Wednesday 29 April 2020

The Ongoing Civil War

It has been a busy week. Last Wednesday was the first day back after my forced holiday and straight into redundancy discussions. 

Saturday was ANZAC Day (our Remembrance Day) and with all the social distancing regulations all remembrance services were cancelled and instead we were asked to stand in silence at our gates at dawn. In out little street of maybe 20 houses I think every household participated. We stood there in silence at 06:00 on a cold morning as the sun rose while from the local Returned Serviceman’s Association hall, maybe a mile and a half away, the notes of the Last Post echoed eerily between the houses. It was a strange yet moving moment.

Between the redundancy talks and ANZAC day I have managed to push through three more ACW units.  First is a Confederate gun set. I really like these plastic gun sets. The variety of poses you can get by mixing and matching arms and bodies is superb and the resulting sets look so natural.






Next is a Confederate infantry unit


And finally a Union regiment from the original Perry plastic set. While this set is excellent, the later sets have just become better and better. I am a huge fan.


16 comments:

  1. That is a stirring tribute on ANZAC Day. Your new ACW recruits are all fab but the gun and crew are my favorites. The airline industry has been hit especially hard during the pandemic. Voluntary Layoffs were announced at my company last week. With a handsome severance package, I just may jump...

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    1. The voluntary severance offered was not quite enough for me with a plan of another three years of work. I have taken a voluntary salary cut, but a third of my team is gone and in some associated teams half are going. In some of the corporate roles the casualty rate is much greater. It is going to be a very long road to recovery for aviation.

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  2. Great work and I really like that Confederate regiment. Sorry to hear about the redundancy talks, and I was trying to mentally calculate how long you said you had to go. I have a close friend who is a Virgin and had been stood down, but I think they will need him now they are under administration. Grim times, and yet certain industry sectors are booming. Very much a case of being in the right spot.

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    1. Yes I like the Confederates too. Thankfully my position is safe for now but one I had to let one go today who I had worked with for 20 years. I think I made a serious career choice error some years ago, should have been a grocer!

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    2. Yes, but some of those Brussels sprouts can become a bit unruly.

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    3. I agree...you only have ti look at Brexit for that...according to some it was all the fault of Brussels.

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  3. Nice work on the figures Mark. Tough times ahead in aviation and hospitality I think, but hopefully there will be some bounce back if we get an ANZAC bubble and you can recover some of your salary and colleagues?

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  4. Well done Mark, lovely infantry units (especially the confederates one imho), flags...and great looking artillery!

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  5. Splendid stuff Mark...
    There’s a nice visual contrast between The North and The South...
    We certainly live in strange and uncertain times at the moment... if only I had thought to invest in toilet roll...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thank Aly. In some ways I think that it is that contrast that drew me to the Paraguayan War where the BrazilIans and Argentines have great uniforms while the Paraguayans make do.

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  6. Nice work on the troops and like everyone, I agree with you that the artillery are especially nice. As Lawrence pointed out, some sectors ARE booming...we had MASSIVE freight volumes on Tuesday, bigger than December pre Chritmas. Of course, this creates its own problems...we are likely to have late freight all this week at least. I must admit though, I have never felt any danger of my job disappearing. We have done a month on 80% salary and in May it's to be 90% and we have to take two day leave, paid or unpaid, our choice. But we actually have to take the days off! Amy has a flight to CHC on Friday and she also had two days home standby this week so at least she is earning a bit more than the govt subsidy!

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    1. That artillery pack is particularly nice. I haven’t left the house since we moved down a level but have noticed the increase in traffic even in our cul de sac...couriers, lawn mowing contractors, rubbish collections , etc...more than in the previous five weeks.

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  7. Nice job on the army, it is growing quickly. I know the later Perry stuff became more refined and dynamic in the later boxes, but after recently gluing up the newer confederates with their two arms to the weapon, I was glad that my next box was the original chunkier set that already has both arms on the weapon.

    As for the other! Worrying times for many and more change to lives globally in such a short time than many have ever been faced with.

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    1. Thanks Norm. I agree about the two attached, but I do like the right shoulder shift figures and suspect that a larger percentage of the remaining 10 regiments may be in this pose. I must admit though that I am getting a bit bored painting ACW figures at the moment and need some variety. I see that the Perrys are open for business again so some Paraguayan War figures may be under way soon.

      Yes who would have thought in our lifetime that we would be in this situation. I sure wish in a position to retire now because I don’t know if I have the energy that is going to be needed to get things up to speed. Alas retirement is planned for 2023 and finances planned accordingly.

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