History, Schmistery!

[ChaosCossack]

Some great points being made. I agree with helm, dress and equipment regs go out the window the second a trooper marches or rides out barracks. I believe the further back you go, the worse that phenomenon gets.

 

[Gaudin]

T Do you see any figures "out there" that are called "Boudica, when she's a Teenager"??? No, I dont think so.

Since they did young Indiana Jones, I doubt anything is impossible

 

[Gaudin]

Some great points being made. I agree with helm, dress and equipment regs go out the window the second a trooper marches or rides out barracks.

True. But there is also a "glamourised" side to it, be it Victorian romanticism or Holywood or Repin's paintings etc that is now so deeply ingrained that some people are not prepared to let go

There are certain things that would a) have never happened b) very unlikely to have happened (* According to currently available evidence ) - as served by earlier example with the flag and Grenadiers.

And learning about the details is one of the most enjoyable things in this hobby, beside the joys of brushes and clay

 

[ChaosCossack]

I find the research and background a huge and interesting part of the hobby, but you can drive yourself crazy too. Five sources can give four and a half different answers to the same question, be it events or uniformology. You have to sometimes make an educated guess on something that happened hundreds of years ago. The source of the source, obscurity and age of the subject make researching an exercise in eliminating the outlandish and best guessing at a probable answer.
I don't believe we can come up with a perfect right answer to things that happened before the advent of photography and on the spot journalism.

But it's fun to try

Colin

 

[ChaosCossack]

If I might make one last observation, personal opinion really, about this topic and our hobby...
For me, it's trying to find a middle ground between reality and aesthetics. If we painted our figs exactly as they were, we'd be stuck with earth tones and blood... not very pleasing to the eye. In contrast, making every fig in parade square trim isn't terribly realistic.
Finding that balance between harsh reality and romantic notion, while still creating an image that depicts a recognizable uniform of a specific unit in the context of a historical event is what I, and I imagine many others, strive to achieve... with varying degrees of success.

That's my two cents worth of sweet F all

Colin

 

[Ray Stout]

Quite right Colin, for me, no-body portrayed your ideas better than Richard Scollins in his illustrations, a sad loss to the hobby. Ray