Napoleonic & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Monday 11 April 2016

New Trotman Book - and a nerdy question

Delighted to say that Jamie the Postie brought a parcel today which turns out to be the keenly-awaited new Spanish Army title by Gerard Cronin and Dr Stephen Summerfield, published by Ken Trotman - this one covers the cavalry, foot guards and artillery of the early Peninsular War.


Haven't had a proper read yet, but it looks just as good as the infantry title. Excellent - very pleased.

Subject 2 - I recently acquired a few of these chaps - this is a British Artillery driver, as you will see, from the Minifigs S-Range series (long, long ago...), and the particular reason I was quite excited to get these, along with their limber horses, is that they give me a chance to further the constant struggle for Creeping Elegance, and replace the draught teams from my British ammunition caissons, which are all Lamming castings at present - nice, but just a touch overscale. Such a change would mean that I could feel much more comfortable parking the caissons near the limber teams. Slight fly in the ointment is that you will notice that this driver has a pistol holster on his right hip. I hadn't really thought about this, but it has been suggested to me that only the drivers in the Rocket Troop had pistols like this, and that the driver castings might be from the S-Range Rocket Troop set.



Now you may feel that I could just brass this out, and claim that it is a well-known fact that caisson drivers wore pistols too, but I thought I would check if anyone knows about this. Any thoughts? It would be a dreadful thing if an army which is already stuffed with errors and anachronisms were to drift any further from the true path. That would not be proper Creeping Elegance at all.

Subject 3 - this was borrowed shamelessly from someone's Facebook page, and I apologise for the low-res picture, but I liked it - seen on a Glasgow baker's van...


10 comments:

  1. On Subject #2, let the drivers keep their pistols. The heck with regulations! Take modern day soldiers (or even WWII American GIs) as an example of scavenging all sorts of weaponry and kitting themselves out with what ever they could either find, buy, or steal. A sidearm would be a useful tool for a limber driver.

    Those are decent sculpts, by the way.

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    1. Can't fault your reasoning, sir, but I have an irrational fear of visitors falling over, holding their sides, and spluttering, between guffaws - "OH NO - NOT PISTOLS ON A CAISSON DRIVER..." etc.

      Call me silly, if you will...

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  2. I'm with Jonathan, the chap needs the pistol, what's he gonna do if poor ol Ned goes lame after pulling that heavy caisson all day? He won't let his pal sit in the dirt and he sure won't beat him to death with his stick will he?

    Love that pie pic, made me chuckle!!

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    1. I'm still checking out the official version (if I can find one), but I am coming round to this pragmatic approach.

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  3. That van's got to be in Lancs surely (Chorley?) not Glasgow.

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    1. You've got me here - Newlands Bakery is based in Shawlands (as it happens - home of Asad Shah, by a complete coincidence), and has branches throughout Glasgow area - as far out as Newton Mearns, I believe. SC is a Glasgow vehicle reg code - hmmm. I realise that Chorley is the home of some famous pies - this isn't some dreadful revenge for my photo quiz, is it...?

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  4. One could turn the question around and ask what proof there is that other drivers Didn't carry pistols.

    For that matter, how do we know that the "no pies" sign isn't just to fool us into thinking there are no pies. Only one way to find out really.

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    1. It could be, as you suggest, a double-bluff - it could even be a treble-bluff. My reaction to the sign is to assume they just keep cash in the van overnight - how disappointing would that be?

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    2. But only in Wigan . . . .

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