A street in town.

The Hetzenberg Liebgarde Grenadiers lead the march past the tower and rathaus, followed by the Bishop of Guggenheim's Regiment of Horse.

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Here's another view of the rathaus with the neighboring tower. My eventual aim is to make enough buildings to create a small generic Middle European town. It'll probably be surrounded by a mediaeval wall which has been upgraded to follow 17th/18th century ideas for defense. The next project *should* be ordinary houses for the citizens, but I've been looking at mold #44 in the Hirst Arts range, and those lovely big arches are saying "Bridge" to me. Stokes Schwartz of the Duchy of Stollen made a nice bridge which included two tower gateways, and I'll follow his lead for my project.

The Rathaus.

Front quarter view.


Front elevation.

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A couple of days to go before I head for pastures new. Planning is over, packing has begun! In the meantime I pushed ahead and completed a project that has been sitting on the workbench for way too long - the rathaus.

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This building was designed to be the meeting hall or rathaus of a town council. Construction is mainly from Hirst Arts components from their Gothic range of molds. Only the sides of the two upper storeys, the windows and the main body of the dormer windows are scratch-built, either from foamcore or balsa. Although it can't be made out here, the windows are diamond-paned, formed from the type of mesh used for car bodywork repairs. The roof of the main building lifts off to allow figures to be placed inside. The small plinth positioned over the central arch is intended for a statue of some kind. A 15mm figurine painted in suitable colors will go here.

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I used ordinary vinyl emulsion for the main paintwork and Vallejo acrylics for everything else, occasionally mixed with "Klear" floor polish ("Future" in the US) for added durability. The roofs do look a bit "hot," but this is due to the lighting conditions. All that remains for me to do is complete the street surface in front of the building. Time permitting I'll take a photo or two of the rathaus alongside the tower I made in the earlier project.

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Overall I'm reasonably satisfied with the result. As always I can see a few areas which can be improved upon, but that can wait for another time and another project.

Pootling along again...

All trips abroad take some preparation and I'm just beginning mine. In the meantime I've completed a few more hedges for the club, and a Flames of War US army company (less the integral bazooka teams). My thoughts haven't strayed that far from the 18th Century though. I intend to buy some RSM 95 figures to make up the First Brigade of the Hetzenberg army, the attached artillery battery and probably the Guard battery too. With so much else going on, I'm afraid the ImagiNation has had to take a back seat for a while.

The Times they are a Changin'...

So, the reason why my ImagiNations have gone quiet for a while is this - I have the delightful prospect of moving to the USA to be with my girlfriend and to work. This will take place soon, but in the meantime I have a couple of decades' worth of wargames material to take into account. Not everything I have is of current interest to me nor likely to be. Some things will remain in my collection - Hetzenberg and the nascent Margravate armies. A lot of stuff will have to go. It's wayyy too expensive to transport or ship.

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First up on the sale block. Some time ago I aquired a heap of Front Rank early 1990's vintage Napoleonic/Republican French in 25mm. These are now for sale here under the Bring & Buy section. Prices are given, any reasonable offers accepted.

Pootling along...

One of the many discoveries I made when clearing out my workshed was a trio of Old Glory "Command Decision" packs, WW2 15mm miniatures, specifically US army riflemen and command. They were part of a consignment of a store's bankrupt stock I got years ago. As this discovery coincides with the club's interest in Flames of War, I decided to put them to use.

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I must admit, painting modern figures is much easier than most other periods! Using just the basic pigments of US olive drab, field brown, some highlights and a sepia ink wash I've completed an entire platoon today. It won't take long to do the basework, and they'll be ready to take the field.

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Of course they'll then be faced with the inevitable defeat/rout/annihilation that befalls all newly-completed wargames units in their first game! Is it just me that this happens to? I don't think so! This may be a wargamers' urban myth, but it happened at the New Buckenham club's ACW game to Guns at Gettysburg rules on Friday. My new 19th Indiana Union regiment was broken and sent packing within moments of arriving in the firing line. All the other Union units behaved admirably (helped by an incredible number of "box-car" rolls - 12 on 2d6). They're a nice set of rules, quick and easy to grasp. I should have a couple more units ready by the next game, so I'll see how they perform...