31/12/2007

Norman and Breton cavalry

I had a certain amount of Normans based up for some Warmaster type rules using the Revell Normans, plus the original Strelets Norman cavalry. When Strelets released their new sets I decided to add them to the army and upgrade it to make a WRG 6th edition army. The new figures are an improvement on the originals, the only real fault is the shield patterns being embossed on the shields which limits the painting possibilities.

Below the Normans drawn up in wedges, and usual I replaced the lances provided with florists wire and added pennants from paper.

The Bretons. There is a lot of character in this set and they can be mixed in with the Normans if necessary.

All that is now needed to complete the army is to rebase the archers as LI and it's done. Well at least until their first outing then I'll probably make some changes.

Will

30/12/2007

Targets for 2008

It's that time of year again, so I'm thinking of 2008 targets. I've got quite a lot on the go already, but here are my current projects/plans
  • Fight at least 50% of the scenarios in the RF Bulge book (so I may need more WW2 Germans and Americans)

  • Start selling surplus plastic figures on ebay (There is a list on database in the trading department if you are looking for anything plastic)

  • Complete at least 2 of the following WRG 6th armies :- Normans, Parthians, Teutonic Knights, HYW English.

  • Prepare WW2 Italians for the big WW2 Battleaxe game by mid year.

  • Finish the rules for "With Desaix in the Desert" (I need a few more figures but I'm almost there)

  • Update the AWI and Frundsberg blogs more.

  • Sort out my TYW armies to be able to fight some late war scenarios such as Jankow 1645.

  • Progress further with the 1683 campaign and battles (links to the Frundsberg blog)

Of course, all this will be heavily dependant on activities in the real world and the release of new figures, rules, etc.

Happy New Year

Will

20K achieved

After more than 35 years painting my collection of 20mm figures has now reached 20,000 with the completion of some Norman and Breton cavalry (pictures to follow soon). I would have reached this figure earlier if I hadn't sold my Napoleonic Russian cavalry.

The breakdown by broad periods is

2,326 Ancient/Medieval
1,777 Rennaissance
2,709 Lace wars
6,336 Napoleonic
1,293 American Civil War
1,091 Colonial
4,473 20th Century

Trouble is that it's a long way to the next milestone of 25K, so I won't achieve this for quite a few years.

Will

25/12/2007

Merry Christmas

Well, I must of been good this year because there was a pile of wargames goodies by the tree this year! They are mostly on a medieval theme so I am sure that 2008 will see at least one medieval army completed.

What did I get?
  • Strelets-R Arab Cavalry
  • Strelets-R Medieval Britain (a big set)
  • Strelets-R Military Order Sergeants
  • Strelets-R Muslim Archers
  • Strelets-R Muslim Foot Warriors
  • Strelets-R Scottish Army Of Robert The Bruce
  • Zvesda Medieval Field Powder Artillery

So this means I'm ready to build both a HYW English Army and Teutonic Knights and possibly some variants on them. The Muslims and Arabs will be used with my Ottomans (mixed in with other figures).

I also received the Osprey British in the West Indies book, so there is a future option for my French in Egypt army to fight there instead, especially as the British army in Egypt was similarly dressed.

Finally, the ultimate present, just what is needed for my WW2 desert campaign Italian army. It will be a morale booster for my forces and the pink camouflage is what is needed for the desert




Hoping everyone has a peaceful Christmas.
Will

23/12/2007

WW2 French and US Softskins

Some more of the BP Casts I picked up over a week ago. The first is a Dodge Ambulance, certainly one of the better BP Casts, the only problem was the thickness of some of the wheels, I balanced them up but they are still oversized. Having found a picture of one of these in the new Rapid Fire book, I'm quite pleased to have got one.

Two Peugeot DMA trucks, much poorer moulded detail and the same problems with filling of the wheel mouldings. This vehicle only started production in May 1940 so it is unlikely any were used by the French in combat, however I'm short of typically French vehicles so these will provide some necessary transport and look the part.


Will

RF Battle of the Bulge book arrives

Christmas is here, I arrived home yesterday to find the book left by the postie, so I'm going to spend the next few days reading and re-reading it

There is lots of good stuff, and plenty of eye-candy

Some new orders of battle, I'll have to get some more WW1 German 77mm guns for my Volksgrenadiers, and conveniently I've just bought some RSOs, which are also needed. There are some additional scenario specific additions to the rules and the first scenario has more details on playing a divisional level game.

The 10 scenarios comprise
  • Death of a Division - 18th VG v's 106th ID (Division level game)
  • Twin Villages - 12th SS v's 2nd ID
  • Stourmont - KG Peiper v's 30th ID
  • Malmedy - PzB 150 v's 30th ID
  • Seige of La Gleize - KG Peiper again
  • Champs -101 AbD v's 26th VG
  • Foy-Notre-Dame KG Boehm v's 82nd Reece & 3rd RTR
  • Sibret - Fuhrer Begleit v's 11th AD
  • Bizory - 6th AD v's 12th SS
  • Tillet - 87th ID v's Fuhrer Begleit

Plus a mini what-if campaign involving KG Peiper.

I would have liked to have seen more on modelling the figures, vehicles & terrain. but if the choice is that or a scenario then I'd choose the scenario. Hopefully some of this may appear on the RF site over the coming months.

Merry Xmas
Will

20/12/2007

3 Para

Just finished the book and it's a cracking read. It gets down to the nitty-gritty of the 3 Para battle groups operations in Afghanistan. It covers both the operations and the political dilemmas behind them. It puts the recent operation to re-capture Musa-Qaleh into perspective. It should become a classic. From a wargaming perspective there are plenty of possible scenarios that can be used from simple patrolling to all out Taliban assaults on the "company houses".

I got my copy from the library, but there's a good deal at Amazon.co.uk with plenty of reviews.

Will

19/12/2007

French Revolutionary Artillery

While preparing for the "With Desaix in the desert" test game, I realised that I hadn't sorted out any artillery for the French, so I had to sort something out. It wasn't needed for the game as Desaix only had a couple of guns (I need to double check this), but for any other games they certainly will be required.
The figures are basically Esci French Guard Artillery gunners with the bearskin head removed and replaced with bicorne heads from their Prussian Infantry (part of the old Prussian/Austrian pack). The guns are from the Esci Crimean Russian Artillery. They look just the business, so I'm sure they will be used in the next test game.

Will

18/12/2007

Oops - BT 42

I got this one completely wrong. It's one of the BP Casts I picked up recently.

While waiting for other figures to dry I decided to get on with this vehicle as it seemed to be just a variant on the BT. On finishing it in my standard Russian paint scheme, I checked the web and found the BT 42 was a Finnish variant, using 18 captured BT 7 chassis's and mounting a British 4.5" howitzer. I don't have any Finns and rather than repainting it I'll use it as a BT 7A , which mounted a 76mm howitzer. The other problem was that my usual dark brown wash also dried quite dark and has hidden some of the detail rather than highlighting it.

Will

French 18th Dragoons

The final "cavalry" unit for my French army in Egypt is the 18th Dragoons, who fought at the Pyramids, Syria, Siege of Acre, Mont-Tabor, Damietta, and the conquest of Upper Egypt.

There were five dragoon regiments involved (3rd, 14th, 15th, 18th and 20th) and three of these had pink facings so I selected the 18th as being fairly representative. The figures are the standard Hat French Dragoons, with no changes needed to reflect the campaign, but I'm sure they would have avoided wearing a metal helmet as much as possible in the heat.

If I can find something suitable then I'll be tempted to make the Dromedary Corps, which may or may not be considered cavalry.

16/12/2007

Red Army 1st Cavalry

Another item I obtained via the Trading department has been finished, these are the Orion Red Army 1st cavalry army, dressed in the characteristic budenovka . This is my second set so I've now got more than enough Red/White other cavalry as I'm using a lot of the Strelets WW1 Russian Cavalry.
I've still got some more WW1 Russian Infantry that I can use as needed, but Im currently keeping them as a reserve. The only things I still would like for the period are some red infantry in the budenovka and some suitable generals/commisars.

14/12/2007

Xmas party at the club

It was our annual Xmas Deeside Defenders meeting last night with a free bar and Indian food. A great time was had by all and I won a pack of FOW (Valejo) paints in the raffle. I just missed out of the WW2 version of "Wings of War", shame!.

ID gaming from St Helens was there with a rummage box of BP Casts stuff and I picked up a selection of various bits and pieces I "need" for my WW2 armies, which will appear over the coming months. The bits included the 20mm AA guns and artillery crews I needed for my Western Desert Italians.

Also played the first working draft of "With Desaix in the desert". Everyone liked the eye candy. The rules worked OK, but there are lots of bits needing tidied up/recalculated/rebalanced. Certainly something to work on over Xmas.

Will

09/12/2007

WW2 Bits

I've just finished off a couple of the WW2 bits, firstly a Panzer II that I acquired as a trade, it was a bit the worse for wear, but I've managed to get it back into a form that it can be used for gaming

Secondly, the Italian artillery for the big game next year. The guns are the Hinchliffe range from Skytrex and comprise 2 x Ansaldo 75mm sield guns and 2 x Schneider 105mm field guns.

I still need to find some suitable western desert crew figures, and I may still buy a couple of Skoda 100mm field guns as well

Will

06/12/2007

Egyptian Mamelukes

So I now have an army to face the French in Egypt. The Mameluke cavalry has been made using the HaT Napoleonic Mamelukes, they are a bit too consistent as they only reflect one style of Mameluke dress, but they are all that is easily available in plastic. There are some suitable sets to provide additions planned, but I was not prepared to wait. Probable other additions over time will be some Bedouins and perhaps some Turkish infantry.



The front right hand unit has a different type of static grass, which I tied to see if it would look better for desert/arid conditions, but it's not pale/dried out enough.

I've now got to write up the rules. They will be an amalgam of my AWI and Zulu rules and the working title will be "With Desaix in the desert"

04/12/2007

WW2 is back on the agenda!

The Battle of the Bulge supplement is in printing so I've put in my advanced order today, looks like being a very merry christmas.

one of the pictures from inside

If like me you need a copy then go to the RF site and look under books

Will

01/12/2007

On the workbench - December

Given I was away for half the month I did pretty well against plan, with only the Mamelukes still to finish, so what's next?
  • For my Norman army 12 Breton Knights and 24 Norman Knights by Strelets
  • 8 Dragoons for my French Army in Egypt;
  • 12 Russian Civil War Red Army cavalry;
  • A Matchbox Panzer II to boost my early war Germans;
  • The 105mm and 75mm artillery guns for my Italian forces in North Africa in WW2 (linked to next years big game) I still need to find some suitable crews.

There is still a pile in the stash to do, but nothing else seems to tempt me yet so I'll probably update the plan part way through the month, maybe some more WW2 infantry.

Will

28/11/2007

French Revolutionary Cavalry (1)

My first two units for my French army of the revolution/Egyptian expedition era. The two units are the 7ieme Hussars (bis) and the 22ieme Chasseurs both of which were in Egypt.
The figures are an amalgam, the bodies are Revell SYW Prussian Hussars, as they have the mirliton with flame, and the horses are from the Italeri French Hussars and the Hat Chasseurs a Cheval respectively. I built them as full strength regiments (4 bases), although I will generally use a single "squadron" (2 bases) for most Egyptian battles.

I enjoyed painting the these units and hopefully they will be in action soon once I finish the Mamelukes as I will then have enough units for both sides for a small battle.
Will

27/11/2007

TYW Hessian Cavalry

At the same time as painting the cuirassiers I decided to finish off some other TYW cavalry that I had half started about 10 years ago. At that time I was painting figures for Lutzen/Brietenfeld and I prepared more figure than I needed. I was also unsure what to paint them as, until I saw an article in the Pike & Shot Society journal "Arquebusier" on the Hessian army of the period.


So here they are the red, green and blue cavalry regiments of the Hessian army. Each unit has the relevant coat colour and as close flags as I could find. The use of standard coats was not that common, but it does make the units easier to use on the table top.

The figures are all the (now rare) Revell TYW Swedish Cavalry. I have kept to the same flock basing as used for the rest of my TYW army

I will definitely be painting a few more TYW figures from my stash as I have a mind to refight Jankow 1645. This is a battle involving a higher proportion of cavalry so I may be painting yet more cavalry. If anyone knows of a detailed OOB for Jankow please let me know. (I've ordered Guthrie's Later TYW via inter-library loan but it may be a while arriving)

Will

25/11/2007

TYW Cuirassiers

My original Thirty Years Wars armies were produced using the Revell TYW figures back in 19.. . Since then I have played quite a number of games but always needed a few more cuirassiers for the Imperialists. As part of a swap organised via the Trading Department I got a number of the Mars copies of the Revell figures, providing enough figures to provide 2 cuirassier regiments.



The two units selected were a copy of the Bohemian Cuirassiers from the League of Augsberg site and Pappenheims Cuirassiers, since I had the flags from this site (very useful TYW flags page, but lots of images & slow)



If there was any reasonable choice then I would not have used the Mars figures, firstly because it's a breach of copyright, (it's very blatant and I don't understand why Revell doesn't act), secondly the quality is not that good, the figures are produced in a low temperature soft plastic and the moulds are not always filled properly, this was particularly the case on the horses. Adding a wire pole for the standards was a nightmare as the plastic flowed away from the hot metal, it was very much trial and error to get the poles in place. I'm glad that I had not decided to created Wallensteins Lifeguard with lances.

Will

20/11/2007

Back from Spain

Just back from a long overdue holiday. We spent the last two weeks travelling in Spain,. Starting in Madrid and covering a lot of art museums, unfortunately both the army and navy museums were closed on the day I tried to visit them. Then onto Cordoba for a solid dose of Muslim Spain (city walls below), quite an impressive city.
Then Cadiz for a change of scene and unexpected warm Atlantic breezes. Finally Nerja for walks in the mountains

Now back for some painting and gaming.

Will

04/11/2007

Russian P39 Aircobra

My impulse purchase at Fiasco, jumped the painting queue and got assembled and painted quite quickly. The model is by HobbyBoss and is classed as an easy build kit, it certainly didn't take long to assemble. The paint scheme and decals are for the P39-N flown by Major Sirotin in 1944

My only complaint was that the aircraft is tail heavy so it doesn't sit properly on it undercarriage. I normally assemble my aircraft flying but the kit only gives the option of having undercarriage down. In retrospect I should have taken the time to modify it into a proper flying version. (I may still do this if it gets damaged)

My impulse for buying it is from reading "Attack of the Aircobras, Soviet Aces, American P39's and the Air War over Germany", by Dimitriy Loza a while ago when I found a copy in the local library. Very heavy reading in the classic soviet style.

Will

03/11/2007

Polish Registered Cossacks

I found the equivalent of these on the wab-ramblings site ( unit1 & unit 2 ) and I had to do the same and provide my renaissance Polish hussars with some light cavalry support. In my case the figures used were HaT Napoleonic Cossacks


I had forgotten the thin legs on the horses and the need to pin the body to reduce flexing in use, as most of the recent horse models I have used have been well positioned with two strong points of contact with the base and sometimes three/four. As the plastic was old and quite stiff I actually had to drill a pilot hole for the pin.

What I still need is some free cossacks, but for these I need the Orion Cossack figures (promised shortly) and some pancerni, but unfortunately nothing is easily available in plastic yet.

Will

28/10/2007

Fiasco - Leeds

So back across the Pennines to support the Lance and Longbow, plus a chance to do a bit of catching up, it was nice to meet some faces from the web.

I was too late on the B&B to pick up any real bargins, but found "Trobruk, the great seige reassessed" by Frank Harrison for GBP 3.00, which might help me with the big game next year. I also acquired some artillery from Hincliffe (2 x 75mm + 2 x 105mm) to bolster Brescia which I will command in the game.

Other acquisitions were the Osprey "Armies of the Ottoman Turks 1300-1774" and "French Soldier in Egypt" to give me more inspiration on my current projects and a Hobbyboss Aircobra for my Russian WW2.

Not much eye-candy at the show, but there was a nice looking RCW game using Red Actions and a pirate game using WSS figures that got me thinking of possible scenarios with my existing figures (plus a few purchases of course!)

As expected, in the L&L game, I lost playing Biocca 1522, but one unit of Swiss pikemen actually pushed its way over the defences and defeated a counter attacking pike block before succumbing to a flanking counter attack, so I consider my performance a success .It seemed quiet, but some of the traders seemed to be happy with their turnover.

Will

24/10/2007

On the workbench - October/November

Running ahead of schedule for once, so what have I got planned?

  • 2 units of TYW Imperial Cuirassiers (24 figures, using the Revell copies I got as a trade)
  • 2 units of Polish Registered Cossacks (16 figures using the HaT Napoleonic Cossacks, again from a trade). These will be similar to the units I found on Wab-ramblings a very useful blog on the late renaissance in eastern Europe)
  • French 22nd Chasseurs and French 7th Hussars bis for my French army in Egypt (16 figures)
  • Mamelukes for the opposition (18 figures)
  • Finishing off some TYW Swedish and Imperial Cavalry I had started a while back)

Will

Macedonian Successor Elephants

The last planned unit for this month. These are lovely figures from Hat, and it first all went well, the elephants stuck together fine with ordinary polystyrene adhesive. I've been very careful to insure that the HaT figures are really washed well after getting some that were really greasy. It was the figures that went wrong, unlike the elephants there are no pegs or anything to locate the figures onto. At first they seemed to stick OK, of course once painting got really underway a couple of them fell off. So it was out with the hot pin to weld them into place.



The next challenge was the pike as the one provided was bendy and would have really failed it I had glued it. So it was out with the florists wire heat it up over the candle and position carefully so it welds itself into place. This normally works on the first attempt, but with the extra soft Hat plastic it took two attempts for most figures and three for a couple.


Overall they painted up OK

Will

23/10/2007

Sorry to see them go

After 30 years service, I have parted with my Hinton Hunt Napoleonic Russian cavalry. Over the years they fought in many actions, but their weight was always a constraint. They were originally bought to provide cavalry to go with my Springwood Russians ready for a club refight of Borodino. With the release of most of the Russian cavalry in plastic I gradually built up a second cavalry force and tended to use them instead. They consisted of the following units all 20 figures strong:- Akhtyrka Hussars Kiev Dragoons (HH Prussian Dragoons painted as Russian) Ekatarinoslav Kuirassiers Don Cossacks (Blue tunics) Bug Cossacks (Green tunics) Some close ups You'll be sadly missed guys, hopefully you are going to a good home Will

20/10/2007

GWP no more?

Well, I tried to access the Gentleman's Wargame Parlour last night with no luck, then I heard that it had been closed down. I'm not sure what happened, but it was a great forum with a lot of great guys, really inspiring figures and scenery, etc. plus I was looking forward to the big game next year.

Keeping my fingers crossed for this one and that England wins the rugby

Will

Nubians

Another set of units to face the French in Egypt, this time Nubians as faced by Kleber, as he advanced into upper Egypt.

These are the Waterloo 1815 dervishes and they are really nice figures. There are a few Esci Muslim warriors use to make up the numbers. The basic colout scheme is a base coat of sand plus a wash of brown ink, then a very light grey for the cloth. Gets me thinking about doing the Sudan again, oh dear!

Will

Cairo Militia

Here's the units I've created to use as either Cairo/Alexandria militia when facing the French, The figures are dominantly Esci "Muslim warriors" with a few Waterloo 1815 dervishes added.

They are not expected to do well, but hold ground, especially behind fortifications, etc and provide a general nuisance value.

The bases are a bit to plain, but I've not yet decided how to improve them. I want some sort of vegetation but the static grass I've got is far too green to use. I'll see what I can find at Fiasco next weekend.

Will

18/10/2007

Maya completed


It's taken a long time, but now they're finished. The figures are by Caesar and while being very nicely molded some figures do tend to be overbalanced and I had to add wedges to straighten them when basing them. I'm also not sure about whether to add more vegetation to the bases?

I've based them for a set of rules called "DBA in the new world" and I'll just be using them as another unit of auxiliaries in my Aztec army rather than as a stand alone army, but perhaps I'll add more at some point in the future.

Will

17/10/2007

Prussian Landwehr

After adding standard bearers and officers to my existing landwehr units I had quite a few painted figures to hand, rather than put them to one side to replace losses I painted up a few of the Hat Prussian reserve infantry figures as landwehr. For the others I just repainted the facings and the whole unit became a battalion of Pommeranian landwehr.

That should be the end of my work on the Prussian infantry as I've no more figures left and I now have 33 battalions in close order completed, certainly sufficient for any normal game. The only component of the army now understrength is the landwehr cavalry.

Will

13/10/2007

German Trucks

I've finished the Pegasus German trucks and they were a pleasure to build and look good as well.
The only part I am not sure about is the bench seats in the back as they reduce the flexibility of how I can use the vehicles, but it's a minor quibble. I'm certainly looking forward to whatever else Pegasus bring out in their quick build range even if they are 1/72 rather than 1/76
Will

11/10/2007

Renaissance Tartars

As I mentioned previously I found I had some Italeri Mongol light horse that could be used as Tartars. I've painted these up and they will either be used for rennaisance games with my poles/cossacks or with my Ottomans for the period up to the WSS.




Will

More WSS Austrian Infantry

I ended up doing all three regiments in one batch, and it's great once they are all finished, even though it took a while to get here.

I have painted the Wallon regiment Los Rios (green coats) and the Regiments Koenigsegg (light blue facings) and Eck (yellow facings), for standards I have just used whatever was available and looked most suitable.

I now have a complete small army, and need to concentrate on their opponents the Ottoman Turks, where not everything is available in plastic yet.

Will

10/10/2007

Trees

Yes, I got diverted by trees. I have a lot of trees produced many years ago and I intend to upgrade them sometime soon. However I was in Modelzone in Liverpool and my wife in an attempt to distract me from the range of plastic kits said "they've got nice trees..". Well they were, and when I eventually emerged from the shop my only purchase was a bag of conifers. It makes a nice addition and they will replace those old plastic roco ones that always fall apart.


The bases were made out of hardboard cut using a hole borer which gave a nice chamfered effect when I got it right. But cutting 25 bases was not as quick as I had hoped! To complete the bases I just used some old coarse scatter material fixed with PVA.

Will

04/10/2007

Yet more Prussians

Yes, more Prussians, this time the II/10th Reserve Regiment (22nd Line) at the back made up entirely of Springwood second version Prussian line. Because they arrived second, I've always used them as reservists, really because I'd already painted the regulars by the time I bought them. They are wearing the blue uniform issued late in 1813. The standard is a retirefahne from Silesian IR Nr.2 (#11) their stammregiment.

In the front is another version of the same unit, it can't quite act as the I or III batalions as their uniforms were different, although the III had a very dark grey almost black tunic. They will either act as the III batalion or as the mythical Frundsberg Frei Batalion. The figures are a complete mix, in the front rank are Revell prussian line infantry, then behind in groups are (L to R) Hat Lutzows, Springwood Prussian line and Hat Prussian reservists.

Will

01/10/2007

On the workbench - October

Where to begin?, September has been a bit of a disrupted month with jury service, trading figures and a delivery from Harfields. So what are my plans (hopes) for painting/completing this month?
  • Finish the Maya, they have been slowly progressing with my usual problems with painting irregulars, but I'm on the last leg now, just a final push, honest!
  • Macedonian elephants, the beginnings of the extras needed to create successor armies
  • More WSS Austrian infantry, hopefully three more infantry regiments, which should leave me with just a hussar regiment needed for my Imperial army at this stage.
  • Some sort of Ottoman rabble, probably orientated toward the Cairo militia v's the French in Egypt
  • Some tartars to support my renaissance cossacks, I saw this done on Phil Olleys blog, and I've got enough in a box of mongols I had previously considered swapping, so this now leaves only the heavy cavalry spare.
  • Assemble and paint the couple of Pegasus German trucks.
  • More work on tidying up my Napoleonic Prussians, including adding some guns and limbers.

The other action is to continue trading so I hopefully convert my stock of "undesirables" into "needed" figures, watch the trading department for details

29/09/2007

Napoleonic Prussian Artillery

As part of the upgrade of my Prussian army I have replaced the old artillery figures converted from Airfix French artillery with the HaT figures. In this case from the Prussian artillery brigade (white shoulder straps) and the Silesian artillery brigade (yellow).
I still need to do further work to provide more guns and limbers for these units, the guns in the picture are a mix of my old Airfix conversions for the foot artillery and the Revell SYW artillery guns for the horse artillery
Will

Napoleonic Prussian Pommeranian Grenadiers

As part of upgrading my Prussian army, here is the first Springwood Prussian unit I have painted from scratch for over 30 years. I've enough of the basic infantry types, so out of respect I painted my remaining first version Springwood figures as grenadiers and given Frederick the Great's high regard for the Pommeranians this was the unit selected. The flag is the retirefahne for the I/Pomm IR Nr.2 from Napflags.


Will

28/09/2007

WSS Austrian Dragoons

Another couple of regiments completed for my War of Spanish Succession Imperial army, This time the dragoon regiments Prinz Eugen and Bayreuth.
The figures used were the Strelets Lieb-Drabants Of Charles XII

Prinze Eugen has red coats and Bayreuth light blue, the standards are what I had that looked suitable.

Will

23/09/2007

Plastic figure trading

A new Yahoo group has been set up to trade plastic figures. At last the chance to reduce the mountain of unpainted figures by swaping them for ones I need more.

So far, I'm in the midst of organising several trades and it's suprising what others want, I'm sure they are thinking the same.

To date I've only put items where I have fairly large quantities available (one box or more). Once I've finished these I'll probably start offering smaller quantities.

The group can be found at link

Latest purchases arrive from Harfields

Always exciting when the postman delivers you "long" awaited figures. So what have I got this time?

1 x Zvesda Russian infantry of Peter the Great - figures needed to complete my next 3 Austrian regiments
1 x Pegasus German army trucks - just an impulse purchase, I always seem to be short of trucks.
2 x Strelets Norman knights - to boost the cavalry strength of my Norman Army
1 x Strelets Breton knights - ditto
1 x HaT Prussian artillery - to complete the artillery in my Napoleonic Prussian army
1 x Revell US Marines WW2 - again an impulse purchase at £1.00 I thought I might get around to island hopping games sometime, especially having seen the Frontline LVT2s
2 x HaT Macedonian elephants - to allow my Macedonians to become Successor armies. I was also lucky as the two boxes both contained 3 elephants each.

My only regret was missing out on a 2nd hand pack of SYW Prussian Hussars

Will

16/09/2007

Problems on the Danube 1690

I've posted the first battle report over on my Frundsberg blog

Will

15/09/2007

WSS Austrian Cavalry

Jury service is over so it's back to the painting. I managed to do a bit over the last two weeks as I wasn't always required. So here's the latest units, three Austrian cuirassier units for the WSS. They are all made using the Strelets GNW Swedish Rieiters

For the sharp eyed observer the coats have turnbacks when there should be none

Included is a unit from my imaginary country the Frundsberg Frei Stadt acting on imperial service, their yellow coats are not that dissimilar from the buff coats worn my the Austrians


These units may also be my submission into The Guild painting competition

Will