Little Tin Men

Happy New Year, and some more Brit Armour

2012-01-03T10:22:00.020+11:00

Happy new year everyone, and thanks for all your support over the years. I'm really astonished that i've got so many followers and page views, so thanks, and i wish you all the best for 2012.

First off, I'm now officially half way through my degree. Finished off my last monster 12000 word paper on the French in Algeria from 1840-1870 the week before christmas, and thanks to my professor Philip Dwyer for being very understanding and flexible with due dates. Still waiting on results though, as he is off in Paris until March trying to finish the second volume to his Napoleon bio (please forgive this bit of a plug: anyone who hasn't read Napoleon: The Path to Power 1769-99, I highly recommend it - and not just because Philip is marking my paper :). It's nice to have a recent, thoroughly researched and unbiased bio on such a polarising character).

Anyway, in between all of this i've spent a week in sunny Nouvelle-Caledonie, working on my French. Noumea is a fascinating place, and i was exceptionally lucky in that not only were my famille d'accueil (host family) very accommodating and friendly, but that the other five newcastle students who i travelled with were easy-going and nice. With such a small group thrust into such an unfamiliar and often stressful situation, we were all amaze that there wasn't one argument. Anyway, suffice it to say that my spoken french has improved vastly thanks to both the opportunity to practice and the lessons we took in the french school, CREIPAC. The school was located in the commandant's office of the old penal colony on the Nouville peninsula, very scenic and lovely old French colonial architecture. The weather was spectacular, and it was really nice to get a chance to relax on the beach as well as the studying. I've attached a few pics to this post, of the CREIPAC building and of the Baie des Citrons. I've got a load more pics and an update about my trip over on my Travel Blog

Anyhoo, on to the miniatures! My Normandy brits are pretty much done. This is rather the milestone to me, the first army i've actually finished. I've got bits and pieces to add to, as is always the way, but they've been getting a few games in at the local club.

First off, a troop from B Squadron, 3rd RTR, part of 11th Armoured Division. Firefly VC and one of the Sherman Vs are cromwell, the other Sherman V is Milicast. The crewman is from AB, and stowage is from Grubby. I've got another Sherman V to fill out to a full troop, but for the moment they are understrength. In keeping with the 3RTR tradition of tank names beginning with 'c', i've named these Cardinal, Canute and Curmudgeon.

Below is a Crusader AA tank, from 3rd RTR. Tank and crew are Raventhorpe RTR

Below is a Cromwell and a Challenger from the recce regiment of the 11th Armoured. I know that it is most likely that 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry were disbanded before receiving their Challengers and replace by 15/19th King's Royal Hussars, but in keeping with the Normandy theme, i've painted the commanders cap badge as 2nd Northants. Cromwell is Britannia, Challenger is Raventhorpe RTR, the commander is AB, and stowage is from Grubby Tanks.

Below is an M5 halftrack from 8th Bn, The Rifle Bde. This was the motor battalion of the 11th Armoured Division. Halftrack is RTR, crew are Kellys Heroes

Below is a Sexton from 190th Field Battery, RA, attached to 44th (Lowland) Bde of 15th Scottish Division. Gun and crew are Britannia.

Below is a 3" Mortar team from 6th KOSB, figs from AB.

Below is a Morris 15cwt Truck from 6th KOSB. Truck and figs are Raventhorpe RTR.

Below is a carrier from 6th KOSB. Both carrier and crew are Britannia.

Below is a Churchill Crocodile flamethrower tank i've named Culloden, painted up as a vehicle from 141st RAC, part of the 79th Armoured Division, 'Hobart's Funnies.' Both the tank and the crewman are from Britannia, and as usual were great to paint up. The kit gun barrel was replaced with a brass one from ebay.

Below is a ruined walled farm. This is a scratchbuild from foamcore, cardboard, printed vintage wallpaper and signage from google images and various bits and pieces. I used the lasemodellbau buildings for scale.

Finally, here are some pics of my entire collection, set up for a mock battle. I still have to finish off the modular road system, but otherwise it's all but done.

Well, that's it for now. I've got to finish off my current commissions in the next week, so there will be some more late roman goodness heading onto the blog. Also, i've got a few bits and pieces from my next projects, more 20mm WWII, 1940 French and 1944-45 Hungarians.

On top of all of that, on the 15th of this month (so less than 2 weeks away), Laura and I are flying out for our 6 month study exchange to the University of Leeds. Not a lot of painting will be getting done, but in the 3 months worth of Holiday time we'll be travelling across Europe, and hopefully visiting a few historical sites and museums. I'm also hoping to get to a few gaming shows while in the UK, i'll miss Salute as i'll be in the north of Sweden when it is on, but any suggestions for any other shows worth a look would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again to everyone who's offered advice regarding accommodation as well, it's all been very helpful.

As far as the travelling goes, thus far we've booked a week each in Sweden (Stockholm and then up above the arctic circle in Abisko national park for some aurora watching), Berlin, Budapest, Paris. After end of semester in May, we're planning on heading to Turkey, Italy, Austria and Croatia. I'll be following the progress of our trip on my new travel blog, http://benlauraeurope.blogspot.com/, i'll try to crosspost some of the more military history related updates on here though.

Normandy British - Armour and Support

2011-11-24T21:28:00.019+11:00

Well, as promised here is an update on my 20mm Normandy British. I've been building this up for the last year, using the Guild forum's project build to track my progress. I must say I'm very surprised to say that i have a fully gameable British force, which has been seeing a fair bit of action at the local gaming club. We've been playing with some homebrew fastplay rules, but I'm looking forward to picking up a copy of Rich Clark's latest, I Ain't Been Shot Mum, version 3 while over in the UK.

My force will be based around an infantry platoon - perhaps eventually expanding to a company - from the 6th King's Own Scots Border Regiment, part of the 15th Scottish Division which held off the 9th and 10th SS Panzer divisions in its combat debut during Operation Epsom and then went on to fight in Bluecoat and through to the end of the war in Europe.

6th KOSB cap badge and tartan.

Supporting my KOSB platoon i've got battalion assets in the form of a 6pdr AT gun with Lloyd carrier tow, a Bren carrier or two and 3" mortars with some Morris trucks from the motor pool.

From division, i've got a couple of M10 3" self-propelled AT guns, a couple of Vickers heavy MGs, a Sexton self-propelled gun, and artillery FOO, a troop of armoured cars, and a 17pdr AT gun and crew.

I've also added some forces from units which worked alongside the 15th scots. From 31st Tank Brigade, i've got a troop of Churchill IXLT tanks. From 2nd Household cavalry, i've got a troop of armoured cars and a staghound heavy armoured car. I've also added a smattering of 'funnies' from the 79th Armoured division, and an RAF forward air controller.

Finally, i've got bits and pieces from the 11th Armoured division. these take the form of a Sherman V/Firefly VC troop, some halftracks and carriers from 8th Rifle Brigade, and a troop of Cromwells with the option to add a 17pdr armed Challenger tank.

Phew. Took me a while to write out that lot, let alone paint them up! I realise that this is a whole lot for a platoon, but i expect to rarely field much of the support at one time, and the variety gives my little force a load of flexibility.

First up is a Churchill AVRE. This is painted up as a vehicle from 2nd Team, 5th Assault Regiment RE. The 5th landed on Sword Beach on D-Day. This is the Revell Kit, without the SBG (small box girder bridge). I've got another unmade kit which i plan on doing with the bridge and all. The crewman is an AB figure.

Below is a Vickers heavy MG and crew from 1st battalion, The Middlesex Regiment, the support battalion of the 15th Scottish. This is the first of two of the superb AB figures MG teams i've got to paint up.

Below is a Sherman Crab Mk II from A Squadron, 22nd Dragoons. This tank is the superb but very fiddly Milicast, crew is AB. The kit almost drove me insane in the making, especially the chains on the rotating flail drum. After much cursing and glued together fingers, i think it has ended up as a great little addition to the force. The minefields are also new additions, just squares of MDF board with wire from fly-screen and re-sized signs from Google image search. I've made them up with different coloured signs so one can be used as fake and one as real if the need arises. From what i've read, it appears that at least on parts of Gold and Juno beaches there were fake minefields, marked with yellow rather than white signs.

Below is a Churchill Crocodile flamethrower tank i've named Culloden, painted up as a vehicle from 141st RAC, part of the 79th Armoured Division, 'Hobart's Funnies.' Both the tank and the crewman are from Britannia, and as usual were great to paint up. I replaced the white metal barrel with a brass one from ebay.

Next up is a Morris Light Reconnaissance Car which i've painted up to be used as an RAF Forward Air controller, the first half of my 'limejuice' pair, a FAC and air support in the form of a 'Tiffie,' a Typhoon MkIB. I'm not 100% certain that the FACs used Morris' rather than M5 halftracks, but i loke the look of the quirky little Morris, and the RAF regiment used them, which is enough for me. The car is unknown make, but special thanks to wargameroz over on the guild forums for sending it up. The crew are the amazingly sculpted AB.

Finally for this update is a Centaur Mk IV from 5th (Independent) Battery, Royal Marines Armoured Support Group, which landed on Sword Beach in support of the No.4 Commando. The tank is from Cromwell, and as usual the crew are AB.

Well, that'll be it from me for the next week, as i'm off to Noumea tomorrow to parle en francais.
I'll post up some more pics of my force when i get back.

Busy, busy, busy, busy. And finally some Late Romans.

2011-11-23T17:47:00.013+11:00

I believe my apologies are in order, as yet again it's been a while between posts. Things have been very busy indeed!

First off - i've applied a new format to the blog! Let me know if there are any problems with legibility etc, but I feel it looks a lot better. The background image is one I took back in 2008 looking west along Nan White sector of Juno Beach from St Aubin-sur-Mer, the site of Wiederstandnest 28.

Five full time subjects this semester, including the self-directed study, was very nearly almost too much to take on. I've now completed four of the subjects, and am 2000ish words into my 8000 word mini-thesis on the French colonisation of North Africa for my self directed study.

In between the uni work, I finally finished paying off an engagement ring and, after very nearly 6 years, I asked Laura to marry me and she said yes! The wedding is a while off, as we'll need to finish uni and get an income before we have enough to pay for one. But in the meantime, we're both very happy.

Laura and I are also going to study at the University of Leeds for a semester in 2012, which is all very exciting. The paperwork and bureaucracy of dealing with two university administrations has been a bit of a nightmare at times, but it's all now approved and we've purchased tickets and qare trying to sort out accomodation in Leeds. Thanks to those of you who sent through emails with advice and links, it's all very, very much appreciated.

We'll be in Europe from January to July, but as the uni semester finishes in May, and there is a month long holiday in March, we're planning on doing quite a bit of traveling. So far we're spending a week each in Sweden (Stockholm then 17hrs north to see the Aurora Borealis), Berlin, Hungary, Paris and Rome. We're also planning on traveling down the Danube from Bavaria to Austria, spending a bit of time in Italy, and heading to Turkey. Laur and I will be using http://benlauraeurope.blogspot.com/, a blog which is going to be dedicated to our travels. I'll still keep updating this blog in the meantime. We're planning on visiting heaps of museums, castles, ruins, even the odd battlefield and will be taking loads of photos.

But wait, that's not all. Along with the craziness outlined above, i'm also being sent for a week to Noumea in Nouvelle-Caledonié for an intensive 5 day French language course. When studying to become a high school teacher, you have to choose a major and minor - not unlike a regular Bachelor of Arts degree. History is, obviously, my major. However, just to be a little different i've chosen to do French language as my minor. I figure not only will this stand me out from my colleagues, most of whom are going the History/English or History/Drama route, but will also help me to further my ultimate goal of doing my PhD and specialising in French History. So, the uni has decided that all students doing secondary French Language teaching should be sent to sunny Noumea for a week for a language course. It's a home stay, and looks to be pretty full on, but I'm looking forward to getting a chance to parler en français avec les habitants de Nouméa. So, I'm leaving for that this coming Sunday.

But enough rambling, on to the subject at hand. These are the first lot of pics of the long promised Late Roman commission. The figs are the fantastic sculpts from Musketeer Bill, and i've painted them as Alemanni up for a client who is building up a force for the Battle of Strasbourg, 357CE. I've got another two units of Germans, both of archers, which are currently on the painting table and pics should follow soon.

I'll endeavor to update this more regularly, as i've got the better part of a Normandy British army which i've gaming with for a while but have yet to post pictures of. I've posted a 'teaser' for an upcoming post below, of some of my 20mm armour. In the pic are two Sherman Vs and a Firefly VC of B Squadron, 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, and a Crusader AA tank from regimental HQ. 3RTR was a part of 11th Armoured Division, which fought alongside the 15th Scottish Division in Operations Epsom and Bluecoat. Lots more to come.

2011-09-18T21:07:00.008+10:00

First off, my apologies for the lack of posts this last month. University has been very hectic, as has life outside of modelling, with Laura and I being accepted into a 6 month exchange to the University of Leeds in the UK for the first half of next year. So i'll be on the lookout for any recommendations for gaming clubs, or for that matter recommendations for accommodation, any of you might have.

Just a quick post this time, I'm finally finishing up on the latest batch of Late Roman commission and have some other bits and bobs to post, including some actual game shots of my Brits.

So, to the point of this update! After six years, i've finally decided to get off my arse and make an honest woman out of Laura. (Don't worry, she doesn't read this!) So, in order to help fund the ring, i've just posted a load of 28mm auctions for painted and unpainted figures on eBay. There are, among other things, Front Rank Napoleonic, Artizan thrilling tales, WW2and colonial bits and bobs and some Perry sculpted Foundry French hussars.

I do post internationally, please ignore the exorbitant standard shipping quotes, i can't figure out why eBay is quoting so much. If you're interested in buying anything send me a message on eBay and I'll get an accurate, more affordable, quote for you from the local post office.

Ebay Auctions

I hope this link works, if not my eBay handle is the same as on here - ansbachdragoner.
I've included some pics of some of the painted units for you to have a look.

I've also included a pic of my Frankish impetus base. These guys had a bit of a disaster, not only do their shield decals appear to have shrunk despite my best efforts, but i managed to drop them on the wooden floor, breaking off all the weapons and most of the shields in the process. I managed to locate everything apart from one francisca. Still, even in their battered state i think the shield wall looks pretty cool.

I'm really liking the scenic background rather than the plain graded paper. Thoughts?

Ben

A Few more Bits of Brits

2011-07-23T10:34:00.018+10:00

Well the commission work has been going along at a great rate of knots, and the long-promised piccies of Late Roman infantry and Germanic tribesmen are not far off now. A shoutout is required to my very long suffering client, who has been most understanding during my uni and prac madness these last few months.

Anyway, while you're all waiting for the late antiquity figures, i though i should post up some pics of my British platoon as i've had a couple of requests.

As i've said before, the infantry are mostly plastic soldier company, with a smattering of the excellent Kelly's Heroes figures to add some character. After reading Ian Daglish's superb 'Over The Battlefield' book on Operation Epsom, i've decided to paint this force up as a platoon from the 6th Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers, from the 15th Scottish Division which had it's baptism of fire around the towns of Cheux and St Manvieu during Operation Epsom. The shoulder insignia is from various photos and also from Osprey's 'British Battle Insignia (2) 1939-1945. These guys were the first fully finished gaming unit I'd ever actually completed.

They had their own baptism of fire this past Wednesday night, where true to form for newly finished armies, they suffered a major defeat at the hand of Mick's Germans. the scenario was a beach assault, where myself, and two other allied players assaulted across the dunes and into a small town defended by three German players. We are using a home brewed set of rules which is simple, fast and fun, and takes a fair bit of inspiration from Rapid Fire. As all members are first time gamers, it's a great way to get our heads around the way things work, gradually adding more and more as we go. I'd eventually like to persuade the blokes at club to give Troops Weapons and Tactics a try, as I love the way Lardies rules emphasise the role of 'Big Men' overcoming the chaos and 'friction' of the battlefield. That, and the historian in me believes that they really do represent the way platoon battles actually took place. For those of you interested in such things, I'd direct you to Lardies head honcho Rich Clark's fantastic blog post on 'Friction or Fiction' which he presented at Historicon. Here's the link http://toofatlardies.co.uk/blog/?p=508.

Anyway, enough of my proselytizing, on to some pictures, and there are quite a few this update.

First off, the platoon HQ. This consists of the platoon leader, a lieutenant, the platoon sergeant, a two man 2" mortar team, two man PIAT team, and just for the hell of it, a sniper. These figs are all Kelly's Heroes. Closeups of the mortar team and the two platoon leaders are in my last posting.

Next up, the final two infantry sections. Like the first section shown in my last post, each section has a corporal with sten gun as section leader, a three man bren gun team and a six man rifle team. I've painted a small strip of colour on the back of the bases to differentiate each section.

Now, some support. Our first game scenario was a beach assault, and called for some armoured support. I've had a trio of the Britannia minis DD Shermans lying around and decided to do this one up as from the 13/18th Hussars, which supported the landings on Sword Beach. The crewman is from AB figures, the sculpting of these is absolutely amazing.

Being that my platoon with one lousy Tommy Cooker and a mortar supporting was assaulting a German platoon with armour, AT gun and mortar support, i thought that i might need a little extra help from the Royal Artillery. I'd painted up this AB figures spotting team, only to discover that off board support was not yet in the rules. Still, they looked pretty and will provide sterling service in future battles.

Now, these guys haven't yet seen action, but they are part of my 'toolkit' of platoon support. First off is a Milicast Churchill IXLT, an uparmoured Churchill III. This is painted up from A Squadron, 9 RTR which supported the 15th Scots during Operation Epsom. The commander is another of the lovely AB figures.

Next up is a troop from the 15th Reconnaissance Regiment, RAC. The 15th Recce was the eyes and ears of the 15th Scots division. The vehicles are all Raventhorpe RTR from Pete at Battlescape, the car commander sitting out of the hatch is from AB.

Finally, a couple of armoured cars from the 2nd Household Cavalry, the armoured car regiment which supported the 11th Armoured division - and arguably the 15th Scots - during Operation Bluecoat. Reading Daglish's book on Bluecoat, i've always loved the story of how two armoured cars under command of Lt. Dickie Powle managed to slip through enemy lines and seize the bridge over the Souleuvre (which has come to be known as 'Dickie's Bridge') enabling the 11th Armoured to break through German lines. So, this is a Daimler AC (Hasegawa with Britannia commander) and Daimler Dingo (Britannia) under command of Lt Dickie Powle. The Staghound is included because i like the look of these beasts, it's from Raventhorpe RTR, and marked up for the 2nd Household's regimental HQ. The turret camo netting is a method taken from C_Collins over on the guild, and not only looks great but covers up some dodgy casting on the gun mantlet.

For the Beach assault scenario, i also had some of the Defence in Depth 'Tobruk' bunkers i'd purchased from Grubby along with the Kelly's heroes stuff. The two gunners with the shields came with the resin tobruks, the bloke with the MG34 is from AB. I based them on wire, and drilled holes in the cupolas so they can be moved around and removed to show if the bunker is occupied or not. The bunkers painted up nicely, and provided a perhaps unneeded speed hump for us allied players.

Finally, a couple of group shots, one of the platoon with the Churchill and 6 pounder in support, and another of all the vehicles.

That's the Brits for now. I've got a troop of Shermans and a Firefly to paint up as from 11th Armoured, as well as some bits and pieces including a Crocodile and a Morris LRC armoured car i want to use as a forward observer for the RAF. I'd ideally like to expand this force to a full company in time for the release of IABSM3, but that depends on my uni and commission workload next semester.

Now, back to finishing off those Late Romans.

It's been a while

2011-06-30T22:41:00.007+10:00

Well, it's been quite a while since i've posted anything in the way of an update. Unit this semester was a lot more full on than i had anticipated, and right after end of semester i started on my first 4 week in school practicum. Well, i've survived my first teaching experience, and actually have really enjoyed it. I guess in some ways this was a make or break point, as my memories of how we treated our high school teachers had made me more than a little wary. The kids at the school were great, and it was a lot of fun and very rewarding teaching history to the young 'uns.

But you haven't all come to this blog to hear me blather about university pracs now, have you.

Well, i've been very, very slowly working away on some commission work, but over the last few months have also managed to paint up more 20mm WWII Brits and Germans for the local gaming club. We had our inaugural meeting last week, and have decided to build up a platoon with a little support each, and gradually expand on this. I'm pretty happy with this decision, as this was what i was planning on all along.

So, for this post i've got a bit of British for you all. I've decided to paint my Brits up as coming from the 15th (Scottish) division, which fought in Epsom and Bluecoat during the Normandy campaign. The shoulder tartan and markings are from the 6th King's Own Scots Borderers. My Mother's family are from Selkirk in the borders, so this led me towards this particular regiment.

Figures are a mix of the excellent plastic soldier company offerings, with a leavening of the sublime Kelly's Heroes figures from Andy Grubb. This is the first of three sections. This group consists of 10 men comprising the section leader, three man Bren MG team and six riflemen. I've also done up the platoon sergeant, platoon lieutenant and a 2 inch mortar team.
As well as this, i've started on a bit of support in the form of a 6 pounder AT gun and Loyd carrier tow. The gun is from Britannia, the crew are Kelly's Heroes and the Loyd is from Raventhorpe's 'Ready to Roll' range. I know the driver is in the wrong position but as I'm not too fussed. Our group is vehemently anti rivet-counter, so i don't envision anyone picking me up on it. :)

Anyway, i've got my last day of prac tomorrow, so hopefully will have some pics of my commission work, some more Late Roman goodness, coming up in the not too distant future.

Le Casino

2011-03-06T13:10:00.013+11:00

When i made my last posting, I was fairly certain that I didn't have much of a chance of meeting the 28th Feb deadline for getting my Riva-Bella casino boards done. Surprising myself, i hunkered down and actually made it!

Uni started back on Monday, and the decision to travel to the Newcastle campus for two of my subjects looks like the right one. Introductory French is really quite fun, even if there is an exam every other week. The French Revolution and Napoleon class is taken by Philip Dwyer, Napoleonic scholar and author of the recent biography 'Napoleon: The Path to Power 1769-1799'. I'm REALLY looking forward to getting into this subject, and have already chosen my major essay subject, which is concerns the organisational and tactical developments in the Revolutionary French army.

So, for those of you who are visiting the blog for the first time, perhaps some explanation is in order. The excellent Guild forums (http://www.guildwargamers.com/phpBB3/index.php) Holds a yearly 'project build' for members, where basically you set deadlines for yourself throughout the year for whatever project you're working on. Great way to keep focused, especially when you consider that at each deadline, your work is put up for voting against all the other entries.

So, my project is to build up, in 20mm (roughly 1/72-1/76) scale, a set of terrain boards and forces representing the attack on Ouistreham and the Riva-Bella casino by Commandant Kieffer's French commandos of No.4 Commando on D-Day. The forces i've been building up are based on the TooFatLardies rulesets, Troops, Weapons and Tactics (TW&T) and I Ain't Been Shot Mum! (IABSM).
My first task consisted of two terrain boards depicting the fortified Casino strongpoint and the adjoining beachfront board, two squads (or gruppen) of German infantry, a 2cm flak gun and a 10.5cm howitzer, both crewed; a commando MG section, mortar team and sniper, and bringing up the rear a two storey building.

The boards were made on a 2 ft square MDF base, built up with coolroom styroboard sheed which was then covered in builders filler and then a pva/sand mix. The Casino and the bunkers were made from blue foam sheet, again covered in filler and the sealed with pva glue. Trenches and other details were made from balsa, and the grass is teddy bear fur. The whole lot was painted with emulsion paints picked up from the local hardware store in $5 sample tins. Static grass and wire was added, along with various obstacles - dragon's teeth, Czech hedgehogs and Belgian gates, scratch built with either blue foam offcuts or plastic strips.

On the whole, I'm really happy with the result, and am looking forward to getting started on the next two boards, 'due' 30th April. These will be the AT wall and PaK positions where the commandos advance first bogged down. It will be located adjacent to the casino, and accompanied by another beach tile.
As far as figures go, the Plastic Soldier company is providing the basis for my German troops, leavened out with superb (but expensive!) AB command figures and heavy weapons from the excellent Kelly's Heroes range. The guns and their crew are from Britannia, and were a joy to paint up. The Commandos are also from Britannia, and are again lovely to paint. Supporting the commandos will be a Royal Marines Centaur IV tank from Cromwell, along with a troop of Britannia DD Shermans. As the local gaming club is looking at getting into 20mm WWII gaming, I'm also going to try to paint up some more generic British and German forces, based around the 15th Scottish division and the 21st Panzer division.

So, on to the pictures. Next up i'll be making a start on the first of two commando assault teams, as well as the Centaur, so stay tuned.

Steady as she goes

2011-02-16T13:13:00.019+11:00

This update is really more of a 'Work in Progress' piece than anything else. As i've mentioned previously, i've entered the 2011 project build over on The Guild forums, my particular project being centered around the Sword beach D-Day landings. The first task is due to be completed by 28th Feb. This is pretty convenient for me, as uni starts back on the 28th as well! Can't wait to get back into studying, and am especially looking forward to the 'French Revolution and Napoleon' subject, even if i do have to travel to Newcastle for it. :)

But back to painting and terrain modeling. My first task consists of two terrain boards, a building, a platoon of Germans and a subsection of Free French commandos, plus a few odds and ends. Well, with just over a week to go it's all looking pretty good, quite surprisingly. I've completed the excellent resin boulangerie model from lasermodellbau which Laur got me for my Birthday, as well as a 2cm flak and a couple of gorgeous AB miniatures command figures to use as my big men. Pics of these completed are below. I tried a new technique with the splinter camo, based on Piers' beaut tute over on the guild. I think it looks great, a lot more effective when viewing from a distance as well. I'll definitely be using this technique for the rest of my Jerries.

For the boulangerie, i spent the better part of a day on google images, right-clicking and saving as many 40s era french posters, family photos, newspapers and magazines as i could find. After a bit of rescaling and printing them out, i think they add a little something to the model. A great dolls house site provided the wonderfully terrible 30s/40s wallpaper. I'm quite happy with the result. The models themselves are great, and went together with only minimal fussing and sanding. I've got another two, the boucherie and a two storey house which will be going into the terrain board representing Ouistreham, along with a bunch of scratch built ruins. Now i just need to get my hands on some Frontline damaged furniture to provide the finishing touches.
Next on the list were the two command figures. I tried out a different, grey-er field grey recipe on the figure in the peaked cap. I'm happy with the result, and the next german section is also going to be this colour. I'm planning on mixing them in with the greener guys to give a nice mix. The sculpting on the AB stuff is simply superb, so lifelike. These two guys are Hauptmann Leo Mabhoffer, commander of the Riva-Bella strongpoint, and Leutnant Michael von Recke, a fictional commander who i'll probably end up using for a 21st Panzer force. I've also taken to painting the Big Man's name on the back of the base, just so they stand out a little more. While the Plastic Soldier figures will do for the rank-and-file, Some AB command figures along with some heavy weapons etc from Kellys Heroes should help add that je ne sais quoi to the force. I've also added some comparison pics showing both the PSC and the AB figures side by side. Aside from the superiority of the AB sculpts, any differences in scale or style are virtually indiscernible.

When painting was out of the questiond due to the heat wave, i decided to knuckle down and get some work done towards the project anyhow. IABSM and TW&T both use cards to activate units. I found a great template on the Toofatlardies yahoo group, and using this have built up almost a full deck. Below with the pictures i've got two pages out of the 10 i've completed. Oh, and i thought i might mention something which probably seems quite obvious, but as i had a couple of enquiries thought i'd best. If you click on the images you will be linked to lot larger, higher resolution version. All the better for seeing clavii, right. :)

I was terribly saddened to hear the news about the passing of Dave Hollins of Britannia fame just after the new year. In my dealings with Dave he was always a perfect gent, and he will be sorely missed. My final completed item is the superb little Britannia 2cm Flak 38, which will top the Casino strong-point. The Britannia figures were, as always, a joy to paint. I wasn't too sure about the colour of the waffenfarbe shoulder tab piping. I ended up going with red for artillery, figuring that army flak troops fall under this category. Besides, it sets them apart from the white of the infantry.

Now on to the terrain boards. I've finished the bunkers, covered them in polyfilla and scored in the shuttering marks before it was completely dry. Some ladders made from staples were also added. The trenches were lines with scored balsa, the steps were balsa too, and almost drove me insane. Still, i'm really happy with the results and can't wait to get some paint on them. I've also added some faux-fur grass, which was trimmed with a pair of hair clippers. I built up some mounds of earth on the terrain using bits of Styrofoam which i the covered with polyfilla. I also made a sloping beach on the second terrain board, and am going to add some obstacles made from bamboo skewers and toothpicks, plus eventually some dragons teeth obstacles which i'll made from blue foam.

The latest progress on this is covering all the earth or sand areas with watered down white glue and covering the lot with sand. Next step is painting, then it's done! I originally wanted to get the interiors done by the deadline, at least of the casino, but i'm not really liking my chances. Some of you may notice on the WIP pics below a landing craft. This is the Britannia LCI(S), or Landing Craft Infantry (Small), the landing craft used by Lovat's commandos on D-Day. This one was a nice surprise, a belated christmas pressie from Laur's brother and his girlfriend. I think it'll look great! Now i need to get some LCAs, just to add to the scene. :)
Anyhow, i'd best get back to it. All going well, i'll be able to post an update with the competed terrain, the 10.5cm gun and crew and a few more infantry by the 28th.

Wish me luck!

Respite from the heat means more Late Romans!

2011-02-06T21:27:00.014+11:00

Well, after a week of record high temperatures, it's finally cooled off. The last week has not only put a hold on my painting with temps around the 40c mark, but has also killed off a large part of our veggie patch, and with the nights only marginally cooler than the days, I've been missing more than a little sleep. Enough whingeing though, a mere heatwave is nothing compared to the floods and cyclones being suffered by Queensland. The cool southerly turned up at about 3 this afternoon, and with it i put my head down and finished my latest lot of commission work, two units of 28mm Late Romans.

The commission is to build up a Roman force for the Augustus-to-be Julian's army at the battle of Strasbourg (or Argentoratum if you're so inclined) in 357CE. I've already completed the first of four planned legions, the Primani as well as a unit of archers representing the Sagitarii Gallicani Iuniores. This latest batch consists of another heavy legion, the Fortenses, and a light infantry/skirmisher unit, the Exculatores Britanniciani. The Exculatores are the light order blokes pictured above to the right. More pics from various angles, along with pictures of the Fortenses are below.

All the figures are from Black Tree Designs, really nice dynamic figures which are a pleasure to paint. The shield patterns are hand painted representations of designs for these units found in the Notita Dignitatum. I added some dried blood (stippled on GW Dark Flesh), some cuts and tears, and a final coat of Devlan Mud tied the shield pattern together. I've painted the bases for this commission using a very muted, muddy colour scheme, which to my eye is in keeping with the area around the Rhine near Strasbourg. Next up on the commission front are a couple of units of Auxilia, the Batavi and Regii, as well as some more archers.

I'm now planning on getting stuck into my 20mm WWII project, as i've got a load of work to do to meet my Feb 28th deadline for my 2011 Project build over on the Guild forums. In the next few weeks, i've got the following to complete:

1 x Two Storey lasermodellbau building
1 x Riva Bella Casino 2'x2' terrain board
1 x Beach front 2'x2' terrain board
1 x 8 man Commando assault team
2 x 8 man German grenadier squads
1 x 2cm Flak 38 AA-Gun and 3 crew
1 x 10.5cm field gun and 3 crew
2 x German command figures (or Big Men)

So, pics of these will be coming up soon!

Ben

Plastic Soldiers, Birthdays and Christmas

2011-01-05T17:34:00.014+11:00

Well, it's about midway through the first week of 2011, and with the silly season winding down I'm managing to get some painting done. A bit of drama in the leadup to christmas, and then the crazyness until new years has meant that the brushes have been gathering dust in the corner for the last while.

So, first off, i've been getting on with my latest commission work, the Late Roman infantry. These guys are still a WIP, so no pics yet, but hopefully soon.

In the meantime, my 20mm D-Day Sword Beach project has been gaining steam. I've managed to get a whole swag of great stuff for this between my birthday and Christmas, Laura even surprised me with a triad of resin buildings from the German company Najewitz Modellbau. These are great, very crisp detail and go together well. I've only assembled the two story house as yet, but i've also got a Boulangerie and a Boucherie to do. I'm planning to have a representation of Ouistreham / Riva Bella in the setup, so these will look great and save me some scratch building :).

So, besides the buildings, I scored a load of vehicles from Britannia, Cromwell, Skytrex, Raventhorpe and RTR, a bunch of 'tobruk' MG bunkers from Defence in Depth along with a leavening of Britannia and AB figures. Topping it all off was a box of the new Plastic Soldier Company German infantry. Needless to say I'm well chuffed indeed.

For the initial project, which will revolve around the assault on the Riva-Bella Casino strong point, I'll need to build up the following force:

German 716th Infantry Division forces

2 x German platoons + support. (~ 60 figs) - Plastic Soldier, Britannia and AB.
2 x PaK 38 on fortress mount and crews Britannia
1 x 2cm Flak 38 and crew Britannia
2 x 10.5cm leFH guns and crew Britannia
2 x Marder III - Skytrex

British / Free French forces

2 x Free French Commando sections + support (~ 60 figs) Britannia
1 x Centaur Mk IV close support tank Cromwell
3 x Sherman DD tanks Britannia

Quite a lot of painting, especially considering I'll be juggling ongoing commission work. Anyway, i've managed to paint up the first pieces for both the axis and allies over the last few days, as well as making some progress on the Riva-Bella Casino board. Painting in 20mm is a lot faster than 28!

I've completed the basic structure of the casino strongpoint, which will be armed with one of the 10.5cm field guns and a 20mm flak, which i've placed unpainted on the roof in the pics below. I've also completed a H644 bunker with an armoured MG cupola along with a generic infantry shelter. I've also scraped out the AT ditch and the basic trench system, but the trenches need to have sides and bottom added from balsa. I've also had my first trial of using teddy bear fur for grass, and think it's looking pretty good. I've also started on the interiors of the bunkers and casino, as I'm going to have all of the roofs as removable.

As far as the figures go, i'm basing these up on 5c pieces and have stolen the idea of painting the unit name on the rear of the base. See the picture of the French 'Big Man' below to see what i'm talking about. This ties the units together without taking away from the aesthetics too much. So, as far the Germans are concerned, i've completed the first of six 8 man squads, along with a Leutnant 'big man' to lead the first platoon. The Frenchies have got Commandant Kieffer himself, a sniper, 2" mortar team and a 5 man Bren gun team, which together with an 8 man assault team makes up a subsection. Suffice it to say that Commando organisation is very confusing.

The plastic soldier Germans are great. The sculpting is very crisp, if some of the poses are a little odd and require a bit of cutting to make look right to my eye. I've hacked away at two figures to use as crew for the first of the two Marder IIIs. I based them on 5c pieces, to add a little weight, and painted them up in the Vallejo field grey. After seeing the infamous field grey picture, i've decided that I'm going to paint up squads in different variations, then mix them all together to give a good mix-match look to the force.

The casino board has come along in leaps and bounds, inspired but the magnificent work by alcal over on the guild forum.

So, enjoy the pictures, leave a comment, and as you can probably tell from the picture of some of my goodies, there'll be a lot more coming, including some 21st Panzer and 11th Armoured stuff.

Biting off more than i can chew

2010-12-11T17:59:00.018+11:00

Well, here I am again, and as promised I’ve got some pics of a Spitfire 1a and a teaser for my WWII Hungarians. I’m almost finished the second of four planned 10 man rifle sections, and am about halfway through a StuG platoon so will post more pictures in a future update. For now you’ll have to content yourselves with the picture on the right, which is my first ‘Big Man’, Százados (or Captain) György Takács, conferring with a motorised rifleman in front of a Toldi IIa light tank. Tank and big man are from Shellhole Scenics, grunt is from Liberation minis and tank commander is an AB Italian.

Tomorrow I’m going to be getting on with some commission work, hoping to get most of a 12 man unit of Late Roman Legion, the Legio Fortenses, completed.

Considering that 2010 marks the 70^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and all, I decided to go off on a painting tangent and paint up an Airfix Spitfire. Building the kit took me back, as I haven’t built a plastic airplane kit since I was about 14! I am pleased to say that I managed to complete the build with considerably less gluey fingerprints on the canopy than I remember.

I spent a fair amount of time painting up the pilot, who was then all but hidden in the cockpit. Oh well, I’ve posted a WIP picture of him so you can see him in all his glory. I stole the idea for the flight stand from a modelling forum, and am happy at the way it turned out. I’m going to eventually get a brass engraved plate with the squadron, airfield and date of the plane. Which by the way is No.234 Squadron based at Middle Wallop in August 1940.

In amongst all of these tangents, I’ve been busily planning my D-Day Ouistreham/Riva Bella setup. I’ve picked up some 2’x2’ 6mm MDF board to use as a base for the foam, and have drawn up a rough overview of what I plan to build. I have a feeling that I may be biting off rather a lot to chew, but as my great-uncle Tom used to say ‘aim high, if you don’t quite make it you’re still pretty well off. If you aim low and fail, then you’re in a spot of bother.’

So, if any of you can decipher my scribble, you’ll see by the plan that I’m going to be building up a series of 2’ sq boards, 3 deep and four across. These will represent the area from the German defensive position, or Wiederstandnest 10(b) at Riva Bella through to the mouth of the Caen canal. Even at this size, I’ve had to take a lot of liberties with the layout, and Ouistreham find itself a lot smaller than in reality. I’m going to start with the Casino board, then move onto the WN10b board with the anti-tank wall. Big project, but I don't go back to uni till the end of February so i have to do something to occupy myself, right. :)

I really want to include a selection of the different bunker types, as well as the Casino the 17m high artillery observation post, the flak tower and the light gauge ‘chemin de fer du calvados’ railway with Riva Bella station. Most of the bunkers and some of the buildings will be constructed from blue foam and then coated in filler, stippled and scored before painting. I’m also planning to have them with removable rooves and basic interiors to give Jerry somewhere to hide. I’ve already started on the Casino itself, which contrary to Mr Zanuck and The Longest Day, only consisted of fortified foundations, the superstructure having been removed by the Germans.

So, where am I getting all this from? Firstly, I'm using photos I took on my travels around the area and reprints of the original BIGOT 1:25000 scale maps for Ouistreham and Sword Beach. For bunker layouts, the guys over at the Atlantic Wall forums have heaps of info, including diagrams, of pretty much any bunker you need. I’ve thus far done up plans for bastardised versions of the H644 bunker (with an armoured MG turret), the H626 (with a field gun) and personnel shelters. For anyone interested, the forum, mostly French language, can be found at http://atlantikwall.superforum.fr/forum.htm

In addition to online sources and the Osprey and Battleground Sword Beach books, the fantastic Gold, Juno Sword by Georges Bernage published by Heimdal has been my bible. This book has amazing detail, and is really a must for anyone even slightly interested in the British and Canadian beaches. It gives a great overview of the German defences and the forces involved – including commanders and 2ICs for the individual companies. The description of the action is very detailed, and the book is packed with loads of rare images. Can you tell I’m a fan?

Anyway, a reminder to check out my eBay listings, and I’ll be back soon with some more Hungarian pictures, and hopefully another legion.

For now, here are some pictures of my plans for the first two Riva Bella / Ouistreham boards, as well as the H644, H626 and shelter bunkers. The figures and guns are Britannia 20mm.

My first 15mm work - and a Christmas Clearout

2010-12-09T17:37:00.030+11:00

Hello all, hope you're all having a not-too-stressful lead up to Christmas. This post looks to be a bit of a hodgepodge, so please bear with me. First up, i've finished painting up my first Flames of War miniature, a German SdKfz 251/1D halftrack. I was pleased with the moulding, and think they came up well. The 15mm splinter camo almost drove me insane, as did my very temperamental airbrush. Anyway, while i do like the figures, I'm not converted to 15mm or the FOW rules, and intend to stay with IABSM and perhaps Rapid Fire in 20mm scale. This 'lil guy is off to flea bay, but more on that later.

Well, the silly season is well underway, with Laura's birthday, as well as our 5 year anniversary, my sisters birthday and a friends wedding all having taken place since my last update. While all the crazy spending has meant I've had little time, or money, for my own painting, my birthday is coming up on the 16th so hopefully I'll score lots of goodies for my IABSM Normandy project. I've been eying off the crazy 21st Panzer stuff from Raventhorpe and Skytrex, as well as some of the superb Najewitz Modellbau 1/72 buildings. Between the birthday gnomes and Christmas, i'm hoping that i'll get enough to get this project underway.

Speaking of the project, I ordered a 1200 x 2500mm (4' x 8' for you imperialists) sheet of what i thought was 5cm thick 'blue' extruded polystyrene foam. As delivery from Revesby in Sydney to home - about a 90min trip - was going to be 180 bucks, i managed to get a loan of Laur's sisters car, as our '93 Honda Civic would be hard pressed to fit in a 4" x 8" foam sheet in, and headed off to Western Sydney. Upon arriving at the factory to pick up the foam, i found out that the original quote was incorrect, and that the order was actually for regular polystyrene. While i was a little let down, that did explain the rather cheap price. Anyway, I'm going to base the foam with some MDF board and see what i can do with it - i've seen some pretty impressive setups from regular old foam, PVA glue and sand.

As for the figures, the Plastic Soldier late war German box has solved my conundrum regarding which supplier to use for my Germans. Although, i'm a little confused as to whether they have actually been released, the website says that they were to be released on 3rd December, and i had a box on pre-order but haven't received any notification of dispatch. I spose we'll see if they turn up. Whatever reservations i have ordering a box sight unseen is offset by the quality of the Russians (excluding 'that' grenade throwing guy), and the ridiculously cheap price!

As i mentioned a few times now, Christmas is just around the corner and owing to my semi-poverty stricken student state, I've decided to have a little bit of a flea bay bonanza. I've gone through the lead mountain and grabbed some stuff from abortive projects - 'non-starters' in corporate speak. I've decided that these are far enough down the 'to do' list that they're going to have to go.

I've got a bit of painted stuff, all 28mm WW2. I'm pretty sad to see these guys go, as they've been in my display cabinet for the last two-or-so years, but as i've downsized WWII to 20mm, out they go. So, for those of you interested, here is the list of what's going along with links. I do ship internationally, and shipping to UK and US is actually pretty reasonable. Oh, and i combine postage, obviously :).

15mm FOW SPW 251/1D. As described above, painted in acrylics, weathered with pigments and matt varnished.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130463990438

Modified and repainted 28mm Corgi Churchill III. This tank is painted up with acrylics, weathered with oils and pigments and matt varnished. I've made up some decals, and it is marked for B squadron, 4th Grenadier Guards, part of the 6th Guards Tank Brigade in Normandy. The crew figure is from BAM/Warlord.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464015377

28mm BAM/Warlord Canadian Infantry. These five figures are painted up with acrylics and matt varnished. They are painted as Canadian infantry, with the greener uniform, and with insignia for 3rd Canadian Division which landed on Juno Beach of D-Day.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464016165

28mm BAM/Warlord and Artizan Figs. The two BAM Brits are painted up from 15th Scottish Division, and the Artizan German is painted up in a sumpfmünster or swamp patter camo smock. All painted with acrylics and matt varnished.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464016996

15mm Eureka French Napoleonic Inf Bn (42 Figures). Unpainted. 42 of the excellent Eureka miniatures figures, enough for a full battalion for almost all rule sets, more in some. The voltigeur company (6 figures) is doubled up, to represent them skirmishing or in close order. These figures are in the bardin uniform, so suitable for 1812-15. There are some AB figures in greatcoats mixed in.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464018021

28mm Perry Miniatures French Napoleonic Young Guard Bn (24 Figures). What it says on the box. Unpainted, 24 figures march attack including command and porte fanions. Enough for a battalion in most rule sets.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464018552

28mm Artizan Cowboys. 10 Artizan designs cowboys. Included are Pinkertons, some 'not-deadwood' figures and some Texas Rangers. Some figures undercoated in GW black.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464018952
28mm BAM/Warlord British Paratroops. 11 figures sculpted by Paul Hicks. includes command, Rifles and Sten gunners. Some figures undercoated in GW black.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464019479

28mm Chieftain Char B1 bis. White metal kit of early war French Tank, also used by the Germans. Cleaned of flash and mould lines but unassembled. Tank commander figure included.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464020051

28mm Chieftain A13 Tank. Resin and white metal kit of A13 early war British tank. Includes parts to make BEF versions and up armoured Mk III-IV for the Western Desert. Paul Hicks sculpted BAM tank commander figure included.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464020655

28mm Chieftain Mk IV Tank. White metal kit of MK IV light tank. Includes parts to make models a-b with the twin Vickers mg, or IVc with the heavy 15mm MG. Paul Hicks sculpted BAM tank commander figure included.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464021111

28mm BAM Humber IV armoured car. Assembled and painted BAM/Warlord kit. Painted with acrylics, weathered with oils and pigments. Wheels etc still need to be painted. Paul Hicks sculpted BAM tank commander figure included.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464021541

28mm Crusader Vikings. 15 x unpainted Crusader minis vikings. Some figures undercoated in GW black.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464022056

54mm Tradition SYW Prussian Dragoon. 1 x 54mm Prussian dragoon by Tradition of London part painted as 5th Bayreuth Dragoons Unassembled white metal kit.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464024037

54mm Tradition Napoleonic Dutch Officer. 1 x 54mm Napoleonic Dutch Officer, painted in acrylics and oils. Unassembled white metal kit.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464024315

28mm Coppelstone/TAG Moderns. 5 x Copplestone figures, 12 TAG figures. Included are SWAT types with Shotguns, MP5s and M4s, and US Delta figures. Originally intended for a Stargate SG-1 project, they're equally suitable for any modern or sci-fi skirmish.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464022722

28mm Sash and Saber Napoleonic Austrian Infantry Command. 10 unpainted white metal Sash and Saber figures in the plumed helmet. Included are officers, flag bearers, NCOs and sappers. Suitable for 1800-1810.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464023110

28mm Elite Napoleonic Russian Infantry. 22 unpainted white metal Elite miniatures Russian line infantry and artillery figures. Suitable for Austerlitz, Eylau, Friedland and 1812.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130464023622

Anyway, that pretty much clears out the cupboard. If you have any questions, give me a yell at fiene.ben@gmail.com.

Next update, a battle of Britain spitfire and some WWII Hungarians. Stay tuned.

Comission - Late Roman Infantry

2010-12-05T18:04:00.009+11:00

Well, it's been some time since i've posted anything on here, but i've actually been really busy painting a whole hodgepodge of stuff. I've completed, not an any particular order:

- 2 bases of 28mm French Foreign Legion (Askari miniatures i started over a year ago!)
- Some 20mm Second World War Hungarian infantry and armour for IABSM
- A 1/72 Airfix Battle of Britain Spitfire, 70th anniversary and all that.
- A 15mm Flames of War SdKfz 251/1D - for Ebay
- First 20 figures of an ongoing Late Roman commission.

I've also got my marks back for uni, and i must say I'm very pleased. All up, out of 8 subjects taken this year I've managed to score 5 high distinctions (85%+) and 3 distinctions (75-85%). Laura has taken to calling me übernerd. :)
I believe the term is well-chuffed. :) Bring on second year - although i'm more than a little apprehensive about going on my first prac in a Central Coast high school. Heres hoping i don't get one of the rough ones. :/

Pics of all the painted stuff will be coming up soon, but for this update iv'e got some images of the first batch of commission Romans. The client is building up Julian's army for the battle of Strasbourg in 357 CE. I'm not 100% sure what basing system he is using, but to my untrained eye it looks like FOG. I've gone for a more muted basing style than my Impetus Romans, trying to give the impression of a location near the rainy Rhine river.

These are all 28mm Black Tree Design figures, the heavy infantry is the Primani Legion, the archers are the Sagitarii Iuniores Gallicani. I've taken the shield patterns from the Notita Dignitatum and they are hand painted. I've also strung the bows with very fine gauge wire and added arrows made from iron needles. Overall i was really happy with them, and so was the client. Next up in the commission is another 12 man Legion, the Fortenses, and an eight figure light infantry unit, the Exculatores Britanniciani. I'm aiming to have these done by the end of the month.

Schools out for summer!

2010-11-14T16:32:00.009+11:00

Well, I've officially finished my first year of uni! The assessment period was pretty intense, but I've managed to get through it. Now just to wait for my marks!
Needless to say, with all this crazy uni business, I've not had a lot of time for painting, but as I'm not going back to study until the end of February, I've got a little time to catch up. :)

These guys are the first of two bases of Franks i need for my Basic Impetus Patrician Roman army. The figures are from gripping beast, and while i would have liked to include a few helmeted figures, I'm actually really happy with them. I've gone for colourful-yet-dirty look for the tunics, as the sources are universal in disparaging the barbarians for their ostentatious dress, which was generally seen by the restrained Romans as effeminate. The shields patterns are from LBMS.

So, I've only got two more bases to complete this army! Very scary indeed. At the moment I'm about 80% of the way through a commission of Late Romans, so might post some pictures of them when I'm done. It's a 12 man unit from the Primani legion. After that, i'll be finishing off the last two bases, another lot of GB Franks and some of the fantastic Goth cavalry by Bill over at Musketeer miniatures.

What with all this spare time, while I'll mostly be busy with commission work, I've also decided to set myself a new project to stop myself going mad. Back in 2008, i spent a few months travelling around Europe with my girlfriend Laura. We spent a bit over two weeks camping in Normandy. Besides enjoying he fantastic food and great cider, we visited quite a few historical sites. By the end of the two weeks, my very patient girl was, shall we say, a little over bunkers. Still, i made it up to her by a few days in Saumur in the Loire valley.

Anyway, perhaps the most captivating and emotive place I visited was Sword Beach, particularly Hillman battery, located just inland above Colleville-Montgomery. I've always wanted to do some kind of project based around the landings on Sword, originally in 28mm.

Well, inspired by TSM's great Sword-related terrain over on the Guild and the SD forums, i've sold off all of my 28mm WWII figures, and am diving into 1/72, or 20mm WWII. I've dug out my copy of the Too Fat Lardies 'I Ain't Been Shot Mum' company level rules, and have decided that i'll base my project around these, as i really like the 'big man' philosophy of Rich's rules. I bought IABSM a year or so ago for a WWII Hungarian project that's still at least partly in the lead mountain.

So, my initial plan for Sword is to do up some terrain based around capitaine de corvette Phillipe Kieffer's Free-French commando attack on Ouistreham, specifically the Ouistreham casino and the huge Observation Bunker. I visited the Observation bunker, which is now a great little museum about the Atlantic wall. The bunker itself is a very imposing structure, and provides a great view Sword beach from the top. I've included a few pics i took of the bunker below. In the one of the view from the top, the modern casino is the blue roof in the centre of frame. Over on the french language Blitzkrieg forums, I've found a very inspiring 20mm Ouistreham casino by Captain Yaputo. As was the case on D-Day, despite 'the Longest Day' and a fair few premade scenery items, Yaputo has modelled the bunker with the casino building demolished and with the AT ditch and fence. I'm going to use this for inspiration.

As far as forces go, I'm initially looking at painting up a Commando Troop of around 60 figures, and a couple of opposing German platoons. Being 20mm and WWII, they'll take a lot less time than intricately detailed 28mm Late Romans!

While AB make the figures I need and look fantastic, my crappy student income means that the majority of my troops will be coming from Britannia, possibly with Battlefield commandos. I do really like Britannia figures though, and some of the guys over on the Guild forums have shown just what can be done with these figures.

Anyway, enjoy the pics of the Franks, and i'll endeavor to have some pics of the Primani up early next week.

Le Grand Fromage

2010-10-05T15:58:00.010+11:00

Here i am back again with another update. The final assessment period for this semester is in full swing, but amazingly I'm still managing to keep up some semblance of progress with my painting.

Here are some pictures of my latest base, (actually finished around the time of the Equites Batavii) representing the Magister Militum of the Patrician Roman Army, the Patrician warlord himself. As the Impetus rules call for more than one general, i decided that the foot general would not really cut it as the overall commander, and so decided to paint up something a bit grander. The figures are Gripping Beasties, and i must say i love the pose of the general.

The very ostentatious clothing on this guy I copied from an illustration of the 'last of the Romans' Flavius Aëtius, the patrician warlord who faced down, among many others, Attila the Hun. As usual, i've taken the shield pattern from the Notita Dignitatum, this pattern is that of the Equites under command of the Comes Domesticorum, the Count of the Household troops of the Eastern empire. I figure it is as likely as any to be used by a Late Roman Magister or perhaps even the Augustus himself fighting the Persians in the east. Either way, the bloody angels and lovehearts almost drove me insane! The banner is hand painted over a laser printed Burgundy coloured template i made up ages ago. I just had to have something with the ubiquitous IN HOC SIGNO VINCES (in this sign, conquer!) i've seen on countless miniature army banners.

I figure that this base will be suitable to be used for a late Eastern and Western Roman army as well as the Patricians, and even for Justinian Byzantines. On an aside, if anyone is looking for a great boom set in the later empire, I've started reading Harry Sidebottom's Warrior of Rome series which I'd highly recommend.

Next on the painting list, the first base of Frankish heavy infantry are finished and varnished, and i've just been putting the finishing touches on the basing. Hopefully i'll get some pictures up in the next couple of days, i'm very happy with the GB figures, and with the LBMS shield transfers. I had used LBMS transfers before with some Crusader vikings, only to have them shrink. I've discovered my mistake, failing to gloss varnish the shield before and after applying the decal, and not waiting for the transfer to dry before applying matt varnish. :)

Anyway, next up on the painting bench are a bunch of Late Romans, BTD figures i'm painting up as the Legio Primani for a commission. I'm also hoping to have time to get the base of Musketeer Gothic heavy cavalry completed, but it all depends on how conscientious i am with my uni work.

Here come the cavalry

2010-09-21T19:13:00.012+10:00

Well, the first assessment round for this semester is over, and so I've finally been able to get on with some painting.

The other week I received my order from Dadi & Piombo; the 'full' version of Impetus rules plus the two expansions. Looking at the army lists for the Late Roman East and Western armies, I'm happy to see that the Basic Impetus Patrician army I've been working on provides 90% of the bases needed for either of these forces, so it should be relatively painless to switch over to the full system. I'm really looking forward to building some kind of camp/baggage train, which is another addition in the full version.

One of the additional units needed to expand the army is this lot of Roman medium cavalry hot off the painting table. The figures are from Gripping Beast, but as I've never been overly keen on their horses, I've mounted them on the Aventine nags. I must say I'm really impressed with how these go together, and the smaller size of the horses works perfectly for the smaller breeds prevalent in Late Antiquity.

These are painted up as the Equites Batavii Iuniores, one of the vexillationes palatina from the Gallic field army. The shield pattern is taken again from the Notita Dignitatum. Inspiration for the colour schemes I've taken from the Osprey Warrior on Late Roman cavalry, and the commander is based on a plate from the excellent Ancient Warfare magazine on the Belisarian era. Next up on the painting bench I've been working on the first of two units of Frankish heavy infantry. Stripey tunics, braids, angons and franciscas here we come. :) I'm actually enjoying working on something even less uniform and more colourful than the Romans. I've put up a work-in-progress picture, they're some very characterful figures.

I've also made an addition to my Sassanid army. After reading a bit on the Savaran cavalry, i now realise that using Parthian horse archers to represent these is fine for the very early era, but as time progressed these would have been more heavily armoured. Accordingly, i went ahead and ordered a bunch of Savaran armed with swords, bows and kontos(es?), riding a mixture of barded and unbarded heavy horses. The figures look great, and should give the 'heavy but not too heavy' look I'm going for on these bases.

Anyhoo, hopefully i'll get the Franks finished off in the next week and get a chance to post another update. After the Franks, i've got some commission work, more late Roman infantry.

More Archers... and some group shots

2010-08-29T11:47:00.008+10:00

Well, I'm taking a break from working on an essay to post this little bit of an update. Last night i put finished off the basing on these guys, the second base of Black Tree Design archers. These are the last of the 'Romans' for the Patrician Roman Basic Impetus army, the rest are Barbarian foederati.

On my first archer base I had all of the tunic details as blue, that's before i decided for the army would have an eclectic non-uniform look. These guys have a mix of colours, so do look a little different to the other base. I really aim for having each base standing as an individual, so trying to make this look different from the first base with the limited poses (4) of the BTD archers was a bit of a challenge. I bent the arms of these guys a little so they look like they're firing at a longer range, while the first archer base were firing straight forward. Anyway, i'm quite happy with the result.

I've also put below some pictures of the force as it stands at the moment. So far i've got

1 x Command base (foot)
1 x CL [light cavalry] base (Hunnic mercenary archers)
1 x CP [heavy cavalry] base (Equites Catafractarii Ambienenses)
1 x FP [heavy infantry] base (Petulantes Auxilia Comitatenses)
1 x FL [light infantry] base (Defensores Seniores Pseudocomitatenses)
2 x T [archer] bases

I must say it's actually starting to look like an army, and I'm pleased with how well the villa fits in with the feel of the army. I really need to get started on a terrain mat, as the sheets of cardboard I use as a backdrop for the photos is now too small!

My orders from Aventine, LBMS and Gripping Beast/Musketeer all arrived this week, all the suppliers have been great, the Gripping Beast guys even upgraded the shipping to courier free of charge!
In my uni work down time I've been busily at work cleaning and undercoating, Laura and I have started watching Mad Men, so i've been doing lots of work in front of the telly.
I must say I'm really happy with the Aventine horses. I love the GB rider figures, but their horses have never looked 'right' to me. The Aventine horses look great with the Gripping beast riders, and they're about the right side for the small horse breeds available to the Late Romans.

Once this essay is over and done with, I'm going to get started on a CP base of Late Roman heavy cavalry. I'm still cleaning up the Musketeer Goth cavalry and the GB Franks which I'll need to complete the Patrician Romans. The Roman heavy cavalry are cleaned and primed, and they are essential if I'm to field a Late Roman Eastern or Western army in addition to the Patricians. Hopefully i'll be able to knock these over relatively quickly and get some pictures up soon.

Oh well, back to HIST1052: Australia and the World. :)

Home on the (Anatolian) range

2010-08-13T16:12:00.019+10:00

Well, it looks like University is back into full swing. I've already completed one assessment for my Early Roman Archaeology class and have got four more due in the next fortnight. I really had expected that the student lifestyle would be a lot more laid back than this. :/

Anyhoo, I've been plodding along with the last base of Roman archers, I'm actually hoping to put the finishing touches on them once I've posted this.
I finally got my tax return, and that which didn't end up going in loan repayments was sent off to the lads at Gripping Beast, Aventine and Little Big Men in return for a plethora of Late Roman, Barbarian and Sassanid Persian goodies. Andy and Darren at GB were particularly helpful, they happily allowed me to mess around with the composition of their army deals.
My plan for the next six months or so is to paint up the following:

Late/Patrician Romans

1 x CP (Equites Scutarii) 4 GB heavy cavalry per base
1 x CL (Equites Sagitarii) 3 or 4 GB armoured horse archers per base
2 x CL (Equites Illyricani) 3 GB javelin armed cavalry per base
1 x FP (Auxilia Comitatenses) Another 10 figure BTD/GB Heavy infantry base, this time the Celtae Seniores.
1 x FL (Auxilia Pseudocomitatenses) Another 8 figure BTD Light infantry base, the Romanenses this time.
1 x Mounted Command stand - GB General, Standard bearer and musician.

Barbarian Foederati

1 x CP (Gothic Cavalry) 4 Musketeer heavy Goth cavalry per base
2 x FP (Franks) 10 figure GB Frankish heavy infantry per base

Sassanid Persians

1 x Mounted Command stand - GB General, Standard bearer and musician.
1 x CP (Pushtigbhan) 4 GB heavy armoured cavalry with kontos per base
3 x CM (Asavaran) 3 GB Parthian Horse archers per base
1 x FL (Daylaimi) 8 GB Light Infantry per base
2 x FP (Leves) 10 GB Heavy foot per base
1 x EL (Elephant) 1 Aventine Elephant and crew per base

In order to field the full Basic Impetus Sassanid army, I still need to get a base of archers, but it's a decent start. From Steve at LBMS I've ordered the fantastic Sassanid banner sheet along with a bunch of shield decals for the Franks and the Sassanids.

So, while waiting for tax and now for the figure orders to arrive, I decided to have a crack at some terrain. I've wanted to build a Late Roman villa complex for a while, and had collected a fair bit of research info. I dug that out, along with some foam-core board, corrugated cardboard and blue foam and set to work.

As my armies will focus on the conflicts in the East between the Late Romans/Byzantines and Sassanid Persians, the villa i envisaged would have been able to be defended, but also home to a high status landowner. To achieve this, I made sure that besides the main gate and a small side door, there were no doors or windows which would allow an enemy to break in. I've left the roof of the long building to the right of the courtyard loose, with a view to eventually detailing the interior. The stone work under the portico is all from blue foam, using a method stolen from the terrain maestro Theomar Pius. The cobbles are a textured card i picked up from a local Spotlight sewing store in their wedding invitation section. I think they came up well, and i'm planning on building a few stretches of Roman road using them. The tiles are corrugated cardboard sheets, which i lightly scored across the 'grain' with a sharp scalpel then crushed down with a pencil along these lines. I think they look quite effective.

Oh, and i almost forgot. The pictures are taken with my new camera, a Canon IXUS 120IS. I must say I'm really impressed with the picture quality.

The base size is just within the basic impetus size limit of 20U (or 40cm square). This base is about 30cm by 35cm. I used the same basing style I've been using for my army, so hopefully they all tie in. I'm really quite happy with the result, and am now enthused to build a few roads and perhaps even a Sassanid Persian building of some description. Zoroastrian Fire Temple anyone?

I'm currently taking on commission work. All enquiries please contact me vie email, fiene.ben@gmail.com.

The Petulant Ones

2010-07-30T18:40:00.010+10:00

Second semester of university is upon me, but before the end of my holidays i managed to complete another base for my Basic Impetus Patrician Romans. Don't look now, but it appears that I am in danger of actually finishing a project!

This base is the only Roman Heavy Infantry (FP in Impetus vernacular) base in the Patrician Roman army. According to the list these are supposed to be legionaries, but I have chosen to depict them up as Auxilia Palatina. By the 5th century the Auxilia had filled the role of the old legions, and the Palatina were the highest ranking, belonging to imperial field army. I recently finished reading Gore Vidal's superb novelisation of the emperor Julian's life. Inspired by this, I have painted these guys up as the Petulantes Seniores, the unit which proclaimed Julian Augustus and, according to Vidal at least, followed him East for his ill-fated campaigns against the Sassanid Persians. As usual the shield pattern is from the Notita Dignitatum. I tried something a little different, using some GW dark flesh to simulate dried blood. This was suggested by Count of Wymborn over on the Steve Dean forums and i think works a treat.

The figures are from Black Tree Designs, the exception being the commander who is from Gripping Beast. I wanted to give these guys a more veteran appearance than the pseudocomitatenses, and so besides choosing armoured and well equipped figures, I added a few extra and arranged them as an aggressive looking shield wall.

I'm now working on the last Roman unit of the army, a second base of lowly archers. I'm waiting on my tax return to put through an order to musketeer minis for some Gothic heavy cavalry and to Gripping Beast for some Frankish heavy infantry to finish off the army. I've also been looking through the basic impetus lists and have decided to do a couple of extra bases, one of Roman Equites heavy cavalry, a couple of Equites Illyricani light cavalry and one of Roman Equites Sagitarii horse archers. I may even end up doing another base of heavy infantry, as i'd love to paint up the Celtae Seniores, the sister regiment to the Petulantes. These additions will allow me to field not only a Patrician Roman force but also an Eastern and Western Late Roman one.

I've also finally settled on which army to field as opponents. I was tossing up between the various western barbarian lists, but I found the monotony of painting up loads of similar bases a rather daunting prospect. I ended up going for something completely different and quite interesting, the Sassanid Persians. These seem like an interesting army to paint up, with the cataphracts on brightly coloured barded horses, the Parthian and Iranian light horsemen, the hopelessly outclassed levy infantry and the elephants! A chunk of my tax refund will be going on these guys, mostly from Gripping Beast but with the elephant coming from Aventine miniatures.

Anyway, as usual please leave a comment or ask a question. Hopefully the Archers will be painted up in the next week and I'll be able to get some pictures posted.

I'm also still taking on commission work at the moment, for enquiries please email fiene.ben@gmail.com

The Big Guns

2010-07-14T11:47:00.008+10:00

Here we are at the third post in as many days and still no sign of the project loosing steam. Its a pretty good achievement for me, especially as this base marks the half-way to completion point for my Basic Impetus Patrician Roman army.

The latest addition to my force is a base of elite Roman heavy cavalry, the Equites Catafractarii, argueably the forerunners of armoured knights. The Cataphracts were heavy armoured cavalrymen riding barded horses and armed with the huge 12 foot lance called the contos, and according to some sources also armed with a composite bow. The Romans adopted this style of armoured cavalry from the Sarmatians. During the reign of Constantius II, the Romans introduced another virtually identical type of heavy cavalry called Clibanarii. The main difference between the two being that while the catafractarii mostly drew recruits from Sarmatians and other Germanic horsemen, the clibanarii drew its recruits from the Armenians and Persians.

These figures are from Gripping Beast, and they paint up a treat. Wanting to give the unit a Germanic feel, I chose figures with the Germanic spangenhelm style of helmet rather than those with a more Eastern style of equipment.

The unit I chose to represent is the Equites catafractarii Ambianenses, basically because I love the city of Amiens. As the Notita Dignitatum has no shield patterns for any of the catafractarii units, I took a pattern of one of the Sarmatian named units and changed the colours around. The red-white-yellow theme was chosen by my girlfriend Laura, who has among her many talents a great eye for colour combinations :)

As these guys are the elite cavalry, I decided to keep the damage on the shields to a minimum, assuming that they folks in their prestigious position would have had the money and incentive to avoid scrappy looking kit.

Next up on the painting schedule are a unit of heavy armoured Roman infantry. I've only just undercoated them so hopefully I'll have them completed and get some pics up next week.

For now, enjoy and please feel free to leave comments or ask questions.

Poor Bloody Infantry and Horrible Huns

2010-07-13T15:37:00.009+10:00

As promised, here is the remainder of my Late Roman army completed up to now. The Basic Impetus Patrician Roman list calls for one stand of Hunnic Mercenary horse archers and a base of Roman Light Infantry, so that's what I've done :)

For the Huns i used Gripping Beast figures. I love the figures but really am not too keen on the horse sculpts. Nonetheless, I'm pretty happy with how they came out, though i'm actually trying to find some decent replacement horses before i paint up any of the other Gripping Beast cavalry. I tried to go for some bright-yet-muted colour schemes on these guys, with the rationale that as they're in the pay of the Romans, they would most probably be pretty well cashed up and so would be wearing their Sunday best to show off their status. I strung the bows using some very fine gauge wire picked up from a sewing store.

The light infantry base is the first of two Roman infantry units in the army, the remainder being made up of Frankish allies. I've chosen to represent a poorly equipped, ragtag pseudocomitatenses unit. The Pseudocomitatenses were the static border units (Limitanei) which had been pressed into service with the mobile field army. The Black Tree Design figures gave me the right mix match of figures, and i swapped a couple of the oval late roman shields for round barbarian ones just to add to the lack of uniformity. This particular unit is the Defensores Seniores. The shield pattern is hand painted, the Defensores design copied from the Notita Dignitatum.

The wonderful mini-diorama style basing work of David Imrie really inspired me in this base. I really wanted to represent the image of a ragged shield wall barely holding against the enemy onslaught. The arrows in the shields are an idea taken from Mr. Imrie yet again. Perhaps you see a pattern developing here :)

Anyway, just put the last bit of paint on my next unit, some elite Equites cataphractarii, so a unit from the other end of the army's social ladder.

Enjoy the pics and please feel free to leave a comment.

Also, just a reminder that i am looking to take on some commission work. Any enquiries please email me at fiene.ben@gmail.com

And now for something completely different..

2010-07-12T17:33:00.012+10:00

Gratuitous Monty Python references aside, I'm back!

Well, it's been a mighty long time since I've posted anything on here but better late than never, right? Well, full time study has turned out be a lot more time intensive than I had anticipated, and most of my time has been devoted to study rather than painting. Still, both Laura and I have managed to pass the first semester with flying colours and I'm now on my mid year break.
I never really did manage to get back on the proverbial painting horse with the Napoleonic 1809 project, and consequently that project has been shelved for the time being. I do apologise to those who were looking forward to whatever it was i was working on, but some day I'll get them finished. I have a feeling it was my efforts to perfect Non Metallic Metal that finally broke my morale :(

My modern history course was on medieval Western Europe, starting with the fall of Rome and going through to 1500. Apparently this is now modern history! Still, i'm definitely not one to complain as this era of 'Late Antiquity' is a personal favourite of mine. I've had a bunch of figures sitting around for a WAB Late Roman force which i purchased a few years ago, only to loose interest without painting a single figure. I swear i must have miniatures related ADD.
Anyway, with my interest piqued in this period i decided to dig these out and paint up an entire force for the much lauded Dadi & Piombo rule set Impetus. Going by fantastic reviews from the Wargames Journal and Neil from meeples and miniatures, these look to be great fun and a fast play set. I also have to admit that my decision to go for Impetus was in a large part influenced by the fantastic little dioramic bases popping up from time to time on TMP and the SD Forum.

I'm hoping to avoid disappointment by initially setting my sights low. I've only got a Patrician Roman force for Basic Impetus planned. This force breaks as follows:

2 x Heavy Cavalry (Roman Cataphracts and Gothic Foederati)
1 x Light Cavalry (Hunnic Mercenaries)
3 x Heavy Foot (Roman Auxilia Palatina and Frankish Foederati)
1 x Light Foot (Roman Pseudocomitatensis)
2 x Roman Foot Archers

Now, on to the good news. I'm actually some way through this force! I decided to do up a bunch of archers first, followed by a mostly decorative generals base. Inspiration came from a bunch of ospreys, the warrior series on horse and foot soldiers and the superb series on roman military clothing. I also heavily delved into an online copy of the Notita Dignitatum and WRG's Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome.
Without further ado, here are these first two bases. Note the lack of NMM. :) The shields are hand painted, the archers are all from Black Tree Design (BTD) and the General's base is a mix of Foundry, Gripping Beast and BTD. I think they work well together.

I've actually completed two more bases and am almost done with the third, but i'll break it up over a few posts. For now, please enjoy and feel free to leave comments.

On another note, after a fair bit of consideration I am interested in taking on commission work, both as I've now got a fair bit of time to paint and to supplement my pitiful student income :) So anyone interested please contact me at fiene.ben@gmail.com

The dreaded doldrums

2009-12-15T11:25:00.004+11:00

Well it certainly has been some time since my last update. I've been pretty flat out with work lately, and lots of birthday and engagement parties, weddings and various other social engagements have all but wiped out my painting time.

When the madness died down, and I found myself with a bit of free time to paint, I discovered to my horror that I had encountered the dreaded painting doldrums. Before the influx of social engagements, I'd been working on a few Württemberg mounted jagers. When I saw them, sitting on my desk, 90% finished, I just could not muster up the willpower to finish them.

Taking some advice from the chaps over on the steve dean forum on how to treat lost painting mojo, I decided to put the 28mm Napoleonics on hold and paint something just for the joy of it.

Chatting with some of the guys at the local hobby shop, the idea came up for getting a 20mm WWII gaming project going. I dug out my copy of the LArdies 'I Ain't Been Shot Mum' rules and some Hungarians from near the bottom of the lead mountain, and set to work. I was powering along for a while, but as it turns out i'd commited a fatal error. I had merely replaced one huge project with another. Yet again, the doldrums set in.

Now I had not only the Württembergers sitting there almost complete, but also a couple of squads of 20mm Hungarians, as well as a few tanks and trucks.

Last week, in desperation, I decided to set my sights low. I dug out two - only two - of the excellent Askari minis 'classic' French Foreign legionaires. Last night i put the last lick of paint on the two legionaires, and started the basing. Looks like i've finally found my painting mojo. I'll post up some pics of the finished legion blokes in the next day or so, and am going to try to get back on the Napoleonic painting horse and finish the Wurttembergers.

An Alpine Interlude...

2009-09-29T13:58:00.008+10:00

I'm on a bit of a roll at the moment, and i've just finished this fellow off. He is the excellent Eureka Miniatures Andreas Hofer figure. He’s the first of a large order of Eureka’s new Tyrolean range. With a part of my tax return (the lion's share went towards saving for another trip to Europe) I’ve bought two 12 man units; one with muskets, the other with melee weapons. I’ve also got the excellent little home-made cannon and crew. All of these are superbly sculpted, in my opinion comparable in both style and size to the Perry brothers work. The Tyroleans weren’t originally one of my planned forces, but the figures were just too good to pass up. Also, Sharp Practice is very well suited to playing out some of the actions from the rebellion. Nonetheless, I’ve forced myself to put the Tyroleans on hold until I’ve completed a few more units for my main forces – or at least a couple of 12 man Bavarian companies so they’ve got someone to rebel against!

In addition to Mr. Hofer, I’ve been working on a half squadron of Front Rank Chasseurs a Cheval, a unit which has been on the painting bench for far too long. This first 'group' will be the 6 figures of the elite company, along with an officer and a trumpeter. All except the trumpeter are wearing the rather fancy looking bearskin colpack, so they should turn out to be quite a nice looking little unit, after the utilitarian looking Austrian artillery. I know that the Chasseurs may not be as glamourous as the Hussars or as imposing as the Cuirassiers and Carabiniers, but they were perhaps the most common of French cavalry - alongside the equally denigrated Dragoons. I've done a bit of modification work on the figures themselves, bending sword arms into different positions, adding greenstuff plumes and what not. I like as much as possible to have each figure with a bit of individuality, especially at the Sharp practice scale. I've finished the first four chasseurs and the officer, and am 90% done on the remaining two and the trumpeter. Hopefully i'll be able to get these finished, based and get some pictures up in the next week or so.

I’m planning on painting up the first squadron of the 11e Chasseurs a Cheval for 1809. I've got the remaining six chasseurs - all in shako - sitting in a box waiting to go. The 11e Chasseurs were part of General de Division Montbrun’s force which saw a lot of action in 1809. But that's a long term project. After the elite company is done, I’ll get working on some Austrian Uhlans to oppose the Chasseurs. Then I think on to the Bavarians.

Finally, some progress...

2009-09-28T13:02:00.015+10:00

We'll, true to form it's been quite sometime between posts. The sad passing of Laura’s grandfather on the 17th has meant that my painting work has been put on hold over the last few weeks as I spent most of my time with Laura and her family.

I got out my brushes for the first time in a while yesterday and finally finished off the Austrian gun and crew which I’ve been ‘sizzling’ up since I launched this blog. I must say I’m very pleased with the result. Based up for the Lardies’ Sharpe Practice ruleset, the gun is a 6 pounder with five crew and a grizzled NCO based separately as the ‘big man’ command figure. Three of the crew and the NCO have the red facings of the highly trained artillery corps, the other two have the light pike grey of the Handlanger corps – virtually untrained men who provided muscle rather than expertise. I love these figures, and I think I’ve managed to set up the base pretty well as representing a gun in action. The basing has turned out very well, with all five of the crewmen removable to both simulate casualties and to allow them to abandon the gun.

Both the gun itself and the figures are all 28mm Front Rank figures, the muskets, box-type thingy and the discarded scoop are from Nic at Eureka miniatures. The cannonball is from a tag which came with a new pair of converse shoes!

I’ve also finished off a Front Rank Jäger officer. While mixing the Light Pike grey for the collars of the Handlanger blokes, I wanted to test out how this would look on the jagers – they also wore light pike grey. From the research I’ve done, including asking some advice of ‘the’ expert on the Austrian Napoleonic army, Mr. Dave Hollins, I understand that this should be a light blue grey colour rather than the dark grey often depicted. I know lots of people paint jagers up in dark grey - more power to them by the way - so I thought I should put in that little explanation before I get a load of comments telling me that the colour is wrong. :)

While I enjoy the research behind painting Napoleonic figures, matching uniform details and colours, I do realise that any quest for realism is pretty hopeless. Before colourfast dyes, and with a myriad of cottage industry types supplying the uniforms, I’m sure there would have been a lot of variations in colour.

So, here are some pictures of the completed gun and crew, and of the Jäger officer. Hopefully the next update shouldn’t be too far off, as we’ve got a long weekend coming up.

Shameless self promotion..

2009-09-09T10:13:00.007+10:00

Just a little update this time. Over on the Sharpe Practice forum, Roly Hermans, along with Rich from TooFatLardies recently organised a scenario design competition for Sharpe Practice.
Rich has very formatted my entry and posted it up on the Lardies blog (http://toofatlardies.co.uk/blog/)

I'm planning on doing a series of scenarios set in the 1809 campaign, based around the exploits of the Confederation of the Rhine troops, and to some extent this was a bit of a tester - so by all means let me know if you have any suggestions or criticism! For inspiration I'm using John Gill's excellent 'With Eagles to Glory'. While reading through this book, it really stuck me how many of the actions, even parts of the larger battles, could theoretically be gamed using Sharpe Practice. Even in battles like Essling and Wagram, the soldiers were really only aware of thier little corner of the battle. My ultimate modelling and gaming goal is to paint up a couple of 1:10th Austrian and French battalions with supporting artillery, build a 28mm model of the Aspern Church and churchyard, and organise a game of SP representing one of the attempts by the Austrians to storm the stronghold. I'm still a long way off completing anything approaching that scale. At my current painting rate, perhaps i'll be done in time for the 300th anniversary :) A man can dream though...
As I've said before, SP really appeals to me as it puts the emphasis on leaders - the 'big men' - and the way that their decisions and abilities rally drive the course of battle.

Now, on to painting. Two months behind schedule it may be, but I've finally finished the Austrian gun and crew! I'm very happy with the results, and I'll be snapping some pictures on the weekend. It's supposed to be 27c and sunny, so should have some good light. I've also managed to finish off the Eureka Andreas Hofer figure, as well as a Revolutionary period Austrian and French junior officer. I'll get these posted up on the weekend.

Württemberg Light Infantry - A call to arms!

2009-09-01T11:32:00.006+10:00

Nic from Eureka Miniatures has just posted up a 100 club request for some 28mm Württembergers.

The 100 club entry is for the elite Wurttemberg light infantry - the Jägers and leichte-Infanterie. Anyone who's read Gill's With Eagles to Glory will be well aware of the exploits of the Württemberg light troops in 1809, where they played a pivotal role in the Eggmuhl campaign.
The figure request is for the 1809 uniform, but Nic has said that he would probably also do the 1807 uniform (with the leichte Infanterie in casquet with horsehair plume) as a tie in with the French Revolutionary Wars range. I've posted a couple of plates, one from the Augsberger collection, one from Knötel's Uniformenkunde. For more details of the uniforms see this link:

http://empire.histofig.com/Infanterie-legere,257.html

Basically, the range would consist of a few light infantry poses (e.g. firing, loading, kneeling firing and advancing) and there would also be an officer and a hornist, ideally also an NCO figure and a drummer and *possibly* a standard bearer. I'm pretty sure that the jagers didn't carry a standard in the field, but a lot of people do like to have standard bearers. With a variety of poses, these figures could be used for both skirmish and larger scale battles.

For those of you not familiar with the style and quality of the Eureka 28s, i'd direct you to the following links. In size, they fit in well with Perry and Victrix.

http://chronofus.net/php/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=253

http://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2007/05/2nd-maryland.html

http://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2007/01/2nd-virginia-regiment.html

So if this sounds like something you're interested in,. head on over to the Eureka 100 club site and put your name down. Once the number of pre-ordered figures reach 150 with at least 10 people registering interest, then the figures go into production! The cost is AUD3.00 per figure, so about 1.50GBP or 2.50USD. Eureka are available from http://www.eurekaminusa.com/ in the US.

The url for the 100 club entry is:

http://eurekamin.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=87_88_95&products_id=10855

As slow as a wet week...

2009-08-31T10:29:00.006+10:00

Well, it's been some time since i've posted anything on here, but despite the fact that i've got no new pictures to post, I thought i'd do a bit of an update. August has turned out to be a very busy month indeed, including a fair bit of travel. This has meant that yet again all of my painting deadlines turned out to have been wildly optimistic. Last night I put the finishing touches on the last three Austrian crewmen, as well as an Austrian Jäger officer I painted up as a change of pace from all that brown. I'm going to be putting the last touches on the basing tonight, so hopefully I should have some pictures up of these in the next few days. The cannon itself is coming along as well, so the whole gun and 5 man crew should be done by the weekend!

Last week, I received a big shipment from Nic at Eureka Miniatures. Included were a couple of groups of Revolutionary era Austrian 'German' infantry wearing the casquet, along with a mounted commander and the figures for a command stand. I must say that Nic was a pleasure to deal with, and the quality of these sculpts is superb, in my opinion very much the equal of the Perry brothers with considerably less flash too.

I also received a couple of fantastic Revolutionary era French guns and crew - including one figure sighting the gun who looks very much like General Bonaparte. Again, the sculpting on these is superb, the gun crews are some of my favourite figures, the sense of movement is superb. I'll try to post up some pictures along with the completed Austrians. The guns came with a bunch of artillery equipment - buckets, rammers, discarded muskets etc. After seeing these, I've ordered a couple of extra lots. I'm hoping to use these to spruce up the base for the Front Rank Austrian gun I'm working on, along with a few other Front rank guns i've got laying around in the lead mountain.

Along with the Austrians and Frenchies, I also received a bunch of Eureka's new 1809 Tyrolean rebels. I noticed some pictures of this range over at the Lead Adventure forum, and they were a very pleasant surprise indeed.

For those who have never heard of the Tyrolean uprising, it is the 'other' guerrilla war of the Napoleonic era, and one which is almost totally overshadowed by the Peninsular war. In 1809, the fiercely pro-Austrian Tyrolean peasants rose up and drove the Bavarians and French out of their homeland before finally succumbing to overwhelming numbers following the defeat of Austria. They were led by the burly innkeeper Andreas Hofer (pictured above), the redbearded priest Joachim Haspinger and the peasant marksman Josef Speckbacher.

The figures are superbly sculpted and positively brimming with character. I've already cleaned and undercoated the Hofer, Speckbacher and Haspinger figures, along with a drummer boy, a sergeant type with a nasty looking poleaxe and a standard bearer. I'm hoping to have some of these done in the next week or so, as i've got a bit of a break in social and work engagements which will hopefully allow me to catch up on some painting.

The picture of Andreas Hofer is courtesy of the Tiroler Kaiserjägermuseum http://www.kaiserjaeger.com/at/TKJ/Custodia_trad/Tiroler_Kaiserjaegermuseum_de.htm

Artillerie vorwarts!

2009-08-02T17:11:00.017+10:00

It's taken me a few weeks more than I had anticipated, but I've finally finished the first three Austrian artillerymen. For Sharpe practice, the crew for a gun is five figures. I'm painting up the crew plus a grizzled old Feldwebel (picture to the right) to serve as a big man.

I had a bit of a varnishing disaster with these guys. This seems to be a recurring thing to me, so much so that i dread varnishing, and always put it off as long as I can. In this case, i think the problem was that I didn't wait long enough between the gloss and matt varnish layers. I also failed to mix the Daler & Rowney matt varnish well enough. The result: the figures i'd spent so much time on were coverd in alternating splotches of semi-gloss and a sheeny , foggy white colour. Needless to say, I was not best impressed, and I actually literally 'threw my toys'. Not really the smartest move, as the only results from this were some nice little paint chips on one of my almost-finished French grenadiers. As it turns out, I managed to salvage these guys, thanks mostly to some great advice from Andrew Taylor and the rest of the lads over on the SD forum. Now i'm actually quite happy with them. Heres hoping the next lot of varnishing goes more successfully.
The last three blokes are also on the way, i've finished the flesh and done the basecoat for the white. I'm planning on painting two of them up with the sky blue collar and cuffs of the Artillerie-Handlanger corps, just for a bit of variety. Fingers crossed, i should have the lot finished next weekend. The gun itself, a 6 pounder, has been undercoated and had it's basecoat of 'tweaked' GW foundation dark yellow plastered on.

I picked up a few MDF coasters from the local craft / sewing store and my plan is to uese these for diorama style bases for the gun. I've based the crew on metal washers, which i'm planning to have sit flush in the terrain i'm going to sculpt on to the base. This way, the crew will be removable if they are forced to abandon the gun! I'm not sure how this will turn out, but in my mind's eye this system should work well and look good to boot. Laura even suggested to do up some plain washers with grass and terrain that can be added to the base when the crew are removed.

On another front, i've been working on a 28mm scale Austrian/Bavarian walled farm compound, based loosely around the 'Sommerkeller' which played a role in the battle of Abensberg. I was inspired by the awesome terrain projects by Theomar Pius, and i'se stolen quite a few techinques from his walkthroughs. The project, which consists of two main buildings and a walled yard, is coming along nicely. It's nice to have something i can do in front of the TV, even if individually gluing the 4mm square cardboard tiles is driving me a bit loopy. I'll hopefully have these far enough along in the next few weeks to get some WIP pictures posted up. If these are successful, i'm planning on building up a 28mm scale Aspern Church.

Anyway, my current focus is to finish off the artillery crew and gun. Once they're done, i'm going to go on to finish off my next french groups, one each of Voltigeurs and Grenadiers from the 3e Regiment de Ligne.

The best laid plans...

2009-07-20T14:15:00.008+10:00

Well it appears that yet again real life issues have conspired against my painting schedule ☺ I’ve had to move my office into the city, which has meant a few late nights and not much time for any painting. I’ve been watching with great interest the release of the Eureka French Revolutionary range. I think that after the Austrian gun crew is done, I’ll move on to a group or two of French Revolutionary Infantry, probably for Bonaparte’s Italian campaign. I’ve had a lot of these figures lying around for a shelved General de Brigade project, so might see if i can finally get some painted up.

The Austrians are still coming along, as are the Saxons. One more session and I think I’ll have them done. In the meantime, i’ve finished basing up a few more Frenchies, this time it’s a Captain of Line Voltigeurs and a Fusilier NCO. I’ve stolen part of the basing technique from Orctrader on the Steve Dean forum – it’s a wash and then a brush with some pigments. I think it’s very effective and is quite an improvement.

Maréchal Joachim Murat, le Roi de Naples!

2009-07-08T09:52:00.009+10:00

Well, i'm still plodding along with the Saxons and the Austrian gun crew. Laura and I went to a friends birthday party on Friday night at the Löwenbrau Bavarian Beer hall in Sydney. Many a stein was consumed and I think that we got home at about 4am. Needless to say, not much painting was done over the rest of the weekend.

I didn't want to let the weekly updates slip though, so decided to post a pic of an older figure, but one of my favourites - the Wargames Foundry Marshal Murat. I'm thinking of ways to work him into a Sharpe practice scenario.

Maréchal Joachim Murat is perhaps the most interesting characters from an era full of interesting characters. I've been reading Martin Boycott-Brown's excellent 'Road to Rivoli', about Napoleon's 1796-97 campaign and came across an excellent little paragraph about Murat, which sums him up very well.

"There is nothing one can say about Murat that has not been said a thousand times before. The most unlikely candidate for the priesthood in the history of the church, he was to blaze a multi-coloured trail through the Napoleonic Wars as the most over-dressed man in Europe and gain a reputation as one of the most spectacular battlefield cavalry leaders in history. Tall, handsome, flamboyant in the extreme and extravagantly brave, this hoarse-voiced Gascon was always in search of women to seduce when he was not thundering about on horseback looking for other kinds of action."

Murat was known for his extravagant uniforms, and the one foundry have chosen must surely be one of the most flamboyant - seriously, a 2 foot high heron feather plume atop a bright yellow czapka?. He is dressed as the King of Naples, and the sculptor has used a famous portrait by Gros as inspiration - the portrait i've posted above.

Without further ado, here are the pictures. As with a whole lot of my figure's, i've still got to complete his base. I'm thinking of doing a mini diorama, with the figures removable for use individually. Now, to find a figure that would work as a Neapolitan ADC

French Infanterie de Ligne

2009-06-30T10:10:00.010+10:00

I got a bit more painting done over the weekend, the Austrian gun crew and the Calpe Saxons are well on their way. I struggled for a while trying to pick the paints to use for Austrian 'roedeer brown', the colour of the Artillery uniforms. I ended up experimenting on an old figure until I came up with a combination that looked 'right'. I'm going for the yellowy-brown colour as seen in the Osprey and in Hourtouille's Wagram book. I'm hoping to have them finished and based up next weekend. I picked up some MDF coasters from the craft store which i'm hoping to use as bases, hopefully with the crew being removable.

I did manage to get some pictures though, these are of my first French line infantry 'group' for Sharpe Practice. They're painted up as the 1st company - denoted by the dark green pompoms. I've still got to do the metallics for the bayonets and musket barrels, and then finish the basing and muddy them up a bit, but they're pretty close to being finished. These guys were the first lot of 28mm Napoleonic figures that I painted - quite a few years ago now. This is their third repaint.

I didn't clean the figures up that well before painting, and so that explains the mould lines can be seen on some of them. They're not that noticable in the flesh, but they really showed up in the pictures. Still, i'm happy enough with them. The stripy pants were fun to do, these were my first attempt and i'll be doing more of these in my next lot of Frenchies. I like painting up units for the 'campaign' look, rather than looking like they've just stepped off the parade ground. Hope you like 'em.

The French Arrive

2009-06-24T09:57:00.012+10:00

Well, we finally saw a bit of sun on the weekend, which gave me the chance to snap some photos of my latest work. I've also finished off the first unit of Austrian infantry, and they're just waiting for the basing to dry then i can add some static grass and silfor.

Next on the painting desk, i've just started on a Front Rank Austrian gun and crew. I've also been distracted from my 1809 project by the absolutely superb Calpe Saxons. I've got an officer and a musketeer on the painting desk at the moment. Hopefully my next post will have some pics of these, they are fantastic figures.

Now, for some pictures. These are all Front Rank figures, and as with all of my Napoleonic stuff are for the Sharp Practice rules by Too Fat Lardies.

I chose the 3e Regiment d'Infanterie de Ligne as the unit i'd model up - basically because I like the colouring scheme and they were in the thick of the action throughout 1809. The 3e was a part of General St. Hilaire's Division, which served with Marechal Davout's elite III Corps for the first phase of the 1809 campaign, and then was transferred to Marechal Lannes' II Corps for the Battle of Aspern-Essling, where both St Hilaire and Lannes were mortally wounded. It was also the first major French unit engaged in the entire campaign, being thrown into a hasty attack at the start of the Battle of Teugn Hausen.

Without further ado, here is the commander and his support 'group', the 'Tete de Colonne' (lit. head of the column). The unit consists of an eagle bearer with the Imperial Eagle, an eagle guard, a drummer and a sapper. I've based them individually on GW 25mm slotta bases, and made up my own movement tray, a system which i'm pretty happy with. The commander is 'the' big man of the regiment, Colonel Laurent Schobert, who commanded the 3e Ligne from 1805 to 1811.

Whats on the Painting Bench?

2009-06-16T15:04:00.011+10:00

After reading quite a few positive reviews, I've recently picked up a copy of the TooFatLardies 'Sharpe Practice' Napoleonic skirmish rules. I've read the rules through a couple of times, and decided that they look like just what i've been looking for. They seem to strike the balance between an entertaining set of 'fun' skirmish rules and a great looking reconstruction of Napoleonic warfare.

As it's in my nature to be contrary, i've decided not go with the general consensus and build up a British/French force for the Peninsula, but instead to go for a less popular period - the 1809 campaign in Italy and the Danube valley. The fact that i was reading John Gill's 'Thunder on the Danube' when i picked up the rules was a major contributing factor, added to the fact that i've always had an interest in the Austrian Empire.

I've decided that i'm going to have my groups represent companies, with the French at 10 figures per company, and the Austrians at 12. That decided, i ordered a bunch of Front Rank figures and started painting.

As of now, i've almost finished my first French and Austrian infantry units - a fusilier company of the 3e Ligne Regiment for the French, and an infantry company from the 4th Infantry Regiment ' Deutschmeister' for the Austrians. I've also painted up a 'big man' a piece. I'm hoping to have the basing on these finished off this weekend, and i'll post some pictures when I get a chance. In the meantime here are a few 'in progress' pics of the Austrians.

Next will be some pictures of the completed French command element - the 'tete de colonne' - of the 3e Legere, along with a mounted colonel.

Hello and welcome...

2009-06-16T14:34:00.005+10:00

I've finally decided to bite the proverbial bullet and to set up a blog. The intention of this is to follow the trials and tribulations of my miniatures painting.

First, a bit about myself. I've been painting up metal miniatures for about 6 years now i guess. Before that i was a 1/35th scale modeller, building mostly modern and WWII stuff. I guess that i got into miniatures painting in a roundabout way. I've always had a very keen interest in history, and especially for the lesser known areas. A couple of years ago I was reading a book on Frederick the Great, and while looking around online for info about the Seven Years War, I stumbled upon the 'Kapti Fusiliers' website. Browsing through the pictures of the superbly painted 28mm units and reading with great interest the accompaning descriptions, I decided then and there that I had to get into this hobby.

My first venture into the world of miniatures painting was with a bunch of 28mm Seven Years War Prussians and British from Front Rank. When I received little box I must say i was as excited as a school kid. I dusted off the old painting box and set to work on them with the old humbrol enamels. Since then, the SYW guys have gone to ebay land and i've been through several half-finished projects - which I gather isn't that uncommon of a problem. Along the way i like to think that both my own skill and my appreciation of others painting has increased. One thing that I've gathered from my figure painting 'journey' is that it is a constant learning experience, albeit a very enjoyable one.

Recently on the Steve Dean forum there was a thread which asked to rate your best painting purchases which made me think about how i've gon about attempting to improve my painting style. I'd have to say that the two things which have helped me most are practice and observing the work of others. I know that it's cliched, but there really is no substitute for sitting down with a figure and a brush and experimenting with different techniques, or spending a bit of time looking over figures which grab your eye.
I have to say that the friendly guys over on the Steve Dean forum have also been a great help. The encouragement, to say nothing of the tips, colour recipes, and general advice i've gleaned from the SD forum, along with the ubiquitous TMP, could fill a dozen volumes. I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who has helped out - from Kev Dallimore for writing his superb painting guide (my first real intro to serious painitng), to the plethora of TMPers who provide lightning fast responses to the most obscure of uniform queries.

Anyway, on with the show.