Revisiting an Original Idea

The first version of the block armies. I many ways I think I may have gone slightly too far down the half block route as there are practical advantage to using the larger, full-sized blocks. I may look to go down the ‘half and half’ route and use a mixture of both types.

As part of the latest round of my block adventures I made a point of locating the original set I made way back in 2011. These were the original full sized versions rather than my later half-block standard. I knew I had squirrelled some away in an old biscuit tin but I was quite surprised to see just how many there are. I had only produced sets in three colours - red, green and blue. The latter is a lighter shade than I currently use but is still quite a pleasing hue. I used a stylised cannon for the artillery blocks and these, together with skirmishing infantry and cavalry, have double images on a single block. It seemed like a good idea at the time as it shows the unit operating in a much looser formation. I was never really enamoured with the command block I used in this scale as it was too large and it was for this reason I looked at the half-blocks. Originally I planned to use half blocks for command, artillery and light infantry and cavalry skirmishing.

I could readily bring these blocks up to what I am now calling the ‘the half and half standard’ - I would use the larger blocks solely for major infantry and  cavalry formations with the half blocks dotted in where needed. The only problem I have is that the blue blocks are a different shade to that I have used for the half blocks so some reprinting would be in order. I shall give this some thought and so may well tackle this over the Christmas holiday period. 

I must admit that seeing these blocks again was a real treat and served as a pleasing reminder of how much enjoyment the whole block concept has given me over the last six or seven years. They will feature in my book in some capacity and the temptation to fight a small game using them again is proving hard to resist!