New from the Painting Desk

 A slightly longer gap between post than I had intended - not because nothing has been happening, but rather I have just felt a bit "meh" about putting anything on the blog - not sure why.

Anyhoo, I have got myself motivated enough to take some images and combine them with other stuff to come up with a substantial number of pics, and here they are!

First up - specially for Matt with his recently acquired interest in steam engines - these date from mid December when the local vintage railway at Glenbrook ran one of their locomotives via the main line into Pukekohe station around 2130 one evening - we heard the whistling and decided to head down for a look see.

Standard passenger services were still running - which quite impressed me, given it was around 10pm by this time!

The had a dirty old diesel hooked up to the back of the train to help push the steam loco along!

Next up some products of the garden - some of Ruths MANY dahlia's

And the last of the summer strawberries - the bowl is from about two weeks ago

And this small collection from about two days ago - quite amazing really when I recorded the first fruit on 11 November!

Chinese New Year marked at my work - The Year of the Horse, apparently.

Last Saturday, 21 Feb, we went to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo - at Eden Park in Auckland!

The Tattoo ahs been to New Zealand before, but never to Auckland, so the last time I went I was about eight years old and it was August in Edinburgh - guess it was circa 1970!

I didnt take heaps of pictures because they wont be the best, but here is what I did take

It was the 75th anniversary of the first tattoo, so the massed bands manoeuvred themselves into the number 75 

The guard of honour formed by the RNZAF, NZ Army and RNZN

The guard marching off

My dear wife and I even managed to squeeze ourselves into appropriate gear - a gift from my parents before we left for New Zealand in February 1988! Mine is modern Hunting Ross tartan, Ruths is Bruce of Kinnaird because she had the name Bruce from Wick in her family history and Kinnaird was local to my hometown - from Wikipedia - Kinnaird Castle is a 15th-century castle near Brechin in Angus, Scotland. The castle has been home to the Carnegie family, the Earls of Southesk, for more than 600 years. It is a Category B listed building, and the grounds are included in Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland

Now - FINALLY - some toy soldiers!

These are Perry plastic French Chasseurs a Chevel - the 7eme Regiment, to be precise

A pink faced unit, so the bugler is pretty flamboyantly attired! Elite company on the right of the line wearing bearskin colpacks

I gave the musician and officer fancy headwear, too.

This Red Army WW2 Gaz truck has been painted for weeks

Its from the 3d printed stuff I received from Poland around Christmas time

The whole thing, including the driver, is one single print

It made painting the driver a slight challenge, but not insurmountable.

I got a couple of red stars from the Warlord tank decal sheet

A really nice model, I am very pleased with it - I just need another four or five!

That's all for tonight - off to Julians for a "Game of Thrones" game tomorrow - should be interesting!

Sunday Napoleonic Game

A bit late with this AAR from last Sunday at Barrys. A Napoleonic "encounter" in 1814 as the Allies (Brits and Bavarians) approach the outskirts of Paris. At the same time, a French force is heading in the opposite direction. Each force was given its own specific aims by umpire/scenario designer Paul - I played on the Allied side with Barry and Rick - Mark and Chris were the French, with Paul coming on as reinforcements on a random die roll 

Initial set up

Chris with his newly minted Duchy of Warsaw force

My Brits advance straight up the middle - our aim was to capture the road that exited the centre of the French table edge

My supporting cavalry - three heavy, one light, plus a horse battery.

Rick (to my right) haired off into a densely wooded area with his cavalry??!

While Barry's Bavarians advanced steadily in a solid block

Chris has painted far too many of these bloody lancers - they look nice though!

My columns got about two thirds of the way across the table - when Paul turned up with the French reinforcements - Chris had rolled a 1 for the turn number they arrived on - oh great!

The lancers charged my riflemen and wiped them out!

My Light Dragoons returned the favour, eventually driving the lancers off

Marks French hussars boldly charged Ricks RA battery - it didn't end well for the hussars!

British battalion's mass to pass through the central crossroads

To my right, the French cavalry were busy, destroying most of Ricks command piecemeal!

The French reinforcements line the ridge opposite the Bavarians

The British cavalry brigade watch the Poles advance

Mark continues to beat up Ricks Brits

"I say, what the hell is that chap up to on the flank, Carruthers?!"

"He appears to be losing his entire command, my Lord!"

Impressive looking Duchy of Warsaw columns advance remorselessly

The lancers clash with British dragoons

The 90th Foot occupy a farm adjacent to the central crossroads

The Light Division moves forward - 43rd and 52nd Regiments to the fore

The French had the advantage of defending higher ground.....

Reinforcements arrive in the form of a Portuguese Brigade of five battalions - well, it's what I had with me!

The Light Division assault drives back one French battalion.

The Poles advance ominously against the British centre

And their massed columns look unstoppable as they move towards the thin blue line of Portuguese

The remnants of Ricks British command move behind the Portuguese troops and reach the road to Paris

The Portuguese bounce the Poles back - and counterattack!

Two or three Polish battalions are driven from the field!

Highlanders v's Poles in the centre

The close combats were inconclusive, neither side gaining the upper hand

The Poles came in again against my Portuguese, supported by French cavalry who had finished beating up Ricks command by this stage.

In the centre, one of the leading battalions of the Light Division were repulsed and fell back in disorder

The Portuguese succeeded in holding then pushing back the Polish columns

The Poles formed line - they do look pretty!

A completely fresh French infantry brigade moves to support the Poles against the Portuguese

Portuguese and Polish lines trade volleys

A final shot of inconclusive combat in the centre.

It was 4pm and time to call it a day. The Light Division had managed to drive off two battalions of French infantry from the heights but the road to Paris was still in French hands. The Bavarians had slogged away against the French reinforcements but not really made any headway, and the British right flank had been comprehensively defeated by Marks French cavalry - if the Portuguese had not arrived, it might well have been a rout! Rather generously, Paul declared the result a draw - in the circumstances, I was more than happy with that result!

A hard slog of a game but nice to get some old friends on the table (most of my Napoleonic Brits were painted 20+ years ago - lovely Front Rank figures cast by Paul and Mark, most of them!)