The View From The Tent And Polka Dot Purple Fezian Matchlock Men.

For those not especially interested in kangaroos, tents and scenery, let alone my personal ramblings ignore the following and scroll down to the toy soldier part.

CAMPING

I was brought up with camping, so it is an annual Summer, pilgrimage for me.

Today I returned from a six day camping trip in a national park just over an hour drive from my home. The part of the trip through the park was on a dirt road. The road was okay but the tracks into the camping sites could be hairy. In fact, I managed to get stuck in a rut. (How I wish I still had my all- wheel drive). Anyhow, some young fellows, camped there, tried to get me out but that didn't work so I asked a likely bloke with a four-wheel drive and, sure enough, he winched me out fairly quickly. I like to get-away from people, but it is sure good to have someone else around in a crisis.

This particular camp site is free, and sites are generally at least 50 meters apart, or, in quiet times 100 or so meters. Most of the time I didn't see anyone else.

Below is my camp site with nifty fireplace and a lot of hoppers.

                                 Here is a stretch of the river I photographed when doing a day walk.

                                     Here is part of the walk track. Even though the temperatures were high 20s (C) to low 30s there was always shade to be had.

             Here is another stretch of the river and one of my favorite swimming spots. Some 4-wheel drives actually drive through the shallows to get to the track on the other side.

                                                                                    Ditto

         My tent. The zip broke but fortunately flies and mossies were not in plague numbers. The flies did show up for dinner on the third day and one of them showed his prowess for backstroke in my drink.

   I built a fire on two nights and roasted potatoes in them. Otherwise I used a gas stove or ate food that didn't need cooking, like tinned fish, salad and fruit..

Unfortunately, I didn't have a zoom lens. When I finally had some great close shots of a joey the battery cut out in the camera. The male roo was enormous, and I wouldn't want to tangle with him, but generally the kangaroos just backed off when anyone came near. There are stories of them attacking people if they think they are rival males.

                 A few uncomfortable things happened. Once I drove to an upper part of the river and swam back to my camp site. The problem was I had to get the car and had left my sandals there. I walked bare foot back to the car and was stung, on the toe, by a bee. Fortunately, I got the sting and poison sac out, so the swelling diminished next day.

 What else? Oh yeah, on one of my swims I swam into a log, hitting, quite hard, my head and shoulder. (That has nothing to do with the color scheme I chose for my new unit I brought to the camp site). I have been swimming in rivers for decades and have never been injured. Fortunately, I just got a bit of a shock, some facial grazes and a sore shoulder, this time.

  Then there was my bush walk. I have some knee issues and I was pleased that a knee strap enabled me to walk some six or seven ks, through rugged bushland without too much discomfort. I tool a day pack with water, food, an emergency plastic survival sleeping bag among other emergency stuff but it was a very light pack. But here's the thing; the track through the bush had become massively overgrown and soon I didn't know if I was following a wombat track or the real one. In the end I completely lost the trail so I climbed up the side of the gully through plenty of prickles and sword grass - one recommendation, don't hold on to sword grass to get one's balance. Ouch! It was thick terrain and some time before I reached the ridge and a 4-wheel drive track which I followed back to the clearer spot by the river and back to base camp.

                                                           THE BEE STING REGIMENT

I don't always take toy soldiers to paint as I like to have all my paints and work bench to work from. It turned out I was missing a couple of paints I needed so I still have not painted the brass bits. However, the camping trip has given me the idea for a flag; it is going to have the Fezian crescent AND a bee. That would probably be blasphemous for a Muslim army, but my Fezians just have Islamic trappings: they actually worship the Moon, like some Middle Eastern pre Isam and pre-Christian pagans. It will also forever make an association with this unit and my trip!

   BELOW: The matchlock men on the ancient (1960s) tea tray under my annex.

        Now the shocking bit: they have polka dots! Ok. it is a fantasy army so I can do what I want but guess what? Units of warriors, at various times in history did have polka dots! There was an Aztec unit of priests that had black one-piece suits with white polka dots and also on their conical hats. The one that influenced me here were some 18th century Indian sepoys who, minus the purple jerkins, had a very similar style and color scheme. The actual pinkish main color I used was Warlord Purple from Game Color acrylics.

 I am not entirely happy with the turbans so I am going to add lighter blue dry brushing and then a coat of blue glaze as I consider the dark blue wash to be too stark and too dark. I like these blokes in their 'pyjamas' and I am looking forward to seeing them in Mat's armies as the battle my Beersteiners.

  I'll base these as I have based my other ECW figures, on terrain covered card with most on one or two figure bases but with also some four figure ones.

 I really like these Call to arms ECW soldiers. They not only paint up nicely for ECW but also lend themselves to conversions like this. Apart from their use as Fezians they could be used as sepoys or Indian princely state armies. They would probably, though, be pre 18th century but who knows with delayed technology. Another use would be Chinese matchlock men right up to and including the Boxer Rebellion. They could have turbans too, or more typical Chinese headgear. The method of carrying the powder charges was different though - more like large cartridges on the waist belt.

   CONCLUSION

That was six days without Internet, telephone (no reception), TV and minimal human interaction, The best part was not hearing my neighbor's bloody garden power tools or his yappy dogs. I did cheat a little as occasionally I turned on the car radio for a few minutes to hear the weather and the latest real war news from Ukraine.

  I am catching up on Internet stuff now, but I didn't miss it much. Instead, I managed to read Wilbur Smith's River God and didn't want to put it down. What a great storyteller he is, and I am reading all original four books in this ancient Egyptian series. I also found two more additional ones linked to the original series.

  I also made progress writing up my army lists for the next fantasy campaign as well as painting this new regiment, all whilst listening to kookaburras and the gurgling river rapids.