BEF 18/25 pdrs

Back in April I posted the PSC 18/25pdrs that I had created from the PSC kit. Subsequently I purchased some BEF gun crew and they are now completed.

The seated gunners are Airfix with added gasmask satchels to look consistent.

TYW rebasing - Imperial infantry

Another large batch completed and at last I feel I'm getting towards the end.

There are actually six regiments of Imperial foot (centre and left in three ranks), two Bavarian (right, first two ranks), one Hessian (right, third rank) and two Danish (at the rear)


Two extra pikemen were added to make up each new unit, but I also had to shuffle the pikemen around between the units to make them look sensible(!)


My plan is to add enough extra figures to those remaining to make up another three Imperial regiments

Old TYW Flags

Over 25 years ago when I started my Thirty years War armies there was very little readily available information on the armies from various sources I assembled a number of flags and hand drew them on paper. These were then photo-reduced added to the figures and then painted. There were no easy solutions back then. Here are copies of the flags I created.


Immediate references I used included
Blandford - Flags of the World in colour
Renaissance Armies - George Gush
Arquebusier (Pike & Shot Society Journal)
- 1985 #1 Danish Flags
- 1986 #3 Imperial Flags (Saxony)
- 1986 #4 Imperial Flags (Hapsburg)
- 1986 #5 Imperial Flags (Other)
- 1987 #1 Thirty Years War Flags
- 1987 #4 Wallenstein's Regiment of Foot
- XVIII #1 French Infantry Colours.

Now I would have to add the four Osprey Men-at-Arms books on the Swedish and Imperial Armies, plus various websites.

Different rebasing - Jacklex Boers

I looked in the box and decided - you'll have to go. But, as they sat there all alone waiting to go, I thought I might just tidy them up before selling... And now they are staying! These are stalwarts of many a colonial battle and even seen service as Confederates. They are Jacklex (Jack Alexander) figures bought in the late 70s in the Harrow Model Shop (not far from where I was living t the time) and only needed a few missing rifle replaced.

Just demonstrates the effect of a touch up and rebasing.

2017 half year progress report

Substantial progress for the first half year in terms of painting as I completed 1,071 items. However as you can see from the following tables the dominant effort was rebasing my Thirty Years War armies. Second was WW2, where I mainly worked on the Plastic Soldier Company items purchased through their kick-starter.

Period
Renaissance	819
WW2	227
Terrain	13
WW1	12
Grand Total	1,071

Type
Rebasing	645
Cavalry	140
Gunners	125
Infantry	38
Riders/Vehicle Crews	30
Vehicles	28
Artillery pieces	16
Buildings	13
Commanders	12
Tanks/AFVs	12
Limbers	10
Wagons	2
Grand Total	1,071

Looking at my plan for 2017 the progress is not so good as I under-estimated the work involved in the rebasing project.

Painting/Modelling - moderate sized projects

• Renaissance - sorting out and rebasing all my Thirty years War figures. This will involve deciding how to restructure my units and then painting any addition figures needed to make the units up to strength. - well underway, hopefully the rebasing will be finished by the end of this month, I may still add some new units.
• Napoleonics - I've got quite a pile of figures (mainly cavalry) available to replace/upgrade some of my oldest units. - Not started
• WW2 - extending my coverage to US and German for the Ardennes - Not started
• Scratch build some small renaissance galleys, probably a pair each of Ottoman and Venetian to go with the guns and crews I received at Christmas. - Not started

Smaller projects

• Work through the Plastic Soldier Company Kickstarter kits once they arrive. - Completed the main bulk just a box of CMP trucks left
• Adding another medieval Swiss pike block - Not started
• Various renaissance units to cover war in the Balkans, Stradiots, Sipahis, Ajinkis, etc. - Completed
• I need some desert sand-dunes/wadi sides so I'll get on with them once the weather warms up - Not started
• Various houses to add to my Eighteenth Century town, including a model of my daughter's house - Not started
• Two or three units of Vikings to add to my Dark Age armies. - Not started.
• More Swedish cavalry for the Great Northern War. - Not started
• Plus a number of bits to fill in odd gaps in existing armies
- continuing to work on odd bits

Gaming

• Continue to support the Lance & Longbow Society games at various shows - ongoing, the last show was Phalanx and the next will be Britcon
• Vaasgo 1942 is planned to be the SOTCW game at Gauntlet - Successfully completed
• I need to organise one or two large games, one SYW and another to be decided. - Nothing done
• Try to get to Crisis in Antwerp - Still my plan

Last of my June painting - some WW2 bits

A few Zvezda bits that have been hanging around the workbench for a while just got finished before Gauntlet.

Russian HQ (left) and Frontier Guards (right), I really like the Alsatian


German HQ

On the workbench - July 2017

Having completed Gauntlet I currently have no deadlines before the end of the year. So I can switch between my various projects for the year, except I'm on the final leg of the Thirty Years War rebasing so my July plans are:

• Rebase/Upgrade 11 TYW Imperial Foot Regiments (each 28 strong)
• Rebase/Upgrade all the TYW commanders from mainly single figures to a vignette style of 2 or more
• Create some TYW forlorn hope/commanded musketeers
• Rebase some old Jacklex Boers for the Men who would be Kings"
• Gun crews for my BEF 18/25pdrs
• Start on converting a pair of Airfix Bofors Morris QLB tractor into a CDSW tractor for the 18/25pdrs