Looking Back and Forward

This year has seen Suburban Militarism become distinctly less suburban with a move out from the suburbs and into the county. My armies (mostly) survived the move and after a hiatus in order to settle in, painting has continued more or less as normal. Another year in the time of plague at least provides an excellent excuse to immerse oneself in hobbies and here’s some of things I turned my sable brush to in 2021:

FEMbruary 2021

For this year’s FEMbruary I produced 5 of Bad Squiddo’s female WWII SOE agents, providing a brief biography of each.

The “Neglected But Not Forgotten” Painting Challenge…

For Ann’s challenge, I threw myself into clearing an entire two boxes (and a quarter) of some old Mars Saxon Infantry of the Great Northern War,

…eventually producing an entire brigade of six regiments! The entire process, interrupted by the disruption of moving house, took months.

I took time out on occasion to add to my 54mm Yeomanry Project, producing:

A sergeant of the Worcestershire Yeomanry:

An officer of the Lincolnshire Yeomanry:

An officer of the Lancashire Yeomanry:

Continuing with troops of the Lace Wars of the 18th century, I managed to paint a couple of cavalry regiments:

Schomberg’s Regiment of Horse (British) or Beust’s Regiment (Saxon):

French Horse Grenadiers:

I even managed to take a brief summer holiday for the first time in two years and sent a postcard:

I continued to nurture my slowly developing Ottomania! Project with some examples of Eyâlet infantry.

I expanded to (nearly) 1:1 scale with this submission into the local Scarecrow Festival. It was based on Michael Morpurgo’s WWI cavalry-themed book “War Horse”, or as our entry had it – “Straw Horse“:

I entered the Jazz age with a 28mm scale homage to singer Adelaide Hall for Black History Month:

I received a request to paint a large number of Serbian and Austrian infantry in 1/72 scale, a project which is still continuing slowly but surely!

And, as the year drew to a close I painted some more wintry-looking figures for my ever-growing French infantry retreating from Moscow in 1812…

…and finally produced two more regiments for my Christmas-themed Army of Advent. One, an entirely new regiment – The Poinsettian Rifles:

…And the other, the oldest regiment in the army, received their brand, spanking new uniforms – The 1st Noel Regiment of Foot:

Next year? I’m too wise to make specific predictions but I’ve no doubt that the old, familiar projects (see above) will make an appearance at some point. Often, though, it’s the unexpected diversions which keep the motivation high and I’ll look forward to more of those in 2022.

Hoping for a healthier and saner 2022, I send my best wishes and a Happy New Year to all Suburban Militarism’s visitors.

Marvin