Combining My Hobbies

A detachment of the 10th Bengal Lancers on patrol as part of the Tirah Field Force in 1897.

 

Truth in Advertising time: I'm a retired Colonel of Infantry and a Military Historian. I'm also a 100% Disabled Veteran. Now that sounds worse than it really is because I have a great quality of life and a beautiful bride of 37 years. When you fight bad guys with bullets, loud noises, loud explosions, jump out of perfectly good airplanes, concussions from fire fights - your body and mind tend to wear down after a while!

The Last of the Mohicans.

Anyway . . . painting helps in more ways than one. I have been an avid collector of toy soldiers at least from elementary school, started painting them when I was about 12 and wrote my first rules when I was 16. Two years ago I started to learn how to do watercolors (challenging and therapeutic) and now I am combining my two favorite hobbies. Mainly inspired by Bob Murch of Pulp Figures and his photography (and some others) I decided to start using some of my landscapes as backgrounds when taking pictures of my miniatures.

The above is one of my first watercolors as I was learning how to use water to get the desired effects that I would want in a painting. The entire painting was done using Blue Indigo and the ratio of the water changes the color.

And it makes a good background for a picture of The Batman.

This is the first person I painted: A Muslim officer of the 10th Bengal Lancers. After I painted the dashing gentleman, I thought to myself, "Self. If you can do that in watercolors you can definitely do it with miniatures. Hello Perry Miniatures. 

The 10th (The Duke of Cambridge's) Bengal Lancers (Hodson's Horse).

With practice I got better. My painting of a Sowar of the Johdpur Lancers has won 3 prizes:

I will eventually paint this unit in miniature but I will need to do some conversions. As I dove into watercolors while continuing my first and foremost hobby of miniature painting and gaming, I started doing more research on the actual uniforms - leading to sketches and other paintings. This really helped me with painting my miniature men. Longtime readers of the my blog know that for the last 3 years or so I have been heavily concentrating on the Army of the British Raj.

Pencil sketch of a Sepoy, 30th Punjabis circa 1900.

Recently I found one of my old pictures of the Khyber pass . . . this would be a great backdrop.

Pencil sketch of the photo.

Watercolor.

The Gordon Highlanders striking a pose.

Well I have been having some fun combining my two hobbies - now it's time to do some more backdrops, figure painting and gaming!

1st Quarter Update: How's the Plan going?

 

"This is what we will do in 2024."

I try to write my posts 2 to 3 weeks ahead; however, this year I knew that I might be traveling more than I usually do (where do these grandchildren keep coming from?) I did a lot of painting in January, a little in February and none in March. In fact, with my travel plans (which is a joy and a blessing) my plan may not go as I anticipated. Anyway . . . here is what I did in the 1st Quarter: 

Last known photograph of Charlie.

1. The Search for Charlie. During "Operation Big Move" last year Charlie disappeared. Sam, his partner, suspects foul play. Little does Sam know that his life will change - and possibly his quest will have world shattering effects.

Sam.

     a. Pulp Campaign: Hard boiled detectives, dangerous dames, returning heroes, menacing mechanical monstrosities, Nazis, The Canine Corps of Justice, unnatural science experiments, ancient and mythical beings, and evil geniuses eliminating the competition so they can take over the world! Globetrotting Adventure! What more could you want?

     b. Sam needs a car; he is tired of walking.

            

        The model has been purchased.

     c. Figures need to painted.

        1). The new Shadow from Pulp Figures.

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"

    2). The Woman in Red from Pulp Figures.

    3). Financing the search by making a "movie"; figures from Pulp Figures (are we starting to see a pattern?).

     4). Hollywood Nazis! (Yep, Pulp Figures).

    5). A "Pulp" era Joker and crew from Pulp Figures.

    6). If you are going to have a Pulp Joker, you have to have The Batman. A Heroclix conversion.

    7). The Movember Men. Each November Bob Murch of Pulp Figures sculpts a special figure to promote Men's Health that he will provide for any donation to the link on the Pulp Figures website. Past figures are still available and these gentlemen may show up in the search!

    

    8). Mysterious Additions:

    d. Scenery and terrain need to be made. (TOP SECRET).

        Still working on this and I know what I'm going to do.

2. The Northwest Frontier Uprising of 1897-1898.

"Death to the Infidels and hopefully he's a slow painter."

The tribes are ready. The Indian army is on the frontier - but they need reinforcements:

    a. One British (Anglo) infantry unit. Figures arrived!

    b. One Gurkha unit. Figures arrived!

    c. One Sikh infantry unit. Figures arrived!

    d. One British (Anglo) mountain gun. Figures arrived!

    e. Tribal Cavalry if @#%& Wargames Atlantic ever releases their hard plastic Afghan Tribal Cavalry. Wargames Atlantic surprised me and the box is now out. Need to order.

f. Major General Pavel Ivanovich Mishchenko of the Imperial Russian Army wants to know when his Cavalry Brigade will show up for the ongoing Anglo-Russian War. I don't think this is going to happen this year.

"When will the Trans-Baikal Cossack Brigade get here?"

3. The German Division in The Peninsular War. I plan on using WoFun Miniatures: Hesse-Darmstadt, Baden, the Dutch, minor German States and maybe some Poles just for fun. I have the figures but need to organize.

Confederation of the Rhine Battalion Number 3 (Frankfurt).

4. One Hour Wargames. Easy to learn and always a tactical challenge. One Hour Wargames is one of my favorite set of rules and I haven't played it in years. I used it to teach a history class for several years but I donated all of the armies I had to the school. I think it's time to play again - the big question is which period. My tired brain will have to ponder.

And the winner is: The English Civil War for OHW.

That's the big painting plan. There will be games, more Warhammer 40K Fire Team (yes they sucked me in), and hopefully some French and Indian War action. Now to get started!

No games yet - but in the future.