Most of us are sensible people--more or less. We decide what army and scale we want, and then the local hobby shop or mail order fulfill our wishes. Every now and then, though, some of us take a different path. A few days ago a box appeared at my door, purchased from a fellow gamer I met at Cold Wars, and as I looked over the contents I realized that Old Sergeant Pip's Home for Abused and Neglected Castings had received another challenge. We've all seen them--at flea markets, in junk shops, in the homes of people who were wargamers once--the armies mounted on thin card, painted with poster paints, never primed and often broken. They're yours, pretty much for the carrying away, but once you've carried them away, what do you do with them?
First, unless it's to save them from the trash bin or the melting pot, DON'T BUY THEM UNLESS YOU CAN MAKE AN ARMY FROM THEM. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to find enough at one time for both sides. You might have one army which could be used against other existing armies. They might be compatible with troops you already have, or with those of other gamers you know. They might still be in production and matchable. What you're trying to avoid is an accumulation of troops too few to fight with and impossible to recruit. DON'T tell yourself you'll just mount them for a skirmish game, unless you've examined them carefully, and in a good light. Castings found poured into boxes and bins are generally not the ones you'd like to see picked up and examined individually by your fellows. Also consider terrain. The man selling the castings may very well have compatible terrain he'll no longer need. Do you have anything that will work with these fellows?
Second RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO POUR THEM OUT OVER THE FIRST FREE TABLE. This is a counsel of perfection, I know, but of all your purchases, these are the ones most likely to have broken off bits somewhere in the packing. You want to do serious unpacking at home on clean newspapers in a good light so you can salvage the broken musket, the swab or more importantly the base and feet of your soldiers.
Now, when you unpack an army like this, remember the poor things probably haven't been out of the box for years. They were never anyone's "lucky" army, and they're ashamed and embarrassed about their paint job. I find playing suitable martial music has a calming effect. I brought home hundreds of old Airfix ACW infantry and Spenser-Smith tricorne plastics from Cold Wars, so the soundtrack from "Gettysburg" and the Fife and Drum Corps of Colonial Williamsburg have been heard quite a bit lately.
The first step in their rehabilitation is almost certainly to get them off those preposterous bases. If they're glued to card, remember to bend the card not the casting. That way you're much less likely to spend the next few evenings reintroducing legs and ankles. If they're mounted on wood or metal, use a real Exacto knife, not one of the craft tools with a blade scored at intervals. You may need the torque, and the scored blade will tend to snap. Stubborn cases may have to be soaked in a shallow pan of water. Remember to cover no more of the casting than you must, and to scrape the base as clean as possible while the glue is still softened. Use a knife! Take off soft glue with a good file, and you'll soon live to regret it. Files are for hardened glues only.
There is much to be said for stripping everyone at this stage and before you do any repair work. For myself, I strip castings only in dire emergencies; generally when the paint is so thick it's become a problem by itself. But if you're going to strip, use hot soapy water or Simple Green for plastics, and regular paint stripper of the gel sort in a well-ventilated area for metals. Find the old toothbrushes first, and you may want to spend the extra $2.00 and buy a stiffer bristle brush than you'd actually use in your mouth.
CAREFULLY SORT, AND COUNT, ARMS OF SERVICE, TYPES AND POSES.
Since I rarely strip, I try to reestablish and maintain regimental integrity when I sort. This not only keeps old comrades together, it simplifies the repainting. Put matching poses together, but put command elements to one side. You'll see why in a moment. In any event, once you've got them sorted it's time to do a proper inventory, and to run them against your intended basing and organization, and to consider rules.
This is historical miniatures wargaming, people: use any set you like, and if you don't like any of them go out and write your own. BUT always remember what castings you have available Right now my Spenser-Smiths have three mounted officers. It would be risky at the least to settle on a set of rules that require multiple subordinate generals. Also, rules dictate organization, and this is where problems start to arise. If the proposed TO&E calls for 72 cuirassiers, Murphy, god of war dictates that you'll have 67. This is why you do the sort before any of the rebasing, and why you put the command elements to one side. If you need to change things, now's the time. A note on basing here, I'm a big fan of doubleranked infantry basing generally, and especially for salvaged armies MUCH easier to hide damaged castings.
I would also say (1) Don't invent a basing if there is a common one in this period and scale. Odd basings limit your choice of rules and opponents and make your army harder to sell. You never sell an army? You're also going to live forever, I suppose. (2) Given a choice, pick a uniform basing width. It's a matter of not precluding options. If I place all my 15mm ancients on 40mm bases, I don't have to play a DB-style stand removal game, but I can. I can also still play games calling for individual losses by marking off the dead, and roster games by keeping records. Besides, even those games often work best with standard-size units. Do look carefully, though, at those rules which do not require a consistent number of castings on a stand. They have special virtue when you just CAN'T buy that one additional Mike's Models Prussian Fusilier.
ORGANIZE YOUR ARMY ACCORDING TO YOUR CHOSEN RULES
Setting aside whatever individual mounts the rules insist on, you can shuffle officers, musicians, NCO's and sometimes even standard bearers to make up your numbers. (Note: most horse and musket gamers follow a pretty strict "one color per battalion" rule, but it's very handy sometimes to remember who carried two and what the other looked like if you're short one of the rank and file.) Anyway, knowing exactly what you have and what you need also tells you whether any of the broken castings must be worked on immediately, or whether they can be put to one side for the time being.
REPAIR NECESSARY CASTINGS TO COMPLETE YOUR ORGANIZATION.
If you do put some aside, remember the wonders of Zip-Lok bags,
If you've stripped our heroes, once you're sure of the unit organization, it's time to prime and generally treat them as a new army. Be a little more gentle with them, though. Old plastics are often brittle and I've seen it in old metals. Otherwise, that's not my topic, so you can go on to the next article. Thanks for stopping by.
Everyone gone who's going? OK. This is why I had you sort everyone by their old regiments. Plop them on their stands now and you have--sort of--an army ready for war.
Remember to PUT THE WORST PAINTED TROOPS IN THE MOST PROMINENT POSITION ON THE STAND.
First, this makes it easier to reach for corrections. Second, this ensures that you'll remember to do the corrections. For all this, you're bound to have to change at least a few coat colors and facings colors. A word of advice about the coat colors: if you can't exactly match the original, go for variety. Uniform fades and stains vary, and the eye passes over five or six shades of dark blue where two would be obvious. If the casting has enough detail to justify it, washes and drybrushing can make slight differences in coat color less conspicuous. When you do corrective painting on facings, the fact that everyone has the same florescent-orange cuffs will make it easier to paint over them to a consistent color. Remember light bleeds through acrylics, especially cheap craft shop acrylics, so you'll get better uniformity by painting over the same color. This is also why I keep a few Games Workshop paints around. Their coverage is VERY good, and they're about the only acrylics which can put red or yellow piping down a dark blue or black trouser leg.
If you do that, GRASS AND SEAL right away, your army is fit for war, and you can go back at your leisure to perform corrective action on the troops. You'll want to seal them again, but a double coat never hurt anyone. Remember with reasonably good-looking stands, sharp flags and mass quantities of soldiers, even a pretty sorry paint job will pass muster sometimes..
What's that? Oh, yes; the flags. As with so much else of wargaming, uniformity is essential. If they have a good set of colors, fine. If not, MAKE SURE THAT WHATEVER YOU USE IS OF THE SAME MATERIAL AND AT A CONSISTENT SCALE AND LEVEL OF DETAIL WITH ONE ANOTHER.
Many wargamers use colors a tad out of scale and larger than historical, just as many of us use buildings somewhat smaller than true scale. Both work so long as they are consistent.
So there you have it. Following these simple rules, I was able to take what amounted to a fellow wargamer's junk box and turn 250 30mm figures back into an army in about two weeks of short evenings.And now I'm a happy and contented gamer. Until the next time some batch of beaten-up castings looks up at me from a cardboard box...
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© Copyright 2004 Hal Thinglum
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