How many scales is too many ?

 One of my issues, is the collection of armies in multiple scales - a particular problem in Napoleonic, WW2 and the 18th Century. Or too big !

 

 

    Luckily, in ACW I have only two scales. I have a very small collection of 15mm, which will offloaded later this year, they are a hangover from the 15mm age that occurred locally in the late 90's

 

    The original 1/72 collection that started in 1992 perhaps, and has grown to a rather ridiculous size and the newer Epic 15mm side.  The 1/72 set, was from older games, 3 to a base and 24 figures to a Regiment played many times against the armies of Archduke Picolo. They are the second wargame army I ever had, so I keep them as I am quite fond of them. 

 

    Due to snapping up various bulk buys in the last 1- years, I also have enough to make the Fire and Fury army list for Day 1-2 of Gettysburg, which is a long term project of mine. I find 1/72 is incredibly easy to paint, and  also don't go the extra lengths 28mm figures are taken to. So when I set my mind to it great volumes are churned, such as Buford's Cavalry below (painted late 2024).

 

Very simple painting, simple flocking and away we go.

Epic Scale plastics took my fancy, so after picking up various second hand auctions the forces are slowly being put together. The first unit below. many mistakes reverting to a smaller scale and the strips, but easily adjusted.

Prussian Cavalry

I am being very productive, but taking photos is not high on the list at the moment so there is some delay on that front. The following figures are painted with basing just being finished, main flocking is down but just needs the final wave of bits and pieces to add on. 

The 2nd East Prussian Cuirrassiers, which are Hinchcliffe 25mm figures which I quite like. (Standard is yet to be added)

2nd Silesian Hussars, an old unit of Old Glory that recently were refurbished with some additional basing needed.

 

Currently, I have two other units to finish, both Old Glory Uhlans but the lovely wire lances I purchased something like "7 years ago" have gone walkabout. I suspect I might have to open every box I have to find them as they will be hiding somewhere obscure.

As I overfilled the PVA Palette, I also based some 15mm ACW figures I have for a "rainy day". I picked most of these up mainly for when I wanted to play-test Fire and Fury rules or other ACW rulesets, the confederates on the left are actually over 21 years old. They are TTG figures (or battleline in NZ).

Cardboard Buildings Repair

Around five or so years ago I picked up a Pireme Publishing Waterloo kit for around $10. I hastily made it without really thinking about its sturdiness and longevity. The completed item below in around 2011/2012.

5 years (ish) later I found them in the garage a few weeks ago in all sorts of states. Over time and poor storage they had warped and been damaged. So, as I am quite fond of them I started to repair them, firstly adding coffee stirrers in an attempt to strengthen them and also iron out the kinks. A good dose of glue gun and PVA also helped.

Le Belle Alliance  (below) was the first patient. What a world of difference the first few braces made and the piece is looking far better than it did, it also feels a lot sturdier.

So , onwards I continues bracing all the other kits as well as starting on Hougonmont kit that I had never touched.

 

I am currently basing them so I hope to have some completed pictures soon.

Happy New year !

Old Crow Drop Ship

I am in Australia on holiday and its all very good, so here is  a pic anyway of my favorite 15mm vehicle as I need to host the photos somewhere.

It turns out that I may have had my first wargame in one year on Saturday. I am sure that I have had more, but in fact I have only had one game. What a depressing thought ! I suspect while I have talked about war-gaming this may not have been the case but this has been one of the reasons for my recent change in focus in the last few weeks.

Geoff kindly organized a 15mm game at his house and I took part on the British side (Fighting my own figures no less). The French\Prussians (Geoff and Andrew) held a ridge-line with a steep escarpment which we (Ross and myself) had to somehow assault.

With my typical dash and bravado off I surged forward however it was not until later I realized that I made a very serious error, perhaps one of the most basic. While the escarpment could be handled I negated, in my enthusiasm I suspect, to check what the right ring of the British Army was doing. While I raced forward in column to assault the hills, I did not notice the right wing was advancing in line and also had a river to cross. This can be seen in the below showing my forces racing ahead.

 This left a conundrum as I had advanced too rapidly but needed to tie down the flank while waiting for the other wing to close up. However, up the hill we went but alas, my dice rolling was not that great and while I did knock around the French to a small degree I simply took a pasting. By then the right wing had descended but was easily repulsed.

A good game though and nice to be back in action. I suspect I shall sell my Prussians (and 28mm Russians) as they simply are an odd fit to the forces I have (Peninsular).

While I was there Andrew showed me his laser cut and hand crafted fleet for Lepanto. Seriously brilliant modelling and painting, these ships were magnificent and photos do not do them justice.

Elf Reinforcemenrts and some grubby little orcs

So after years of taking poor photographs with  bad lighting and background, the power of google has me testing some methods of improving my pictures.

First up is the sky background (I forgot the scenic base but oh well).

I purchased some Elven Knights from 15mm.co.uk and painted them last week. Three Stands for Hordes\RRTK (none of my army lists have Elven Cavalry but I'll make something up as I go). I still have not mastered the art of armour, which is why my Mantic 28m Elven army is not moving very far (I suspect I might have to try this dipping method).

The yellow lances need some work and my horse painting ability still falls short.

I also needed some bigger Orcs to act as Fanatic\Heavy Orc infantry. 15mm.co.uk came to the rescue again with some large chaps that I tried to make black and evil looking. The photos however have me thinking they might need a little highlight here and there, plus some red or yellow eyes will go down quite well. I think they need that "We are nasty people *gnash gnash*" look, at the moment they look too bland.

Over the weekend I shall make a little photo box with a proper set up (The sky background kept falling over).

Cheers

15mm Madness

I've been painting a plethora of 15mm figures as thanks to Colin for his hosting of our after work games. I must say 15mm are my favourite scale to paint to be honest - large enough for great detail and shading but small enough not to drive you insane on detail. Of course this won't stop me painting stupid amounts of 28mm but dreams are free of course.
 
The figure below is a result but unfortunately the matt varnish (Humbrol) seems to have faded some of the detail and made it quite shiny.

 So onwards to Hordes of Things and the such. I've been finishing my fantasy armies and they are all contained in one box now as I need to take them to Archduke Piccilos to talk 15mm Byzantines for wargames.

 Plus the occasional large battle Hordes of Things which I often lose as I am still getting used to quick kill and melee combat.

Don't worry about the big blue guy in the pic - he was naff all.

Quatre Bras

I have managed to play several games recently and they have been good fun. I should have probably rested as I am working around 50 hours a week and am quite tired but you can never say no to Napoleonics.  The first game was a re-fight of Quatre Bras but in this game the French did not know it was a re-fight.

Andrew and I commanded the Allies while Ross and Jim took the French.

 The game started with the 3 Dutch\Nassau\Belgian units being spread around the villages while hordes of French appeared. We were hidden of course so it was only when the French got near did they find out what was in front of them.

 As the french advanced the light artillery opened fire and knocked over a few stands of Frenchmen,.

 While the French got close to one of the farms and found it defended by a single battalion.

 They promptly threw this battalion out with ease and sent it swarming back over the stream. Luckily for the allies the reserve brigades were arriving on the field and Dutch managed to shore up the line.

Pretty soon it was red coat heaven as he main British forces arrived and saw off the French.

 The last moment of the game saw the French Cavalry charge British infantry - it did not end well. The Lancers did not charge home and the Cuirrassiers could not do much against the infantry.

Another enjoyable day. The scenario was quick and most likely should have let the French have some more time to get going. But alas British history will say otherwise !