More Old New Figures

Without further ado...



Anarchist urban guerilla from my Police Action! project.


Metropolitan Police Inspector, Police Action!



Markov Regiment, Volunteer Army - officer and rifleman



Kornilov Regiment, Volunteer Army - officer and rifleman

The Markov and Kornilov men are now in Al Front's possession, as a thank you for the gun-running he did for the aborted attempt at Evesham.

Of Hide Shields, Assegais And Automatic Weapons

I received the last shipment of weapons from Al Front today - a Vickers HMG and 3" mortar for Action Group 32. Also included were a civilian with glasses and a revolver (Anarchist!) and an excellent figure for a BUF Officer with revolver - he's broken open his Webley and is reloading it. I think they're all from Artizan Designs.

The heavy weapon crews need minor headswaps really as they're all in British Army uniform c. 1939/40. Alternatively I may get lazy and just paint them up as BUF men with steel helmets and khaki gaiters. I'm only really bothered about the Action uniform men for the Police Action! project to be honest.

At lunch I managed to paint another Ratskin, Dave Longtooth (in 55 minutes!), and almost finish the Nubian with Hide Shield and Assegai. I'm really, really, really pleased with the way her skin and translucent trousers have turned out; she's very dark-skinned indeed. The hide shield looks quite good, with an abstract design meant to represent a stylised snakeskin. She's the testbed for my Song of Blades and Heroes snake-demon cult.

I'm almost certain to get her finished in my afternoon break, too, so I'm going to count her as done for painting points purposes.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 4
2010 Total: 4
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 62

"Of Course It's Gold-Plated, I'm The Boss"

A bit later than I'd hoped, but here they are:



One Goliath gang leader with autopistol and chainsword (plus fetching pink tartan trousers). The rainbow-mowhawk is traditional for Goliath leaders, or rather "that's how 'Eavy Metal painted the Goliath leader when Necromunda first came out, so I nicked the hairstyle".



BUF standard bearer -'AG 32' - and gunner, gun truck Nr. 15. You can't see it, but I painted a fasces and a '15' onto the front of his helmet. It seemed like the right thing to do.


The gun truck! See - new flag. Sort of.

Tomorrow, I'll be painting more Necromunda stuff.

Triumphant Standard!

After a short hiatus of two days caused by the weekend and a free day off work (recipe: get up and travel to the office on a Bank Holiday only to discover it's closed, come home. Profit!), it was back to the coal face today.

And I had a pretty impressive day, painting wise - the Goliath gang Leader got finished off with some tattoos, piercings, and a base, Action Group 32 got a Colour Sergeant, and the gun truck (Nr. 15) got its gunner to go with the officer.

Which brings my total so far for the last couple of months up to a fairly respectable 49 infantry models and one armoured car!

Pictures, as always, will be posted later tonight.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 3
2009 Total: 55

Detail - Atennnn- SHUN! Taking Stock

Well, I finished the Colour Party's officer, standing to attention. A bit of an oddity as the Colour Sergeant is standing easy, but there you go.

All in all, and in order, I've now painted up:
(1) Tau Firewarrior NCO
(2) Varingr NCO
(3) Mordheim Elf
(4) Bounty Huntress
(12) 8 Skye Battalion
(13) Red Witch
(19) 6 BUF
(20) Goliath Juve
(21) Chaos Heroine
(22) Chaos Daemonette
(23) Goliath Juve
(26) 3 Anarchists
(27) BUF Driver
(32) Rolls Royce A/C
(34) 2 Plainclothes police
(35) 1 Gangs of Mega-City One ganger
(38) 3 Anarchist militia
(39) 1 Escher Ganger
(40) 1 Greater Israel Army trooper
(43) 3 GIA troopers
(47) 4 GIA troopers
(51) 4 GIA troopers
(52) 1 BUF officer

Not bad going really, given I've been doing it for 33 days - an average of 1.6 figures a day.

I'm on holiday over the Christmas Weekend, then back at work in the last week of 2009, so I'm going to try and finish off the Goliaths next week (I'm almost there with the Gang Leader, and the last two Gangers have been undercoated and had their metals done), which would put me in a good place for 2010.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 9
2009 Total: 52

Thinking about it, I've been doing this since early November with a target of 8-10 OPP a month, or a maximum of 20 figures for Nov-Dec. I've already smashed that target to bits and can report exceeding the Five Year Plan by 32 models or over 150%!

Reinforcements From Al Front

I did a naughty thing today. I received a mysterious package from Al Front, and at the earliest available opportunity I tore it open and dug out the packets therein.

Inside one was an armoured Ford AA flatbed with a naval gun mounted on it, and painted up in BUF colours! Hurrah!

Inside the other was an unpainted BUF (well, OK, Salo Republic) colour party, Emma Picton-Bryant (painted) and four of her White Russian bodyguards (unpainted) as well as three Angel Alley Anarchists ready for use on or in a car - one with tommy gun and two with pistols!

Wheeee! The armoured lorry's brilliant, and I've already almost finished the first of the colour party.

Tho' Cowards Flinch and Traitors Sneer

Today has been exceptionally productive - I seem to have hit a solid rythm, pumping out about 2-3 figures (or more) a day. For example, I painted an Anarchist militiaman from the undercoat, finished off the other two (one's got wellies on!) and am about ten minutes' painting time away from finishing one of the few remaining 'HellBitches', my main Necromunda Gang. Their exploits are recorded here for posterity.

I doubt they'll ever get rolled out in that configuration again, but if they do their rating of 4,300(!) is enough to put the frighteners on even the Arbites. They currently stand at a 'mere' 19 members and, had I had time to put in a couple more games before I moved to Nottinghamshire, would have easily hit 20+ and gained a Heavy Stubber, making them the second most powerful gang in the Charred Cross Zone. Maybe I can find some poor mook for them to bash about in the future.

And, since I've spent a while talking about them, here are some of them:



The Ogryn Bodyguard ("Meat") never got hired, in the end, but I made him all the same, along with a PDF Deserter, a Sniper, a Mad Doc, a Bounty Huntress, a Pit Slave, and a few others.

If/when I find the/get a new camera lead, I'll take photos of the enlarged gang and all their Hired Guns.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 12
2009 Total: 35

"You there - halt!"

I'm as fed up with the lack of photos as you lot are, I suspect.

Since losing the cable, I've painted:

1 Rolls-Royce Armoured Car
6 BUF
3 Anarchists
2 Goliath Juves
and now also

2 Plainclothes policemen
1 Gangs of Mega-City 1 ganger

The policemen are quite nice, in my opinion - the sinister Z Division man with his closed raincoat, party badge, pinstripe suit, Webley revolver and leather gloves; the Scotland Yard Detective with blue three-piece suit, tartan knitted tie, and concealed pistol. Same organisation (State Security Police), different methods.

The ganger's completion means that I've effectively finished my GoMC1 project, although, as previously discussed, I would like to get some Judge models and find some more esoteric Mongoose miniatures on eBay. However, I'm happy for the moment. Hurray!

Mind you, none of these figures can be seen because I STILL can't find the bloody cable! Arrrgh! In the meantime, feast your eyes on these:


A mix of Ground Zero Games 'Street Level' range and Copplestone Castings' 'Future Wars' models, this horde of civilians and militia represent the near-future European Federation's Red Block and innocent bystanders during an intensive period of civil unrest following the 2105-2107 Resource War when the EuroFed armed forces soundly defeated the North African-Arab alliance. In the process, however, the EuroFed became something of a right-wing dictatorship. This lot are protesting (and fighting) about it.

However...


The security forces might have something to say about it. Here are Ground Zero Games Neu Swabian League Jagers and Troopers (together with a couple of 'Street Level' coppers and figures, two 'Combat Babes' and two Copplestone Castings models) painted as the feared paramilitary Security Police (Zekurit-Polizi, or ZEPO) as well as normal Polizi (the blokes in black with blue helmets and caps, and the uniformed and plainclothes officers).

I fully intend to at some point return to this project and, using the utterly wonderful Offensive Miniatures range of rioters and police, expand the Polizi (so the rioters don't automatically lose to the hail of automatic and energy weapons fire) and give the rioters-guerillas some extra bodies.

I'm also eventually going to produce terrain, too, probably based on this stuff on Matakishi's Tea House although obviously without the desert vibe - this is Europe, even if it is Europe 100 years hence and in a very different world (climate change hit 4 degrees C, alternate energy is commonplace, oil is rare, the near space system is colonised to try and reduce the effects of population growth, etc, etc). Or even this set of inner city buildings, which is much better!

Really, this project (EuroFed Rioting) sets the scene for my SF stuff, such as the New Israelis who I hope to make a start on this week.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 8
2009 Total: 31

Vroom, vroom, eeeee- brapapapapapa!

Today I painted up the BUF driver (aka Samantha Stewart* from the ITV series Foyle's War) and the armoured car Nr 12 'Immediate Action!' for my fledgling BUF force(s).

The Rolls-Royce armoured car looks utterly spiffing with its new coat of British Racing Green (GW Dark Angels Green), grey tires, and BUF markings. Woe betide the Reds! I've since realised that this particular Rolls-Royce is an old, and now out-of-production, Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company vehicle, from back in the day when they did a huge range of 28mm WWI and Interwar armoured cars. I was sad to discover the other day that all their 28mm stuff (which included a large range of troops) is now no longer being made and hasn't been for some time. A great shame.

I've also nearly finished the two plainclothes men that come with the Artizan Scotland Yard Detectives pack (aka Christopher Foyle and Paul Milner from Foyle's War). I've decided to do the armed one as a member of the BUF State Security organisation, 'Z' Division, and the unarmed one as a Police Detective. Both have mackintoshes and grey fedoras.

Not a bad start to the week really.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 6
2009 Total: 29

* Played by the incredibly named Honeysuckle Hero Susan Weeks, ex-Roedean, ex-Pembroke College Oxford, who's married (brilliantly) to a man named Lorne Stormont-Darling, making her Honeysuckle Hero Susan Stormont-Darling! You couldn't make it up...

Saturday Stuff

Picked up a couple of parcels from the Post Office today - they contained an old Rolls-Royce armoured car that I've had for years, and a couple of packs of figures from Artizan; Scotland Yard Detectives (hurrah) and three Partisans (hurray) which gives my BUF force a driver, starts the Police, and expands the Anarchists to six people!

All I've done so far is clean them up and base them. Still can't find my bloody lead.

Anarchists in Suits and the Gangs of Mega-City One

Today, I managed to put the pin-stripe onto the Angel Alley Anarchists' LMG No. 2, and add the checked stripes on the flat cap of the Lewis gunner. Other details were added too - the ammo drum bag (a school satchel!) painted up, armbands painted on, hair painted, wooden stocks painted, that sort of thing.

Still can't find my camera lead. At this rate I'll have to get a new camera! In the meantime, here are the painted figures I have for GoMC1:












They're a mix of Mongoose Publishing plastics (now out of production), Hasslefree Miniatures and Copplestone Castings. I intend to eventually get some Judges from Wargames Foundry, probably Dredd, Anderson Psi, a Tek-Judge, and three or four Street Judges. I might get a couple with Riot Foam launchers, just because.

That would give me a Justice Department precinct house, really. I may well expand the gangs over time, too, although sadly eBay is now the only place Mongoose's models like the Ape Gang, Rogue Robots, the Lawmaster Bike, Cadet Judges, or Fatties can be found.

Buttocks! or, The Perils of Parenthood

The reason there's no photos is because my 10 month old son has made off with the camera lead.

At least, that's what we think has happened - it was last seen in his possession so I suspect it of being under the sofa. I'm going to have a concerted effort to find the damn thing as there's a lot to photograph!

In addition to the Daemonette and Chaos Marauder Heroine, I've effectively finished one of the Goliath Juves (he needs his base doing and the name writing on it), and undercoated the remaining BUF men and woman as well as the Anarchist LMG team and Back of Beyond character types.

And today I received my Hasslefree order and the Bentley staff car, which looks perfect with my BUF chaps! Hurrah!

Talking of the BUF, the VBCW lot on The Gentleman's Wargames Parlour have begun preparations for a 'Big Game' at Evesham over the weekend of the 27-28th Feb, in which I have the part of Frank Wilde, decorated veteran of WWI and local BUF Militia CO. More on that in the weeks to come.

And now - to find the cable! I have toys to photograph!

A Piece of the Mountain

And, following all that boring text, some PHOTOS! Hurrah!


The Black Dragon and the Red Witch - both Reaper Miniatures, both bought from Orc's Nest in 2006/7 (links go to the specific minis).


The Red Witch - notice the translucent effect of her top; an experiment which was very helpful if not as effective as I'd've liked. You'll see more of this on my first Song of Blades and Heroes warband...



Revamped BUF - note the FIBUA bases!

Oh, and when I got home today, I had a present - Studio McVey's Seraphine la Roux! I'm using her as the leader of my first Song of Blades and Heroes warband, and I get to paint her up after Christmas, by order of my better half. I'm VERY excited about painting her as she's a genuine work of art - the sculpt is breathtaking and worth every penny.

Action Squad and the Red Witch

Quick post-prandial (paintial?) update for you, my loyal readers:

I finished touching up the BUF men from Al Front, and redid their bases (a simple grey drybrush over a black paintjob). They look rather good actually!

I then went to start undercoating my own, only to discover I've run out of black paint! Aieee! A trip to GW or ModelZone may be required... Having been foiled in my scheme to effectively paint up the rest of the 12-strong Action Squad which forms part of my State Forces for 'Police Action' (see below), I turned to a model which had failed to inspire me of late:

Reaper Miniatures' witch, or, in my hands, the Red Witch. I picked her up, started painting, and very nearly finished her! I was amazed! I still need to work on this translucent clothing business, especially as I want to showcase it on my forthcoming Song of Blades and Heroes warband, but nonetheless I'm pleased with how it looks so far.

All I really need to do on her now is some detailing, her leather gauntlet, staff, hair and base. She should be done tomorrow, which'll be good.

Having reviewed my BUF contingent:

3x pistol-wielding officers
1x NCO with MP-28
1x NCO with shotgun
7x Riflemen

And compared them with my proposed list for Police Action:

1x Officer
2x NCOs with SMGs
1x Shotgun
12x Riflemen
1x plainclothesman
1x female driver

I note that I'm lacking 5 riflemen (although I am reliably informed that the reason for this is because, unsportingly, the Empress Miniatures' Assault Guards are wearing a mix of monos and shirt/trouser ensembles), 1 NCO with SMG, the driver and the plainclothesman. My new, revised list, is:

3x Officer with pistols
1x NCO with SMG, 1x NCO with shotgun
12x Riflemen
1x driver

This gives me:

Staff car - Officer, driver
Truck 1 - Officer, NCO, 6 riflemen (inc. driver)
Truck 2 - Officer, NCO, 6 riflemen (inc. driver)

The female driver will come from the 'Scotland Yard Detectives' pack from Artizan Designs. The two plain clothes detectives in it will be part of the Police presence.

The remaining 5 riflemen will be made up of Empress Miniatures' Assault Guard Rifles 1 and 2 packs (leaving 3 spare who will either be given to Al Front for his 28mm SCW, or hung onto and used as, well, BUF men!)

All told, the BUF will cost me - not including vehicles - £15 at Salute! 2010. Not bad at all really.

EDIT:

Al Front has very kindly sent me a Lledo 1:43 staff car - a 1930 Bentley two-seater in dark blue with the British flag and number '1' on the side - for the Action Squad. Brilliantly, the '1' could pass for an 'I', which was the correct deisgnation of the BUF's defence squads; the 'I' Squads.

I'm now musing over what trucks to buy for the 'I' Squad - armoured Lancias, or civilian trucks, or one of each?

Also, I'm tempted to use the Lewis gunner from Musketeer Miniatures BCW03 British Militia Command pack as a BUF man - I'd need to head swap to keep him in line with the rest of the I Squad, but it'd certainly give them a bit of extra punch. Thoughts?

The Flash of Action, the Circle of Unity

Today I got home from work (via a meal out and a quick shop with my better half) to find a small package awaiting me. Well, that is to say, there were two Danish matchboxes, a clear plastic bag with two rolls of corduroy, a crumpled letter, and a savagely torn open paddy bag, with teethmarks. My 10 month old son had managed to steal the packet from my wife and, before she noticed, had torn it open with his hands and upended the contents!

Impressive, most impressive. Anyway, inside were 7 Empress (nee Anglian) Miniatures' Assault Guards painted by Al Front of the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour as BUF men in the Action uniform, a sten-gun wielding Captain Haddock, and a female pilot. The latter two are, I think, from Artizan Designs, but I may be wrong.

Together with my 5 BUF chaps, that gives me a group of 12. I can organise them into three sections of 4 - each of an officer, an NCO, and two riflemen. The BUF in London now outnumber their Anarchist enemies 4:1 - but the Anarchists have a Lewis gun...

I took photos of the contents, and you can see where, despite their packaging (cotton wool), they need touching up after chipping en route. They're really nicely painted and all I intend to do to them is rebase them to fit in with the grey 'urban' bases I plan to do the rest of the Police Action! figures with.





Hopefully I'll get to start working on these fellows tomorrow.

A Quick Progress Report

Today I based the 8 Skye Battalion men, the Anarchist Lewis gun team and the 6 BUF people. Then I undercoated - by brush, as work has an inexplicable ban on spray painting toy soldiers at one's desk - the Skye Battalion figs.

I aim to get them finished - or at least mostly finished - by Friday. Speed painting a unit ahoy!

In my afternoon break I'm going to try and finish off the female bounty hunter I've done up for Song of Blades and Heroes, to at least get one OPP this week.

See, over all the streets the Fascist banners waving

And now, my VBCW figures - so far...

From top to bottom, left-to-right, we have: 8 members of the Skye Battalion, who've been lucky enough to be issued full uniforms, 3 adventurers for the Back of Beyond (aka Wynd-Grator's forces, although I'm much more tempted to paint them up as, well, adventurers in the Empire for a more generic 1920s-30s Pulp style of game), an Anarchist Lewis gun team, and 6 members of the BUF including 'Flying' Fay Taylour, for once not on a motorbike.

You may just be able to make out the extra shiny leg on the BUF man 2nd from left - this is where I made a feeble attempt to file away his trouser and turn it into a jackboot. It failed, I gave up, and argued that the 'Action' uniform has been altered to make it more practical for fighting in.

These chaps (and chapesses) are accompanying me to work today, and I hope to make a start on them this week.

Oh, and for those of you who want some pictures of civilians from the 1930s in colour, YouTube can be an interesting resource. Searching for 'BUF Anthem' or 'Hunger March' is a good start.

EDIT: Finally worked out how to get photos to behave! Huzzah!

A Lunchtime Musing

In my break at work today I had a little think about what I could do with my B&T figures. Then the answer hit me - Clan-based warfare on the Isle of Skye! It retains the local link - I'm a member of Clan MacLeod of Dunvegan, Skye - and means I can mix the B&Ts with militia figures to create a rag-tag bunch of clansmen to fight the representatives of the Republican Government in the name of Edward VIII and the Union...

So I bashed this out in ten minutes:

The Isle of Skye in theVBCW:

The clans are split, and ancient feuds have reignited. Clan MacLeod of Dunvegan has declared for King and Country, forcing Clan MacDonald of Sleat to back the Scottish Government. Aid, however, is limited and infrequent as the Republican Scottish Government has problems of its own, with Clydeside and other areas are simmering with revolutionary unrest, fascist insurgents, and cross-border raids.

For the most part, the fighting on Skye – with its population of just 9,000 people – is limited to skirmishes, raids, and tit-for-tat atrocities.

Clan MacLeod and the Skye Battalion

The Clan MacLeod forces are based at Dunvegan Castle, and led by Dame Flora MacLeod, 28th Chieftan of the Clan and the first female Chieftan. Her ‘army’, officially referred to as the Skye Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders by London and Edwards’ High Command, comprises some 280 clansmen with varying degrees of experience.

The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland is a powerful force on Skye, and it is represented within the MacLeod militia by no less than three ministers. They see Clan MacDonald, which supports the United Free Church, as ‘dangerous reformists’ and are keen to destroy the UFC’s influence on Skye.

The Skye Battalion is organised as follows:

Dunvegan Castle:
Battalion HQ: 10 men plus Captain Cameron.

Dunvegan Company:
1st Platoon – 30 men
2nd Platoon – 30 men
3rd Platoon – 30 men

Edinbane Company:
4th Platoon - 30 men
5th Platoon - 30 men
6th Platoon - 30 men

Portree Company:
7th Platoon - 30 men
8th Platoon - 30 men
9th Platoon - 30 men

The Skye Battalion has made its front line against Clan Donald the mountainous Cuilin Hills, with Raasay and Rona held by 5th and 6th Platoons to guard against any attempted sea landings.

Equipment is limited mostly to rifles and shotguns, with each Platoon in possession of an LMG (mostly this is the Lewis gun, but 8th Platoon has a Bren gun). Petrol bombs are common, with the force’s sole heavy weapon – a Vickers HMG – kept at Dunvegan for defensive purposes. Resupply is limited to the occasional smuggler’s run from England, and a regular army advisor, Captain James Cameron, has been attached to the force.

There are few cars on Skye, and the battalion instead makes use of horses, although not as mounted cavalry. The unit’s NCOs are all veterans of WWI, and the men themselves are a mix of hardy crofters and war veterans. Few speak English, but this is not yet a problem. Small boats and amphibious landings are commonplace, but neither the MacLeods or MacDonalds have the numbers to drive the other off Skye yet.

London has promised greater support if the Skye Battalion can take Kyleakin, from which point raids can be mounted against the mainland. It remains to be seen if this will happen before the reorganising Scottish Army can provide overwhelming support to the MacDonalds.

The Skye Battalion wear black or dark green tam-o-shanters, khaki tunics, trews in the clan tartan, and khaki puttees. Webbing is leather, usually brown or black, and boots are black. Greatcoats are often worn. Insignia is limited to the clan crest, worn on the right shoulder, and the Highland Division patch on the left. Rank tapes are white. Uniforms, however, are limited, and many wear a mix of civilian clothing and military gear. Steel helmets are rare, and limited to the ‘tin bowler’ of the regular army.

A Platoon is typically organised into three squads as follows:

Lt, Sgt, three-man LMG team, runner, 4 men (rifles).
Cpl, L/Cpl, 8 men (rifles).
Cpl, L/Cpl, 8 men (rifles).

Shotguns, pistols, and petrol bombs are common. Seanar MacLeod, the Dunvegan Company’s minister, has the only sub-machine-gun in the battalion: a Bergmann. Dame Flora has been promised a shipment of automatic weapons from America via Ireland, and Captain Cameron has successfully pleaded for more rifles which, in theory, will enable more islanders to be called to the Fairy Flag.

Suggested Figures:
Musketeer Miniatures – IRA, Worker’s Militia, Black and Tans and Brigands. British Militia and Anglican League packs also have useful figures.

This particular project will go by the name of 'VBCW' and will probably top out at 60 or so figures - a platoon apiece to fight across the Cuilin Hills. The MacDonald Clan troops will be slightly more 'regular' looking, with 1918 infantry to represent their improved lines of supply with the mainland.

On a similar, 1938-related note, it's hard to find 28mm resistants, partisans, or guerillas that aren't carrying soviet weapons. I'm trying to work out what models to get for the Angel Alley Anarchists who'll be fighting the Artizan Police and Musketeer/Empress BUF men in Police Action.

That particular project - Police Action - is now set out as follows:

Police:
3 with rifles, 3 with pistols, 3 with truncheons, detective. (10)

Figs:
Artizan

BUF Action Squad:
Officer with pistol, female driver, plainclothes security policeman, 2 NCOs with SMGs, 13 men with rifles and shotgun
Car: Officer, driver, BUF man with shotgun, plainclothesman
1st truck: NCO with tommy gun, 6 riflemen
2nd truck: NCO with SMG, 6 riflemen

Figs:
Musketeer (officer, shotgun, 3 rifles, tommy gun NCO)
Artizan (plainclothesman and driver)
Empress (Assault Guards packs – command and rifles)

28 state forces (plus one car and two trucks

Angel Alley Anarchists:
20 anarchists with a mix of SMGs, pistols and rifles. Two LMGs.

Figs:
Bolt Action (partisans – Western Rifles, LMGs, German Rifles – 12)
Other?

I'm also tempted to get some Natal Mounted Police and use them as Met. mounted cops with riot shotguns (as per a post on the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour). We shall see. Now I'm off to do some painting!

London for Mosley - a Very British Civil War

Periodically, phenomenon periods sweep the wargaming community. I remember Darkest Africa, which was followed by Pirates, and the latest is 'A Very British Civil War'. This is an interesting grassroots alternative history, developed by wargamers who have looked - in many cases in great, academic, detail - to their local areas, and created a brave new war: the 1938 Civil War, started with the refusal of Edward to abdicate, the appointment of Mosley to PM, and the return of the International Brigades. It's a strange country, with a Republican Scotland, militant Anglicans, a Red Army, Communist city-states, Nationalist Wales, Fascist London, and more.

My contribution to this madness is, or so the plan goes, a small group of BUF 'Action Squad' men led by the redoubtable Ms Fletcher (Copplestone Castings), some armed police (courtesy of Artizan Designs), and a group of armed civilians (Musketeer Miniatures) to oppose them. I intend to get a load of '30s civilians to populate the streets of London, too.

This project will be called - drumroll, please - Police Action!

So far I've got some RIC men (Musketeer) which will get slightly converted to wear boots, and be painted up as BUF troops, and - again from Muskteer - a load of IRA men and some Black and Tans. Not sure what I'll use the Black and Tans for tho'.

EDIT UPDATE:

I've just dug the above mentioned figures out:

BUF - Officer with webley, NCO with shotgun, three blokes with rifles
Black & Tans - Officer? with shotgun in greatcoat, Sgt, Lewis Gun team (3 figs), three blokes with rifles
Urban Guerillas - Lewis Gun team (3 figs).

I think I'll paint the B&Ts up as, well, B&Ts. I'm sure I can fit them in somehow, and it'll give me the ability to game the Irish Wars too.