Display Cabinet for my Figures!

After years of wanting a display cabinet of some sort to place a selection of my models in, my girlfriend surprised me with this on Christmas Day. It comes as a flat pack from Argos, but was very easy to assemble. She'd apparently tried to purchase a similar one with lighting but due to stock shortages had to settle for one without. Despite this small setback I wandered down to the local hardware shop and managed to find a 60w strip light that fits in just nicely. The cabinet has a sliding glass front and four brackets to fit it to a wall if necessary (I'd advise on this, as it makes it very sturdy and less prone to knocks - especially if you have two cats tearing around the place as we do). There's an option to narrow the gaps between each section with a purchase of extra glass shelves but I thought this would make it a bit too crowded and more difficult for the light to penetrate down to the lower sections. I collect a fair bit of militaria again these days too, so I'm also intending to rotate it with my medal collection and other bits.

20mm WW2 Russian Infantry.

From what I gather most of the Russian Infantry I bought from Colonel Bill's were Britannia Miniatures figures. Only a few quid for a bag of infantry and a mortar section, they were too good to turn down and will certainly feature again in our Bolt Action games next year. I particularly liked the wounded officer, so decided to stick him on a base with a map reading infantryman as though he were down but still shouting his orders. I painted a mix of Vallejo Russian Uniform, Khaki and some camo pattern smocks, to display the variation in supply that the Russians experienced in real life. I must say I really love painting 20mm Britannia stuff and can't help picking a few infantry and vehicles up when the opportunity arises.

Napoleonic Game 28mm

Last Sunday's Napoleonic game was a simple encounter scenario, which made a change from the usual 'attacker, defender' types we've been doing recently. Basically French vs Austrians rushing to control a hill and road in the centre of the board. Both sides began with advanced units, with French having slight superiority in cannon but the Austrians advantage in infantry and cavalry. Using the Republic to Empire rules we'd rolled for commander ratings, in which the French (mine and Ian's side) appeared to come off worse with a lot of 'plodders' and few skilful officers.

The Austrians started well, pushing quickly toward the objectives and getting their jaegers on the heights. Added to this was a large force of their cavalry rather intimidatingly advancing on the left. Ian took quick control of the situation on the hill by meeting the first units of Austrians with two regiments of French. Knowing full well that the further back he could push the Austrians, the further the main army would have to go in order to secure its target. Bracing ourselves with some chancy dice rolls and trusting the abilities of our unenthusiastic commanders we expected the worst, but surprisingly rolled high enough to give the Austrians pause for thought. This gave the French time enough to concentrate some of their own cavalry in countering the Austrian cavalry threat pounding down the road. Again some surprising results. Although the French cavalry were finally defeated it left the Austrians in a state from which they couldn't recover. Reminding us that Napoleonic cavalry is very much a "one shot deal". Thus the hill was secure in French hands as their primary force came onto the table unopposed. The same unfortunately couldn't be said of the Austrians, whose main army were only able to take one move before having to tangle with remains of the French advance who were still making a nuisance of themselves.

In conclusion, a good game which was fast moving and fun to play. It also gave me chance to photograph some of Simon's excellently painted Austrians again!