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Yours sincerely. . .

. . . Donald Featherstone. Yes, I had a second very nice letter waiting in the mail for me from Mr. Donald Featherstone this afternoon! And he is interested in learning more about the Old School Wargaming Yahoo group. So, I guess I’ll just have to send another letter, explaining some more about all of us to him and supply the weblink. Wouldn’t it be neat to add Mr. Featherstone to our ranks at OSW? Funny the possibilities that come about when one revives the apparently lost art of letter writing.

As far as painting goes, I managed to get in a couple of hours on those last nine Spencer Smith cavalry. Just the faces and green bases so far, but they look more alive now than was the case a week ago. Tomorrow, it’s on to the white wigs, gauntlets, shoulder straps, and saddle cloth edges plus the tape on the tricorned hats.

On a humorous note, our cat “Rannveig” sat at my right elbow early this evening watching my every move with the paint brush. At one point, she stretched out an arm and rested her paw on my shoulder, withdrawing it when I looked at her and quietly said, “No”. A little later, she put her forepaws on my shoulder and stood up, looking into my face as I continued painting. Another “No” from me. Again, she sat back. Finally, she got bored and went away somewhere. Who knows? Maybe she thought that she was assisting. What goes on in the minds of felines?

Comments

Bluebear Jeff said…
After I've primed figures, the first thing I block in is the flesh . . . and you are right, it really starts to bring them "alive".

Pete IS coming over to paint, so the time you suggested to call won't do . . . not that there's any great hurry.

I hope to finish "converting" the painting on one infantry and two cavalry units and . . .

. . . and to be tricky. Since Pete is getting more of his troops finished, he needs fewer of mine to flesh out his forces . . . so I'm going to re-flag some extra standard-bearers so that they have Saxe-Bearstein standards.

They will STILL have some Stagonian standards (which can serve in Pete's army as Norden troops), but they will give me some flexibility to field a large force for Saxe-Bearstein if necessary.

Later this year it will get warm enough to prime my RSMs and then I can start in on my "real troops" . . . but for now these give me something to play with.


-- Jeff
Der Alte Fritz said…
The cat was probably thinking about starting her own 18th Century state called the Grand Duchy of Catalonia.
MurdocK said…
The cat was looking for your 'remote' switch.

Failing to find it on two tries the cat chose to go back to the TV remote....
Fitz-Badger said…
lol
My cat's favorite sleeping spot is my painting desk chair. There's no room on the desk itself!
...if my cats are anything to go by, yours was hungry... :o))
That would indeed be marvelous to have Mr. Featherstone join us on the group. Pass on to him our best wishes either way. I was just outbid on a handful of his works this weekend on Ebay. ;)
guy said…
I'm sure you are aware that years ago, Mr Featherstone produced a magazine called Wargames Newsletter. I was still a schoolboy when this was produced and I wasn't really aware of its existance (and I also didn't have the money to buy it!)but some years later I bought a pile of about 50 of these magazines somewhere. Facinating stuff and a goldmine of ideas, reviews and editorials. Some of the articles were subsequently reprinted in MWAN.

I'm still looking for a copy of his Campaigns book at a reasonable price. I think the Japanese have a term called Living Treasure. Certainly in my book, Mr Featherstone justifies such a term in the wargaming community.

Regards,
Guy
Conrad Kinch said…
Wow! A letter from Donald Featherstone. Kudos indeed Stokes old chap!
johnpreece said…
It is great to know Mr Featherstone is still taking an active interest in wargaming. I wouldn't hold your breath for him to join the group. As far as I know he has no truck with computors and still writes things out in the old iron framed typrwriter he has used for 40 years.

A really nice man and finally getting the respect and admiration he deserves.

The letter can be used to over awe opponents in you wargames room for years to came.

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