A 1970s diorama of Plessy for Steve and some future plans

 A while ago I mentioned a 1970s diorama of flats in a magazine called The British Empire but couldn't find it. Well it finally turned up, I'd lent it to a grand nephew who was doing a project on the American War of Independence and it was in the same volume. 

They're a nice collection of images I think and a neat little AAR which I remember finding fascinating as a little chap! I especially liked the elephant command group! You can probably see where I started binding together the magazines with string, my dad showed me how, as he'd done it in school pre ww2!

Getting near to the end of my Napoleonic French and to a certain extent my Austrians I picked up enough Hat and Victrix Bavarians to build Wredes 1809 division of two brigades before I went to Jamaica, I also had some French chasseurs I could convert into Bavarian chevaulegers and have got some more.

  

I also picked up the Brede  Bavarian Army book I've had in my basket for an age, to add to my geriatric Osprey, complete with copperplate title, very 20th century! 

One night when I was fed up in a hotel room I put an order into the Perry site, which included Bavarian high command and two artillery pieces. 

In that order I also got the Prussian regimental deal plus some plastic command and added it to my last full box of Wargames Atlantic Prussian reserve infantry. 

The main aim of the Perry purchases was of course the new plastic Spanish figures , what can I say I'm weak! The early light dragoons will become Spanish hussars, focused on the siege of Girona and Catalonia in 1809.

I already had some Spanish reference. 

But clearly I needed more!

Buying the two Cronin books, which while expensive seem really good, meant I could get this one free!

I will need to pick up some cavalry for the Prussians, so am planning on getting a couple of Perry plastic allied cavalry boxes and a box of Russian uhlans to use as Polish as I want to do a Duchy of Warsaw force , based around three Perry plastic boxes, I have already in the Perry order got some additional command, the later light dragoons will give me a second unit of uhlans. 

With both the Prussian and Spanish armies I need rag tag militia types and wanted those as economically as possible and came up with this.

For £80 from the outpost that's a lot of figures I can reuse and adapt, sack jackets for landwehr and short jackets for Spanish provisional/militia etc, I'm not that bothered about percussion versus flintlock at this scale and I figure with barrel changes I can get away with the artillery pieces as British lend lease kit for the Prussians and the mounted command with head swaps look Prussian to me, hopefully I can use the fencing with my Russian terrain and I'm sure I can find a use for the building? The Prussians came about because of me disappearing down a Leipzig 1813 hole of research a couple of years ago, after getting Let's play Leipzig! at Partizan I'm halfway through a Mockern terrain piece and that's what I'm building my Prussian force for,not 1809 but I'll just use my existing French force as opposition. 

Well ,it just came out and it was a declared project a while ago but this will , apart from this purchase, be a back burner project for a while as I seem to have a few things on?! Once I've got the cavalry and the Polish I think I'd better not buy much more for a while,Partizan 2026 maybe!?I have been good for the last couple of years in my defence! 

It's a lovely book but even I can't justify another army, not when I'm starting four other Napoleonic armies! 

Really nice book, Conway publishing, great author ( Brian Lavery) can't go wrong, one of a number of 18th century/Napoleonic naval books I've bought recently to add to my other books on the subject, I just don't know how to connect it to wargaming as I don't fancy sea battles, although I have been looking at admiralty ship models but do I want to spend 15 years building a ship and not finish it before I die? They are lovely bits of kit and super interesting  but you've then got something that just sits there and you throw sugar at it? ( a phrase my mum used to use about ornaments! ) 

I  might do pirates  or ship to ship action at some point, trouble is at 1/48 a 74 gun ship of the line is over 3' long, you'd need a pretty big table! Still I'm sure I can shoehorn something out of scale at some point! 

I think that's why I'm interested in this hobby, I want stuff to have a use and I like model making and research and it neatly combines that, sorry for the existential ramble, I should have another French line unit finished shortly and normal service will be resumed! 

All the best 

Iain