British Army organisation

50 Brigades
150 Regiments (= 3 Regiments in a Brigade)
450 Battalions  (= 3 Battalions in a Regiment)
1800 Companies (= 4 Companies in a Battalion)

According to Journey's End that the Younger Orc is watching (he's been studying it as an English set-text), that's a guess at the strength of the British Army in France.

A company I think is conventionally made up of 4 platoons, and I believe that a platoon is generally around 30 men. So, a company would be around 120 men (loosely).

However, this is the post-1913 organisation. This is the organisation that would for example be in use in Transcaspia.

In the later Victorian period, mostly infantry regiments apparently had four battalions, two regular, one reserve and one volunteer, though this could vary quite dramatically.

At present, I have around 90 minis that are vaguely 'Zulu War British', I think. This includes about 12 in Rife Green uniforms with khaki Glengarries (UNIT/Northdale Rifles), about 36 painted up as redcoats (11 are Brigade minis with rebreathers from their GASLIGHT/Steampunk range), and perhaps 10 in khaki jackets. 11 are Dwarves in pith helmets (10 from Old Glory and 1 GW example, that presently are serving as the 'Combined Atlantean Rifle Brigade'). The rest (probably about 20) are currently unpainted. The plan currently involves painting them all as redcoats. I really don't care about the Royal Wessex Regiment and as soon as I get around to it the khaki-jacketed ones will be redcoats too, and they can all be A Company of the 1st Battalion of the Royal North Surreys (except the Dwarves, difficult to see where they fit into that to be honest). The guys in re-breathers can just be regular North Surreys in Martian Expeditionary Force gear. There's no way I'm going at this stage to start faffing about with new units. Sod it. They can all be redcoated soldiers of the Queen and that will be much easier, no matter that some of the officers have newer designs of jacket (more suited to the Boer Wars than the Zulu Wars or Sudan). So, basically (as I think there's about 65-ish) that's half a company.

Meh, more flags, why not...

http://flag-designer.appspot.com/#d=5&c1=4&c2=2&c3=6&o=6&c4=0&s=6&c5=5

This is a really nice flag designer, that can be used for the flags of Imagi-nations, factions or units. Those above are somewhat random (the first is a randomised design that the website generated, the two below it just me playing about). Those below could be the flags of VBCW units/factions - the first a flag of Yorkshire Fascists (perhaps even the Wensleydale Loyal Militia AKA the 'Sons of Hawes', which is what the UNIT trrops/Northdale Rifles are when they're in their VBCW guise); the second is an Anglican unit (I might use it as a unit flag of NW Durham Anglicans and relate it to Consett's sword-making tradition) and the third is an Anarcho-syndicalist flag.

Designing the flag is actually the easy part: then there's a bit of a fiddly process to get the .SVG output to open in Inkscape or similar so you can save the flag as a .PNG. But it didn't take me long to produce the flags above.

Shameless photography in lieu of real progress

The Royal North Surreys have been sitting in my painting tray for weeks now, without a photo of their latest paint; and also un-photographed are the (now undercoated) Aetherines I bought from Brigade a month or so back.

As the men of the Royal North Surrey check the perimeter, Captain Carruthers and Lieutenant  Pootling-Twelp confer with Captain Yates of UNIT, and sometimes the Northdale Rifles; Sergeant Bromsgrove looks on, while Colour Sergeant Jeffries guards Ensign Jensen and the Company Colours (flag from the Warflag site - a generic British flag from the Napoleonic Wars looked like the best bet - http://www.warflag.com/flags/napoleon/napbritain1.shtml ).

Captain and men of the Royal Aeronautical Corps "Aetherines", wondering why they are not currently in their habitual natty blue jackets and trousers. Simply because I haven't gotten round to painting them, that's why.

Bobbies from Scotland Yard, with their English Electric Truncheons, and officers of 'Special Branch' (I'm sure it was called the 'Special Irish Branch' at this point) with rifles, Inspector Le Strange (probably), the Good Doctor and the Consulting Detective, from North Star Military Figures' new 'In Her Majesty's Name' range.

Lord Curr's Company, a quixotic and mercenary company of ne'er-do-wells, disgruntled ex-servicemen, and aristocratic adventurers, including Lord Curr himself armed with an 'Arc rifle' (electric rifle), from North Star Military Figures.

Having recently taken delivery of North Star and Osprey's new 'In Her Majesty's Name', both the figures and the rulebook, coming so soon after my purchases of 'Various Victorians' and the Brigade Games British in Rebreathers a month or so ago, I feel quite faint with excitement at the cornucopia of VSF-y leaden goodness (they probably don't put lead in any more, probably showing my age there).

I certainly have a lot to paint in the coming months - and hardly a red coat in sight (it's quite possible I will paint up one of the 'Incorrigibles', Lord Curr's men, in a Rifles uniform, so I can use him for the Northdale Rifles or UNIT as necessary).

Others of Lord Curr's men I can easily see being pressed into service should I ever get any further with my long-touted VBCW project; they're very versatile figures I think, some of them could be from any period from about 1870-1940 or there abouts.

Royal North Surreys on Mars

What do you think it is, Captain?



 Officers and men of the Royal North Surrey Regiment - accompanied by Captain Yates of UNIT - investigate a Martian settlement, unaware that they are themselves under observation from unfriendly eyes.

I bought a new 'Insane Detail' brush from the 'Army Painter' range, and have had a fun afternoon painting in details I just couldn't do with even the best of my other brushes. Eyes, that look something like eyes, for instance. Now I have to go back and paint loads of details on the whole of the North Surreys.

Also pictured is Captain Yates, who will serve as an officer for UNIT, or when I'm feeling a little more pseudo-historical, for the Northdale Rifles. Or, when I'm venturing into the rarified future world of the Very British Civil War, the British League of Fascists' Militia.

More minis! Hurrah!

I've begun putting glue to plastic to get my Riflemen and Aetherines together, as well as my GW walker that's been lying around in bits. The Wargames Factory British look like they'll be OK for what I want them to do, and after a very fine chap called Mors (as detailed in this thread on the Lead Adventure Forum) gave me some heads in Glengarry Caps, I have enough to make a unit of 10 in Glengarries, which makes statting GASLIGHT units much easier I believe.

My idea is that these fellows will be a dual purpose unit - either the fictitious (but plausible) Northdale Rifles, a Victorian incarnation of one of the fictional army units in the lists; or, when I'm feeling a little more 'way out', or when Torchwood 1891 need a bit of firepower, they can be Uniformed Naval Infantry Territorials, or 'UNIT'. Their uniform I'm thinking (in an homage to the 1970s UNIT uniforms) will be green jackets and khaki caps. I did consider black with red caps like the modern iteration of UNIT, but... nah.

I also have started, with the other 10 bodies from the Wargames Factory pack, putting my Aetherines together. They will have Pith Helmets; after all, they may fall out of their airships, and bang their heads, so they need something more robust than a Glengarry cap. But on the other hand, Home Service spiked helmets might be a liablity when ballooning; hence the Pith Helmets.

I've also started the process of building the breathing apparatus for these chaps, for high-altitude assaults, or fighting on Mars or Venus. I wonder when I'll finish the experiments and actually get the minis ready... Don't hold your breath, as the saying goes.

And the walker... the Pith Helmeted Wargames Factory heads seem to fit the pilot OK; perhaps it could belong to the Aetherines.

Pictures to follow I hope soon.

Lead Adventure Forum and Lead Painters' League

Well, I think I have to at least try to enter The Lead Painters' League at the Lead Adventure Forum this year, even if I don't complete 10 new entries or indeed paint to a very high standard.

I'm a bit dubious as to whether I can manage to get enough done to make it worthwhile, but I plan on giving it a go. The point after all is to get more stuff painted not to get points particularly, so it doesn't really matter if I don't get all the bonuses.

Round 1 should be OK, I can finish my Cluedo characters and enter them as civilians - I need to find a good way to base them though.

Round 5, Africa, is possible - my current thinking is the Northdale Rifles vs Kapitein Jango's Boer Commandos, which would mean getting a 5 or so chaps to serve as Boers. I hope to have my Riflemen built by then, as long as I can resist showing the pics on here it should be OK.

Round 10, the film round, is very tough. Thinking of films in which 2 groups of at least 5 people face each other in a fight isn't too hard, but finding minis for that and working out how to do it over the next 13 weeks or so (while still doing everything else) is a bit tricky. Still, I've got a few ideas and I'll give it a go...

Of course, I do have a massive pile of lead (and plastic) to paint - not a single lick of paint on my Dwarf Britannia chaps, or the gorgeous figs I got from Ironclad last month. Maybe Captain Nemo and his Henchmen could be one of my entries, that might be fun...

Anyway, onward and upward, if I am ever to conquer the Lead Mountain!

Fictional British Army Regiments, part II

For the sake of completeness, I've compiled most of the other British Regiments from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_British_regiments into a list (part I of this list, known or presumed regiments from before 1800 to 1900, is in my listing for November and can also be found listed under 'British forces' to the left). Some or all of these may have existed in fictional Victorian times; if so, their early histories remain to be discovered, perhaps by intrepid chaps with large moustachios. Again, the format will be, under the date of the earliest reference, the name and number, if known; where they saw action, if known; and any pertinent info about them.

Fictional Regiments 1900-1920:
The Loamshire Regiment - saw service in WWI: Bulldog Drummond's regiment: in WWII - 1st Battalion the Loamshires in 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'; 5th Battalion the Loamshires in 'Men At Arms'
Weald Light Infantry - still in existence after WWI?
12th Gurkha Rifles (Colonel Arbuthnott's regiment in 'Murder on the Orient Express')

EDIT: apparently the 43rd 'Prince Rupert's' Regiment of Horse, also known as 'The Fighting 43rd', was not involved in the Boer Wars, at least according to the Captain Cadman website listed on the left. However, the regiment's postings include both France and East Africa during WWI.

South Oxfordshire (Light Infantry?) Regiment - have battle honours for Mons and the Somme (Endeavour)

1920-1940
Caledonian Highlanders - served in NW Frontier province c1935 (Laurel & Hardy film, 'Bonnie Scotland')
Walmington-on-Sea Local Defence Volunteers (fictional Kent or Sussex town of Walmington-on-Sea in 'Dad's Army' - not included on wiki list)

1940-50
Bombadier Guards (first mentioned c1848) - 'Put Out More Flags'
Duke of Glendon's Light Infantry, 'The Dogs'- North Africa, 1941
Royal Corps of Halberdiers (early history goes back to Elizabethan era) - Fall of Crete, 1941: 'Sword of Honour' trilogy; Guy Crouchback's regiment
Loamshire Regiment (1st Battalion; 5th Battalion) - Loamshires first mentioned in WWI; 1st Battalion in WWII in 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'; 5th Battalion in WWII in 'Men at Arms'
4th Musketeers (surmised to exist before 1800) - North Africa 1941-3, Italy 1943, France 1944
Wessex Guards
Wessex Fusiliers
12th Indian Lancers
South Oxfordshire (Light Infantry?) Regiment - have battle honours relating to Tunisia campaign in 1943 (Endeavour)

1950-1970
1st King's Lancers (must precede 1952; first mention 1964)
King's Own Fusiliers (must precede 1952; first mention 1990s)
Queen's Own Scottish (Infantry) Regiment
Queen's Own West Mercian Lowlanders (Major Harry Kitchener Wellington Truscott's regiment)

New addition to 1950-70, not from the wiki article:
South Oxfordshire (Light?) Infantry - deployed from Cowley Barracks, Oxford, to BAOR 1968, where they merged with other regiments (possibly to form the Light Infantry Regiment); they appear from the cap-badge to be Light Infantry (like the Ox & Bucks who were actually based at Cowley); saw action in Korean War (1950-53); they also took part in the Battle of M'Boto Gorge, c. 1892 in West Africa; regimental motto: Death before Dishonour

1970-1990 Light Armoured Brigade
Royal Wessex Rangers - N Ireland, 1979, Germany 1980, Hong Kong 1981
Wessex Light Tank Armoured Brigade

New addition to 1970-90, not from the wiki article:
North Wessex Fusiliers - Falklands War, 1982: from 'Ashes to Ashes', series 3 episode 3

1990-2010
Bedford Light Infantry
The Cumbrians (Duke of Rutland's Own)
The Derbyshire Regiment
King's Own Fusiliers (must precede 1952; first mention 1990s)
The Malvern Regiment
The Northdale Rifles - Iraq
Royal Cambrian Fusiliers
The Wessex Regiment
The West Yorkshire Fusiliers

I haven't placed 'special forces' in this list, nor the regiments from the 'Carry On' films or the 'Goon Show'. The world is not ready for the 56th Heavy Underwater Artillery I feel.

And for those who like that sort of thing, a Beyesian analysis of the locations of various fictional British place-names (I found this looking for Walmington: http://keithbriggs.info/Bayes_placenames-2.html#Walmington-on-Sea)

Later additions to this list after the original posting have been italicised.