Turkish Delights - a very generous gift

I have to admit that there's been too much 'real life' this last week or so, and not enough focus on nice relaxing hobby stuff. But I have been much cheered by the arrival of a surprise package - in fact, three packages  -  a very generous gift from Alan,  Duke of Tradgardland.  

When the first one arrived, it was quite mysterious, a lucky dip of items packed around in paper shreddings, but a few tell-tale labels gave the game away. They were handwritten  in a distinctive style I recognised quickly; that of the late veteran wargamer Eric Knowles. 

 After sifting (quite literally) through the paper shreddings, the contents were revealed to be a small colleciton of 25mm  Ottoman Turkish soldiers,  artillerymen, horse archers and 'dellis' horsemen  - which I assume are mostly Minifigs - for the 18th Century.  

 

It turns out that Alan had some time ago acquired these, when  Eric Knowles' collection was being sold off, but has decided they are surplus to his requirements.  Knowing that I had also become the proud owner of a fair few of Eric's  Seven Years War troops (where this blog began), and no doubt seeing my recent doings with  a whole lot of vintage Minifigs, Alan has very kindly gifted me his unwanted Turks.   And I have to say, I'm very happy to take them! 

Over the course of a few days, the second and third boxes arrived - box two contained  a selection of artillery pieces for the gunners to use,  plus some transport wagons etc  ( sorry I didn't have time to photo them all ) : 

And then the third and largest box,  with a very typical Eric selection of various old cardboard boxes, all labelled up with contents. Note the familiar small, square, blue Hinchcliffe box - many a happy collector must have received these 'back in the day'!     

 Upon opening the boxes we have these: 

 Quite a haul! Spahis of the Porte, Tartar Light Horse, and Janissaries - all good stuff!  Mostly unpainted, so they have to go into the painting queue, and an actual Turkish army may be a long-term project, but I'm very pleased to have them and very grateful for Alan's generosity! 

With the large batch of Minifigs 7YW/AWI figures I recently acquired plus those that already came  from Eric Knowles' collection,  I already have Prussians, Austrians, French, Russians, various Germans such as Saxons and Hessians, Americans and Native Americans, which give lots of possibilities. I have a vague idea to go back to the Soldier King boardgame, which  provides a ready-made imaginary continent, and populate it with these armies - presumably with the Americans on the far western fringes and perhaps with the Native Americans providing tribal raiders in that region.  Now I might equally be able to populate the Eastern reaches of the map with these Turks,  who might make an interesting opponent for  the Russians ( and also in the lead pile, I have some Austrian Grenzer border troops,  quite  appropriate ). Without taking it too seriously, this idea might be quite fun. So once again, a big thank-you to Alan for this generous gift!    

It looks like the next week or so will see a bit of a hobby pause ( though I should try to finish reading  my Nordlingen book ) - the next event, I hope, is likely to be The Other Partizan in a couple of week's time. I look forward to that, and meanwhile keep well, everyone.