More Battalions

I received part of my recent order from Foundry a few days ago (the guard and light infantry battalions) and got right to work cleaning and priming the figures. I found the quality of the figures to be very good. You can see the Guard unit in the front of the photo and the light infantry in the upper left. There where no real problems with the guard figures, a a few casting "strings" and some bent bayonets which were all quickly dealt with. The Light Infantry came a bit worse for wear - 4 figures didn't have the pom on top the Shako and I broke off 5 bayonets bending them back. All in all, easy things to fix. As you can see I've started painitng the guard unit and since it's supposed to rain today, I think I'll get some quality painting time in. I wonder if it's a sign of age or advanced "geekedness" that I'm more excited to be able to paint toy soldiers than go sailing today?

While I was waiting out the final hours of the primer curing time, I also assembled my third box of Perry Plastic infantry (just behind the guard unit). I've got one more Perry box on order along with 2 boxes of the new plastic Cuirassiers and that should complete my force for now.

I did discover a useful painting tool by accident yesterday - the plastic container from a Bindi Profiterole dessert makes a great paint palette and water container. The top is cone shaped and has a small inner ring with four gaps that allows one to put the paint on the outside of the ring and the thinner on the inside and then draw the paint through the gaps. It really helps to add more control over the thinning process. The large cup can serve as a water reservoir or bits holder. Of course, I did need to eat the rather tasty profiterole dessert in order to gain access to this little modeling gem. Oh the travails I endure to push forward the frontiers of our hobby.

After some input from this blog and several other sources I have decided to roughly model my force on a specific French formation (division) which will aid greatly in helping me select the correct flags and other minor add-ons. Of course this will also require another trip to the Osprey web site.

Oh well, back to painting imperial guards!

Unpainted Reinforcements

I took the plunge the other day and purchased some more 28mm French Nappies. My first order was for yet one more box of Perry plastic infantry (bringing me to 4) and a pre-order of 2 boxes of the new Perry French Heavy Cavalry - I really like the preview pictures of those models. I then wandered over to the Foundry website and decided to buy 2 french infantry units (one light infantry, one guard) and a guard artillery unit (four guns & crews). I think that will be enough of the Nappy's for awhile - HEY! I hear all of you sniggering right now.

When complete my little force will have:

4 battalions of infantry (36 figs each) (Perry Plastic) - I'm excluding the 3 battalions worth of Victrix that I just can't paint well

1 Battalion of light infantry (Foundry)

1 Guard Battalion (Foundry)

1 Light Cav Unit (Perry)

1 Heavy Cav Unit (Perry)

5 Guns (Foundry / Perry)

1 Command

I'd like to hear any suggestions for additions or changes to the force

I should have a playable force completed in the next month or so.

As for gaming - not much on the historical side and only one 40k game with my son. Now that Sean's back in school his gaming time is a bit curtailed - this homework "thing" is very inconvenient for gaming.

Perry vs Victrix, an evolving opinion

I have been busy working on my 28mm French Napoleonics. As you know my infantry consists of plastic Perry and Victrix miniatures. I've completed 84 Perry's (2 36man battalions plus 12 other figs) and have been working on my third battalion of 36 Victrix figures. I must say, I'm finding the Victrix a lot harder to paint than the Perry's. I thought, at first, it was just the change from painting so many Perry's in a row. After working through my first 18 Victrix, I'm very disappointed with the results, so much so I think the odds are better than even that the manufacturer might be tempted to buy my figures back just to protect their brand image!

The Victrix figures are of high quality but the details are very fine, the figures are "thinner" and the details less raised than on the Perry's. They look great unpainted but I'm having trouble getting the detail painting to look "clean". In fact, the results look like I was painting these guys while riding a roller coaster. My comments are not meant to slam Victrix products, they are good looking figures and fun to build. It's just that the level of painting skills needed to make them look decent are a bit beyond what I can muster. I think I'll put aside the Victix's for awhile and come back to them in a few month. I would not recommend Victrix for 28mm beginners.

Since 3 of my planned 6 infantry battalions were going to be Victrix, I'll need to find some replacements. I polled some of my gaming friends and received a very vocal endorsement for metal Perry or Foundry figures. I've come to understand that both the Perry and Foundry figures are really the same thing since they're both sculpted by the Perry twins - very talented fellows. I think I'll give Foundry a try as they have an extensive range so I can augment my little army with some elite Guard units! They are a bit pricey but what the heck.

I did paint my first horse figures this weekend (2 mounted officers for a command stand) and found that painting horses wasn't as difficult as I thought. In fact it was fun. These figures are the first horses I've painted in detail - I don't count 6mm cavalry figures as there is not a lot there. I've got 21 light calvary figures (Perry metals) to paint so may start them next weekend. I am looking forward to getting a few boxes of the new Perry plastic French Heavy Cavalry when it's available.

Second French Battalion Almost Complete

The second of hopefully 6 french battalions is nearing completion. This one is about 80% done. I still need to paint up the shoes and finish some of the finer details (hair, buttons, etc). I manage to paint these figures over the Labor Day weekend so it was relatively fast for my pace. The next battalion will be made up of Victrix figures which I primed a few days ago. I've learned (the hard way) that it's best to give priming coats a few days to really dry so I'll get to painting this next lot in a few days.

You can also see in the background my initial attempt at painting a horse in 28mm scale - I don't know why but I'm not looking forward to painting horsed - oh well it's a skill I'll need to develop, especially if I want to grab some of the new Perry French Heavy Cavalry that's coming out this month. If anyone knows of some good online resources for painting horses and calvary figures please let me know.

Here's a picture of my currently painted French Army:

Nothing new to report on the gaming front - I didn't get a chance to play any games this week. My son played a few 40k games with his friends and he keeps working on his Space Marine army. When I get a chance, I'll post some pics of his force.

August Painting Totals

Surprisingly, August was a productive month painting wise. Unfortunately, despite my faster pace, I seemed to have acquired more miniatures to paint so my net inventory of figures-in-waiting has grown. Oh well, it's a nice problem to have.

Here's what I completed in August:

28mm Napoleonics:

- 36 Completed infantry figures (Perry plastics)

- 90 Partially completed infantry figures (Perry / Victrix plastics)

- 4 Artillery crew (Perry metal)

- 1 6lb gun (Perry metal)

15mm Flames of War

- 2 M10 Tank Destroyers

- 1 Armored car

- 1 Recon section (2 jeeps and 6 scout figures)

- 3 houses

- roughly 10' of bocage terrain

Warhammer 40K

- 6 Eldar Fire Dragons

- 4 Eldar Wraithguard

I realize that some of you may be shocked at the inclusion of the 40k stuff but my son plays it, so it helps me keep up with him and I find there is a bit of creative freedom with painting the 40k figures. There aren't a lot Osprey "Men-at-Arms" plates on Eldar uniforms for me to follow so I can paint them pretty much anyway I want. Plus, as castings, the quality of the GW stuff is pretty top notch.

As for acquisitions, I've added a good bit to Napoleonic inventory and added, yet again, another scale: 28mm WWII, with the acquisition of a US paratrooper platoon from Warlord Games' "Bolt Action" line. The figures are really well done and I'm looking forward to painting them later this month as a bit of a break from Nappy's. My club has been known to play 28mm WWII so at least there's a chance the figures will see the table. I really like what I see on the Warlord Games site - it's a dangerous place to go if one has a credit card in hand!

As for my goals for September, I'd like to complete at least 2 additional French infantry battalions (72 figures total), a light calvary unit (24 figures), a command base (2 figures) and an artillery limber. We'll see how I do.

First Completed Battalion!

I've finished painting my first 36 figure battalion! Ok, I'm almost finished as I still need to finish the backpack tie straps, shade or "dip" the figures, and scenic the bases, but I'm rounding up today. As you can see, I've also got a second and third battalion assembled and partially painted. The first two formations are Perry and the last row is Victrix. Outside of some minor marking variations they work very well together. I also have 1/2 of a fourth battalion assembled with the extra figures in each box.

I have one more box of Perry's and two of Victrix to assemble and add into the painting pile. I'll need to pick up a fourth box of the Perry's so I can match up the with and without great coats versions.

This weekend was my most productive painting wise - I completed 27 figures and got started on another 36. I think the quality slipped a little bit as I have more touch up work to do than last time but overall I'm happy with the results. My gaming club picks up it's activity in the fall so I need to be able to field an army soon - hopefully by the end of september I'll have 4 battalions of infantry and some artillery ready to go. If I get brave, I may even try to paint up some cavalry!

I did move my painting station from my office to our kitchen table, which allows for more direct sunlight and I can watch the football (NFL) games on the TV in the family room. We have Direct TV, which means I have the Sunday Ticket so I can watch any game while painting. I was able to watch my Saints spank Oakland while churning out painted figures. I like my "mobile workspace" more and more.

Summer's Drawing to a Close

Yikes! It's August 24th already, were did the summer go?

As the summer draws down, I'd thought I would look back to see what I accomplished war-gaming wise. For me, like most gamers, the summer is a period of limited gaming activity given the weathers nice and there's too much fun to have outside. After thinking a bit, I was surprised on how much I accomplished, especially when one "risk-adjusts" the results to reflect my glacial painting pace.

The biggest wargaming event for me this summer was my decision to add yet another time period and scale to my inventory - 28mm Napoleonics. The local gaming club ECAMGA has a large Napoleonic following and I was lucky to play a few games - it was a blast. So in time honored war gamer fashion, I executed the classic jump right in plan - you know, the one where you buy a bunch of figures, start painting, and then think about what you want. Thank goodness for the quality and low price of the new Perry and Victrix plastics! Despite some missteps, I'm really enjoying the painting and look forward to fielding my French force sometime in the late fall.

The other area of summer progress for me is building some terrain for the table top. Most of what I built is for my 15mm Flames of War stuff, but at least the table is looking a lot better. I did break down and buy some pre-fab hills the "Terrain-Guy" but most of the scenery is home made. As I may have pointed out in earlier posts, I used to be a model railroader, some I do have some decent terrain making skills.

Lastly, the other big change was with my son. Previous to this summer, Sean's wargaming was pretty much limited to playing with Dad (don't worry he took it easy on me), but as with most 14 year olds he found that somewhat limiting socially. This summer he has gotten into GW's 40K system and has been playing with some friends and other people at the local GW retail outlet. I've been very impressed with the whole GW experience even when I factor in their pricing. I never thought I'd be able to get the deck re-sealed for the cost of a new "Space Marine Terminator Unit". Hey, I think I just found a way to get the GW margins to work in my favor! It's nice to seem him develop some independence and take the hobby in his own direction. I think he'll still tolerate playing with me - as long as I don't tell anyone.

:)

Sean's other big news is he gotten very interested in competitive sailing so a lot of our summer was devoted to carting his around to different regatta's and such. All-in-all, it's been a grand summer.

I look forward to the Fall, as it's my favorite season, the weathers still nice in Maryland in September and October and all the tourists go away. The NFL is in full swing and my modeling pace picks up.

Happy Gaming!

Flames of War Game

It was a rainy day today (thank you, hurricane Bill) so my son and I decided to play a game.
As a change of pace from Napoleonics, we decided to play a Flames of War (FOW) game pitting an American armored company attacking a depleted German paratrooper company with tank support. Sean played the Americans and I was the Germans. We didn't bother to tally up the point totals but the forces were roughly equal.

Here is the line up:

US Tank company (10 M4A1 and 7 M4AE8 Shermans)

1 Armored Infantry Platoon

1 M10 Tank Destroyer Platoon (2 M10's plus scouts)

4 Priests

3 M8 Armored Cars

P-47 CAS

German Force

2 Depleted Paratrooper Platoons

1 MG Section

1 Assault Gun Platoon (5 Stugs)

1 Tank Platoon (5 Pz IV's)

1 Heavy Tank Platoon (2 Tigers)

1 Artillery Section (2 105mm)

Well, it seems we took a lot a set-up pictures, but then forgot to take any "in-game" shots - Dohhh! Never fear, those doughty Americans with their air cover won the day, although it was a close run - Tigers can be very handy in the bocage. This was one of our first FOW games on the new table and I think it looks pretty good. I need to build some more bocage sections and some hills but our scenery is shaping up. Some of it is "store-bought" but that's OK - at least we're playing.

You can see some of my son's 40k stuff in the background of some of the shots. He plays Space Marines and is building the new "Ironclad Dreadnought". He's gotten back into 40K in a big way. We're fortunate to have a store and one of the "battle bunkers" close by so he's been doing some playing lately. I hear a lot of negative chatter about GW, but our experiences have been very good. They do charge an arm and a leg for there products but there is the overhead of the game stores/experience and they own the I.P. From a business perspective you gotta respect those margins!

Anyway that's all for tonight. Sorry about the picture quality, I was using my I-Phone tonight.

9 More Nappy's Completed

I just completed painting 9 more French infantry figures and finished basing the entire battalion. It took me about 2 hours to finish this batch of nine plus get started on 9 others so my pace is picking up. I must say I'm enjoying painting these Perry figures and my confidence is growing that I may yet end up with a decent army. Of course, I haven't tried to paint 28mm horses yet.

I did get a good bit of basing material from Litko. The basing configuration I'm using is individual figures on 20mm x 20mm wood squares with a magnetic backing. These squares on then mounted on a 60mm x 4omm metal base for each infantry company. There will be 6 companies per battalion (1 grenadier, 1 skirmisher, and 4 line). The club rules we use require individual figures be removed for casualties so magnetic basing was the way to go.

Here are some more pictures of this latest batch:

You might notice in the background 2 unpainted cannon. They are from Old Glory and are supposed to be 12 lbrs. I also picked up a pack of artillery crew (20 figures) 2 more cannon (8 lbrs), and 4 limbers. Overall, I was disappointed in both the quality of the figures and the smaller size - the 12 lb Old Glory cannon is smaller than the 6 lb Perry one! Given that I really like the Perry figures, I doubt I will use the Old Glory cannon or crew. I may use the cannon for a scenery piece. They were not that expensive so I'm not that put out about it (one more example of impulse buying = bad outcome). I will use the limbers as they are serviceable and the limbers from Perry or Foundry are astronomically priced.

A Move to Blogger

Ok, normally I'm a big Apple fan and love my Mac Book Pro laptop and pretty much the entire look, feel and functionality of software that's built for a Mac. But now there is one exception. I have grown to really despise both I-Web and the Mobile-Me publishing environment. I'm sure a lot, if not all, of my frustrations are due to user error on my part - but that's the point. The aforementioned and never to be referenced again packages are supposed to let a moron like me dance upon the internet just like Al Gore did when he invented the damn thing. Alas it was not to be and I have been awakened from the narcotic stupor that Apple's marketing efforts had ensnared me in. I just hope I can moderate myself and not go back to, shudder, Windows.

So as of today I'm moving my website to a free service (Blogger) as it seems to be both highly functional and easy to use.

It will take me awhile to get all the pictures moved over and learn how to work the image aspects of blogger.