The Chinese vs. the Zouaves

More uses for your Zouaves and Armies In Plastic Chinese Boxers.

Second Opium War

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Opium_War

Comte de Palikao leading French forces during the 1860 campaign.

AIP Civil War Zouaves and Boxers as troops in the 1860s. French artillery is converted Royal Horse Artillery set.

You can replace the various heads and weapons on the Boxers to create more individuals.

Defender of the Fatherland Day

It is celebrated on February 23.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defender_of_the_Fatherland_Day

"The holiday marks the date in 1918 during the Russian Civil War when the first mass draft into the Red Army occurred in Petrograd and Moscow. It was originally known as Red Army Day (Russian: День Красной Армии / Dyen' Krasnoy Armii). In 1949, it was renamed Soviet Army and Navy Day (Russian: День Советской Армии и Военно-Морского флота / Dyen' Sovyetskoy Armii i Voyenno-Morskogo flota). Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the holiday was given its current name."

Russian reenactors like to play in the snow on this day including two Russian Union soldiers!!!!

Remember comedian Jacob Smirnoff?
"In America, you watch television.
    In Soviet Russia, television watch you."

 Enjoy a short video of the event...
http://www.tv100.ru/news/Mechi-topory-i-ruzhja-37090/

 It's a "time line" event from knights to Nazis....

War Game figures I've painted...

Some of the folks that look in here are miniature wargamers (Hey Mark!) and might like to see figures I've done.

I liked painting 25mm and 28mm 20+ years ago but they just sat in boxes. I sold most of them last summer on eBay. A hard drive crash in January lost many photos but I still have photos of these DIXON Confederates

I lost the photos of the DIXON Alamo Texans and Mexicans. I went though a monsters phase hoping to do something "historical." Could you see Franz Joseph's troops fighting the "forces of darkness?"

Austrian Army Uniforms 1866

Uniformes de l'armée autrichienne vers 1866.

The prints are rather small but the are over 30 prints of Austrian Uniforms from the Austrian Prussian War of 1866 from the Gallica site in France.

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84274161.r=%22Costume+Militaire%22.langEN

Here is an example.

 

Cheap 1/32 scale City Lamp Posts

I picked these up at a Christmas Tree Shop chain store. Similar ones can be found on-line at Amazon.com from LEMAX. Folks in Europe may be able to find them this way.

If you can work out the wiring they can be used for set-ups and dioramas. (Remove the red bow.) If you remove the wires and glue the lamppost to a metal washer, they stand on their own or can be attached to a diorama. They run on AA batteries.

Military Alphabets

Two French language Alphabet books from Gallica that are great sources for military illustrations.

Alphabet Militaire en Images

Publisher : Martinet (Paris) 1862

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k61499577/f15.planchecontact

Armée Française : Nouvel Alphabet Militaire
Author : Vanier, Léon (1847-1896).
Publisher : L. Vanier (Paris) 1883


http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8426912s.r=Le+costume+militaire.langEN

Can I get enough of the Franco Prussian War Mitrailleuse?

 No....

http://ilikethethingsilike.blogspot.com/2010/06/more-mitrailleuse-nice-diorama-idea-or.html

http://ilikethethingsilike.blogspot.com/2010/06/french-gatling-guns-not-mitrailleuses.html



The latest on these weapons I have noticed is that a number of Mitrailleuses used during the Siege of Paris and Commune were equipped with shields to protect the operators. Be sure to click on the images for larger versions.

Another period illustration shows this shield.

Two birds eye views of an artillery park also show the shields. One is a photo.

The other is a graphic version of the scene.

I was hoping for a photo, and one popped up of the barricades in may during the Commune.

I hope Armies In Plastic gets busy on a model!

Bordel Militaire de Campagne

You probably won't see Military Miniatures of the Bordel Militaire de Campagne Here is a series of postcards of from the 1921-1926 Moroccan War that lampooned the establishment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordel_militaire_de_campagne

You can see the varieties of French forces present in the war including African colonial soldiers.

Battle of the Crater with MARX figures.

Does using "toy" soldiers to show some part of a battle simplify the event for the viewer or trivialize the horror of a battle?

Here is the scene after the smoke has cleared from the explosion of the  mine set off by the Union Army under the Confederate defenses of Petersburg, Va. on July 30,1864. Most of the figures and scenics are "by MARX."

The Union troops are bogged down in the crater formed by the explosion.

Confederate re-enforcements arrive.