French Invasion articles

I've posted up the final three articles of this 8-part series by Harold Gerry from 1970/1.

If you want to find them all together, the best way is to use the label French Invasion in the right hand column of the blog home page, or alternatively use this link.

French Invasion of England in 1810, Part 8, by Harold Gerry

This was the last article in this series.

French Invasion of England in 1810, Part 7, by Harold Gerry

French Invasion of England in 1810, Part 6, by Harold Gerry

(B)Oasthouses

I forgot to notice that at some time in the last few days Vintage Wargaming has gone past 250,000 page views.

To celebrate, here is a picture of my two (relatively recently acquired)Triang Countryside rubber buildings oasthouses - just the thing for refighting Harrold Gerry's French invasion of England.

Index to Wargamer's Newsletter

I seem to have got as far as I can with the index of Wargamer's Newsletter so I have made it available as a downloadable read only excel spreadsheet. You can find this on the blogger page The Vintage Wargaming Index to Wargamer's Newsletter at the top of this blog's home page or following this link.

French Invasion of England in 1810, Part 5, by Harold Gerry

After a bit of a hiatus here is the first post of 2013. The blog has managed to slip past 300 followers and needs another 2,500 or so page views to hit the 250,000 mark.

Slightly more formal employment is restricting my time and energy for blogging but I am hoping to get back to regular posts soon. With a view to tidying up some unfinished business, here is Part 5 of Harold Gerry's series on the the French Invasion of England in 2010, from Wargamer's Newsletter #103 from October 1970.

Free Roco Minitanks

I have been contacted by David regarding 40 Roco Minitanks "from his youth" which are available free to a good home for anyone who will pick them up from Portsmouth UK - NB THESE ARE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SOMEONE WHO WILL GO AND COLLECT THEM - NO POSTING. I have no further information on which models they are, condition etc. If you are interested use the "contact Vintage Wargaming" link at the top of this page and I will forward your e-mail to David.If I hear from David these have gone I will remove this post.

Looking for the Nelson Touch, and more

Den has been in touch trying to track down a couple of multi-part articles from the early to mid 1970s. They were by Rod Hunt, from either Sword & Lance or Military Enthusiast magazines. The first was the Nelson Touch Napoleonic Naval Rules, and the second WW1 Dogfight Rules.

Boardgame Geek has an entry for the Nelson Touch, which appeared in Military Enthusiast #2 and #3 in 1976, including a couple of scanned pages.

If anyone knows more or has any information on either of these sets of rules, could you get in touch either through comments on this post or using the "Contacting Vintage Wargaming" link at the top of the page.

Groves & Benoy - Boy Band 1812

I don't think that would be how they would have appeared in a catalogue (had there been one) and I suspect at least some of these are intended to function as muleteers. The one on the third from the left needs to work a bit on his dancing.

Groves & Benoy - not the next Archbishop of Canterbury

Made from a basic figure and some metal sheet, this is the famous Spanish priest.

Groves & Benoy - Ladies of Spain

Groves & Benoy - Spanish Gentlemen

Groves & Benoy - the Light Company

It seems that these figures represent the 33rd Foot (Yorkshire West Riding Regiment). This is a bit of a poser as they didn't serve in the Peninsular War, as far as I can determine. However, the other two lots from this seller, which Harry Pearson bought, comprise battalion company and grenadier company men from this regiment, as shown by the Regimental Colour they carry.

The light company seem to have two Rifles officers attached (and I'm sure Brig Benoy had never heard of Richard Sharp). O)ne of the light company officers seems to be a Frenchman with a paint job.

The sergeants are decorated with sashes appropriate to their rank.

Groves & Benoy - mules

I seem to have acquired 28 of these, which suggests Brigadier General Benoy's appointment as the BEF's Quartermaster General may have affected his wargaming rules.

Not all of them have their full loads or reins.

I suspect some of the civilian figures are intended as muleteers (some of the boy band, perhaps), though I am not sure which ones.

Teaser

What are these then? A major find from e-bay - I also won 28 mules and 14 Spanish Peninsular civilians.

Can anyone identify the manufacturer? Further pictures and the answer (if no-one gets it) will follow. If you think you know, please leave a comment below.

Clue: there are some pictures of figures by this maker elsewhere on the blog.

I am very, very, very pleased to have bought these figures - probably my second or third favourite purchase ever.

Lamming Seven Years War Range

The Lamming Seven Years War range has almost a mystical standing. Released for only a short period in the 1970s, no-one seemed to have any figures, pictures, or lists for the range.

Recently two things have happened - first, this turned up in a mixed bag of figures:

a previously unseen Native American figure with a characteristic Lamming Easter Island face; although obviously a copy rather than an original figure, this has the look of a Lamming figure, so I wonder if it might be a Lamming SYW - no other obvious candidate for which range it might be from (though as mentioned above in the absence of a list for the range there is no evidence it was included).

I am by no means 100% sure this is a Lamming figure but currently that seems the most likely option. Maybe someone out there might recognise this figure.

Then a few weeks later some figures appeared on ebay billed as Lamming SYW. I was pleased to win them but a little disappointed when they arrived that they are clearly not original figures - the shiny metal mix is wrong and bubbles on the underside of the bases show they are recasts.

Prussian Grenadier

Russian Jager

However, I have never seen them before. They clearly are Lamming - a give away is the dimpled grass effect on the top side of the bases, and the Jagers are very reminiscent of the rather lovely Lamming Napoleonic dismounted hussar. Also, the code on the underside of the Prussian Grenadiers have survived the recasting progress, so we can at least make a start on a Lamming SYW range list - P1 Prussian Grenadier.

Finally, the loveliest figure is this Cuirassier. It came as a surprise that this is a one piece figure. It came with a standard made from brass sheet. It looks like this might be a conversion of an officer or trooper figure with drawn sword.

If anyone has any information on the Lamming SYW range, any figures from it or photos of figures from it, or a listing of the figures in the range, I would be very glad to hear from you.

Looking for Neil Cogswell

I've had a request from Patrick who is trying to make contact with Neil Cogswell (of War of Bombar Succession fame)regarding Horace St Paul, an Englishman who served in the Seven Years War. Patrick believes Mr Cogswell has studied Horace St Paul in some depth and would like to ask for some help regarding a volume of St Paul's correspondence published in 1904.

If anyone is in contact with Mr Cogswell and could help put Patrick in touch with him,
please could you respond using the link in "Contacting Vintage Wargaming" at the top of this page.

Simply wonderful - portable gladiators

This is based on an idea in an article in Military Modelling from 1973, put into practice by Ian Hayward when he was 12. Which makes it just about bang on for Vintage Wargaming.

A nod to Harry over at Parum Pugna for unearthing this gem. I've reposted here as some of you may not be visitors at Harry's blog - if not, I do recommend it, again. And just call me Tango 002.

You can go direct to Ian Hayward's page for this project by following this link.

Callan on the Wireless

BBC Radio 4 Extra are broadcasting a new radio adaptation of Red File for Callan by James Mitchell, read by Ben Miles. For UK listeners at least the first episode is available on the BBC iPlayer here