Keeping watch towards the disputed border, the Jagers of this watchtower scan the forest edges. These are the Jagers or border patrol for the Duchy of Reissenshein, that Forgotten Minor State of forest and mountains.
Glued on, tucked away on the hex edge, some mountain rabbitsRoof made removable with a little card retaining frame inside. Notice boards made for inside.15mm Peter Laing Jäger or Alpini figure, HO forest animals from Noch including fox with bird
Details of the two Noch sets including the Laser Cut Mini cardboard jagerstand
So much for getting a game in this morning, instead first I needed to build this old laser cut mini card kit from Noch.
Hello I'm Mark Mr MIN, Man of TIN. Based in S.W. Britain, I'm a lifelong collector of "tiny men" and old toy soldiers, whether tin, lead or childhood vintage 1960s and 1970s plastic figures.
I randomly collect all scales and periods and "imagi-nations" as well as lead civilians, farm and zoo animals. I enjoy the paint possibilities of cheap poundstore plastic figures as much as the patina of vintage metal figures.
Befuddled by the maths of complex boardgames and wargames, I prefer the small scale skirmish simplicity of very early Donald Featherstone rules.
To relax, I usually play solo games, often using hex boards. Gaming takes second place to making or convert my own gaming figures from polymer clay (Fimo), home-cast metal figures of many scales or plastic paint conversions. I also collect and game with vintage Peter Laing 15mm metal figures, wishing like many others that I had bought more in the 1980s ...
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13 thoughts on “At a Border Watchtower in one of the Forgotten Minor States”
Neat. I like how you did the diorama and had a little story to go with it. Is the background a physical thing that you set up in back of it or did you use software to put it in, because I think it is even odds to my eye for it being either. I like how it is blurred, causing the eye to focus mainly on the foreground.
Thanks Ann. All materials bought well before 1 April 2020! Hopefully I can feature this ‘jagerstand’ in a gaming scenario for the squabbles between my scrap lead Napoleonic era figures for the Minor States, much in the Gondal and Angria Bronte juvenilia style. I shall have to invent an excuse for a border dispute.
Heh, excellent! I suspect the “bought before April 1st” thing isn’t going to be too hard a requirement to fulfill; it certainly isn’t for me!
I like that backscene you used, thanks for the link. Something like that would be nice, in addition to diorama photography for taking pictures of one’s army/vast battalions versus just a couple of miniatures stuck in a small light box.
When you do a scenario, will you have rules for setting it on fire or blowing it up in some other way? I’m curious because I remember playing some game years ago where the person running the game had all of these rules for setting things on fire and even incorporated it into the victory conditions of his scenario but forgot that the way the system worked the whole skirmish would be over in a couple of minutes. So we ended up saying that instead of “burning them to the ground” yielding victory points, you merely had to set them on fire to win.
So now every time I see something like like your Soldier Stand I have to ask about setting it on fire. 🙂
Blowing things up rules are very important. Usually once an explosive device is attached (taking set turns to do so, during which such engineers are at risk of capture or death ) then a d6 is thrown to see on which turn sees it goes boom! Your own engineers might be able to defuse it but not usually in the midst of battle.
This happened recently on my desert raiders game where the Desert Commando Demolition fuse layer Pte Maitland didn’t make it but his handiwork did survive and so managed 4 turns later to blow the desert airfield fuel tanks to Kabloom!
I’ve done a bit more desert Demolition here: https://sidetracked2017blog.wordpress.com/2017/07/31/charlotte-bronte-and-lawrence-of-arabia-blow-up-trains/
That is good to know, thank you. I’ll have to look into something like that one of these days for when I want to take pictures of more models that will fit in my tiny light box.
Oh, yes, I agree, rules for blowing stuff can add a lot to a game if done well. That is pretty neat in your game that they managed to set the charge, died or whatever, and then the fuel tanks blow. Very cinematic and seems like the sort of bittersweet thing they’d do in a good war movie.
Thanks. They were part of the same gift. Hopefully the Jagers pay attention to the border and not taking potshots at wild boar.
Should also be useful for Roman games to distract Obelix …
Lovely work,all elements come together beautifully. I am very taken with the animals and watch tower. There is so much potential for us wargamer s in model railway scenery and buildings. I picked up some Faller buildings on eBay some years ago very cheaply which are filled with character, instant Germany or middle European.
Re yesterday post- when I started researching the Duchy of Tradgardland I bought Peter H Wilson’s “From reich to Revolution “ which is full of fascinating detail about how the Holy Roman Empire worked and was governed. It is an excellent read. The diversity of the states in the HRE is mind blowing..
Thanks Alan. Some job lots on EBay at moment of Faller which might interest you, a change from the over familiar Airfix railway buildings! I have had a quick scan of the Wilson title through preview Preface pages in Google books, as being a Palgrave academic book, it isn’t cheap and the libraries are sadly closed. Whilst it looks like the reason I didn’t do A level history, the maps are pretty interesting. What a glorious and confusing muddle, excellent cash opportunity for mapmakers, rough for the people who lived in areas whose rulers changed, all these nation states were.
Brilliant. Found this cartoon also on the Wikipedia entry for the featured minor state Schaumburg Lippe. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Schaumburg-Lippe
Must make some roadblocks. I have the 1:32 Airfix bridge watchtower sentry post version.
Probably the German cartoon version of the Ealing comedy Passport to Pimlico?
Some great maps on Wikipedia for Kleinstaatserei – my Minor States are definitely in there, along with Tradgardland of course.
Man of Tin blog 
That is great- really like it.
Cheers,
Pete.
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It is a neat but fiddly laser cut card kit. I think I (was) bought it as a possible ACW signal tower.
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Neat. I like how you did the diorama and had a little story to go with it. Is the background a physical thing that you set up in back of it or did you use software to put it in, because I think it is even odds to my eye for it being either. I like how it is blurred, causing the eye to focus mainly on the foreground.
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Thanks Ann. All materials bought well before 1 April 2020! Hopefully I can feature this ‘jagerstand’ in a gaming scenario for the squabbles between my scrap lead Napoleonic era figures for the Minor States, much in the Gondal and Angria Bronte juvenilia style. I shall have to invent an excuse for a border dispute.
I focussed in on the foreground and used a Peco model railway printed paper backscene on cardboard at the back, from a range quite widely used by gamers and railway modellers.
https://peco-uk.com/products/medium-country-with-river-backscene?_pos=30&_sid=7f948d30a&_ss=r
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Heh, excellent! I suspect the “bought before April 1st” thing isn’t going to be too hard a requirement to fulfill; it certainly isn’t for me!
I like that backscene you used, thanks for the link. Something like that would be nice, in addition to diorama photography for taking pictures of one’s army/vast battalions versus just a couple of miniatures stuck in a small light box.
When you do a scenario, will you have rules for setting it on fire or blowing it up in some other way? I’m curious because I remember playing some game years ago where the person running the game had all of these rules for setting things on fire and even incorporated it into the victory conditions of his scenario but forgot that the way the system worked the whole skirmish would be over in a couple of minutes. So we ended up saying that instead of “burning them to the ground” yielding victory points, you merely had to set them on fire to win.
So now every time I see something like like your Soldier Stand I have to ask about setting it on fire. 🙂
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Peco and others do photographic backscenes as well as the twee painted ones. Several companies now do them, including ones of North America. https://www.sierratoysoldier.com/ourstore/pc/Scenic-Diorama-c167.htm
And https://www.jgminiatures.com/collections
Blowing things up rules are very important. Usually once an explosive device is attached (taking set turns to do so, during which such engineers are at risk of capture or death ) then a d6 is thrown to see on which turn sees it goes boom! Your own engineers might be able to defuse it but not usually in the midst of battle.
This happened recently on my desert raiders game where the Desert Commando Demolition fuse layer Pte Maitland didn’t make it but his handiwork did survive and so managed 4 turns later to blow the desert airfield fuel tanks to Kabloom!
I’ve done a bit more desert Demolition here: https://sidetracked2017blog.wordpress.com/2017/07/31/charlotte-bronte-and-lawrence-of-arabia-blow-up-trains/
And
https://sidetracked2017blog.wordpress.com/2017/08/03/blowing-up-desert-trains-part-1/
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is good to know, thank you. I’ll have to look into something like that one of these days for when I want to take pictures of more models that will fit in my tiny light box.
Oh, yes, I agree, rules for blowing stuff can add a lot to a game if done well. That is pretty neat in your game that they managed to set the charge, died or whatever, and then the fuel tanks blow. Very cinematic and seems like the sort of bittersweet thing they’d do in a good war movie.
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The animals ar a really nice touch. I do the same in 54mm.
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Thanks. They were part of the same gift. Hopefully the Jagers pay attention to the border and not taking potshots at wild boar.
Should also be useful for Roman games to distract Obelix …
LikeLike
Lovely work,all elements come together beautifully. I am very taken with the animals and watch tower. There is so much potential for us wargamer s in model railway scenery and buildings. I picked up some Faller buildings on eBay some years ago very cheaply which are filled with character, instant Germany or middle European.
Re yesterday post- when I started researching the Duchy of Tradgardland I bought Peter H Wilson’s “From reich to Revolution “ which is full of fascinating detail about how the Holy Roman Empire worked and was governed. It is an excellent read. The diversity of the states in the HRE is mind blowing..
LikeLike
Thanks Alan. Some job lots on EBay at moment of Faller which might interest you, a change from the over familiar Airfix railway buildings! I have had a quick scan of the Wilson title through preview Preface pages in Google books, as being a Palgrave academic book, it isn’t cheap and the libraries are sadly closed. Whilst it looks like the reason I didn’t do A level history, the maps are pretty interesting. What a glorious and confusing muddle, excellent cash opportunity for mapmakers, rough for the people who lived in areas whose rulers changed, all these nation states were.
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Do you know this political cartoon-
https://www.google.com/search?q=zollverein+cartoon&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjfn8GMhPnoAhVE1uAKHaiABxgQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=zollverin+car&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQARgAMgQIABANMgYIABANEB46BAgjECc6BggAEAgQHjoCCAA6BwgjEOoCECc6BAgAEEM6CAgAEA0QBRAeOggIABAIEA0QHlDBFFjCZmCTbmgBcAB4AYABjAGIAe4ZkgEFMjQuMTKYAQCgAQGwAQU&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=jKWeXt-pE8SsgweogZ7AAQ&bih=659&biw=1024&prmd=inv&rlz=1C9BKJA_enGB615GB615&hl=en-GB#imgrc=9yff1J68zcF6jM
I used to have it up at work beside my desk as I enjoyed it so much.
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Brilliant. Found this cartoon also on the Wikipedia entry for the featured minor state Schaumburg Lippe. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Schaumburg-Lippe
Must make some roadblocks. I have the 1:32 Airfix bridge watchtower sentry post version.
Probably the German cartoon version of the Ealing comedy Passport to Pimlico?
Some great maps on Wikipedia for Kleinstaatserei – my Minor States are definitely in there, along with Tradgardland of course.
LikeLike