Byron builds on his Great War theme with this brilliant entry of a section of Canadian Gordon Highlanders in their early war gear.
From Byron:
This is a section of WW1 BEF troops, specifically a rifle section of Canadians from the 16th Battalion. The 16th was made up of four different highlander regiments as the Canadians rushed to the aid of the Empire.
This section is made up of the Gordons as shown (barely) by the blue green yellow tartan peeking out under the kilt apron and the red white checked hat and blue pom. While I really wanted to paint them up with complete kilts showing, while discussing the project with Curt earlier, he argued that they really would have gone into battle with the aprons on made me rethink that and so I stayed with the apron being the apron, despite the fact that I really wanted to show of the colours of each of the different regiments that made up the battalion. [I know, I'm such a wet blanket, er, apron. ed]
I believe all of the figures in this section are from Muskateer Miniatures (http://www.musketeer-miniatures.com/index.php) and are great castings! There may also be a Great War Miniatures casting or two mixed in, but I got the figures, cleaned, primed and based them a while ago and then they sat waiting for this painting event to start.
Having mainly done Warhammer miniatures in the past (only a small number of FoW WWII stuff and figures for other small skirmish games), I missed out on the event last year and needed a project that would allow me to enter this year, so picked the Great War with a Canadian perspective. Then of course, Curt goes and changes the rules and allows “any” figure this year to be entered…. Oh well, this gets me doing more historical figures.
Cripes Byron, you make me sound like a real SOB. Oh yes, I forgot, I am! ;)
Seriously, beautiful work once again. The Musketeer WWI range is excellent and you've done them no shame here! I particularly admire the red/white chequing on the glengarry and of course the (partially visible) tartan.
Love the card as well. It does make me laugh though: Canada is filled to bursting with ferocious and majestic animals, but what critter ALWAYS gets rolled-out as our national symbol: the freakin' beaver. (sigh) I suppose I should take heart in at least this one has a fixed bayonet and claws...
These nine strapping lads will give Byron a base of 45 points, but I'm rounding it to 50 for his attention to detail on the Highland uniforms. This places Byron neatly into first place, well done!
Very nice... only adding more to my desire to do some of this!
ReplyDeleteGreat work!
ReplyDeleteThese are fabulous the paint is so nice and the basing is perfect great job
ReplyDeleteGreat entry Byron. Glad to see you are on the proper, historical path and away from all of that silly sci-fi stuff (ahem:)
ReplyDeleteHey, and proper manufacturers too... none of those Kickstarter based companies and their shenanigans. Right? Am I learning?
DeleteWhat could I say... oh, They're not from Quebec, are they?
ReplyDeleteVery nice work indeed.
Great Start!!!
ReplyDeleteNice painting again.
ReplyDeleteWow what a start. These are even finer!
ReplyDeleteOh, I don't think he's made you sound like an SOB at all. If you were a REAL SOB you could have pointed out that no Canadian went into battle wearing a glengarry as by the time the Canadians finally made it into the line in early 1915 the Brodie Helmet was already "Trench Issue" and would soon become general issue items. Or you could have pointed out that if these were to be "early war" - as evidenced by their lack of respirator - they should really be armed with a Ross rifle and be wearing Oliver Pattern Equipment and have a different collar on their tunics... If you were a real SOB...
ReplyDeleteNow I'm not about to point that out (because I'm not an SOB either). Instead I'll just say - Those are some mighty fine looking Canuck Highlanders, Byron - I really like the bit of tartan peaking through the gap in the apron detail! I am definitely looking forward to seeing more of this project (being a bit of a Great War nut - who has also used British figures for my own Canadians)!
Well Tim you've certainly taken the heat off me on this one. ;0P
DeleteBut I agree with you that they are beautiful figures!
You know how hard it was to find anything even close? Never mind 100% accurate? As for the glengarry / helmets, from what I understand they were not converted until late 1915. As for the rifles, yeah I know they had a Ross, but not sure I would know or care the difference (other than not wanting a Ross as it would jam on me) as its a rifle.
DeleteSorry, I'm not a gun guy, if its long is a rifle, if its big barrel its a shotgun, if its short its a pistol. That's about all I know. :-)
And no worries, I'm not taking it personal. I know from Curt, that historical guys tend to be fanatical about details. I am that way with my sci-fi stuff and fantasy stuff, even more with computer stuff. With this I know I will have at least 1/2 the stuff wrong colours, wrong periods, wrong whatever.... oh well. Most of the guys that play 40k that I get to teach some historicals too will never know the difference, and honestly (as per my comments above) I am not sure I do either. I know the key battles I am interested in, but the exact equipment, colours, etc, I am not sure I care. I care about the people involved and the situations. Maybe I am an odd duck.... wouldn't be the first time. Won't be the last. I figure its better to do it even partially wrong than not at all.
I will now sit back and wait for Curt, Greg, and Dallas to all flame me for not caring about the spec of guns :-)
DeleteOh, I know it's impossible to find 100% accurate stuff! As I said - I've used Great War British myself for my own Great War Canadian forces (and have dreaded the day some smarty-pants know-it-all to point it out during a game) - and understand why a lot of fantasy and sci-fi gamer dread switching to historical when there's are-holes that do stuff like that. Some one actually posted a comment on my blog when I posted pictures of my 28mm WW2 Regina Rifle Regiment that they had the wrong helmets (which was true - all the invasion forces on D-Day had the new MkIV helmet and mine had the older version) - to which I had to point out they also had the wrong boots and wrong number of pockets on their trousers... but I don't think there are any minis out there that have those things so I figured they were "good enough".
DeleteYour Highlanders are more than good enough - they are fabulous. I'm sorry if you thought I was actually chastising you for not being 100% accurate - sarcasm doesn't really come across in internet comments.
Nope, n flames from me. Actually, I'm not that much of a pedant about historical detail. Sure, spot-on accuracy is nice but 'close enough' is just fine with me as well. None of us has any control over the models we paint (well, very few of us). We just do the best with what's available. And your best, Byron, is very good indeed.
Deletelol, no worries my feelings were not hurt, that would imply that I had feelings... just check with my wife... I don't. And I knew you were being sarcastic Tim, it came across, don't worry. I use the same "tone" a lot in emails at work :-)
DeleteI am sure I will make some people cringe though as I muddle my way through my historical foray. I could see / hear Curt cringe the other day when asking about French Napoleonic figures and paint schemes. He asked what regiment I was doing, and my answer was "a blue and white one" :-D I have no idea, I just wanted to paint some as Curts look so good. I promised him I would try painting some. I almost had answered "whichever one had the best looking flag" so that I could order a cool looking one from the flag dude, but I knew that would push too many buttons :-)
You've done a fine job on these mate. Very nice indeed.
ReplyDeleteGreat work on some fine looking cast's looking forward to the rest of your WW1 stuff
ReplyDeletePeace James
It is difficult to make the switch from sci-fi/fantasy to historicals and I think you've done a cracking job on these.
ReplyDeleteVery very nice Byron!
ReplyDeleteAmazingly good looking figures.
ReplyDeleteI will be on the look out for Beavers of Doom when I finally get to Canada.
cheers
Really amazing work on the chequer band, very crisp
ReplyDeleteIan
How did you not go blind doing that headband? Great work on those
ReplyDeleteGreat work mate.
ReplyDeleteThis is a cracking entry, lovely job Byron.
ReplyDeleteReally excellent entry, Byron. Highlanders are really tricky to get right, but these are great. I particularly love the tartan under the kilt cover.....fantastic!
ReplyDelete