As I am late with only the 2nd ever Blog for Lead Army I ought to be creative about it. I could try to hide behind the Russian Church's use still of the Julian Calendar....13 days behind the Western, Gregorian calendar. It might be more truthful to say that the flu/cold/whatever I caught conferring with the Lead Army team in NYC in Dec has taken this long to heal. In any case, my apologies for a late start on January.

Actually, the 13 days difference has been an historical item for a very long time. As the calendars continue to slowly drift further apart due to an imperfect leap year computation in the Julian calendar this will be around for quite some time to come. In the Napoleonic era the two were closer together but somehow Russia's Western allies, like the Austrians, often just didn't 'get it'. The 1805 campaign was one of the worst with armies wandering about the countrysides with completely different meeting dates in mind and thinking that the date was certain!! And, frankly, having been too sick to appreciate Dec 31st I have been cheered that Jan 12th is coming up so I have not totally missed New Year's Eve. I don't know what the neighbors will think, but I will at least celebrate finally when Russian "Old New Year's" is here.

One thing which my NYC trip emphasized for me. The figures are simply much more attractive in real life than in a photo. And Sergei is very particular to try to get the photos as good as they possibly can be of Lead Army's offerings. Even so they really can't do justice to seeing these works of art up close and personally. Now that we are filling in the gaps at the Gettysburg venue there will be at least 2 locations where the Lead Army imports may be viewed live and in person.

For years I have joked to customers about some of the problems with dealing with former Socialist artists. Among those jokes was to point out that many shield patterns show up differently on the same figure. For example, 2422, Crossbow man with Pavise. Simple, very traditional, very historic item. EXCEPT that when I was in NYC and looked at the stock of them there were 11 different crests on the shields!!! Why? Because it really IS true that real artists do get bored painting the same thing more than once or twice. So, to relieve the boredom the artist assigned to that shipment was a little inventive in his intpretation of his assignment. One might say 'typical artist' or similar, but it is still a truth.

So, how can this benefit our customers?? Well, certainly where these pavises are concerned if you have a standard type crest which you want on your crossbowman, write to us. It may be possible to have one of these in fairly quick order, or at least to get it into a production que for the future.

At the moment I recall seeing the same archer with crests/badges for: Single headed eagle, double headed eagle, red lion rampant, Yellow Lion rampant and others. While we are going to attempt to standardize the figures with the photos in the website, this is, after all, art. And artistic license and interpretatation are what give life to these figures unlike any from an assembly line decal/transfer based production.

I guess if there were to be a moral to this blog it is that you must be careful what you joke about as it may come true and home to haunt you as well! May your winter be mild and may Lead Army help to amuse you throughout 2012 Charlie Tarbox Jan 2012

View item page

A Holiday Book Recommendation from Lead Army

The nice thing about beginning a Blog for Lead Army in December is that Christmas Gifts can be recommended. And, with that in mind I am going to suggest THE WARRIOR OF ROME book series by Professor H. Sidebottom. (yes, his real name). Professor Sidebottom is an Oxford University Classics professor who decided he wanted to write historical fiction. As it happens he is very good at it as well as being a terrific military history scholar. The result is the now 4 volume Warrior of Rome series either in paperback or hardcover.

View this item
Why is this of any interest to anyone involved with Lead Army? Well, if for no other reason than the books have a lot to do with the fighting between the Roman Empire and the Sassanid Persians. It just so happens that Lead Army already has one Sassanid military figure for you in its inventory for you once you become deeply interested in the characters from the book series. We have our Persian Cataphract 259 AD who is almost straight out of the story! The figure's plate metal on cloth for his horse and combination mail and plate for himself are the classic Cataphract. Reading book II of the series, King of Kings you will see in your mind cataphracts in their frightening glory.

We hope in the future to bring you more figures from this colorful and exciting period of Empires and societies in collision. The Roman Empire's Eastern frontier was for several decades a cauldron of invasion, revolt, Imperial reaction and more. Exciting Queens, Heroic Emperors and Kings...its all there. In all likelihood by this time next year there will be a line of Late Roman figures and their enemies available from Lead Army

Excuses to celebrate in December other than the obvious...

Naturally the Christmas season brings many occasions to celebrate with friends. But, as a fancier of military history you may be allowed a few other occasions on which you might have a special 'lunch with the guys' or pick a special restaurant for an evening date.

Dec 2nd, 1804 was, of course, the Coronation of Napoleon the 1st of France. The celebration was one designed to be a lavish affair and had special uniforms and costumes for all attending. In fact, several of our miniature Marshals of Napoleon are seen in their 'Court Dress' which was designed for the coronation.

Oddly enough, one year later on the very same date Napoleon's army deliberately celebrated the coronation by giving Napoleon his cleverest victory, Austerlitz!! So, the day might be celebrated with a French wine, either worthy of the Marshals or more modestly worthy of a grenadier in the ranks. But the occasion to go looking for a French Bistro for lunch or a Restaurant for a night out presents itself to you.

Should you miss the chance, on the 3rd you might remember the 'Presentation of the Eagles'..yet another spectacularly organized and stage managed by Marshal Berthier and the Emperor, the day following the coronation. Naturally you don't have to take along your miniature Berthier to lunch, but he would approve of your remembering after all these years.

And, if your tastes don't include a French theme for lunch, perhaps on Dec 4th you might celebrate St. Barbara's day as she is the Patron Saint of Artillery. This allows you to just offer a toast regardless of cuisine as even the US Army has an 'Order of St. Barbara' for its artillerymen of note today.

During the year we, here at Lead Army, hope to bring you some more dates that might offer a reasonable excuse to lighten up your day with a celebration which you might otherwise miss. So may you have the happiest of Decembers and may your Holidays be full of cheer.