A Very British Introduction: My Foray Into the 1938 Civil War

Life always seems to find a way to get in the way of hobbying. Or admittedly I’ve been slacking the last 6 months. I could blame it on the global pandemic or the fact I went back to school while working full time but honestly it just feels like there is not enough time in a day some days. I have completed my schooling and as spring thaws the ground outside, it finally feels like I have some more time to hobby again.

My best friend and fellow blogger Andrew from notbystrengthbyguile.ca (which you should check out if you have not yet) suggested that once my schedule allowed that I start my own blog to document my progress with some of my hobby projects. After humming and hawing for a while I finally have pulled the trigger and started my own blog. Since introducing me into the world of the Very British Civil War, Andrew has made magnificent progress on his minis. Our goal from the get go has been to play each other with fully painted armies as soon as the pandemic allows it in Canada. I am hoping for the next few blog posts to show my progress as I get my army into shape.

For part 1 of my series on the Very British Civil War I will begin with background on the start of the project and show where things stand!

I was introduced to the world of the Very British Civil War back in the spring of 2020. With the pandemic in full bloom, my best friend Andrew and myself were looking for something new to play. Andrew had been telling me of the Very British Civil War world of VBCW for months. I had little interest in the concept at first but I do find the interwar years fascinating. VBCW world itself is set in 1938 just before all the technology of the main war years became commonplace. These interwar years make for a very interesting period to wargame. Andrew spent many evenings sharing the details of the VBCW world and all the different factions involved. Andrew has an incredible knack for storytelling and scene setting. He backed it up with pictures and amazing armored car STL files for our 3d printers, and it was not long before I was properly interested in the setting.

A Peerless Armoured Car 3d printed with care courtesy of Andrew

As we discussed more and more of the VBCW setting we began to discuss which faction we found interesting and would like to play. After much debate I settled for the Albertine faction. I found the idea of Canadians and Britons alike going back over across the pond to fight away fascism exciting. In July of 2020 we would make our first orders for troops, beginning the slow and steady fight in breathing life into our new minis.

My VBCW collection as the end of March 2021. At that point I had 4 rifles squads primed, 2 civilian squads primed, and half of the command squad primed.

The Albertine’s have a purple flag as part of their theme so I wanted that to come across in their uniforms as well. Without further or do, I am happy to showcase the first painted squad of the Royal Canadian Volunteer regiment in service to his majesty Prince Albert Windsor.

The first completed squad! All that is left to do is a nice wash to seal everything in!

To help them stand out I have gone for purple puttees and purple cap badges. I have also added purple armbands as well for added visibility. The English uniform and purple go well together!

A closer look at Royal Canadian Volunteer uniform
The commanding officer and his flag bearer

I am very satisfied with how the first squad has turned out. I plan to add slight variations to the other squads to help them stand out in a unique way. 

Next week for my blog post I will dive into the lore of the Albertine’s and give you a preview of the history and back story I have created for the Canadian Volunteer regiment. I will also have more progress pictures as well.

Until next time!

3 thoughts on “A Very British Introduction: My Foray Into the 1938 Civil War

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s