Gradually getting there

I'm still struggling with my ennui, but I'm gradually breaking out of it ... I hope!

One thing I have done is to take a long look at some stuff that David Crook gave to me the last time we met, and which has been languishing in a bag since he did. It contains a number of items, including quite a few figures from the collection of the late Eric Knowles.

Assorted vehicles

A useful collection of vehicles from the DAYS GONE range, including two vans, two petrol tankers, a pantechnicon, and a bus. Just the sort of vehicles an under-equipped army might requisition and use to give their troops some mobility.

Tribesmen in turbans

These twenty-four Minifig Colonial figures look as if they are Pathan tribesmen from the North West Frontier of India.. There are enough of them to form a number of PORTABLE WARGAME units, and they may well end up seeing service in a variety of areas of the wargaming world where the locals wear turbans and long, flowing robes.

Different tribesmen in turbans

Unlike the previous Minifig Colonial figures, these twenty-eight figures look like they might be Mahdists. There are enough of them to form several PORTABLE WARGAME units, and they are also likely to end up as generic tribesmen in turbans and long robes. The inclusion of four figures with swords (obviously leaders of some sort) makes this group of figures even more useful.

Japanese or Chinese armed peasants(?)

At first glance I thought that these early Minifig figures were armed Japanese peasants, but having looked closely at the way Eric has painted them, they may well have been intended to form part of a Boxer or Taiping army. The inclusion of what looks like a number of gun crew (possibly four) would imply that any PORTABLE WARGAME army they formed part of would be very artillery heavy.

Converted US Cavalry, wearing fezes(?)

These Minifig cavalry look as if they started life as US Cavalry wearing tall shakos ... but Eric seems to have removed the peaks to turn them into fezes. He may have intended them to form part of a late nineteenth century Ottoman army ... but whatever his intent, they could be used to form several PORTABLE ARMY units.

I can see so much potential in the above ... but at present I seem to have so many projects that I want to work on (or at least finish), I'm not sure when I will get around to using them.