Napoleonic, WSS & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Saturday 4 May 2024

Siege Equipment: ...and some new bits for the ECW...

 Same sort of idea, but today I have been filling a gap in the ECW lineup for sieges.


Again, the artillerymen are by Les Higgins, but the mortars are by Old Glory, which is a first for me. Just the thing for lobbing some very big grenadoes at the Other Lot. Or stones, if the budget is tight. Whatever.

Thursday 2 May 2024

WSS: Siege Equipment - a taste of what is going on in the background

 I'm working away in the evenings, painting up siege pieces and spare gunners. It would be tedious to post much of this stuff, since it is all pretty samey, and not awfully dashing. The working class end of the armies? There is a lot of repainting of items I've had stored away for years - no prizes will be sought.

Here are some examples, now based up and ready to fight. The equipment is deliberately painted up in non-specific brown woodstain, the idea being that it can be loaned out to any army which needs it. The intention is that the gunners will be sort of general-purpose too, though they may divide into French-type and Dutch-allies-type.



Here we have a big gun, which is an old Hinchliffe casting of a siege cannon (which might be rather more comfortable in the SYW, but I don't care) and mortars of two sizes, both supplied by Lancer Miniatures many years later than the Big Hinchie. A sprinkling of my new vaguely-French gunners are happy to pose in the sunshine along with the siege kit. As you might expect of me, they are old Les Higgins figures. If you have a mistrust of any artillery officer who is seen waving his sword a long way away from the enemy, then I have to say I am right with you, but I am too mean to reject perfectly good re-usable officers on the grounds of mere taste. There should be less of that sort of thing as the numbers of gunners grow.


***** Late Edit *****

Further to Ian's comment, here is an extreme example of long-distance sword waving.


This print shows Menno van Coehorn himself, commanding the forces of the United Provinces at the siege of Bonn. Not only is Coehorn a very long way from the enemy here (since the enemy is under siege), but you will observe that Bonn is actually on the other side of the Rhine. 

*********************

Hooptedoodle #461 - Another Man Done Gorn

 While I'm on a run of avoiding "me-too" tributes, here's a recollection of a childhood hero of mine, who passed away this week.

Points in its favour?

(1) It was composed by Henry Mancini, which is class by any standards

(2) It helped to enliven what would otherwise have been the most creepy period of American pop music on record [see what I did there?]