£20 Giveaway The Winner, can there only be one?

Anyone remember this colourful chap? Oh those were the days, well today I can give someone a bit of what he has, except this will not be BBC funny money (get it? Comedy Character? Funny Money? grief  not sure why I bother lol)

Anyway, by the far the most popular give away as it seems we all can spot a bargin, I will present you with the winner, this is none other than M R Lee from Mr Lee's Painting Emporium. Well done Sir, check the previous post for my e-mail address. All you need to do is get in touch, tell me the company you want me to throw a bit of money at (well worth checking if they are willing to take money off dodgy geezers) and I will sort it out. Normally I would suggest a merchant in your own country but the choice is yours.

I Have selected a second name so if I don't get a response within a week I will offer the prize to the second placed person. However if it is taken up I will give a second place prize of £10 to that person but will not be able to sort that prize out till the end of the month.

So we do have the chance of two winners after all  ;-)

BUT it does not stop there, Peter from Baccus the kind man that he is has offered three lucky winners 25% off their purchase of the soon to be released French Napoleonic revised and new lines. Anyone who knows Baccus will be aware that not only have they been working on all new figures for new periods but whole ranges are getting a complete overall. The most recent has been the Austrian Napoleonic range and now it's the French who are getting the treatment. The first releases to the range will hopefully be at Salute and it is advisable if you want any of the new castings to order before the day. That or take a sleeping bag as I suspect these will be the first items Baccus will run out of on the day. I can't make Salute but plan to be ordering plenty of the French as soon as I have the full details.

We could not offer this giveaway before (The give away was planned to be seven days) as it was not clear that all parts would be ready in time and Salute is a major undertaking and so Peter finding time to help me out is very nice indeed. So the plan is to run the rest of the giveaways through to Saturday and Sunday will see this giveaway launched with seven days to put your name down.

Don't forget the last three current giveaways are still live so you can still enter any or all of them. Thanks again for all who have entered in these giveaways and of course to all the companies that have backed my two blogs.

3D Sniper Giveaway the WINNERS.

OK we have two winners as promised, and they have interesting comparisons. Both are bloggers and whilst I combined the list of entrants I have a winner from each of my blogs even though statistically Wall Advantage had the best chance of supplying the winners with more entrants. So who are the lucky two?

First name rolled was Ray Rousell owner of Don't Throw a 1 and part of the Battleaxe Painting Service. For some reason the lucky barstool has a reputation for winning and winning and winning just about everything (if one discounts games) so get in touch mate and I will get a set on the way.

Second person out could not be more different, for a start he has a reputation for being a nice guy, yes I am talking about the one and only Curtis Brooks who runs the rather excellent and very regular ASL blog Whine and Cheese ASL in Wisconson. 

So if both are still talking to me could you please send me an e-mail (or Gamesquad PM) with your address I will get these sorted out and in the post to you as soon as possible (possibly will be the weekend). To get in touch please send to

ian underscore (that's shift and the dash) willey hat without the H hotmail dot com

I am sure you know how to break that out of code into a real e-mail, if not then just leave a comment and I will get back to you in a better way.

Thanks to all who took part and remember you still have time to join in with any of the other giveaways.

Leven Miniatures Fachwerkhaus (German Half Timbered House)

I received these recently from Levin as part of an order I placed and wanted to get them painted up as quickly as possible. Well I managed to get two of the six I had ordered painted up so I thought I would share the results with you.

Two different buildings make up the range so far, but I hope that a few more will be released. The castings were typically crisp with only a few resin beads needing to be poked with a scalpel (they ping off), clean up time per model was about five to ten minutes tops. Then they got the soapy water and toothbrush (wife's) workout. The models start out shiny but after a good cleaning they are dull, then a quick spray of white primer and on with the show.

In the e-mail to tell me the buildings had been dispatched Mike mentioned he hoped I had some small brushes. He was not kidding, I was using the 10/0 most of the time but as the detail was so sharp it was easy to see, less easy to do well. But I found that less care doing the timber and then more care with the plaster was the way to get the best results. I dry brushed the stone parts with three different shades of grey. The roof tiles I started with German Orange and added a bit of flat red and once dry washed in some Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade, heavier on the smaller house, though I had a little more flat red in the mix for the large house.

Then it was just tidy up work, Goblin Green for the shutters as I wanted a dull colour and Black Grey for the windows with a lighter grey mostly dry brushed to try for the "it's a window honest" vibe. The small house was given a ivory wall coat and then highlighted in white whilst the larger building just was left with the ivory. The second big house will have the same treatment as the small one and the three other small ones will get something along the same kind of approach.

I had already decided I wanted to base the Leven buildings (past painted and future) but these I wanted to do so that I could use them all as a town or city dependant on what would be required. So with this in mind I mapped out bases for all six of these buildings whilst also working on ideas for the other buildings so that some of them can be included in with these. So I have glued the buildings down to the bases and will add little extras such as the home made tree on the small house base.

Each building base has one or two outer edges painted up as a road half the width of a gun or limber. So when two are placed side by side such a unit can be placed on the road, even if they have to bring a field with them.

I think these guys are looking for the best billets, through good planning I should be able to make up a fair selection of roads through the town and also make the town look different in each battle they are used in. 

The houses are placed as they will be on the bases, note that two share the same base. I wanted to be able to generate a close packed town or city look which I think I have managed to achieve though it's obvious I need to use more buildings. I have some, both painted and unpainted but I can see another order going into Leven once I have exhausted my stock. at least given the Leven prices it won't cost an arm and a leg to generate a thriving town to burn to the ground.

Not sure what would go on the blank tile, I will be adding some buildings at angles as well, I really want a random feel to come into play as well.

The base size I am using is the same size as a infantry base so a simple token can be placed to represent the unit and I know exactly what ground it will cover. 

I am looking forward on painting up the other four and the other items I received with the order but plan to finish off the 15mm ECW gun crews I have part painted and move on to some of the ECW foote I have sitting on my table. These should be off my table before the end of next week as the latest, such is the plan.

Leven Miniatures Giveaway Drawn

Thanks to everyone who entered this giveaway but most of all to Mick from Leven Miniatures for offering the prizes. I have even waited till the afternoon so no risk of being mistaken as a April Fool  :-)

Talking of fools, this is the image of the Leven mill, the one used on the giveaway was from Baccus, sorry the mistake was all mine.

Watch out for a post coming soon regarding some of the new buildings from Leven, I have been working away and should have a couple finished in the next day or so, they do look good!

So with no more messing around the two winners are Leif Eriksson and The Miniatures Man, each of you have £10 to spend on the Leven Website and I will pay postage of up to £5 so take advantage and load up your orders. Well done and enjoy, I look forward to seeing your results.

Can the winners electronically send me your names and address you can find me ian underscore willey at hotmail dot com. The underscore is the dash but with the shift pressed so should look something like 

random_name etc etc. Just leave a comment below if your struggling.

Talking of winning I won a giveaway of my own, ran by Michael across at 28mm Victorian Warfare. See below for the prize, I think my son will be rather happy with this, so thanks a lot Michael, your a gent.

Don't forget the other five giveaways are live till each has been up for seven days so feel free to join in and make a comment in the relevant giveaway. Bad luck for all those that missed out on this one but with still five to go you could yet lucky yet.

Legion Irlandaise (Napoleon's Irish Legion) 1803 - 1815

I wanted to finish the painting challenge with this unit but ran out of time. So they ended up being the first figures painted after the end of the challenge. Ever since reading the Wargames Illustrated Peninsular Special I have wanted to paint up these guys. Established on the 31st August 1803 the the aim of these troops being used for the Invasion of Ireland with the hope that the Irish population would then see the landings as a liberation rather than invasion. Once a landing was no longer feasible (thanks British Navy) the one battalion strong regiment needed other employment and expansion to convert from a mostly political force to a fighting formation. Original recruits and first expansion was mostly from Irish and Scottish ex-patriots from the Jacobite rebellion who's families also had been forced to leave Ireland. Prisoner of war camps also proved to be a fertile recruiting ground especially amongst Irish press ganged into the navy. Polish and German recruits also helped flesh out the regiment and whilst orders were in French, native tongs tended to win out the rest of the time.

The uniform was a distinctive green cut in the style of Light Infantry with yellow collar, lapels, cuffs and turnbacks. All other equipment was standard light infantry issue. They had their own eagle and the flag had the inscription "NAPOLEON EMPEREUR DES FRANCAIS A LA LEGION IRLANDAIS" on the one side and a large harp with the motto "L'INDEPENDENCE D'IRLANDE" on the other side.

It took till 1807 before the regiment were to be involved in action, the first battalion was sent to Walcheren Island to reinforce the troops already stationed there. Here rather than fighting the British they found themselves fighting the "Walcheren fever" a form of malaria. 

In early 1809 the regiment was renamed the 3d Rediment Etranger (Irlandaise) though the original name continued to be used most of the time. July 30th of this year the first battalion finally got to show it's metal when the British landed forces landed on Walcheren Island. The French forces put up a spirited defence before being forced back to Flushing. On 1st August the British attacked the perimeter of Flushing with the Irish taking heavy casualties but standing their ground. From the 3rd to 13th of August they occupied a forward position in the defensive line fighting small actions almost daily.  On the 13th a major assault started with attacks on all the forward positions and whilst some of the other regiments fell back into the town the Irish continued to stand firm even once their commanding officer (Captain William Lawless) was struck by a musket ball just below the eye with the ball lodging below his ear. He was carried off to receive treatment surviving the ordeal.

By the evening of the following day it was apparent the town would fall and a truce was called with the garrison surrendering the following day and being shipped off to England and captivity. However some men evaded the British and captivity. The wounded Captain Lawless and a Lt. Terrence O'Reilly were amoungst these men, Lawless in no fit state to escape was taken to a friends house (Dr. Mokey) and once healed they finally made their escape, taking their Eagle with them!

The 2nd Battalion was also proving it's worth in Spain having been sent there in late 1807. In 1808 Murat marched into Madrid starting a war that was to last till 1813. The battalion was present just outside Madrid when the city rose up against the French and was involved in the fighting there.  From here the battalion was ordered to garrison Burgos and construct a fort. Here they performed the usual duties of a occupation force including skirmishers with the Spanish Guerrillas. 

March 1810 saw the battalion assigned to Junot's 8th Corps of the Army of Portugal. The first real action was the siege of Astorga  in the North West of Spain. In the storming of the town the Irish performed well, a detachment captured a house just beyond the breach and held it through the night. The rest of the battalion was also involved in heavy fighting and took heavy causalities, the Spanish surrendered the following morning.

Further action included the siege of Almedia, the invasion of Portugal including the battles of Bussaco and Fuentes de Onor. By December 1811 the battalion was a shadow of it's former self through continual attrition. The Battalion was paraded for the last time in Spain with the 120 officers, sergeants, corporals and drummers being sent to Holland to be reformed and reinforced. The remaining privates were folded into another regiment to continue fighting in Spain.

The regiment was lucky enough to miss out on the 1812 campaign in Russia but would further distinguish itself through it's final years and was heavily engaged against the Prussians and in each engagement fought well. They were however not used in the 100 days campaign but was still disbanded on 28th September 1815 with the officers being discharged along with other ranks though NCO's and other ranks that wished to stay on were incorporated into the newly forming Royal Foreign Regiment was forming.

So quite a colourful history to match their uniforms. Shame that until the dark days of 1813 the regiment was not utilised as a whole. Whilst it seemed to continually to suffer high casualties a ready supply of willing recruits kept it in fighting order. I see this regiment as having a high morale and cohesion with a fair firepower. I really like the look of this base and it will add a nice splash of colour when ever I get to use them.

Arena Rex Giveaway

The Ides has passed! The Kickstarter for Arena Rex has begun, and all of us at Red Republic Games are really excited about the support we've received. We also want to support The Blog With No Name and their great historical content! All you have to do is

Add a comment below to be added to the draw. As in all the giveaways you can enter this one as well as any of the others.  Winning one giveaway still allows you the chance to win any of the others.

We'll ship it out with a resin base, an activation token, and a 4"x6" art card. Good luck

The image above is a painted version of the 35mm resin figure up for grabs, you will of course have to paint it! A tutorial is here.I am actually rather excited about this kickstarter and plan to be in on it. The first stretch goal is less than $5000 away which will entail an extra free mini included in two of the commitment levels (five figure and ten figure levels). If you buy into the kickstarter you get to pick which mini's you get so straight from the off you get to customise your gladiator school. Backers get the rules including a sneak preview via the playtesters version as a PDF. I think this will allow you to make informed choices on which Gladiators will suit your style of play. So far they offer fourteen basic level glads (Field of Mars) four Fields of Jupiter and a pair from the Fields of Titan's. Each higher field comes at a higher price but this is due to the size of the figures rather than a pay more to have a better chance of winning play. Though I would say that if you were the only one to have a higher level Glad I would expect you to have an advantage. As further support is gained more choices are released. 

It's also possible to select more figures beyond your level of support (as well as any stretch goal rewards) and other extras are being offered and added to as time goes on. The dice at $10 for ten is calling me as they look cool and since when do you have enough dice. 

So you have a week to get in on the act for this giveaway and 22 days left to join the kickstarter. As for the other giveaways they are starting to tick down, the Leven Miniatures offer is drawn in two days so if you fancy those 6mm and 10mm buildings you had best get your skates on and the others will sfollow suit quickly.

Confederate Infantry Going on E-bay?

Close up Time

After five days of giveaway posts I thought I should do a post with some figures in it. This lot was supposed to be a quick set of points in the challenge but ended up taking as long as any of the Napoleonic figures I have recently done. Seems if you want a quick dash best stick to the Union.

Formation 1

These are four units of 24 figures each, I have mixed them up a little with pale blue trousers for most with the odd brown or grey pair thrown in.

Formation 2

The flags and figures are Baccus and were for the most part really crisp, I can fully recommend them as the vast majority need next to no prep work.

Formation 3.

These are destined for e-bay either on Saturday or Sunday unless someone here want's them. I was given the figures by Matt for painting up some of his figures and figured I could do a reasonable job on them and turn a few coins. 

Formation 4.

All are based on 30x60mm bases (Warbases to be exact), and based to the new system which all new armies will have from this point on. 

Formation 5.

I will be putting them on e-bay for £20 a formation for 1-3 and £5 each for the skirmish screens plus actual cost of postage. Typically £18 is the going rate but that tends to be a worse job with the painting OK and basing a little below this standard but the flags tend to be just stuck on like starched undies. It takes a little more effort to get the wind swept look but I think it makes all the difference. I think I beat the £10 guys in all categories so hope to get £20 at least. However anyone here want any of them, I will offer them up for £18 for 1-3 and 4-5 at £4 per formation. All plus postage at cost. 

If you want any just leave a comment to that effect stating which you would like. First come first serve. I will either post them on E-bay sometime tomorrow or Sunday depending on how much time I have to spare.