New Purchases...There was a Sale at Hobby Lobby!

Hello everyone!

Today I drove about an hour from where I live to Paducah on business. Its one of the largest cities in the region, and also happens to be the home of a Hobby Lobby. Of course, I had to drop by and check things out when I was done with my meeting. I managed to come home with a few things, and got a couple of deals to boot!

Terrain

Toob is a funny word.

 I found this "Toob" of trees while there and picked them up to use for terrain. There were 10 in the toob, 9 of which were usable (there aren't very many palm trees in Europe!) and they average about 2 1/2 inches in height, perfect for 15mm figures. Plus, they are already painted, and won't shed a bunch of flocking like Woodland Scenics trees do.

Trees, ready to go!

Figures

I also picked up two packs of 1/72 plastic figures, both of which were on clearance for $3.59 each! The price was too good to pass up, even if they weren't exactly right for Napoleonic wargaming. I will however be able to shoehorn a few of the figures into some of my existing projects.

Lewis & Clark

This set is the most closely related to the Napoleonic time frame, as the Lewis and Clark expedition lasted from 1804 to 1806. Unfortunately, even though both Lewis and Clark were soldiers, none of the figures in this set are wearing any type of military uniform, just 'frontier' garb: fringed shirts, broad brimmed hats, and one fellow is even wearing a coonskin cap!

The set comes with members of the Corps of Discovery, some boats, baggage, horses, two teepees and a bunch of Native Americans. Unfortunately, even though the set has a bunch of figures, only a few are usable as they are; I'm sure some of the others will find uses for conversions.

All of the figures from the Lewis and Clark set suitable 'as is.'

American soldiers/Corps of Discovery: I will use these guys as volunteer American riflemen from the Battle of New Orleans. There were three regiments of Tennessee volunteers and four regiments of Kentucky riflemen at New Orleans.

Native Americans: These will also be used for New Orleans. A force of friendly Choctaw riflemen anchored the American flank during the battle. Unfortunately most of the Native Americans in the set are wearing clothing associated with the Plains Indians, not the Eastern Woodlands like the Choctaws.

Extras: a string of pack horses and a campfire. The packhorses will probably serve in the British or Spanish baggage trains, and the campfire will be used in terrain.



American Western Settlers

This set I picked up mainly because the price was right. I bought this same set many many moons ago--in fact, I used part of it for my Spanish Artillery Limber--and while there really aren't a whole lot of figures appropriate for Napoleonic wargaming, there is a bunch of other useful stuff in the set which makes it handy.

The whole set.

Probably the most useful part of the whole set, the pair of Conestoga wagons. Even though they are quite clearly Conestogas, I think that it will be pretty easy to convert them into Napoleonic supply wagons. One will more than likely be French, because I already have some 1/72 French wagon drivers at hand.

The other sprue. The animals may or may not be useful for terrain pieces, while a few of the settlers themselves can probably be converted to resemble Spanish peasants by removing a few of the obvious late 19th Century clothing items.

 Well, that pretty much sums things up. I was really pleased that I was able to pick up the figures on sale; you don't come across stuff like that every day. I'm glad I dropped by Hobby Lobby while I was in town!

Coming soon:

The last Spanish field piece, and another stand of 3e Hussars. I will finish them one day, I promise!

Questions, comments and criticisms are always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for looking!

Chuck