Saturday 20 May 2017

Flames of War: The Black Brigade (Preview)

So its almost the end of May and I still haven't started posting blogs about my Black Brigade project yet.

Truth be told this project is a hell of a lot more involved than I ever expected it to be, all exacerbated by continual problems with the tins of Army Painter Matt Varnish I keep needing to buy and wait for and then a mass of time spent fiddling around with little bits and pieces that could just as easily be saved up and dealt with in one big batch.

Lack of discipline there!!!



Anyway in the interests of actually getting something posted I thought I would just give you guys a heads up on what it is I'm planning to do and then share a photo of where I am up to with the Black Brigade army I am waging war on!

So, I have recently spent a week in Poland and whilst I was there I was able to write a full biography of Stanislaw Maczek, the resolute and gifted leader of the Black Brigade in September '39 which I will be presenting in 7 separate blogs each dedicated to a part of his life. Each of these blogs will be accompanied by a separate blog which looks at in some detail one of the constituent formations of the Black Brigade, briefly looking at its history, combat record in September '39 and finished off with a part about the modelling of the formation being looked at. 

Finally in August I will do a post that is specifically dedicated to the uniforms of the 10th Motorised Cavalry and the Warsaw Armoured Motorised Brigades. I have long been of the opinion that the 10BK was clothed in Cavalry uniforms and with some minor modifications (such as head gear) this uniform remained barely changed by 1939, on top of which the September of 1939 was one of the driest on record and as such I find it almost ludicrous to suggest that the troops were fighting in their winter issue great coats which the majority of companies sculpt there figures in. Essentially what I am saying is that of you want to field the 10BK and absolutely insist on accuracy and variety, you are OK with a bit of modelling then you can use cavalry miniatures and use Peter Pig heads with German helmets and Polish berets. Anyway these are opinions I will prove or disprove in August when I finally receive some materials that will allow me take a close look for everyone who is interested.

In the meantime though, I just wanted to share a photo with you all.

Not a great photo, but it shows where I am up to with this gargantuan ball ache that is called the Black Brigade:



... so much still to do * Sob *

Still...

FIX BAYONETS!!!!!