Murdoch: Last Of The Summer Wine (A ripping yarn of sharp practice in Upper Canada) - Episode 1

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Major Brackenreid gazed out of one of the upper windows of Blockhouse Number Four. "Bloody  hell Murdoch, the world is looking very green this morning!" he quipped. "Indeed it is sir." replied Captain Murdoch. "It's almost as if some all powerful being has thrown a bright green fleece blanket over the entire landscape."

Their contemplation was interrupted by a very flustered sergeant Crabtree running up the stairs accompanied by one of the locals. "Begging you pardon sirs," he said, "but Mr Pendrick here has some some important news."

"Spit it out then lad." said the Major to Pendrick, "What's it all about?". 

"There are Americans in the area," Pendrick replied, "and they seem to be heading directly to Don Jose de Battista's winery. If they manage to get there they will be able to run off with all of the last of this year's vintage!"

"Bloody hell Pendrick!" exclaimed Brackenreid, "Has the Don turned out his militia lads?"

 "No," replied Pendrick, "He's had the call to hunt beaver again and has been nowhere to be found for months. He may be in Miami or New York - who can say? He's a bit of a free agent these days."

"Well this is no damned good!" exclaimed Brackenreid in his gruff Yorkshire voice. "Murdoch, get the militia. Crabtree, get Higgins out of bed and move the rest of the lads and the Voltigeurs out. Pendrick, get your local lads ready."

"But sir," interjected Murdoch, "that will leave the Blockhouse ungarrisoned.  The Americans could march straight in."

"I've thought of that," replied Brackenreid, "we'll just declare it to be impassable terrain."

"Brilliant!" replied Captain Murdoch.

"Now then Pendrick before you all go." said Brackenreid, "Do your lads have any idea who's in charge of these Americans? Do you think they know about the wine?"

"We believe it's a certain Major Thomas Magnum." replied Pendrick. "There hasn't been any overt American reconnaissance, but he may have investigated privately."

"True,"replied Brackenreid, "we can't take any chances. Okay lads, we'll meet up at a randomly generated deployment point as soon as possible - let's go!"

Block House Number 4 - Finished, but....

There's something about the flock that's annoying me, but it can wait for a while.

Block House Number 4 - WIP (4) (Sort of)

I've just put the first layer of flock on the base so I might have some pictures tonight, but in the mean time I am trying to think of wording for a flag that the gallant garrison might fly.

I want something suitably Canadian so my first thoughts are along the lines of

"Sorry to our American neighbours for our stubborn defence against your blatant aggression"

but that seems a bit long so I'll try and precis it.

So perhaps just:

Blockhouse Number 4 - WIP (3) and a (rather good) new War of 1812 18mm figure range

The palisade is now more or less finished - just the  earthy/banky thing at the bottom to paint.  I was going to paint it to look grassy, but decided to leave it as earth instead.

I've painted the areas to be flocked green, and the entrance and area round the blockhouse that is going to be muddy / earthy  brown.

New 18mm War of 1812 Range

Today I received some packs of of the new War of 1812 American range by Capitan Games from Stonewall Figures. If the rest of the range is like these they will be my new go to figures for 1812. Apparently when Stonewall took on production they found moulds for a load of figures that had never been produced before and these are some of them so the moulds are brand new.

The  figures are crisp with no flash which immediately puts them ahead of the equivalent Blue Moon  figures (see previous posts for flash report!!). In addition they actually have firing / loading line infantry figures, and a broader range of infantry and artillery figures for the yanks in general. Their British / Canadian range has Highlanders in trousers and marines of all nations can be found in their 18mm naval crew ranges.

Here is a link to the Capitan American range

Small Rant

I am getting really, really, really fed up with the wargames myth that Thebans had white shields!!!!!!
The latest version of this fantasy is Warlord Games "Sacred Band" advert. I really dont know where this idea comes from.
https://store.warlordgames.com/products/theban-sacred-band

Blockhouse Number 4 - WIP (2)

All Assembled

Blockhouse Number 4 WIP

So this is this blockhouse at Gananoque that I'm basing the model on:

And this is what we've got so far:

It's sitting on the upside down base of a walled 150mm x 150mm field at the moment, but there is an extra section to go in each side that will take it up to 200mm square

The shingles are 00 gauge self adhesive jobs from

YORK MODEL MAKING

They are listed in the TT gauge section too.