Secret Santa II July Update

The Secret Santa is already bigger than last years and I expect as the months tick off we will get more interest so if your looking on from the side lines and want to join in, just leave a comment below. Directly below is the names of all who have said they want to join in with names of a few who have shown interest but was not sure. If your name should be on any of the lists and is not, just let me know. If you want removing just do the same. If it's not but you want to join in then shout out. Below these is the list of all the Santa Clause participants, again if you want adding let me know, or if you want moving from one list to the other. You can like me, join in both.

Secret Santa's Signed Up.

Andy McMaster

Conrad Kinch

Tim

Þorsteinn

James Brewerton

Phyllion

Mike

Dartfrog

DaveD

Vladd309

Michael Awdrey*

Thomas Nissvick

Ian Willey

So all but one of last years Secret Santa's have signed up already!

Possible SS participants

Anne

Pauls Bods

*Michael may move to Santa Clause or do both

Now a recap of the rules.

1. To enter you need to either have a blog or be a regular follower of this blog already. This is to give confidence to all involved that everyone will follow through to the end. If you have a blog and don't follow this one it's OK to join in.

2. The present should be around £15 plus postage (best to buy the present actually in the country the receiver lives in so cutting down postage costs)

3. It's OK to have a wish list but it's just as good to buy something you think the person would like. Blog details of your target are given so you can snoop.

4. Whilst it's not essential it really added to Cath's enjoyment when the SS checked in with her to let her know target had incoming.

5. You should pimp the Secret Santa on your blog to hopefully increase the numbers joining in.

6. You should sign up by last day of September so to allow time for picking gifts, that's just two months away.

7. Gifts should arrive by 20th December if possible. It's fine to get the supplier to send direct and I would be cheeky and ask them to gift wrap  ;-)

8. Item/s should be wargame related though it's OK to throw in something odd if you want to.

Santa Clause 

James Brewerton

Anne

Francis Lee (FRAN)

Michael Audrey * see above

Thomas Nissvick

Mike

Chris Stoesen

Ian Willey

The idea is that each person involved buys a figure or figures to the value of less than £5 and paints them up to fit in with what the target blogger wargames or collects. Best would be some kind of command for the bigger scales but maybe a unit or two of such as 6mm or a building or... you get the idea.

I am not offering this as a cheap alternative so much as a great opportunity to send and receive something that will be special BECAUSE it's a one off from a fellow blogger. Not that you have to limit yourself to something useful, feel free to paint up something that will just sit aside the painting desk or study etc and just give pleasure.

So that's the idea, two ways to connect with your blogging friends and get something really exciting at Christmas. I await your response ;-)

Quick Painting Tutorial For 6mm Buildings

With the building of the week feature I have had to get  organised so as to be able to get at least one building done a week. Indeed I have to get extra buildings done some weeks so that the more time consuming projects also get a look it. 

So today I will let you in on the way I have managed to get the farm complex above done in just four hours! Not four hours straight you understand, but I could have got this all done in a day without any issues as drying times are fairly short. As it was I did it over two evenings.

For this I used three of the Leven Miniatures farm buildings, FAR01 the farmhouse, FAR02 the Stable block, FAR03 the Granary Store. Total cost £5.00 and add to that a 120x80mm Warbases base at £1.10 for three, so this project is not going to break the bank.

As it's a quick job I cleaned up the models which mostly comprised of popping the resin beads from such places as corners of windows. Don't worry you will miss the odd one but once under-coated they tend to rear up so just take your scalpel and press on the edge of the bead and off it pops just the same as pre undercoating and it never seems to leave a bare patch. After the original clean up I wash with soapy water (washing up liquid) and scrub with an old nail brush (tooth brush also works well). Give it a good brushing, with Leven buildings you know it's been done right as they come all shiny and when washed are fairly dull. In this case I used Halfords Grey Car Primer as you can see on the stable block above.

6mm figures need ink to add as a wash (nut brown being the norm for me)  but buildings can use such as army painter dip. In this case though I used GW Nuln Oil though I could have used watered down black. Your not looking for an even spread but try not to make the contrast too deep between the lightest and darkest. On the roof I went a little lighter as I wanted them to look a little different. I go on a lot about Leven's skilful use of different textures in their models, this makes painting them so much easier. In the case of the stables the four different finishes for the slate tiles, stone walls, wooden doors and the stone gables will make each painted area stand out beyond just colour differences.

Here I have the farmhouse with the roof gables and door surround all painted with Vallejo Sky Grey and the windows painted Black Grey before using a stiff short haired brush to dabble an almost dry brush of Blue Grey Pale (all colours are Vallejo) Don't worry about how this looks close up, change the angle of the brush to get different splashes of light. 

Size 2 Rosemary & Co Ser 302 brush.

It's very important to remember that whilst painting up the buildings that you are much closer to the piece than you will be once it's finished. I don't mean you can get away with being careless or sloppy but don't get hung up on getting all the lines perfectly straight etc. From a fairly close distance they will look fine.

I use a variety of browns for woodwork, here we have Mahogany Brown for the doors and Flat Brown for the boards under the roof slates. Painted doors are fine for later periods but I plan to use this one for Napoleonic play so felt brown was a better choice.

To add age to the wood I simply dry brushed Iraqui Sand or Buff to rich colours like Mahogany Brown. If it was a duller colour I would dry brush a darker brown giving a more sombre or grubby look. Dry brushing seems to be very much out of fashion these days but for weathering buildings it is still a very useful tool.

The outbuilding should really have a corrugated roof but being Napoleonic I went with a wood effect finish that passes muster. I used New Wood from the Panzer Aces Vallejo range including the wooden roof but then used a mix of different brown washes Sepia and Umber which aged the roof a little and made it less uniform. And that was that for the buildings themselves, I estimate less than two hours all together. However to really finish buildings you need to base them and it's not that difficult at all.

Planning is the thing here you see the base with Sandtex Bitter Chocolate exterior masonry paint has been applied to the areas the buildings will sit. I had drawn round each building so painted just beyond the lines. Other paints can be used but it has to be a thick paint that will act like a strong glue.

Each building is superglued in place which dries faster than the Sandtex which is handy as you want the Sandtex to still be wet and shiny. A few patches may be going dull, especially on the edges, no need to worry if it's just the odd place but it you have larger areas drying apply a little more.

Then the whole base needs dipping in a box of Shapes Sand. You need to sieve out the larger stones and also dry it out before loading up an old shoebox or such. The box needs to be wide enough so that you can put bases into the box and pour small handfuls of sand onto the whole model. Leave it for a couple of seconds then tip upside down over the box and give a few good taps on the bottom of the base to try and knock the loose sand off the base. I then use tweezers to get rid of any out of place rocks or to large boulders. This needs to be left to dry, but if you want wagon wheel tracks or such then now is the time to add these. The reverse of a brush dragged through the surface works well but don't overdo it.

Once dry, usually within an hour take a broad brush with long hairs, I use Rosemary & Co. Ebony Short Flat size 1 for this job though the handle is really long at 27cm but it really suits the job. Now I switch to MP  Miniature Paints, the first semi dry brush colour 62 Sand and lightly brush over the sand areas. The surface already should be a mix of dark brown and yellowish sand with the stones at odd points showing their natural colour. Make sure all the stones get almost totally covered with the sand colour. Make sure you don't apply to much, you want the other colours to shine through and make sure you apply from different directions so you get a more natural effect. I then switch back to Vallejo to paint the bare earth sections Flat Brown and then dry and semi dry brush other browns and the odd yellow based colour such as German C. Beige which tends to look to bright but whist still wet brush over a thinned down dark brown and this tones it down. Have fun and experiment, you can always paint over it again if you don't like the result. Wait till it's dry and you tend to find it looks even better.

Then I again reach for MP Miniature Paints, this time 71 Pale Flesh and an even lighter dry brush over the textured surface, this will raise the colour further and despite it's name it's not a pink colour, rather a off cream. Once this is dry I then brush on watered down PVA (about 50/50) not so that it covers all the raised area's but so that it suits the building or buildings. Then I sprinkle static grass all over the base. I use a home brew mix of 1 part summer and 2 part autumn or winter grass, the shortest I can find. It's good to keep adding different suppliers static to your mix but always keep one summer to two of a darker colour to stop it becoming too bright green. In this case around the outside of the buildings was relatively heavy whilst the area between the house and the granary store (barn in this case) I was very sparing so it gave the impression of being often walked over. I usually leave it overnight at this stage.

Next up is give the whole model, base and buildings a gentle brush with the softest brush you own. I have a really cheap and nasty size 10 brush but the main thing is the bristles are soft and that you lightly brush the whole area. You are getting rid of the dust from the sand and loose static grass. Once your happy it's all done your free to give it a good spraying of varnish, I always use matt.

That is it but if you want to tinker you can always add an extra touch. Recently I added a gardener and a row of plants to a Spanish Villa. Here I used stranded cotton used for X-stitching and glued down with watered down PVA again. Shaping it to the shape I wanted. This had to be left to dry totally before I then added pools of the watered down PVA where I wanted the foliage to be and then added flock which having a different look and texture to the static grass gave a great look of an ivy or other creeping plant taking over the corner of the stable.

So all in all about four hours work from prep to finish including the extra work done on the stables. Now here is the shocker, I'v been painting buildings for a little over a year, so what you are now reading is not the work of an expert nor in fact time served amateur. All you see above can be achieved with average skill and a little knowledge. I hope this will help to convince you to have a go, the outlay for the materials can be a bit expensive to buy all at once but you can substitute colours for ones you own. The static grass is fairly cheap, much cheaper if you and a mate buy it between you and split it. Don't swap out the sharpe sand for another and the smallest bag will last you years but cost next to nothing. 

12th Reserve Regiment, 2nd Brandenberg Project Waterloo

The paint brush rolls on as yet another Regiment of Prussians gets to be finished. This is another interesting regiment as it is outfitted in part in British made uniforms. The 1st and 3rd Battalions have the mixed uniforms whilst the 2nd is just dressed in Prussian Blue. The British uniforms are actually grey and the figures used are British. All figures are Adler. Below is the 1st Battaion.

As you can see from the picture above the British figures have great big plumes sticking up which adds a lot of colour to the base. Being a reserve regiment it has to make do with the good old white cross on a black background (could have been the other way round). 

I really like the skirmishers that come on a strip of three, slightly more expensive than the Jager but in my mind worth paying for. Notice the grey uniforms do not have red cuffs? well that is correct according to the Mont St Jean website. Indeed the red on the colour is just at the front never mind cuffs.

As before the flags are Baccus and I really feel comfortable adding them to the units now and like the wind effect that can be got, never a fan of straight flags. 

The mix of uniforms added another wrinkle to the production line but I still got them painted fairly quickly, even having time to add the command to them.

Here we have the 2nd Battalion ably lead bay an energetic mounted officer. These are in column where the 1st Battalion was in a three deep line.

Trying to gain momentum as they close in of the enemy, I am gainfully trying to get the stripes on the drummers shoulder thingies not quite right but good enough for me.

I still think I could do with more figures to give real weight to the column but after the first basing of my Adler I have come a long way and now they don't look like they are falling over and the column is no longer wedge shaped.

Here is the 3rd Battalion which is quite a bit different with the basing as I wanted some fun. Rather than plan it out I had one of those moments....

Here you can see the main body of the Battalion still formed up as the skirmish line is moving forward whilst some of the battalion run to get through the gap in the hedge were the Sargent is ready to put them in order so that the rest of the battalion can follow on and form up into an organised body again.

Worms eye view of the skirmishers forcing their way through. I was very happy how the whole base came out and Cath has again come up trumps with some of the shots. Next up for this project is another reserve regiment so expect more of the same next month.

Chatter Behind The Bike Sheds

I have been thinking about the term Golden Age of Wargaming. We have been quick to accept this label for figure gaming and why not? After all we have so much more going for the hobby now than ever before. Ask the same question about Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) and it's not so cut and dried with a fairly large minority agreeing that it was better when less was more. ASL suffers from too much syndrome these days. Quite simply if you committed all your spare time to playing the game you still would not be able to play everything that comes out in a year. 

I guess the biggest difference between ASL and figure gaming is that the figure gamer does not suffer the need to own it all. Plus of course ASL is a system for mostly one period (WWII) whilst the figure gamer takes what they want from the periods on offer. Sometimes you may want figures for every regiment that fought in such and such campaign but this is at least finite. 

But this does not help answer the question "Are we in the Golden Age?" What happens if rather than being in the golden age we are just on the build up to the golden age? What if on the other hand we are on the edge of end of the Golden Age?

Lets look at some of the features of today's gaming.

Kickstarter. Never has so much been spent on such diverse protects

Pro. The chance to bring out projects that would not have had a chance without such a system as established companies would, and probably have in many cases say no to such projects.

Con. There is a reason plenty of these projects would not get off the ground. Also unless they are increasing the funds going into wargaming they are just thinning out the cash being spent on the main providers making it harder for them to trade.

Global Market. Thank You internet, because of you so many things are now possible.

Pro. EVERYTHING is now available to all, Minor period desire can be fulfilled. Traders now have the widest possible market, we can see just what is available and money not withstanding we can fill our boots.

Con. It's hard to poor cold water on this, it's great to have access to all the new shinny but at what cost? Remember those old armies that you played with, you know the boring old XYZ castings? When exactly did they become so dull?

More Magazines than you can throw a stick at. Lets face it, we now have so many mag's almost all but the most fickle will find one they like.

Pro. Just that, you should be able to get a mag you like, often several, too often you have the lot and that's a lot of reading. You could arrange to have something new to read every time you want to wet your appetite. 

Con. Emperors New Cloths anyone? With so many mags out, how do they all keep going on? mostly because so many do buy either them all or most of them. BUT how much do you read them? Cover to cover or cherry pick? How about the cost? at £5 a time it's easy to be blowing £20 a month on the hobby and that's with out picking up a blister pack. A years worth of mags is a few painted units from a painter or a fairly impressive haul of figures.

Wargame Shows. You don't have much down time between shows these days.

Pro. Plenty of chances to catch up with friends, the opportunity to look and and touch the latest item from your dream supplier. Great games to look at and competitions to join in and if you will travel you can get a hit almost whenever you want.

Con. The pressure is on, how many traders have day to day jobs? How many are making little or no profit from shows but feel they HAVE to do the shows? Is it just me but do you miss when you looked forward to the next show knowing it's six months before you get to the next one? When did you last get a buzz from a show, I mean a BUZZ, if the reason was meeting up with mates only seen at shows then join the club. It's a big reason I think Blog-Con will be such a hit.

Skill Levels are a Climbing. Look at the quality of castings, don't they paint up so well.

Pro. Pride may be a sin but it sure feels good. Give an average painter a good casting and they will do a good job and the figure will look good. Now give it to a good painter and it will look sooo good.

Con. The figures would paint up quicker if they did not have so much detail. We would paint them up quicker if we did not want them to look so good. For some, the detail and raised skills are too much and their figures tend not to be seen as often as they should or their enjoyment is diminished due to not being THAT good. Worse, old armies stay in boxes as we look down on our previous skills.

Terrain and Buildings. Never on the field of human conflict as so much looked so damn good.

Pro. Don't it just though. Better looking games do add something to your playing pleasure and it's somehow sad to see the best looking armies being dragged around a Blue Peter battlefield (sorry foreign readers a bit of Brit culture being shown here)

Con. Oh the cost, the cost. First for a table to look good you need to spend to get it that way. But also the cost in time, unless you plan to get it all done for you then see point one x10. It's possible the table takes over, the battle becomes hard to fight as it's too cluttered.

Blogging. Nothing has changed wargaming more in the last ten years than blogs.

Pro. From being inspired to inspiring, you are not alone. Mutual support and the feeling of belonging. It goes on and on, truly blogging has extended many a wargamers projects and interest than possibly can be calculated. Suppliers have had so much free advertising and ranges have been pushed from marginal to success.

Con. At what cost? Well not enough to send too many mags under as we use blogs instead of mags but have they taken sales? Time, that one measure that is hard t quantify, how much time has been lost away from the painting desk or worse gaming table? It takes hours to write this drivel and how much time to read? Should we not be doing something more useful instead (sorry another Brit culture thing)

So I can't answer if we are in the Golden Age, but I can say this, it really does not matter if your enjoying where your at more than where you have been. The trick is to keep it that way.

Building of the Week Hartenstein Hotel

Yet another Leven Miniatures Building, and again it's a new one. Seems it's hard to keep up with all the new releases. This is from the growing WWII series of buildings, in this case the Airborne's  HQ at Oosterbeek Holland during the Bridge to Far battle. It's included in the Normandy building section as NOR05 and costs just £3.00 which is not at all bad given it's size. 

I checked the net for colour pictures of the building and was pleasantly surprised at the wealth of material available. Indeed it would have been easy to have based this building with a few slit trenches around it. Unfortunately I no longer have any 6mm WWII figures or tanks to dot around the building.

The building has a fairly basic colour palette and I did not want the white to be crisp as I felt even before it was involved in the heavy fighting the paintwork mush have been starting to look drab after nearly five years of shortages and rationing. After all Holland was soon to have people actually starving to death as the war was approaching the end.

Given the shape is basicly box like the added detail on the roof is most welcome. Good work has been done as usual with different textures being used and it looks like a building, actually it looks like a large hotel or large home. Indeed it will make a grand objective for many a wargames table. 

The rear of the building remains rather grand, my windows woodwork looks much better from a distance but what can I say. This building is not getting the basing treatment as it has been painted up for Mike himself and he requested it being left off a base.

My window painting style came under pressure with the large conservatory but I think you can get the idea that is what it is supposed to be. I added the wooden floor to this as well as the front steps whilst the rear is all stone. I just hope Mike likes it.

Adler Landwehr Cavalry And Pirch II

It seems wrong to have painted up the whole of Pirch II's nine infantry Battalions and yet not have painted up Pirch himself. For those not in the know the Prussian army of the 100 days campaign had two high ranking officers with the name of Pirch, Pirch I commanded the II Corp whilst Pirch II commanded the 2nd Brigage in I Corp. Anyway enough of that, here is the lesser commander.

Pirch's ADC pointing out where the French are massing.

Like most of the Prussian units, the commanders are not the most colourful, still a splash of red always helps. I did do a search for images of Pirch but came up with nothing.

Or are they that way?

My rules have Division Commanders mounted two figures to a base, Corp commanders three to a base and the Army Commander of four figures, this does not include any unmounted figures that may be on the base as well for added interest. My French are woefully under strength in Division Commanders which needs sorting in the coming months.

Next up are two regiments of Landwehr, these are a mixed bunch so rather than having some armed with sword and others with lance these first two I have mixed sword and lance together.

Here we have the 1st Landwehr Cavalry Regiment of Westphalia who are part of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade of the Ist Corp. As with Adler cavalry you get two poses for the standard trooper so with a base of nine figures two of which are command I have six different poses, that leads to a bit of a mixed look, something I was keen to capture.

The 1st Westphalia had green pipping on their saddle cloths and orange pennants on the lances though the orange has come out a little dirty. I did my typical staggered line to give the feel of a charge with the guys with the sticks tending to lead the way.

Maybe they saw some French Lancers? I am starting to itch to get some play out of my Prussians soon, after all they are gathering mass. But before I can I need to get more cavalry and more command painted up so I know what I have to get on with don't I?

Here we have the 1st Landwehr Cavalry Kurmark of the same brigade as the cavalry above. These have the same dress as the first but have red pipping on the saddle cloths, black and white pennants and red colours instead of the green.

These also have a white trim on the shako making them rather dashing so I guess they get all the fraulein going. Still as long as they do well whilst I command them and pants when I am facing them, they can look how they like!

I just need to add one regiment of Lützow Uhlanen and the 2nd Brigade of cavalry will be finished. In fact with just three more regiments of cavalry painted up I could have the whole of Ist Corp cavalry sorted.

The command was painted this month but the cavalry were painted last month but were resisting photographing, all of these pics were taken by Cath and have come out great.

So Project Waterloo continues to move at a reasonable pace and remains on track though I will feel a bit better once I get more command and get into the Baccus infantry that I bought recently as we still need lots of them.

The Santa Clause

The Secret Santa remains the main focus for a Christmas of giving and getting (if your not sure what this is look back through my post list and you may well want to jump in) but I also had another idea based on a few comments. 

We all like to receive something hobby related and the Secret Santa is set up to do just that, each person spending about £15 equivalent on a fellow blogger, last year was a blast and looks to be bigger this year. But not everyone can (or wants) to commit to such a high price with so much pull on our resources at that time of year. So how about a kind of mini SS which I will call Santa Clause.

The idea is that each person involved buys a figure or figures to the value of less than £5 and paints them up to fit in with what the target blogger wargames or collects. Best would be some kind of command for the bigger scales but maybe a unit or two of such as 6mm or a building or... you get the idea.

I am not offering this as a cheap alternative so much as a great opportunity to send and receive something that will be special BECAUSE it's a one off from a fellow blogger. Not that you have to limit yourself to something useful, feel free to paint up something that will just sit aside the painting desk or study etc and just give pleasure.

This will need a shorter deadline than the SS due to having to paint something up and of course you can join in both if you wish, I know I am, so lets here from you, if your game or possibly game please comment below. Hell, please comment even if you think the idea sucks. If I get enough interest I will open an official list to take it forward.

Project Waterloo July, Early Orders.

I finished early this month, actually I finished very early as the target total was achieved by the twenty first. That's painted, based, flocked, varnished and flagged. Only tonight have I got round to getting them photographed which was actually done by Cath with the picture above taken by here.

It never ceases to amaze me the detail on these Adler figures, and this grey scale picture really shows it off. So over the next week you will see the latest regiment of infantry finished but also the cavalry from last month and finally a command stand! 

So I have the rest of the month to spend doing other things, the building of the week is close to finished, I have the 15mm ECW regiment on bottle tops all ready and I have more than a little job in having already assembled the 1940 RAF pilot from Ultracast that just needs a little filling and he will be undercoated.

All in all a profitable month time wise especially given the heat which seems to have stopped lots of painters in their tracks. This terrain (building) a week is really pushing me along as it was intended and this means you will see a large mix of pieces over the blog, not just buildings but I have a number of ideas brewing for 15mm, nothing to the standards of the professionals but I think I may be able to use some of the packaging that comes my way through work. Storing it though is going to be a pain, after all I have rather a lot of 6mm Prussians to house.

Mithridates The Great Book Blog Giveaway Winner

Well it's either a 1 or a 6

One day late after taking to my sickbed yesterday I finally make the draw. With six people entering it was a rather easy D6 to decide who had won and so I used one of my Battle School Precision Dice, aptly enough a gift to me from one of my ASL mates.

The infantry man emblem represents the number one pip so well done Michael Awdry, so please contact me with you address and I will get this on it's way to you. If you can't get at my e-mail address just leave a message on this post and I will post it in the comments section.

Possibly the most used photo in blogworld?

So well done to Michael and for you lot who missed out maybe you will have better luck if Michael decides to play it forward.

ModelZone Closing Down Sale - Nottingham

I was in Nottingham yesterday to check out the Foundry Shop for Blog-Con (more on that when I can download the pictures). But on Friday I found out that ModelZone had gone into liquidation and are selling off the stock. Further more Vallejo paints had 50% knocked off the price. Now it's almost a month since receivers were sent in and I did not expect much to be left. As such I was pleasantly surprised to see the paint racks still reasonably stocked.

I came away with ten paints, I could have gone more but all the colours I would have added were probably going to be seldom used. That being said I will still buy some more next time I go if they have any left. At the moment most items are only 20% reduced, but experience says that if you time it right then many a bargain can be had. At the moment though 50% off paints, sprays and modelling tools is a great incentive. The Woodland Scenic's is still just 20% so I hope to pick up some of this once the price drops.

ModelZone blame poor choices in leases and internet competition as being he main reasons for closing down. The Internet is an old chestnut and one I have some sympathy over but many a brick and mortar shop had lower prices than ModelZone but the Internet could really trash them on plastic kits.

Poor decisions over leases though is really bad, this is a time that many shopping centres and outlets are prepared to give long periods of free rent or turnover only based rents, basicly offer almost free (and in cases free) rent just so they do not have as many voids and  someone else pays the rates. About four years ago Business rates was changed so that full rates are levied on empty shops which the landlord would be liable for, this made a good number of units suddenly become cheap whilst units in area's with no retail growth become a lead weight around the owners neck! Rather than stimulate retail it actually chocked the long standing profitable retailers as fly by nights came in with little or no rent and sashed prices in many cases sending the established retailer who was tied into a high rent into none profit. Anyway I digress, what ModelZone's owners really meant was that they tried the old tactic when confronted with shrinking sales and opened lots of units in a bid to push turnover up.And in doing so seems also was stupid enough to PAY rent at something like normal prices. Never did it cross their minds to cut prices or have special offers etc. to stimulate sales, instead they opted for high prices and watching their profit and loss sheet falter, no dobt throwing more money into yet more poorly conceived stores. 

So it may still be worth nipping to your local ModelZone, bargains may await.

Baccus Grenadiers - The New Batch

With the Baccus Open Day today and The Joy of Six tomorrow I thought it a good idea to finally get round to finishing off the Old Guard Battalion I had painted up at the beginning of the month. All I needed to do was flag it and take the pics so last night I finally added the flag and this morning painted the `white bits` so here it is all finished.

These are NFR4 French Grenadiers and NFR21 French Grenadiers, Skirmish and obviously are from Baccus.

So what can I say other than to repeat what I have said about all the new releases so far? Well not much, they continue to be crisp with very little clean up and so they go from packet to paint desk in just slightly longer than it takes the primer to dry. 

The skirmishers are great to paint and look really nice with the loading and firing positions as expected from Baccus. I based these up in line to show them off all in a row.

The detail is there for anyone who wants to paint it whilst you can get away with leaving out some detail if you want a quick paint up. This is a real strength of Baccus and possibly a big reason they are the largest 6mm provider. I trod the middle ground and as such painted up the Battalion in a couple of sessions.

Based in the usual way, these probably will not get to see action at Waterloo as Lee is providing all the Guard so these are just back ups at the moment and as such will only get reinforced in the foreseeable future if it looks like Lee will need help to get his Guard done.

So of all the new Baccus Infantry I will have the Early French in Bicorne and Grenadiers sitting in my box for another two years which seems a huge crime against such nice figures. My only virtue in this is that the new French Line already released will be painted up and added too.

The new French Cavalry are not yet released, this will be real soon though so expect to see those to be shown here as soon as I can get my hands on them. As I understand it, we will get the new French cavalry very soon and after these will come the command figures and a new mix of artillery with different sized guns (and the new all in one cast guns) which will see a wide range of guns to arm your boys with. New limbers will also be in the mix.

Once all the old codes have been updated then we will start to see a LOT more new codes that will expand the French choices to a dazzling figure. This is obviously not an overnight task so we will have to show a certain amount of patience (yep right!) as these trot off the design table. I am lobbying for the Waterloo French, not that it will stop me filling the ranks with the earlier French, after all it is 6mm and we have a deadline to meet.

So if you have a chance to get to Joy of Six, I fully recommend you do as it's going to be a huge if in a small way ;-)