31/03/2021

Roman cataphracts and commanders

I'm on a bit of the roll at the moment. These complete my Roman army rebasing project.
The HaT cataphracts didn't really need rebasing, but unfortunately it was a desert colour so it was not consistent with the rest. They are underscale compared to Rospaks, but on the battlefield in seperate units it's not too noticable
The commanders are old 25mm Minifigs, they are a bit too large/chunky. I wonder if there is anything out there more suitable? 28mm would be too big, maybe 3D printed?

30/03/2021

yet more Romans!!

A bit harder this time as I had to deal with the broken pilums and replace all the decals so that the units looked consistent.
The images for the decals were copied off the web and then scaled to fit the shields

29/03/2021

Napoleonic Civilians

I really liked these new bonus figures that came with the Strelets Prussian cavalry and I hope they will continue producing them as a replacement for the traditional Streltsi.

28/03/2021

Deutsche Volksturm

Well Andy beat me to it again, he posted his painted half packet yesterday. These are Mars figures and like many of their newer sets they are quite nice mouldings. I gave them a mix of civilian and military dress all linked by a yellow volkssturm armband.
They will all end up fighting in "Fall of the Reich" games togeher with whatevery other mixed figures I want to combine them with.
Link to Andy's blog (link)

27/03/2021

Russian militia skirmishers

These are a selection of the Strelets bonus streltsi that I have painted and based up to use for skirmish games for anything from the renaissance to the Napoleonic wars
I still have 85 streltsi in the stash that I have to decide what to do with.

26/03/2021

Veldt Artillerie

Just what's need to support my Boers
Theses are two Krupp 75mm field guns and a pair of 1pdr pom-poms from Strelets, surplus crew has been used for command and loader teams
Maybe I need to add some limbers?

Addition just found this on the Oranje Vrijstaat Artillerie Corps Facebook page
Just found this awesome photo of the Krupp Vorrathswagen (supply wagon) from a Krupp catalogue kept in a Portuguese museum. This is the exact model the Boers imported as well and the limber I am restoring:

24/03/2021

Roman Auxilliaries

Continuing the rebasing, I worked on a couple of units each of bow and javelin armed auxilliaries. Each existing unit of 24 figures bacame a close order unit of 16 and an open order unit of 8.
All the figures are Rospaks who only produced two poses.
Luckily with these there was very little rework except a couple of broken javelins needing replaced.
If I need to use the figures in their old WRG 6th context, then I simply have to alternate the close and open order bases

Now I'm into the more serious reorganisation and repairs

23/03/2021

British winter tank crews

The latest tank crew set from Orion depicts them in Pixie suits. I shared with contents of a packet with Andy and Peter. Andy has already posted his (link)
They are lovely figures with plenty of detail

18/03/2021

The Legions are marching

Finished rebasing the first 6 units of Legionaries
These were quite simiple as I was reducing the unit sizes down from 24 to 16. The remainders will need more repairs and reworking to make complete units.

13/03/2021

Some different Prussian cavalry

I've already got a fair sized collection of Prussian cavalry but when Strelets released their new sets I had to support their iniative. So I decided to paint a number of units that contrasted the more standard ones in my army.
The easiest, the 7th Uhlans from Waterloo, ex Heilwig Streifcorps
3rd Uhlans (Brandenburg) the sole gap in my army (although I do have some Landwehr cavalry that could stand in for them)
Silesian National Cavalry, basically a hussar uniform. There are two variants of the uniform with red or yellow collars and cuffs, I went for the yellow. I gave them a Silesia flag to add some more colour. In the 1815 reorganization, two squadrons of the regiment went to form the Guard Uhlans and two squadrons went to the 7th Hussars.
Pommeranian National Cavalry, a green variation on the dragoon uniform. Again I gave them a flag Pomeranian this time. In the 1815 reorganization, two squadrons of the regiment went to form the Guard Dragoons and two squadrons went to the 4th Uhlans.
It would be nice if Strelets now produce a set of Prussian cuirassiers suitable for 1813/14 i.e. without cuirasses.

09/03/2021

Stepping back in time - Roman Cavalry

The first of the reworked Rospaks Early Imperial Romans are the cavalry
Unlike the Greeks I decided not to try swapping the arms around. Partly because I thought I might need the sword arms fort the infantry

07/03/2021

Desert Stuka

When I first saw the kit was a snake running along its length I knew I had to have one and when it came up on ebay the deed was done.
It's an Italeri model depicting an aircraft from 6/Sturtzkampfgeschwader 2 "Immelmann" based at Timini Libya 1941

03/03/2021

Latest purchases

My latest acquisitions are mainly newly released figures.

My plans are
  • More French Infantry for the WSS - I've now get enough for 10 units
  • British Infantry for the WSS - It wouldn't be fair just to do the French and I can also use them against my Jacobites for 1689 and 1715.
  • British winter tank crews - Not sure I'll bother with snow on the bases, maybe try some mud.
  • Volkssturm - something to add the the mix for Fall of the Reich games
  • NVA and VC - yet more to add to my Vietnam mix
  • Mounted musketters and cardinal's guards - to go with the foot versions I have already got
  • Ukrainian Cossacks - enough to complete units of Polish Pancerni and Imperial Croats
  • Roman/Crusader Transport - mainly bought for the Oxen, which I need for my Napoleonic Spanish

02/03/2021

On the workbench - March 2021

After a successful February's painting I feel I might catch up with the lost time in January(maybe?) So while waiting for another large order of figures I'll be working on:-
  • German desert Stuka - just doing the finishing touches
  • Germa winter limber - only the basing to do
  • 4 units of Napoleonic Prussian Cavalry - started
  • Boer War artillery both Krupp and Pom-Poms
  • Russian peasant skirmishers suitable for any period where muskets are used
  • Start on rebasing my Early Imperial Romans