flying .There are some great aircraft on display along with many other items and a superb display based on HMS Ark Royal ion which you "fly" onto the landing deck and through the use of real aircraft video and audio you see a Phantom take off and a Buccaneer land ,you then take stour of the Island and watch the crew in action . Well worth a visit .

Cornwall's Regimental Museum

A fantastic little museum covering the Local regiments from the early 1700's to the present day .The museum is in the Keep in the town of Bodmin and is well worth a visit .It has a fine collection of weapons and uniforms not only belonging to the Regiment but also it's enemies from the many conflicts it has taken part in and lots of odd things including George Washington's Bible and statues from the far east all "liberated " by the regiment ,there is also the largest piece of the Berlin wall in the U.K .

The War Memorial outside the Keep

This claims to be the helmet of a cavalry man the 1st casualty caused by British troops

A well worn set of Colours with avery moving description board

The entrance to the museum