A new two volume history by John Hussey of the Waterloo Campaign and a PHD thesis on Hougomont

John Hussey has been working across four languages to pull together this two volume history of the 100 days and it's aftermath.  The first will be out in April.


Whilst something  you can read now is an intriguing PHD on Hougoumont - what it was like in June 1815.  It has also been informed by the fascinating work of the archaeology charity Waterloo Uncovered (they combine archaeology with current veterans to explore the battlefield).  A taste of their work

"Tony is confident that the lead musket shot found along that southern perimeter signaled the opening of this brutal and titanic confrontation.  

Metal detecting needn’t be limited to the ground.   Three ancient chestnut trees, standing just south of the main gatehouse of the farm, appear to be “riddled with lead shot”, if the detectors are to be believed.  Unsurprising, since the trees stand in the line of fire of the British guardsmen defending the south side of the gatehouse, who would have been pouring fire onto the attacking Frenchman."

Darkest Africa Pygmies - painted .

I love these - in fact was always smitten with the Darkest Africa Range sculpted (if I'm right) by Mark Copplestone - who went on to extend the idea through Back of Beyond. His figures are a little stylised but a dream to paint.

Small wire spears and arrows added.

Oil wipe flesh...

The flesh on these figures was painted using the oil wipe technique most commonly used on horses. There's a good description over at Metal Mountain.  I used Humbrol matte oil tinlets as the base and the Winsor and Newton  Artisan water soluble oil artists paint - because it's easier to handle and I think dried a bit quicker than traditional artists oil paint.

Jumpers for goalposts...

Just as an aside I remember reading tutorials in Military Modelling of people painting wargames figures with tube oils.  Our local newsagent used to paint Hinchcliffe figures behind his counter, again using tubes of oil paint.  That was also when small shops (including his) might stock a few of those blue boxes from Hinchcliffe.

Anyway back to Africa and small people.

Now they are popular with the game Congo game from Studio Tomahawk  (available here)

Painted 28mm Norse Dwarves - Warmonger - ex Wargames Foundry

I think I just got a bit seduced by the paintability of the these figures - I was never sure what I'd do with them. In facet I sold them a year or so ago after they sat unloved for a while.

These sculpts are full of graphic detail.  I'm not sure who created them, originally for Wargames Foundry.  They now appear on the Foundry off-shoot site Warmonger at £4 a figure!

Mike Owen 28mm Wild West Cowboys Painted as 7th cavalry.

Here's a set of 28mm Wild West Figures Painted not as cowboys but as a group of renegade US cavalry.  They are all figures sculpted by Mike Owen of Artizan Designs.  Crisp clean mouldings with action but also really simple to paint. 

I think I probably painted these 8 to 10 years ago, mainly using Foundry and Vallejo Model Color paints (I've always loved the texture and richness of pigment in the Vallejo paints - they leave a wonderful matt finish which also takes washes and other treatments well).