The earthquake in Christchurch on February 22, though merely a gentle reminder of the forces of nature, especially in comparison to what Japan has gone through recently, was still no light ordeal for many people. Although my home and family have come through OK, it has been a matter of luck as much as anything else.
Here are a couple of places in our neighbourhood that took a big hit.
Meanwhile, I had been waiting since November for my 7 boxes of Wargames Factory Marlburian Infantry, wondering whether they would arrive - what with one thing and another and a few other things besides. But at last they have arrived!
They've been worth the wait: very fine crisp figures, no flash worth mentioning, nicely detailed. I had planned on the standard 36-figure battalion per box, but I found that what you get allows you a great deal of flexibility in designing armies. The 7 boxes I asked for could be done up as 7x36-figure battalions; 9x28-figs ; 12x21-figs; 14x18-figs; 18x14-figs or 21x12-figs. How to decide? Then of course there's the possibility of 6x42-figure regiments; 4x63; 3x84; a couple of 126-figure units, or even (somebody's bound to do this somewhere on the planet) a single 252-figure battalion. Wow!
I was very, very tempted to go the Kingdom of Katzenstein way and create 12-figure regiments. Twenty-one of those would mean a substantial sort of army. I'm not overfond of resisting temptation, but decided upon a scheme which combined two options. The following pictures show Option 1: the 36-figure battalion.
With a command element of two officers, two drummers and two flags; this unit can be split into two smaller battalions of 18 figures, thus: Option 2.
Well, that's something to go on with for the next few weeks or so. I think I'll do them as Imperialists - plenty of variety in uniform colours, with white, grey, green blue and light blue coats...