Pre-Winter Colds

Winter is here and thus starts the long run of colds and other illness that haunt or house. I swear my health has decreased since all these fecking earthquakes started as I'm just sick all the time. Of course a snotty 2 year old doesnt help :) I've been off work now for 3 days, was ordered on bed rest and am pretty much sick of it. Now that whinge is out of the way, I did get to spend some time at home with my daughter as well as paint some figures during daylight hours - which is a bonus.

I have finished another Prussian Heavy Cavalry unit. Apologies for the photo quality, I seem to have lost any skill for taking photos. I blame my constant coughing ! I also need to touch up the horses as I havent done much on them.

 

A new Prussian Line infantry unit, again in my rush I forgot to paint the buttons on so another touch up needed. Ive yet to detail the base and flock it etc, as I tend to do basing en-masse and wait till I have 5 or so units to complete (Just because its a pain to get all the stuff out).

Some 15mm SciFi finally, I picked up some Old Crow Resin vehicles for my solo SciFi skirmish stuff. Below is an APC that I have base coated and "inked", so hopefully I'll do some more layers and then weather it a bit.

I am also building some ruins, as I was kindly given some scenery for free when I purchased a second hand castle. The owner was moving away and gave me a lot of stuff he didn't need (Paint and scenery) so I'll make good use out of it. These are GW ruins but I plan to use them for a ruined European church. I'll add some detail to the clear area, perhaps a statue or tomb or sorts.

And the Zvedza castle - jeez this thing is massive - its for 1/72 so I can use it for 15mm (For a Citidel), 1/72 and 28mm. I've grabbed a tower and 2 wall sections to start on, but I won't need the entire kit done, but hope to  have a few towers and 6 wall sections for gaming. So far Ive done a some layers and all it needs is a final light drybrush, and some detail painted in (I plan to add some Ivy aswell)

The toaster in the background gives some idea of scale. I didn't really need to buy it but I couldnt resist !.

Its only 12.56pm and I still have all day to do something !

Battle of Harburg, May 1809

The campaign in Prussia is off and running, King Frederick Wilhelm III has stayed true to Tilsit and has moved troops to support the French in giving the Austrians and British a damn good thrashing.

Yes its not historical, but it will lead to some damn good games. Our first battle is Harburg, where a Prussian\French garrison is abruptly interupted by a British Division, well not interupted as I knew they were coming. It was a bit lopsided numbers wise (4 Inf, 3 Cav, 2 Guns against 12 inf,1 cav and 2 guns), and no one expected the game to last a night BUT showing true tenacity the allies (French\Prusse) came out biting and we are going into our third night of gaming. Of course I forgot the camera batteries the first game night !

Some pictures of night two ! Below is early in the game, the British have advanced and the Allies have sensed an opportunity, the Silesian Uhlans roll over some british batteries and the left flank surges forward crushing all before them.

 The next shot shows a closer view - british square cower as Prussian troops surge onwards - For Glory ! For the Fatherland !

 But after that intial surge we needed to reform our lines, so back we went and reformed, a solid line of cold steel and big guns.

 Some more action shots, East Prussian Heavy Cavalry await a chance to get amongst it.

 Prussian Grenadiers (using Landwher figures) impale a British square and send it running.

 And with most games, smoke is everywhere - in VLE smoke does certain things to firing so it pays to make the first volley count.

More to come - will Prussians hold, will the french actually fight ! Night is closing and the British dead are mounting - Bring me Night or bring me Blucher !

May

Hi,

A brief update - I am still alive but I just havent had a chance to update anything. I have a new job and its pretty full on and I am just finding my feet, but its been great so far and is very exciting. Over the last month I've really only painted one 15mm Prussian Cuirrassier unit and I cant take a photo as its on Barry's games table as we have a game to finish on wed.

One thing I can say is how fantastic is a Napoleonic game when the table is crammed with figures !. Painting the figures (for me anyway) is extremely enjoyable, recently I've received some great comments on my figures but seeing them on the table is also very enjoyable.

I havent even had time to read other's blogs which I updated myself with last night, whilst trying not to play Europa Unversalis III on the PC. I also purchased 120 trees from Hong Kong that I am basing up for our gaming as we seem to have a tree shortage.

So this coming few weeks I intend to get normal painting service back on track and pump out some more:

i)Prussians
ii) Normans
iii) Fantasy figures for solo gaming - none of the GW crap - 15mm all the way.

Cheers
Paul

Prussians

So as there is a possible Prussia 1809 campaign about to kick off I thought it prudent to actually get painting my 15mm Prussians. So far I have done a few infantry units and some Uhlans. Below is the infantry, all old glory 15mm - 2 Landwher and the Silesian Jaegers, as well as a brigadier (slash Dragoon officer). I've made more effort in basing them and realised that brown paint certainly gets used up quickly these days!. Also how expensive is bloody paint, Most of my paints I bought 5 years ago and am only running out now - GW is like 8 bucks so I'm going back to P3 and CdA as I can get it cheap enough from the UK from Maelstrom games - to buy in NZ or Aussie seems expensive. I often think I'm stuck in some wargaming time warp and land every 10 years and everything seems to change lol.

A close-up of a Jaeger stand, quite neat figures and they have loads of personality. I like the OG figures in 15 and 25, I do have Front Rank but they all look the same and after painting 4 of them it gets boring. the OG figures have such personality it makes it refreshing and also amusing when you find the odd figure, like the Wurttenburger who appears to be proposing while looking into sky (OK he been shot but its quite theatrical !)

My Dragoon officer in the midst of the militia hordes.. OG packs come in 16 cav figures each when I only need 12, so all the extra figures will be used as Mounted Staff, ADCs and such other stands that take my fancy.

Some Flags for AB standards - the OG packs come in 50 so you dont get a choice as to the command ratios, which is fine however in one Landwher pack I seemed to get 6 standards. I seem to recall the landwher werent authorised to carry flags, but the tended to ignore that order so lucky me.

And finally my Uhlans painted a while ago based and annointed with a standard, A Dragoon standard of course to fit my typical "get it wrong at some stage process". I cant wait to a see a good force of Prussians painted - did I really need a Prussian 15mm army aswell as 25mm - YES !.

Oh oh Shiney !

Its been a busy month, Fletchers working on the house (which has been good apart from the bricklayer who seems to be a retard), birthdays, illness and a change of jobs. I have been steadily painting but haven't had a chance to actually base some units due to the garage being overfilled with housewares.

I bought some AB Cuirrassier figures off trademe as I wanted another unit and couldnt face painting them, quite well painted figures but just needed rebasing. Below they are sitting in the sandbox along with a Prussian Line Infantry unit allowing some sand to soak into the PVA. I don't really go in for buying painted figures, but the ease of it all was tempting and I have so many projects going on it would make things easier I suppose.

 Below is the command stand of the Prussian Regt (Pomeranian I think - I need to find my notes), Old Glory figures and also fun to paint (and easy !) yet I have a few hundred more to go.



A Swiss Regt (AB figures) after "sanding" and awaiting the base to be painted, highlighted and flocked. I enjoyed painting this unit as the AB figures always look good and I look forward to the next

I have a few more posts to come over the next week as I roll into some more units.

Cheers
Paul

Hi,

Fletchers have almost finished the house and they took their sweet time doing it. We stayed at the Top 10 Holiday park in Papanui and it was pretty comfortable place to stay and good for my daughter as it had a tonne of playgrounds. But onwards to wargaming !.

ACW

Hayden and I managed another 6mm ACW game where my Stonewall Brigade defended a ridge against twice as many Federals. The game highlighted more flaws in the Polemos rules and the poor command control system for small games. Basically a Veteran Infantry Regiment armed with smoothbores pretty much toasted the entire attack. So now we are looking at changing the rules to allow for some form of strength points or playing volley n bayonet.

Spanish Campaign
Puebla De Rodrigo

Part of the Army of Extremedura was attacked by a cavalry force as it retreated from Puebla De Rodrigo (Near Ciudad Real) and was destroyed. There wasnt much I could do here apart from try and kill some Frenchmen, which I did but when French Cavalry can move 36inches in a  turn your pretty much poked. Having no cavalry while up against myriads of French Cav backed by Horse Artillery really was a foregone conclusion but it started to highlight some of the issues I have with the ruleset regarding Charges and the use of Pip Movement.

Puebla De Sanabria
I had advanced towards Salamanca with a force under General Espsana, I know there were French near but seeing as thought my allies (.....looks off into the distant hills...) seems to be trapped in Portugal I thought I try and suck some French into the NW and like a moth to a light bulb they came.

 Below the Militia troops hide on the top of the hill from the menacing French Artillery.

 Below the Spanish Defences of Puebla de Sanabria consisting of the 2/3 Aragorn Regt and a medium battery.

 The French advance - 3rd Legere in open order moving towards PdSanabria.

 The Bailen Regt secures the Walled Farm while in the distance French legere hordes start a flank attack.

 Aerial photo of my deployment - French advance.

 More French Legere (Like how many do you need ?) attempt to pin the Galacians

 Trouble - the generals die in one foul swoop and the force stops reacting well.

 The Spanish attempt to retire but lack of cohesion hinders them, swarmed by light infantry the game was pretty much up.

 French Legere advance at speed.

 The end, generals finally return to action but its all too late.

 Honestly what a shit of a game lol. The rules have a few (I believe ) holes that limit the defender in certain circumstances yet empower the attacker to do as he pleases far far too quickly. But far too many lopsided battles where I can barely move and the French have a heightened sense of ability and simply rampage everywhere.  I know the Spanish Army very well yet under these rules its almost impossible given the broad quality gap that exists.

Fletchers about to ruin my fun !

The above (Flashy) picture shows the hordes of Fletcher's painting,piling,bricklaying and plumbing goblins appear on the horizon ready to drive me away from my village for........one to 5 weeks.( The large troll is the project manager about to stomp on a wayward goblin !).
Yes, I can scarcely believe it myself. Fletcher Building will repair our quake damaged home starting in three weeks time.No more blue tarp on the roof and walls, no more plywood window frames and wonky house ! (unless of course they do a crap job) However, it means packing up everything and I wont be painting in that time as we are staying in a motel unit in Redwood. So now I'm in a mad rush to finish what I am doing, pack it away nicely and move.

So to get the mad rush rolling I started to base all those figures I have done in the last wee while. Mostly 15mm Napoleonic Prussians and French|Poles. I have applied my sand "base" which will then be painted earthy tones, dry brushed and then flocked with static grass and other flora.( It was also a reminder that my Cav units are missing Standards). AB French Cuirrassiers in the front followed by Old Glory Prussian Landwher lancers.

Below is a close up of the 15mm troops -  Poles (Front), Prussian Landwher(Middle) (Both Old Glory), Horse Artillery (rear - minifigs) and Westfalian Hussars (Left - Lancashire Games). My 15mm flags are all from Flags for AB's and they are quite nice.

Another 4 6mm Union Regiments for the meat grinder, I think I have done 14 so far so a handy force to game with already.

I have found my Box of 28mm Russians and Prussians and have started to re base them (As they had no damage from Mr Shakey), in that box I found 16 unpainted Russian Artillery and 1 6pdr horse gun. I then realised I buggered up the order so I needed to get some more artillery pieces so I have found the Esci guard Artillery 12pdrs actually fit in quite well. So I have started to paint them in Russian colours and I have the base colours done before wash and highlights. Behind the guns are my Old Glory crewmen of which all I need to do is some shading on the black bits and the odd touch up.

A bad shot my some of the crewmen. The last green highlight really brought the figures to life, thought they look better to the eye than the photo so once I finish the other highlights they should be good to go.

So what will I do for 4 or 5 weeks, hopefully get some game time in as I will be a lot closer to my work and some other gamers I know.

Cheers !