Perry Brothers Royal Artillery for the American Civil War

Greetings friends.

Slowly chipping away at my stock of Perry Brothers British Intervention Force figures ordered at the start of Covid.   I don’t think I’ve told the story of how I ordered a whack of figures very early into Covid, back in April.   By August I emailed PBros to report their non-arrival here in Canada (I’ve had good experiences pre-Covid getting prompt shipments from the UK to my town one hour N of Toronto).   PBros agreed they were likely lost and reshipped the order without question or extra charge.   Very classy.   Of course, the original shipment, postmarked May 4, arrived about a week after the re-shipment of the order, so I paid for the duplicate which was by then in transit.    Bonus me, I now have twice as large a pile of figures to paint.   So well done Perrys!

Royal Artillery gun crew with 12 pounder Armstrong.  I had a bit of a struggle assembling the gun, so it likes slightly wonky in the second photo.

 

I don’t know much about the history or employment of this type of gun but I recall that in the old SPI monster game, Terrible Swift Sword, there was a Confederate battery equipped with Whitworths and it could hit anything on the map, so I am guessing that this thing has some range!   I suspect that it should be treated as similar to Union rifled artillery such as Parrott guns.

 

My source, the Osprey volume, Canadian Campaigns, 1860-1870, doesn’t show any artillery uniforms, but I did some googling and found the the uniforms of the time generally seemed to be dark blue with red trim, yellow cuffs, and yellow bands on the pillbox hats.

I always debate whether to just mount the figures on the base of the artillery piece so it looks realistic, but I always decide to bass them separately, in case I need to represent casualties in the battery or gun few, depending on the scale being played.

I have two more Perry Whitworths and crew to start, and am currently working on a large unit of Canadian volunteer cavalry, so I almost have enough figures finished for a small skirmish, which is always exciting when a project starts to come together.

Thanks for looking, be well, and blessings to your brushes!

MP+

The Rockies Ablaze, Part Two

Near Camrose, Alberta, February, 1937.

 

It took Frenchy Lamoreux a day and a half to snowshoe down from the mountains and into town.   Normally he gave the Mounties a wide berth, as did most of the trappers.   It wasn’t that he had anything to hide, he was as honest as any man, but where the redcoats were, it wasn’t long before the surveyors and the mining men and the road crews appeared, taking his way of life away bit by bit.

 

He shrugged when he reached the simple cabin of the RCMP detachment.   “Tant pis.  On fait ce qu’il faut.”

 

 

“Sergeant Craig’urst”, he nodded to the man in red serge behind the desk, as a friendly, hawk-nosed face looked up.   Craighurst was well known to the trappers as a fair and decent policeman, someone who knew the woods and mountains as well as any one.

 

“Frenchy!”  Bill Craighurst’s bantam figure rose easily as he offered his hand.   “What brings you down to town?”

 

 

“Not any t'ing good, Sergeant.  Maybe you ‘ave coffee on dat dere stove?”

 

“Of course.   Sit down.”   Craighurst poured thick strong coffee into an enamel mug and handed it to the trapper.   “Tell me your news.”  He could see something haunting the other man’s face as Lamoureux sipped the coffee and gathered himself.

 

“You know old Grainger, ‘ee ‘as dat claim up on Indian River, nearby of me?”

 

“Scotty Grainger, yes.   Keeps to himself, but never troubles anyone.   By all accounts a good neighbour.  What of him?”

 

 

Lamoureux stared out the window behind the mountie’s desk for a moment.   "I t’ink ee’s dead, Sergeant.”  He told the story about finding the blood-soaked snow.

 

“The last time Grainger was in town, he spoke ill of another trapper, the Serb, Gligic.  Accused him of stealing his furs. Even threatened him.  Do you think there was bad blood between the two?”

 

The trapper shrugged.  “Peut être.  Is true dey not les amis.  But I do not t’ink it was any man what killed ‘eem.  It was … some t’ing h'else.”

 

Sergeant Caighurst’s big husky growled faintly and looked apprehensively at his master.   “Easy, Laurier.   Easy, boy.  Well, Frenchy, I think I’d best go have a look.”

 

One look at the trapper’s face told Craighurst not to ask for his company.  The man was clearly spent.  “Eh, you go if you want, Sergeant.  But as dey say, attache ta tuque."

Some Good Pulp Doggoes

Hello and Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving.

Here are two Very Good Doggoes (are there any other kind?) for my 1930s pulp project, The Rockies Ablaze.   These good puppers are from Bob Murch’s Pulp Figures range of Yukon Adventure figures.

My wife Joy has had two Siberian huskies in her life, both sadly gone across the Rainbow Bridge, but our house is replete with pictures, which I used as inspiration.   Joy holds that huskies are the most beautiful animals that God ever made, and I am inclined to agree with her.

Of course, Mounties need husky sidekicks.  Maybe not Constable Benton Fraser from the TV series of the 1990s, Due South, but perhaps his grandfather.

“Let’s go, Fang, there’s trouble out there!"

Sadly our house no longer has a resident dog.  Our very good girl Dinah came to the end of her road last week.   Joy adopted her three years ago after her owner passed away.  Dinah was already elderly then, and while she got deaf and started losing her sight, she had a good life until recently  when her ability to walk and keep clean declined, and we decided to let her end her life in peace and dignity.  I suspect the only dogs here in future will be miniature dogs, as we hope to travel once Covid is over, but you never know.

 

Blessings to your brushes and to your furry friends!

MP+

It's Fat Bear Night!

ghhhrgergerge

 

I’m always on the lockout for whimsical figures for my pulp gaming project set in the Canadian Rockies, including animals.   Hikers in the Rockies know all about bears, and what could be more dangerously Canadian than a bear?    I found this fellow on the Northstar Minis website, a Frostrgrave model, I think, and he looked the part.   Why he is up and angry in the middle of winter?   I’d be cross too if someone woke me from hibernation!

 

Once I noticed it in this photos, I wasn’t happy with the yellow blobs of glue left around the winter tufts by my white carpenter’s glue, so I went back with some white pain and cleaned them up.  Sometimes it takes a camera to see things.

If you think the winter bear is a chonk, meet his resin friend from Thistle and Rose miniatures, their B01 Were Bear model.  He is HUGE by comparison.  He has a forst/grass base because he will be a possible option for my Elven Woodland Forest army for Dragon Rampant, a single base model.

 

Serious chonk!  I like a bear with a big butt and I cannot lie.   That paw could take out an orc shield wall in one fell sweep, and then open up a pot of hunnee.

 Finally, if you like big bears, I encourage you to check out Fat Bear Week, a bracket contest featuring actual brown bears in an American wilderness park in Alaska. 

Perry Brothers British Infantry for the American Civil War

 My alt-ACW project gets some reinforcements with this regiment of Perry Brothers British infantry from their British Intervention Force range.

 The figures are Perry codes and BIF 16 Line Infantry Marching Campaign Dress Plain Frock Coats and Kilmarnicks and BIF 15 Line Infanry Command Marching, Campaign Dress and Kilmarnocks.  I’m sure eventually I’ll add some flashy types like Guards and Highlanders but I want the bulk of the force to plain warriors for the working day.

Once again I went with flags by Adolfo Ramos,which are certainly worth the money if you can afford them and don’t mind the long wait from Spain.  As my friend James says, it’s “Faces, Bases and Flags”.  The flags are of the British 55th Regiment of Adolfo’s Crimean War range, which is close enough for government work.

Unfortunately the national colour was in contact with the paper strip that Adolfo had included in the package and there was some bleeding from the printer ink, which I tried to fix free hand as you can see in the photo below.  No harm no foul, I am a happy customer of Adolfo’s.

 

 A sergeant and an officer separately based for Sharpe Practice.

 “Steady, my good fellows!  Sojers of the Queen ain’t afraid of no Americans!"

 Next in the pipeline in this project are some British artillery and Canadian militia cavalry.  It’s a long haul project but interesting figures and is teaching me a little bit about Britiain’s mid-Victorian Army.

Thanks for looking and blessings to your brushes!

MP+ 

 

 

It's .... Crash Callahan!

R

Racing down a gravel road, her trusty dog Fred in the sidecar of her roaring Indian, it’s Crash Callahan, intrepid girl reporter / secret agent / daredevil / archaeologist - take your pick.

As readers of this blog know, I’m a sucker for fellow Canadian Bob Murch’s line of Pulp Figures, and while I couldn’t see an immediate use for it in my gaming, I thought it would be an ideal present for my lovely bride and dog lover, Joy, who still struggles to understand the art form of miniature figures.  And who can resist a dog in a sidecar with goggles and his tongue hanging out?

 

 

The set also comes with dismounted figures of Crash and Fred - nice touch.  Her blue jeans are done with Citadel contrast paint which I have only begun to use.  I thought it was a bit garish when it dried, but the matte spray varnish toned it down a bit.  I think I like it.

 

Thanks for looking.  Blessings to your brushes!

MP+

The Rockies Ablaze, Part One

<I’ve been going on here about my pulp project for a few years with precious little to show for it, so here goes.   Narrative fluff to start with slightly elaborated from @MarshalLuigi ’s tweets.  Small actions and character reactions to be determined using Call of Cthulhu 7th ed rules, larger actions probably by TFL’s Chain of Command.>

Near Camrose, Alberta, February, 1937.

Frenchy Lamoreux walked his trapline in the high foothills near Indian River every few days, weather permitting.   He often crossed paths with Old Grainger, out walking his line.  Frenchy looked forward to his chats with the Scot.   They’d share a tot of rum or whiskey from their flasks, and compare notes on what they were catching and who was paying best for the fur.  Lately Grainger was becoming convinced that another trapper, Ratko Gligic, was stealing from his traps.   “If I catch yon rascal in the act, I’ll kill him stone deed, I will!"

In the late afternoon, near one of Grainger’s untouched traps, Frenchy found the blood.   He was certain that it wasn’t the result of someone field dressing a kill.  It was more like something, or someone, had been simply torn apart.  Nearby, in some trampled snow, he found Grainger’s briar pipe, still full of half burnt gold flake.

As he surveyed the dismal scene, he felt his hair rise under his toque.  Frenchy knew with a terrible certainty that he was being watched.   He also knew that nothing he had ever seen on earth had made the bloody tracks heading off into the woods, and nothing on earth could make him follow them.

<Notes:   A good exercise in seeing how much winter scenery I’ve assembled thus far, and some fun with a backdrop.  It may be a while before the next scene in ready.  Frenchy is a Bob Murch Pulp Figures casting, and the thing in the trees is by Reaper.  Say vigilant, chaps!>