Tuesday 16 December 2014

Perry Miniatures, Colonel Frederic Gustavus Burnaby

Again, only time for a quick post. i noticed on the Perry miniatures Blog that they were selling Blood on the Nile published by Warlord Games as mentioned in my previous post. It also comes with a Colonel Frederic Gustavus Burnaby this time the mini is much more understated but still comes with his signature shot gun.

I'm going to order from the Perry's as this free mini looks the business to me.


Cheers for now.


Friday 12 December 2014

Looking Interesting, No?

Pre order from Warlord Games:


Just a very quick post as i'm using someone elses computer as my laptop died a death :>(

At least for me it's the best Black Powder release thus far, though of course, I haven't seen nor read it as of yet. I would assume much of the eye candy will be from the Perry's collection so it would be worth it just for the pics in my opinion! Comes with a great little mini of Colonel Frederic Gustavus Burnaby- a nust have for the Sudan.

Cheers,
Darrell.

Thursday 11 December 2014

At Last! A New Post!!

Hi all,

I was contemplating whether to just say that I've been away from the hobby for four months due to personal reasons (which is certainly true!). Read on if you want to hear the 'blues jam'- if not just scroll down to the pics below;

Basically I've been away from wargaming and painting for about four months due to a relationship breakdown with the love of my life. I was with her for fourteen years when one day she asked me to leave, which is what I did. This was obviously devastating news as although we weren't married the relationship, which was very loving, was the basis of my life and it has taken me four months to come to terms with it being over! I doubt that I'll ever be really 'over it' but at least i now feel strong enough to start blogging, painting and being creative again. I guess that the fact that we had not had any children in this case is a blessing as they would have almost certainly have suffered psychological trauma through the breakdown of what was once a very strong relationship. My partner was always supportive of the hobby and was often to be seen at shows with me around the country. I don't bear her any animosity and in fact i am very thankful for our time together.

So, I hear you say, what have you in the pipeline?

Currently I'm working, or rather about to embark upon a couple of projects. The first being two demo games that will be at Salute in 2016 and Vapnartak in the same year; the games being The Battle of Hastings and Battle of Fulford Gate.

The second project is going to be another demo game, possibly at Partizan next year that will feature the Second Afghan War and Mike Owen's brilliant range of North West Frontier mini's combined with Studio Miniatures North West Frontier range and of course, it would be almost sacrilegious not to include some of the Perry Miniatures sculpts that they did for Wargames Foundry back in the day as well as some of their suitable Indian Mutiny/Indian Rebellion of 1857 mini's.

That's all for now really except to say that bearing my obsession with Late 14th Century Warfare I have of course asked Santa to "please bring me three boxes of the new Perry Miniatures HYW English!

Pics below, I'm sure that you've all seen them before but what would a post on a wargaming blog be without any pics, eh?









Thanks for reading and thanks for your patience for my lack of posts.

Darrell.

Wednesday 10 September 2014

Congratulations to.......

Jim! My first (and hopefully not last) follower and a keen supporter of multiple Blogs.

Jim's Blogs can be seen HERE!

Thanks Jim :>)

Darrell.

Shooting Leave- Welcome!

Hi,

Welcome to Shooting Leave, my Late Victorian/Colonial blog.

I have been mulling it over for quite a while as to whether it would be worth the effort to produce another blog as I already have three! (Time for a Cheep plug!, there's La Journee, which covers the first half of the 15thC and in the main focuses on the Hundred Years War or French War as it was known to contemporaries, then there's Gewalthaufen focusing on the 1500-1600's and Just Add Water which is my general High Quality Painting Service blog. Feel free to check them out!).

So is there a real need for me to produce another blog? Well, yes. Just Add Water started out years ago mainly focusing on the Dark Ages in the times when trips to Nottingham WAB all-weekenders were still raging and when it was still possible to pop down to Gripping Beast HQ for the Cold Steel, Hot Lead and Havok! one day campaign events. As they say those were the days. Since then, although the 15thC Late Medieval war gaming has always been an absolute passion of mine I've found that my tastes have broadened and naturally other periods of history have come into focus for the table top. La journee and Gewalthaufen are my two Late Medieval blogs as noted above.

One growing passion is for all things Late Victorian and the wars that the British Empire found or forced itself into. The Sudan, The Anglo Zulu War, The British in India and African are but to name a few. These will all be covered by and by.

So why the name Shooting Leave? Well, there are in fact a couple of reasons, i/ it's quite original (I hope!) and ii/ Shooting Leave was a kind of codename for mainly though not exclusively aristocratic officers in the British army volunteered for 'special service' (by army I mean artillery, infantry, cavalry and all other 'special' corp). This usually took the form of relinquishing all regard to self preservation, travelling the world incognito often atn one's won expense surveying and exploring on behalf of the Crown. Some of these names have become household words to the student of Victorian History and indeed wargamers alike, Alexander Burnes, James Abbot, Valentine Baker and the redoubtable Fred Burnaby. There are many others, some lost to history, some who lost their lives.

Although the blog will mainly concentrate on the campaigns and battles of the British army and their brave (and not to be underestimated!!!!) foes I hope that it will contain just enough of the more bizarre staging and setting of what went on behind the scenes- not in an academic suffocating way, but rather in an pleasing manner. I make no apology for not being an academic student of the 'period' but hope that I can provide some entertainment at least.

So, any Victorian Warfare blog would not be complete without a few pics and a Kipling quote so here's a few words and pics pics to keep you happy!

'For Allah created the English mad - the maddest of all mankind'
- Rudyard Kipling (1856-1936) in Kitcheners School

Studio Miniatures, Sikh Wars British





Foundry Miniatures, Afghan Pathans