"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".
Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"
So there you have them - Thomas Ballard's Regiment - as present at the Battle of Edgehill - painted December 2023 - 24 figures - mostly Peter Pig with a leavening of Steel Fist (officer/drummer/ensign and the kneeling musketeer)
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That time of the year again, my regular reader will know that as Christmas approaches it is my want to read a Charles Dickens book, so it's Dickens time again!
Here's the 'Christmas Dickens' timeline to date...
- 2013 - "David Copperfield" (9/10)
- 2014 - "Nicholas Nickleby" (exceptional)
- 2015 - "Oliver Twist" (8/10)
- 2016 - "The Old Curiosity Shop" (7/10)
- 2017 - "A Tale of Two Cities" (7/10) and "A Christmas Carol" (9/10)
- 2018 - "Great Expectations" (10/10)
- 2019 - "Bleak House" (8/10)
- 2020 - "Little Dorrit" (retired hurt - no score 😏)
- 2021 - "Our Mutual Friend" (8/10)
- 2022 - "Pickwick Papers" - brilliant... (9/10)
- 2023 - "Dombey and Son" - stay tuned for a review...
My top four Dickens novels so far would be "David Copperfield", "Nicholas
Nickleby", "Great Expectations" and last year's absolute joy, "Pickwick
Papers" - "worst" (it's Dickens for goodness sake, how can
there be a worse?), 'least enjoyed', was without a doubt "Little Dorrit"
which was mawkish beyond extreme, but of which my opinion seems to be at
odds with most other people - I may have to have another go at some point,
as Dickens 'only' wrote 15 novels, and I've now read 11 (and a bit) of
them...
This years Dickens, however, will be "Dombey and Son", of which I know nothing of the story, so a bit of a voyage of discovery...
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Beer of the week:
..not had the opportunity to try this before but a couple of pints yesterday confirmed my initial view that this is a lovely pint.. clean tasting, very fresh golden ale brewed with green East Kent Goldings hops as soon as they are picked... kind of a Beaujolais nouveau of the beer world.. I'll give this one a 7/10.. 😀🍻
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Laters, as the young people are want to say...
Superb looking regiment
ReplyDeleteThanks Neil - much appreciated..
DeleteLovely unit. I am trying the same technique with contrast paint ….. but finding I frequently have to reinforce it with standard acrylic!
ReplyDeleteHi Norm.. one of the thigs I am finding is that there is a huge difference in opacity (is that a word) between "inks" and "washes", and even within what are commonly called one or the other... I tend to find the inks are more opaque and work well over white, and the washes are less so and work well over a contrast colour, so yes, my experience is the same as yours.. what I will say is that painting with inks or washes is way quicker, which is why I like it so much.. as an example, I'd say that regiment took me no longer than 4 hours...
DeleteA good looking regiment. You have got your unit’s basing nicely matching the tabletop cover/battle mat.
ReplyDeleteTa Peter, I can't take the credit for the mat.. believe it or not, that is a floor tile from an office I worked in - I was wondering home one Friday and noticed they were ripping them up to replace with something more colourful so I asked if I could take a few.. they must have thought I was a half wit... :o))
DeleteThe figures look splendid. "A Tale of Two CIties" not a 10? Oh well De gustibus not est disputantum.
DeleteHi Jubilo - yeah, I know, but Dickens, like beer, appeals to different tastes.. I remember reading Cities and being disappointed, I said at the time I think the primary problem was that it is one of his tragedy's, and I am more drawn to the comedy's, the books with the larger than life characters, and they are fairly few in this book - the heroine is a bit shallow, her husband is not exactly pushing, the one character you expect much of is really rather 'under done' (Sydney Carton), the only character I really liked was Jerry Cruncher (and his rusty fingers and 'flopping wife' - superb).. had to read Christmas Carol to make up for it.. :o)
DeleteA fab looking unit Steve. I'm ashamed to say that I've never read any Dickens!
ReplyDeleteHopback do make some nice beers. I'm selling some at the moment!
Watcha Raymond - I've noticed a number of Hopback beers in the area over the last few weeks - same day I had the "Green Hopped" I also had a pint of their "Fuggle Stone" .. nada Dickens? For shame.. :o))
DeleteLovely job on the figures (and I suspect a lovely job on the ale too....)
ReplyDeleteI have only ever read "Great Expectations" so am clearly missing out here. (However I do keep coming back to HG Wells for my classic books kick).
Hi Matt - oooh... was wondering what to do when I finished the run of Dickens books; you've given me the idea to make it "Classics Christmas"! :o)
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