Blimey where has May gone?

Assignments and exams have kept me very busy this last month - the last thing I had to report was my Dwarves in Pith Helmets arriving. Well, I've not even got them out of the box yet (OK I have, but I put them back in again).

Normal service will be resumed when I am no longer a Prisoner of the Fiends of the Ivory Tower. Or at least, when they let me out for summer.

The Short Red Line

My long-awaited Victorian Dwarves (from Old Glory's 'Dwarf Britannia' range) arrived today - eight rifle-troopers, a sergeant, and an officer. They're destined to be part of my current British forces on Atlantis, in this case a regiment of colonials. The plan is to add some Orcs in red coats and Pith-helmets when they become available from... I've forgotten. Anyway, the Orcs and the Dwarves will be 'combined' in one rifle brigade... and the 'Combined Atlantean Rifle Brigade' will see the light of day (even if it's a bit squinty and bad-tempered about it).

The Dwarves, being short, will be the 'Low'-CARBs; the Orcs are taller. Doesn't matter to the Tommy Lobsters, they think all Atlanteans are Morlocks anyway, which is nearly as bad as being French.

Also the other day a Cthulhoid entity with a squiddy-type head arrived through the post. D'Kuhl the Bathalian is almost certainly not part of the British forces, though he may be a diplomatic advisor or even ambassador of the tentacle-faced fishy-people, who knows? Though he might object to the words of 'Rule Britannia' at some event, causing a diplomatic incident. 'Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves...' 'Schhhhlllurp, I think, squelch flop, that you mean "Dread Lord Cthulhu rules the waves" suck bubble pop squelch' before eating several of the guests. Something like that anyway.

Pictures will be posted presently.

Ruritanian symbolism

So here's the thing. I bought 'Aetheric Mechanics' by Warren Ellis, and tried to glean some info about Ruritania from it, specifically iconography. In it, the insignia of the Ruritanian aircraft and giant war machines seem to be:
1 - a dark (maybe black) St Olaf's Cross;
2 - a 'flag' divided vertically, with the right-hand half further divided horizontally; the two right-hand quaters appear dark, but not as dark as the very thin lines that divide these sections, so I'm assuming the dividing lines are black and the right-hand sections are green and red; in the left-hand half, on a light background, there is the outline of what looks like a dragon eating a person, surmounted by 3 'ball' shapes and a crown - all are in light colours, so I'mm assuming gold on white.

This one may get a picture at some point, but it's pretty odd anyway.

Polling closed...

... thanks to all who voted.

It's a bit redundant of course, as Alfrik already suggested having alternate command figures for different regiments, which seems sensible. But, for those who did vote, the Trumptonshire Rifles came out top by a long way (err, given that there were only 7 votes. But 4 of them were for Trumptonshire).

So, my plan will be to have a Trumptonshire Rifles - or maybe Yeomanry, perhaps I should ask someone who actually knows something about historical regiments what would be the 'best fit' for a name, I don't want to call them the 'Fusiliers' for instance if they wore different hats in 1890 - Regimental banner with a guy waving it.

Thanks again, and like the Ruritania strand, don't expect pictures very soon (I don't even have the figures yet for this bit, it will take some time)!

WIP photos

As hinted, here are the WIP photos of King Albert II, Queen Olga (well, she looks Russian in that hat, so why not?) and Colonel von Kartoffeln. Oh, how I long for umlauts. Not sure if Olga is Queen of Ruritania however. She might be Queen of Molvania; or she might be Grand Duchess of Fenwick for all I know.

With them is a random cowboy who will likely become an adventurer or possibly sky pirate. I might call him 'Lee Scoresby' in homage to Philip Pullman's Texan balloning hero. He may or may not have something to do with 'Rivets and Whimsy', it's too early to tell.

Obviously, they're not finished, but don't hold your breath, because it'll take me ages and they still won't look very good. The main reason for posting it is to show off the mustard-yellow jackets on the King and the Colonel. These are the kind of colour I plan on painting the Ruritanian Infantry.

Models: the cowboy is by Artisan, the others from West Wind.

Sinister doings in Ruritania pt 2

Well I actually managed to get some paint on some figures today, alonside helping No. 2 Son paint some cheap plastic skeletons, I started painting up some of my Ruritanians, and an American cowboy-looking chap who will be some kind of gun-toting adventurer in forthcoming VSF. I hope.

Photos I hope will soon appear. Not that any of the figs are actually finished yet; but I have a Ruritanian Colonel almost finished, in his splendid mustard jacket and black trousers; also, I've painted quite a lot of the Tsar Nicholas figure. Until I work out when he fits into Ruritanian history I'll call him King Albert II. I suspect he's king about 1905, but I could be wrong of course. It is perhaps he who is on the throne when Ruritania absorbs Grand Fenwick. Perhaps not...

Sinister doings in Ruritania

Well, I haven't got any photos yet, but I have been cleaning up my new Ruritanians along with a few other new(ish) purchases. Oh if only I had time at the moment to paint them...

Meanwhile over at Lead Adventurers, there have been some in-depth discussions about the idea of mapping out Ruritania as a joint project. Of course, we all have different ideas of what we can do with it, some of which don't match up with each other, but never mind, I'm sure we'll be able to muddle through somehow.

Favoured uniform colour for Ruritanian Infantry Regimets at the moment seems to be a mustard-yellow, and that's what I plan to do. "When" I get some Hussars for the force, they will be wearing purple.

Watch this space...