Gordon Highlanders

Some new recruits for my British in Egypt project. These are Gordon Highlanders who formed part of Hope's Brigade. The Highland regiments played such an important role in the campaign that I just had to have at least one unit. The downside was the thought of painting tartan.

The solution came up on E-Bay and I am now the proud owner of this unit. Many thanks to whoever painted them! The figures are Vitrix plastics.

We have now settled on the Battle of Alexandria 1801 for our demo at Claymore in August. So you can see this unit and much more in action at this excellent event in its new venue at Telford College, North Edinburgh.

Bulgarian WW1

Some progress on the Salonika WW1 project. The first Bulgarians are off the workbench. We have an officer stand and a unit of irregulars. Regular infantry to follow.

The figures are from the Tiger Miniatures range. These are very good, full of character.

They could get their first outing at the Glasgow Wappinshaw show on 19th June. The original demo plan didn't work out, so current planning is around a Salonika scenario "Skirmish on the Struma". More details to follow, but some pictures below of the new Bulgars.

Russian Army of 1877

Just completed the May update of the Balkan History web site.

The main new feature this month is the Russian army of 1877 with its Romanian and Bulgarian allies. The figure are in 15mm from a couple of older ranges; Awesome Enterprises and Pioneer Miniatures. Pioneer were a bit crude with poor sculpting and proportions. Awesome on the other hand are excellent figures albeit on the larger side for 15mm. I haven't seen them for some time so they may be out of production.

They are all based for Principles of War my favourite set for this period in 15mm.

Russian Line

Romanian cavalry

The Sultan's Seal

My latest reading has been The Sultan's Seal by Jenny White. This is a work of crime fiction based in Istanbul in 1886.

The 'dectective' is a new style Ottoman Magistrate called Kemil Pasha. The 1880's was a period of transition in the Empire with Western ideas being introduced and some political turmoil. The plot revolves around the murder of two western women and it involves the royal family.

I am not a huge fan of crime fiction and this one is particularly drawn out and in places downright confusing with flashbacks that might be apparent to the author, but the reader is left floundering. On the plus side it is a good period piece and you really feel you are in Istanbul of the period.

On balance a nice piece of history, but not a great read.

Carronade and Tannenberg

Excellent show at Carronade yesterday. The Falkirk club have established this date as one of the best in Scotland with good games and a wide range of traders in an excellent venue.

We took Tannenberg 1410 as our display game. 2010 is the 600th anniversary of this classic medieval clash. We recreated it with 28mm figures from a wide range of firms using two 5000+ point WAB armies. Andy McGreary's Teutonics caught the eye as did George Dick's war wagons masquerading as the Polish camp. Visually effective and the battle itself went pretty much as the historical event.

Been a bit busy at work lately so the Polish standard bearer was a rush job with the basing still drying on the table! The figure and flags are from the Italian firm Mirleton.

The display with the game in the background. More pictures on the GDWS site

and finally a close up of Andy's Teutonic knights.