Milling Around

My latest building project - the old stone mill. Could make for a good defensive position on the river. Made from mdf board and other bits of wood. The river sections are also made from mdf board, with the river and banks painted on. I like the way my painted road sections look so I decided to try the same with river sections. Unfortunately this just about exhausts my supply of 1/8 thick mdf board and no one seems to sell it around where I live any more. They tell me they don't sell enough of it so they don't carry it any more. They won't seem to order a couple of pieces either.

The mill lifts off leaving a stone foundation that can represent a small stone jetty.

p.s. While killing time at the bookstore today (a dangerous thing for me to do! ha ha) I picked up the Dover reprint of Winston Churchill's "The Story of the Malakand Field Force", thinking it might be good inspiration for some Colonial games some day.

Ballyfoole and More

General Jacques von Pflugnickel, of Pfennig-Pfarthing - known to fight on foot alongside the troops as the occasion calls for it.
Previously shown at Gen. on horseback

Isaac Chang, professor of philosophy at the university.

The Malarkey Musketeers of Ballyfoole, commanded by Col. Malcolm Malarkey.

Another Ballyfoole officer.

Captain Caitlin "Kate" Mulligan, Ballyfoole captain of artillery. Inspired by stories of a female artillery officer in Hetzenberg, Kate studied and worked her way to a captaincy in the Ballyfoole artillery.

The figure is a Foundry figure. The face was already less grim than many of Foundry's SYW miniatures, maybe meant to portray a younger officer. I simply added the indication of breasts with a bit of "greenstuff".

Molly McGuire, sometimes known as Molly Pitcher,vivandiere for the Malarkey Musketeers.

It's not always easy to find suitable figures for this purpose.

All miniatures shown here are from Foundry

Equinotical Celebrations

In the Principality of Ballyfoole, member state of the Soweiter Leage, March 21st, also known as St. Finagle's Day, is a day of celebrations and awards, feasting and games, fireworks and decorations, and of course, wearing of the green.

On this day Ballyfoole, represented by Prince Seamus and Princess Caitlin O'Toole, are honered and pleased to award to Ilse and Hans of the Frundsberg Frei Stadt the Ballyfoole Order of the Griffin for their key roles in rescuing Seamus O'Malley, a young nobleman serving in the Frei Stadt's freihusaren, from a grisly death at the hands of enemy forces. See http://frundsbergfs.blogspot.com/2010/03/family-reunion.html and previous posts from that source for more details on the events surrounding the rescue.

The Ballyfoole Order of the Griffin

Forces of Badness

The Royal Blackguards of Bossanova, led by the malevolent Col. Braggadocio. Black wigs, moustaches, etc. are required by the unit's uniform regulations.

Two-Fisted Drummer

The Fuselli Fusiliers of Santa Sofia, commanded by Colonel Giuseppi "Big Joe" Fuselli. Trousers are yellow, although they can hardly be seen on most of the figures due to wearing their coattails down.

These are fusiliers from Foundry's new French SYW line. The drummer had 2 right hands, which I fixed by removing the thumb on his left hand and sculpting a new thumb on the correct side of the hand. I also corrected a decided lean to the right of some of the figures by sticking putty under one side of each when attaching them to the washers I base my figures on.

On an unrelated note:More inspiration for Colonial gaming. I just bought a collection of Robert E. Howard stories called "El Borak". Old adventure stories set in places like Afghanistan in the 1930's. A bit late in the Colonial era, but probably still a good source of ideas, atmosphere and inspiration.
Rumors of exotic lands discovered by adventurers from the Soweiter League and Batrachia?

The Garde N'est Pas

The Garde N'est Pas of the Batrachian Empire lined up in the town plaza for inspection. Their commander is Colonel Francois le Comte de la Blanc-Mange.

These are from Foundry's new French SYW range. It's a mixed lot in terms of quality. These garde figures are similar to Foundry's other SYW range, but there are some fusiliers with a decided lean to the right (and I'm not talking about politics - it's more like one leg is longer than the other) and a drummer who has two right hands! When most people turn their hands palms up their thumbs point outwards. The fusilier drummer has his left hand palm up, but the thumb is on the inwards side. I modified him so his thumb is now on the correct side (maybe devaluing him as a collectible? ha ha).

More New Troops

The Pfennig-Pfarthing Pfreicorps, brother regiment of the Hesse-Pfeffernusse Pfreicorps previously shown, lead by Col. Schilling.

General Jacques von Pflugnickel, of Pfennig-Pfarthing (known as "One-Eyed Jacque"). His mother was from Mayeux, his father from Pfennig-Pfarthing.

The Freicorps and the general are Foundry figures. The dogs are from Gripping Beast, a bear hunt set I bought some time ago. Here's the bear from that set. There are more of the same dogs in the set.