Workers Militia

Here's a shot of a couple of the workers militia for A Very British Civil War (figures by Musketeer Miniatures) that I varnished this afternoon. I think they've turned out alright! I hope you like them too.

This one's my favourite. He looks like a typical northerner with that trendy moustache. I particularly like how his shirt and tie turned out.

Chain Reaction Rule Test 1

I'll be running a little skirmish game tomorrow to playtest the Chain Reaction 3.0 rules available from Two Hour Wargames as a free download.

I'm just reading through the rule set now and making a few notes, trying to a get a better idea of the game mechanics. I'll be using the few painted figures I have along with the unpainted ones I have on the painting table (probably a 12 man skirmish). I'll take a few photos and provide some kind of battle report.

Painting Update

In the last couple of days, I've managed to paint 3 rebel figures and they've been thoroughly enjoyable!

Pictures will come next week when I've finished some more rebels and properly based them and hopefully some more government forces too!

I might make this project a little broader so it covers the period from 1912 right up until 1938 so I can fight all sorts of mini internal wars including VBCW. Doing this project has drawn me towards other periods I'd not previously thought of doing such as the Spanish Civil War and Operation Sealion because of the cross over of figures (and therefore, money savings!).

These will have to wait however because I'm really getting into this alternate ECW. I currently have regular infantry, naval troops and policemen for my government forces but am severly lacking in the rebel department. The next purchase for my rebel army will be an armoured car to give them some much needed support. I'm thinking of this one from Force of Arms...

Picture from Great Hall Minis

Foundry Assyrians for sale

I've just listed some of my Assyrians on eBay. I don't have the time to paint them and will probably never get round to it. There are four Foundry regiments which you can find using this link and all are reasonably priced.

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/v2musiclimited/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340

This is my first finished figure. I've used the Army Painter technique by brushing it lightly over the surface of the model. The photo was taken when he was drying still and still needs to be matte varnished and based. The project's been coming along quite slowly at the minute as i've had an awful lot of work to do but next week I should be able to really crack on with the rest of the unit (shown below) and get them finished and make a start on the workers!

I used a mixture of Vallejo and Foundry paints for this guy.

Vallejo: For the uniform I used US Field Drab (70873), for what i'd call the 'socks' I used German Camo Beige (70821) and for the webbing I used Iraquian Sand (70819).

Foundry: Flesh was Flesh (Light 5C), buttons and other shiny things were Burning Gold (44B), the gun and bayonet holder were Spearshaft (13B) and highlights on the black were Arctic Grey (33A).

The strength of Army Painter I used was 'Strong Tone'.

1912 and the beginnings of Revolution!

Everywhere you look in Edwardian Britain, dark, angry storm clouds are brewing. It's towns are still tormented by Victorian levels of poverty, sickness and hunger and in order for the newly elected Liberal government to finance radical welfare reforms, defense spending must be cut. But with a German invasion speculated about in the popular press, an alternative course of action has to be taken.

LLoyd George's "People's Budget" sort to impose a Super Tax on the super-rich but was seen as pure socialism, an act of negation of both monarchy and empire by the aristocracy and seemed much more like a revolution than a budget! After the budget for welfare reforms was thrown out of the House of Lords (in order for the budget to be passed, the very same Lords who would be taxed would have to approve it, a kind of 'political suicide'), the dock workers union in particular, filled with a sense of injustice, took to the streets in protest and went on strike. At the time, Edwardian Britain relied heavily on food imports and these sat at the docks in crates, rotting and beginning to smell. Armed Police and the army prepared to break the strike.

The union's leader, a man named Ben Tillett, wrote a letter to the Home Secretary Winston Churchill reading: "We shall bring about a state of war. Hunger and poverty have driven the dock and ship workers to this present resort and neither your soldiers, your police, your murder shall avert the catastrophe that is coming to this country". Ben Tillett and his comrades, inspired by the Russian Revolution of 1905, intended to take Britain down the same road and encourage unions across the country to strike. The mood soon turned ugly when the Police tried to break up a dock strike in Liverpool with violence spreading throughout the city. The Mayor claimed it was more than a strike but a revolution and if the government could not send military or naval support, then he could not guarantee the safety of life or property. Within days, the entire Aldershot garrison had been ordered North but the strikes and violence continued to spread.

Tillett, during an open-air meeting in London's Tower Hill, formed the Workers' Police to act as their militant arm and, as a result, the entire of Britain's armed forces were put on stand by for the imminent uprising. Many of the Gentry, fearing for their safety, bought themselves revolvers to defend themselves from the revolution that was about the happen...

But it never did. All the talk of revolution was lost in the build up to the First World War and it never happened. But this period in history has really intrigued me and given me an idea for a great little skirmish project, influenced by the 'Very British Civil War' hype that seems to have gripped the gaming world. What if the violence had finally reached its peak and boiled over into full scale revolt? The general idea is to play through some fictional skirmish scenarios taking place between the Workers' Police and the combined forces of the Army and the Police. It should certainly make for some interesting gaming!