Hinchliffe British Fusiliers

 It may be recalled that I had decided to refurbish a group of Hinchliffe 25mm British Fusiliers. The job is now complete and these fine looking troops can take to the field.  The standard bearers are converted musketeers, having had damaged weapons.  The drummer is the same, with a drum scrounged from a Russian figure.  The officer needed a new sword, sourced from a bean can lid.

This is what they were like prior to painting.  The picture was taken before I found a Hinchliffe officer.  In the photo a Lamming officer is in command:

Here is the finished unit:

These will go off to join Phil's collection, which consists of early Hinchliffe figures.

Personality Figures

 Two more personalities join their armies. The first is a Minifigs 25mm model of Marshal Murat in one of his more flamboyant outfits.  I put him on a Hinchliffe horse as I am not too keen on Minifigs mounts:

The second figure is a Hinchliffe model of Prussian General Gneisenau, in contrast wearing a rather drab uniform:

I do enjoy painting these personality figures, there's quite a bit of research regarding the uniforms and it is fun painting a single model.

Hinchliffe 25mm Personality Figure - Prince Poniatowski

 This is another of the Hinchliffe Personality Figures (PF 17), Prince Jozef Poniatowski.  He rose to fame as one of Napoleon's best commanders, leading the Polish contingent of the French army.  He was made Minister for War by Napoleon and was a notable commander during the 1812 invasion of Russia, where he commanded the largely Polish 5th Corps. He was made a marshal of the empire by Napoleon.

At the battle of Leipzig in 1813, Poniatowski was charged with holding the the rearguard as the defeated French army attempted to withdraw over the Elster river.  Poniatowski and his men fought bravely during which time the Prince was severely wounded while leading several counter attacks.  Unfortunately the Elster bridge was demolished early and the rear guard was trapped on the enemy banks.  In the confusion as his men attempted to cross the river, the weakened Prince was thrown from his horse and was lost under the water.  His body was found five days later.

Another lovely casting from Hinchliffe:

Hinchliffe 25mm Personality Figure - General Lasalle

 Antoine-Charles Lasalle, was a napoleonic French cavalry general who rose to fame as a dashing commander.  He fought with the Army of Italy, campaigned in Egypt, saw action in the European theatre, especially against the Prussians.  He met his end in the Austrian campaign, being killed at the battle of Wagram on 5th of July 1809 leading a cavalry charge.

This figure is listed in the Hinchliffe 1976 catalogue as PF21:

He was a joy to paint and will take his place amongst my 25mm French armies.  I have a number of the Hinchliffe personalities and plan to paint them from time to time.

Hinchliffe Prussian Cavalry Renovation

 This turned out to be quite a challenge.  I was given three badly damaged Prussian, 25mm Cuirassiers by a friend.  The figures had lost their swords and were bent out of shape.  The horses were even worse.  However, Phil is a collector of old Hinchliffe for his wargames armies and I asked if he would like them after I had renovated them.  I also found three more on eBay, which were also broken.  

After quite a bit of bending back into shape and the addition of new swords and some reins on one of the horses they were ready for painting.

Here is the result:

A useful little unit.  I am also working on some British Fuiliers from the same manufacturer.  These are in reasonable condition, with most bayonets intact, but not well painted.  The officer is an old Lamming figure, but since the picture was taken I have acquired a Hinchliffe fusilier officer:

Hinchliffe Egyptian Heavy Infantry

 Another refurbishment, this time some 25mm Ancient Egyptians.  I bought them secondhand and they had simply been sprayed white and were missing their weapons.  Once again I have used Warlord metal spears. cut down to size.  The figures represent heavy infantry with hardened leather helmets and body armour.  Shields are animal hide:

My next project, close to completion, is a unit of Hinchliffe 25mm Prussian Cuirassiers.

Hinchliffe 25mm Persian Infantry

 I acquired some rather sad looking Hinchliffe Persian infantry (AP6) that had been poorly painted and were missing their weapons:

I thought it would be fun to give them a new lease of life as there were enough to make up a unit:

Another fun project.  The spears came from Warlord and I cut them down to size.  A word of warning, they are sharp!

Hinchliffe 25mm Philistine Infantry

 I acquired these figures in a rather poor state, with no weapons.  I thought it would be fun to do them up, giving them some spears and a lick of paint.

They turned out quite well and are off to join my Egyptian army:

Hinchliffe Brunswick Line Infantry

 The latest unit to be updated are these Hinchliffe early 25mm Brunswick line infantry.  Like the Light Infantry in an earlier post these figures are from the true 25mm skinny age of Hinchliffe production.  The standard bearer is a conversion of one of the officer figures.

I am slowly assembling a number of units and I should be able to paint a British line infantry battalion soon:

British Napoleonic Light Infantry

 Some of these figures have been hanging around since the 70s and a few weeks ago I acquired a few more to make up a full unit.  They are the original Hinchliffe, true 25mm castings that I have a real soft spot for.  I like the fact that they are in skirmish order with no back packs and I also think that the shako looks right too.

I am on the hunt for a few more early Hinchliffe items and hope to assemble some more units.

WW2 British Anti-Tank Teams 20mm & Airfix Arabs

 Continuing my way through my ancient WW2 Hinchliffe figures, I decided to paint some anti-tank elements. The first figures man a 2pdr anti-tank gun, which I think was originally a Hinchliffe casting, but this one was released under the Caldercraft label.  The crew are early Hincliffe gunners:

The second team is made up of the infamous PIAT gunner, who has to drag part of a brick wall around with him that is moulded into the base.  The number 2 on the weapon is actually a mortar loader, but I thought that the team needed two figures:

For a bit of fun I painted a pile of Airfix Bedouin Arabs.  These should make a useful enemy for the French Foreign Legion or even in a Northwest frontier action:

Hinchliffe 20mm German Infantry

 In the catelogue, Hinchliffe list G2 as a figure advancing with SMG.  This early Hinchliffe figure, I suspect, is meant to represent an NCO wearing a field cap.  In my opinion this is the worst figure brought out by Hinchliffe.  The casting is crude, the pose is strange, with limbs out of proportion and the sub-machine gun is very crude to say the least.  However, the figure is part of the 20mm WW2 range and part of the history of this company.

I decided to paint this figure (and his colleagues) and an officer and ammunition carrier, in tropical uniform as I could not see him fitting in alongside my other figures:

 

 

Hinchliffe 20mm WW2 US Infantry

I have been slowly collecting these figures for years and recently I acquired the last piece to make up, what I believe. is a full set of the vintage 20mm WW2 US Infantry.  There are five in the series, numbered A1 - A5.  Here is the set:

They are charming little figures with that 70s naivity.  Here is my complete collection - all eight of them:

Unlike the German and British sets Hinchliffe do not appear to have made any support weapons or gun crews, but I may be wrong - I usually am!

B Company's Grand Day Out

 

B Company (B Coy) has been tasked to provide infantry support to British armour planning to move along the road through quite close country.  B Coy has four platoons and a headquarters and has a mortar section and medium machine gun section attached.  The tanks are represented by four Shermans. The ground is as follows; beyond a low ridge there is a village on the right by the road junction, a patchwork of fields and a small wood on the left:

On the left, 1 and 2 Platoons (Pl) are to advance and clear the wood, with two tanks in support, while on the right, again with two tanks 4 Pl will move up to the village.

In this game there are no enemy on the table, which consists of elements of a panzer grenadier battlegroup, just a series of square markers.  Once troops are within 2 hexes they can dice to see if they spot what is there (if anything).  If something is spotted, 2 D6 are rolled to determine what it is. This provided quite an exciting game.

1 and 2 Pls begin their advance on the wood:

Once on the other side of the ridge they spot movement behind the hedge near the wood.  To their horror this turns out to be a Panzer IV, which begins firing at them:

1 Pl in the direct line of fire runs into the wood for cover, while one of the Shermans advances to take on the German tank:

Both tanks exchange fire to no effect, and the arrival of the second Shermans sees the Panzer IV pull back out of view. 1 Pl consolidates its position in the wood, with 2Pl on its flank.  A second suspected German position to the right of 2Pl turns out to be a false alarm.

The action now switches to the right flank and a Sherman moves onto the ridge to cover the advance of 4 Pl.  There is a marker in the village, which turns out to be a Pak 40 75mm anti-tank gun:

The gun opens fire and the Sherman is destroyed:

The supporting infantry of 4Pl make short work of the anti-tank gun and they enter the village:

As 4 Pl move into the village they spot a panzer grenadier platoon at the other end:

A brisk firefight ensues in the street:

4 Pl win the firefight killing several of the Germans, but also take a couple of casualties themselves. The remaining Germans withdraw when the second Sherman begins to edge around the village, leaving 4Pl to lick its wounds and consolidate in the village and church.

Back over on the left, 1 and 2Pls begin their advance towards their secondary objective, White Farm, which, after testing, turns out to be occupied by a German tank hunting platoon:

 1 and 2 Pls begin their attack, while one of the Shermans moves around the side of the farm:

2Pl comes under heavy fire in the field, while 1Pl advances behind the Sherman. Unfortunately the Sherman strays too close to the farm and is taken out by a Panzerschreck:

 The second Sherman arrives and quickly deals with the Panzerschreck team, but 2 PL has to withdraw due to heavy casualties. To make matters worse, as 1Pl begins its assault, the Germans put down a mortar stonk, which slows things up even more:

However, the weight of fire from the tank and the infantry overwhelms the German defenders, who break and run.  1 and 2Pls combined set up a defence around the farm, with the remaining Sherman:

With the vallage and the farm secured the remainder of B Coy moves up:

B Coy commander is a little shocked by the level of resistance and determines that with half of the tanks knocked out and only one complete platoon remaining his best course of action would be to hold what he has gained and await reinforcements.  This will make an interesting second game.

All the figures are Hinchliffe 20mm castings and the Tanks are by Armorfast.  I really enjyed this small action, which provided a fairly unpredicatable enemy.

Renovating Ancients - 2nd Batch

A few more Persians and some Romans received a scrub up.

Persian ally medium infantry by Minifigs:

These Hinchliffe Persian archers were in a right state. Most of the paint had worn away and all the bows were broken off. These were replaced with wire and they were given a new paint job:

Finally, three Minifigs S Range Roman heavy infantry take to the field:

Renovating Ancients

For some time now I have been toying with the idea of renovating my collection of ancient figures. This coincided with a few acquistions to build up sufficient figures to have a go at Command and Colors Ancients.  Most of the figures are basically painted, although a number have broken parts that need to be repaired.  They are a mix of Minifigs, Garrison and a few Hinchliffe and are Greeks and Persians.  Here is part of the collection:

Those in the glass bowls are being soaked to remove old bases and flock.

The Garrison figures are the most challenging, having suffered lots of breakages:

I have made a start on some figures and will publish some pictures of the results.

Hichliffe WW2 British Infantry 20mm

The refurbishment of the first lot of my Hinchliffe 20mm British is now complete.  I am also replacing some of the plastic figures with Hinchliffe originals too:

Basic Memoir '44 units:

A Vickers MG unit:

Command figures, forward observer team, flame thrower etc: