Take some time to scan the image of the red horseman. How the time flies. There was a time that tales of gallant revolutionaries charging across the steppes were my heroes too. Everything about this period seemed to be both heroic and tragic. You had the surrounded infant Soviet regime accomplishing great military feats. There was all the heroism of an earlier period but there, gnawing at the back of your mind, was the knowledge that it was all to end in the gulag and death. You must read the accounts of Trotsky’s new horsemen to believe their exploits ( and even when being captured they went into captivity singing the Internationale, in the Russo-Polish War at least!)

It’s funny how the gaze of wargamers, and wargames manufactures, seem to alight on the most unlikely of periods. The miniatures in this post were originally for the Back of Beyond campaign set in interwar Central Asia. Now there’s a diverse bunch- Japanese imperialists, Chinese warlords, Mongols and Tibetans and sadistic White and Red fanatics. Will I ever expand the collection? For now it’s a definate maybe but all I can say is, not this year……

I always love Mark Copplestone’s sculpts- so chunky and full of character. A joy to paint but I never did hit upon a set of rules. Yet another victim of my goldfish like attention span. Thanks for joining me again- ACW painting and that competition entry over the weekend.