Children of the fields

The latest stuff Ive managed to paint are the corn dolls and the Brood , the corn dolls are basically scarecrows as sen in dozens of horror films but I believe these are based on a David Tenant era  Dr Who episode ,they come multi part so you can amke a few variants , the Brood are based on the Children of the Damned pale skin white hair and staring gold eyes ,all scary stuff .

Flags of War Jacobites work in progress

Picked 5 figures at random so I could practise with painting tartan , all charging , 2 in shirts with muskets the other 3 in shirts .The poses are excellent and even though the highlanders charging with targe and Broadsword is a bit of a myth by the time of Culloden there is evidence a lot of the rear ranks were still equiped like this so I have purchased some to give the units areal Highland look and these figures are great ,they come with seperate arms so you can give areal mixed look to the clans .I will keep aregular up date on these figures although I do plan to take my time with them and I even planned my purchases this time and have enough figures for the Sharp Practice army list for this period .

stuck together and put on bases ....

Children of the Fields a few more finished .

Managed to get afew more bits done , almost finished now only another 17 to go . Lady Winterly ,the village signpost ,the may queens and the Straw man are all now ready for action . I tried to give the impression that the may queens dresses were see through as they are obviously based on the dancing school girls in the original Whickerman film ,so I did a light flesh wash in the areas where the bodies pressed against their robes not sure how it looks ....

A lovely large resin model 

the raunchy may queens 

Flags of War Jacobite Kickstarter

My stuff arrived today that I ordered through flags of wars kickstarter project ,and I am highly satisfied  . The Kick Starter was carried out as they should be lots of notifications by the KS page ,personal emails and Facebook ,delivered on time and some nice freebies. The figures are superb ,full of character and realistic poses ,Obviously a work of passion , I can't wait to start on these ,they even posted a nice painting guide to Tartan which will be handy these wil be based for Sharps Practice by Too Fat Lardies . Now I am out of work not sure if I will be able to take part in their next KS but if I can I will .10/10

The free flags are amazing

More Freebies

Highlanders

Lowlanders

Royal Ecossaise 

The free characters 

fantastic detail

Seperate arms make it easy to build a varied unit

the pose and detail are superb and almost no flash at all 

Mummer men and Murder of Crows -more children of the fields 7tv weirdness

Managed to get a few more figures finished for the Children of the fields programme guide for 7TV , a group of mummer men ,brightly coloured folk dancers with bells around their feet and musical instruments to cheer you up and clubs to smash your heads in ,,,, plus 3 murders of crows .All figures from the crooked dice Kickstarter

No idea how to base these so went for these ideas 

the rather magnificent 7 

54mm Frontier Light Horse & my zulu library

As my Anglo Zulu war book collection expanded I thought my 28mm tank collection looked out of place in front of them ,so a while ago I purchased a few 54mm zulu war figures from Benieto Miiniatures and they stayed in their boxes until last week .With a lot,of time on  my hands I got out the one that looked the easiest to build and paint which was atrooper of the Frontier Light Horse one of the many colonial cavalry units involved in the AZW .The figure went together realy well and I think I have done a semi decent job on him ,I have ordered some display plinths for my little collection fothem to stand guard over my book collection which is nearly 70 strong including some nice little collectables which I have picked up cheaply , also to fill the shelf my good friend John bought me a replica 24th foot helmet which has found a place in front of the books .

The Benieto FHL figure

Top shelf 

2nd shelf 

one hour wargames -Zulu Skirmish

John my long time Gaming buddy recently bought a set of skirmish rules called one hour wargames which we tried out tonight using my Anglo Zulu war stuff .Basically a small skirmish rule set 8 figures for the brits and 16 for the zulus , the game uses playing cards instead of dice and it does what it says on the cover , we played 2 games in just over an hour admittedly the 2nd game was over quickly due to the cards turned over to decide the game end but both games were lots of fun ,all very simple but we will play it more I'm sure . Figures Empress and warlord ,redoubt is warlord as well.Spurred me on to carry on with my own zulu rules and getting my armies finished being out of work should give me plenty of time.

The Brits ,6 riflemen a officer and a Nco .

The Zulus 11 spears ,4 muskets and a leader 

the rules

The zulus advance with heavy losses

The Joker ends the turn ,the king shows how many action points i recieved this turn 

hand to hand 

we swapped sides and my Zulus advanced taking a right hammering .

7tv -children of the fields -`the hunt is on

The hunt is on for the intruders the Huntmaster and his huntsmen with a pack of hounds are on the scent .More lovely figures from the children of the fields kickstarter.

Tally Ho

Not the normal pack of hounds

Gallantry Medals Awarded in the Anglo Zulu War

Many people know about the VC's awarded at Rorkes Drift ,the most in a single action as depicted in the film Zulu ,but there were a large number of V.C'c & Distinguished conduct medals awarded during the short but bloody war . Below is a list of all the medals awarded ,where they were won with the dates ,the ones in RED are the gallant chaps whose graves we have visited .

Isandlwana 22nd January 1879

Victoria Cross

Lieutenant Nevill Josiah Aylmer Coghill ,1st Battalion ,24th (2nd Warwickshire ) Regiment

Lieutenant Teignmouth Melvill,1st Battalion ,24th (2nd Warwickshire ) Regiment

Private Samuel Wassall ,80th Regiment (Staffordshire Volunteers)


Rorke's Drift 22/23January 1879

Victoria Cross

Lieutenant John Rouse Merriott Chard ,5thCompany Corps of Royal Engineers 

Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead , 2nd Battalion 24th (2nd Warwickshire ) Regiment

Corporal William Wilson Allan 2nd Battalion 24th (2nd Warwickshire ) Regiment  

Private Frederick Hitch  2nd Battalion 24th (2nd Warwickshire ) Regiment

Private Alfred Henry Hook 2nd Battalion 24th (2nd Warwickshire ) Regiment  

Private Robert Jones , 2nd Battalion 24th (2nd Warwickshire ) Regiment  

Private William Jones ,2nd Battalion 24th (2nd Warwickshire ) Regiment  

Private John Williams (Fielding)2nd Battalion 24th (2nd Warwickshire ) Regiment  

Surgeon James Henry Reynolds ,Army Medicl Corps

Assistant-Commisary James Langley Dalton ,commissariat Department

Corporal Ferdinand Christian Scheiss ,3rd Battalion Natal Native Contingent 


Distinguished Conduct Medal

Gunner John Cantrell ,5th Brigade Royal Regiment of Artillery 

Private William Roy 2nd Battalion 24th (2nd Warwickshire ) Regiment

Colour-Sergeant Frank Bourne 2nd Battalion 24th (2nd Warwickshire ) Regiment

Corporal francis Atwood , Army Service Corps

Corporal  Michael McMahon  , Army Hospital Corps ( later cancelled)



Intombi River 12 March 1879 

Victoria Cross

Colour Sergeant Anthony Clarke Booth ,80th Regiment (Staffordshire Volunteers)


Hlobane Mountain 28 March 1879

Victoria Cross

Colonel Redvers Buller 60th Rifles (Kings Royal Rifle Corps ) 

Major William Knox Leet ,1st Battalion ,13th Somerset light infantry 

Lieutenant Henry Lysons ,90th (Perthshire) Light Infantry

Private Edmund John Fowler ,90th (Perthshire) Light Infantry


Distinguished Conduct Medal

Bugler Alexander Walkinshaw , 90th (Perthshire) Light Infantry

Corporal William Dommett Vinnicombe , Frontier Light Horse

Trooper Robert Brown , Frontier Light Horse


Khambula Hill 29 March 1879

Victoria Cross

 Lieutenant Edward Stevenson Browne ,,1st Battalion ,24th (2nd Warwickshire ) Regiment 

Distinguished Conduct Medal

Corporal Edward Quigly 7th Brigade Royal Regiment of Artillery 

Private Albert Page .1st Battalion ,13th (somerset) Light Infantry

Private John Power ,1st Battalion ,24th (2nd Warwickshire ) Regiment 

Troop Sergeant -Major Learda ,Edendale Troop Natal Native Horse

White Mfolosi River ,3 july 1879 

Victoria Cross

Captain William Leslie de la Poer Berisford 9thn (Queens Royal Lancers )

Captain Cecil Dudgeon D'Arcy , Frontier Light Horse 

Sergeant Edmund Joseph O'Toole , Frontier Light Horse 

Distinguished Conduct Medal

Troop Sergeant -Major Simeon Kambula ,Edendale Troop Natal Native Horse

Ulundi 4 July 1879

Distinguished Conduct Medal

Gunner Willaim Moorhead, 7th Brigade Royal Regiment of Artillery

Private John Power ,1st Battalion ,24th (2nd Warwickshire ) Regiment (also for Khambula)

Coluor sergeant James Phillips ,58th (Rutlandshire)  Regiment