The Charge of the Tin Brigadier

While I was trying to decide on a scenario for my upcoming game, I kept running into scenarios I wanted to play with 1914 troops. If I play them all now with earlier armies in bright uniforms, will I want to play them again with drab ones? So I looked at my other options and decided that since I want to get the new Indian units into action, I would try a Colonial game......... with a train. So back to Atlantica, c 1902.

This make shift pom pom gun ought to be ready by noon on Sunday. A proper gun will follow. 

I also decided that it was time to try that Charge! inspired version of the rules but with a twist. To keep the game looking right, not over crowded, I would reduce the player's force to a brigade and use the 4 man company as the basic unit and battalions as the intermediate command level.

Boer pom pom gun from the Wiki article.

The forces will be a bit of a mishmash but with careful selection and a few new figures I can start dabbling in my not quite Northwest Rebellion/Boer War. The Black Fox would be too old to leave the Rebels by then but the son of his elder years, known as Kit or The young Fox, would be about the right age.

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OK NOW we have a Maxim

Beautiful sunny fall weather here, good for yardwork and good for sleeping at night but not as good as rain for the well or for working on miniatures but the Maxim gun is done.

I hate the glare from the gloss varnish when it hides something I thought turned out well
 but love it when it disguises faults.

I couldn't stand the bent legs on the gun so pulled them out and redid them and shortened the breech a little. A water can seemed a bit too fiddly for a toy and I just didn't have the enthusiasm to try and make a proper structure in between gun and tripod, especially keeping in mind the need for rugged durability and my lack of eye for detail, especially on mechanical things. The crew are all Zinnbrigade homecast Prussian artillery figures with a headswap and boots marked with a knife to suggest puttees.

The gunner began life as a seated limber rider. I modified him using techniques learned from Peter Blum's Model Soldier Manual in the early 70's, back before I turned from model soldiers to wargaming. For bends, cut a wedge on the side that will be bent forward and a slit on the other side so that the body, knee etc pivots in the middle when you bend it, on where the joint would be a in a real person. On a 40mm figure, cast in hard pewter, cutting a wedge in the knee proved beyond me so a slit had to serve and as a result I broke the right one causing me no end of grief getting it to stay glued afterwards, hence the base.

The figure's arms were cast against his legs so there was no option but to hack them off, drill a hole for a wire inset, bent to the right angle, with putty arms added. I trimmed the wire to what looked like the right length and partway through adding putty, pulled the putty back and trimmed them again. It was only while priming the figures that I realized that with the elbow added, the forearms were still too long. At that point, the only options were to live with it or rip the arms off and start again. Luckily its less noticeable on a dimly lit wargame table at arms length and surrounded by scenery and other figures.

Next up, some dismounted German cavalry made from Zinnbrigade Prussian infantry with equipment ground off, back ammo pouch added and headgear converted to lancer cap or busby. For now I am just doing one dismounted figure per squadron as a marker but I am getting good mileage from these Zinnbrigade molds..

Hopefully Sunday will be a rainy day, suitable for testing my latest rules, scenario conversion and orbat thoughts in a game.

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Slow Progress is still Progress

As one can see the France 1914 theme is still going strong. The BEF not so much. At this rate I may have to settle for 1st Ypres.


I was happier with the Maxim before I cut it free and realized that the legs had been drilled in at too shallow an angle, more appropriate for a prone gunner rather than the sitting one I have been working on. Attempts to subtly bend the legs right where they join the central hub were defeated by the rigidity of the stray bit of wire I used and so I have an awkward bend in the middle. Oh well, it'll work and I've learned a few lessons so that the next will be better. This will probably be the last sitting gunner though. Too dammed much work and he looks like he will be fragile, esp since I snapped his leg trying to spread it. This hard pewter mix is not like the old soft lead/tin.

I still have a few bits to do, arms for the gunner, ammo box and belt, modified tunics etc. At least the maxim is slightly simplified vs the Vickers. I haven't quite figured out how to do the sledge for the German gun but I have a few vague ideas. More nice simple infantry first, straight out of the mold to the painting table to give me a break.