In my article in MWAN #117 on gaming with plastic 54mm figures, I might have given the impression that I was done with painting figures. Well, something has come along that has rekindled my interest. Maybe two things. First, I have better painting conditions. I now have a magnifying visor. I already wear glasses, and this handy device gives me even greater magnification for close-up work. Having a better lit, brighter work area is also helping. The improved chance ot'producing a well-painted figure certainly helps me to be willing to put out the effort to try. The main thing, though, is Mark Copplestone's new range of 28mm figures (new in June 2002, that is), "Back of Beyond." It is concerned with conflicts, actual and hypothetical, in 1920's Sinkiang province of China, also known as Chinese Turkistan. I have become quite interested in the period and in this range especially. There will be 11 armies, eventually, and the first two are a Chinese warlord army and a Bolshevik army. There is a variety of unit types and poses within each type. The sculpting is to the usual high Copplestone standard. Including postage from England to Texas, the figures come out to well under $2.00 US each. Oh, yes, there is also a set of armed archaeologists, representing members of scientific expeditions into the Gobi desert and similar places. Equipped with automobiles and modern weapons, such an expedition could be an interesting adversary for a less ~Vefl equipped but larger force of a warlord or bandits. I am using converted Disney's "Atlantis" vehicles for some games I have already played - they have a pretty good post-WWI era look to them. Check out the Copplestone Castings website and read the book "Setting the East Ablaze," by Peter Hopkirk. Chinese, Russians (red and white), British, assorted native groups, and others, were or maybe could be found in the area in that time. They did, or could, use a variety of WWI and later weapons and vehicles, including aircraft. The website has army lists written by Chris Peers to go with his WWI era rules set "Contemptible Little Armies," the "official" set for the figure range. These army lists can certainly be adapted to other rules sets. I am using lots of colonial and WWI figures as stand-ins for games until my Copplestorle armies have grown to full-size. There is already a piece ot'Chinese artillery, and I IMG's and additional equipment are in the works ... cavalry, too. I am now working on my second order of figures from the range. I am trying to make them match the first group I painted as closely as possible. That will be a real victory for me, to make subsequent groups look the same, as if they were painted at the same time. Consistency in style and technique is a challenge for me! Back to MWAN #119 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com