Some French Line Infantry Completed

I finished these fourteen line troops recently. They had been sat just awaiting basing, which has now been done.

As you can see, three bases of four, which are nominally "companies," plus a couple of skirmishing Voltigeur. I'll need another box of those fine Perry French plastics to round out my 24 man battalion. With another box I should get this battalion up to full strength of six companies/bases and then complete another battalion too.

Gains. Small, but nevertheless there.

24e Regiment d'Infanterie de Ligne

Another unit of French infantry complete. This time the 24th Line Regiment. Figures are Perry Miniatures plastics, blocked and dipped, standard by GMB Designs. 

Again, the dip gives them a weathered look which I quite like, settling into the folds of their trousers. On this unit I highlighted the cross belts just to retain their dimension.

Again, six bases for the six companies, but this unit is lacking a mounted officer. I might add him later, but based individually.

These figures look good from a distance, but don't hold up under close scrutiny, but for generic line troops, that will do. Another 24 miniatures added to the complete list!

Some French Napoleonic Spares

As I have been building up battalions of French foot, I have ended up with a few spares, here and there. I decided to base these on 20mm round bases for use as skirmishers, or sentries. These will be particularly useful for Sharp Practice, where a few of these miniatures interspersed with the rank miniatures can give the sense of a less orderly body of men. 

These were blocked and dipped, like most of my Napoleonic stuff and are a mixture of Victrix and Perry, all plastic. The Victrix kit is particularly good for making up skirmishers do to the highly customisable nature of the kit. 

The Perry Voltigeurs look particularly shiny in the photos, so I might take another pass at them with the matte varnish, but otherwise these chaps look good and grimy.

9e Regiment d'Infanterie Legere

I finished up another battalion of French infantry yesterday. The 9th Regiment of Light Infantry in Napoleon's army. Six bases, one for each company.

The miniatures are plastic Victrix Old Guard Grenadiers, with line infantry heads, so that they have the epaulettes and sabres. The Victrix kits are highly customisable, which adds to construction time. Sadly many of the arms and extremities are quite spindly with several bayonets meeting their ends during painting by the lightest nudges. This is because the plastic is rather brittle compared to that of Perry Miniatures. 

The only metals in this unit are the mounted Colonel and Sappeur, also Victrix. This metal range is now discontinued, or sold by a U.S. company, but I got a pack before Victrix stopped selling them. I like dropping some extra miniatures into units just to  break up the uniformity across the army.

The standard is from GMB Designs. I would highly recommend their flag sheets, easy to work with and a good selection.

As you can doubtless see, the paint job is simply a block and dip, which results in some nice "dirt" toward the bottom of greatcoats, and also on the Sappeur's apron. A highlight might not go amiss just to neaten up cross belts and the Colonel's whites. I also think that the unit might benefit from another coat of matt varnish as parts of it still look a bit shiny. 

These fellows will take their place alongside my Battalion of Old Guard Grenadiers in the 1809 Campaign against the Austrians. 

15mm Napoleonic Austrian Army 1809 on eBay

I finally decided to get rid of my Principles of War 15mm army. I commissioned it several years ago from Principles of War, and then received a package from him a long while after. I didn't actually open the package completely for about a year, and then found that various bits and pieces were missing. Needless to say I was disappointed, and even more so when I found that PoW had gone out of business and I was never going to get those last few bits. It isn't the end of the world, but there are no division commander figures, or a C-i-C, but that is easily remedied.

Anyway, as my earlier posts show, I am a sucker for 28mm Napoleonic, and with the proliferation of plastics it is becoming more and more affordable. Therefore, there is no reason for me to hang onto these figures anymore. They are currently on eBay:

HERE

I hope they go to someone who will get some actual use out of them.

PS Has anyone else been burned by a company closing half way through a job, or before delivering entirely on an order, but after taking your money.

French Old Guard Grenadiers

So I managed to base up the last two stands of Napoleons brave fighting boys. And here they are:

The battalion looks good from a distance, though I am not entirely satisfied with the Pioneer, who didn't hold up well with the dip method. Other than that though, quite pleased, and it didn't take forever. I suppose the fact that these chaps are wearing greatcoats helps greatly.

The standard is from the Victrix boxed set, and finished quite nicely, I didn't really see the need to splash out on a fancy flag just yet. Once the Napoleonic project gains grows I might redo the standards, but for now it is good enough. Good enough truly is the operative phrase here, I am not looking to do perfect Dallimore-esque units, but rather units that will look good on the table top at low cost in both time and treasure. 

The next concerted effort will be to get a cannon done for the Dwarfs and finish the Thane to lead them into battle. Perhaps the Slayer as well. I am super keen to get the Dwarfs done soon so that I can have a play, having bought the Island of Blood box and had a flick through the rulebook I think I might actually like this edition of Warhammer. 

Vikings and Grenadiers, better pictures

I woke up to glorious sunshine this morning, so I took the opportunity to take pictures of the completed figures again. Here they are in natural light, which I think does them far more justice.

Some pictures: Vikings and Grenadiers

I managed to finish basing five more vikings of the rather heroic persuasion, as well as my first complete base of French Old Guard Grenadiers. Apologies for the poor quality of the pictures, I am trying to arrange for a better quality lamp for lighting since the changeable weather makes photography outside impossible sometimes. Initially I had tried to save time on the French by simply gluing sand to the base and washing it with brown ink to bind it and shade it, but there was a distinct lack of definition and it looked lame. Instead I opted for my standard basing method using cheap acrylic paint I buy in 250ml pots. First dark brown, then a drybrushing of yellowish brown and finally a drybrush highlight of bone. This is followed by some static grass to finish it off.

I am rather chuffed with the way that these grenadiers turned out, they look rough and ready and overall look rather worn. I have the weekend off, so I am going to try and get a unit of Dwarf Miners done, in addition to finishing off two more companies of grenadiers.

Foundry Old Guard Grenadiers

I managed to get some highlights on the Foundry models that I painted. The technique I used was based on Doc T's. After the anti-shine I added a little white to the raised areas to give the figures greater depth, and also to spruce them up a little. Apologies for the lighting in the pictures, I need a more focused natural light source, and sadly the British summer is on hiatus.

I varied the exact area I highlighted for a little variety, dirty gaiters seemed most appropriate.

I tried a "feathery" highlight, trying to avoid the paint being to wet and running. From a distance it looks quite good.

So this will be the technique I employ going forward. These chaps are going to be mounted six to a base for a company and then four bases for a battalion. My base size is 60 x 40mm. I only have eight of these grenadiers, and Foundry are far too expensive, so I will fill out the rest of the battalion with Perry Miniatures and Front Rank. 

Old Guard Grenadiers

So I have been planning for some time to build forces for the 1809 Austrian Campaign. Originally I was going to do it in 15mm using AB Figures however, with the advent of plastics, 28mm has become a real option. Given that an AB battalion comes in at £24, I really couldn't turn down 60 figures, at least two battalions worth, for about £20. I prefer painting 28mm and these Victrix figures are a pleasure to speed paint using a dipping method which I have copied from Doc T on the Warhammer forum.

My first attempt was on eight Foundry Old Guard Grenadiers which I received with the Napoleonic painting set. I was never going to use them, but it seems that will not be the case anymore. I got those eight painted in record time using the wash and dip method. The only thing the much smaller Foundry figure now needs is some highlighting, especially on the belts and raised cloth, to make it look less dirty. They are in full dress after all. The great coat wearing Victrix grognards can afford to look a little more scruffy as they are "on the road".

Grenadiers at various stages of completion.

The first picture shows four figures at various stages of completion. The leftmost has simply been washed with very watered down coats of paint. The second figure has had black added for the boots, bearskin and those parts which will be metal. The third figure has been painted with Army Painter Strong Shade dip, dried and sprayed with anti-shine. The final figure is complete, with metal parts done.

Close-ups of the initial stages of painting. 

You will notice a difference in the opacity of the blue. Using a wash that is super thin results in a more faded look, so by playing with the ratios of water to paint you can get a really nice variety of blues. This would have been due to the sun, colours running when soaked, and general wear. I am currently aiming at getting this first battalion done, which will be the 1st BTN 2nd Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard. The unit will consist of 24 figures which will include a mounted Colonel and a Sapper since these are the first battalion.

Bumper Book Haul and Recommended Listening/Viewing

I received the Field of Glory rulebooks in the post yesterday and immediately checked the basing conventions for all three the systems, Ancients, Renaissance and Napoleonics, and I think they are the way forward, at least as far as basing goes. I haven't had enough time to really give the rules a proper read through, but I will hopefully get around to sharing my thoughts on each set of rules as and when I get a chance to play with them. I might even run some solo games and record my findings.

Suffice to say, they are very pretty, hopefully the content matches the form. Other reviews have been favourable, as far as I can tell, so I am expecting them to deliver. I have read through the first few sections of the Ancients book and have found them a nice change from the Barkerese of the DBx systems; and aren't they so much prettier? I find that rulebooks can be deeply inspiring, something which Messers Shuck and Hyde discussed on the View from the Veranda podcast, episode three I believe. I love flicking through the beautiful pages, imagining the various things I could do myself, then of course I come crashing down to earth when I realise that I have mountains to paint as is.

Which brings me onto the "recommended listening/viewing" part of the title. I have been listening to "back issues" of the Meeples and Miniatures podcast and View from the Veranda, and have found the stuff Mr. Shuck produces to be really useful, informative and above all a great companion for us wargamers who live sans club. The easy going conversational nature of the podcasts makes them a great soundtrack to paint to, especially when painting Soviet infantry. I must admit that I am somewhat inspired by Mr. Shuck's podcasting efforts, so much so that I am tempted to do some youtube videos for reviews, though I fear my efforts will pale in comparison to the Meeples and Miniatures video reviews. Despite catering to a very niche market, Mr. Shuck clearly puts a lot of effort into his podcasts and videos, and produces quality stuff. Sadly this is the exception rather than the rule in the wargaming hobby, which tends to be very amateurish. Naturally companies like Games Workshop and Battlefront have the budgets to make high end stuff, but it is great to see a "Rogue Trader" like Mr. Shuck produce stuff to rival it. Mr. Shuck might not have the "Hollywood" element, but he makes up for a less flashy look with more quality and useful content time and time again.

I have been looking on youtube for some reviews of gaming systems and sadly I only found some "unboxing" style videos, which while useful, often don't answer the questions that someone like Mr. Shuck addresses. Have a look at the Meeples and Miniatures youtube channel which has some good review videos. Also, I found the toofatlardies videos demonstrating Sharpe Practice to be really informative and well produced. Now, even though I said these were good videos, don't expect flashy stuff, these videos are useful and fit for purpose. My point is that they aren't just some guy ranting into a webcam wearing a cheetos-powder covered t-shirt, that is what I mean by amateurish.

It's been a while...

I can't remember the last time I was involved with wargaming. I think it may have been 2007 when I borrowed my friend Steve's Vikings for a WAB tournament at Ascot, but I might be misremembering. In any event, it has been a very long time since I put paint to lead, planned a project, or played a game. The wargaming world has changed a lot in some ways in the intervening five years, and in other ways not at all (I was particularly surprised to see how static Games Workshop have been, not that I buy their stuff). When I dipped out of the rat race Warhammer Ancient Battles was riding high, now it looks rudderless and likely to be supplanted by "War & Conquest" or "Clash of Empires." As a largely ancients player this is all new to me, but the change looks good. DBM also seems to have been replaced by Field of Glory which looks beautifully produced and a good change from the grotty white booklets from years gone by. I ordered the rulebooks for FoG Ancients, Renaissance and Napoleonics from Amazon yesterday and will look to be using these with my 15mm ancients. The Renaissance and Napoleonic rules were largely impulse buys. I have an 15mm Austrian 1809 force for Principles of War, and I doubt I will be rebasing, but it is good to know what is out there. Furthermore, I have always wanted to do some Thirty Years War stuff and there seems to be a vibrant FoG Renaissance community which makes it worth collecting.

Perhaps next month I will get around to looking at some ancients rules well suited to single figure based 28mm, perhaps Hail Caesar, War & Conquest and Clash of Empires. Sadly, the Bicester Wargaming Club folded when I went to university in 2006/7 and largely relocated to Brackley, so I don't have a club on hand, but my old wargaming buddies are around, so playing at home is an option. Friend Taff and I used to play DBA, and he assures me he still has his little armies, so at least a few games of DBA, with a view to trying out Hail Caesar and Field of Glory is very much a possibility. 

As for figures, I had a rummage through my stuff, and found most of it damaged, shields broken off, paint chipped, etc. from years of mishandling and bad storage by a clueless family. Still, it can be repaired, so over the next few weeks I will be slowly fixing up my 1st Century A.D. Romans and Vikings. I also found this box amongst my stuff:

I had a look on the Flames of War website and it doesn't look as though these are in production anymore. I bought them at a show many years ago, I think, along with a blister of Finns to do some some Winter War and Continuation War stuff. On the whole I am not keen on wargaming World War II, especially anything to do with Western Europe, but my love of Finnish history, and the country (having been there a fair few times) inspired me to model the brave resistance to the communist hordes. I started painting the Russians as I found a nifty guide online, since at the time the Finns were super new, so there wasn't much about them on the Flames of War website. I have all the riflemen painted up, and started the SMG chaps yesterday, here are shots to give you an idea of what they look like, the centre figure is a finished rifleman, the figures to either side SMG men who are in progress:

The Russians without too much light.

And with a little flash.

Well, that's all for now. I am off to watch The Avengers at the cinema today and will hopefully finish the nine SMG chaps on my desk tonight. I might post a step-by-step of how I paint them when I get onto painting the heavy machine guns next.