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.