A Message from Tourism New Zealand!

 So as you may have guessed - NO toy soldiers in this post. The HaT saga has ended in me returning the unpainted figures to the guy I bought them from for a full refund - this was his suggestion He also said HaT never actually made the Napoleonic cavalry in 28mm - I am not sure if this is correct or is just an easier solution for him than trying to get them from HaT - so I think I will give up on that experiment and just stick with Perry or Black Powder plastic cavalry. 

The net outcome of all this palaver is - I dont really have anything much to paint - nothing I feel like painting, anyway! The 20mm SCW from Minairons left Espagna on 22 March but have not arrived here as yet - sigh. I have a few 28mm bits and pieces on the painting desk and they may be ready for some photos in a few days. 

In the meantime, we have been on a couple of walks recently so stand by for wall to wall images below!

Firstly, last weekend, we did a short walk at Alexandra Redoubt, Tuakau. I have blogged about this site previously almost exactly three years ago here Bydand: April 2019 (1808534.blogspot.com) but given there are only 8 comments (4 being my replies) I thought it could stand a second post!

The redoubt was built to secure the Waikato River as the British Army advanced into the heart of the Waikato in a showdown with one of the biggest, most powerful of the indigenous Maori tribes.

There are a number of memorials to the soldiers who served in the area

If interested, there are a couple of good TV shows on YouTube covering this - search for James Belich and you should fine a 5 part series from TVNZ - or for a more Maori view of the Invasion of the Waikato, try   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgZT0_8Hpw0

Then yesterday, we went for a three hour bush walk at Aongatete just north of Tauranga. Nothing historical about this - just some nice bush views!

This is the type of terrain the Maori Wars were conducted in

Video of the bird song in the forest, which was pretty constant

The view as we emerged from the track at the end of the walk

It was a nice day out to start the four day Easter weekend. I hope wherever you are, you have an enjoyable Easter with your family and friends.

Oh and finally as a bonus, based on my comments on Iain's Caveadsum blog, here are a couple of images of "The oldest Inn in England" where I met my wife circa 1988 - Ye Olde Bell in Hurley, on the Thames between Maidenhead and Henley - jolly nice area, what!

Friday Night Update

Its been a quiet week on the painting desk - I feel I lack some inspiration at the moment - I have very few "new" figures available and am awaiting the arrival of a reasonable bunch of 20mm Minairons SCW figures - hopefully they prove as nice in the flesh as the website images indicate!

I have painted up four figures I have had for a few months - two Reaper Bones plastic figures plus two of the3D printed miniatures I cajoled my kids into buying me for Christmas and have then more or less ignored since opening them on 25 Dec - what an ungrateful father!

Reaper Tavern Wench in a Bavarian style dirndl costume

Reaper Bones stroppy looking cook

3D printed maid with bucket

3D printed serving girl

The 3D figures are a bit rough and certainly nothing like the Soviet infantry I bought from France, but its not so many years ago we would have thought metal figures that looked like these were well sculpted - so I can accept them as they are, although I dont think I would bother buying any more

Now, a quick update on the HaT 28mm plastic saga. The day after my last post, the NZ retailer who supplied me with the HaT figures contacted me again with futrther info. He had been to his off site storage shed and checked a couple of boxes. They did indeed have 1/72 on the front but the 28mm stickers on each end - HOWEVER, upon opening the box to check - shock, horror - he discovered the figures within were, in fact, the 1/72 version, as indicated by a molded tab on each sprue, carrying the part number, a four digit number beginning with 8, whereas the codes for the 28mm figures are a 5 digit number commencing 28....

So, I do in fact, have two boxes of partially painted 1/72 HaT Napoleonic cavalry, rather than the 28mm ones I ordered. This of course is quite exciting news, as it opens up the possibility that the actual 28mm figures are not so much smaller than other ranges in the same scale. I now just have to wait to see how the situation gets resolved, as unfortunately, the retailer does not have the genuine 28mm figures available to send me - he has said he taking the matter up with HaT - and I can only hope that he will send me replacements in due course, as I have requested him to do.

Finally tonight, my wife and I visited a large, historic cemetery in central Auckland a couple of weeks ago, mainly so she could locate and photograph the grave stones of some of her ancestors (which she did) but while we were there, I spotted the grave of the first Governor General of New Zealand, William Hobson, who signed the Treaty of Waitangi with the majority of the Maori tribal chiefs in 1840.

If you click on the images and make them full screen, you should be able to read the inscriptions on the memorials.

HaT "28mm Hard Plastic" British Napoleonic Cavalry

I have worked my way through 1/3 of each set of the recently purchased HaT cavalry figures. The first thing to say is. they are quite nice figures, nice poses, reasonable sculpting and as far as my limited knowledge goes, appear to be pretty accurate in details.

My two main issues are the size/scale and the material they are molded in. 

I already mentioned what I think is a big size discrepancy and you will see it in the photos below. I cant really demonstrate the material, but take it from me, its not hard plastic - its not even plastic in my opinion, its rubber! The figures are far more flexible than the likes of Esci or Airfix (unless they have changed since I were a lad...)

I have been in touch with the NZ supplier who has been very accommodating but still believes these are what HaT classifies as 28mm. Its made more confusing by the fact the boxes SAY they are code 80xx 1/72 scale, but on each end, a label has been added sating they are code 28xxx 28mm scale figures. Apparently this is what HaT do - but how would either the supplier or I know if someone had not just made a mistake with a batch...?

Anyway I think I will just have to let it go, put it down to experience, paint the rest and move on with my life!

Have a look and see what you think?

The four Heavy Dragoons - painted as the Second Dragoon Guards with black facings. Also known as The Bays due to the colour of their mounts.

The Light Dragoons - painted as the 16th (Queens) Regiment with red facings

Now below are a few size comparison shots 

Perry to left of them, Perry to right of them - and Perry are not generally seen as particularly large 28mm figures....

With genuine 25mm figures - very old Minifigs to the left and a Mirlton rocket trooper from Italy on the right

Finally, the heavy cavalry flanked by Warlord figures - a bit of a difference, and its not just that they are slimmer! But are they small enough to be 1/72 - I dont have any old plastic mounted figures to compare them to, but I suspect they are NOT that small!

Now, a few more 28mm (no, honestly!) Wargames Atlantic skeletons.

Not a hell of a lot to say about them - they are easy to assemble and easy to paint - a win/win!

And finally, we had a local walk yesterday (Sunday) about 40 min drive to the east of us.

The start of the climb to the summit - 750 steps interspersed with paths that lead steadily upwards - it certainly gave heart, lungs and leg muscles a good work out!

View down after a solid climb of 200 steps without a break - that was HARD!

After about a half hour slog, we reached the summit

A couple of views, followed by a 360 degree video

And then we descended - 1200 steps this time - less steep and of course a lot easier going down!

The end/start of the walk

We stopped by the side of the road in the small village of Clevedon to eat lunch. This monument was 100m away, so of course I had to investigate! Like the UK, France and for all I know, other parts of the world, almost every small settlement in NZ has a memorial to the dead of WWI and WWII - and sometimes other conflicts eg the Boer War or the Vietnam War

The hill in the background is the one we had just walked up.

On our return trip, we stopped to "do" another cemetery - this time at Papakura. Not as well maintained or on the same scale as the one in New Plymouth but the usual interesting assortment of memorial stones. Papakura has quite a strong association with the New Zealand armed forces and the NZSAS are still based there I think....yes, it is, as per Google, from which I also pinched this image - a memorial to the WWII LRDG.

That's our lot today. Hopefully with our Omicron spike seeming to be coming to an end, we may have an opportunity for some games again in the not too distant future. Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment!