November

Hi,

Well its been a  good 6 weeks since my last post and things have been a bit topsy-turvey, I had a wedding and some other functions to go to and my painting dropped off. It picked up again early November and then dropped off again as I started playing compter games at night (Baldurs Gate again). As daylight is now longer I have the ability to tend to the potplants and defend them from the ravages of Arabella, who plays with locust like glee on the strawberries and cherry tomatos.

But this isnt a DIY deck vegetable plot blog, its a wargame blog. I have done some things over the last 6 weeks and here are the results. Below some 15mm Peter Pig SYW figures I use for Mabutu (Which also needs a kickstart), My Jaxonians are British SYW\AWI figures as I plan to do some AWI actions in the future.

And the major effort this month has been painting 6mm ACW Union troops to play against Hayden, whilst having a beer on some weeknights. The figures are Baccus and are quite nice to paint, mainly as they arent true 6mm but a lot more chunky. My first painted unit is below, flags are those supplied by baccus and I have used a 3 tier shading on the uniforms (Midnight Blue, Prussian  Blue with Flat blue highlight). I have found these rather easy to paint compared to the H&R figures.

 Their backs, again very simple, black, blue blue white..

I glue the figures onto ice cream sticks to paint, undercoat them and paint away, but I have in most cases put too much glue on as they are an absolute bastard to get off sometimes.But using this system my painting tray becomes a manufacturing line as I paint 12 ice cream sticks at once.

 My Zouve unit, I wasn't sure how these would look in 6mm but they didnt turn out too bad I think, I like the mix of Red and Blue at this scale.

 An artillery battery.

 And the unit that has caused me no amount of swearing and pain, The 15mm AB Cuirrassiers. This unit has been the absolute bane of my painting existance, I have never struggled to paint a unit before as I have with these. I have touched these figures up at least 5 times and 3 months later they are still on the painting tray. Finally I am there as I am painting the horses, but I will be glad when this unit is based and ready.
Standard Bearer

Officer

Some more men to join them.

 

So once this cursed Cavalry unit is done, I plan to finish some more 6mm figures and finish the 28mm Cuirrassier unit I was repainting, after that I plan to repaint a Westphalian 28mm unit and perhaps a sprinkling of 15mm Prussians (or 28mm as I have some todo)

15mm Lancers Finished and new things arrived.

Hello,

Wells it mid October and I havent been doing that much as my time is spent watching the rugby and various other leisurely delights. In the last few days I have made an effort to get the Lancers and Cuirrassiers finished and I have made some headway on these. So much in fact that I finished the Lancers..............

 I always have a bugger of a time with lead lances, I can never get AND keep them straight, but I'm happy with the result. I was going to do a lighter highligh level but it made the red a bit pink so I stopped doing it. Horses need a small touch up on things I noticed as I was basing them (I hate horses) and maybe the odd dabble here and there to correct but I am happy with these AB figures. They have been on the bench for a while now and now I can move onto finishing the 15mm AB Cuirrassiers (half done) and the Front Rank 28mm (3/4 done).


And alas out of the midst of Canterbury comes three new projects, but hopefully quick projects as they are 6mm. My Baccus order arrived and I have started painting 6mm Union for a ACW Army. I used the two gun crews and skirmish stand below to test some paint methods and will see how they go tomorrow (Black undercoat, dark blue, skin, wash, highlight)

 The figures above need to be separated and glued to a temporary base, but I thought I'd test some anyway while the others below dried on their sticks.

Project 2 is 6mm WW2, I have had these figure for an eternity and I often pick up the odd job lot off trade me. However as I have paid no attention to what I am doing, I have a big mix of early and late war so I need to sort things out and possibly get some more figures. Below are some test vehicles to see how my vehicle painting is these days, the centre JagdPanzer was done using block out while the others I am testing washes. these tanks are 20 years old at least. Of course getting these out has stemmed from my Modern 6mm army that is being planned for games against a mate, I am looking at Cold War Americans - a European Force for 1982 (ish) of which I can transpose most of it into a 1971 Vietnam force.

 

When will I learn ?

Cuirassiers +3

So in my last update I decided to repaint some broken 28mm French Cuiraissiers that are 18 years old, I started by giving them a black wash and used the officer figure to test my "repair. When I was doing this I thought it would be a great idea to fix my other 25mm Westphalian Cuirassier unit (The 1st)(Redoubt) AND paint some 15mm AB Cuirassiers, aswell as finish some AB lancers at the same time. Below are the FR boys, washed and some darker shading done, so far have done faces and the red areas - great figures to paint.

The 25mm Redoubt figures, they are ugly but I am fond of them as I got them in a sale of a Store that closed down and I do like the White uniforms. Horrible to paint, poor castings but usually they scrub up well. im also doing my French ADC's (as I found them in the box)

 

 After these are done, the next units to hit the repair line are all  the Dragoons, 2 FR units, 1 1/4 painted Perry plastic Dragoons, 1 AB Dragoon unit. The the Westphalian Line infantry (2 units)  and 2 Jaeger. After that the French should be semi back to normal.

The current madness of the painting tray, it really is a mess at the moment, AB Cuirassiers being painted (Shading and some red done), surrounded by all manner of figures, Landwher, SYW Brits, M3 Shermans and some Mahdists.

 The AB lancers are coming along just nicely, the zulus behind them are turning into a bit of a train wreck, I cant simply get the shields right.

So you'd think I have enough to do already as I have the following unpainted figures

i) About a 600 15mm Prussians, 300 15mm french, 100 28mm Russians, 300 28mm Prussians, 150 28mm British aswell as finish my Mahdists for mabutuland aswell as 1/72 ACW, 1/72 SYW and (somewhere 1/72nd ww2 8th Army).

Last friday I swore that the 15mm British Sudan figures would be my last army to buy and that I had everything I need for all other periods. However after a conversation with a mate in the Bealey Ave median strip at about 11pm on Saturday night, followed by a beer at the Casino I now have a 6mm ACW union army winging its way to me from baccus, my second Baccus 6mm Army in one year, as I sold the last ones (unopened) seeing that I had it for a year and never touched it. But this time things are looking up for 6mm :)

I need a bigger house !

Mid Sept.

Currently I am focusing on my Mabutu campaign, and I have just completed my first skirmish which I will post to the Mabutu Blog, I then rolled the events dice and have another skirmish to resolve, albeit a little smaller but at least now I have everything ready.

As part of this I am painting a variety of 15mm Figures (Zulus, Ansars etc) for the campaign but also as I want to do a solo Sudan fight later in the year. I'm quite enjoying the 15mm side of things, easy to pack away, fits on the kitchen table OK and fits the rules OK (For TS&TF I use cm instead of inches) and plan to do some more when I get the time.

I was in the garage and started to sort out my 28mm Napoleonic, they have remained in a big heap since the earthquake and I felt motivated enough to put them back in the boxes and set a plan for repairing them. The Allies survived, but the French had a torrid time as the ended up upside down and all manner of broken bases and bayonets. So I have decided to take one unit out at a time, retouch them paint wise and to re base them (as a lot of come off bases) in some consistent manner. So I then found the first 4 lead units I ever purchased, 2 Front Rank Dragoon, 1 FR Cuirassier and 1 Hotspur Chasseur and its odd that I have never completed the Front Rank figures in 18 years, most are painted but the horses never were. So I pulled out the Cuirassiers and will tidy them up first, hopefully some pictures to come.

Cheers
Paul

Update

Hi,

The Rugby World cup has started so my time has been slashed as I'm watching all the games and only focusing on getting my Mabutu figures setup. I have completed the British forces for the first skirmish, and the Zulus and Ansars have arrived for the natives so I am currently painting some Mahdists to act as Mbeechi while the Zulus will stand in for angry Mabutans. I'll do another Mabutu Diary update tomorrow and then next week I should be able to fight the first skirmish. I was going to use Sharp practice for the rules but I ahve migrated to TS&TF Africa variant as I think that reflects things a little better.

I have also been picing up various terrain pieces from around the world. Why pay $30 for 3 palm trees in NZ when I can buy 40 for $10 from Hong Kong on ebay as well as using Fish tank grass as jungle bushes. At the end of the day it will all look a little "plastic" but Im not fussed as it will be on the kitchen table anyway. I have completed the pallisade wall in case the natives get a bit rowdy at the garrison.

Thats all for today :)

Progress

So what has been happening since last week ? A lot. I've been busy painting figures for my Mabutu solo campaign. tidying up some loose ends and waiting the verdict of the EQC. I recently acquired a tonne of Old Glory 15mm Prussians and I grabbed the Landwher out to give them a try. I have base coated the figures and am currently about to do some tidy up and highlighting. I quite like them, which is good as I have 8 battalions to complete, however this is a long term project and not something I need to complete in the next 6 months at least.

 I also grabbed a Polish officer to see how he ended up looking, I have 2 units to paint and I have them "earmarked" as next on the list. I have never painted Poles before and am quite looking forward to it, hopefully I will do them justice.

 

  And I have finally completed two units, and even made an attempt as basing them with some shading. I have had Old Glory Guard Chassuers in a bag for an age now and I decided to paint up one unit after doing the refight at Waterloo in June. And here is the finished product, a lot I can improve upon but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed painting these figures up in their Fantastic uniforms. I will probably never get to use them, but I just could not resist., however I do have another 36 of them who will all become Hussars of some type.

At the same time I was working on the Chassuers, I also started the 2nd Hussars (AB Figures). I have always been shy of hussars so I thought I'd give them a go  and I am pleased with them but they need some varnish and an odd touch up (I dont know what it is but when I go to take photos I seem to drop every figure I touch). Again I am happy with my work, though a lot of lacing is horrible for me and this I need to practice on.

Next on the list of french are the 6th lancers, AB figures again and very very very tasty looking figures. Im quite happy that I had a little purchase in June, and excited at the fact I still have another 4 AB Cavalry units to complete (Dragoons, Cuirrassiers, Horse Grenadiers and Carabiniers). Currently they are undercoated and ready for smoe decent painting.

 


Mabutu Figures.

My solo campaign is underway slowly due to the need to paint the figures, I thought I'd do the first few moves slowly so that I have time to paint the natives. Any day now I should recieve an order that contains a horde of Zulu and Dervishes and once they arrive its full steam ahead.

Below is my Jaxonian engineer and the two cooks (African skins tones arent my best in 28mm, let alone 15mm). 15mm Peter Pig figures (Engineer is a "Govt Captain" from pirates range and Workers are AWI ranges) and based on plastic counters from Whitcoulls (3 dollars for 50 lol).

 Below are my old 7YW British I painted in 2000. I lived a stones throw away from Essex miniatures and used to pop down on the odd day, have a pub lunch, pint and purchase ;). These figures will take the roll as my Jaxonians (Less the Colours). Below is a selection of the men who will soon be up to thier eyes in sharp pointy sticks.

 Next are the 15mm Peter Pig Pirates. I bought these as I want to run some smuggler games and for them to fill in as Spanish Guerrillas in the Campaign if needed. They will also fill the role of White Slavers\Settlers in the Mabutu actions. I really like the figures, which is good as I have 50 of them, a good mix of Cutlass, pistols, Muskets and "mob" weapons.

Mabutuland

Hello,

After getting over another cold (from yet another small person) I have slowly been painting 15mm pirates and basing two 15mm French Lt Cavalry units. For some time now I have looked into various solo colonial campaigns and for the tIme being I am going to run a 15mm solo campaign based on the Ubongo campaign that was devised by the Brilliant Chris Ferree at (http://www.reocities.com/cdferree/ubonga/ubonga.htm) whilst tying in my Imaginations nation, Jaxonia (Based on Rio from our illfated Imaginations campaign last year)


Mabutu tells the tale of a detachment of Infantry ordered to create a garrison on the banks of a river in Western Africa. This is in order to protect river trade and the local labour force from nasty tribesmen with sharp pointy sticks and their slave trader clients who are hell bent on getting their "product back". I have set it in 1742 as i) I have a few figures I can use for the Slavers and the Jaxonians and ii) I felt like a 18th Century Flavour. I do however need to get some figures to act as the tribesmen, and possibly a few huts.

I play tested the campaign twice in two days, simply to see the mechanics of it all and quite enjoyed it. There is a fair amount of paperwork and dice rolling but the randomness and feel of it all is good. If the weather, heat, snakes, animals dont kill the men the locals will.
The first test was over in one week as I managed to generate every negative event possible. A hunting party ran into an angry village and ended up on the wrong end of a sharpened piece of mango,  a horde of Slavers and Tribemen descended on the unprotected garrison, half of whom were sick and caught them unaware. The second test attempt tested various exploring, buildings and patrolling rules. I built some stockades, a Barrack and a watchtower, sent some patrols out to counter random events (Slavers, missionaries, etc etc) and just got to grips with the system. So the third attempt was the actual campaign that I will use the blog for, and actually fight the battles with figures on the Kitchen table.

http://mabutuland.blogspot.com/