2009 Review

Seems rather too late to be posting this, but i wasn't sure if I would complete some more figures or not. It's not and I'll post the new arrivals for 2010 in the next couple of days.

2009 Review

Well, another reasonably successful year on the painting front, over 1500 items painted a higher level than 2008 and the same level as 2007 and with the extra effort of upgraded basing for everything this year

The breakdown by type is:

• Infantry 1,149 (701)
• Gunners 67 (119)
• Cavalry 246 (449)
• Guns, etc 59 (91)
• Terrain 42 (12)

By period:

• WW2 357 (230)
• WSS 305 (87)
• Revolution 251 (114)
• Medieval 207 (330)
• Renaissance 193 (125)
• Colonial 91 (0)
• Ancient 83 (267)
• Napoleonic 50 (48)
• Other 29 (123)

Looking through the list it shows the emphasis on the Crete big game and Gauntlet in the first half of the year (all WW2). Then there was the "final" completion of my Medievals (before I bought more), my French Revolutionary armies and nearly my forces for the WSS/Relief of Vienna. At the end of 2009 the stash is down to 5900 20mm plastic figures, a reduction of nearly 1,000 figures from the end of 2008.

High points of the year were unsurprisingly the Crete and Salerno games, then the trip to Salute to meet up with a lot of old friends and those I have met over the web.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my blog this year and I look forward to hearing from you all in 2010.

Will

WSS Hessian Army muster

Following on from the Bavarians, here are the Hessians.

Again the only thing missing are officer figures, otherwise it's a nice compact force

WSS Bavarian Army Muster

Given the sun was out, a rare occurence at the moment I thought I'd have a review of my Bavarian War of Spanish Succession figures.


The only gap needing to be filled is a few generals. I had hoped that there would be a suitable figure in the Zvezda Russian Artillery set, but the box cover was deceptive. I'll have to try and find some suitable figures, perhaps the promised Zvezda GNW Russian Dragoons will have something suitable, but can I wait that long?

Bavarian Cavalry

Again to keep the balance I have added three cavalry regiments to match the three existing infantry regiments. This time one dragoon and two cuirassier units.

On the right the first rank of cuirassiers are Wolframsdorf and the second Arco and as before use the Strelets GNW Swedish Reitars On the left is the Arco Dragoons made from the Strelets GNW Russian Dragoons set. This was one of the earlier Strelets sets and the sculpting is not as good as the more recent production, particularly noticeable on the horses and the tricornes.

Saxon Cuirassiers

Since I had added a Saxon infantry regiment to my Imperial army, I decided to add a matching cavalry regiment as well, this is the Jordan Cuirassiers. Details on the Saxons for the Great Northern War can be found on Dan Schoor's site.

I went for the early pattern uniform, more in keeping with 1683 which had a buff coat rather than the later red coat worn over the buff coat and cuirass. Strictly the cuffs should be the same colour as the buff coat, but it looked a bit too plain so I gave them red cuffs (It's not clear what facing colour Jordan had) as facing colours were introduced sometime before the red coat was introduced. Figures are Strelets GNW Swedish Reitars.

Hesse-Homburg Dragoons

Well, another spate of cavalry painting has come to an end, so expect a number of updates over the next couple of days.

First off are Hessian Dragoons of the War of Spanish Succession period. There was a choice of Hessian Dragoons, but I had to pick these as they were so in keeping with the style of my mythical Frundsbergers. Although the riders are Strelets Lieb Drabants the horses are a mix of these plus a few left over Russian dragoon horses needed to make up the numbers.

It's Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to everyone.

I've had some interesting presents this year that will certainly get me started in the new year.

I got several boxes of Warlord plastic ECW figures, so one of my projects for 2010 will be the army of the Western Association commanded by who else but Sir William Waller. But before putting brush to figures I'll have to catch up on the period, since it must be 30 years since I last painted any ECW figures. It'll also be a shock painting 28mm figures in bulk.

Otherwise I've got some interesting reading

• D Day by Robert Kershaw
• Lost Battles by Phil Sabin
• Infantry Tactics (a combination volume from Osprey) just as well I hadn't got around to reading any of the individual titles
• and Donald Featherstones War Games, the book that started off my interest in wargaming, I must have had it on permanent loan from the library in my early years.