WSS Cavalry and Dragoons.

First an heads up that Dux is offering a rather nice giveaway on his blog for hitting 20,000 page views, not at all a bad achievement. The prize I like the most being some 28mm SAGA figures that he will paint up for you (well hopefully me LOL).

Finished these about a week ago but did not want to post about them till Matt had them in hand as it were. I am quite happy how they turned out but even happier to have them behind me. Don't get me wrong I did not dislike doing them but a mix of cavalry being one of the less fun types for me to paint and having done so very many figures with similar dress left me a little flat. I just have the command to finish now which I will concentrate on once I have the ECW that are on my desk finished. This should be the next two days I think as all all coming close to being finished.

Each regiment takes up two sticks, here you see Le Roi and Nassau, with the black primer to work up to these came out quite punchy in colour, an effect that is growing on me.

Here we have Cosse and La Vallier, the colours (flags) are conjecture based on some examples I found on the net. Seems cavalry standards more than infantry are lost in the mists of time.

Regt. Royal is the fifth regiment and has two command stands to make it up to the twelve figures that Matt had planned each regiment to be. These all are typical of Baccus cavalry in pose and make up. Nice and easy to paint up though the black priming did make it a bit harder to pick out some of the detail.

Here is a shot of all five line cavalry and the three dragoon regiments. The dragoons were a little more fun to paint as each regiment had the colourful hats and the musician was a drummer in all regiments whilst only a couple of line cavalry had these.

Hessy and Zurlander regiments of foot and the Artillery

Finished off the WSS infantry and painted up the guns and crews at the same time. The two regiments were more interesting as they were not the usual grey or white. This gives Matt 30% of his foot in red or blue. Both blue and red have been given as possible colours for the French guns so I gave Matt the choice and he wanted red as they would stand out a bit more.

This completes the French foot leaving just the horse and command figures to go. That's ninety six cavalry and fifteen mounted command figures to go till this project is finished. I do feel the need to take a break from 6mm when these are done though. 

Not that in can be that long of a break. First up I wish to continue averaging one command figure a day for my French Naps army and I really need to get rid of some more figures to buy some much needed supplies. I have decided to base my Prussian army similar to how Lee bases his troops. After all they will be on his side of the table in 2015 so it makes some sense. 

I still hope to get started on my Roman army before my birthday, at least that is 15mm so plan to start cleaning some of the figures up next week. Meanwhile I think I will do more of the 28mm WWII figures as I have already fully prepped the Partisans and have cleaned but not primed a bunch for the desert. 

I also have pulled out the ACW Confederate army pack for a relatively quick paint job but that's 6mm as obviously is my Prussian infantry booster pack. I will see one or possibly both started before February is through. Probably try the ACW first as I can experiment with the basing a bit.

Next up for Matt should be the ECW, I aim to do these in two to three weeks, these are 15mm but I plan to pant up the same regiments in 6mm for myself, just for a bit of fun. Seems no matter what I do I manage to find my way back to the 6mm

I still have a lot of Macedonian extra's that need to be painted up but not sure when I will do these. To be honest I may well just pull out all I have and spend an evening choosing the next few units. I almost have Matt's horse finished, these have two days tops left in them, just the command left then. I gave myself three months to finish Matt's figures and this includes a whole Zulu starter army from Baccus but I think I will manage it.

So what next? You tell me!

WSS Mass Love In

OK maybe not love, but as my wife once said to me, it was fun. So quickly moving on, I decided to paint up the white and the grey foot regiments all at the same time after painting up the first one. This meant I seemed to be painting an endless supply of the same exact figure parts but it did have the desired effect of moving them on. I still have two regiments of infantry to do, one in blue and the other in red which I will be doing in a week or two.

I also painted up prior to the batch of six a blue coated regiment that being Gardes Frances which rather sticks out as it is. I have to admit I am looking forward to doing the two other colourful regiments as they tend to pop against the others. All six regiments got issued with grey coats and trousers by me as it helped make the white show better than the base of black. Same went for the hat lace, I painted all of these white before painting half of them yellow. The results I feel are better for it.

These will all be based and flagged by Matt, I still have yet to drop them off as I will need my painting sticks back. Each stick has the regiments name on it so I could paint them up correctly, so the last thing I want to do is mix them up.

48 figure regiments sure are on the large size. I am playing with the idea of making future French Napoleonic infantry regiments 36 figures with a skirmish screen of four figures. This adds 33% to the main body so will have a large impact on painting time but I think the result could well be worth it. Of course I have to sell some of the stuff at York this weekend to move forwards at all.

Here we have all eight regiments I have painted so far. The two infantry should take about three days and then the horse I think two to three weeks once they are started. I then have the 6mm Zulu army and at least three foot regiments in 15mm, one cavalry and three guns for Matt's ECW army so my self imposed time limit of three months looks very much possible. I plan to paint up a ECW regiment of my own in 15mm and do the corresponding regiments in 6mm for my own 6mm project. That should make it interesting. 

On the desk at the moment I have 37 WWII Germans in 15mm that I expect to finish the paint job tonight and sort out the AP for these and the 28mm WWII tomorrow whilst Cath is out for some much needed Brownie points. Then it's onto the pack of 40 15mm Yanks that I want to finish by Sunday. Given that I am out tomorrow night watching Les Mes, (a Christmas present from my Mum to Cath and me) an ASL game booked for Friday and hopefully Sunday this could be a paint job to far but here is hoping. 

Once these are done I hope to have bought the Russians which will be not to far down the line but first it will be something for me first. I have prepped the Adler command and Baccus Hussars for my French Naps and am keen to get these done. It's probable I will be working on Matt's cavalry at the same time so I need to clear some space.

I also have cleaned but not primed over 30 WWII figs to go with the 20 odd I have all ready to paint, these I plan to slip into the mix and as the 20 odd are partisans these will be done bits at a time to make sure they don't come out looking too similar. 

Plenty more right behind these that need to find a place int he queue and given my aim of starting my Romans before end of March I need to get a move on.

WSS French Regt Vermandois 6mm Baccus

This is the first of the Regiments that I am painting up for Matt for his French War of Spanish Secession Army. All the figures will be Baccus and funnily enough is not the first figures from around this period I have painted for someone else, and again they were 6mm and Baccus.

The first task was to make sure they matched Matt's other figures and style. Not so easy as Matt's style is rather different to mine. I base coat usually in white whilst Matt goes with black. I paint to the corners and whilst Matt is not anything like a blob painter he leaves a slight shadow of black around the painted areas. I have always liked the look of this style but had difficulty knowing really where to begin with it.

No this is NOT the regiment I painted up, rather it's the example Matt dropped off the other day for me to go by. As you can see Matt has a striking style and one that also works with his rather nice Russian Napoleonic's. Indeed one could ask why he would use someone else when he can do so well? Well two reasons, the usual time issue. At the moment he is building a 6mm British force to do Waterloo, not a small project and a subject he loves. The second reason has more sway, Matt simply does not enjoy painting. I know go figure?

So the picture above is of the first regiment I have done for him. For a period I have no knowledge or interest I am starting to get an idea about it. Hopefully this will not lead to yet another diversion, I need that like a further hole in the bonce. 

The plan is to work down the list of regiments Matt has given me, grouping them where same colours allow a faster pace. I have already done a second regiment so that Matt could see what I did with colour. Whilst he has yet to see the figures in the flesh he is happy for me to continue. I hope to do so early next week. In the meantime I am working on some 28mm WWII which weather permitting I will pick up the bases next weekend.

Matt will base and flag these guys at a later date, at this point they are sitting on my painting sticks. The idea is that once they are all done and based I can get a few pics to show you them ready for the field, you never know I might even get a game against them when Matt pits them against one of his other armies.