More Inspiration from Hamburg

Peter Gilder's ITGM Play Sheets

Huge thanks to Von Ketteringham for sending me these ITGM playsheets from the original WHC.

Sequence of play and movement:

Firing:

 

Charges:

Morale:

Battleground on YouTube

Ssssshhhhhhh....let's just keep this to ourselves, OK? More episodes to follow in due course.

Gilder and Waterloo 150

1965 was a big year for Napoleonic enthusiasts, none more so than a young Peter Gilder who proved to be a pivotal figure in two of our hobby's major commemorative events - the British Model Soldier Society Waterloo Convention, and Wargamers Newsletter's Military Festival.

First up two reports, from the BMSS periodical 'THE BULLETIN' (No 6 December 1965), on the Waterloo Convention (staged at the Rembrandt Hotel, London on 18th June), where PG  starred in the final of the BMSS national Napoleonic wargame competition:

Next, also from THE BULLETIN (this time No 3 June 1965), Donald Featherstone's report on his Military Festival (staged on the 20th March at Chelsea Barracks), where PG contributed to a demonstration wargame of Waterloo itself:

It strikes me how quickly (within a couple of years of discovering the hobby) Gilder had become a major figure in British wargaming. Of course the hobby was much smaller then, but it is testament to his great enthusiasm and talent nevertheless (and getting on with Don Featherstone would have helped too!).

Vintage Siggins

Classic Hinchliffe Rifles and Cacadores painted by a youthful Siggins back in the 1980s.

Gilder at Waterloo....Preliminaries..

Those of you who've been paying attention will no doubt have realised that an earlier post was part two of a series (i know, you were too polite to mention it), and at last we have part one.

Incidentally, you have to feel sorry for the Prussians (John Tilson and friends), John writes:
'I remember waiting,as Blucher,all one weekend desperately trying to get my Prussians on ... needed a six and only succeded on the penultimate move so you can imagine the impact I had on the game.'

I hope you brought a good book John...

Bill Gaskin 3

More ex Gaskin pieces now in the collection of Mr Siggins. This time we think the conversion and painting is the work of Bill himself. As far as i can see the basic figures are all Gilder sculpts apart from a lone Willie (the lt dragoon officer). Great stuff!

Even More Robinson Napoleonics

More beautiful figures by Phil Robinson. Originally owned by Bill Gaskin and now in the collection of Mike Siggins (who supplied the photos).

Evolution

Over the last year or so my old mate John's painting style has moved slowly away from the conventional layered acrylics to something more.....subtle and stylish (and dare i say shiny). Clearly some malevolent force is at work.....

Exhibit one: (we've seen these chaps before) Connoisseur conversions. The horse flesh has had an oil wash but everything else is layered acrylics - though without that refuge of the dilettante, cad and bounder: the black undercoat. Win a free night with John's collection of Doug Mason Napoleonics if you can spot what's changed since we last met these chaps.


Exhibit Two: Mounted Bicorne general with two Connoisseur conversions. The horse flesh and uniform coats are oil washes over acrylic base coats, the rest of the figures are layered acrylics as previously.

Exhibit Three: Minden SYW Prussian Jager (paint) converted to AWI Hessians. Almost exclusively oil washed apart from the flesh, scarlet and fiddly details. Splendid!

More Saxons

More Connoisseur Saxons painted by Doug Mason for the WHC. Lovely units, but perhaps a tad pedestrian by Mason's very high standards (you couldn't say that about his Saxon Cuirassier and Guard though - see Chris Cornwell's blog for some great pictures of those fine chaps).

Saxons by Doug Mason

Last year Mike Ingham sent me a number of shots of Napoleonic units from the WHC collection, of which the above Doug Mason painted Elite Miniatures Saxon Guard unit is one of the most striking. Mason is of course capable of very intricate and detailed work, but he's also capable of producing figures that look superb in units. My units tend to look like groups of individuals so it's an ability that i'm certainly envious of. I suspect it comes down to having a clear vision of the end result before you begin - planning where each figure will be placed within the unit, knowing which details to paint and which to leave out, etc.

At it's peak the WHC collection boasted literally thousands of Mason painted (and sculpted - of which more anon) figures - most of which were commissioned in the post-Gilder by Gerry Elliott. The numbers will be reduced now as Mike Ingham sold a fair number last year (some of which will feature here soon...ish), indeed as Mike was willing to part with the Saxons i don't know whether you'll find the above unit at the new WHC.

En Avant!

Mike's Elite Miniatures French officer points the way towards much shinyness over the coming months.

When i posted some of Mike Siggins' work previously i managed to overlook this splendidly painted figure from Elite's 1806-14 range (i reckon Mike has absolutely hit the sweet spot with this chap - great work). I've always been in two minds about Elite - they produce some of the very best figures i've ever seen, and yet too many of their offerings seem rather awkwardly posed and anatomically challenged.....they do look good en masse though (and yes, i know many would say the same about some of Gilder's creations).

The Gilder connection is probably well known - Peter Morbey painted for Gilder and sculpted a few figures for the Connoisseur range, and there's an obvious Gilder influence in Morbey's work. To my eyes there's also a Suren influence - particularly in the recent 'Collectors Series'. All of which contributes to making Elite one of the shiniest of current manufacturers (even if there is a scandalous lack of gloss finish in the galleries on their website!).

More Robinson Napoleonics

Another splendid Napoleonic command group by the obscenely talented Phil Robinson. This time i think the figures are Suren on Hinchliffe horses. Phil painted these chaps back in the 1980s, and they currently reside in the collection of Roy Lowson.

More Gilder Era Figures From The WHC

Again these British rifles come to us courtesy of Mike Ingham. Somewhat dusty apparently they've been languishing in a cupboard for years. The officer and kneeling figures are current Hinchliffe, the standing firing chap is more of a mystery - Clive reckons he's a 'first edition' Hinchliffe, and he's probably right (similar style to his more modern colleagues, just smaller and thinner ....that's the figure, not Clive).

Incidentally i think the first time i heard of the WHC was via a small piece in a Sunday supplement (probably the Sunday Times) c. 1980 - i remember that article being illustrated with a rather atmospheric shot of a British rifleman. It's a shame i no longer have that cutting.

Cossacks!

More vintage Hinchliffe from the WHC courtesy of Mike Ingham. Here i think we have early Hinchliffe cossacks (i've not seen this figure before, and it's not in the current catalogue) on current range ancient Hun ponies. Mike inherited these from Peter Gilder in 1988 and they are still in regular use at the WHC (which could make them veterans of over 35 years service).

Incidentally Clive has posted images of Garrison and Hinton Hunt figures from the WHC collection at The Hinton Hunter and The Old Metal Detector recently.

More vintage WHC Napoleonics soon.

Vintage Hinchliffe From The WHC

Mike Ingham (owner of the Wargames Holiday Centre) was kind enough to send me these images recently. They form part of a substantial collection of vintage, original 'Gilder era', figures that Mike had unearthed.

These particular chaps are 'first edition' Hinchliffe British Napoleonic heavy dragoons - the trooper was remodelled (and significantly enlarged) in the late 1970s but the officer and trumpeter remain in the Hinchliffe catalogue to this very day.

More vintage Hinchliffe from the WHC in due course.

Hussars!

If you are familiar with the Connoisseur Napoleonic range then you'll know that some troop types are lacking some rather basic variants - for example, in the case of French Hussars there is a trooper and trumpeter, but no officer casting. I suspect Peter Gilder simply ran out of time to add all of the figures he would have liked, but every cloud has a silver lining and this one encourages you to be creative.

John created this Grand Manner unit some time ago, it's been notoriously camera shy which is why i've had to make do with the rather dodgy pictures above (note to self: a glass topped table is not a good venue for toy soldier photography). An impressive result when you consider that only two basic castings were used (the aforementioned trooper and trumpeter) - a great example of what can be achieved with a little greenstuff and imagination.

More From Siggins

More splendid Connoisseur personalities from the brush of Mike Siggins. Mike uses oils for horses and acrylics (mostly Vallejo) for everything else. Lovely stuff!

Whilst we're on the subject of acrylics there are some very useful painting guides available online that i should have mentioned a long time ago - the Rapid Fire site contains three articles (Painting Plastic Figures I, II and III) that take you through their 'Wash and Line' method that is near as damnit to my own (you may be forgiven for thinking i nicked it from them ...ahem...). Highly recommended, as they say.

Great Gilder Set Pieces 5

Peter Gilder's version of the premature demolition of the bridge over the Elster on the 18th October 1813. You'll find this on the cover of 'The Campaign of Leipzig 1813' - the second, and last, title in the short-lived Osprey Wargames series.

The Wargames series was similar to the current Osprey Campaigns series - you got an overview of the campaign and combatants, and a section on wargaming (which was always frustratingly short). Neither fish nor foul i suppose Osprey were trying to please both wargamers and history buffs in a single short volume; i much preferred the more wargamer focused approach of the similar Knights and Bellona series. Four years later Gilder's 'Let's Fight Leipzig' series in Miniature Wargames perhaps completed the picture begun by this Osprey title.

Of course where the Osprey series did score highly was the illustrations, and not just the half dozen Gilder set pieces in each volume, but also the numerous line drawings and sketches of relevant equipment and locations - in general they were well chosen and useful.

As for the toys - the majority of the figures in the foreground are obviously standard Hinchliffe 25s, but the figures in the background are intriguing - they must be 15mm, or perhaps System 12? Can anyone identify them?

Great Gilder Set Pieces 1

I was drawn into wargaming by the toys, rather than, for example, a great desire to replay the antics of Napoleon, Wellington, or any of the great generals (though i have managed to mimic the win/loss ratio of George Washington rather well). As a young (and inept) military modeller i was captivated by the photos of the Peter Gilder collection that were published in Military Modelling magazine from time to time, and when i discovered that a cousin had been collecting 25mm Napoleonics i was sold.

This is one of my favourite shots - Napoleon and entourage from June 1975. Unlike some classic Gilder shots i don't think this one has been widely used elsewhere - i can't remember seeing it in any other magazines or books.