What happened there?

This weekend I finally found time to catch up with some unfinished (and some unstarted) stuff. On the Grown Up side this meant mowing the lawn and taking the hedge trimmers to my front bushes in order to see if there was still a tree in there (there is).

Otherwise I managed to finish the paint work on my 16th Century Irish that I bought over two years ago to use with File Leader. The figures are 28mm Irregulars, like my Elizabethan English, and I have to say I bought them on impulse and have been unsure about how wise a move that was ever since. Now that they're done I'm convinced it wasn't one of my better decisions and I know I'll really have to go out of my way ever to use them. Still, they're done at last, so I can stop worrying about them (and start thinking about my other 28mm folly, - a box of Crusaders and Turks that I won probably 5 years ago and have only ever painted half of them).

Having sorted those I was able to spend an afternoon sitting in the garden sorting out my last Peter Pig order.

When I do a figure order I work out very precisely exactly what I want, and the aim is to ensure no figure is wasted. I usually have a spreadsheet with all the unit sizes and the packet numbers and document what is to be used where. When the order arrives I then break out all of the packets and sort them into units and put them into ziplock bags with notes of what I was thinking to do at the time (eg "Convert SMG into grenade thrower"). These are all then stacked up in a box in the order I want them to be painted.

That means that I can just sit right done and start work when I want to paint without any faffing about.

So, given all of that planning, how come I've got 6 packets of Carlists left over? At least. What's that about? I'd make another unit up, only I haven't got any spare MGs. Am I going to have to buy more packets of figures to use up the overflow here? Who do I know who needs Carlists and might be prepared to swap them for something I need?

In a way it's better this way round than not having enough I suppose. I just can't work out how it happened. I should really go and have a look at that spreadsheet properly and see what sillyness hides within. What is annoying is that the numbers for the cavalry and the Civil Guards worked out perfectly.

Actually, talking about Spanish Civil War cavalry does anyone have access to pictures or information on how the MG squadrons were organised and worked. Were they equipped with the Hotchkiss and was it carried on the rider's horse or on a separate pack animal? I'm assuming they didn't use a tchanka like wagon as that'd be a must have for any wargamer. I note as well that it is a subject not covered by any wargaming figure company in any scale, so I'm suspecting we don't know.

With that done all that was left was to tidy up and go and watch Miss Kate Bush not appear on the Olympics Closing Ceremony.

Comments

  1. Aside from Tachankas and the celebrated Belgian dog-drawn MG carts, pictures of MG carts seem to be limited to this US example:http://www.forgottenweapons.com/model-1917-machine-gun-cart/

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    1. The thing is I don't know if they were pulled on carts or not. I can't even find pictures of Polish HMG/MMG cavalry teams. I've seen pictures of the way LMGs are carried, - basically slung on the saddle of a regular rider's horse, but I guess anything bigger can't be carried that way..

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    2. What do you reckon to this?

      http://www.ww2incolor.com/modern/Filmforgatason4546.html

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    3. I think many armies would have used a similar arrangement. It's certainly a cheap (good) and easy (even better) conversion.

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  2. Polish MGs I can help you with: http://megablitzandmore.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/battle-of-mokra-1939-part-1.html 5th photo.

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    1. Ah. A tchanka like cart. I don't think that idea got as far as Spain. Spanish cavalry fought pretty much entirely dismounted, so I suspect there was no need for such a thing.

      Thanks for the link tho'.

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