House Hunters Russian Edition

While I have some houses set in rural Russia for the Napoleonics to WWII era, it seems there never were and never are enough. So some time ago I decided to beef this up. Buying the models had been the easy part, actually building and painting them took ages it seems. So in order of their purchase dates, here they are:

Up first is a Russian Orthodox Church. Now these days there are a number of extremely nice MDF kits out there and I would be hard pressed to decide which one to use, but back when I decided to beef the numbers up there were none. So I decided to take a different route and use the Perry’s ACW plastic Church kit. I scraped off the Christian cross above the entrance, which sounds easier as it was without damaging the wooden planks, and replaced it with one laser-cut from MDF. The cross is by a small UK company. Unfortunately I can not remember their name to give them credit. The regular roof on the bell tower was left off and the resulting square hole shut off using a piece of plastic card. The onion shaped dome is from Fenris Games. All that was left to do was paint it. In real life there is more contrast to the wooden planks and also some greenish stains, but it seems the natural light when so took the photos nearly soaked that up (same also applies to the other buildings in this post).

Russian church

Russian church

Up next is the windmill. In a way this is kind of a kitbash as well. The basic windmill is by Warbases. I replaced the original tool with coffee stirrers, since I wanted a real simple roof there. Since I wanted it to be raised and of a kind that was able to turn with the winds I constructed an under structure from wooden strips and Hirst Arts stones. To make it all accessible I added a ladder from the same company that provided me with the Orthodox cross. I know a set of stairs would probably have made more sense, but this is easier to store and there is a door up on the rear side for lifting goods into the mill anyway, so a ladder had to do.

Russian windmill

Russian windmill

Up Last are two razed buildings. These are extremely nice kits from Charlie Foxtrot (you are going to see a few more of their models over my next posts). I really love their chimney stacks. They really add something to the looks of these burned down buildings. I build these two sets pretty straight forward assembling the buildings and painting them. They come with lots of separate planks and so on to allow you to mimic rubble and I decided not to paint these. Since they were thin strips of MDF they already looked suitably scorched as it was. So these were just filed in after the painting. Now once it was I all glued together this proved to be a mistake, since they looked immensely different from the way I had painted the rest of the buildings. The original plan had been to give the edges of the buildings a quick black spray with the airbrush and give it all a light black dusting to back it blend, but I realised that this would not do the trick. Something else would be needed. So I treated it all with a candle, making sure it left soot marks over the building and rubble. I also noticed that the floors looked to clean and that there was too little debris there. Thank gods it is BBQ season right now so I took some coal dust from the bottom of a bag of coals, smashed up a small piece of charcoal to get some larger pieces of debris and files that over the floor and debris to enhance the looks. And I feel it worked. If you want to try this yourselves, please make sure you are working outside or in a well ventilated room (the heat from the candle combined with the paint could cause fumes) and that you have something on hand to extinguish the fire should you overdo it. Also, sealing it all with varnish afterwards is a must otherwise you will smear things and you and other players might get dirty using the buildings.

Razed russian house

Razed russian house

Razed russian house

 

Marechal Michel Ney and ADCs

Reading through all the theme round topics offered for this year Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, I think the second round was the easiest for me to make a pick. When I started painting napoleonics a couple of years ago, it be pace apparent to me that the one thing that would never be missing there was a wide range of spectacular cavalry and officers. One of my favourite sets from the moment I saw it was Perry Miniatures rendition of Marechal Michel Ney based on the Waterloo panorama at Waterloo.

What I really love about this set is all the dynamic and drive in the miniatures. Most napoleonic higher command miniatures are quite regal, watching the action from afar, but these look like they are in the heat of it (like Ney and his ADCs were that day)! And the last thing that always appealed to me is, that they are French officers, so there are is lots of gold and silver fabric in their uniforms and saddlecloths and therefore lots of opportunities for NMM gold and silver, which I have really started to like since I started with Napoleonics!

Michel Ney and ADCs

Michel Ney and ADCs

On a general note: in the past I have often had mixed feelings when it came to the Perry Miniatures casting quality. In this case I was really happy. Except for a bad mould line running over chef d’escadron Levavaseurs face, these minis were really perfect!

Michel Ney and ADCs

But I felt there was something missing in the set. If you look at the painting itself, one can see, that there is not just Ney, Colonel Heymes and Levavasseur riding close together, but another officer, too (plus a Cuirassier being shot from his saddle, but there was not enough room on the base for him). It is hard to tell from the painting but his uniform looks lighter in colour, so I assumed it was not one of the other two Colonels acting as Neys ADCs that day, but possible someone of lower rank. So I chose a miniature from one of the Perry’s ADC sets and painted him up as an imperial orderly.

Michel Ney and ADCs

Michel Ney and ADCs

Michel Ney and ADCs

I decided to keep very close to the painting itself while painting the minis. There are only two exceptions. Heymes horse is depicted as a white with dark grey socks. I personally wanted it to rather be a dappled horse and painted it up that way. The other exception is that I painted the leatherwork on Neys horse a dark brown instead of the red leather on the painting. At first I had gone for red, but it did not really look good with the mini and looked far too dandy for Ney. looking at Rousellot (Christmas present from my parents last year) he has him with brown leather work as well, so that seemed fine with me.

Michel Ney and ADCs

Michel Ney and ADCs

Michel Ney and ADCs

Well, this is it. Hope you like the results of my work! This will be the last miniatures post for this year, but fear not, this is not the last you will hear from me this year!

 

 

 

Giveaway minis… they are done and ready to go in the post

I had originally planned to have these done by the end of last weekend. But last weekend it was too bleeping hot to paint (these minis required a lot of detail work and the paint kept on drying on the bris before I even got close to the minis with it) and this week lots of private matters intervened, so they are only done now. The good thing is, they are ready to go in the mail tomorrow, but I wanted to show you some pictures first. So in the order that they were painted (please excuse the crappy photos… these are just quick workbench shots under artificial light, so I hope unpacking these minis will come as a pleasant surprise to the winners):

The mini of Edward I “Longshanks” gave me some creeps for some reason, so I decided to start with him first. I the end this turned out unfounded and I quiet enjoyed painting him. Being from the dark ages where paintings and sculptures are essentially no good for details, I decided to take some artistic license with him, but also chose to be partly inspired by the movie Braveheart since I felt that the sculptor (eBob) did the same. I went for a dark red with the barding on the horse and the tonic of the king as opposed to the rather orange cloth used in the movie to depict some expensive, high pigment dyes.  This caused some problems, since I had decided to paint the Frisian he is riding as a chestnut (like the horse in the movie) which provided very little contrast. So I gave the horse white socks and  skin coloured mouth area which did the trick. Matt left me the option to either do the base myself of leave it plain so he can match it to his armies. I opted for the later. I always hate it when a base does not fit the army theme and I know my basing is a bit off the beaten track, so I just cleaned up the base here. I used a lipped style base as per the eBob Rebellion rules.

Up next was Napoleon. I was helped a lot by the fact that I already painted a Napoleon about two years back and could go back to my research here. All in all it was a straight and fun mini to paint and I was happy that it did not have a mould line running over his face like my Napoleon. There are different images of Napoleon out there. some with a green vest others with a white one. Just as with my mini I decided to go for green. With his white trousers and shirt as well as the grey coat he would just have been too boring without. Fran wanted no particular base since this mini will join his collection of minis painted by other bloggers, so I went for the rather more showcase´y lipped style base here and added some static grass and flower tuffs (unfortunately small ones on account of the base size).

Last is Uxbridge. Just like Napoleon he benefitted from he fact, that I had painted this mini about two years ago and did not have to look up things like horse colors or uniform specifics. This mini held me up somewhat. A couple of years back I had put him on a large base (not sure why) and during painting I found that there were a number of places that I could not reach. So I had to remove him from the base and mount him on a film container as I do with all my Napoleonic minis for painting. But unfortunately this meant another days wait while I waited for the glue to dry. All in all I can only say that I really enjoyed painting this mini (for the second time). I think it is one of the finest in the whole Perry Napoleonic range in all its dash and splendor. Monty will most likely use this mini as the nucleus for a Napoleonic force. Since the people he will be playing with are not entirely sure on the rules they will use and how to base the commanders, I left him unbased. This will give Monty the option to base him accordingly, plus I always feel that Napoleonic commanders of this rank should have another few minis on their base and this will keep the option open for Monty as well.

So now I will pack these up and tomorrow they will go to their new respective homes in the UK and USA. Hope you three will like them and i will see them on your blogs when put to game (or showcase) use.

 

 

Birthday / Milestone giveaway

So it is time for another giveaway on this blog.

So what are we celebrating? Well, a number things actually. For one this blog turned three in April. “Uh… what… April, you say! Why only now?” Because I wanted to wait for a number of other things to happen. One is that this blog reached 125 followers (actually this figure was actually breached in April, too). Some may remember, that we were higher already, but this is before I severed the connection via Facebook, which contained a number of people, who are not interested in Wargaming and therefore just muddied things up. So being back to that level was a huge milestone for me! Third we breached 250.000 hits, Oddly enough, it seems that Fran aka. the Angry Lurker was the visitor that pushed us over a milestone once more (this has happened twice in the past). Fourth, we breached 2000 comments earlier this month. Fifth… this is actually the 250th post! Oh and we have our first follower via Twitter… Fran again ;-)! All in all I feel this warrants another giveaway!

So what is up for grabs?

Well last year, I gave away some books on historical topics. I was thinking about doing the same once more, but honestly, all books went overseas last year and the shipping on them nearly killed me! Given my financial situation I decided  to go back to basics this year and offer you some painted miniatures and these are (in order of them being drawn):

1. Lord Uxbridge from Perry Miniatures
2. Edward I, King of England from eBob Miniatures
3. Napoleon (on foot) by Perry Miniatures

Giveaway miniatures

All of these come from my own stocks and were not donated. The minis will be painted over the next few weeks, but it might take until after the draw that they are actually finished. Depending on request I will either change the basing on these minis or send them un-based. To give you and idea of what the finial minis will look like… here is a photo of the Uxbridge mini I painted for myself two years ago:

Lord Uxbridge and ADC´s

Should you feel that you are not interested in any of these minis… well you can always have something else painted by me. Essentially send me a substitute (one 28mm mini or four 20mm or six 15mm minis or even a single 20mm or 15mm vehicle are fine, but talk to me… depending on the topic this can be expanded), tell me how you would like it painted and it will be done!

Now what do you have to do to get into the draw?

1. Comment on this post and if you prefer one of the above miniatures, mention it. If it is still available at the time your name gets drawn, it is yours.
2. Be a subscriber to this blog. There are essentially four ways to do this. (i) If you have a WordPress account you can follow this blogs, via WordPress. (ii) You can subscribe via eMail (third option from the top on the right). (iii) Or you can follow via Twitter (second option from the top on the right). (iv) The fourth option is to have this blog on your blogroll on your own blog (I know there are people who follow blogs that way). While you can follow this blog via RSS feed, there is unfortunately no way for me to know, so that is excluded. You need to be a subscriber at the time of the draw obviously, but I would be happy if you remained one after it, too!
3. You do not need to post about this give-away on your blog. But if you do with a link back to this post, you get a second ticket in the draw (please mention it in the comments here, as that makes it easier to check).

And this is it. The draw will be held on the 13th of this July 0800h CET, so make sure you toss your hat in the ring by that time! Good luck!

 

Napoleonic casualties (Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge entry #8)

So this is my entry for the next fortnight theme. I have long had these minis and for a long time I wanted to turn them into a casualty marker for my Napoleonic games. The minis are from Warlord Games small Napoleonic Prussian range. While the plastics are an absolute pain in the behind due to their soft detail and undercuts these casualties are just brilliant… characterful faces, crisp detail and great interaction between the minis. The only change I made was replacing the banner to be carried by the wounded soldier with a musket (from a Victrix French Guard set). Warlord means these minis to be used as part of the unit, where a banner would be fine, but I felt that on a casualty marker this would just draw too much attention, so I did without. The minis were painted up to act as a casualty marker for a unit of silesian Landwehr or more specifically the 3tes Battalion, 13te Schlesische Landwehr, as denoted by their yellow shoulder boards.

Prussian Landwehr casualties (front)

Prussian Landwehr casualties (back)

But there are also some more casualties. I initially planned to do these as part of the fortnight theme, but after not doing so well on the last two rounds and since it seems I am unable to take proper photos this year (even if my life depended on it), I decided to stick to just one base of minis for the theme round and here is the rest. I painted a awful lot of Napoleonic French and Prussian units over the past 2 ½ years and one thing that is missing are casualty markers for them. As as part of the Challenge I decided to paint a few more up, to beef up their meagre ranks. The French are from Perry Miniatures (metal). Virtully all my French are wearing greatcoats and to my knowledge these are the only two French casualties in greatcoats around, so I simply had to use these.

French casualty (front)
[Not sure where that green smudge on his nose comes from… it is not on the mini itself]

French casualty (back)

French casualty

The other is a Prussian Regular by Calpe Miniatures. The brick-red collar and cuffs denote him to hail from a Brandenburgian unit.

Prussian Regulars casualty counter

All of them are mounted on octagonal bases, each numbered through (by my better half… my hand writing is rubbish). While this is not really a fabulous new idea, I do not like the bases with the integrated casualty wheel (too thick for my taste). They are placed behind the unit that took casualties, with the side that matches the number of casualties facing front. They are placed left or right behind the unit depending on the moral state they are in. The clever bunnies amongst you will realise, that  some units may take more than eight casualties. In that case the counter os moved one base towards the centre of the unit, with each base it is being moved denoting a +8. But I already explained this in more detail in an earlier post for those interested.

And one more shot. When taking these photos, I did not realize, that the shutter was still still open on the camera when removing the mini. This created a somewhat ghostlike shot that I wanted to share with you.

French Ghost

And as usual… here is the link to the special page Curt set up for you to see (and cast your vote) on all the entries.

 

Napoleonic 95th Rifles (Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge entry #6)

Now even though the title says that these minis are my 6th entry into the Painting Challenge, this is only half-true. These are also my entry into the 3rd La Bricole Winter Painting Challenge with the fitting title “Deploy Skirmishers”. As the title suggests, this one is about light troops. I have to admit, that it caught me quiet of guard. Usually the La Bricole Challenges run for some time, but this one runs “only” for about a month and the first I heard about it, was when it started. With the time taken by private matters (like looking for a new job) and the Analogue Hobbies Challenge I was sure I did not have the time to get the minis for a unit of my choice from storage and clean them up. Luckily I had cleaned up and primed a bunch of 95th Rifles minis some years ago and had put them away, when I concentrated on my French and Prussians for Möckern. So I only had to glue them onto the film containers I use for painting and the party could begin.

I had hoped that these would paint up a little faster and that I could paint an entry for the next fortnight theme (Hero or Heroic group) on the Analogue Hobbies Challenge at the same time, but some time last week it became clear that this was not going to happen. At the same time I was in no mood to halt work on these for something else. Thinking about the exploits of the 95th I was sure, that that could be passed as heroes. And it even got me thinking some more. Is not every soldier a hero in a sense. I mean it takes a good amount of courage to march out into a field to face thousands of other men who are there with the intention of ending your life. I think to do that takes courage and heroism. And since Curt allowed them to be entered, I can not be that wrong!

2007 Royal mail stamp showing a rifleman form the 95th Rifles

Now on to the Rifles themselves. The unit was created in January 1800 as the “Experimental Corps of Riflemen” to provide sharpshooters, scouts and skirmishers. They were renamed the “95th Regiment of Foot (Rifles)” in 1803 (in between they were also renamed “The Rifle Corps”). In 1805 and 1806 they were sent to Germany to liberate Hannover from France. Five companies had a brief stint in South America where they were surrendered by their commanding officer, but after negotiations they were allowed to leave. At the same time the rest of the Regiment accompanied Athur Welsley (the later Duke Wellington) to Denmark. They were also send to Schweden, but never left their vessels.

Their real rise to fame began during the Peninsular Campaign. Here they fought in every major engagement and served right from the landings at Mondego Bay till the advance into France. As part of the Light Brigade they were always in the thick of battle. One of their most heroic feats (here we come full circle with the fortnight theme) was the battle of  Battle of San Marcial where a company under the command of Captain Daniel Cadoux held off an entire French division at Vera before withdrawing. They inflicted 231 casualties and suffering just 14 killed, unfortunately including Cadoux.

After Napoleons first abdication, they returned to England for R&R and indeed many men who saw their enlistments end, left the regiment. But with Napoleons return to power, many of them returned to the unit and the unit returned to Europe to fight again, seeing action at boy Quatre Bras and Waterloo.

For those who want to get some idea of their exploits during the Napoleonic era (and not only from a TV series starring Sean Bean [I like him as an actor and always did, but I simply do not believe in Bernhard Cornwell or Hollywood teaching history]) there is a very good book by Mark Urban simply called “Rifles”.

OK, enough of that and on to the minis, shall we! All of these minis are Perry Miniatures (two of them plastic, the other metal). There is twenty of them in total, which under the Republic to Empire rules (1:20 ratio) will allow me to field them at full strength for Quatre Bras or if I remove a few minis, for Waterloo as well. I did this with my Black Watch and I am going this with all my Napoleonic British, since I do not play the Peninsular and this will allow me to replay either battle.

I have to say, they are some of the Perrys best minis, since each and every one has lots of character (often you only find that with the command packs or special packs). None the less the casting quality still was bad, as usual. I simply cannot understand how they can sculpt such nice minis and be so horrible on quality control. I know these came from one of the first batches, so they should have been good, but even though I took great care to clean them up, I still found some flash or chimneys where I did not expect them and had to remove them during painting. All in all I went and did a fast job on these to be able to finish them in time (and still had to pull a night shift on the last night), so they might now look as nice as my other Napoleonic minis. But before anyone asks… yes the numbers on the backpacks are freehand!

95th Rifles (front view)

95th Rifles (rear view)

95th Rifles (command stand)

95th Rifles (officer and bugler)

95th Rifles (front view)

Again they were based on half bases (except for the command stand) to allow me to use them in full skirmish deployment as well, just like what I described with my other light troops.

95th Rifles (skirmish formation)

For those of you wondering about the other entries, here is the link to the special page Curt set up for the first fortnight theme and for people to cast their votes for favourites.

Up next we shall stay British, but this time we will be back in WWII.

 

Battle of Möckern AAR

The other week we finally got to give the Battle of Möckern another try. Before I start with the AAR I shall show you the force compositions, so know which forces faced one another:

French OOB
Battle of Möckern
Republic to Empire rules
[EDIT: Please note there is a typo in the name of Maréchal Marmont]

Prussian OOB
Battle of Möckern
Republic to Empire rules

Deployment was quiet straight forward. The French Troops under Lagrange were deployed inside the village of Möckern, with the Légère being deployed behind it as reserves. They could only be released after the first Prussian assault on the village itself. The troops under Buquet were deployed on the fields east of the village. The French artillery was positioned in between these two formations.

The Prussians under Klüx were deployed opposite the village, with the Leibgrenadierbattalion being kept back as reserves. They could only be released after the first unsuccessful assault on Möckern. The Second Detachment was deployed on the fields east of Möckern opposite the French lines. The Prussian 6pdr. batteries were deployed between the two formations with the cavalry behind them. Th horsemen would stay in reserve until von Yorck saw the moment fit to unleash them. At the earliest this could happen on the fourth round (they would be released on a roll of 6+ on a D10 with each previous attempt giving them a +1). The 12pdrs. were not deployed on table but off table and would start firing on the fourth round.

Möckern (French side)

The Prussians won the first initiative (they would actually did so each round) and began a general advance. On their right the Gardejäger had deployed the whole unit as skirmishers and it was behind them that the Landwehr advanced, with the Ostpreußisches Infanterieregiment to their left, both in line. On the fields Two regular and the reserve battalions were at the front deployed in Collums of Attack with the Landwehr battalions advanced behind them in line. The artillery opened up on the closest French infantry on the fields, without doing much damage.

Prussian Skirmishers advancing on Möckern

Initiative passed over to the French. While the troops inside Möckern naturally stayed put and those in the fields advanced slowly in line. The two French batteries split their fire between the Westpreußisches Grenadierbattalion on the fields and the Ostpreußen near Möckern. They too only inflicted moderate damage.

French Artillery firing at the Prussian lines

Now it was the Prussians turn once more. The troops opposite Möckern continued their advance with the Gardejäger opening fire at the defenders doing the first damage. On the fields there was a further advance with the 12te Reserveinfanterie preparing to charge. But before they could do so it was the artilleries turn. The left battery had to shift its fire to the French artillery on account that part of the Prussian lines now obscured the French and managed to put the crew for two of the French guns out of action, while their companions still created more damage for the infantry. Now the reservists charged the French to their front. The French fired a defensive volley at point blank range, but still they went on. Both sides already inflicted heavy casualties on the other, but not enough to send one running. But after continued heavy hand to hand combat the French broke and ran, never to return. But at a heavy price with the reservists having lost more than half their number. But still they stood fast.

First contact

On their next turn the French in Möckern still just held their ground. The troops on the fields contented with just firing at the Prussians to their front without doing much damage or with sending some infantry to re-crew the French guns. Only the French battalions from the second line (now front) opposite the 12th Reserveinfanterie charged them. The Prussians were still disordered from their own attack and while they managed to get some defensive fire off they were unable to break the French impetus and after short combat broke themselves. They would still be retiring at the end of the game. Again the French artillery fired at both the Grenadierbattalion on the fields and the Ostpreußen near Möckern inflicting more damage, having found their range.

Battle on the Fields near Möckern

Back to the Prussians the action went. Near Möckern they advanced further, but the Ostpreußen now decided to deploy as skirmishers to lessen the effects of the incoming artillery, which would work out, but at the same time meant they would be less effective assaulting the village.

On the fields the 14te Schlesische Landwehr got into position to charge the French who had just broken the reservists, but faild to get their morale up for the charge. Unfortunately the same happened to the Brandenburgisches Infanterieregiment. The Grenadierbattalion decided to fire at the regiment to their front, since the second artillery battery could now longer fire at the french infantry either. And their fire proved effective enough. With the second Prussin artillery battery now shifting its fire to the French artillery as well, they caused impressive damage, killing all the infantry replacements for the crew plus the crews for another 4 guns!

Landwehr vs. French Infantry

Now the French defender inside Möckern remembered that they could fire back, which they did causing minimal damage ion the Gardejäger.

On the fields most of the French proved happy firing at the Prussians with moderate effect and sending yet more infantry to help redrew the French guns. The French who had previously dispatched the reservists now decided to charge the Landwehr in position to charge them. Their superior numbers and quality proved decisive and after heavy losses of both sides the Landwehr pulled back.. The French artillery virtually did nothing this turn. One battery was in no state to cause much damage and the other failed to make an impression on the dispersed skirmishers of the Ostpreußen.

Advance on Möckern

On their next turn the Prussians did extremely well. Both the line Regiments on the fields charged their French opposites causing both to break and run. Together with the previous losses and those troops send to help the artillery this only left a nucleus of French on the fields. While the Gardejäger caused some further damage on the French defenders of Möckern the real star was the artillery. One of the Prussian batteries shifted their fire to the next French battery taking out the crew for one gun. But the other one annihilated the mauled French battery taking out the remaining crew and damaging the guns before the French infantry even got a chance to redrew them. To make matters worse for the French the next round would also see the Prussian cavalry released. At this point the French player decided to call it a day.

Opposing lines crash

All in all one very entreating game and we more than happy to pal it out this time without too much discussing of rules. Having read them again before the game really helped there! 😉

 

Star Wars Bounty Hunter Boba Fett (Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge entry #3)

So here is my entry for the second fortnight round. Believe it or not… I have not touched a single mini since the last fortnight round. So in order not to fail my sub-challenge (to enter something for every fortnight round) I sat down the day before the deadline and painted this one.

Boba Fett

It is Boba Fett, the Bounty Hunter from Star Wars Episodes IV to VI. I had been thinking long and hard about the villain entry. Since I plan to do a lot of WWII minis for the Challenge, an SS officer came to mind, but honestly, I wanted to do something different here. I have had this minis for about two years now (it was a birthday gift by my better half) and I felt  it was fitting. There are few characters that scream villain in Star Wars, most either have their moments of goodness and others are too pure evil to be just a villain. But I think the Bounty Hunter makes for a good villain. While only a hired gun, if you like, in my opinion he always saw what was going on around him and always passed his chance to do something good. He always chose money and it always came from the bad guys. So I felt he was a good choice.

Boba Fett

Not much to say about the mini itself. It is by Knight Models. While bleeping expensive, I felt it did not really measure up to the price. Lot of mould lines to clean off, bad fit of the part and weak detail, which got only worse due to the mini being very slim by 28mm standards. So i ended up spending more time on him than I would have liked. I still have Han Solo from them, whom I shall eventually paint, but I will not buy another minis from them in the future.

Boba Fett

For those of you wondering about the other entries, here is the link to the special page Curt set up for the first fortnight theme and for people to cast their votes for favourites.

 

 

French Napoleonic Hussars pillow fight (Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge entry #2)

As mentioned in a previous post, these are the minis I painted first for Curts Analogue Painting Challenge. But this is the entry for the first fortnight theme (non-combatants) and Curt wanted to post all those at once, so these hit the internet as the second entry. As indicated before, the non-combatants theme was giving me headaches. At first I had thought that I should do one of the battery area markers for my Napoleonic batteries. Those are supposed to cover a huge area and convey lots of little scenes, which can include non-combatants. But then again a large area would have meant lots of figures and I simply did not have the time for that. While The Challenge started on the 15th, I had my last day at work on the 17th and could not start before that date. At the same time we left for my better halfs relatives on the 20th and I did not want to take paints, minis, basing materials and my camera equipment along, so things had to be finished before that date.

So something else had to come up. After Curt squashed my idea of British WWII soldiers having a cup of tea (Thanks Curt! ;-)) I came up with these. Essentially it is a command stand for some French Napoleonic Cavalry. Now I would never assume that two officers would count as non-combatants, but I really hope the two mistresses will count. Well I hope them having a pillow fight is not too combative. 😛

The officers are from Perry. One of them is a General de Brigade, the other his ADC. I looked at the colors of the different French Hussars regiments for some time and ended up with the 5th since I really wanted to work with some light blue and was intrigued by their blue shakos. Not sure if there ever was a Brigadier that wore a uniform from the 5th, but I simply wanted to do them this way. So far so good. In the end I think I should have gone with a different unit, at least for the ADC, since well… with all this light blue they look like a bunch of Smurfs! The two ladies are from Eureka Miniatures and are painted to match, except that they are wearing enlisted soldiers jackets (yellow piping) instead of officers jackets (gold lace). Depending on what source you look at, one could use different shades of blue. For example the Histroire & Collections book on French Hussars shows them in a darker medium blue. Rousselot depicts them in a light sky blue. I felt the later was possibly the more accurate source and I wanted to try out some of the light blues I had bought last year and still had not used.

5th Hussars officers
(Yes, while other men march into the meat grinder, the Hussars have all the fun!)

5th Hussars officers

5th Hussars officers

5th Hussars officers

Hope you all like this little vignette! For those of you wondering about the other FOURTY entries, here is the link to the special page Curt set up for the first fortnight theme and for people to cast their votes for favourites.

Now on to thinking about what to paint for the villain, which is the next theme and while the deadline for that is only the 5th of January, I have a similar problem with my private timetable, so I will have to tackle that first!

 

Some Napoleonic game shots

Late November we began our Möckern game. Due to vast amounts of chatting and calling an end early that day we only played one round and decided to pick it up last night. Well… while we played longer (real-time) we only got half a round done, due to rules discussions and discussing what would be historically correct. In the process we found that we had made a mistake during the resolution of close combat, moved the minis back, began the close combat anew, discussed what could be done differently as a house rule, tried that out and so on. Bottom line… we botched the evening up for good! So in the end we decided to reboot and start the game from the beginning either between Christmas and New Years or in early 2014. No matter what… I managed to take a couple of nice photos, that I want to share!

Möckern (Prussian side)

Möckern (French side)

Jäger approaching Möckern

Prussian and French lines closing in

Prussian artillery firing

Prussian left

So what is next? Well tomorrow Curt´s Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge starts. I already have a good amount of British Tanks and Infantry (all WWII), SS end a few Napoleonics cleaned up and primed ready to go. More will follow when we are off to visit my better halfs relatives over Christmas, so there should be plenty of stock to work from (plus I am expecting my Warzone minis any day now).

As I said in a previous post, the first fortnight theme (non-combatants) was giving me some headaches, but I think I shall have that sorted out with a nice Napoleonic entry. So stay tuned!