Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Oberhilse Continues the Arms Race

In between my manly chores of clearing yet more snow off the driveway and making chocolate chip oatmeal cookies I finished off a few Overhilse gunners in 1880 campaign dress.
Scruby 40mm ACW  artillery in slouch hat from Historifigs with officer converted from a Zinnbrigade gunner. The gun is a Scruby ACW gun converted to a breech loader. The round about to be loaded is from one of the Zinnbrigade moulds.

It is a bit annoying that Oberhilse greatly out numbers Faraway but is still building while Faraway is stalled. However, I can cast or buy as many Bluecoats as I want or need but am waiting on upcoming Redcoats.  I was a bit startled when I stumbled across a blog post indicating that 18 months have passed since I last sculpted an 1870 Canadian infantryman then botched the mold so badly that it was unusable. Time to get back on that horse.

Ironically in 54mm I had the opposite problem. Plenty of redcoats but for blue I had to borrow plastic ACW which were  a little larger and VERY different stylistically. If I had gone with 1880 and Oberhilse then I did have suitable moulds on hand, and still do. The 6" grid looks very suitable for 54mm troops and this 40mm painting push may be part of a desperate attempt to forestall their return.

Mounted Rifles are up next.

From a November 2011 narrative battle report of a refight of Blasthof Bridge using my antique and new Britain's


15 comments:

  1. Ross Mac,

    Even more lovely shiny - and very, very attractive - toy soldiers. I am both envious and driven to do something similar, but in a smaller scale. Perhaps Jacklex? I have some in my lead pile ... but I also have quite a few (actually a lot) of 15mm-scale figures as well.

    All the best,

    Bob

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    1. There are a lot of nice 15mm miniatures of this era in the Freikorps15 ranges. The South American ones are under the history of Mexico in the catalog but the Spanish American and Yellow Ribbon ranges would also be of good use. They are available now at http://campaign-game-miniatures.0catch.com/freikorps_historic15.html

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  2. Splendid- do like the Overhise Artillery for 1880 - well done- nice conversions of the 40mm variety. I am thinking of BL Guns for my Navy too- ship guns that is. Regards. KEV.

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    1. Mind you, the RN has a long history of dragging guns onto land when there is a need.

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    2. Yes- I will be making up plenty of excuses to employ my RN Officers & Sailors- on MARS.

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  3. I have a lot of the span am freikorps figures and they are excellent.
    The Overhilse artillery has turned out very well indeed. Any thoughts of adding bicycle troops to them or their opponents? I think cyclists figures add something to any army.
    Alan

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    1. I have thought about them for WW1 but it would call for some tricky conversions.

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  4. From my perspective a lot of progress has been made on these projects. Very interesting work. I'm curious to see the next remote battle, battle report as well.

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    1. Could be a while before I host another, I need a better set up. Once happy I may go recruiting.

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  5. Could always raise a few Yeomanry or Irregular units for Faraway units using Overhilse moulds and a different paint job.

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    1. I already have somd regulars from the moulds but I don't want to fill the OB with stand ins, I'll use obsolete uniforms first.

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  6. Nice battle and beautiful details on the tabletop. Great joy!
    Peter

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  7. Great work on the gun and crew, Ross. I do like the look, rather reminiscent of US troops in the Spanish-American War era.

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    1. Thanks Steve, I almost gave them the canvas gaiters and web belts but while searching for info on US artillery inbetween the ACW and the Spanish American (talk about hard to find btw) I found a video clip with reenactors with guns used in the hunt for Geronimo and decided to go a bit earlier.

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  8. By Jingo, the sight of those stout hearted Britain's Guardsmen and Bonny Scots is enough to to make any proper chap's chest swell with pride. Lovely to see the Band in action, no doubt stirring the lads on with a rousing rendition of 'British Grenadiers'. Outstanding Sir.

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