FIW British Grenadiers

In the last few months I have been expanding my FIW Grenadiers to a unit of 3 detachments.  I had already done one unit a few years ago and have now added two more plus a mounted officer to lead them. They are based in 3 units of 8 men for Sharp's Practice, but the sabot basing gives me a lot of flexibility.

During this period each Battalion fielded its own company of Grenadiers. However, it was common practice for these Grenadier companies to be detached from their Battalion and grouped together wth other companies to form shock Grenadier formations. This proved so effective that standing Grenadier units were subsequently raised, and the Grenadier companies dropped from line battalions.  Thus, I have painted my Grenadiers as being from 3 different units with different regimental facing colours and with some uniform differences.

A Grenadier attack column to drive the fear into the enemy!

Figs are a mix of Front Rank (with bearskins and green facings, and the mounted Officer) and Conquest (via Warlord) for the units with yellow and blue facings.  The soldiers mix well but the mounted officer is quite a bit larger - he looks ok from a distance though.
All that lacing and cloth mitres nearly drove me crosseyed but I'm really pleased with the mass effect.  I'm also pleased that I was able to get them finished before this year's painting challenge!

Figures for "the yellows" were donated by club mate Stephen - thanks mate! (my painting)

And here is a little bit of self indulgence to show them off with appropriate music!

September Hobby Update

Well, that was a quick month and no mistake: a holiday in Norway and a stack of gaming has left little time for hobby progress. Not an entirely horrible state of affairs I must admit!  I'm slowly getting my painting mojo back though with a return to some favourites.

First up: Noway was fantastic with 2 weeks spent with friend in both Bergen and Oslo.  A great time touring the fjords, climbing mountain and catching up with great friends.  I really enjoyed the museums of Oslo too, with the Viking Ships museum being a particular highlight.

I coudn't resist!

Gaming wise we have played a bit more Mortal Gods which has been great. Reilly has now requested an army of his own and we are ready to start playing bigger games with some different scenarios.

Aled's first game, discovering how fragile slingers can be!

I caught up with Comrade James and the Canberra lads recently, and played my first game of Kill Team against Patch using Reilly's old Salamander Space Marines. Quick, thematic and lots of fun. Not sure why it took a year to get around to playing it, but there will definitely be more!

My plasma gunner and medic take up a flanking position in the ruins

While a Heavy Bolter and auspex fitted marine take Overwatch positions!

Another example of Patch's lovely painting

Comrade James and Adam enjoying some Blood Red Skies action!

Reilly has also ben continuing his weekly D&D campaign, playing weekly with his friends.  He designed his own character figure using HeroForge, which was excellent. He plays a Turtle Warrior (of mature years, neither Teenager or Ninja!) named "Sir Reggie" and it was all there on the site for him to build and arrived quickly.  I enjoyed painting it with him and together we finished it in a day to wreak havoc on the table in style.

Our Hero victorious over an evil denizen!

https://www.heroforge.com/

I'm also getting back into my FIW army, expanding it so that I can use it for bigger games and also on the continent for broader SYW engagements.  I have a friend with French Armies for the period so it will be good to get double duty from it next year. It could be triple, if I can find someone with a Jacobite Army for the '45!

I started with a Mounted Grenadier Officer (Front Rank model) to get me in the groove, and am now doing the first of two more Grenadier units for him to Command.  Once they are done, a Highlander Regiment looks at me expectantly but the tartan and striped sox have me concerned...

In the meantime, I have been moderating a Napoleonics campaign using Sharp Practice set during the Peninsula Campaign and it has been a hoot!
We are 3 battles in now, but that deserves its own post soon.

Hope you are all well out there in the blogosphere!
I hope to catch up with some Aussie bloggers at MOAB early next month in Sydney

Returning to the FIW with Rebels & Patriots

Light Infantry screen the flank of the advancing Redcoats

A wonderful return to the French Indian War last night with Alan, using the new Rebels & Patriots rules (the latest of the Rampant series of games, which we have really enjoyed). Didn’t get everything right but it gave a fun and quick game. It was nice to have forces painted and ready to go!

The British army in its element

French Indian allies failed to activate twice and then fled off the board - the British must have given them a better offer! French light troops and sharpshooters then took the objective ridge-line and the redcoat lines advanced upon them.

Having faced the French fusillade with resolve, British regulars go in with the bayonet

The British took some casualties and enjoyed the proximity of their commander to help with their morale checks and keep advancing. They then got stuck in with the bayonet and cleared the feature. 

The Redcoats pursue the retreating French without pause

The Grenadiers assaulted the last unit and the French Commander, Lieutenant Pierre Pouchot, was taken into captivity. 
Ransom has been set at one Matilda tank (its a long story...)

Lieutenant Pierre Pouchot gives his parole

AHPC 8: "BFG" Bonus round - FIW 12 pounder

My entry for the BFG round is an emplaced Royal Artillery field piece to support my British FIW army that I painted in AHPC VII.  Now Alan's French and Canadiens will have to contend with bombardment, ball and shot while my ranks of Redcoats advance with cold steel!

I know what you're thinking - 'nice, but is it really "Big" for a BFG Bonus round?' Well big is a relative term and in the FIW campaigns along the frontier, there wasnt a lot of artillery.  Most were emplaced in fortifications or brought up for specific sieges but in general, columns didn't have guns attached.  So dropping a 12 pounder onto the table makes it a BFG indeed!

Figs are by Front Rank and I have used a large sabot base from Charlie Foxtrot models, which gave me the space to do a nice dioramic front with the gabions.    The crew of 5 is for Sharpe Practice - our FIW rules of choice. Front Rank also impressed by providing alternate barrels for the gun carriage.  In the pics above the larger 12 pounder barrel is shown.  Here is the smaller alternative they provide in the pack, allowing me to field it as a 9 or even a 6 pounder.

After time away from painting Lace Wars era uniforms, I found these a bit of a struggle - not sure how I managed 50+ of them last challenge!

Notes to self on colours used:
Gun Carriage - GW Blue Grey
Uniform: Blue- Vallejo Prussian Blue with GW Asurmen Blue wash; Red-  GW Scarlet with Army Painter Red Tone wash; Coat d'arms Sunburnt Flesh

In toto thats one field gun (10 points), 5 crew (25 points at 5 points each) and the 50 bonus points for a total of 85.  That takes me to 305 points and past the halfway point!

AHPC entry is here:
http://analogue-hobbies-theme-rounds.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/bfg-from-paulog-fiw-royal-artillery.html

UPDATE: Pleased to announce that after voting my FIW artillery got a Runner Up position! 

Thats two such results during AHPC 8 - WoW!

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/the-votes-are-in-for-bfg-bonus-theme.html

So one month down and my progress rate compared to previous years is up there, but that will drop off shortly as I start some significant travel with work (thus my 500 point target).

Some FIW Gaming

Colonial Rangers scout ahead of the British Main Body

Over the last few months Alan and I have been progressing a FIW campaign and continuing to add to our forces.  So much so that we are now at the upper edge of what we can reasonably setup and complete in a club night.  Here is some eye candy of our forces in  recent actions:

Infantry column with a skirmish screen deploys on the left flank in front of a strong French position

My right flank infantry advance along a forrest trail

Alan's waiting French line

Vive la Roi!

My left flank advances, reinforced by Grenadiers

And deploys with rippling musketry!

I'm very happy how the Warbases came out - I think they look really good painted and flocked, and they save a stack of time during movement.

While my right column forms into line and does likewise

Take that Frenchies! Now back to Canada with you!

Its been very satisfying to see this force really develop during AHOC and beyond - just one artillery battery to go until I am done (for now anyway!)

FIW Fences

I wanted to add some linear type obstacles to our FIW games, so this week I made some fences.  Two packs of Renedra Cross Rail fencing to be precise.  The kits are really great kit, but its like constructing a mechano set with lots of bits to put together, which was a fiddly process.  On the other hand, it is ultimately flexible.  This is what I ended up with:

I've been deliberately trying to put more colour on my table this year, thus the brown wood colours of a new construction rather than weathered greys.

I was trying to emulate this type of fencing which was prolific in the New England region in the colonial era (I took these pics when I lived there)

British FIW Command stand

Over the weekend I completed this project, which I've been working on for a few weeks.

The is a British Senior officer is a Front Rank figure from the SYW range, as is the staff Officer (he is from their artillery crew collection). The hound is from Warbases and I painted up with the same colouring as one of my beagles :-)

Overall I'm thrilled with how this came out and think its probably my best work to date, aided significantly by how consistently I've been painting since Christmas.  Now to put him on the table and find out if he is a seasoned and clever Officer, or an ignorant man of entitlement...

More Redcoats!

Just before Easter I received reinforcements from Front Rank miniatures for my British FIW Army.  I also got my new sabot bases from Warbases to help rank them up and speed game play up (moving all those figures was taking quite a toll on game play).  So I got busy over the great and here is the result.

Overall, I've added a mounted Officer as a commander, another unit of Regular Infantry and this unit of Grenadiers in fur covered mitres.  The figures match up well against my Warlord ones and the uniform differences are relatively minor and simply add variety.

Now in train is a final unit of Infantry and another light infantry unit.   I also still need to paint and flock the sabot bases, and have this WIP Senior Officer figure underway (any likeness to Trump is entirely accidental!)