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'A gaping silken dragon,/Puffed by the wind, suffices us for God./We, not the City, are the Empire's soul:/A rotten tree lives only in its rind.'

Saturday 12 January 2013

Masculinity...

... is, of course, dependent on a host of variables that shift and change. The Spartans famously combed each others hair prior to the saving of the western world from the eastern model of despotism. For me, and others of my age, class, country, and region combing one's hair beyond a few stabs with a comb was a bit dodgy, never mind combing some other bloke's hair! However, one key element of northern English masculinity imparted by my father's generation was that only a wimp read operating instructions for any sort of machinery. Obviously, this caused the odd difficulty - maiming, death, machines that didn't actually work - but one's manhood was never in doubt. Time has moved on, and I have been known to read instructions, but, it has become clear this evening not always. I have begun to paint my new stove pipe shako British for the Peninsular. I thought I'd give some of Mr Tim Beresford's ideas about figure painting a go. So far, so bad. So I had another look at his article in the current Battlegames, only to come across this: 'This is the point where working with a white undercoat on complex sculpts, such as these Perry models, you need to paint really accurately...' ! Aieeee. 'Perry sculpts'. Which is what the stove pipe fellows are! Never mind, I'm still a bloke...

More happily, because black undercoated and slap dash painted, I did a little more work on my still chain and hoist free recovery panzer:


Finally, a puzzle. I came across these 25mm fellows the other day, part painted, and, I think, from the 1980s. They are pretty crude, late Great War French, but which company made 'em?


There has been an attempt here by whoever the sculptor was, to add a degree of dynamism to the figures, and, in fact, the running and crouching figure (mostly hidden by the standing chap) is quite nice. However, I should think that most gamers would dismiss these figures today. So that raises a question: just what constitutes a 'bad' wargames figure?



11 comments:

  1. Going to have to work that hair combing thing into a unit one day . . .

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    1. You could probably do a simple conversion in 28mm - and I reckon it would give an additional +1 morale to the already hard-core Spartans.

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  2. I recall watching women platting their menfolk's hair prior to battle in the Sealed Knot.I was envious of them and wished I had the length of hair necessary not to mention a companion to do it with me.
    I will look out a few Danes I have tried to paint soon.
    Panzer looking great but I have no idea who made the French...
    best wishes
    Alan

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    1. I'm glad to hear that your hair wasn't long enough to be combed by anyone - dam' crusties/Hippies/Yippies et al!

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  3. *shakes head*

    That you should have become a southern fairy. I blame that fancy education - it'll be all soft furnishings and Judy Garland next.

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    1. I think you're thinking of my brother ...
      When it comes to high standards of masculinity, I don't envy Irishmen. As Brendan Behan said, 'an Irish homosexual is a man who prefers women to drink!'. A sound race!

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    2. To be fair I'm a bit of a ducky...

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  4. The officer reminds me a little of various Frontier Miniatures but they would be a long way from home and they weren't known for multiple poses anyway. In other words, no idea.

    As far as "bad" figures, well figures are art really, in a way, so what you like is good and what you don't is bad.

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    1. Now that is a perfect topic for discussion - 'wargames figures are art'. And a dam' sight moreso than a lot of 'art'.

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  5. They are 20mm, yes 20mm Akheton from the Harrow Model Shop. Early 80's.

    Cheers
    Mark

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    1. Good lord! Well done, that man. 20mm ... well ... odd ruler they were using. I've got a few Germans somewhere too. Clearly, I wasn't too taken with them, or I'd have more. Thanks for the ID, Mark.

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