Raising an army takes time

It has been since June 25th??! Really? Yikes!

During this time I have managed to play several games of The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game at the new GW store. Thanks to all involved, especially Charlie and Art. I won a game, too!

LOTR motivated me to finish a few figures to have a completely painted, 500 point army. I got four (4) whole figures done! What, you want proof?

I have also been plodding on the Prussians. I have to admit:  those of you out there that crank out dozens and scores of figures? I have no idea how you do it.

I don’t like painting, even though I love fielding a force that I have painted myself. I can even get into “the groove” on occasion and get some serious painting done. But not right now.

I tried to do production-line painting, but that was just depressing. So I am now working on the Prussians in 8 figure blocks. I have 16 complete and have just finished putting black on the next group, which includes the command figures. I had to stop because I was getting tired and sloppy. Still, I am progressing, if slowly.

I also took an evening to assemble and prime a box of plastic Warlord Landwehr. You can see them here with the completed Perry figures.

I primed them with ArmyPainter Navy Blue, as in the article on the Warlord site. I think they are not dark enough blue, but will see when they are done.

Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully more interesting stuff in the (near) future!

One down. How many to go?

So here is the first Prussian after his bath in white primer. I had hoped to use ArmyPainter blue spray, but it was not dark enough. I note, however, that they just came out with a darker shade that I might try for the Landwehr.

And here he is with basic colors blocked in. I can’t believe that it has been FOUR YEARS since I painted a figure! Let’s just say my brush skills are somewhat atrophied. Anyway, I decided on the unit will be the 10th Line (1st Silesian), so yellow collar and cuffs with white shoulder tabs.

And here it is with a brushed on coat of ArmyPainter Quickshade Strong. I am very pleased with how it looks at this stage, although these multi-megapixel cameras sure point out the spots you miss! It will need to be completely dry before I do a few highlights and the coat of Anti-Shine.

All in all, I’m quite pleased. I’ve never been a fast painter, nor a high quality one. But I will be proud to have a new unit from my own workbench for my games.

Cheers!

Part the second, or “He’s kept his focus for 24 hours…”

First, let me just say that the current score is:

• Perry Brothers:  46
• Ed:  0

It took four (4) hours to assemble the first box:

Even then, I still need to get the belly pouches onto the Jäger. You can see the pouches in the lower left of the pic.

My compliments to those of you who like to model with plastic. This was tedious work, made bearable only by the CWF interview with Henry Hyde that was my listening companion.

Anyway, I’m beat and my eyes hurt even though I was using my brand new, nifty Ott High Definition Craft Light with magnifier. So, now I’m sipping a nice Sangiovese wine that reminds me of our trip to Tuscany.

And then I remembered the REST of the lead pile. I completely forgot about the three boxes of Warlord Games Landwehr. I think I need to decide on which units soon!

Now I just need for all the new Perry and Warlord goodies to arrive at the US distributor, Architects of War, to REALLY put me behind the curve!

A new direction—to Waterloo!

Here it is, the 196th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. I have been fiddling around with various projects the last few weeks, but I have finally made a decision:

I am going to build a 28mm Waterloo Project, and I’m going to do all the Prussians myself.

There. THAT is a line in the sand table.

So, over the next few weeks I’m going to do some plotting and scheming here on the blog, while I also get started in the painting department.

“The WHAT department??” I hear you ask.

Yep. I have one other project that I have done all my own painting, and that is my Lord of the Rings project with the Games Workshop figures. The Prussians will be my second.

I already have a respectable amount of 28mm Napoleonics, including 24 battalions of French infantry, each of 24 figures. I have a small force of British, too.  Plus my good friend and gaming partner-in-crime Ray has more Brits, plus most of the Brunswick contingent.

The plan is simple, if daunting. I will buy and paint all of the new Perry Miniatures releases. I have three boxes of the plastic line infantry now, which will become the first regiment. Which regiment? Good question. I’m not sure yet.

The very first historical miniatures I ever purchased and painted were 15mm Minifig Prussians. I painted them as the Leib Regiment. For some reason, I have always been fascinated by that particular unit. Problem is, it wasn’t at Waterloo! Leib was in III Corps at Wavre.

So what units to paint for Waterloo? I have several books on the battle to help me decide, including Adkins Waterloo Companion, Bowden’s Armies at Waterloo, Haythornethwaite’s The Waterloo Armies, Hofschroer’s two volume The Waterloo Campaign, Linck’s Napoleon’s Generals, and Nofi’s The Waterloo Campaign, as well as Robinson’s The Battle of Quatre Bras and Uffindell’s The Eagles Last Triumph. Oh, and plenty of Ospreys.

My next problem is to decide how I’m going to paint all of these. I am interested in using the Army Painter method, as I’m not a very good or fast painter. However, based on some pictures I’ve seen, their dark blue is not dark enough for Prussian blue. Something I will need to consider.

Finally for now, I want to blame—I mean thank several people whose sites have motivated for this project. In no particular order:

The League of Augsburg, both for their interesting rules Republic to Empire and their forum with LOTS of great eye candy.

Martin Kelly’s Befreiungskriege blog, good for all things Napoleonic Prussian.

Martin is very partial to Calpe Miniatures’ exquisite Prussian figures. I like them too. They will probably be added to my force as well, especially if I can get ahead of the Perrys’ release curve and need cavalry.

Von Peter Himself, and his lovely and entertaining blog.

And the always amusing banter at the WD3 forum.

And of course Ray, whose fault it always is, no matter what is wrong.

OK. Let’s get this thing started. Here’s the “lead pile” so far:

SYW Prussians

I'll be posting more about Hesse-Fedora, including the first initiates of the Grand Order of the Maltese Falcon in the coming days. But right now, I've only got time for a description of part of my SYW project:

SYW Prussians

My current SYW project grew out of the SYW games played at the local club, Lone Star Historical Miniatures. LSHM uses 15mm figures and home-brew rules adapted over the years.

But several years ago I got hooked on the spectacle of 28mm gaming, especially using “Big Battalions.” I decided to start a Napoleonic project, but in the end opted for the SYW instead. I have been acquiring figures for several years, and have now amassed a pair of substantial armies.

1st Musketeer Brigade (4 battalions)
	Infantry Regiment (IR) 5 alt-Braunschweig (2 bn)
	IR 9 jung-Kleist (2 bn)
2nd Musketeer Brigade (4 battalions)
	IR 13 von Itzenplitz (2 bn)
	IR 18 Prinz von Preussen (2 bn)
3rd Fusilier Brigade (4 battalions)
	Fusilier Regiment (FR) 35 Prinz Heinrich (2 bn)
	FR 36 alt-Münchow (2 bn)
4th Grenadier Brigade (4 battalions)
	Grenadier Battalion (GB) 13/18 von Finck
	GB 5/9 von Billerbeck
	GB 35/36 von Scheckendorff
	Standing Grenadier Battalion 1
Cavalry Brigade (14 squadrons)
	Cuirassier Regiment 8 von Seydlitz (4 sqd)
	Dragoon Regiment 6 von Schorlemer (5 sqd)
	Hussar Regiment 4 von Puttkamer (5 sqd)
Artillery Brigade
	1st Artillery Battery
	2nd Artillery Battery
Other Troops
	Frei Battalion Le Noble

Battalions are 24 figures on four stands. Each musketeer and fusilier battalion has a fifth stand of grenadiers, which are converged to form the grenadier battalions listed. Sadly, I wasn’t paying close attention when choosing units, and the grenadiers don’t all match historically. IR5 should be with IR20; IR9 should be with IR10; IR13 should be matched with IR26; and IR18 should be with IR15. I did get it right with the fusilier regiments, as FR35 and FR36 actually did form a battalion under Major von Scheckendorff. The Standing Grenadier Battalion 1 is made up of the grenadier companies of its historical counterparts: Garrison Regiments 3 and 4 and the “New” Garrison Regiment.

The cavalry is made up of 6 figure squadrons, with 3 figures to the base. My original intent was two stands per historical squadron, keeping a 30:1 troop ratio. However, I made a math error along the way, and while the dragoons and hussars both have 30 figures, my Seydlitz Cuirassiers have detached a squadron somewhere en route and have only 24 figures present and ready for duty.

The artillery consists of two batteries, each of 2 model guns with 3 gunners per model.

The figures are a mix of Front Rank, Foundry, and Old Glory.

The entire Prussian force is therefore 17 battalions, 14 squadrons, and 2 batteries.