Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Two To Get Ready

I managed to get the Horse Lord and Household finished today:

The Horse Lord.
(A bit of a rushed job and the glue on the base hadn't even dried but table ready.) 

These are Garrison figures from the Hyborian range....hmm.. well mostly Hyborian, the armoured horses and the lancer are from the historical ranges. The Chieftain had a nice sword, which he appears to have broken over his knee at frustration over his decade long wait to be painted, so I replaced it with a mace. Well actually, I was using a map pin to clean out a drilled pilot hole for a new sword and inspiration struck.

In addition, I refurbished another stand of the Federation Horse Guards, descendants of the old Valdurian Royal Horse Guards. They are Minifig ME range Rohirrem, led by a Southron officer, and originally mounted on the older,  S range era 1/2 armoured horse but are now remounted on Garrison horses.

1st and 3rd Squadrons of the Northern Federation Horse Guards.

The Horse Guards were amongst the first metal wargames figures I owned and are the more special because I bought them in person in 1974 from the Minifig stand at the Wargame tent at Aldershot, part of some sort of Military Show,  a weekend event of some sort. (I saw 'Wargame' and didn't really notice what else was going on......)

At the time, I was on a 7 week, (which turned into 9 weeks due to an airline strike which threatened to make us awol!) , $5 a day, tour of Europe with a friend from military college. Yes, even back then, $5 wasn't much so we mostly travelled by thumb with occasional train rides and slept mostly in youth hostels or where ever we could find space to roll out our sleeping bags. At Waterloo, after closing, we crept back through the hedge  and rolled out our sleeping bags at the foot of the Lion Mound, a highlight for me. (ahh to be 18 again!).

The wargame weekend wasn't on our agenda but it was one of several solo breaks and I had hitched out to visit the Castle Dore, at the time thought to be from the "Arthurian" Dark Ages which was "my thing",  and just happened to see a poster for a Wargame Tent at Aldershot, part of some sort of Military exhibition. Took about 2 seconds to ditch my plans and hope Eric wasn't too po'd at me being a day late for our rendezvous  (pre cellphone). All the hostels in town were booked but acting on a tip from an old feller in a pub I spent the first night in a police cell (unlocked!) the only time in my life to date. Got to the show and there was Peter Gilder and Phil Barker and a Minifigs booth and.... Heaven! to a young wargamer from the boonies! Having spent the day there, the group of folks running the tent graciously invited me to join them for supper and talk, a prototype game of chariot races, and to roll out my sleeping bag in the tent. Another real highlight, even better than that co-ed hostel in  Copenhagen and the two Swedish...but that's getting way off topic.

Back to the matter at hand: 

The raiding force mustered and ready for the raid to begin.

I was planning to play Wednesday or Thursday but I've been invited to join a couple of local (within 100km) friends for a 25mm ECW game on Saturday and am pledged to build and bring a village. At the moment, the village is just a sheet of foamcore so I have some work to do. It might, or might not, interfere with the game. In any case, the details of the mini-campaign, once worked out,  and the battle reports when the battles happen, will appear on the Gathering of Hosts page but I'll post links when the time comes.   

26 comments:

  1. Great reminiscing, terrific figures and l look forward to seeing your architectural endeavours too. Can’t wait for the battle report…

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    1. Hopefully it'll all come off despite the bast efforts of the weather to interrupt things.

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  2. Some lovely figures Ross, and I'm enjoying the reminiscing too!

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  3. You got to meet Gilder and Barker !!! , impressed !

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    1. Well, I didn't meet PG, just looked on. I think Phil and Sue joined us in the evening but I don't remember, got to know them later on this side of the pond.

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  4. Could be difficult meeting Gilder, he's long dead. Phil I don't know about, haven't seen him for... good grief, just worked it out. About 26-27 years!

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    1. I can't remember the last time I chatted with them at a con, probably a decade at least.

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  5. I understand that Phil is not in the best of health but still with us.

    I took part in the Aldershot Military tattoo as part of the Sealed Knot in 1974 (I think, but may have been 73). Hours of standing around for about 20 mins of action - not one of my favourite SK weekends.

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    1. Sounds typical for that sort of thing. If it was 74, I would have missed seeing it anyway, not sure I left the wargame tent.

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    2. Ever come across Steve Sykes or Pete Harris? They were Roundheads Association, Sir John Lamberts Regiment as I recall.

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    3. Re Lamberts - I was on the other side (Sir Marmaduke Rawdons Regimente of Foote). We may have passed in the pub (the two sides happily drank together off duty) . Fortunately, ID-ing young people in the pub wasn't a thing then :)

      Yes, it is sad about Phil. I'm afraid I don't know any details but several folks more connected have mentioned concerns about his health.

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  6. A just in time paint job that is table-ready; I can relate to that.
    Some interesting reminiscences too.
    Regards, James

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    1. At least they'll have time to dry before seeing action.

      I hadn't thought about that trip in ages but something brought it to mind and bits of fond memories have been cropping up ever since.

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  7. Well, if it comes to turning a sheet of foamcore into a village in record time, you would be my builder of choice. :D Left to my own devices for a 25mm ECW village these days, I’d probably go for Dave Graffam card models.

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    1. Wel the foam core is already at hand. At least I have power.....

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  8. 1974 was the year I first met Peter Gilder - umpired a game he played in the North East Regional Finals of the Nationals at Bradford. Last time I met Phil was at Coventry - my son Steven entered a competition, got there and Sue practically forced me to take part, last competion game I ever played was beating Phil in a DBA game:)

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    1. I was fortunate to host them for a weekend in '78 in Halifax NS and had a great weekend, and scored an autographed first copy of the 6th ed wrg ancients in NA. Used to bump into them at MHGS cons in the states most years but its been a few years.

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  9. I have fond memories of these early Garrison and Minifigs fantasy ranges Ross…
    It’s good to see them still being played with…
    A $5 a day tour of Europe… you wouldn’t even get a beer for that now 😁

    All the best. Aly

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    1. I was younger then and wiser, or more foolish, hard to tell which some days.

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  10. A lovely trip down memory lane. Reminds me of going to early GENCONS when they were still held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and going down the street ith my pals to shop at the TSR hobby store, at that time in the front porch of the Gygax house, and meeting Gary Gygax there, who very graciously waited on our young selves and rang up our modest purchases.

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  11. They are splendid figures and that mace! What a big bopper!

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