A Balkan Intrigue

A selection of uniform styles for Russia and Turkey from the Crimean War to that of 1877. For my part the Russians will be wearing the kepi whilst the Turks will have the classic Zouave style uniform with a turbaned fez.

It has been a busy weekend on the domestic front but I have managed to nail a few things down in respect of my modelling and painting arrangements and also with the Balkan project.

After some internal changes concerning the man cave and our lounge I now have some dedicated storage space downstairs. By deploying my fold up table and desk lamp when needed I will be able to paint and construct models to my hearts content - without the trip and monastic retreat into the man cave when I want to do anything. The man cave will now be primarily a library and gaming room.

I have finally settled on the shape of the Balkan project and so the initial forces will be Russian, Turkish and Greek. There will be a number of Balkan irregular types thrown in to the mix that can be used as allies where required or as forces in their own right. I have yet to scope the back story in detail although I have the basic framework in place. 

The armies will be ‘based upon’ rather than detailed representations which will suffice for my needs. There will be plenty of colour for sure and the naval dimension will also have a lot to offer.

My criteria for this project are very simple - I shall be using Spencer Smith 30mm figures exclusively, the figures will be painted in an old toy soldier style which will mean gloss varnish, plain bases and block colours with no shading or highlighting and the basic organisation of the forces will based on that from Charge! For the naval side I suspect that the Portable Naval Wargame will be used or possibly something from David Manley.

The rules I envisage using are Charge! (The Victorian version), the Portable Wargame, The Men Who Would be Kings, A Gentleman’s War and possibly the Neil Thomas 19th century set for when I am feeling serious.

I am unsure about the naval dimension merely because I have not researched the fleets sufficiently but I will probably make use of what I can from the Peter Pig ACW range or else raid the Tumbling Dice 1/2400th series - mainly because they make a lot of Victorian-era ironclads. There is also the possibility of scratch building which could be fun. 

However, before all this fun and games commences I need to get back to the WW2 ships and my change of plan in respect of the destroyers for the British and Germans. With this in mind a small order will be winging its way to Navwar very shortly.