SHOBDON REFERENDUM

In a surprise political move, Comrade Commissar Colonel Professor "Bill" Winters, Communist Party leader and "Liberator of Shobdon", recently announced a "referendum" was to be held in Shobdon and the surrounding occupied liberated areas, to be determined by the "truly Soviet method" of proportional representation. The question now to be put before the people (in most cases at gunpoint):

"Do you agree that Comrade Commissar Colonel Colonel Professor Winters is (1). a military genius; or (2). a strategic mastermind; or (3). both of the above ?"

Commissar Moody, in command of Comrade Commissar (etc etc) Winter's Communist News Agency "Bureau Disinformatizya", is reportedly "entirely confident" that 98% of the people of Shobdon will vote for Option (3), and that the long running Hereford Very British Civil War will therefore be brought to an end shortly thereafter....

His Majesty's Government, together with all other factions within the Hereford VBCW, have denounced the "Shobdon Referendum" as an obvious sham......

28MM FALLSCHIRMJAGER GLIDERS

Researching Richard Marsh's "Rapid Fire" Aircraft Carrier threw up these shots of a very different type of aerial transportation - scratchbuilt Fallschirmjager DFS 230 gliders landing (in the alternative history timeline) somewhere in Crete in 1941:

Although nominally 20mm or 1/72 in "scale", these gliders actually adopt the same "cartooned philosophy' (see Major General Tremorden Rederring's thoughts) as the "Rapid Fire" ships previously featured (i.e. as the gliders cannot be made absolutely "scale realistic" for table space reasons, "we have to settle for making [them] visually appealing and useful as game elements...") Even better, an ancient Wargames Illustrated magazine provided a simple "How To" illustration for making these very same gliders:

Having lost a considerable number of precious Fallschirmjager at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross (Autumn 2019 Big Game) through the vagaries of the 'Elefun Machine', Reichsmarschall Goering's staff officers are now eagerly exploring local manufacture of similar gliders at various sawmills within Herefordshire:

Gliders? The Reichsmarschall approves!

Note: it used to be that scratchbuilding was the only way of obtaining a Fallschirmjager glider. Nowadays, of course, you could just head over to Sarissa Precision and buy some pre-made kits. But they take up a lot more table space - and somehow it wouldn't be quite so much fun:

Sarissa Precision's 1/72 DFS 230 gliders

SPODE UNIFORM REFERENCES

Following on from THIS POST on Edward VIII uniform references, together with THIS POST on Oswald Mosley uniform references, Roderick Spode clearly deserves a "Uniform References" post of his own:

Two stills of Spode in mid - rant : khaki tan shirt with red epaulettes, black tie, black shoulder belt, red lanyard and red brassard with "Blackshort" flash. 

Spode addresses an outdoor meeting. Black shorts and leather waist belt, tan knee-length (of course!) socks, black boots. Note drums and drummer boys, fasces on standards, bare headed followers dressed in identical style.

28mm versions - Eustace Spode, Roderick Spode's brother, with HQ Section (JP's Blackshorts)

The Blackshort "Flash" and flag was similar, but not identical to, the BUF flash and standard. Here is the Blackshort version:

 

Below - a YouTube video of a uniformed Spode and formidable section of Blackshort regulars (as interrupted by Bertie Wooster and Bentley):

SHINY STUFF SPODE

 Yes, it's that man again - Roderick Spode, Leader of the Blackshorts and 7th Earl of Sidcup:

Spode in 28mm

A recent 28mm figure from Steve Barber's Commission Range, coyly titled "Fascist Leader" but instantly recognisable. See Steve's Commission Range HERE

The Hereford VBCW Campaign is very fond of P.G.Wodehouse's comic creation (Note 1). JP, co-creator of the campaign and Wodehouse fan, has long played (amongst others) Eustace Spode, brother of Roderick, with a full "Blackshort" Platoon (including the Sidcup Highlanders):

JP's Eustace Spode and Blackshort Infantry

JPs now Veteran Blackshorts advance with Tank support

Unfortunately, as a result of the Spring Big Game 2022 ("The Fall of Leominster"), Eustace Spode is presently in Communist captivity. His notorious brother and a second force of Blackshorts (painted up from Copplestone Castings Back of Beyond British, and therefore nicknamed "Imperial Blackshorts" [note2]) were recently fielded by Rob B. - hopelessly outnumbered, however, they went down to a heavy defeat at the Autumn Big Game 2021 ("Advance to Leominster")

Rob B's Spode conversion plus Imperial Blackshorts

Spode is thought to be "on the run" in Herefordshire (and beyond), seeking to raise new forces in order to return to the fray and free his brother Eustace from the "dirty Reds". Might be time to paint up another Spode personality figure........

Notes

(1). “The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you're someone. You hear them shouting "Heil, Spode!" and you imagine it is the Voice of the People. That is where you make your bloomer. What the Voice of the People is saying is: "Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?” (The Code of the Woosters)

(2). This might also be a wordplay on "Imperial Dalek", however.....

VBCW POSTERS (1)

As a complement to the "Buy British" commercial posters HERE and the 1935 General Election political posters HERE, a couple of posters from the extremes of VBCW political debate:

"Prime Minister" Mosley's Fascist Message

Suitably Photoshopped, this poster might make a good backdrop for Warlord's identically posed 28mm figure of Mosley (as given away at the last Big Game as our 10th Anniversary Free Figure) - see HERE - or any group of 28mm BUF figures. Anyway, 'the Leader' seems suitably pleased:

or, at least, temporarily pleased - until he learns of the immediate poster response from the Communist Party of Great Britain (Comrade Commissar Colonel Professor 'Bill' Winters, Herefordshire prop.), as now plastered all over the "liberated" areas of the County -

VBCW PORTRAITS

Some splendid formal portraits of a few of the principal characters in the Very British Civil War, ideal (with a little Photoshoppery) for mounting on 28mm gable walls or preserving in a suitable desk bound frame:  

Sir Oswald Mosley, Leader of the BUF.
Appointed PM by King Edward VIII.
Known as "The Man of Blood" portrait
(for obvious reasons).

Sir Oswald with a less controversial background.
Some useful uniform references can be found HERE

Neil Francis Hawkins, Director General of the BUF,
with a larger, signed copy of the "Man of Blood" portrait.
Note also the smaller portrait of some foreign dictator.
(Getty Images)

Joseph Stalin, "The Man of Steel"

Harry Pollitt, Leader of the Communist Party of Great Britain,
with his favourite Stalin portrait
(and he had lots of them).

Winston Churchill, Leader of the "Churchill Assault Column"
Recruited in London and Oxford, the "CAC" has long
been rumoured to be on its way to Herefordshire.

Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering.
After his "unauthorised intervention" at the
Battle of Mortimers Cross, Goering has since spent most
 of his time playing with a new trainset in the attic of the
Castle House Hotel. Yet his remaining Fallschirmjagers
represent a potent pro HMG force within the VBCW...

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Lang

King Edward VIII (in civilian clothing). Useful uniform references
can be found HERE

And just for fun, if you don't mind a little more Photoshoppery and wish to use any of these portraits in a very different context, some blank (multi faction) "background" posters for you:

QUEEN ELIZABETH II - IN MEMORIAM

Queen Elizabeth II, then aged 10 and Princess Elizabeth,
with her uncle King Edward VIII. Circa April 1936.
In Memoriam Queen Elizabeth II.