Summer in May

Well it has been another scorcher, with no sign of letting up until the weekend, maybe. 37 Celsius with the humidity!!! The spring grass has started to turn brown, and it feels like July or August. The paint bench has been idle these past few weeks as work has become extremely hectic. Lots of big projects suddenly materialised and manning them has proven to be a challenge of sorts. The days have been extremely long, and today was the first day off that I have had in about three weeks, and it was spent running errands, doing chores around the house, and answering questions from the office and from customers. Also, to make matters worst, looks like I will be out of province soon for a week or two on business. As my friend is wan to say- "It's either feast or famine." We are certainly feasting these days! Not surprisingly, no painting was done today either.

On a more positive note, I have completed 3 battalions of infantry, two command bases, and a band of dismounted hussars, which I intend to use as skirmishers. Now I just need a day or two to get them based and photographed. I have decided to go with linoleum tiles cut into 45mm squares for my infantry, 50mm squares for my cavalry, and between 60 and 90mm squares for my artillery (light, medium, heavy, respectively). Individual miniatures and vignettes will be based upon randomly selected bases, i.e. whatever looks good.

This is how I felt today after mowing the grass.

Some Evening Musings...

A warm night in the Imperial Duchy of Blagovia, with a soft, gentle breeze blowing from the west. Looks like summer has finally put in an appearance and I for one am not thrilled. It was 32 Celsius today, with a humidex that pushed the temperature into the high 30’s –and this is still May! His Grace is making a concerted effort to finish the bottle of Sangiovese, which he opened for dinner, and is currently listening to Bach's: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, as performed by the Freiburger Barockorchester. Highly recommended.

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While recently going through some old boxes I found the following minis. They were given to me by my friend some years ago, who in turn received them from family in Germany many years ago. I like the look of them, and they have been well played with over the years. Prussian I think? I wonder if I should conscript them into the Blagovian Army, or perhaps some Battenberger Grenadiers for the shelf ???

Victoria Day

This weekend is the unofficial start of summer in the Great White North, celebrated with a long weekend and fireworks, and the opening of cottages. Barbeques, fishing, weekends at the cottage, and the dog days of summer are upon us. I remember getting especially antsy this time of year when I was a youngster. The days in class seemed to get especially slower and drag as we started to approach the summer holidays. I just couldn't wait for school to finish so that I could hop on my bike for day long rides, or long, long games of street hockey, soccer, and baseball, not having to come in until the streetlights came on, or if my parents were inclined to sit on the porch and enjoy the evening, when they went in.
As a child, in preparation for the summer break, on the Victoria Day long weekend I would bring the bike up from the basement, where it was stored in the winter, take out the hose and a bucket with soap and water, wash it from stem to stern, adjust the brakes, pump up the tires, tighten the seat, and my final act was to grab a can of oil from my dad and thoroughly oil the chain. Wonderful memories and days! To those north of the 49th parallel I hope you have a wonderful and safe May two-four weekend.

Progress

The 1st Blagovian Infantry Regiment is complete, and awaiting basing and flags. The Hussar Regiment is almost done as well. Time to order some reinforcements!
I think I will add a Grenadier Company to the 1st Regiment, and get some artillery (12 pounders and crews). I will also grab some mounted officers. This should be enough Blagovians for now, and should see me through into the summer. I think come the Fall I will start to build up some Leutonian and Tutun-Bey Forces.
I have also decided to develop another Imagination which I will keep far more whimsical. To be honest, my Blagovian, Leutonian, and Tutun-Bey armies have been kept somewhat "historically accurate," in that their uniforms will be (are) based on real ones. The original plan that I had was to be able to fight historical battles as well as fantastical ones. The new Imagination will be located somewhere in the German states, where exactly has yet to be determined, and will be much larger than my current Imaginations. Of course, this nation will be allied with Blagovia and Leutonia, so you may see a battalion or two fighting alongside the above mentioned nations against the hated Turk.
Instead of creating a new blog I will create a subsection of this one where I can post the ongoing situation and battle reports. I'm not sure whether to stick with 25mm, or go with 28mm, or even 1/72 (20mm). Once I settle on a scale I will plan out the units I intend to raise. One thing is for certain however, after having received "permission" to recruit within its borders from Phil Olley, there will be a regiment of Battenberg infantry. Let's see where I go with this one.