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JournalNo 69 May 2003

The British Flat Figure Society

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BFFS Journal No 69 - May 2003

The opinions expressed within this Journal are not necessarily those of the Editor, the Committee, other officials,

or the British Flat Figure Society.

of The British Flat Figure

Society

Journal No 69 May 2003

Journal

Society ContactsPlease send all information to be published in the Journal to Jerry Mortimore. All other correspondence with the Society should be addressed to Michael Creese. Society Sales are handled by Michael Creese, to whom any inserts for the Journal should also be sent. Orders or questions about the Bulk Ordering Service should be sent to Ed Humphreys and membership applications and renewals go to Colin Baines. All ad-dresses can be found on this page.

The next JournalThe copy deadline for the next Journal is 15 July 2003 and the publication date is 18 August 2003.

Annual SubscriptionsU.K. members: £12.00, European mem-bers: £14.00 Overseas members: £17.00 (by air mail). Subscriptions are due for renewal in January every year.

Payment of Subscriptions can be made by cheque, Postal Order or International Money Order made out in Sterling and payable at a named UK bank. Under no circumstances can we accept foreign cur-rency cheques. We can, however, accept payment in paper currency e.g. Dollars or Euros from the EEC, etc., but please add the equivalent of One Pound Sterling to cover conversion costs. Cheques etc should be made payable to the British Flat Fig-ure Society and sent to the Membership Secretary.

Contact The committee and Area Representatives of the Society

Hon. Secretary:Michael Creese, ‘Nutwood’,Great Glemham Road, Stratford St Andrew,Saxmundham, Suffolk IP17 1LLTel: 01728 602746

Membership:Colin Baines, 66 Old Church Road,Clevedon, Avon, BS21 6PT.Tel: 01275 877718e-mail: [email protected]

Treasurer:Dr Bob Williams, 2a Old Bury Road, Thet-ford, Suffolk, IP24 3AN.

Editor:Jeremy Mortimore, 17 Redwood Drive, Wing, Leighton Buzzard, Beds LU7 0TATel: 01296 688455e-mail: [email protected]

Bulk Orders:Ed Humphreys, 11 Oakeley Terrace,Talwaenydd, Blaenau Ffestiniog,Gwynedd LL41 3LYTel: 01766 830031email: [email protected]

Distribution & Printing:Mike Taylor, Stonechat House,8 Ferndell Close, Cannock, StaffsWS11 1HR

Joe Melvin, 21 Ridgeway, Aldridge,Walsall, WS9 0HL

Malcolm MacDonald, 279 Blackberry Lane, Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield,West Midlands B74 4JS

Archivist:Richard Hyne, 23 Letchworth Road,Baldock, Herts. SG7 6AA

Society Sales:Michael Creese, ‘Nutwood’,Great Glemham Road, Stratford St Andrew,Saxmundham, Suffolk IP17 1LLTel: 01728 602746

Area Representatives

LONDON: Phil Redman, Georgian House, 50 Games Road, Cockfosters,Herts. EN4 9HW. Tel: 02084 408475

HAMPSHIRE: Geoff Bradford,Allenstyle House, 24 Bereweeke Way,Winchester, Hants. SO22 6BJTel: 01962 868096Email:[email protected]

SOUTH‑WEST: Tony Du-Vall,4 Pixie Dell, Braunton,North Devon EX33 1DP

SOUTH‑EAST: Situation vacant.

BRISTOL & AVON: Situation vacant.

MIDLANDS: Jon Redley, 64 York Avenue, Finchfield, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV3 9BU. Tel: 01902 423732

NORTH‑EAST: M.G.Wardle, 96 WestEnd Drive, Horsforth, Leeds LS18 5JXTel: 0113 258 1508

NORTH‑WEST: Malcolm Collins,16 Tithe Barn Street, Currock, Carlisle,Cumbria CA2 4EL. Tel: 01228 46444

WALES: S.G.Rutherford, 5 Coleridge Road, Beechwood, Newport, Gwent. NP9 8HYTel: 01633 273014

EAST ANGLIA: Michael Creese, ‘Nut-wood’, Great Glemham Road,Stratford St Andrew, Saxmundham, Suffolk IP17 1LL Tel: 01728 602746

SCOTLAND: John Russell,2 Marcus Crescent, Aberdeen AB21 0SZTel: 01224 790680

EUROPE & OVERSEAS: John Cox,6 Anderson Close, Woodley, Romsey,Hants., UK

NORTHERN IRELAND:C.W.Robinson, 25 Princetown Road,Bangor, Co. Down,Northern Ireland BT20 3TA

CANADA & USA:Kevin W.Dunne, 1854 Stone Avenue,East Meadow, NY 11554, USA.Email: [email protected]

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND:John Brewer, 18 Selby Avenue,Dee Why 2099, Australia

ITALY:Gianpaolo Bistulfi, Via Alberti 10,20149 Milano, ItalyTel: 02 33106690E-mail: [email protected]

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Front Cover: Glorious EmpiresPainting guides for 'Before Edgehill' and 'Nicopolis'.

3. Knowle 2003.

4. GalleryNefertiti and Elfriede painted by Kevin Dunne

5. Munich Flats.Flats with a Nazi theme by Geoff Barnes.

6. Ur.Flats with a Sumerian theme by Jerry Mortimore

8. 40 Years OnJohn Rawlins reminisces.

8. Odds and Ends.Neckel, Geoff Bradford, etc.

8. Diary Dates.

9. What's NewNew figures from Nalter, Pioch, Selchow, Tylinski.

12. The Reason Why.A designers tale from Jon Redley

16. Memories in Blu.Recollections of Ferrara, Part 2 of 3 by Roberto Scattolin.

17. What's New Too.New figures from Belashk and Western Miniatures.

20. Fantasy Figures.Uwe Peter with more on fantasy figures.

22. Bulk Orders.Hafer and Bahe and Schmittchen.

Back cover. Glorious Empires.Painting guides to 'Brothers' and 'In Memoriam, 9-11'.

The Annual meeting this year will be held at the Masonic Hall, Knowle, the venue used for the last few years, on Sunday, the 8th June.

The meeting is not restricted to members only, please invite anyone with an interest in attending.

As usual, the meeting will be non-com-petitive, a chance for members and friends to simply display their work in a friendly atmosphere. We do need as many people as possible to display some of their work. With no competitions and no judging there is no need to be shy, we all want to see what others are doing so bring your work along.

A new departure this year will be to have

a couple of separate displays - we thought we would have a break from demos.

The first display is to be on the Indian Army. Michael Creese, Ken Pipe and Jerry Mortimore are contributing photos, docu-ments and artefacts and would welcome additional items.

Another suggestion for this year is a display of favourite reference works - perhaps you could bring a book on technique, or a particular period of history, or a country, regiment or historical person, or an artist who has influenced you. With the range of interests we have it should be an interest-ing selection.

Coffee, tea and biscuits will be available in the hall. There is a good pub next door.

I had better start with an apology for the errors in the last Journal. Bad enough giving the wrong location for the Annual Meeting and one or two other cock-ups, but crediting Geoff Barnes diorama to Geoff Bradford was worse, apologies to both gentlemen.

A lot of the problem was down to *@#! computers. The colour mapping software, which adjusts the colours suitable for print-ing, gave me some problems, shifting all colours to green with some ghastly results. After hours spent trying to resolve the problem, in desperation I finally sent the Journal off to the printers, who were able to confirm that it looked OK and I think the final result looked pretty good.

While on the subject of colour, I am grateful to the committee for allowing me an extra colour issue as I have a bit of a backlog of colour illustrations that I wanted to use.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this issue of the

Journal. As usual, my grateful thanks to all who submitted articles. I really thought I was going to be able to get away without having to fill in with an article myself, but not quite.

The situation in Iraq prompted me to put together something on the Sumerians. Let us hope that Iraq can settle down and once again tourists will be able to visit the ancient cities of Ur and Babylon.

Looking forward too Kulmbach...

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In 1972 I was in Munich. That’s not such a big deal for those of you who live north of the Equator, but for Australians thirty years ago getting to Europe and the UK was a prime task in life. I was on a paid trip because Australia was setting up a Film, Television and Radio school and subsidized a number of Aussie film and TV directors to go overseas and see what the existing schools were doing. There were few limits to where a round-the-world ticket could take you, so my itinerary took in campuses in many cities that had loomed large and legendary in my reading. My great mate the Reverend Harold Smart took on the role of specialized travel advisor, and told me what to see and where to see it. Harold was already a true convert to zinnfiguren, and via seductive packets from Rudolph Donath was making me equally interested. He gave me precise instructions about where flats could be obtained in Germany, France and Scandinavia. Imagine it! Buying flats across a shop counter rather than ordering from faded catalogues, juggling international money orders to place behind the Iron Curtain, and waiting hopefully by the letterbox for months on end until the flats eventually arrived. Or didn’t.So here I was Germany with Werner Scholtz’s address in my pocket and plans to purchase in person the Retreat from Moscow. Which I would do when I arrived in Berlin, and drag around the rest of Europe in my increasingly heavy suitcase, and to the considerable interest of the customs’ people. I still have this massive set, painted only in part, with extravagant dreams about a multi-framed diorama to grace the long hall upstairs.But for the moment, I was still in Munich, and it was Sunday, being free of my work at German television, so I went to the open-air markets. It seemed that none of the antique/curio/junk stalls had even heard of zinnfiguren, but that may have been because they didn’t understand my Aussie accent. Eventually I was shown some very tired Heyde Russians that were not even worth considering. Then the old lady pulled a little box of flat figures from under the counter, glanced about, and asked if I wanted them.

They were flats in reasonable condition so, of course, I said, “Yes.”I didn’t know much about flats in those days, and on a quick glance (which was all she would allow me) I thought they were German medieval, but on looking more closely in the hotel room, I saw the Nazi Swastika insignia. Given the ban on these being exhibited in Germany at that time, I realized why they had been sold to me rather in the fashion of naughty post-cards.Years later, in 1994, I was executive producer for TV documentaries at SBS Television in Australia. This government-funded network is a bit like a BBC2/Channel 4 mix. It is aimed at our multi-cultural communities, so shows the best of feature films and documentaries, mainstream and counter-culture, from all over the world. It is a superb channel, with nothing comparable anywhere else for richness and diversity. Please don’t let them try to turn it into a popular channel. Leave the thinking people with something to watch.One of my jobs was to preview and purchase documentaries from a multitude of sources. I saw Luke Holland’s documentary Good Morning, Mister Hitler!, and read the accompanying book by Robert S. Wistrich, Weekend in Munich - Art, Propaganda and Terror in the Third Reich (Pavilion Books). My flats were now firmly identified in the subject matter, which showed floats that paraded in the Day of German Art Festival organized by the Nazi Party in Munich from 14th to 16th July 1939. This was the third and last time that this popular festival would be celebrated in the Bavarian capital. It was extensively filmed by the enthusiastic and remarkably competent members of the Munich Amateur Film Society, who were experimenting with the new medium of in 16mm Kodachrome colour.Says Wistrich: “In many respects the modern image-makers are the children of Hitler and Goebbels, without realizing it and without in any way sharing their political ideology or moral outlook. For the Nazis were masters of presentation, packaging, public relations and visual propaganda. From the beginning, they

operated a political system which relied on the meticulous organization of appearances, careful simulation, constant stimulation and sophisticated stage management of huge public spectacles. Goebbels, in particular, was a virtuoso in the organization of the modern mass media and its instrumental ization for propaganda purposes. When it came to the choreography and dramaturgy of mass rallies, the Nazis learned a good deal from Hollywood.The Day of German Art parade of 1939 used all the visual devices of a parade that combined elements of carnival, costume ball, history lesson and kitsch, climaxing with a representation of the contemporary period with its symbolic figures of faith, loyalty and sacrifice; with its parade of youth: its models of the Fuhrer buildings; its glorification of peasants close to the soil; its flags, swastikas and marching columns of the Wehrmacht, the SA, the SS, and other Nazi formations.”The sheer scale of the pageantry undoubtedly contributed much to its impact. There were 26 floats, 426 animals, and 6,000 people decked out in period costume. Two distinguished art professors oversaw and fused together all elements of design and decoration in the parade and on the streets. They were assisted by a large team of stage-and-screen set-and-costume designers. The classical buildings and public places of old Munich were the backdrop to a brilliantly coloured and coordinated mass of flags, banners and eagles, and a procession that presented the dominant message of the Third Reich, the Volksgemeinschaft, the “living eternity of the German people”.The flats are in the condition in which I purchased them. They are finely detailed. The colour has been applied mostly with stencils and airbrush, but some detail is done with a brush. The stands are lozenge shaped, with no identifying marks.Does anyone out there know anything more about these figures?

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The Sumerian civilisation had its begin-nings in the Stone Age and developed into the Bronze Age, achieving a sophistication that enabled them to create cities and ar-tefacts of a high quality. The Bronze Age appears to have started in ancient Sumer.

The land of Sumer existed in what is now Southern Iraq. It began as a collection of City States, became a Country under the strongest of these and was finally swallowed up by the Babylonians.

The earliest period is known as the

al’Ubaid period, characterised by a style of painted pottery that occurs in all the earliest Sumerian sites. Next came the Uruk period, represented by the ancient city called Uruk by the Babylonians and Erech in the Bible. Then the Jemdet Nasr period, named after a mound east of Babylon where a new type of pottery was found associated with clay tablets written in an archaic script. Then came the Early Dynastic period when kings and dynasties began to be identifiable.

The Cities that comprised Sumer include Ur, Uruk, Lagash, Nippur, and

Akkad. These cities were founded circa 3500 BC. They developed an agriculture system, building canals and draining the salt marshes. They also tended to war against each other, developing the earliest chariots and the tactics of the phalanx, although they do not seem to have fielded archers as part of their armies. They were finally united under Ur circa 2500 BC.

The Sumerians, however, remain a fairly shadowy people, disappearing into the mists of history at an early period and their legacy sinking into the sands, submerged under the succeeding civilisa-tions.

Two important finds give the most insight into the Sumerians, the ‘Standard of Ur’, illustrated on page 7, and the ‘Stele of Vultures’, a segment of which is shown on the left, so-called because it includes vultures flying off with the heads of the slain after a battle.

On the Stele of Vultures can be seen the earliest representations of a phalanx of spear-wielding heavy infantry, wearing a simple design of copper or bronze helmet and carrying a large shield with six bosses. They wear heavy cloaks apparently studded with bronze plates.

The Standard of Ur has two sides, on one is a scene in shell and blue stone showing War and on the other side is the Victory Banquet. On the side depicting War can be seen the chariots drawn by four wild asses, or onagers. There is also a representation of the soldiers in a pha-lanx and more lightly armed soldiers with swords. The victory celebration shows the King and courtiers drinking wine, while a procession of spoils of war and bound prisoners is led past.

The tactics used by the army were sophisticated for the time. The basic discipline of the phalanx and the ability to manoeuvre on the battlefield would have been a significant advantage. The chariots are a simple 4-wheeled design with no turning mechanism. They would have been driven straight at an opponent and used to break up any opposing formation. Each chariot appears to contain a driver and a spearman.

Costume appears to be a simple

skirt-like garment with the bottom edge cut into strips. Higher-ranking officials wear more elaborate costumes trimmed with embroidery and the highest wear a garment that appears to be layered. There is a suggestion, in the Osprey book, that the soldiers may have worn a garment made of hanks of goat hair that would have given some protection against sword cuts. My own feeling is they could have been leather, since the carvers seem to have been able to represent the layered garments of the Kings. The shields probably only had a central boss. The six bosses may have been artistic licence; the carving on the Stele of Vultures shows a row of heads

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above a row of shields with six spears between each of the shields. Possibly the six bosses and spears were supposed to represent the ranks of the phalanx. Some of the armour could be very elaborate, for example the gold helmet of Mes-Kalem-Dug illustrated above.References:Ur by Sir Leonard Woolley, King Penguin series.Ancient Armies of the Middle East by Terence Wise, Osprey Men-at-Arms series number 109.The figures:

At the top of page 6 is the set ‘In Ur’ by Scholtz. This shows the victorious general, Mes-Kalem-Dug, being greeted by the King and Queen of Ur circa 3000BC. Musicians play and wine is served. The set 100/60 contains 20 figures, engraved by Ludwig Frank.

Bottom of page 6 is the set of Sum-erians by Neckel, engraved by Lecke. This is a street scene, shepherdesses lead their sheep, a woman carries water, two soldiers and an archer walk past and a crowd watch two men wrestling with earthenware jars balanced on their heads.

On the right is the set of Sum-erians by Gottstein, available from Krog. Engraved by Sixtus Maier. Chariots attack and the phalanx advances, light infantry attack with throwing spears. Infantry stand and march and a charioteer stands by a spare team of onagers.

Finally, at the bottom of the page we have a small set from Kästner from his ‘Beer and Brewing’ series. A King and a courtier partake of a jug of beer, drinking it through long straws, while another full jug is brought in. Designed by Karl Heinrichs and engraved by Regina Sonntag.

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Offizin Neckel has a new tin figure catalogue out with the entire range of figures. The pages are arranged in epochs: Antiquity, the Middle Ages and 1618 - 1648, 1683 - 1750, 1850 - 1900, 1900 - 1945. The total price for the complete set (240 sheets in 5 volumes, each one spiral bound) is €60, the individual catalogues cost between €14 and €20. the catalogues can be ordered individually or the entire set. Order from: J. Neckel, Hattendorfer Strasse 11, 73066 Uhingen, Germany.Tel.: 0 171 / 4915931.E-mail: [email protected]

Geoff Bradford is selling the remainder of his Flat Figure collection, in sets of various subjects and periods. For details, send s.a.e. to address on page 2 or e-mail to [email protected].

I went to a well attended meeting of the West Midlands Group in April - Mike (Cannock) Taylor holds them twice a year - and saw a copy of the recently published book on the flat figures of the Ochel family. It took me back to my first Ochel figures, and I suddenly realised that I have been collecting and painting flats for forty years.I know there are others - Alistair Bantock or Hugh Taylor for instance - who have been involved with this hobby of ours for a lot longer than that. But looking at the figures on display that Saturday afternoon in Cannock made me realise how far we have come since the days when I started, back in the early sixties. My first flats (Ochel of course!) were stereotyped redcoated Welshmen fighting rather rigid Zulus in boxes of 15 figures or so. Flats then were very difficult to obtain; nobody in Germany seemed to want to respond to letters, and

certainly to nothing in English. If you got hold of figures you were liable to have to pay three times their value in import duty. The trick was to buy single unpainted figures - not boxes of painted flats - and have your contact in Germany label them “samples.” I got a lot of help from the late Herr Donath in this way.The only alternative was to borrow figures from someone else, usually from Alistair or his father, put them into plaster of paris moulds and cast new figures in plumbers solder. I tried using type metal once; we got superlative detail but the extra heat destroyed the mould after one go! But using this technique I gradually built up brigades of Napoleonics which still sit in my cupboard waiting for a war game.In time of course it became easier; Customs and Excise no longer made buying figures so difficult and the makers in Germany began to realise that there was a market in the UK. Then came the BFFS and the bulk purchasing scheme, for which I was, and am, very grateful. I was living in a bedsit in Cambridge by then and it was a great day when the first parcels from Scholtz and Tobinnus came directly to my desk

at work.Now that I am retired and have a room to paint and display my collection, I am amazed at the variety of figures available. Some things do not change; Kulmbach continues to attract our members and Die Zinnfigur is still showing yet more varieties of Napoleonic warriors. For my own part I have long strayed from that path. I have had a lot of fun with figures from the Commedia del Arte, I have a set of gnomes driving snails pulling a mushroom on a cart, I have tried Alice in Wonderland and I even have Charon crossing the Styx somewhere. Where do we go from here? Not, I think, into the fantasy mode; orcs, dragons and busty maidens with improbable armour are not for me. But I have some Burgundians to finish, there are some larger scale figures for the English Civil War and I really ought to finish those pirates robbing a pilgrim ship. Even after forty years that’s still the joy of collecting flat figures - always something novel to try.

40 Years Onby

JohnRawlins

One to get in your diaries - the Annual Meeting this year will be at Knowle on Sunday, June 8th 2003, see page 3.

Kulmbach Zinnfiguren Bourse will be held over the weekend of 8th-10th August 2003.

Euromilitaire will be held 20th-21st September 2003 at the Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone.

A few Journals ago Graham Dixey men-tioned a useful little book for anyone paint-ing the Commedia dell'Arte figures from Historia Muller, Insel-Bucherei No.1007. I recently found another useful little book from the same series, Insel-Bucherei No. 450, Die Minnesinger. This one is well illustrated with images from the Man-nese Manuscript. Here are such figures as Walther von der Vogelweide, Tannhäuser, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Ulrich von Liechtenstein and others, all in colour.

Certificate and Diploma in War Studies by Part‑time Study. Documents relating to this University of Birmingham course have been received. It may be a bit late now but if you are interested you should contact Anne Hollows, the Programme Secretary, on 0121 414 5604.

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New figures from the pages of Die Zin-nfigur. All figures 30mm unless other-

wise stated.

First we have an interesting set of figures from Sepp Nalter, An der Lanstrasse 31, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria, who specialises in Foreign Legion figures.

These are from the series French Foreign Legion, Algeria 1954-62. Quite a mixture, groups of Legionaires on parade, a film crew, medics and others. Then a saluting post, gravestone, War Memorial and the main entrance at Sidi bel Abbes. Also a jeep and armoured car.

Finally a large scale bust of a Brigadier.

The figures are designed by Dipl, Grafiker Richard Ragonig and engraved by Peter Ewald Kovar.

A catalogue is available price €15.26.

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Opposite we have some more heavy metal, this time from World War I and including tanks and artillery. Edited by 'Hanseatische Zinnfigur', Hans-Peter Pioch, Preiss Strasse 1, 23558 Lübeck

On the right we have figures from Carthage and Assyria from Bernd Selchow, Danziger Strasse 164, 10407 Berlin. Designed by A.Gagelmann and engraved by Karl-Werner Rieger.

Below are figures from Horst Tylinski, Achtermanstrasse 53, 13187 Berlin. On the right are Prussians from the series 'Wound-ing of Scharnhorst'. Middle is a large Egyptian colossal figure. Finally are four 100mm figures: Napoleon, Poniatowski, Murat and Ney.

Other figures not illustrated are more in the 'Flight from the East' series from Tobinnus, this time children running and a woman pulling a handcart.

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A few years ago Dick Jenkins asked me to have a go at designing some flats for Western Miniatures and for quite some time I managed to fend off his requests. Eventu-ally, Dick’s persistence prevailed and at his suggestion I produced a Naval band of the time of the Indian Mutiny. From this initial attempt the bug bit and since then I have ‘drawn up’ other designs. Dick has taken some of these and turned them into flesh (should that be tin!). I extended the naval theme to produce a set of figures from the Naval Brigade at the time of the Mutiny to accompany the band. The original drawings had a mounted officer and his wife along with the marching figures; there were also a number of figures standing in casual poses offering words of suggestion to the sailors persuading the mule it does want to move with the rest of the column. As can be seen from the new released set a number of these figures have disappeared, some for artistic reasons, others because they were purely imaginative creations and would not have appeared at that historical moment.

While researching the drawings I came across an illustration of British and Indian troops on the move. The original was a woodcut certainly produced for the home market from an on-the-spot drawing of the period just prior to the Mutiny. The illustration shows troops and their baggage on the move through a typical Indian landscape. This illustration combined with the limited knowledge I had about the Naval Brigade lead me to decide to make the figures have a more casual appearance rather than the parade ground expectations of a British Army drill sergeant.

To extend my knowledge of the Naval Brigade’s involvement in the Indian Mutiny I sought help from the Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth. They were extremely helpful and suggested the following sources: “Naval Brigades in the Indian Mutiny 1857-58” ed W. Robotham in Navy Records Society Publications (Publication no. 87) 1947 and “Seapower Ashore: 200 Years of Royal Navy Operations on Land” Chatham 2001

which contains a chapter “March Into India” dealing primarily with the Relief of Lucknow. The former book gives a detailed account of the Naval Brigade’s involvement in the Mutiny and contains much of the correspondence between the commanders in the field and their superiors in Calcutta and London, plus details of the various actions fought.

Prior to the outbreak of the Mutiny, the British Navy had ships serving in the Far East to subdue the growing prowess of the Chinese Empire. When the authorities realised the seriousness of the mutiny some of this force was sent to

India to support the British forces on the continent. The ships were sent to Calcutta, the first to arrive being HMS “Shannon” which augmented the army’s siege train with her heavy guns. With a quota of sailors and marines acting to support the naval gun crews. The “Shannon” Naval Brigade was placed under the command of Sir Colin Campbell and marched with his troops to relieve Lucknow. The Brigade was directly commanded by Captain William Peel, who had seen service with the Naval Brigade in the Crimean War where he had won the Victoria Cross. He had landed

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with a handpicked party of sailors, in fact his own gig crew, to help bridge a river at Alma for the French Army. Peel fought on land as he did at sea, binging his guns in as close as possible to the enemy before delivering a broadside, a tactic he used to great effect during the march to and relief of Lucknow.

The second ship to arrive at Calcutta was HMS “Pearl” which provided the Bluejackets and marines for the second Naval Brigade. This unit combined with a force of Sikhs and Ghurkhas to form the Sarun Field Force and as such were the only British force to operate north of the Gogra River, Unlike the “Shannon” brigade the “Pearl” brigade undertook little siege work, theirs was more a guerrilla style operation acting against troops from the main operations around Lucknow. They were however the first and currently the only Naval Brigade to establish the Mounted Royal Navy Artillery. It is also

interesting to note that both Naval Brigades were totally self-supporting with artificers responsible for constructing and adapting gun carriages; other sailors were skilled in a variety of tasks for which the army had to rely on specialist troops to perform. The ships carried stores for land based work; tents, bedding, boots, haversacks and water bottles. The sailors wore their usual clothing with the addition of white cotton covers over their Sennet hats to protect the back of the neck from the sun. There were a number of cases of sunstroke recorded and, as with the British Army, the unsuitable clothing would account for this. As the campaign developed so the bluejackets both acclimatised to the conditions and improved their clothing and equipment to suit the rigours of the countryside. The “Pearl’s” log contains reference to the despatch of serge and flannel for the Naval Brigade with the expectation of the sailors making their own clothing. Footwear was

another item which required periodical replacement, even before the “Pearl’s” brigade went into action their boots and shoes were worn out, before the end of the campaign they had worn out a further two pairs of ammunition boots.

Campaigning in India was a leisurely affair taking over three months for either brigade to see action. During this time the sailors would drill in order to familiarise themselves with their weapons. Drill and marches were the dominating features of the campaign. At the start of the campaign there was a serious lack of ‘modern’ small arms. The marines had Minié rifles while the men of “Pearl’s” brigade carried smoothbore percussion muskets. One of the “Shannon’s” three companies of smallarms men only had cutlasses. From contemporary illustrations it is clear that blue jackets wore their traditional uniform of white trousers and blue top, however there are examples of sailors wearing the white summer uniform top. The item of uniform that shows the greatest diversity is the headwear. At this period and in the climate sailors usually wore a Sennet hat, a broad brimmed, often upturned, hat. To this a cloth cover would be added in such a manner that it hung down the neck to offer protection from the sun. The hat could also have a stiffened brim much like a straw boater; again a neck curtain could be added. Another popular form of headgear was a soft hat with a stiffened headband, much like a sailors cap of today. Needless to say on campaign equipment could be exchanged and some sailors would acquire army headgear or adopt native forms. There are illustrations that show members of gun crews wearing a knitted cap much like a nightcap. The marines who were attached to the naval brigade were dressed in their traditional uniforms of red jackets and white trousers with white helmets. The red jackets, however, were a liability, attracting enemy fire.

For those of you wishing to discover more about the campaigns of the naval brigades in the Mutiny I can fully recommend the two books already mentioned. This article is more by way of an introduction to the Naval Brigade figures produced by Western Miniatures and to perhaps inspire other members to design their own figures. The experience introduced me to elements of a period of history I thought I knew and allowed me

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to introduce some historical facts into a pleasurable experience of designing a set (sorry, two sets) of figures. It is interesting to note that at a dinner held by the Governor-General of India soon after the “Shannon” and the “Pearl” arrived in Calcutta refer-ence was made to the “Shannon’s” band: “I hear, Captain Peel, that your band aboard the Shannon plays the Sevastopol March.” Peel answered, “No, my Lord, it now plays the Delhi March.” This conversation estab-lishes that the “Shannon” had a band and that members of the band accompanied the Naval Brigade on its march to Lucknow for Peel writes of the support given by the bandsmen in sefving the guns before Luc-know. It might be artistic licence to include two musicians in the Naval Brigade set, but

it would seem likely that during a march, even patrol, music would accompany the sailors. Another fact which may help with bringing differences with the set of figures is that at Sikandarbagh the Naval Brigade were awarded four Victoria Crosses for their part in the action, one of these being awarded to Able Bodied Seaman William Hall. Hall was one of a number of black sailors in the British Navy at that period.

Members attending last years Annual Show at Knowle will have seen Mike (Cannock) Taylor’s small diorama using the figures. Mike is hopefully turning this display into a small boxed diorama. Dick also produces other marching figures from the Mutiny and these could be used to represent the marines. For those amongst

us with a more adventurous spirit and are good with a soldering iron you might want to convert Western Miniatures Bengal Horse Artillery at the gallop into the Royal Navy Horse Artillery!

Sailors and marines from a photograph of 1864 when the joint force captured the forts at Simonoseki (Japan).A mix of blue jackets and white jackets worn by the sailors - which would have changed little since the Mutiny.

From a contempory illustration of a gun crew serving a 24-pounder during the Mutiny.Again, a mix of blue and white tops, also a number of figures are shown barefooted.

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The Naval Brigade set is available from Western Miniatures, 123 Henacre Road, Lawrence Weston, Bristol, BS11 0HB.Price £22. The Naval Brigade band costs £15. Postage & packing is £1.50 per order.

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It was the year 1984 ……I still have plenty of memories and

it gives me pleasure to keenly remember how, in the year 1984, with a recently made friendly connection of mine, a seasoned collector and painter of full round lead figures named Hugh10, some dynamic propositions to visit the National Model Soldiers Museum, dedicated to the memory of the late Mario Massaccesi, at Bologna, were carefully ventilated with reciprocity of cultural and historical interests, and acquiescence of honourable human intentions. Hugh, since his early childhood an enthusiast for anything related to 54mm model soldier collecting, nodded, and promptly assented to the tempting suggestion of the proposal and to the delicacy of the invitation that so politely had been expressed to him.

His jovial spiritual gesticulation, and his most immediate facial contractions, denoted indeed an ever-increasing level of gaiety and gratifying expressions of satisfaction. Such a delightful opportunity was further extended, with deferential terms, to an additional friend of mine, a truly marvellous and dear person sharing, since a three years period, the lofty picks of military history, strategy and tactics, especially related to the wars and military campaigns during the age of Napoleon Bonaparte (1796-1815).

Anyhow, after some phone calls and conventional small talk amid friends, a travelling plan to reach Bologna was readily put into execution; so it happened that, in the early morning hours of a Sunday morning, Hugh left his home base at Gardigiano, a most lovely residential area near Scorzì, picked up the second guest along the way, and they both reached the “Prussian General-Headquarters11” at the time fixed12.

We then easily resumed our trip via Ponte di Brenta and continued toward the entrance of the motorway leading to Bologna, tollgate Padova Est.

The distance to Bologna, approximately 116 Kilometres, was conveniently covered in a reasonable amount of time (1.20 hours) In the

meanwhile, there followed some versatile and very stimulating discussions amidst the fervent and rejoicing fellow-collectors concerning the highly-disputed European conflict called the Seven Years War which lasted from from the year 1756 to 1763. The major role of the Prussian Kingdom and the outstanding personality of the autocratic Hohenzollern monarch Frederick II (1712-1786) were thoroughly examined by the author. Particular emphasis was also put on the great empress Maria-Theresa (1717-1780) and the army of Imperial Austria in the years 1740-1780.

Once we reached Bologna, we moved at last to the location of the Societã Nazionale del Modello e dell Figurina Storica, Museo Nazionale del Soldatino Mario Massaccesi. The aforementioned Museum had been inaugurated in 1974, in the spacious rooms at the second floor of the France Palace, whose address was Calderini Square 2/2. From 1977, such a huge permanent exhibition has been instead transferred to the first ground floor, not without complaints, and it was there that we found its front door in a cold wintry weather.

We literally gazed at the many thousands model soldiers so beautifully put on display in endless ranks, inside natural wood framed glass cases.

Many times we walked absorbed in contemplation here and there, looking amid the magnificence and the appealing radiance of these child-like rooms.

I do still remember many knights of the Teutonic military order, their Grand Master Hermann von Sabza (1209-1239) and many composite battle scenes relating to the tremendous crash on Lake Peipus (in Estonia, 1241, against the Lords of Novgorod). All these historical reconstructions were carefully elaborated and realised with paste by self-improved modellers, and their final outcome didn’t certainly pass unobserved to the discriminating eyes of seasoned collectors.

Other fine images were provided by the Elastolin range, whose brightly inspired commercial production was

much eagerly sought in the first half of the twentieth century due to the beautifully executed pieces.

The world of lead flat figures was well represented with lots of figures in animated postures, both afoot and mounted. The prevailing scale of such a collecting seemed to be approachable to 30mm, even if higher figures didn’t lack. These many hundred pieces were of ancient dating and all exhibited to visitors in compact battle-array. Referring to the painting tonalities, nothing transcendental did appear in the applied chromatic efforts, except but an homogeneous line of standardised colourings (or as German collectors have often seen written on collecting boxes full of tin figures, Fabrik Bemalung). Although this wide assortment of sets seemed fairly good and ‘transpired’ the atmosphere of the past times, I didn’t restrict from thinking that a beautifully painted modern figure has such a suffused and delicate appeal all of it’s own which I deem much difficult to resist.

Noticing our interest and deserving attention to the exposed miniaturized multitudes, we were gladly offered, by some local assistants, a poster in polychromy, plus an additional catalogue about a recently held exhibition entitled Mostra Nazionale del Soldatino e della Figurina Storica ed Archeologica. This show had been presented to the public at Bologna, in the hall of the Podestã Palace, from 10 to 25 March 1984. It was indeed turning over the pages of this captivating publication that we noted, among its contents, the direct participation of an institution called Museo del Modellismo Storica and located in the nearby town of Ferrara15. A number of its members16 did attend the afore-cited show very enthusiastically and with a profusion of sympathy, so we were told by the helpful assistants.

Our visit at the Model Soldiers Museum ‘Mario Massaccesi’ proved a very rewarding experience, especially when considering that the discernable values of sincerest friendship and the fullest expression of military history topics interacted as a powerful formentation to

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further strengthen the ties of reciprocal esteem with my travelling companions.

Note: Among the so many differentiated flat soldiers I warmly remembered some large figures reproducing King Frederick II of Prussia and a Prussian Hussar (so read the label, but it was inaccurate because such a personality portrayed no less than the veteran hussar commander Hans-Joachim von Zieten).

These images come from the originals made by Hilpert, at the middle of the eighteenth century, in Nuremberg. Other pieces, in a scale of 40mm, were produced by Aloys Ochel around 1920 (King Frederick II of Prussia, the Queen, plus General Staff personalities; all mounted on horseback). A delicious ‘Knights at Tournament’ was a copy from J.R.Wehrly, Arau 1830.

Textual references.10. Born 1950. Almost by chance,

while visiting the town of Mestre during

springtime, I met him in a local modelling shop. Thanks to the good offices of the shop’s owner, an introduction was easily made. At that time, Hugh had lent some pieces of his collection to be put in the display cases of the shop. After I spoke for a couple of hours about military history matters and similarly related topics with some devoted collectors of the IPMS (the talented owner of the shop being one of the most active of them), Hugh suddenly entered into the show room. A much appreciated opportunity, full of favourable circumstances. I still remember his amazement when he heard about my predilection and collecting qualification for the German 30mm flat figures, better known as Zinnfiguren.

11. The private domicile of the author. So these friends had shrewdly nicknamed it, on account of the many long years of exquisite reception they always politely offered; while attending these significant cultural meetings, flat figures of the wars of the King of Prussia

"After a quiet interlude I am now ready to introduce you to my latest venture. It is Poesie from 'The Four Arts' by Alfons Mucha. She has been crafted by the Mas-ter Engraver, Otto von Delitzsch. So far it has been called a masterwork. Poesie is 10cm high and costs 10 euros." Detlef Belaschk.'The Four Arts' were painted by Mucha in

Frederick II and about the eighteenth century Austrian army military campaigns in Silesia were quite a number of times showed, admired for their beautifully refined engravings, “promoted” for a better historical comprehension and perorated as truly marvellous gems worth to new collecting branches.

12. An accurate table of movements at the “headquarters” signed 08.30am.

Editors note: A website exists for the Museo Massaccesi;

www.imprese.com/museowhich is now at:Villa Aldrovandi Mazzacorati,Via Toscana 19,40141 Bologna,Italia.I take no responsibility for the music on this website......

1898; they were Poetry, Dance, Painting and Music. Poesie is the first of a set of four. She is certainly beautiful.Since writing the above Detlef has added two more from the set of 'The Four Arts'; Dance and Music. Belaschk figures are available from Detlef Belaschk, Gardeschutzenweg 28, D-12203 Berlin, Germany.

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Western Miniatures continue to add new figures to their range of Flower Fairies, and as with previous figures these are a joy to paint. The new releases are:Zinnia from ‘A Flower Fairies Alphabet’Dog Violet from ‘Flower Fairies of the Spring’The Sloe Fairy from ‘Flower Fairies of the Autumn’The Box Tree Fairy from ‘Flower Fairies of the Winter’The Ragwort Fairy from ‘Flower Fairies of the Summer’The Elm Tree Fairy from ‘Flower Fairies of the Trees’The figures are excellent, capturing the innocence portrayed by Cicely Mary Baker in her original designs. The figures cost £6 each.

Dick has also added to his range of figures based on the works of Victorian illustrator Walter Crane. This new release comes from Crane’s book ‘Flora’s Feast – a Fairy’s Festival of Flowers’ and represents Lilies of the Valley. These Lilies from the Valleys are well designed and a test for the painter being in a range of whites and greens. The figure costs £6.

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Dick can also obtain for members figures by Regina Sonntag including her latest ‘Die Elemente’. This is a large single piece casting being 140mm wide and 100mm high. The piece is beautifully engraved on one side only, full of detail. If yoou are interested you can contact Dick.

Dick’s latest release is a set of RAF personnel from the Battle of Britain. The figures are perfect for the small diorama builder showing figures in casual poses and pilots running to their aircraft when the ‘Squadron Scramble’ order is given. In addition there are senior officers and a WAAF to help suggest life on an RAF airfield. There is also a stationary Spitfire, which can be positioned behind the figures to suggest depth in a diorama. The set costs £12, the Spitfire as a single £3.Dick intends to complement the RAF figures with a set of Luftwaffe figures and aircraft.

Finally, Dick has put together 2 figures from Indian Mutiny series with a title that says it all - ‘Oh no!’

Available from: Western Miniatures, 123 Henacre Road, Bristol, BS11 0HB.Email:[email protected]’t forget to add £1.50 per order to cover post and packing.Jon Redley

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Dark ElvesMore than 2000 years ago a civil war began under the elves population. For decades both sides fought without a winner. Rehhaile, better known later as the witch queen, tried to seize the power to herself in a bloody coup d ètat. Rehhaile and her followers, soon to be named darkelves, left the path of the elder elves gods and turned to the forbidden power of black magic. Finally the elves defeated their brothers and banished them out of their kingdom. The darkelves went into exile to Lartroxia. From there they often push into the elves kingdom to defeat their brothers.

Rehhaile is the first witch queen since the darkelves were defeated 2000 years ago. She lives in her fortress Dan-Legeth and there she practises the black magic. Rehhaile is still as beautiful as she was during the civil war. It is said, that she takes once per year a bath in the blood from the slaves to restore her beauty during a ceremony. During a battle she fights with her “dark sword” in which are the powerful spells of grown blind and weakening were weaved. (X Son-6)

The pitiless female witch warriors are also named “brides of Khaine”. For the darkelves Khaine is the god of war. Before fighting in a battle they drink blood to put into madness. Her weapons are poisoned and everyone is killed if he is injured. (X Hex-1)

Dessalyn was a female darkelve hero and she was promoted by Rehhaile to a general of her armed forces. Although she is able to fly she likes riding one of her demons. At all times the darkelves used

demons to reinforce their forces. But no darkelve is as good in this as Dessalyn. She is the only one who went into the different demon planes to search for new demons on which she can ride into a battle. It is said that her prison in Karond-Kor is full of different demons. Her favourite is a doublemouth demon. (X DunGen-

MagicOn the question about the origin of

magic the scholars have different meanings. But all of them define the magic as a free, through the world, flowing phenomenon of nature which can be used from special “magical” persons or creatures. The magic can obviously be subdivide into five differ-ent streams. This streams exists of the five elements fire, water, air, earth and ghost. Every magical creature can perceive and see these streams, in case seeing maybe is the incorrect term, due to the fact that those streams didn’t shine in the normal sense and therefore didn’t have colours as normal humans, elves and creatures can see.

Every stream is totally different from the others. The “fire”, “water” and “air-stream” is normally used by the race of the elves, whereas the “earth” and “ghost-stream” is used by the race of the dark elves. The elves refuse from the early beginning the “ghost-stream”, due to the fact that with this stream the “undead” could be awake. Human sorcerers, the so called necromants,

who uses black magic also works with the “ghost-stream”. This stream gave them the possibility to awake an undead army and control this army during a battle.

Rahothep, the tomb kingIn the centre of the desert in the

south of the world you can find the pyra-mids and tombs of the old civilisation from Arabia, better known in our days as the land of the undead. This name describes the situation exactly because you wouldn’t find any living creature there. From the largest pyramid, the so called “black pyramid”, Rahothep reign over his terrible undead army. To execute his will he has his armies of mummies.

More than two thousand years in the past the kings reign over a large country. The powerful kings were embalmed and buried in pyramids as a preparation for their glorious life after their dead. The most powerful king was Rahothep and he was buried in the “black pyramid”.

Nearly thousand years later a human sorcerer uses the powerful magic spell “Great awaken” but he fails. Due to this spell Rahothep and his army was awaken long before the time has come. Because of their awaken to early they were half decayed. The plan was a failure but Rahothep still believe in his dream from a golden age. His powerful armies break out of the sand to subjugate the whole world.

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The Next Bulk OrdersBähr & Schmidtchen - orders before end of July 2003. Catalogue: Price Band CThe catalogue opens with two pages of Egyptians, including four chariots and infantry in action. There follows a variety of mediaeval figures including Rudolf von Habsburg, mounted bowmen and lancers, and Hussites. Two siege guns, and crew, crossbowmen, and handgunners date from around 1430.Another field gun comes from the Thirty Years’ War (or our Civil War) and has a full crew, measuring powder and shot. There are in addition officers, standards, drummers, pikemen and musketeers. There is also a

hanging, with two unfortunates already suspended, while a priest offers a few words to the third victim on a ladder, the noose being placed about his neck.There are several Napoleonic pages, many based on contemporary engravings. Here are hussars in camp, French Light infantry, line infantry in greatcoats, Saxon horse artillery, Saxon General staff, Napoleon and his staff, Old Guard Grenadiers in greatcoats, a Saxon field hospital, including amputations, and a gruesome tub of arms and legs.

Several individual figures have great character, including the blind cuirassier, accompanied by his young daughter, accepting a coin in his helmet from a well-to-do mother and daughter. Two hussars, one proudly twirling his moustache, walk down the street, brimming over with the arrogance of the elite company.Other series, ready made for a diorama include the 30th Chasseurs (Hamburg), a French field hospital, Napoleon hunting, and some Spitzweg groups.

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SOCIETY SALES & BULK ORDERS

All catalogues should be obtained from Michael Creese. All prices quoted here include postage. To use the Bulk Order System, make your selection of figures from the selected Bulk order catalogues only and send your order, giving as much detail as possible of page and figure number, and any title, to Ed Humphreys. Only include a SAE (1st class) if you think Ed will not already have one of yours in hand. Don’t send any payment until requested. Above all, be patient, as some orders take several months to come through.

Catalogue BandBehring ABelaschk ABraunschweiger Zinn. HB & S Zinnfiguren CCeard Staoine (Frenzel) BCortum CDe Tinnen Tafelronde EFriedrich CGössling AHafer (1995 Edition) EHeinrichsen BHelmut Braune BHistoria Müller HHohrath AKästner CKovar D

Catalogue BandKoch CKrog GKügl DLübecker Zinnfiguren AReiner Mischko CMenz CNeckel Part 2 (1790-1945) D Nonn (1994 Edition) COldhafer (1993 Edition) EOtto CPelta AReh BReibold ARetter ARieger (NEW) EWolf-Peter Sander D

Jürgen Schmittdiel H Dieter Schulz ASchüssler/Wohlmann ASegom (1992 Supplement) A Segom (plus Supplement) ESpeyer ATobinnus EUnger AUwe Peter CVollrath (Golberg) DWagner AWeirich (1994 Edition) BWiener Zinnfiguren DWünsch BFigures of Ancient Egypt FSelected back issues - each A

Catalogue Band

Hafer - orders extended to the end of June 2003. Catalogue: Price Band E

This really is a vast collection of figures to suit all tastes, but we only have room here for a brief summary. Among the Ancient sets are figures from Greek mythology, Cretans, Mycaenans, Odysseus, Romans, Assyrians, Arabs, and Egyptians. From the Exodus, we have Moses’ discovery in the bullrushes, and the celebrations around the Golden Calf. Other biblical groups include Samson and Delilah, David and Goliath, David and Bathsheba, the Judgement of Solomon, Judith and Holofernes, Susannah

and the Elders, and the Dance of Salome.There is a wide range of military

figures of the highest quality. There are heavy cavalry, pikemen and arquebusiers from the late Sixteenth Century, Bavarian, Austrian, French, Hessen-Cassel troops of the Eighteenth Century, and some American Infantry of 1776. From the Napoleonic Wars, there is an extensive range of Bavarian Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery, more Austrians, French, Westphalians, and Cossacks.

There are many more figures from later in the Nineteenth Century, including Austrians and Danes of 1864, Bavarians and Hanoverians from 1866, and figures from the FrancoPrussian War. From around the turn of this century come Prussian, Bavarian, and Bavarian troops in Parade Dress. There are also figures in larger scales, including a very impressive set of French Cantinières of 1860.

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Brothers

In Memoriam9/11

The designs on the front and back covers are the colour guides for the latest releases from Glorious Empires, available from Ed Humphreys.

On the front cover are the two 54mm vignettes, 'Nicopo-lis 1396' and 'Before Edgehill'.

On the back cover are the 120mm 'Brothers' and another large design, 'In Memoriam', a tribute to the many who died in the World Trade Centre.

For further details contact Ed Humphreys.