Sunday 6 December 2020

Troops on Parade - 28mm Spanish Civil War

 

If you're not aware, Troops on Parade is a regular here at Yarkshire Gamer, usually during quiet gaming periods I take the opportunity to put a collection out on the table in its entirety, click a few snaps and make a bit of a Utubes movie to record everything in one period together in the same place at the same time, something that, even during a game wouldn't normally happen. With lockdown those opportunities are more frequent.

Above is the Spanish Civil War collection in all its glory, according to The Great Wargames Figure Count there are just short of 500 28mm figures here. It's one of the collections where a few of the others have decent sized forces so I don't personally own some of the various factions of the SCW, Falange, CNT, POUM etc, they are in other people's hoards.

Above is the Utubes video covering the collection, the rest of the post covers the same info but with still pictures rather than moving ones.


The picture above is of the Carlist Force, these are the troops I usually use in a game. Although completely impractical in modern warfare, I love the yellow tasselled Red Berets, they really stand out on the table. They probably also really stood out to anyone shooting at them as well. Our rules have a basic unit as a 4 fig HQ section and 3 x 8 figure sub units. There are 4 such Carlist "Companies" in the collection.


In addition to the infantry there are some Carlist support units, here we have a HMG and an Anti Tank Gun. Also in shot are a couple of Panzer I, metal models from Empress.


Next up are the Guardia Civil, a very distinctive unit in its mid green uniform, yellow braces and rear upturned head gear, a uniform that remains largely the same today. This unit contains a few figures from the old Anglican Miniatures range which are now made by Templar Miniatures (apologies I forgot the name whilst doing the video).


A versatile unit that could be used on both sides of the fighting.


Behind them are two units of Moors. Most of these figures come from North Star, who randomly do some Moors and some International Brigades but nothing else. One of the regular gamers here Rob has quite a few of these, we needed a few more for our Jarama refight so I invested in these. The Command figures are from Templar.


Next up is a rather lovely (even if I do say so myself) mounted unit of 20 figures, gorgeous models from Empress and definitely one of my favourites from the SCW collection.


The first figures I painted for the collection were these Spanish Foreign Legion, these journeyed from Africa with Franco and the Moors at the start of the war. There are 4 units in total. Looking at the photo reminds me I never got round to putting a layer of Matt varnish on these.


These three figures are a film crew I painted up for our University City Madrid 1936 Game (note the Land and Freedom on the clapper board. It was a great fun game and I recommend you have a go at it if you play Spanish Civil War.


Also featured is the Legendary Mad Bull (see our game write ups) along with a Ernest Hemingway figure sporting a Bradford City tie.


Here is the rather random selection of motley armoured vehicles, the FT 17 holds a special place in the Yarkshire Gamer heart, it was the first thing I painted for the collection, it was also the first 28mm vehicle I'd done and those of you with very long memories will recall it was the first photograph that ever appeared on Yarkshire Gamer.


I do have some opponents in my collection, 4 units of International Brigades, the British Battalion, the American Abe Lincoln Battalion, the Canadian Mac Paps and Conolleys Irish, plus 3 supporting Maxim Guns.


I used loads of different figure manufacturers to make up the International Brigades in an attempt to get the most ragged look possible. There are Empress, North Star, Warlord WW2 Partisans, Irish Rebellion and Footsore.


The quality of the figures is just superb and it was definitely a "shiny" moment that got me into the period, but they have grown to be one of the favourite games we do here at Yarkshire Gamer.


Hopefully things will return to normal soon and these will once again grace the Yarkshire Gamer table.


So there we have the Spanish Civil War collection. I doubt our traditional WW1 Mesopotamia Christmas Game will go ahead so I will probably do a TOP feature on that collection instead.

Thanks for watching and reading, it's much appreciated. Blogs seem to be going out of fashion, in favour of the more instant Twitter, Facebook, Insta platforms and hits here are a long long way down on the highs of a few years ago, where and what I do with the blog format is something I am currently mulling over.





30 comments:

  1. Inspiring! I've long had an interest in the SCW and even went so far as to purchase a number of books (Osprey, etc) but recently sold them. Too many interests. Great looking figures and accessories. Kindest regards - Hal

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    1. It's a great period Hal, one for the future maybe

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  2. Great looking forces you have here!

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  3. Blog traffic may be down but there is no other method of so nicely presenting the hobby that I am aware of - some of the forums being a bit dicey at times. So, please maintain your blog. It will be a treasured record you can turn to in future days. Love your TOP posts. As for the YouTube postings, I suppose they are fun but a bit long of my tastes but, heck, its your blog and your channel! Few miniatures hobby blogs out there get as much traffic or as many followers as you've got so you are clearly doing a lot right.

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    1. Many thanks for the kind words, blog posts are definitely the place for big posts like this one and they tend to still do pretty well visits wise. But new unit posts are down about 75%, people preference being a quick like on Facebook and then move on. I will probably reduce the number of posts on here and put new units in the Monthly update.

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  4. I also hope you continue your blog, I don't do Facebook or twitter. All your stuff is top notch. Enjoy the youtube vids too.
    Thanks for the eye candy!

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    1. Many thanks Joseph, glad to have you on board. The blog will keep going but probably with longer round up posts, definitely for things like new units.
      Regards Ken

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  5. Stunning! I have to say I much prefer blogs as past posts are so much easier to find - FB etc are a nightmare to go back and find stuff. So may I implore you to keep going on Blogger!

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    1. Many thanks for the support, I prefer blogger too, but we are in a minority ! Yarkshire Gamer will be around for a good while yet 👍🏼

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  6. Lead Adventure Forum was my "go to" place for a long time. But activity there is greatly reduced, as compared with Facebook groups.

    One way to get a bit more mileage out of some of those SCW figures would be to use them for pulp scenarios set in the decade and a half leading up to the SCW. There were a lot of political intrigues and possible military coups. Your Carlists, Guardia Civil, and some labor unionists could be involved. I see that you are a fan of 7TV. That should work as a set of rules. Also there is Pulp Alley. These would also be good for a "For Whom the Bell Tolls" scenario.

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    1. Many thanks 👍🏼 certainly the only reason they aren't in use is Covid, we haven't been able to game here since lockdown 1. We have a big game at least once a year, the only reason they don't get used more is we have so many other things to game with. These are definitely a favourite here.

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  7. Amazing collection! Thank you for the address of the Templar site, there was a lot of interesting things 8)

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    1. Many thanks, there are some really nice figures on the Templar site, great to fill out other manufacturers stuff 👍🏼

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  8. That is a very impressive collection Ken, beautifully painted and full of character, with the flags really adding an extra something.

    As for Blogs, they are much better than Facebook posts etc, because of the level of detail you can go into. I'm not a fan of Youtube videos, much preferring to read a post, but maybe that's just me. So please carry on Blogging!

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    1. Thanks Steve, the blog readers are definitely thinning out, a big drop in readers over the last year which has been offset by a big increase in other areas.

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  9. A great looking collection!

    My blog is approaching eight years old this month. It was never very popular, but it was definitely got more hits back when Google Groups were a thing. Since then I've gone from regular triple digit views early on to a trickle.

    However, I've always considered my blog more as a personal repository that's viewable to the public, so that's no big deal. I've adapted somewhat by engaging on Instagram as an account for my club.

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    1. It is a strange phenomenon, although people are viewing stuff in different ways there was a dramatic drop around the time of the end of Google Plus.
      It's very much a personal record for me as well but with hits down 75 % on some types of post it's time for a rethink.

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  10. Oooh! That is a beautiful collection
    Cheers
    Matt

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  11. Phenomenal is the word for that collection. Beautifully done. I did dabble in 20mm SCW years ago, but it became a collection too far for my budget. I agree with the others who commented, blogs may be a little old hat by current traffic standards, but I prefer them to other media since I can find an in-depth study on the topics I favour.

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    1. Many thanks AJ, I agree and think the longer posts are what needs to go on here 👍🏼

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  12. Lovely stuff Ken and a good reminder of why I play SCW too.

    I do the Scrivsland blog as much for my amusement as for other peoples, I'm more likely to find the recipe I used for a red on some figures back in 2012 on my blog than I ever will on Facebook. It's difficult to find something I posted last month on there.

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    1. Thanks mate, blogs are such a great resource, people just seem to ask the same question over and over on FB it's like Groundhog Day !

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  13. Lovely looking collection and I have to say a really tempting period, there's so much variety and always good to have flags,on blogging it's mainly for me ,any comments are a bonus and I don't touch Facebook!
    Best Iain

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    1. Many thanks Iain, definitely an underplayed period

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  14. Superb parade comrade!
    In number and quality a wonderful sight. Must be doubly so and most pleasing for you to see them all assembled like this?
    Regards, James

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    1. Thanks James, always fun pitting a troops on Parade together 👍🏼

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  15. These are superb, don't think my own collection will get as large. I keep blogging more for my own records.

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    1. Thats why I started this blog for exactly that reason 👍

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