Heriocs at Badajoz

I have been bored recently so started painting up some 18th Century characters I have had mixing around for an eternity, they were only 90% but I could just not resist getting them into a game. Below are my two bootleggers taking their booty away from the French, while a Westphalian Guard officer talks to some young lady.

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At the end of the battle, the officer leads his lady friend away whilst a number of ruffians follow behind. (Spanish troops hide in the Orchard behind them)

As part of the ongoing 1810 Spanish Campaign, our beloved Spanish Heroes found themselves having to defend a bridge near Badajoz against a French Corps intent on besieging the fortress. As it was such a good opportunity to bleed the French at the bridge, Brigadier La Carrrera opted to do so. Below is the French attack on the bridge, masses of french faced by 4 Battalians of concripts and a 4 pounder battery.



My little 4 pounders pasted the French with an epic display of marksmanship, the french did eventually get across the river but were seen off by the Voluntarios de Jaen, who charged in column and routed a French unit. Unfortunately they then pursued across the bridge into the French army and we lost forever. Below the Spanish heroes pursue valiently into a 12 pounder battery at grapeshot range, this actually saved my gunline as it gave me time to bug out and not get a 12 pounder bashing.


After that I decided it was time to retire as I didnt need this brigage getting a stomping, also below are some French wounded I have that I also decided to paint up.


And luckily for me Santa has just deposited 300 15mm Old Glory figures in my letter box :)

Spain
General Espagne's Invasion of Portugal came to a halt after a rather abrubt "GTFO" message was delivered by Wellington. As a result Espagne moved his forces back to the rugged heights of Galacia and sought a more pressing foe. Unforunately it appears Portugese - British communications are limited as the Portugese attempted to meet their Spanish allies, but on the road they ran into something else of the blue coated, eagle bearing variety.

Other areas of Spain are rather quiet {As the xmas lull develops}.

Painting
Ion and I are going to fight a small skirmish on a bridge near Badajoz. We decided to use 28mm figures so as a result my Westphalians and Neopolitans are being press-ganged into the Spanish army. As a result I need to finish the 2nd Naples Line Regt. These are Victrix figures and are very very nice to paint. Painting the "French" is such fun I'm so tempted to get more ! Apart from the goldfish eyes which remind me I missed the final flesh tone paint layer. The photo makes them look horrendous :(

I am slowly finishing the 15mm Spanish, below are some more Dragoons and Heavy Cav that will be painted in the xmas period. I found some yellow counters that have proved quite usefull for when I undercoat the figures tonight with the magic spray. 8 Figures will be Dragoons and the final 8 Heavy Cavalry - I'm not sure what units yet as I need to check the colour chart.


And while I do that I am test painting two Westphalian Hussars of the 2nd Regiment. ONly partially painted and I'm not sure if my blue is the right tone, but on the while I quite like the figures.



A finished 15mm unit (The 1st Westphlian Hussars). One element painted in 1998, the rest sat there until last week when I finished them off. Most of my 15mm Germans are just the same units I have in 28mm as I cant really think of anything else to paint them as.


And I am now facing a problem I havent had before. A volatile force is beginnning to affect the storage of my wargames painting area. Usually all that is heard is a shriek of primevil excitement, the flash of white teeth and then the unmistaken sound of hundred of soldiers collapsing to the ground. The beast of beckenham is crawling and standing and thus my paints are moved further out of reach.

La Guerre d'Indépendance Espagnole

April 1st 1810.
From his office in the citidel of Cadiz, General Paulo Armano Jacquino read the daily reports from his field commanders around Spain.


He worried that Catalonia had fallen as there had been no contact from General Ballasteros and the British Navy had reported smoke rising from Barcelona. This would mean that Zaragosa had fallen and as such northern Valencia would soon be under pressure from the French Corps around Catalonia. Valencia was still in Spanish hands but this was only for a matter of time as news of the cowardice at Xativa had recently arrived, the only saving grace was that the Walloon Guard lived to fight another day. Jacquino was annoyed that the possibility of a great victory was ruined by a rain storm and poor morale but as a result he had concocted a stunning plan that with a little luck could possibly work.


The Army of Galacia was surging across the northern coast towards France, nothing was able to impede its path. The British had landed at Gijon and were operating in Old Castille and Jacquino was happy that he had met a Commander (General Hill) that wouldnt hide behind fortifications like Wellington had. The Army of Galacia had also marched into Portugal due to reports of french burning Oporto, but all the patriots found was angry peasants and an abrubt Wellington.

The Army of Extremedura was occupying its province whilst probing to the North and East in an attempt to locate and intercept French supplies and troops, but nothing significant had occurred apart from reports of a French Division moving slowly south.

In Andulucia every success had been made, the French retreating in full force as the Andulucian Jugganought liberated Cordoba and pushed north into New Castille.

What news would the coming weeks of April bring ? Would the British start to act, would Napoleon arrive personally to enslave Spain again ? The only certainty is the Thin White Line shall remain defiant !

Normal service to resume shortly

Its been a busy month - work has increased and I've been doing some freelance counselling work on the side. But I've slowly been painting my Spanish 15mm army in unison with our campaign.

As overall Spanish commander its been quite entertaing moving militia armies around the map, while French veterans rampage everywhere else. Some small rule and OOB hiccups have been a small headache but this is just a teething problem and it has been quite good fun. Barry deserves a big medal as he is running the campaign and it is excellent so far.

We lost catalonia as I was outmarched and was caught divided, and then Barcelona fell but they garrison fought to the last man. The remnants of the Spanish army is fleeing south and whos knows if they will even survive.

In Valencia we attacked a small outpost and had the entire french army show up so we had to beat a hasty retreat and are now waiting the onslaught. In Andulucia things are going well, Cordoba has been liberated and we are chasing down the odd french unit while Extremedura is bracing itself for a french attack on Badajoz. In Galacia my troops are raiding Britsh supplies and have even sauntered down into portugal for some r&r.



More soon.

September 21st

September

So aftershock central has started to quieten down ! I also checked the garage (My storage area) and it looks like some minor wargame repairs are needed as luckily the only things hat came down housed unpainted or junk wargames boxes.

So I pulled out the 28mmm WW2 Russians to finally finish them. I had the majority in various states of finish so now I'm going back through them all to tidy up and get them based, then after some more 15mm Spanish I'll launch into the Germans (And that PzIV) !

First cab off the rank is my NCO. The figure is Black Tree Design (very nice figure but the company is terrible and has a lot of angry peoploe after it). Khaki padded tunic and Russian green trousers - each is three layer shading and he is 80% done.

Next is an 50% done infantryman. Khaki uniform once again and so far I need to finish his face and highlighting. I started most of these figures about a year ago so now I am tidying up the old paint job.

80% done infantry man in winter uniform.


A French Officer ! Yes I also have 20 or so 1939 French infantry- they are painted fully but I am doing the odd tidyup as the Quake dropped the box and the odd lead chip is showing.

A half made antitank gun. My Russian "omph" is the anti-tank weapon and crew. I undercoated the crew 2 months ago but have no idea where they are now. I need to undercoat the gun and then add the final pieces on (Thought it better to undercoat half made) before finishing it off, The BTD pieces arent the best I have to say (Well if they ever turn up !)
More infantryman in zombie form :). half painted and I havent done the eyes yet apart from the whites of his eyes. Wargame figures always look odd with just white eyes showing.




So - Im finishing 8 at a time so hopefully by next week all will be done. I will then glue them to old 20c pieces as a base and flock them (Which I suck at badly)

Quake

Kara was feeding the baby at 4.30am on saturday when I heard her call my name. I stood up and all hell broke loose, I was then knocked to the ground by the bedroom wall - WTF ?, I got up made two steps and the lights went. Ill never forget my last view before the lights went, the bedroom was just vibrating and things were flying everywhere. I swear the bedroom wall was bent like a banana.

I fumbled through the dark to the doorway where I found missus and baby on the ground, where we sat out the next 20 mins. I then went into emergency mode, grabbed the torch, turned off the mains and started checking the house was in one piece - which it is thank god. Once that was done (in between aftershocks) I had the emergency kit at the door and ready to go. About 5.30 I checked on the neighbours (some were outside too) , We also have 3 protected trees up our lane , each is at least 3 stories high, one is 4. If they went we were in serious trouble but they were OK and then we waited for day light.

Got the car out of the garage, checked the laundry and wargames figfures everywhere (:().

Monday night now - i think we have had 100 aftershocks over RS 3.0 and to be honest I am sick of them, really. But everything is mostly in one piece though all the time an effort on the wargames stuff is a little disheartening and it is impposble to paint when the ground vibrates to varying degrees.

Anyway no one is dead and that is awesome. Everyone has been fantastic and Im proud of the local response to the disaster.

Beware the Ides of August !

General Roundup - I have had issues with my camera as it appears somewhow some settings changed and it took me ages to work out what (Looks like someone has been playing with the shutter speed and other important settings). I have been painting as Barry is organising a 15mm Peninsular campaign to get some local games going, anmd as my 15mm Spanish have languished in a broken state for over 16 years I think it is time I did a great push to get them completed. At the same time I might do a few french units as I also have tonnes of those to do. I get to paint for 2 hours a night usually as the rest of the time is absorbed by work, babies and sleeping.

Painting- I have done a fair bit actually as I finished a 28mm Russian Infantry Unit and a Prussian Militia unit. As the 15mm Campaign has been planned I have surged into the 15mm forces with great endeavor and I have to say I have quite enjoyed it. Its quite odd painting figures now to finish off an army I started 16 years ago. They are mostly the same figures too - They were TTG I think (now BattleLine of NZ) and the Spanish range is actually a hell of a lot better then the rest. I have some Essex Spanish and they are of the same quality to TTG (Of course not in the same standard as AB but very usable) I bought a tonne of Spanish 16 years ago and they have sat there, then I bought some French (expecting them to be of the same mould) but alas the French are rather poor. But I will still paint them up as i) I have them ii)I need new brushes anyway so might aswell finish off my current brushes on rough figures iii) I need some practice and also find paint relaxing.

I also have my 28mm ww2 Russians out and am basing them and finishing the last few figures (When I get bored with15mm that is)


Pictures
A Spanish Hussar Unit (Unit to be updated when I am at home) and the horses still to be "inked" and finished.
Some of my Spanish Infantry - the left and right flanks are Essex figures, the middle are TTG. Slightly larger than the TTG figures but passable. The back rank are Grenadiers and I have a tonne of them. 16 years ago there was practically no information about the Spanish so I went with what I had and now it appears some of that was misguided.


I needed a Walloon Guard unit and decided to use the myriad of Grenadiers I have to make this unit up (They should be in Bicornes ! mostly) - I still have Irlanda,Hibernia and the Swiss to go.



The Cavalry Regiment Reina - I have never painted sky blue facings before and was a little worried at first but dont mind how they turned out. I also need to work out why my sabres are all bent. I suspect a mysterious third party has put something on top of my painting tray. Anyway I also have two dragoon units being done - Yellow coats and lt green facings !(pics to come)

My Spanish Cavalry - 16 year old troops at the back, this weeks at the front. I am in the middle of rebasing the figures as I was tempted by Volley and Bayonet some years ago but that proved to be fruitless ambition. Spanish Cavalry suffered a great deal in the early war due to the decay that beset the Spanish Army but I am fond of yellow coats.



Gaming - None at the moment, I have been having some fairly early starts recently and as it comes to the weekend I have tonnes of other things to do.

More painting

Above an Elite Austrian - my first ever Austrian to paint

Todays Musings
So I have formed my Imagination Blog (http://jacko-thedancingbear.blogspot.com/) called The Principality of Rio) for the formation of my 1710 Imaginary army. Ion already has some troops painted, I have the figures I just need to paint them. So in the Rio blog I shall endeavor to sort out my army list and have a special area for pictures from that regime.

Some painting updates -
I am painting a raft of figures at the moment from different nations and periods. The variety is keeping me entertained and the paints I used are on all figures pretty much.

A single British infantryman from my Indian Wars skirmish set. I think from memory I have about 24 to go and I also vaguely recall these Front Rank figures are 14 years old.

And the single French infantryman I'm painting - from the Orleans Regt. This is a Redoubt figure, quite different from other redoubt figures but very nice. I have about 10 of these, some farmers and about 30 Mohicans to finish. Once they are done I plan to do some skirmish games.

Below - Another Russian unit being added to the Allies - The Revel Regt. Base layers done highlights to go. They look better in real life than they do in that photo and the yellow shoulder straps should give a good bit of colour.



Some dismounted Perry Dragoons of the Italian Guard Dragoons. The pack comes with quite a few which will be quite usefull - Im not sure if for a game or a Viginette......perhaps foraging for some pigs.



Reserve Infantry Regiment Nr. 10 - one of my Prussian reserve units. Bigger tha normal (30 as opposed to 20) but lower quality. I can't wait to have the Prussian milita Brigade in action (90 figures in Battalion mass). My only Lanwher unit ran at the sight of its own shadow in the first game so will be interesting to see how 3 units get on.


And the 1/52nd Foot for my British - Old Glory figures and I quite like them. 30 to a pack though so the leftovers will be converted into Riflemen.


And thats about it for today.

Stock Take

Last night I retrieved my box of Unpainted Allies in order for me to sort out the Landwher and Militia units that I need painting. I’ve found some anomalies in my figures in that I appear to have more units than I have recorded.

I have 3 Russian Old Glory Units painted and I was under the impression that I only had 1 OG Unit to go but I appear to have 2 – that’s always a good sign. So following are my list of Units to paint as well as loose army lists.

Anyway here is a pic. I have an absolute love for Militia troops, I dont know why - I guess its the swagger of masses of ill-trained men marching against trained troops.





British
Painted – 1/33rd Foot, 2 RHA and 1 RA Bty.
Unpainted - 1 KGL Hussar (Redoubt- half painted), 1/52nd (Old Glory-75% Painted), 1/7th Foot and 2/69th Regiment of Foot (Redoubt), 1/1stnd Foot, 2/2nd Foot(Front Rank), 2/73rd and 1/79th Foot (Cameron Highlanders) 749Highland (Victrix),

Belgian
Unpainted - 7th (Belgian) Line Regiment, 35th (Belgian) Jaeger , 4th Line (Belgian) (Victrix)

Russian
I have mixed up some unit names – When posting on the blog I need to remember to check things first !

Painted – Murmansk Inf Regt,21st Jaeger, Taureda Grenadiers, 3 Horse Artillery, Finland Dragoons, Astrakhan Cuirrassiers
Unpainted – Revel Inf Regt (25% Done), Chernigov Inf Regt, Pavlov Guard (25% Done), Selenguinsk Inf Rgt, 1 Horse Artillery.

Prussian
Painted - 2nd Silesian Hussars, 2nd West Prussian Dragoons, 2 Foot Bty, 16th Infantry Regt(Carmine), 5th Infantry Regt (Orange), Jaegr No 3, Neumark Landwher Bn No 8, Pomerania Landwher Cavalry no 2

Unpainted 2 Foot Bty, , Reserve Infantry Regiment Nr. 10, 10th Infantry Regt, Pomerania Landhwer Inf No 1, Rhineland (Militia)(50%) Inf, An Unknown Dragoon Unit)

I also remembered that I use my Prussian Jaeger Incorrectly in that;

i) They were armed with Rifles (I have just been treating them as normal muskets)
ii) They were attached to units, so I need to spread mine about a bit
iii) They didn’t have a standard (But I knew that already – I just couldn’t help adding one at the time)
iv)The last battle report had the wrong Unit numbers.

Austrian
Unpainted - 1 Line (Elite 300% Painted) – I thought I had 3 ?

French Allies
Painted -
Redoubt- 3 Line, 1 Cuir, 2 Lancer
Old Glory- 1 Gren
Front Rank- 6 Line, 2 Dragoon, 1 Cuir
Minifig- 2 Gren\Chassuer
God knows how many guns I have done.

Unpainted -
Redoubt - 1 Lancer
Victrix - 3 line (One is 70% done)
Minifig - 1 Line (25% done)
Perry – 1 Dragoon, 1 Hussar

Yikes ! So quite a varied lot of figures to be done. I am currently painting 8 figures each from 4 nations to keep the interest rolling.

What have I got left you ask ?
28mm WW2 (RoE), 15mm WW2 (A bit aimed at Skirmish games), 20mm WW2 (A tonne), 25mm Sudan (For Skirmish), 15mm Napoleonic, 6mm Napoloenic, 6mm ACW, 1/72 ACW and 1/72 !8th Century aswell as 28mm French and Indian Wars.

Grosshuntersdorf 1813

http://archdukepiccolo.blogspot.com/2010/07/napoleonic-campaign-continues.html.

Ion and I continued the loose campaign we had going that is a flow on from previous games. After my reverse at the Falsover River Von Jaxen had retreated and planned a spectacular ambush of the French as they surged towards Berlin. The French were strung out along the road while the Allied entered from the South, and while outnumbered,  the Allies had hoped that choke points would constrict the French formations and enable them to punch a hole throught the French Centre (With some luck! ). (Below the French Forces march east towards Berlin)

Jager Bn No 3 (With unhistorical Landhwer Standard :)) and the 2nd Silesian Hussars were assigned the task of drawing in as much of the French Left flank as they could.

My Centre and Right Flanks were ordered to push into the French at speed and not stop until "you see the whites of their eyes". The pic below shows the centres ragged line of the 16th Prussian Infantry, Murmansk (Russian) Infantry and the Astrakhan Grenadiers making haste for the French while the Finland Dragoons attenpt to carry the guns, while on the right 21st (Russian) Jager and the 4. 2nd West Prussian Dragoons harried the French Squares.

More action in the centre.

On the left flank the Jager held the French left  , while the 6th Prussian Infantry defended the edge of the woods from 2 French Line marching in disorder. A Legere unit was quickly seen off however a French column struck (A French Column charging through woods in disorder is a sight to see !) and a melee ensued that lasted for 3 turns from memory but the end result was the Prussians simply running out of men.
(pics to come)

In the centre all I needed was some luck and this is where things went wrong ! The Russian Dragoons never made it and the French Artillery exacted 100% casulties each round.  16th Infantry and the Murmansk Infantry stopped after some pounding from the Artillery to leave the Astrakhan Grenadiers to attempt to carry the French line alone. They engaged in short range fire with the French Line and both units suffered badly. I just couldnt get anything to go my way until at the end when it didnt really matter (My morale held though even despite a pasting)

Below is the end result - Prussian Hussars and the Artillery (Quite useless on the day) watch the Allied line bolt past them.

Conclusion - another reverse and my army is sent streaming into the hinterland. Todays game with laced with poor dice rolling on my behalf. My artillery was abysmal, I think the entire game they exacted 3 casualties while Ion's artillery took 7 in the first round of firing. Trying to get superiority of numbers at strike points is also an issue when my units are weaker than the opposition, and I am outnumbered but with some luck I could of have at least punched the French centre.

His army battered  and the French looking forward to Sausage in Berlin - What will Von Jaxen do now ?  He really needed to make contact again with Brigadier Kittenhatz and his Brigade of Landhwer.

[And curse that 12pdr and curse that camera ! Whem my camera decides it has run out of juice it gives you 3 seconds of life left and then turns off. ]

Small Update

Tonight I'm trying to get the Allies up and running for an upcoming game. Most of my troops needed rebasing anda few figures added\improved. I guess I was in such a rush for the last game I went t a little too fast and never got around to tidying up. Currently on the table are:

3 Prussian units being rebased, 2 Russian and 2 Allied Cavalry, on the painting area are they 12 figures needed to tidy up the units and the time honoured cup of tea.

Weekend Works

A weekend of some activity as Ion and I may have a game coming up this week. Arabella is teething and her grumpy times seem to be just as I sit down to do something - such is life.

Currently I am mounting and basing some Russian Dragoons, and tidying up the basing of my existing Russian and Prussian forces (Going to double bases). I am also adding some new Standards to some units and those half painted ones that I ahve the command completed for.

Due to poorlighting, dead camera and the kitchen bench covered in dishes,slowcookers and other "hobby" paraphenalia I will show some older pictures instead.

My painting "area" - which is the dinner table. When I paint I need to get everything from the cupboard and set it all up, then at the end of the night put it all away (Arabellas high chair sneakily became a storage area while this goes on). Once we move to a bigger house I plan to have a more dedicated area where I have more space and dont have to move everything.

Of the CSA forces I have done some infantry regiments and some artillerymen (All 1/72 Italeri), I'll finish a few more infantry units before I do the Cavalry. Below are some Gunners (and those in the background), I quite like the mix of gray and red and all I need to do now is finish the guns.(The black fellows are an undercoated infanrty unit)

And finally an infantry unit to be based. When I undercoated the  figures I had the brainwave of basing them first. I really dont know why I did that as I just had to take them off to paint. Not as much detail painted on the 1/72s as I find 3 layers is too much for them, so I just run 2 layers.

After I get my Allies sorted I will finish the ww2 28mm  Russians (yes Hayden !) and get some pics up - I have about 30 Russians, 1 76.2mm AT gun, some mortars and some HMG's. I also need to finish the PzIV, the germans and the French !

ACW

Wow almost another month of World Cup action. Spains win today ended my ridiculous schedule of 2am and 6am wakeups.

After reading one of the ArchDuke Piccilo's posts on his CSA Cavalry I got out my CSA troops and started to paint. ACW and napoleonics were my first periods and my ACW are all 1/72 plastics, there is something about painting these figures in 1/72 that is quite nostalgic for me. I think it has been 13 years since I had an ACW game but in those days I used to play every 2 weeks roughly for at least 4 years. I have even managed to find some old units, I think they would have to be 19 years old so its bringing back some memories.

Currently painting the following;
8 Gun and crew
2 23man Cavalry units
8 Infantry Units
And various tidy ups of existing troops.

Its taken a few days of experimenting to get the painting  colours and style right but I think I have it now. The Italeri figures are quite neat so its quite refreshing. It is also amazing how many 1/72 you can paint compared to lead 28s.

Photos to come.

Nothing Done in Last Month

Wow its been a month since I posted. Well not a lot has happened painting wise in the last few weeks, I started some Prussians but then the World cup started and the NZ games are in early morning. I've also managed to injure myself in several ways playing football so hobbling around trying to get wargames figures out simply hasnt appealed. And then yesterday I had the undisputed pleasure of having a blood clot removed from lower back which has bought me much happiness, it was all my wildest dreams come true, big needles, big scalpels and I can't sit down and I aint painting anything standing up or laying on my front.

But a new month and Im in the mood for painting.

Pictures from last post.

Neopolitan Lancers and French Lancers (Half done) - TTG figures. Below are the 6th Hussars and 23rd Dragoons which are also TTG\BL. the figures are very chunky and casting can be crude but its good practice for when I get to my AB figures.

Below is the painted officer of the Italian Royal Guard and beside him an unpainted figure (as well as a Perry Hussar). The Perry Dragoon figure was such a joy to paint, everything went well and the figures, being plastic are so light. I have a box of Dragoons, Hussars,Line and Highlanders and it feels like its empty compared to the same size box of leads that weights a tonne.

Above - the Officer on his own. Some touchups needed and the horse needs finishing.

May 19th

No pics as of yet -My painting usually occurs between 8.30pm and 11pm and at the end of a night I'm too lazy to then sort out a shooting area and then upload them to the camera etc. I will do it with the finished figures but not with half painted

Currently I am finishing the Russian Finland Dragoon Regiment, Prussian Landwher Cav, some Generals and another Prussian gun crew for a game that is being planned in a few weeks time. At the moment for the cavalry I'm painting the riders only and will then do the horses en-masse with some ink washes and a spray can (Somehting I picked up off (http://itinerantwargamer.blogspot.com/). The Russian Dragoons are Old Glory and I realised half way through that I had made a booboo in the order in that my troopers are 1804 helmet but the Officers are 1812 helmet. Gosh darn it ! But its my own fault.

This weekend I plan to rebase my existing Allied Infantry units onto double bases (as currently 24 single based figures causes some issues) and then also have them boxed properly. I have also painted two new standard bearers (one Russian Count Astabsky  Grenadier and one Prussian 16th Infantry) as my existing standards are for the wrong units.

My first  Perry Dragoon is almost done and man does he look fantastic. I only started one figure as I couldn't resist it and hopefully soon I can finish the rest of his unit, the Italian Garde Dragoons and the rest of the plastics (Neopolitan Infantry, Belgian Infantry, Highlanders and a Perry Hussar unit (yet to be decided)

Also progressing is my 15mm force - . So far I am 25% of the way through the III Cavalry Corps of the Grande Armee and I think in total I have enough figures for 2 Corps and 1 cav Corps. I have decided to base my figures for AoE as i)I have the rules and ii) They suit what I want to do as I wish to do refights but not blow and arm and a leg on figures and iii)The base size matches (near enough) some other rulesets. I took part in the Christchurch Napoleonic refights in the 90's and they were great fun and its something I plan to get into again even if its for a one off demo game.
I like 15mm but as I have substantial 28mm armies I dont really have the desire to have 15mm armies made of millions of figures (eg : 20+ infantry to a battalion) so I quite like the smaller unit representations (eg 24th Dragoons is 3 bases of 2 figures each ) - it also allows me to play larger scale games than encounter actions my 28mm armies get (Limited to Table size not figures)

Friday Night Basing

So I pulled out my Allied cavalry as it occurred to me I only had 1 unit painted (The last game I sneakily substituted some Westphalian\French Cav). So I started the simple task of glueing them to cardboard and I guess I got a little carried away as I have done;

12 Russian Cuirrassiers, 18 Russian Dragoons,16 Prussian Uhlans, 12 Prussian Dragoons,20 Prussian Artillery Crew, 8 Russian Horse Artillery,30Prussian  Landwher,30 Prussian Reserves,20 Prussian Line and 6 Prussian Mounted Generals. So lots of Blue to paint !

And remaining to base\paint are
50 Pavlov Grens,30 Russian Musketeers(Bicorne), 20 Russian Line, 20 Grenadiers,16 Russian Jager,140 British, 12 KGL Hussars, 20 Austrians,36 French Cav and 40 French Infantry (YESH).

Where did all these figures come from ?



Ive also picked up a ready made DBA army - Ancient Britons.

May Musings

I finally got the camera out after some painting. I've been doing a good 1.5 hours a night most nights and I have to say I'm enjoying it. I'm painting a mix of figures as I have found that I just bump from project to project and never finish anything, so if I mix three projects at once I can then progress each one. There is a method to my madness you know :).

Below are the 95% finished Voltigeur Company of the 4th Neopolitan Infantry. A few touch ups are needed here and there (the faces and some other areas) - I also did the command elements (not pictured) and I need to glue a new standard on the Eagle. I really like the uniforms - the mix of colours appeal to me and the Victrix figures are great.

Next in line are the Grenadiers and a standard inf company. They should look quite snappy with the mix of white and red.

95% finished Pavlov Grenadiers (and a dead frenchman). Again some slight touchups needed (and a standard !) but they look quite good for my ability. The drum needs some work though as I never have a clue what the drums are supposed to look like. I have a tonne of casualty figures that Im also doing as though to add some flavour or even make some larger bases for my generals.

Russian Cuirrassiers (Old Glory) - I started these three a while back and I cant even remember what unit they are supposed to be. So start again ! Have only worked on the white uniform and face basecoast so far as am working over old painting. My notes are all on my work PC so will need to reorganise and get things noted everywhere (with the figures might help !)

And some more 15mm French\Naples types. These are TTG\Battleline figures that I picked up yonks ago -some gnomish characters but what the hell - Ill paint them anyway. Left to right - Neopolitan Chevaux-Leger,Line Lancers (Unit number to come) and some Dragoons (unnumbered as well)

And finally the beginning of Princess Arabella's Army, not sure what this uit is as I have to make the history of this imagination nation. I vaguely recall the lads in green are Irish mercenaries while the Red coated fellows are the Foot artillery. Again these were half painted figures I started working on again. hopefully the next lot are more detailed and crisp. im going to have fun developing this "nation" and I have even been making flags.

And even better news is that I now have some Perry Dragoons and Hussars :). Some more Neopolitan\Italian dandies are going to be shown off.