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Wednesday, June 17, 2020

US Marines, Cuba 1898

While rummaging around in The Lead Pile to come up with the two bags of US commanders painted recently, I found a handful of US Marines.  Before returning back to work on the Hittites, fourteen US Marines for the Spanish-American War muster off the painting desk.  Figures are 25mm Old Glory. 
Included in one of the mounted officer packs was a mounted marine.  Now, the marine contingent will have one of its own to lead them into battle.  As always, the Old Glory SAW range is a good one.  With simple uniform, the figures can be painted and fielded with little effort.  When my seven-year old grandson saw the figures on the painting desk, he identified them as policemen.  You know, these could be used as either cops or even prison guards from the 20s and 30s in a Pulp setting.
Also surfaced in the dig through The Lead Pile were several more packs of SAW infantry.  One bag contained Spanish infantry in sun helmet.  At least 30 of these figures are already present and ready for duty in their white tropical uniform.  While looking up some other matter on the SAW the other day, I came upon the illustration below:
The work by Murat Halstead is entitled, The Last Stand of the Spanish Garrison in Cuba.  From my readings, the Spanish typically wore the tropical whites or rayadillo in Cuba.  If this particular foreign service uniform was worn in Cuba, this would add a lot of color to a Spanish army in Cuba.  Expect to see some Spanish infantry in blue tunic and red pants one day.

Ok, back to the Hittites.  

46 comments:

  1. Unusual and superb, handsome unit!

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  2. Very nice work as always Jonathon, I certainly recognise several of the OG poses from my British Boer War figures!

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    1. Thanks, Keith! I wondered if some of these poses would look familiar to you.

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  3. Nice paint job Jonathan. I like your grandson's comment about them looking like police. Maybe the SAW was a "Police Action"? I agree that the uniform was white / rayadillo (blue ticking) from what I can remember from the uniforms on display at the Spanish army museum. Cheers Greg

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    1. Thank you, Greg! I was surprised when he said they looked like police. Observant little fellow!

      I remember looking very closely at the Spanish uniforms on display in Toledo and taking careful notes.

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  4. Nice work there on the Marines Jonathan- well done indeed. I tried to do SAW some years ago in 15mm and gave up- 25mm Old Glory looks just great...need to wait for the bug to bite! Cheers. KEV.

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    1. Glad you like them, KEV! The Old Glory SAW figures are superb. Keep watching and perhaps that bug will bite?

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  5. As always a lovely paint job on these very nice sculpts. I would love to see a colourful Spanish unit as per the illustration; a great way to repesent elite or raw troops visually when on the table.

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    1. Much appreciated, Steve! I agree that seeing Spanish fitted out in the foreign service uniform would look great on the table. Good idea about using these to denote some special troops when whether especially good or especially bad.

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  6. Lovely work, and your grandson is quite correct as they look like they could have walked off the set of The Green Mile.

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    1. Thank you, Lawrence! Theses fellows could fit into many prison guard situations over many years. Green Mile is a good example of where they could show up.

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  7. As usual excellent figures, those Spaniards would make a nice unit.

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    1. Thank you, George! Fielding Spanish in that colorful uniform is very tempting.

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  8. Another step forward in your SAW project. Hope to see them in action soon!

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    1. One step forward, for sure. I have the table laid out. Now, I need to decide on a set of rules and get busy.

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  9. Splendid stuff as usual. I totally get your grandson’s comment.

    ‘What’s that noise?’ ‘There’s a riot going on. In cellblock number nine.”

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    1. You are very kind! Perhaps I ought to consider some Pulp gaming with these figures?

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  10. Very dynamic poses. The two shades of blue work very well together, though I think it is the spacing and basing that adds the real success to this unit.

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    1. Old Glory are well known for dynamic poses. Thank you for your kind words!

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  11. Another nice unit.....but a period/conflict I know very little about 🤔

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    1. Thanks, Matt! The SAW was a short conflict, inspired by the media, with a number of larger than life characters. Roosevelt’s Rough Riders would provide a good introduction and introspection on TR himself. It’s a quick read too.

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    1. Here he is!
      http://palousewargamingjournal.blogspot.com/2020/06/us-officers-saw-1898.html

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  13. You’re lead pile is a veritable spring of miniatures. Constantly giving up the goodness. 😀

    Nice painting on the miniatures as usual.

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    1. Stew, you would not believe the depth and breadth of my pile of figures. Sometimes, it is depressing...

      Glad you like the work on the marines!

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  14. "There is a fellow by the name of Rowan. He will find Garcia for you, if anybody can."

    Lovely looking leathernecks, Jonathan.

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    1. Thank you, Steve!

      You chose a very interesting quote, here. It encompasses a lot regarding management style and motivation all packed into two short sentences. I had a director once who followed McKinley's style whether he knew it or not. He would return from a board meeting with a request to solve a problem or create an automated solution to a problem. Directions were not given on how to tackle the problem or if the problem even had a feasible solution. He likely figured a solution was possible but did not want to bias my thought and discovery by making suggestions or defining HOW to solve the problem. I held complete latitude.

      Given the problem, I would set off on an exploration to define the problem and seek possible solutions. With no constraints given by management, I was free to investigate any path and devise a solution. Being motivated, curious, and free from any preconceived notions of what a solution looked like, solutions often came from "outside of the box."

      Rowan seems to have been cut from similar cloth.

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    2. Whenever I think of the SAW, I always think about "A Message to Garcia."

      My team was tasked with creating a "leadership library" at the office. We borrowed heavily from the military reading lists and put "A Message to Garcia" on the list. I was saddened when it was shot down for being "too religious" and it might offend people. This was unfortunately their loss, as we could all use more Rowans these days.

      I am thrilled you knew what I was talking about!

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    3. Too bad that "A Letter to Garcia" was considered too religious by some. There are powerful lessons hidden within many texts. We are limiting are capabilities and knowledge by only allowing a subset to enter into our thought processes.

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  15. Lovely blue uniforms that will be great additions to the project.

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  16. Super looking marines, nicely dynamic too!
    Best Iain

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  17. Nicely done.

    I typically shy from buying Old Glory unseen due to some bloody horrible figures in the past, but these look rather good.

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    1. Thanks! Old Glory figures can be hit and miss it the SAW range is a good one.

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  18. Good looking SAWE additions, and I can well see how your Grandson identified them as Police... maybe with Chase in tow!

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    1. Thanks, Peter! Yeah, the little guy is a fan of Paw Patrol so the resemblance was unmistakable.

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