Sunday 27 October 2013

WotR Part 4

A change of colour scheme for the archers:


And another Man-at-Arms in very detailed German armour:


All figures are Front Rank (codes WR24 (archer) and WR64 (man-at-arms)).

I'm planning to do a test paint this week with a couple of Aventine Miniatures Thureophoroi. They did take a bit of assembling (they have separate heads) but they're really nice figures so it was worth the effort.

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Saturday 26 October 2013

WotR - More Archers Completed

Another pair of archers completed. I don't think I'm getting any faster but feel that I'm getting neater and my black outlining is getting slightly thiner:



All figures are Front Rank (codes WR7 (green trousers) & WR27).

Finally here's all of the archers completed so far:


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Wednesday 23 October 2013

Wars of the Roses Progress

I've managed to complete two more archers tonight, it's still taking me longer than I would like (2 sessions) but I'm happier with the results of this process than I was using the dip method (the figures are brighter). The method I've used involves a combination of shading and highlighting of the base colours so it does take longer than simply blocking out the colour and painting on the Army Painter "dip".

The next batch will have more variation in clothing colour but will still have some red and white to match in with the retinues red and white colour scheme.


All figures are Front Rank (codes WR23 & WR19).

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Sunday 20 October 2013

Wars of the Roses Test Paint

These are for a Wars of the Roses skirmish game we have been thinking about recently. I thought I ought to have a go and see if I could actually paint figures for the era:









All figures are Front Rank (codes WR12 (archer) & WR65 (man-at-arms)).

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Saturday 19 October 2013

Napoleonic Planning - a Basic Outline

This is the basic outline of what I have tentatively planned. It's all based on the armies present at the Battle of Salamanca in 1812:

Anglo-Portuguese:
6th Division: (Major-General Clinton)
Hulse's Brigade:

1/11th Foot Regiment
2/53rd Foot Regiment
1/61st Foot Regiment
5/60th Foot Regiment (1 coy)
Hinde's Brigade:
2nd Foot Regiment
1/32nd Foot Regiment
1/36th Foot Regiment
Rezende's Portuguese Brigade:
1/ & 2/8th Portuguese Regiment
1/ & 2/12th Portuguese Regiment
9th Cacadore Battalion
Artillery:
1 Battery, 8th Battalion (6pdrs)

French:
3rd Division: (Général de division Ferey)
Menne's Brigade

1/ & 2/31st Légère Regiment
1/ & 2/26th Ligne Regiment
Arnaud's Brigade
1/, 2/ & 3/47th Ligne Regiment
1/ & 2/70th Ligne Regiment
Artillery:
7 Battery, 3rd Horse Artillery

All the above's based on various Nafziger lists (see here for the full free collection) and does need some more research.

I'll probably add a cavalry element to each army as well. At the moment the 47th Ligne is about 1/3rd complete, I have all of the French sitting ready to be painted but have yet to invest in the British. I've done some research in to the uniforms and organisation of the Portuguese but I need to complete this before ordering any figures. As I understand it I will need figures in Stovepipes to represent post 1811 Portuguese, I just need to get my head around which of the Adler British figures would best represent them. I also need to figure out whether the 2 battalions in a Portuguese Line Regiment fought as separate battalions or were combined together - its a case of do I need to represent them as 2 manoeuvre units per regiment or only the one?

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Sunday 13 October 2013

Napoleonics - Test Figures

Here's some of the first batch of test figures, please feel free to let me know what you think good or bad:






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Update

Just a quick update today. I've not managed that much recently as one of our cats suffered a serious leg injury and lost his leg as the damage was too extensive to repair.

Firstly I've completed the rebasing of the first batch of Anglo-Zulu War figures. This means I now have a total of 2 "Brigades" of troops for Black Powder so should hopefully be able to try the rules out soon. The British "Brigade" is a bit of a mismatch of units consisting of 1 company of Natal Native Contingent, 1 company of British Regulars and 1 detachment of mounted volunteers (the Natal Carbineers). I'm not 100% sure how this would fare on the table top. The Zulu "Brigade" on the other hand is pretty uniform having 4 warrior bases and 1 of skirmishers. Overall I'm pleased with the way they've come out.

I've also found a very good painting guide on the net for my Adler Napoleonic French (see here for the guide). I painted up a batch of 8 figures as a test and it was quite easy following all the steps. I'm now confident I can attempt the rest of the Division....

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Sunday 6 October 2013

More Anglo-Zulu War Bases

Here's the latest set of bases starting with No. 1 Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Natal Native Contingent. The majority of men in this company came from the amaThembu (meaning people of the Thembu), they provided all of the rank and file along with a much smaller number of NCO's (usually 10). The company also had a few European officers and NCO's who were nominally in charge but often didn't speak the language of those they commanded! The Europeans themselves often came from different countries so communication between Europeans must of been somewhat difficult as well! (The Regiments European Officers and NCO's were English, Irish, French, German, Danish, Swiss, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Belgian and American).








Note the two Rifle armed figures standing out in front of the rest of the company - these are the amaThembu NCO's, being the only Africans in the company with fire arms they were sent out in front to engage the enemy with rifle fire. I presume that they would fall back within the company as the enemy approached. The Rifles were probably Enfield Breach Loading Rifles though some Martini-Henry Rifles were issued to the 3rd NNC they mostly ended up with the Europeans or with the second battalion. The companies firepower is diminished by the lack of training and the small issue of firearms.

Next up is A Company 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot. This battalion had been in Africa for many years by 1879 so probably didn't look quite as smart as they do here. A Company was commanded by Captain William Degacher (modelled with a blue coat which many officers wore in preference to red) and was probably about 80 strong when it crossed the frontier in to the Zulu Kingdom. Unfortunately none of the officers and men survived iSandlwana.








Finally these are the first pair of Zulu "brigade" command stands. Each features a couple of Indana's (leaders) and a couple of Zulu Warriors acting as bodyguards.





All figures are Baccus from packs CBR8 (mounted officers), CBR9 (Natal Native Contingent and European NCO), CBR2 (British Regulars), CZU1 (Zulu Warriors) and CZU3 (Zulu Command). Bases are all by Minibits.

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Tuesday 1 October 2013

AZW British Infantry

Still no sign of any bases yet but I have been working my way through the first batch of British Regulars. Admittedly I did find these hard going but they did come together in the end which is good considering I have another 174 more to do.....

Here's the first 18:


A close up of one of the 8 figure painting strips:


The command strip including a Colour Sergeant at the end (you might just be able to pick out my attempt at a sergeants stripes on his right arm):


The other end of the painting strip:


I'm toying with the idea of using these across 2 bases rather than just one as I originally planned (and also increasing the number of bases that make up a Zulu "unit"), each base would represent a half company (2 sections) which coincidentally was a real sub-division of a British Company in 1879. The two bases would, of course, operate as one unit.

Having 9 figures (8 privates and 1 officer or NCO) per half company might make the base appear underpopulated in comparison to the 24 figure Zulu bases but a British infantry company would of been deployed in a very open skirmish order with up to 3 yards between men (they don't call it the thin red line for nothing!). So there's historical support for my basing ideas.

All figures are Baccus from pack CBR2.

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