Painting table backlog

So what’s on the painting table at the start of 2016. 

At the front are a lot of 1/72 plastics from Hat. This time the WW1 East Africa sets they brought out about a year ago (and still waiting for the Brits!). 

The campaign in East Africa was the culmination of colonial madness with a number of European nations in Imperial conflict. Small armies ranging over immense distances on incredibly varied terrain transporting boats hundreds of miles overland to fight wars on lakes, armoured trains, killer bees, biplanes, a Zeppelin, sailors becoming soldiers, guns taken from battleships and pulled by hundreds of men through desert and jungle. What’s not to love (unless you were actually there of course).

The figures are going to get a basic block paint and a coat of dip. Shouldn’t take too long to sort a couple of hundred out.

 Pulling a motor torpedo boat through Africa by traction engine!

Armoured train(ish)

The main issue is a set of rules. I have purchased Contemptible Little Armies, If the Lord Spares Us (with East African variant), Crush the Kaiser and Triumph of the Will but none really grab me so I expect it may be a home spun set. The issue is that they need to be able to be played by at least half a dozen people, so not card driven, and simple enough to pick up once a year. The level will be about a brigade per side so Rapid Fire keeps shouting from the back of my head, a set we all know if not all love.

Paralysis by analysis

Too much reading blogs and too much contemplation has probably led to to the inertia that seems to have taken me over, or rather my wargaming hobby. There really is just too much to think about.

Which period, which figures, which are the best rules, how can they be improved, what shall I paint first, I just can't paint well enough, fast enough.......Aaaargh that lead pile is getting higher.

So the plan for now is to start with the half painted pile that as been clogging up the shelf over the painting table.

Starting with the most complete  - I went for the Samurai. (Easy wins first). Which were almost finished in 2010 - four years on the painting shelf. Too silly. Having also recently seen 47 Ronin a bit of nippon mojo came my way too.

As for rules I intend to go for the DBR R (or possibly HOTT if my daughter insists on witches and dragons)

Being 1/72, very nice Zezda figures, basing gave me a bit of an obstacle as 4cm frontage was too small and 6cm too big. Obvious - so they are based on 5cm frontages. Goodness me a decision.

So for your delectation and delight a Samuari DBRR (or HOTT) army. 

Cavalry next. And where can I get a 1/72 dragon?

Spring Projects

... any way HOTE was great fun and will be returned to. However DBA for the seven years war proved to be less successful. Too much back and forth to my eyes so it will be be a return to square one, which was a pretty fun square as I recall.

Enough of things square: the past few weeks have been a bit hectic at work, as well the Old Duchess turning 50, but I have squeezed in a couple of little projects a la wargame.

I have found that the only way to get painting is to decide to play a game for which I do not possess the figures. So in the four weeks between discussing to revisit Crossfire, the WW2 game guaranteed to give a headache, I had to get a battalion of French painted up to repel the damned Bosch.

Mostly Forged in Battle with Peter Pig I sloshed on the washes and good old Vallejo sepia shade.

At arms length, and with my myopic vision, they'll do a job, and of course won't be on table too long.

These guys show off their "suppressed" marker of which the French require an awful lot.

Needless to say the French did not do particularly well against their grey coated foe and were, in fact, well hammered. And yes the rules gave me a headache. Not because of their complexity for they are quite simple but, as it was for sergeant le Blanc in 1940, every decision is important and mistakes can mean disaster for one's platoon. Oh the stress of throwing a dice!

Secondly I have put away the squared board for the moment as the spring sunshine (ironic smile) has led me to clear out the old shed and I have erected a small but perfectly formed wargames table on which I can return to Fromagere in the not too distant future. A blast of trumpets and 21 gun salute!!!!!!!!!! Hurrah!!!

A range stick awaits the arrival of the Duc de Fromage.

April Painting

April's always a busy month. Working in finance it usually means year end processes so I wasn't able to take advantage of the long Easter weekend. Having a garden and an allotment I have been a bit busy outside too.

I have tried to set aside half an hour a day to sit in the shed and do some painting. Personally I think I get more done in seven half hour stints a week than in one long sitting at the weekend.

So attached are piccies of the new Weinpfalz regiment.




Being of a lazy disposition I tried to speed up the processes even more than usual and tried a grey undercoat/primer courtesy of Halfords ie for car repairs, which I had seen recommended for 1/72 plastics elsewhere.

It looked excellent but started to flake off from the bayonets as soon as began to add a second coat. I continued with care with a heavy drybrush of light grey and then white. I'm hoping that the Klear overcoat will hold it all together.

The figures are Zvezda GNW Russians - I'm always surprised at how good Zvezda figures are






No more painting this weekend we're off to Clun for the Greenman Festival. Maypole, morris dancing and much beer no doubt.

That was February that was

Only just realised that there were nil posts in February. The armies of Fromagere and Weinpfalz once again took a back seat to another diversion. Having had a look at the Songs of Drums and Shakoes rules Richard reminded me that he had a couple of dozen Front Rank Peninsula Brits all ready and raring to fight.

So a quick note to Front Rank and within a couple of days a couple of dozen froggie voltigeurs were on the painting table. Not much flash to remove and I gave them a black gesso undercoat, then a drybrush white. The idea is that when the colour goes on the shadows fall in naturally.

And it does work to some degree. Another dry brush over the top should do nicely.

A few piccies attached of the boys two thirds completed.



I have to admit that whilst putting together the armies of wine and cheese I had some qualms about opting to go with 1/72 plastic when there are such splendid metal figures out there.

Having spent so much time painting up a score of Front Rank I think I was right. I've enjoyed painting the bigger boys but I can't ignore the detail. And there's a lot more lace on a SYW grenadier. I would think it would take me half a year to paint up a regiment of 72 28mm figures.

Of course such a regiment would cost me £75 not a fiver.

On the bench

Painting in the summer mainly concentrated on expanding my forces to use with BlackPowder; 28mm American War of Independence and 15mm Sudan. Now I'm back on track with the Imagi Nation of Fromagere. The third infantry regiment almost complete with just a bit of furtling and tidying up required.








I have to admit that I do like the light blue.











I painted the unit as quickly as possible without depth or highlights, just a wash of klear with a drop of dark blue on the coat and brown on the faces.


The klear works quite well on the coats but has smudged on the faces which I may get round to amending. From three feet you don't notice.

However yet another diversion has reared it's ugly head - damn those Perry people.

The first dozen of plastic 28mm ACW almost finished. My poor old eyes struggle to get details on the faces. Hopefully they'll be facing the opposition on the table and not running towards me!
















They are very nice figures and being plastic a very reasonable price. I think they were about £13.00 for 36 figures.

Slow, slow, quick, quicker

When I started my ImagiNation project last summer my intention was to paint one unit a month. Not an unreasonable aim, and for a few months all went well. Then other things got in the way; not least other wargame projects. American War of Independence, 6mm Napoeonics, Crossfire WW2, Samurai (why!!)
Anyway I needed to get back to the wars of wine and cheese.

Now, I don't get that much free time to paint but I wondered just how quickly I could get a unit painted. Not in a ridiculous vallejo-fest marathon but with a steady 45 minutes or an hour a day.

So last week I began on a new unit for the Duchy of Fromagere using the nice Zvezda Swedes. A total of 54 foot. I think Zvezda are making the best 20mm plastics at the moment. (These are in fact about 24mm) with almost no flash and cisp features. I bought four boxes of these but will need a couple more boxes to get units of suitably matching figures. There are three pikemen in the set but these will make splendid standard bearers. The only downside is that there are only three of the first rate grenadiers in the box. Perhaps an attached company will accompany a regiment.

The aim is to paint simply with the three feet rule in mind and with the intention of the magic wash with the tinted acrylic floor wax to finish off. So no shading in the paint job in the hope that the final wash will give a bit of depth.

Tuesday: wash the little devils in warm soapy water and remove from sprues. 45 minutes.
Wednesday: glue down to a few lengths of wood 30 minutes (all times approx)
Thursday: spray with white plastic primer 15 minutes

















Friday: thick light blue wash, the colour of the coat and breeches, 40 minutes.














Saturday: day off.

Sunday: gaiters, muskets, hats and shoes. During the first football match so just under two hours.

Sunday: straps, hands, faces and facings, another couple of hours







Monday: I completed the white hat lace, an hour.

So a little over seven hours so far and I suspect another couple of hours to furtle up scabbard, hair and other bits then the final coat of Klear. Should be done by Saturday with perhaps ten hours all told.(tbc)

On the Shelf

Where is 2010 going. Already well into April and no additions to my ImagiNations armies this year. Yet the Work in Progress shelf groans under projects half done.

On the right half a dozen heavy cavalry divisions for 6mm Napoleonics painted years ago and now to be rebased on 5cm squares.

In the centre a half painted regiment of Zvezda Swedish Dragoons about to become the first horse regiment of the Duke of Fromagere. Three Italian tankettes and a couple of Vickers mkVI for a Greek 1941 army. (Next club game - Crossfire.)

And I have to admit being sucked into coincidences. I was half way through reading Shogun when I came across a glowing review of Zvezda's plastic samurai. Naturally when I found a couple of boxes in the model shops out came the wallet. £5 for a box of forty odd, really nice, figures is a bargain but the cost in time ...oh dear.


They are based on 12cm by 6cm for Impetus rules but I haven't decided what to do with the base yet. Sand and flock or simply paint?




"...you may be tempted to build up wargame armies of several periods. This is enticing, but it is madness!" wrote the Briagdier - Charge! page 116

Enticing. madness and irresistable!

The Butler did it!

Yet again the bane of the wargamer stalks Castle Vallejo. Project dispersion!!!

January has seen no recruitment to the imagiNation armies, too cold for the press gangs of Colonel Boursain no doubt.

Instead an old club project has raised it's head in the form of 28mm American War of Independence.

Many years ago we started this and it petered out due to a lack of rules we liked. However we going to try again, possibly using Will's AWI rules from freewargamerules or even a variant of Volley and Bayonet.

Either way it's splitting out the old twenty man units into twelves, not a natural division.

As always some bare lead turned up in the dungeons (ie a box in the shed) and I have sploshed some paint on it to give me a unit of Butlers Rangers. Not the prettiest unit in the world but no doubt will throw just as many dice as their more attractive enemies. Co-inkadinkally there were eighteen figures in the box giving a formed unit of twelve and a skirmish unit of six. Serendipitous.

I calculate this will be our tenth "tricorn" project in all conflicts and scales. Is this confirmation that the C18 is the "best" period for the wargamer?

Artillery

September was not a good painting month so I decided to make more of an effort in October.

When I started this project in June my aim was a, reasonable, unit a month. At the end of October I am back on target having completed the infantry regiment started in September and also a couple of batteries of artillery.

I purchased a couple of Strelets GNW boxes which were a bit of a disappointment. So after a quick visit to Plastic Soldier Review I went out and bought a box of Zvezda GNW artillery. The artillery men were much, much nicer, although I did have to stick some arms on. Even with my lack of dexterity it didn't prove too difficult and I have managed to prise my fingers apart. The first piccie shows Alpha Battery of Fromagere in the purple personally chosen by Duchess Sophia, with largest gun in the Zvezda box, a six pounder. The gun itself is a nice model though a bit fiddly to put together (yes I am major klutz so it's probably not really) and I am a bit concerned as to it's ability to stand up the rigours of wargaming.



The Strelets artillery men were not very good figures but the guns themselves are a doddle to push together and a nicely robust. Not the most accurate replicas of C18 cannon being a bit chunky but I like their generic "cannony" look and are certainly tough enough to stand up to being knocked about to and from wargame tables. The artillerymen of Fromagere man a battery of Strelets cannon above. There are only two cannon per box however.

The Zvezda box may be twice as expensive (in our local model shop anyway) but you do get a lot of nice artillery men, five cannon as well as a limber and horses. If I was hypercritical the cannon aren't the most useful for wargamers feeling a little fragile and also three of the guns are "gallopers", very light cannon pulled by one horse. The other two are a heavier six pounder and a nice howitzer. While neither The Wargame nor Charge discriminate between heavy and light artillery I think I might introduce this to our games, possibly giving a regiment or two a battalion gun.

Left shows a Weinpfalz artillery officer lining up a light galloper gun. Nicely modelled as all Zvezda seem to be.

On a slightly larger front my Great Northern Army has gained an artillery piece. I think cannon and crew are courtesy of Front Rank and very nice they are too, painted by Jim of course.

We're not quite sure what rules to use for these yet, with Impetus Baroque being mooted.

I'm not convinced with that idea yet.

Whilst I am back up to speed with my one unit a month target I am well underway with "November's" unit already.

Half painted Revell SYW dragoons charge across the painting desk in Castle Vallejo. They will be the first mounted unit of Weinplfalz.

Oh - I also purchased a couple of boxes of Hat Prussian Hussars 1806 which look emminently suitable for the wars of the mid C18. Hopefully I can get these painted up sharpish and get these guys in the field.

Indian Summer

Summer 2009 was looking like being a bit of a washout but September has proved to be a glorious month. Unfortunately, while I have been walking the dog, golfing and gathering in the harvest, wargames and more specifically painting have taken a bit of a back seat.

However winter draws on, as my grandma used to say, and the dark nights will be filled with the clatter of dice and the splash of paint. A nice little radiator has been installed in Castle Vallejo (aka my shed) although I do need to invest in a couple of daylight bulbs. A necessity for tired old eyes particularly after a day staring at a spreadsheet.

At the weekend I made the mistake of buying a couple of boxes of Strelets Great Northern War artillery before checking out Plastic Soldier Review. Not the best figures I have ever seen. Perhaps the heads will prove useful. I also got a couple of boxes of Zvesda GNW Swedes which look splendid and who will make up the main infantry units of the Duchy of Fromagere. Looks like I’m going to need eight boxes to get five decent looking regiments. Unfortunately there are only three grenadiers to a box.

A while ago we started a “real” Great Northern War project but this is still a work in progress as so few of the range we chose have been completed. After two years still no officers to go with the nicely painted privates. (NB I have my mate Jim to thanks for the lovely paint job)
















Russian Guard awaiting sand and flock.

I’m not a great watcher of TV but I did catch Brian Sewell’s Grand Tour in which he follows in the footsteps of many a young Englishman of the Eighteenth Century in their search for culture (amongst other things) in Italy. Interesting to note what an impact the young British tourists were having on the Med even then! I think it was John Humphries who said that Brian Sewell is the only person who could make the Queen sound common.

Regiment Spatburgunder

Weinpfalz almost has it's second regiment of foot.

The Regiment Spatburgunder just needs a little furtle and it will be battle ready.
I find painting over 50 figures a go quite tedious and also a literal pain in the neck. But I set myself the reasonable target of one unit a month and after ten weeks I have two regiments and one half done. I think an artillery battery might be next though.

Regiment Spatburgunder in line.

A while ago I lost "The Wargame" by Charles Grant to a wargame friend who promptly left the country. "C'est la Brie" as they say in Fromagere. However good old Amazon came up trumps last week with a second hand copy for £10.00 from a library in southern England.

While I am a "Charge o phile" The Wargame is a good read full of lovely OSW piccies and an idea or two I might adopt to fill out the lack of morale rules in Charge.

Also in the last week I have received some nice samples of Wodensfeld Seven Years War figures from John Cunningham of Vintage 20mil. Not true 20mm more like 24mm and anatomically realistic.

I have just given it a quick paint job to show it compared to a Revell of the Spatburgunder Regiment (with a Musketeer Miniature GNW Russian as a comparison to "28mm").

Almost a perfect match. Unfortunately only French infantry at the moment but there are 36 poses in the range.

Riesling Regiment

The first regiment of MittelWeinPfalz is almost complete. The regiments of WeinPfalz will of course be either red or white with perhaps a Rose Hussars regiment. As you can see they are Revell plastic 1/72 (Austrian SYW). I pondered for a while as to what figures to use for this project. There are some absolutely splendid figures available to the wargamer now, Front Rank, Foundry, Minden etc. However I have always had a fear of beautiful figures because I am a dreadful painter. I can be neat (given time) but I do feel that these figures deserve better and occasionally I have been fortunate to get a friend to paint some 28mms for me. The ease with which Jim produces little masterpieces makes me despair of my own skills even more.

Of course I couldn’t ask him to paint up a couple of dozen regiments fit for Charge! which would be about 1200 figures. I looked at professional painters and at around £8 to £10 per figure I thought I might have better things to do with twelve grand, if I had it, which I don’t.

I used to have a lot of Spencer Smith plastic and had some fun with them and I bought a few of the new metal figures from SSM. They were okay and not too expensive, about £30 for a regiment. Garrison and RSM looked pretty good too. Coincidentally however I came across a couple of really nice blogs that were creating armies using plastic 1/72 and on the same day I was in my local model shop when the discussion came round to my choice of figures; he showed me a box of Revell Austrian Infantry at £3.50 a box. He had six left. I could buy 6 boxes of 48 men for £21.00 – nearly 300 men. Of course I bought the lot. On further examination I discovered that almost all were useable and would give me enough figures for 5 regiments. That’s most of one army’s foot.

They were nice figures, you could see what they were meant to be but there wasn’t too much detail to get bogged down on. I wouldn’t get hung up if I didn’t paint in the grenadiers earrings. I planned to adopt the three feet rule, ie what do you see when they are the table and get the damned things done as quickly as spare time allowed. Now the first unit is almost done I am not unpleased with the result and the next unit can only get better. Once a couple of small armies have been knocked out in plastic I intend to start filling in with some metal. Not sure what yet – any suggestions?

And while I’m at it does anyone recognise the figure on the left of photo one. It’s a true 25mm and thinner than the usual. It says RN7 on the base and I would guess that it’s a French Revolutionary figure of the 1790’s (but could be 1780’s). The middle figure is a Garrison and I think the other if minifigs.

Conscription Begins

The years of respite since 1709 seem to have erased the memories of war.


1 January 1735
Mobilisation begins at the Castle Vallejo.

Within it's ancient walls troops recalled to their colours are rewarded with splendid uniforms.