Salute 2016 and the return of the Black Bande.

Well Ive posted my 'bit' about Salute on my main blog, and I think I have said enough about the show, however I didnt record what I actually purchased at the show!
 I try not to record how much I have spent on my hobby, because, a] it scares the crap out of me and b] my wife would scare the crap out of me too.However I am pleased that I bought the following, and after a lot of pleading and badgering I managed to buy my long suffering wargames partner's French Black Bande.

 When John Reidy and I were wargaming in the 1980's we both had renaissance armies in 25/28mm. John who has always been a great painter decided to sell the whole collection about 1987 and move into 6mm. I followed a year later, before naturally returning to 28mm a few years ago.
 I always wanted to recover John's collection as it was so damned good, the majority was lost never to be recovered, but Jim Sweeney somehow managed to buy the French Black Bande from E Bay some years ago. Anyway Jim finally and very kindly agreed to sell the Bande to me at I finally got my hands on it at Salute. Jim also generously gave me the small number of mounted arquebusiers that John had also painted back then. Who says all Yorkshire men are mean eh. I have put the correct standards on the unit , so now the Black Bande is ready to face their Spanish enemies. It is a wonderful unit, and will have a small complement of mounted arquebusiers to go with it soon. I reckon the unit is about 30 plus years old, and I still enjoy looking at the great paint job that John did on the unit. Happy days.