Friday 26 July 2019

HUSSAR HUSSAR HUSSAR!

'Napoleons Hussar's 1815' are in position on the WarGameVault ready for immediate purchase & worldwide digital dispatch!

The original pencils for this unit go back to February 2016 but it was not until May 2019 that the paintings were begun.  For extra power I wanted this unit to be fully 'You-Walkerloo' so each figure is a portrait soldier.  My neighbours and their young sons modelled for the dismounted skirmishers and via Facebook I recruited participation of some old good friends for the mounted troopers.  But how was I to choose which of Napoleon's Hussar regiments to depict - they all have such fantastic colour combinations!



The exclusive decision was averted when I realised the Battle Of Walkerloo needed a new specialist army.   Wishing to achieve enhanced internet capability I have begun a fantasy-historical 'Google Army' to be formed in parallel with succeeding units.   I don't know how this new model army will lend strategic or tactical advantage but I follow poetic hunches when I feel the need - so is the Battle Of Walkerloo.

After painstaking digital manipulation of the scanned paintings a 'Provisional Google Hussar' pretend historic unit was hastily composed, printed, cut out and sent in to action.   The paper soldiers were mounted and hand made in the St.Aubin-sur-mer art gallery solo-show of longtime Walkerloo ally Artiste-Ouvrier.  This construction was witnessed by the visiting public. The photos below were taken of the top secret objective reconnaissance mission that was executed elsewhere in Normandy later that day. 




They show a Walkerloo veteran French general and British Artillery officer inspecting objectives escorted by the freshly made Provisional You-Walkerloo Google hussars.  Do you see what I see?

Making the Google troops involved time consuming digital subdivision of the scanned paintings.  But once the virtual levels are done making further use of the manipulations has gifted this Hussar Print-fantry Unit 5 historic variations to complement the 2 new pretend ones - all are ready for real pretend action!













Thursday 25 July 2019

On Maneuvers


Elite You-Walkerloo portrait soldiers  pictured on manoeuvres in the garden in training for a secret mission.  This is the first time Google Panto Horse corporate beasts have been seen tamed and ridden. If one is making obscure models of the world in the world for wider effect and your black cat wants in I believe one should prosper by it - all pictures are a kind of magic.   

These paper soldiers are hand made portrait troopers (1:27 lucky number scale).  I'm portrayed in the civi-clothed pointer. A paper soldier constructed from a painting made from the photo of me pretending to be a soldier for my real toy soldier army (used as the tone/expression model for the British General in my original [2008] and the subsequent Russian [2012] Waterloo Walkerloo paper soldier productions).   Our Davey leads the charge of  Napoleon's Polish Guard Lancer troopers which includes a niece, a nephew, a sister-in-law, an auntie and a good friend.  For realism some had to be moustached.

Wednesday 10 July 2019

The Battle of Walkerloo Facebook Encampmant

In 2011 I began to make paper soldiers that were not wholly related to historic war.  These forces were conceived as participants for the contemporary real pretend war that is the Battle of Walkerloo (see Chinese coal miners and Google Panto horse corporate beasts).  I completed yet did not publish a depiction of Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg as Pharaoh Ramses II leading a chariot army at Kadesh/Qadesh.  Photos of my prototype model were published on Flickr in 2012 and have been seen over a thousand times. Why Zuckerberg as Pharaoh?  Even back then he seemed to be garnering godlike personal power over the human story - I had better get him in mine.


Just before publishing this set a professor of history e-mailed admiration for my work.  A specialist of ancient warfare he agreed to cast a critical eye over my next release.  The professors one criticism was that the skin tone of my Egyptian warriors was almost certainly too pale for Nile inhabitants of that period. ARGGGGHH - I always try to maintain an historical accuracy but there was no easy remedy to change all the warrior skin tones - especially for the complicated pdf layouts I'd spent days creating.  Apart from the Flickr image of my prototype models Pharaoh Zuck and his war chariots were shelved - until now!


In preparation for a bold new offensive in the Battle Of Walkerloo I patrol the social media site for paper soldier intelligence.  Facebook mediates a virtual turf for its own ends but the convenience of the platforms monopoly is all seductive.  With my updated model as a PDF vanguard I opened the Battle Of  Walkerloo Fb page and the Battle Of Walkerloo Fb group.   Members of this group have access to the Zuckerberg Pharaoh Printafntry model in Facebook corporate colours.  Come join 'us' deep inside the belly of the beast... Pharaoh Mark Is our protector.