Reinforcements...

.... still arriving, freshly minted, at the depot:

While the previous draft begins to take toy soldierly shape:

And there is beer to be drunk:

New journals to be perused:

And new books about the not so long ago past to be read:

Yes, Alf R. Ont has a small holiday.

Steam...

... and soft fruit.

Well, I couldn't resist it. After much consideration, I decided that the new Imagi-war, 42mm project steam lorries were just too garish for the show. So I've given one of them the treatment, and now it looks much more utilitarian (than a brewery dray?), and more active service:

Actually, I think it looks rather noble - a bit like those London buses that saw their way to the Western Front in 1914/15. 

Not quite finished, as the barrels need a bit of matt varnish, and the lorry could do with a number, perhaps with a Cyrillic air.

Meanwhile, the allotment plot continues to produce, with soft fruit flowing into our tiny galley kitchen,

where it is turned into jam (more than enough for a year's supply) by my Western Isles' wife, who knows a thing or two about good jam.

Or, as our grandson said, admiringly, last year, 'Granny takes little things and turns them into jam'.

I might add that the soft fruit produces fine crops despite being somewhat neglected by me - amazingly forgiving. My soil time is more focused on the broad bean/dwarf French bean/cabbage/swedes/runner beans/potatoes/green leaves front. And all for a few pounds sterling a year.

Support...

... for Regt Nr. 1.

In the shape of one of Irregular's 'Really Useful Guns' in 42mm:

The barrel is glued for a bit of high angle fire support as I realised that I was thinking about the karst  (the rocky, limestone landscape that rises behind the old Imperial city of Trieste) while I was painting the gun (a Schneider-you-like) in good, toy soldier finish. 

In such a random fashion does the new imagi-war take shape. 

The second 42mm regiment is now based and primed, and will be in an opposing army finish. However, it will also be the case that the period nature of all the units will mean that they can fight for any side. 

Another random thought that I had regarding all this was W.E.Johns' Biggles Goes To War, which is an imagi-war from the 1930s (the book came out early in 1938) set somewhere in Mittel Europa. Biggles and crew (for the absolute best of reasons - a woman. Uh? Biggles ??) go for a bit of mercenary action. Oddly, they also found time for some adventures in Spain during the period. Biggles, presumably, had, by then, recovered from his Great War experiences which had led to his problems with whisky. I bet there are a few readers out there scratching their heads - Biggles ? Women ? Whisky ?  Actually, if you haven't read it, Victor Yeates' Winged Victory (1934) is probably the finest novel (read, semi-autobiography) of the air war, 1914-1918. Yeates was, coincidentally, a school boy chum of Henry Williamson who served right through the Great War in the trenches, and was the most prolific combatant novelist in English from that war. It's difficult to know where to start with Williamson, but if there ever was a driven, unhinged, tortured, sometimes brilliant, often dreadful, writer, it was Williamson. His experiences in the Great War entered into his very heart, soul, body, bones, and drove him to the edge. Today, if he is remembered at all, it is for his novel Tarka the Otter, and for being a lifelong supporter of Sir Oswald Mosley.

There have been requests (well, two), for a photo comparison of the 42s with the Matchbox steam lorries. So, here is one of the gunners with the Guinness steam lorry:

As you can see, not quite a match, but this is classic wargaming territory, so it looks ok to me.

New 42s...

... Regiment Nr 1:

Irregular. A rather fine 'march attack' pose.

Generic. Imagi-war, late 19th Century - pre-1914 period. Somewhere Mittel Europa, or Balkans (no, no, not England in the early 21st century!)

And...

This first rate artillery officer, in classic toy soldier pose.

'My goodness...

...My Guinness.'  Or, in this case, newly arrived ebay reinforcements for my new 42mm shiny soldiers project. I'm a good way to finishing the first infantry regiment, and have taken delivery of the next, and now they have some support services: 

I might dull down the brasswork, but I think I'll leave the finish - sort of impressed civilian kit.

I have...

... seen the future, and it is 42mm. Well, the near future, here at the Hobbit bunker. In fact,

Forward! 

To the 42mm future, toy soldier style. 

The spirited officer above comes from Irregular Miniatures' Balkan Wars range, and he is now cleaned up, based and undercoated (in white), along with the 12 men of his regiment, in a rather fine 'march attack' pose. 

Although the figures are the first of two small armies I intend to create from the Balkan Wars range, I think I'm going to be pretty catholic when it comes to uniforms. And, of course, given that decision, I dug out a marvellous book that I think  have mentioned before:

Vanished Armies, by A E Haswell Miller, edited by John Mollo (all hail!), published by Shire, Oxford, 2009. The plates in Haswell's book are water colours drawn from life from just before 'the deluge' of 1914. A must.

Dixie!!

...proving, again, that Ross Mac's 'A Rattle of Dice' rules are just the thing for the solo, ageing wargamer...

After their initial high dice throws, the Confederates began to throw low, and, worse, the Union artillery battery was on target far too often.

Firing from just outside the tree line, the noise awakened an Old World fellow, who, somehow, had found his way on to the table. Fortunately, the smell of Australian wine distracted him...

Conscious of the need to take hold all of the railroad by the end of move eight, the Union line put in a spirited attack. The New York Zouaves suffered badly, having to cross the front of an entrenched Confederate regiment, who were being poorly engaged by the fresh U S Zouave regiment.

Centres clash, and the Union prevail, although the Rebels would rally next move. In the far distance the Union right flank assault has seen off the infantry company protecting the rebel artillery.

The partial collapse of the Confederate centre (center?) left Old Gray Beard and his ADC fighting hand to hand with the remnants of the New York Zouaves ... and the Gray heroes saw them off!! Just goes to show what the Mexican War, the Old Testament, whisky, and a beard can do for a man.

The Confederate gunners eventually succumbed, but they took plenty of blue bellies with them.

And it was the end of move eight. Endstate. Heavy losses on both sides.

But the Confederates had held on, and the railroad, though threatened, was still under the Stars and Bars.

And, before I go:

God Save our new Prince !