The Weekly Sitrep....Number 25

First and foremost a belated Happy Easter to all - I hope the long weekend was a pleasant one however you chose to spend it!

St. George doing what he does best - skewering the odd dragon!

Of course another celebration to day in honour of our very own Patron Saint so a Happy St.George's day as well!

It was a veritable whirlwind of a weekend including two barbecues, a boot sale, three shopping trips, a further al fresco dinner, jet washing the patio, a party in between times, further sorting out of Eric's collection.

Now that the Wargames Foundry infantry has more or less gone my next step was to sort out the cavalry. This has proven to be a major headache as Eric not only used a number of manufacturers but also routinely mixed ranges within a unit. This will take me longer than I anticipated to sort out so apologies for the delay in getting a list together. What I can confirm though is that Eric did not use Front Rank for the mounted arm - the main bulk appears to be Dixons and Essex.

The Russian and Austrian Seven Years War armies both included a large number of Front Rank infantry and cavalry all of which will be heading to their new home at the weekend. I will then be sorting out the British and French which also feature significant quantities of figures from this manufacturer.

Once the high end ranges have been disposed of  - and by that I mean Foundry and Front Rank - the next will be Dixon and Essex as there is a prodigious amount of them in the collection. These are all perfectly usable and would be a cheap way of trying out a new period as the prices are very low - 50p per foot and £1 for mounted.

These are 30mm and are quite exquisite in a Charge! kind of way.

Whilst going through the Austrian Seven Years collection I came across two infantry regiments made up using the figures depicted above. These are lovely figures but I am at a loss to identify the manufacturer. If anyone has an ideas please let me know. There are grenadiers in the same positions as well as officers, drummers and standard bearers and a quite superb mounted officer which is a one piece casting. I have a feeling they may possibly be Hinchliffe - the mounted officer certainly is - but the round base seems a little out of place.

This coming week will see me packing figures for posting but as the decks are beginning to clear, albeit slowly, I will be better placed in respect of the remainder of Eric's 18th century unpainted lead mountain. In fact it will be more like a lead hill!