British VSF Guns Crews & Generic VSF 'Scouts/Jagers'

On Salisbury Plain British Gunners with Infantry support train in the use of their new their Automatic Fire Twin Barreled 6 Pound Field Gun...

Well a final post before Kathryn and I start our 'Grand Tour'!

I've had some Ironclad British Artillery Figures on the painting table for quite a while so thought I'd get them painted up. These are the usual chunky Ironclad figures I expect and feature some nice details. Also I like any figure in a spiked helmet! Unlike my other Ironclad mini's though these had a bit of flash and and a few seam lines that needed tidying up.

Two gun crews totaling eight figures, nice faces and helmets on these...

Here's the overall picture of the Salisbury Plain set up...

I also painted up the last six Ironclad Postal Service figures I had on hand. These figures are a fanciful VSF unit of mine and they have represented Scouts in games hence their 'brown/tan jackets. When a Scout is attached to a section of troops it gives them movement and cover bonus's due to their dexterous abilities. They will still be used in this way but now I have ten figures including a commander they can be fielded as a complete Scout/Jager/Border Guard etc section...they'll be strong in action with their high ratings and being well armed with a Rapid Fire Rifle  (read LMG here a Lewis Gun in fact) and three Quick Fire Carbines (so SMGs, they are Thompsons with Drum magazines!).

My ten VSF 'Scouts'...

Note these guys could figure in TGAA as 'Brown Shirts' or some other obscure unit maybe a Forestry Ranger force! ☺

Next time, a summary of the Grand Tour I expect!

Captain Darling’s Grand Tour & Some WIP Stuff

Greetings! It's been a bit of ‘All Quiet On the VSF Front’ here on the bally Blog for while ain't it...well a couple of reasons for that; firstly I’ve been concentrating most of my spare time on The Great Antipodean Adventure project recently and second; my partner and I have been planning Captain Darling’s Grand Tour a five week whirlwind tour of certain bits of Europe! My other half hitherto known as Kathryn is rather excited about the latter and decidedly unexcited about the former 😊!

I don’t usually like putting up WIP stuff on the Blog but just to show I’m still plodding along with my various VSF interests here’s some stuff I’ve been tinkering away on...

Buildings: Thanks to a small windfall from my mum at Christmas I picked up several Sarissa buildings which will work well not only with my VSF gaming but for my WW II and TGAA stuff. I got several dwellings, the double fronted shop, the end of row cafe, a third floor for an existing town house I had and the Victorian Pub. All go together well and with a bit of paint look the part. You could really go to town on these and really make them hum but they’re for gaming so I’ve kept it simple, I can always go back and detail them later...

The Derailer Tank: I was given this baby by a devotee and plan on turning it into Doktor Von Hades Super Steam Powered Armoured Fighting Vehicle...

Scratch builds: I’m getting back to my British answer to the French Santos Dumont  airship, here's the current status of the Daley Brothers Steam Powered Armoured Balloon MK III...added a 28mm figure for size...

Now onto the Grand Tour: We've locked everything a few trips and ANZAC Day stuff but most of this trip will be off the cuff roaming once we arrive at each destination. Thanks to overnight trains most of the travel will be relegated to nights to maximise our 'touristing' during daylight hours.

An image of Captain Darling arriving in Rome during his Grand Tour dazzling the ladies...

Sourced online didn't see any copywrite...

Kathryn and I arrive in Rome on Easter Monday and then its on! Most places I've been to before, Vienna being the major exception but this is only Kathryn's second European trip so lots of new sites for her! Here’s a brief summary...

• 2nd April, Rome four days
• 6th April, Florence three days
• 10th April, Vienna four days
• 14th April, Berlin four days
• 18th April, Brussels two days
• 20th April, Ypres four days
• 24th April, Amiens four days
• 28th April, London/South East England seven days
• 5th May, Back in sunny Adelaide!

So lots of train travel and general tourist things but I have include some Captain Darling bits of interest, mind you this has cost me some trade offs in other locations but is worth it...

• ANZAC Dawn Service at Villiers-Bretonneux & visit to new Sir John Monash Centre
• Waterloo battlefield walk (second visit for me but first since the new visitor centre) and brewery at Mont-Saint-Jean Farm hic!
• Some WW I battlefield sight seeing
• Take in some The Third Man movie locations and Dinner on the Vienna Ferris Wheel as its one of my all time favourite movies
• The Vienna Military Museum
• Some Cold War sight seeing in Berlin

Luckily I've done a lot of the other military museums on previous trips so I can skip them, though Kathryn has shown an interest in seeing one of my favourite spots, the Russian Room at the Royal Museum of Armed Forces in Brussels.

Now if any of you know a must see ‘sights’ that fall within the itinerary please let me know I’ll add it to Kathryn’s list! Also any must visit eateries or drinking establishments!

Things will remain a bit quiet here for a couple more months but then normal transmissions will resume!