My hope is that I have the discipline to turn this into a weekly series where I can report statuses on things I've featured in previous weeks, and introduce new things to the table to spark the imagination.
I've been tinkering with alot of stuff of late. Besides WWII hex based microarmor gaming, there has been a foray into board wargaming as well, with the intent to turn some great boardgames into actions on the tabletop. With the 2024 plans in motion, one of the key things to improve on in 2024 is my terrain. For microarmor and also 10mm Napoleonic gaming, that means 6mm buildings. Lots of them!
I have no shortage of 6mm scale buildings in storage, but they are at present, unpainted. All of that starts to change with the addition of a "Napoleonic" or Horse & Musket era timbered inn which is WIP but starting to look good now, although it still has some ways to go.
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| Gamecraft Minis Old Country Inn on a 4" "village base" will eventually be textured and flocked. |
This resin model is the "old country inn" from "Gamecraft Minis" and their 6mm European village line which I purchased a few years ago but never got around to painting. They also have a larger house or barn which I'll be plopping onto a 4" square next to some other buildings for an instant village, or for placing into a hex.
Also started is Gamecraft's large 2 story split timber house.
Moving on we see some WIP from Baccus 6mm, also bought ages ago but finally seeing the light of day. This is their western European "large house". As most of my readers from the UK know, the Baccus buildings are quite a treat for the eyes with lots of popping details. I'm not crazy about the platform that they come on, but am inclined to overlook it since it has some gorgeous detail molded onto it like a kitchen garden and fancy brickwork :-)
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| Baccus large house. |
Your next item on the menu is a bit more of a surprise and will undoubtedly make a few eyebrows raise reading this considering I've been "purging" the collection of late, but a regiment of Warlord Games' ACW "Epic" miniatures was issued their uniforms today.
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| A proud ACW regiment without its colors yet. Oddly enough, these 60 figures painted up more quickly than 24 x 15mm troops (all of my ACW units are 24 figures). |
I'm only making my ACW units 3 stands wide as I like the compact look. You will not be surprised to hear that I have the same complaints about these fellows that I do with the ECW figures - namely that no matter how hard I work on them, or how casually I paint them without attention to detail, they still look the same...
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| A regiment of yanks marches towards the battle! |
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| Some of these figures have been immaculately painted. Some of them have been splashed with paint. They all come out looking the same. |
Anyways I'm happy with them as-is and will continue to paint more. Also painted were the officer from the sprue, and the artillery battery from the sprue.
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| As an old boss of mine once said - "if there isn't enough artillery....quit!" |
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| 2 x Rebel Regiments awaiting the rest of their paint jobs |
Now the burning question is what the heck to do with all of the 15mm ACW Ive amassed over the years...thinking of making some dedicated companies for "Rebels & Patriots" albeit in 15mm and playing some skirmish games with them. Something to think about for sure but it's ridiculous to think I'll keep 15mm and 13.5mm next to each other on the shelf! It sounds insane I know, but that's the reality at the moment. Still though, I like the look of the Epic figures.
Since we're on the "Epic" minis topic, here are 2 x ECW cavalry units that I have started to paint up and based for "Tilly's Very Bad Day". A unit of dragoons and a unit of lobster-pot cavalry as well as an accompanying general and artillery as WIP. I think they look pretty neat in this configuration and with the single box of "Push of Pikes" I can paint up 2 x complete TVBD armies.
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| with the cavalry i'm able to put 6 horses and riders on a stand. I could put more on but figured 6 were good enough. |
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| Dragoons trotting into battle! |
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| My money is on the dragoons - because they cheat |
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| ECW/TYW Artillery |
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| Calling them done |
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| An ECW senior officer of infantry |
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| I commandeer those buildings over yonder in the name of the King - one of my newly promoted ECW Cavalry generals |
And another and final surprise.
Yes I just couldnt help myself. I bought the Prussian box of Warlord Epic Napoleonic minis. My hope is to use them for tactical battles where you're commanding a handful of Battalions on the table, and keep the 10mm guys for larger, grand-tactical actions. Or maybe that's just what I'm telling myself...
So there you have it. I've been able to abscond away to the basement here and there to get some painting done and when the weather has been permissive, I've even been able to spray paint some sprues of troops.
Look for progress reports next Wednesday (I hope) and the chance to see some of these glorious models in a more finished and gameable state! Hopefully everyone is having a productive and good week!
Steve, the 6mm inn is a particularly nice building. Not so surprised at the Epic ACW. My experience was like yours, lots of time spent painting detail, to see it all just vanish on the table …. But I do like plastic. Once you have painted up enough that you ‘know’ you want them as your main ACW army, then I would sell the 15’s.
ReplyDeleteI put mine on 55mm MDF to reduce the gap between stands.
The black plastic is hard to undercoat in …… black! Can’t see where you have been. I hand brushed black and then dried brushed white ….. twice to strengthen the white.
All good.
Thanks, Norm - I've had that Inn for as long as I can remember. When I went looking for it, I found a ton of other timber framed buildings suitable for central Europe! What's the wargamer's saying? "Always shop at home, first!"
DeleteOn the epic guys, I put the army painter wash on it and it just blended everything together. One thing I really love is the look of the ranks of muskets that are roughly uniform, but also kind of not uniform (perfect for the ACW). That is a whopping 60 figures (!) as you well know.
I'm excited to start the Prussians soon. I have loads of SYW 10mm Prussians, and SYW 15mm Prussians, but for Napoleonics, the Prussians are the one Army I dont have, which is why the Epic stuff was tempting for me. Like you, I'm going for the "pocket army" approach first, so I'll paint up a respectable "Neil Thomas" styled force. Enough to get a good Friday evening's game of Black Powder on the table.
Great point about undercoating. My normal strategy is to undercoat black and then heavy dry brush of grey. It looks (from the pictures anyways) that the Prussians are wearing grey trousers with grey bedrolls so that should make things easier. I might paint or highlight the headgear in charcoal - a nice off black color.
Thank you .. I will try and paint mine on teh sprue too!
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly easier than gluing them down and trying to jam the brush in between the ranks!
DeleteYour 6 mm buildings are already looking great, Steve!
ReplyDeleteYou certainly seem to have been charmed by the Warlord Epic figures. You could do worse, although duplicating armies in 10, 13.5, and 15 mm is perhaps a bit daft, LOL!
And the end of the day, your toys and your hobby, of course! :-)
Thanks Peter...I think :) Truth be told, I was already looking to sell the 15mm SYW figures, opting for my 10mm. As far as the American Civil War and Napoleonic troops I really have no idea what I was thinking considering I own my body weight in Napoleonic 10mm lead. I will likely end up using the ACW figures for skirmish gaming. As far as the 10mm Napoleonics (the crown jewel of my collection) go, I'll just end up using them for Blucher, while the Warlord figures are used for more tactical games.
DeleteAt least that's what I'm telling myself.
Great work Steve and I like the idea of a weekly update - hoping you are able to stick to that plan! I certainly understand the attraction of the Epic ranges - if they get around to a period I don't already have figures for AND am interested in playing (EG SYW) then I might actually get involved - but so far, I have managed to resist! My mate Chris has enormous Napoleonic armies of both Brits and French nearing completion, and he plans to try Valour et Fortitude rules with them, so I am looking forward to participating in his test games!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Keith! The idea of a weekly update appealed to me as I could post on the progress of last weeks WIP update and also introduce new things coming across the desk. The epic guys were certainly a moment of weakness for me but they're just too cool not to get them. V and F are much fun and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the games I played of it.
DeleteOooh,, painting on the sprue, that is a radical idea! The Epic figures have come out me out looking beautiful, and I think there is something about pre moulded strips which makes them much easier to paint. That is partly why I like the Irregular 6mm and 2mm strips. Just run a brush along and work on the highlights.
ReplyDeleteThanks Martin. I had no idea painting on the sprue was so controversial! These epics are interesting when painting. It's much more mindless compared to loose 15mm if that makes any sense.
DeleteWell you have a lot of work in progress. Your plans for transferring of board games to the tabletop with your smaller figures will be interesting.
ReplyDeleteStay tuned, Peter! Lots of great things to come! Looking to do Kasserine Pass and Race for Tunis in the near future!
DeleteSome excellent work Steve - the units look superb - the 'unit' effect looks particularly stunning when painted. I have tried hard to avoid buying into the new warlord games scale...GNNn getting...more...difficult
ReplyDeleteThanks Darren. I am a complete and utter sell out :) I've been trying to rationalize these purchases to myself. So much so that I've broken out the 15mm ACW and put them next to these guys.. they don't look "that" bad!!!
DeleteA good mix of projects going on there Steve:). Chatting with a good friend last year who is an excellent painter (28mm mainly) about viewing figures when on the table and the fact that the stuff he'd spent hours on looked just the same as a quick paint job. Something we should all bear in mind unless we have lovely display cabinets to view our figures in!
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve I'm usually always "trying my best" to make the troops looks good but this makes you wonder :) I guess that's why they came up with "wargaming standard" and "collection standard" :)
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