Sharp Practice Progress

 

A very short one from me as I try to keep to my "two posts a month" promise. 

As January comes to an end, I didn't quite get everything done that I had wanted. The final French Light battalion is in for basing, so that won't now complete until Feb, and I didn't get all the time on my own projects that I wanted to, but I have completed 4 minis this month so I can't complain overall. 

I did manage to complete my first personal minis of the month, another 8 British Napoleonics for my Sharp Practice force:

They do require their multi-base finishing but the minis themselves are all done. All are plastic Perry Miniatures. I would have done some more but a few shifts at work over ran which didn't help! 

February plans will be to get the French finished off, more work on my British and I have some commission work for the War of Spanish Succession. More on that soon! 

On with the French!

 

Bit later than planned, but here is the first post of the year!

The start of the year has seen me clearing some commission work. I managed to finish the last of the Sisters of Sigmar, but that was just a single mini so I haven't photographed it. The main effort has been on the French and a result I have now completed the third battalion of light troops:

Of course, they are not massively different from the other two, but it's a pleasing effort. Here are some close ups:

I am now three quarters of the way through the work. I have the fourth battalion and four mounted colonels to complete. With a bit of luck battalion four will be done just before the end of January. I am pleased to report that I am not burned out on French yet - good job as there are nearly 200 hundred more in the queue for later in the year.

Overall, it's not a bad January so far at 37 models, sadly all commission work though! Hopefully the next post will be some of my own stuff. 

Sisters Revisited!

 

December is always a tricky hobby month. It's dark and cold outside, which always causes strong hobby mojo for me, but the festive season always does it's very best to get in the way, limiting my painting time. Despite that, progress has been made. 

After some historical stuff in the last post, it was time to get back into Mordheim and the Sisters of Sigmar. My mate Steve supplied the next batch of the commission and over a few nights I finished off another load of violent young ladies:

There was also the classic mercenary Ogre to paint. Now this was somewhat out of my comfort zone (I am not good on big models), but he turned out to be great fun. I varied the skin tone on this guy - I wanted a slightly more weathered, beaten look to him as if he spends a lot of time living outdoors. I think I just about managed it:

There are still a couple more Mordheim bits to do - one final sister and a pit fighter, but they will roll into 2022. 

I shall do a round up post very soon for 2021, so stay tuned! 

Jumping Around History

 

As the title suggests, the second half of November saw two very distinct periods.

 

First up, I cleared anothe set of minis that have been lying around far too long. I think I got this German Heavy Mortar as a Christmas present sometime around 2014. It got assembled a year or so ago and then say on the WIP shelf for far too long. Pleased to say that when I got it down and set to work, it was a quick paint job and a nice distraction from wading through 144 French Napoleonics:

 

It's cetainly not a ground breaking paint job but it's completed, and in the amy. It even saw action the other day. In time honoured tradition of fielding newly painted minis, it did nothing and died quickly! The figures are all Warlord in metal. 

The other minis squeezed in at the end of November was the second battalion of French:

All very blue! It's fair to say that with Napoleonics you have to strike a balance between the paint job and the time it takes. You could spend ages on these with multiple layers of blues, some transition on all the white straps and other touches, but not sure how you'd ever get an army done. These guys are avergaing 45 minutes a man and I am half way through the four battalions. The figures are all Perry Miniatures metals.

I now have a busy desk with about 107 minis on it - a mixture of the remaining French, some more of Sigmar, some Napoleonic British and  a small smattering of 10mm. I have set a target of all of those done by the end of Janary - a tall order! I am also not sure how much will be done in December. It appears some kind of lock down may be coming which I have to say could easily hamper or hinder painting depending on what they do with schools. 

In any case, I shall have at least one more post this month for your reading pleasure, so don't forget to check back later. I hope all my readers have a good Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Mordheim - Sisters of Silence

 

After a busy autumn desk full of Napoleonics, there was a surprising twist to my next bit of painting as I went back to some seriously classic minis!

My main gaming opponent is, like me, an old GW gamer who has mostly fallen out with the current GW crop of games and minis. However, he still has a fondness for the older games and recently has been starting to build up a Mordheim collection. His first faction was to be Sisters of Sigmar and he asked me to paint them for him

I said yes straight away, even though Mordheim is never something I painted or played. I was glad that I did though as he handed over the fist 8 minis and requested a blue and white scheme. It proved to be a nice break from Napoleonics:

This was the test figure I did. The white took a little bit of experimentation, mainly due to the large flat areas but it came out quite well in the end I thought. I really liked the colour scheme and knocked out the rest over the next few days:

I have to say that these minis took me back to a time when GW was at it's peak, in m opinion at least. The sculpts are clean, the detail is amazing and they were just nice and simple to paint. There was not an overabundance of little bits like emblems, bags, detailing etc that really slows you down with the current GW models. For example, I like the look of the Lumineth but the idea of painting them makes me cold - they look way too complicated. These, however, are not. 

I returned them to Steve and he was so happy he has duly handed me another seven and a mercenary ogre as well, which are currently on the desk. Please note - Steve will be basing them himself. 

Hobby Bingo wise, two of these minis are characters so that ticks off two more boxes. I need to work out the points for them another day, but I do believe I have finally crossed off a whole line! 

Post Sumer Update

 

I always find that I have a lull over the summer months with the hobby - too much drinking beer in the garden, going away, and generally being busy. However, this summer was a particularly bad one, and whilst I did do some hobby, I totally failed at Blogging.

But here we are to give it yet another go. I am going to try and do just do two posts a month, which will be much more more manageable than trying to update every little thing I do. 

On to the updates. I won't post pictures of everything done over the summer, just the recent stuff. The desk has taken on a very Napoleonic flavour recently.

First off - personal projects. I have started a small British Force for Sharp Practice 2, which I had my first game of recently. I am nearly half way through the force with three units all done:

The idea is to use up some of my Napoleonic's that I had lying around so I didn't have to buy yet more stuff to add to the unpainted pile. As a result, these are mainly Perry Plastics, but hiding in the middle unit is a single Warlord Figure and some Front Rank minis. These are lovey minis and I shall look to get some more of them next year, slightly bulkier than the others but a joy to paint. 

On the commission front, it's the dastardly French. I have no less than four, 36 man Battalions for the 8th Light Infantry Regiment to do. One is now complete:

These are all metal Perry Miniatures and with their all blue uniforms are a joy to paint. I am already well into the second battalion as we speak. 

Finally, where are we with the Hobby Bingo:

Well, I have marked off all the "Unit" boxes and anything else I can with the units above. I have also just realised I have missed a box (the "any model" box on the bottom), so I am currently at 13 boxes done, so 130pts. I have been hampered by the fact most of my painting this year has been big historical units and very few characters or vehicles. I was never going to finish the whole grid as I don't paint terrain but I do have a few characters in the works so I am hoping to close off a few more boxes before the end of the year. 

Rubicon Panther

 

Continuing the theme from the last post of "models I have had for far too long," the next complete mini is a Panther tank that I think I got way, way back in the black Friday sale of 2013! This particular tank is a Rubicon kit that I picked up along with one their

The model has a tyical stop/start history. It sat unloved for it's first six months, until one day when I had a building frenzy and constrcuted this along with a few other vehicles for Bolt Action. After that, it spent years on the shelf without any porgress until two years ago. Then, I was commissioned to paint three tiger tanks and whilst I had the airbrush out I did this and another one of my vehicles - laying down the base colour and camo. It then spent another two years on the shelf. 

However, as I try to reduce the lead mountain during 2021, my first goal is to clear the half built shelf - where this has sat during that time. It finally bullied it's way to the front of the queue, and this is the result:

I have taken a fairly basic approach. Once I had dusted it down, I added decals, weathered them in and then hit it with a thinned agrax wash. Afer that,I drybrushed it, chipped it and painted in a few details. 

Now at that point I would normally seal it with Klear floor varnish before adding oil paints for weathering and then pigments, finishing it all off with a matt varnish. However, because I want to get stuff done and I think it is at a pefectly good table top standard I decided to finish there. It has now been put in storage with my German Army in the hope that it may one day see the table top. 

Bingo wise, it is another box done so I am now at 70 points - I need to up my game a little on that front.

Bolt Action 25 Pounder

 

As part of my ongoing efforts to clear the shelf of shame (where all my half fnished projects lie), I have finally gotten around to completing some artillery for my late war British army. 

 

The story behind this model will be a familiar one to many wagamers. It was given to me as a christmas present way back in 2015 (I think) and sat on the unbuilt shelf for years. I decided to finally get it build and painted back in 2019 but only got as far as building and undercoating. However, it still languished on the shelf. It's good to finally get it done. 

Lets do some pics:

 

In Bolt Action the 25 pounder is a light artillery piece with three crew. I have mounted them all a single base for ease of storage and transport. Being an all metal model it's quite a hefty piece.

Overall, I was happy with the crew but not so much with the gun. To save time I didn't weather the gun with my usual oil paints and just gave it an Agrax wash after adding chipping. In retrospect I should have done the wash first then chipping etc as the effect was a little overwhelmed by the wash. However, when based, it is not too bad and it is, at least, done. 

This kit is so old it was back when Warlord Games provided a limber and three other crew, so they have been painted up as well:

The finished mini was not quite what I wanted it to be but I am just pleased, afte 7 years, it's done. The shelf of half done shame is starting to clear!

Hobby bingo wise, I used this to fill an Any Model slot, and it gave me another 10 points.

Irish Brigade Complete

 

As promised, here is a little post all about the now complete Irish Brigade. I shall mix a little bit of history in along with the photos.

 

The history of the Irish Brigade in French service stems from the various religious wars of the 17th centruy (I don't think people were very good at getting along back then). It all started with King James II being kicked out of England and into exile in France in 1688. This was over the English not being overly keen on a Catholic monarch, and after he had a son it seems they certainly didn't want him to stay and cement his dynasty, so off he went,  in an event known as the Glourious Revolution.

However, he still had some supporters and decided the next year he would try his luck in Ireland - it seems the parliament there were still fans. After some issues though he requested some help from his French mates, but they, quite understandably, asked for some troops in return, and just like that the Irish Brigade was formed. 

Comprising of 5000 men in five regiments, they entered French service and were amalgamated into three regiments straight away.. The Brigade was kept seperate from the "Wild Geese," another unit of Irish Men in French serice, at this early stage. They often get confused.

The Irish Brigade would go on to serve in the French army for just over 100 years and became an elite unit. Although it took on recruits of other nationalities over time, it retained a lot of it's Irish heritage such as uniforms and flags until nationalised into the French Army in the late 18th Century. 

The Irish Brigade I have painted is representative of it's service in the 1709 Battle of Malplequet as part of the War of Spanish Succession. 

 

The five regiments are all named after their colonels at this time, giving them names such as Dorrington's, Obrien's etc. The battle of Malplequet was a large and very bloody affair, vey much an Allied Pyrrich victory as they drove the French from the field. However, the Irish Brigade was reported to have driven all before it in the battle and even captured several English standards. 

I have really enjoyed painting these, when all put together I think they look immense - especially with those lovely huge flags. The War of Spanish Succession is one that is on my list in the future as it such a colourful era. Sadly, with so many other projects, I have no idea when I will get around to it. 

I am please to say this order is with a vey happy client. His next commission is four units of Swedish Life Guard for the Great Northern War including something I have never painted befoe - pike armed troops! Update for that before not too long.

Irish Brigade: Dorringtons Regiment

 

Another post about the Irish Brigade!

This time I have completed the fifth and final regiment - Dorringtons regiment. Without further ado, lets see a picture of the battalion in all its glory:

 

 Again, red coats, but with blue facings and yellow hat lace. 

This regiment was a little more time consuming than the rest as there was also yellow lace edged around the cuffs, pockets and waitscoats of the soldiers. Not a tricky thing to paint overall but it did mean they took a bit longer. Here is a look at the individual bases of the unit so you can see more detail:

The troops:

The centre company:

The left company with drummer:

The right company with the NCO and Grenadiers:

Some differences from the last regiment is you'll not the lack of reversed colours for the NCO and drummer. I am not really sure why, but it seems some regiments did and some didn't when it came to reversing colours. 

Finally, the command stand, again with the amazing flags:

At first glance, with the red coats and red cross on a white background, you could be forgiven for thinking these are English troops, but nope - definitely Irish. 

That makes the Brigade of five battalions all complete. I have laid them all out out together to photograph (which is very ticky!), and I plan on doing a post next week with some of the history of the Irish Brigade to go with the photos, so stay tuned. In the mean time they will be posted off to the new owner this coming week.

For the 2021 Hobby Bingo, it closes another box, making five in total for 50 points. I have yet to complete a line but I think I remain in second place at present. Hopefully, I will have a more prodcutive March to catch up.