March Musings

 

I focused on house renovations recently, as well as a general re-organization of various rooms of the house. Due to wallpaper removal, plastering, floor work and also a lot of materials being stored in the garage I've had to move some things around.

Part of this has been the struggle with a teenager who wants to use the only desk we have all the time, so a new painting desk was purchased. 

I have picked up some armies from Warlords Epic range, and my first attempt below. Still learning photography and also editing so they may look a bit too highlighted. 

 

And also, to get me eye on again for my 28mm Spanish, I practiced on some old Airfix British.

The remaining Spanish are ready, so now winter is approaching I should find more time to paint.

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.

Battle of Pleasant Hill, 1864

Some time ago, Archduke Piccolo and I decided to play a 1/72 ACW game, a great set of "old school" rules with lots of dice rolling and very bloody battles. It has been a while so I cannot recall the detail, but a fierce confederate attack was held by the union lines.

The figures are a mix of Airfix, Esci, Italeri, Revell and 20mm pewter.

 

New ACW 20mm Regiments and clearout.

Merry Christmas and New Years to everyone.

My daughter fractured her elbow on the 27th so the holidays have been slightly underwhelming for her but all in all she has been in good spirits and pain free. I have not had a war-game in a long time but painting has restarted as I no longer wear the wrist brace.So I have been working full time in getting my ACW Union troops ready for some small skirmishes (using Archduke Piccilo's solo campaign as motivation.).

I finished the figures and then use Matt Gloss spray on them , leaving them to dry in the garage. As the sun caught the figures it was a brilliant view -  Long lines of gray, sky blue and red all based and ready to go, I was quite chuffed  to be honest and I am not sure if it is simply having finished a large batch or my love of bright colours.

The figures are a mismatch of makers  and I painted one from each maker, with perhaps another 8 other units to complete (Mostly Airfix and Italeri). I have not named any units yet as I was too busy painting them.

 Revell Infantry Regiment.

 Esci Regiment.

 Airfix Artillery Battery. (I have not separated the single bases yet)

 Airfix Generals. (From Artillery Set I recall).

An Italeri Zouave unit and a good old Airfix Regiment.

A little tidy up to do and then straight into the box to make 7 Infantry Regiments ready. I will then varnish and base the Rebels up and have a small game.

Motivation is abundant here at the moment as I am also working on Command Decision 1/72 WW2 figures - more to come !. But I have also finally decided its time to clear some stuff and make room and fund other needs.

Most likely to go will be the Mantic Elf army I purchased 1 year ago (and painted 20 figures), my 6mm WW2, most likely 15mm Colonial (Unpainted) and a pile of space marines I have gathered over the years.

Cheers

Kings of War Elf test figures and more ACW

Hi,

I picked up a small Mantic Elf army as they were on sale and then ran into the issue in that I have never painted an large scale armoured figures. Thin figures but they look the part so I made up the archer pack and thought I would test some out.
My attempts at painting the first two figures was disappointing as my painting style simply did not work.

So looks like I need to watch some youtube videos or try some washes instead.


My efforts on my Union troops has meandered through the realms of time and space, but have I have managed to finish my first three.  The left unit is varnished and the other two need a good dose to protect them from gaming, cats and children.

Warflag supplied the Standards and I use some 15mm scale Ancient wire spears for the pole (The spear turned upside down and jammed into the plastic base).

Also some Cavalry have been completed with the bonus of dismounted men and horse holders.

The longest project

Hi,

My plastic 1/72 ACW is the oldest army that I have now (The 1/72 Napoleonic forces are long gone and replaced by something heavier and four time the size). I began playing the Archduke Piccolo sometime in the 90's and I recall had around 12 units and a few guns. The army then survived a decade of storage as I traveled the world but has taken me a good 10 years to sort out. A recent purchase of Airfix ACW figures has also satisfied a wish list item of getting some.

A recent burst of enthusiasm has seen the completion of a decent sized force. 12 Infantry Regiments and a few guns. I still have around another 12 Infantry Regiments, 4 Cavalry and about 8 guns left to do. Simple 90's basing was simple green paint and simple paint jobs and I have followed the same style for the new figures. ( They have that toy soldier look that I always admired in the early war-games books of Featherstone and Grant).

Below - The Current Pile - A mixture of 1990 basing and 2008 Basing (I seemed to change my mind a lot). The flags are all mostly glued on half an hour ago apart from some old hand painted ones done in 1994.

 The Oldest Units - Mid 90s at least. The Esci figures are even older as I recall having them when I was around 13 (I just turned 40).

 The "newest" - Italeri (new figures) and Airfix (second hand).

So a few more hundred to go and then the Union can be finished (But I have already started).

Cheers

1/72 ACW

Hi,

I picked up some used figures some time ago that I tried a different painting technique on. It was painting a base colour and then using a wash and highlight. I've done the wash and one part of highlight and I'm not that happy with it to be honest - perhaps the final highlight and detail (buttons etc) will make it look a bit better. I also had them glued to the base before painting - it was fine for the Airfix but a stupid idea for the Revell figures as I could not get to into some of the detail.


Airfix Confederate.

Revell Union.

I think I'll go back to either a simple one paint layer system OR a two step darker\light paint job.

ACW Basing options

Wow 21st of Jan and I have made 6 post already - I'm really enjoying this burst of enthusiasm and activity. I'm deep into another Saxon unit and will have that finished tonight - I usually paint  50 figures in anyone go but I cut that back to 24 for this last two Saxons as I have other things to do. Once these two are complete I have two French Regiments to do which will take my grand total of French Infantry to 3 units (out of 25). Then its the French cavalry's turn to be re-based (and horses painted properly).

A brief interlude into ACW.

I have been looking at Regimental Fire and Fury recently and then at my current figures. Those that survived my original ACW armies were based matching Archduke Piccolos rule-set (Blue and Gray I think) on 35mm x 15m bases. Since most of the forces destruction I have purchased new figures but I have noticed that fitting the older style base is an issue. Airfix and Esci figures fit fine as they have smaller bases but other brands and the poses suit those bases. Some Italeri, Revell and IMEX however have larger bases or the poses often seem to be facing forward so the base is width wise instead of the old classic height wise (Firing figures like the red shirt rebel on the right hand base)). This results in only certain figures fitting together well on a base.

So a new plan is needed I think as I'm not happy with the way the bases work on the new figures.

The following picture is of 3 different basing option (using some unpainted figures).

Right is the original 35mmx15mm, middle is 35mmx30mm and left is the F&F 20mm recommended size 1 1/4 " x 1".

 

The newer options really only have 2 figures frontage that I think works well space size, but it simply blows away my current units. My units are all individual Regiments from the War (eg: 10th Alabama) so moving to a F&F basis of stands will take away that individual basis and also wreck havoc with my current organisation. I could aim for a default F&F unit size of say 6 or 10 stands but this then causes issues.

eg:  10th Alabama is 24 figures (8 ranks of 3) currently

Options - 

• Do nothing and just trip the figure bases to fit (For F&F two older bases can combine into 1 FF base.

• If I re-based for Fire and Fury - I could go for an average size of 6 stands (24 figures) to keep the individual feel and then have a load of generic stands to plug the gaps if larger units are needed or simply go for units of 10 and adjust\remove per ruleset used.
• Bases ESCI\Italeri on the old bases (making figure combos fit) and then use the IMEX\Revell figures for FF bases for a small force.

It is something I shall have to ponder over as it seems like a lot of effort.

28mm Perry ACW - 83rd Pennsylvania.

Hi,

Last year I was going to play in the Gettysburg Refight, I had some figures painted but then Pneumonia struck and and I simply faded out for a good few months. I found the figures last week and decided to finish them off and then sell them to anyone who would actually use them.

I used the same painting techniques on these as my 15mm so they are very blue. However on my various trips to the States I have seen all shades of Union uniforms so I think they are fine . Perry figures are a joy to paint, but after 6mm/15mm I forgot how much space a painted and based 28mm unit will take up.

(I am also amazed that my camera (held together by medical tape) managed to take such good photos)

I can't remember who I got the flags off but they are good. I d need to finish them off as there were glued on but not tidied up afterwards. (I should have really put the flags bases in the right position for my photo).

28mm figures look bloody great don't they.  I won't do ACW in 28mm (20mm and 6mm are enough) but it was good fun painting them up, if a year late that is.

I'm looking at my Napoleonics and WSS with Envy but I need to finish a lot of other things off first. I do need to rebase my Napoleonics first and also finish off the Allied Armies (Prussian, Russian and British) but as it means at painting 300 figures and rebasing 800 or so I'm not really THAT motivated.

Cheers

Boxes

Hi,

I have been away for a few weeks in Auckland and Australia so things stopped somewhat. I did managed to take several boxes of WSS with me and have made them up (Which was fun) so I at least managed to get something done.

My current task is organising myself now that I have more space and getting some projects started. One good thing to come out of it all is that I am now moving a lot of items into some decent storage so everything is together , instead of being spread across 4 or 5 other boxes, using some "tri-drawer "storage boxes. I have a few already so each genre will end up with its own box - I find this storage a lot easier than my current system that involves checking stuff in any box I can find.

The first task is to get all the 1/72 ACW figures into a box like the above and not have it spread out everywhere like it is now. On top.......

 At the side............

 At the back...

Then I will have another box for WSS and other items I am painting. So incase I moved things around it doesnt turn into a big mess like the below.

Now that I am back home I have started painting again with a little helper. My daughter wants to paint (Anything) so I have been allowing her to undercoat figures. Below are some 15mm undead (15mm.co.uk) that she coated last night.

While I worked on finishing some 15mm fantasy dwarves (15mm.co.uk) and finishing some 28mmACW (Perry).

I purchased a box of ACW last year for the refight and then prompt;ly got pneumonia so missed it. So I will paint the last four figures, base then and then sell them.

The photos above have been taken with a tablet that I am experimenting with  given my camera is now quite dated (and clunky).


Cheers

Plastic Nostalgia

So after the ACW game at David's house a long time ago I found some of my plastic ACW figures and decided to give them a whirl. The paint jobs are crude, the basing is simply brown paint with green flock but that is what my ACW armies have always been (Since I was 12) and that is the way I like them (Such an odd-fellow aren't I) as my first ever war-game was an ACW game so it has that nostalgic feel about it.

A Revell Union limber, horrible piece of plastic to pit together - Very soft plastic that glue won't stick to so it took me ages to get it ready.

 The matching artillery piece which I quite like.

Revell US cavalry. I dragged these out and painted some up. Horrible figures as everyone is either facing left or right.

 The dismounted troops (Amazing to get Mounted and dismounted in the same pack) are a lot nicer. I have the uniforms with too much yellow on them but they match my 25 year old unit)

And that Me109 that I bought a  long time ago. It hasn't had a good life, its been dropped several times (.........oh pretty plane daddy .......thud) and my paint job is crap but its the first model plan I have made in some time so beggars can't be choosers).