Army Progress: 2,340 15mm Nappy's Based

 Since this is a miniature wargaming blog and not a woodworking one, I thought it would be nice to report out some progress on actual miniatures.  Basing is complete for the first phase of my 15mm Napoleonic project.  The initial "wave" is focused on the Peninsular Campaign and there are forces from Britain, Portugal, Spain and, of course, the French.  All told the collection currently tops out at 2,340 painted figures with another 300 or so on the painting desk.

The goal is to field over 3K figures for the Historicon game next July.  I'm pretty confident I can get there.

To be clear the vast majority of the current group (say 94%) were purchased pre-painted from a collection of vendors, the largest being Gajo Miniatures.  Others are from a variety on E-Bay sellers.

The figures have all been glued down to bases which have had scenery applied.  All that remains is to put Nationality flags for the command stands and these gentlemen are ready for the table top.  The basing is intended to work with a variety of rulesets including Age of Eagles and Grand Battles Napoleon.

 Lets take a look at some of the painting quality - none of the following featured figures were painted by me - they are far beyond my meager brush skills.

First up, some French Heavy Cavalry in the form of 6 bases of Carabiniers and 10 stands of Cuirassier.

 Some French Light Infantry.  The first 3 ranks are based in Grand Battles Napoleon  skirmish mode (2 figures per base).

 French Dragoons - a lot of French Dragoons - 38 stands worth.  I may have gone a little overboard here.

 A close up of one of the French Ligne units - the  core of the French force.  These figures were also painted by Gajo and I'm really happy with the quality.  I highly recommend Gajo if you're in the market for pre-painted figures.  Very fast service and very good communications about what's in and not in stock.

I'm still refining my painting technique for 15mm Napoleonics and will post some of my own stuff when they look decent.  That may be a while....

I use a very simple basing technique for 15mm models.  This is especially true this Nappy project - given the large number of smallish bases - Infantry are 3/4 inch wide by 1 inch deep.

Figures are affixed to their bases using Vallejo Pumice Stone or similar products from Liquitex. The pumice mix serves to both glue the figures down and provide texture to the base.  The grip is surprisingly strong.  Every now and then I need to go back and add a drop of CA glue to hold the occasional figure in place once the pumice has dried.  It's great stuff.

Once the texture material has set, a tan paint color is mixed up using craft paint (2/3 dark brown plus 1/3 white and some water).  I also mix in a bit of matte medium.  While the paint is still wet ground foam is sprinkled on and the base set aside to dry.  The ground foam is a mix of various stuff - mostly leftovers from larger terrain projects.  It's kind of a constantly evolving mix as every month of so a different bit is added.

It's not the most artistic way to base but the results look good enough and allowed me to finish the scencing of close to 700 bases over the course of two days (Ok it was 691, but who's counting?).  Special units like Guard and Command Stands get some special treatment.

There's still a good bit more to paint up - artillery limbers and other wagons, some more base infantry and marines for both the French and British.  The Spanish also need some artillery.  Generals also need to be painted and based - what's a Napoleonic army without generals?

Limbers....

I have a lot of Limbers to paint....

I really hate painting Limbers....