Saturday, January 30, 2016

Front Rank Russian Pavlov Grenadier (28mm Napoleonics)

Another 28mm offering set up for Doug's General du Corp fast play convention game. This project was a temporary casualty from the move but I've managed to finish it off. I'm quite pleased the with quality of the front rank miniatures. They cleaned up nicely and were very easy to order (and choose the exact poses!). My old mistake was a typo that got me some more infantry instead of riders for the horses I bought. Ooops.

Like most napoleonics the details of what colours to use are quite confusing as it covers a period of 10 (or more) years, with numerous organizational changes. In this case the flag was most confusing (yellow or orange seemed to be the real question). I ended up printing off a flag from the interwebz, and then going over it with some paint to enrichen the colour and cover up some of the pixellation. This was mostly driven by the ink jet starting to get clogged and running slow on certain shades. I'm pleased with how it turned out. 

My one complaint/criticism is that the standard bearer only came with a metal rod, so there was no device on the top. I tried sculpting one in green stuff, but it's a bit large/bodgy which will be much more noticeable when with other standard bearers.



Monday, January 25, 2016

Guns of Liberty: AWI gaming (pt 2)

First part is here.

The British and Hessians have engaged the revolutionary forces on two fonts, in an attempt capture the ambiguously strategic village of redgate.


The hessians are facing a broad counter attack, despite hiding behind field fortifications. 


Meanwhile the British have charged forth on the right flank to deal with the rebels wrapping around.

Some stiff gunfire has sent the middle recoiling in disorder (black marked unit  bottom right).


It's all gone a bit wrong in the centre for both sides, with interpenetrated lines and hanging flanks all over the place. 
While the Hessian grenadiers on the right hurry to assist (and catch some cannon fire in the flank/enfilade), the french regulars in white attempt to seal the deal and advance on the Brits.


Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Front Rank Russian Horse Artillery (28mm Napoleonics)


At last I've managed to finish off these figs. They were 'under way' when I totally fell off the 6mmrpc wagon as I geared up to move. It's great to be getting some painting done again, though still a bit challenging with all the time demands of living in a new town/home/job.

There seems to be a curious absence of Russian horse artillery produced by the big players (Victrix, Perrys, Warlord) so when I finally found a producer, I snapped up 2 sets. The guns are actually from my box of warlord russian artillery, as I felt a smaller calibre made more sense for the horse. The foot ended up with a big cannons that I also ordered from Front rank.

Overall the castings were varied, easy to clean, and seem pretty crisp. Fun figs to paint up actually, and having a distinct set of headgear will attract some attention I'm sure.


Saturday, January 16, 2016

Guns of Liberty: AWI gaming (pt 1)

I've managed to make contact with some local gamers in my new town. Conveniently they like historicals AND game in 15mm, what a great piece of luck! Right in the beginning of the year Nate busted out his American War of Independence forces to allow Joel and myself to attempt to evict his rebel scum from some no named hamlet in the 13 colonies.We played at the friendly local game store of dropzone games.
The Hessians advance via the road



vonJoel, leader of the Hessians, and myself (leader of the red coats) descended in two columns on the town of red gate (named for the strange red roofed gate house on the road). Rebel forces scrambled to seize and hold the town and prevent us from achieving our terribly abstract strategic goals.





Friday, January 1, 2016

2015/2016 Mandatory Resolution Post

As always, this is the time of year where we examine (usually for the first or second time since Dec/Jan) what our plans were for the year. I was hoping for a 1/2 decent showing, but it turns out I only hit 1 of 4 targets. The one I managed, the paint log, is very heartening to see, especially considering my productivity fell off a cliff after July due to moving cities and job. Check the bottom for pics. 

The plan for 2015
1/. Play 12 wargames (playing it safe with this one)
FAIL. Most surprising to myself, I only noted 8 games. I swore it was more, but it could be the immense amount of roleplaying games, and pretty solid board game performance.

2/.Focus on partially painted painted items (a bit vague, but I hope it will tend to prevent me from starting new things, when I could be finishing off old)
FAIL. I did manage to fully complete some mini projects, buying and then finishing the whole purchase off (a few Russian Naps sets, the 15mm muslims, vietnam fortifications), but I didn't make much damage in the partial projects. 

3/. Paint log I can present at the end of the year. Create as I go.
SUCCESS. I *did* lose the thread a bit after july, but a blog is a lovely thing and I just sorted through pics and hammered them in. It'd be cooler to have a single pic with everything, but lots of stuff is packed away still. Nice to see the true product of ones year of output. 

4/. Fully paint a project I can host solo.
FAIL. My terrain collection grows, and I can usually set up decent tables. The force and opposing force criteria is awful though. Now that I moved, this objective seems even more important to do.



The plan for 2016

1/. Paint 50 'Bones' figs.  I have Bones 3 coming in at some point, so it makes sense to swim against the tide.

2/. Finish 'trays of shame' of 15mm french napoleonics. These have been sitting too long. It's only about 100-150 figs and they are probably 1/3-1/2 done. Time to put them to bed.

3/. Paint up both sides of a game. The most challenging/ambitious one for me. Likely targets include: skirmish forces (mordheim/frostgrave/ambush alley), Cy6! (flight stands are the problem), Spacehulk, or some 15mm sci fi type thing.

4/. Attend a convention. Now that I've moved out of a town that hosts one, this will be more of a stretch.



Jan 12th. Mordheim ogre

Jan 18th. Necromunda ganger/Digga x2









January 30th Perry Russian Officers










Feb 7 Perry Russian Dragoons and Cuirassier










Feb 11 Vaeloth                                                          Feb 14 - gzg spacemen

















Feb 22 - Heavy Gear Stony Heads                           Feb 25 - Lg Earth Elemental


Feb 28 Stone Golem                                                    Mar 2 - Grandmother



















Mar 8 - Ghoul Queen                                                                  Mar 17 Muriel, Banabus, Grim, Hajad




















May 18th - Oswald


May - Undertaker & golem


June 7 - Novacorp Sgt