An Introduction, A Farewell and a New Range of Jacklex

AN INTRODUCTION, A FAREWELL AND A NEW RANGE OF JACKLEX

I hope you will forgive me for introducing myself along with a bit of a plug for Jacklex Miniatures. My name is Mark Lodge and I am the owner of Jacklex which I took on from Peter Johnstone of Spencer Smith Miniatures in October last year. I have been wargaming, painting, modelling, battlefield touring and military history 'buffing' since the Middle Ages. Very fortunately I have a group of long-time friends, including the talented Andy Callan and Ash Toms who have helped to make the experience hugely fun. 

Taking on a business has been a bit of an eye opener for a retired infanteer, but I am delighted to say that I have come newly into contact with a large group of fantastically supportive and loyal customers which has made the experience of my first year with Jacklex a real pleasure.

What has also been a pleasure and privilege is to have met Jack Alexander at his home, surrounded by all his ships, buildings, figures and moulds. Jack, Bob Black and the late Alan Cook, of 'ABC Wargamers' have been tremendously kind to me in getting many of the old figures back into production. In particular I would like to take this opportunity to say a few words about Alan Cook.

I did not know Alan for very long but he made a huge impact on me in a short time and acted as a mentor to me in setting up the business. I found him to be a generous, positive, selfless gentleman with a very strong sense of humour and a great passion for all things Jacklex. I will miss him greatly and I wish Rosemary, his family and friends well at this very difficult time. I would like to share the photo below of my first ever meeting with Alan at Jack Alexander's house where Alan, Bob and Jack inducted me into the amazing world of Jacklex.    

The 'ABC Wargamers', Alan Cook, Jack Alexander and Bob Black

I now get to the point of this post. Alan had run the 'All Things Jacklex' blog since 2015. Back in May this year he asked me to take it on and I promised him that I would. So, this is my first ever post and I hope to add to it over the coming weeks. I trust my efforts will live up to Alan's meticulous eye and very high standards, I am sure he would approve.   

FRENCH INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 1861-1867: A NEW JACKLEX RANGE

Jacklex Miniatures is about to launch a new set of 20mm metal figures based on the French Intervention in Mexico, or as more often called the 'Mexican Adventure' The new range will be available from www.jacklexminiatures.com from 16 September.

The range is the first new range to go on sale since Jack Alexander's US Punitive Expedition to Mexico figures were made some years ago. The new figures were skilfully sculpted by Aidan Campbell and painted rather badly by me as you will see from the images. 

There are approximately 35 new foot and mounted figures as well as a gun crew, field gun, limber and team. I will let the figures speak for themselves. I hope you like the look of them. Whilst they are not exact reproductions of the existing Jacklex figures I have tried to keep the essence of Jack's lovely old school style.   

   The French and Allied Army range

FA 11 Cavalry trooper mounted

FA3 Infantry advancing with separate backpack

FA7 Zouave advancing

The Mexican Republican and Imperial Armies range

FM1 Regular officer firing

FM9 Militia advancing

FM6 Light Infantry running with separate rifle

FM13 Cavalry trooper mounted

FM2 Regular Infantry standing firing

Artillery and equipment, gun team and crew

The latter two illustrations are from the brush of Michel Provost, Belgian historian, author, painter and illustrator. His French-language novel ‘Tacámbaro’ chronicles the adventures of grenadier drummer Remi Tambour as part of the Belgian Legion in Mexico. Mr Provost has kindly given permission for the use of some of his illustrations here. 

His very characterful illustrations provided some of the inspiration for the new range of Jacklex figures. Visit Michel’s interesting and informative blog at http://provostmichel.blogspot.com.

Finally, before I started planning for the French Intervention range I knew very little of the military campaigning in Mexico in the 1860s. I now know a little more than I did and what has interested me most is that the war was going on concurrently with the American Civil War. Indeed, at the end of the this war the US was instrumental in the outcome. One of the small engagements that caught my eye was the Battle of Tacámbaro, partly because Michel Provost writes in so much detail about the Belgian Legion in his blog. On 3 April 1865, 250-300 men of the Legion occupied Tacámbaro. On 11 April, General Regules attacked the Belgians with between 3,000 and 3,500 Republican soldiers. Surrounded from all sides, the Belgians held out in a desperate fight for five hours, hoping for reinforcements which arrived four days too late. They were finally forced to surrender. This is one of a number of small scale battles that could be used as the basis for a wargame or campaign. To assist the wargamer, I have placed free to download painting guides and organisation sheet on the www.Jacklexminiatures.com  site. I hope to add a new set of rules by Andy Callan soon.     

Belgian Legion soldier and cantiniere 

Men of the Belgian Legion by Michel Provost

Please do contact me at info@jacklexminiatures.com if you have any comments or questions, I would be delighted to hear from you. 

Mark