Æronef vs. Ærial Gunboat

Discussion on The Miniatures Page encouraged me to descend into the crypt and dig out my old 25mm aerial gunboats.  These had been used for a single game of Sky Galleons of Mars back in the mid-to-late 90s.

Above is a comparison of the Ironclad Aeronef vs the smallest British "Aphid" - although I think I was building the "Penelope" as I note the plethora of Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon and a rather prominent ram.

These are made of card stock and foam core on blue DIY/Dow insulation board formers, with thin wood decking. Ship plans are available in GDWs "Cloudships and Gunboats", now available from Heliograph Publishing Inc.

I am a little embarrassed at the poor quality and lack of important detail on these scratchbuilt models - my only defense is, in may callow youth, I was rushing to finish and we only played once, because we had issues keeping the stands upright. 

Later on, a friend of mine welded the pipes to steel railway washers, which gave them more stability.  Adding a few more washers, usually of a larger size, also increased stability - though these stands shown are not yet safe for any kind of carpet. A larger 4" OD washer is needed.

Being older and wiser, nowadays I would use a flange and pipe arrangement, or else cut these from clear Lucite. I will probably exchange the black rods for clear Lucite ones.

"Look Sarge, he didn't even paint the stacks..."
"...typical..."

The current project will be to refinish this and bring it up to spec, along with several others that are currently languishing in mothballs.

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28mm Aerial Steam Launch from Ironclad Miniatures

Pictured is a 28mm aerial steam launch from Ironclad Miniatures - picked up by yr humble correspondent back in 2008 (have I mentioned lately that I work slowly?). This model holds a special nostalgia for me, as back when we played the Space:1889 RPG, our British Army player-characters operated from one of these, along with our new allies, the Royal Navy.

The reader may be amused when I write that I primed this model about a year ago, and that it has gone away with me on vacation with every intent to paint it at least twice, but I could not decide upon the colour scheme.

The problem I had was that the Royal Navy (of which Britain's fledgling Aerial Service is part) have peacetime and wartime livery for Her Majesty's Ships. Peacetime vessels are painted with black hulls and buff upper works, while wartime paint is a mid-to-light grey.

Ironclad Aerial Launch - pictured are two RAFM Historicals for scale.

In the end, I went with a very dark grey hull with light grey upperworks, adhering as it were to the wartime colours in the peacetime scheme. I don't know why, but it works for me. I also found some vertical pipe-stands used in some of our old 25mm Sky Galleons of Mars games from the 1990's, one of which made for a handy flying stand.

This is a resin-cast model that is a joy to assemble. There were almost no bubbles in the resin, and they were confined to the underside of the deck. Nicely detailed with just the right amount of rivets. It does weight a respectable amount, and I'm probably going to add a larger base to the pipe-stand supporting it.

Armament consists of a single 25mm Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon miniature by Richard Houston - now available again from The Virtual Armchair General. This is labelled as "37mm" which translates to the 1-lbr HRC in Soldier's Companion.  The weapon is swappable with other miniatures, such as a Nordenfelt or Gardner gun or even a rocket tube, which would make for quite a nasty surpise for a wooden, Martian ship.

Let that be a lesson to the three-toed, yellow pongos...

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Painted: French Marine Artillerists from Askari Miniatures

My 28mm French Marine Artillerists (aka les Bigors) from Askari Miniatures have been waiting patiently for several weeks, as they were finished earlier this month - it's just taken me some time to take the photies.

Askari miniatures do paint up nicely.  I decided to opt for the 1889 uniform colours for the first batch of figures, I will follow up with either white tropical dress or, more likely, khaki for the next set. I have used Armory (and now Citadel) white prime since forever as it gives the miniature a happy glow.

"Tirer sur la vache..."

 Since the readers seem to like these battery-in-action tableaux, I'm including two for your delectation. The gun is from the Old Glory Spanish American line.

Nous sommes ouverts pour le commerce. Nur kasse.

The business-end of a piece de 90mm emplacement. Cash only.

Next to pick up some of Askari Al's Schutzetruppen, and the inter-colonial fun begins.

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28mm Martian Blockhouses

 Here's a nice eBay rescue:

These foam core buildings were picked up from eBay. They arrived painted dark grey with a kind of $40K look about them.  I repainted them and gave them a nice flocking.  Now I have some actual Martian-style buildings to use, instead of recycled Northwest Frontier adobe huts.

For Mars, I tend to prefer green flock to red flock, since in the Space:1889 environment, most combat is going to take place in the canal zones, where the vegetation is. To paraphrase the film Laurence of Arabia: "There is nothing in the desert, and no man needs nothing."

 Figures by RAFM, artillery by Parhoom and Old Glory

Also included are some scratch-built artillery risers - made of polystyrene/styrofoam with cocktail sticks and coffee stirrers as planking.  These are useful if your terrain has non-standard walls.


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Reviresco 2.95 Inch Mountain Gun and Crew - Painted

These were finished about a week ago - it took me some time to settle down and post piccies.

Reviresco minis seem to paint up remarkably well for figures that are two decades old or more. These are painted in duty smocks and tropical kit.  I must needs go back and paint in the eyes on the crew - also, a standing figure in tropical kit went missing during the painting process, which turned up a day or two ago.

Must flock those bases on the pack train. And order another two sets.

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French Marine Artillerists from Askari Miniatures

Shiney New for 2014, these were a pleasant surprise when I visited the Askari Miniatures website on New Year's Day.  Ali Askari and I had discussed the need for 1890's French Marine gunners to bring the campaigns of Tonkin, Indo-China and Madagascar to the tabletop - not to mention wargaming on Mars post 1889. These figures fill an important gap, as I could not find any other manufacturers who make them.

Packs come with four figures, one with arm raised, one firing, one standing holding a bore-sponge, one sighting with field glasses.  The figure with the sponge might be puzzling, where a figure holding a shell might have been  plus approprié - though would still be necessary to sponge the barrel for the older French guns in use in les colonies.

Animation is nice - a different pose for each. Detail is good. Proportions are also good - the figures seem a little larger than the previously released French Marine Infantry (comparison pics forthcoming).  I hope that Askari Minis isn't giving in to scale-creep - there are plenty of larger scaled colonial period miniatures available. 

Shown below with an Old Glory French Marine on the left and a RAFM British Martian "Sepoy" on the right.

From left to right: 1 Old Glory, 4 Askari, 1 RAFM

 

Askari Miniatures French Marine Artillerists
Animation: 4
Detail: 4
Proportions: 4
Variety: 4
Overall: 4 out of 5

Apparently, I cannot leave the miniatures of mixed manufacturers alone on the photo table, as when I had returned, the poor Old Glory Marsouin, outnumbered (but not out-gunned), was having the wind put up him by Les Bigors - allegedly for his hyper-active pose.

O Marsouin, ne vous regardez où vous sont en marche?

Ah, the joys of a friendly, inter-service rivalry...

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Reviresco 2.95 Inch Mountain Gun and Crew

I'm looking to do more Colonial miniature wargaming, but I'm tired of Zulus and Mahdists.  Also, I'd like to use my new French Tirailleurs Seneglais if possible, along with my British Askaris.

This essentially narrows my choice to the Great War and the East Africa Campaign. Here, the German colonies found themselves surrounded by the more populated colonies of the Allied Powers - Britain, France and Portugal.

This would also dove-tail nicely into a Great War on Mars campaign - something I've wanted to do for years.

I picked up the 2.95 Inch Mountain Gun and Crew from Reviresco, with the foreknowledge that John McEwan's minis are sometimes too small when compared to modern ranges.  I was pleasantly surprised to find this particular set scales well with the old RAFM (must we start using this term with RAFM as well...sigh) Space 1889 miniature range, and not too badly against the Old Glory colonial range.

Courtesy: Reviresco Miniatures

As for the detailing - well, the gun is very nice, though the older mould is showing the beginnings of wear. The gunners are fair-to-middling, though they paint up alright. Included in the pack are three pack horses and two pack mules.  The loads they carry are customisable - nice touch.

Courtesy: Reviresco Miniatures

There are two guns included - both may be assembled, though one is clearly intended to be attached to the pack train and transported disassembled.

Reviresco 2.95 Mountain Gun Crew
Animation: 3
Detail: 2
Proportions: 5
Variety: 4
Overall: 3.25

Reviresco 2.95 Mountain Gun Pack Animals
Animation: 3
Detail: 3
Proportions: 4
Variety: 4
Overall: 3.25

The 2.95 Mountain Gun wasn't adopted by the British Army - it was purchased by some Colonial authorities and taken into a few of the Colonial defense forces, especially British West Africa and Egypt.

I hope to have pictures of the finished, painted figs up in a few days. For now, pics from Reviresco will have to do.

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