Some Of My Neglected ECW Period Figures

I was digging out some ECW and Thirty Years War Minifigs (and others) figures to photograph and send to Clive Smithers for inclusion on his 'The Lone S Ranger' blog.

It struck me that I really liked the Thirty Years War figures and they brought back many memories so I thought I would add some pictures to the blog.

They are actually painted up to represent an ECW trained band.

In this case this is the fictitious Colchester trained band - which is where I lived when I painted it - years ago!

ECW - Colchester Trained Band

TYW 1s - Musketeer Advancing

TYW 2s - Pikeman Receiving

TYW 3s - Officer

TYW 6s - Halberdier

TYW My Drummer Conversion

TYW 5s - (actual)Drummer

ECWA 2s - Galloper/H1 -Horse

TYWC 1s - Reiter

My drummer conversion was made prior to the release of the TYW 5s - Drummer and I never every did see a TYW 4s - Standard Bearer.
My standard bearers are just Pikemen with 'old toothpaste tube' aluminum flags attached.
I also have a second of these regiments painted up as the fictitious 'Halstead' trained band!

Organized?

Ok I had to make this post - I was accused of being organized!! I was fairly organized prior to moving but now - well!
These are some pictures of my messy work room which has been taken over by model soldiers. I hope this disproves the 'organized' rumor once and for all! In fact I don't think I can ever organize over 10,000 figures anytime in what remains of my life! - but I'm working on it.

Looking into workroom with work bench in the center and the right side with modeling bench. Green thing underneath the illuminated magnifier is my photograph background as used for the Hinton Compatibles

Panning right around room

Panning left around room - bottom right picture shows French Cavalry in display cabinet above red toolbox. I didn't do closeups of these since there are so many still to sort out.

Modeling Bench - Cabinet contains almost all French - each shelf is (or will be) comprised of one division. Left unit is Guard and middle and right units are Line divisions. Figures are mostly all Hinton and Alberken - a few Minifig and DK - if units are in the cabinet then they are complete. By complete I mean has all its troops - of course many units still have to be painted.
The figures covering the bench top are all in various stages of sorting or awaiting recruits to complete - or in some cases to be sold.

Almost all units are 2 battalion regiments - each battalion is 1 Officer and 12 troops - each division has 4 regiments plus 2 massed Grenadier and 2 massed Voltigeur battalions (each again of 1 Officer and 12 troops).
Thus each division totals (12 btns x 13) 156 figures plus the mounted Divisional General.
When complete the divisional artillery (2 batteries of 2 guns + 8 crew each) is stuffed in between the regiments for safe keeping.
I now have (almost completed) 12 French Line Infantry Divisions - some may be sold!

Left hand storage shelves contain various units or spares for Allies and French Infantry, Calvalry and Artillery - Top shelves is where I store my neglected English Civil War figures

Here is where I store the Hinton Compatibles - Prototypes, Masters and stock - I'm still in the stages of sorting this out to be more efficient. Loads of open boxes partially sorted and being emptied. The British Light Division is in a box on top shelf - right end - just in view here. Also some out of place guitar pedals showing up on a pink stand!

Storage shelves on end of modeling bench contains various complete units for allies Cavalry and Infantry. Last image shows more boxes being opened and sorted

Right shelves stores all my spares and the 7 British Infantry Divisions - mainly Hinton and Pheonix(Les Higgins) figures. Also there is a Polish, Saxon and Bavarian Corp (2 Divisions) and a Wurttemburg, Hessian and Brunswick division - all with associated cavalry. There is also not shown a great deal of other manufacturers and miscellaneous stuff all jumbled in various boxes which may get sorted and sold one day!

Finally because I am really old school - here's a couple of closeups of some of my favorite units to prove it - Alberken (with HH drummers and standards) - these were the early ready painted types - they may well be repainted since they are not all from same units.

So hopefully this post will indeed show that I am far from organized and really quite insane when it comes to wargames figure collecting

Hinton Compatriots New Blog

I needed to get control of my blog back from the Hinton Compatriots posts which had taken it over - so I have now created a new blog dedicated to this range.
Click on the image on top left to visit the blog - for all the latest news and to order figures.
All previous Hinton Compatriot posts on here have been exported to the new blog.
See you there!

Beware Shill bidding on Ebay

I am reporting this here in an attempt to help other friends and fellow 'Ebayers' from being scammed. This one has a happier ending due to the vigilance of Paul Fahey who pointed this out and warned me - and I must say I am very grateful to him for this act of friendship.

Because of the manner in which it ends I will not publish the sellers name - but here is the sequence of emails

1. Received from Paul this morning:

Ron,

I realize you're probably asleep, but I suspect there is a shill on those Hintons your bidding on, the bidder has no score at all and has bid on 27 items, from clothes to swings and now toy soldiers,, ALL from the one vendor !!! and nobody else. i have reported these obvious shills before and Ebay can't or won't do anything.

in any case I cant abide shills, so all I can do is notify you, and you can decide for yourself

Paul


2. Sent to the seller by me immediately upon receipt of Paul's email:

Dear Seller (Name not disclosed)

I regret to say that I believe I have been the victim of SHILL bidding on this item and on at least one other item in this last set of figures - In fact a friend has just emailed me to point this out and has advised that I should contact Ebay.

It is fairly obvious when you look at the bidder that pushed the price up - he has no previous bid score or record and has only ever bid on your items! - 100% of his total Ebay bids have been on your items!

I offer you two choices - please give me the name of the bidder so I can send it to Ebay - or I will refuse to pay and will report this matter to Ebay - which is against their policies - for them to investigate. I pay well enough for items without being scammed also.

If you want to avoid this and agree that this is Shill bidding then I expect to pay a price that doesn't includes the Shill bidding on all the last set of items.

Ron

3. Response received from the seller within 1 hour:

Hi Ron

I can't apologise enough. I've looked into each item and yes it was my father in law who was panicking and didn't want to let them go.
It is honestly no scam - i have just spoken to him and he asked a friend to bid who we know from the local market and has bought from us before. He agrees with me to recalculate the winning total as you suggest - i have looked at the 3 items he bid on - and will invoice you at the prices below his first bid.
The (item 1) will be £4.99 , the (item 2) £35.99 and (item 3) £4.99.
I leave it up to you what you want to do next - and have warned my father in law of the rules he has broken.
I realise you pay enough and thanks for contacting me.
Awaiting your reply before I invoice.

Best regards and sincere apologies.

Seller (Name withheld)

And so a better ending then most I would think - I expect this type of Shill bidding happens more than we realize.

In view of the immediate response and acceptance of the situation I am inclined to believe this seller who has always seemed sincere in our correspondence - so I will proceed with these purchases at the new pricing and will bid again on other items offered by the seller.

Again thanks Paul and to all out there be a little more vigilant then I was!