WIP Wednesday: More Epics & Rebasing Shenanigans

 

I had so much fun working on those Prussians last week that I powered through completing a unit of them (sans the drum, applying some ink-wash to their faces, and the unit colors) and since I'm a glutton for punishment, I started up more Epic ACW guys.  Here is the pile of shame so far:

As you can see there is a large pile of "Pike & Shotte" sprues on the right, a medium sized pile of ACW sprues in the middle, and a smaller pile of Napoleonic Prussians on the left.  While motivation has never lagged for Napoleonics or ACW in my house, I'm going to have to put a game on the table for the Pike & Shotte guys pretty soon.  That shouldn't be too difficult because I have 11 infantry units, 2 artillery units, and 3 cavalry units already painted and based for "Tilly's Very Bad Day" "For King and Parliament" Peter's D3 ECW One Hour Wargames Variant (top contender at the moment) or "In Deo Veritas", the latter of which I will probably never play again.

Anyways, I've usually found a game to really whet the appetite for painting and so it is in gaming that I find my proper motivation for completing a project.

On the ACW front, the Epic guys are really pretty easy to paint once you learn the secret, which I've found to be rotating the sprue 90 degrees, which has really 1. decreased painting time, and 2. gotten a better look, faster, than holding them straight up (eg Head pointed towards the ceiling).  They're sloppy because I was painting quickly, but I usually go back and touch them up later.  Here they are - 2 halfway finished Union Infantry Regiments awaiting their first game of "Valour and Fortitude".  

Still need to finish the headgear, muskets, and accoutrements, but on the whole they look pretty "not bad"

I'm actually going to plop them down on the same table with my 15mm guys as they look very close in size.  I'll do a whole post on that in a future WIP post.

This approach - rotating the stands 90 degrees - really worked for me when painting them, and I was able to power my way through them much more quickly and with not much reduction in the quality of the paint job.  As always, Your Mileage May Vary!

Onto the Napoleonics front, I am just about done with that unit of Prussian infantry, artillery, and the officer that come on the sprue.

Not quite finished yet but again I'm happy with how they're turning out

The drummer, and the drum itself still need some small details but overall I'm quite pleased with these lads.

Perhaps how I would play them in a "line" formation, as the 8" units are just way too big on my humble table.  Actually I'll probably play them as just 2 x stand units.

and here is what they look like as 2 x stand units!

Onto the Napoleonic Re-Basing Shenanigans  - if you remember my last 2 or 3 times on this blog mentioning that my 10mm Napoleonics were rebased "for the last time ever" then this new bit of information will come at no surprise to you but I am rebasing my 10mm guys YET AGAIN.  The scheme for basing is putting them back on 2" by 1" stands.  They can form any formation required for a game like Valour and Fortitude, I can plop 2 of them on a sabot for a game like Blucher,, and they can stand on their own as "individual boardgame pieces" a la 36" battlefields or Peter's Large Napoleonic Battles rules (huge hint there).  Anyways, my sincere hope is that this is it for the Napoleonic troops - going back onto rectangular bases but this being maybe the 5th or 6th time in 10 years....dont bet on it.

2 x French Line Infantry Battalions or Regiments or whatever and an Artillery Battery

Anyways that's all for now.  I've been doing some reading this week and planning on some upcoming games and I'm looking forward to getting an ACW Valour and Fortitude game and Napoleonic V&F game on the table soon, and also keen to try out Peter's "Napoleonic Large Battles" soon as well.  Quatre Bras anniversary is coming up!  Perhaps we'll be able to get a QB game up soon.  

Then it may be time to return to some WWII gaming...