Isolation Painting Challenge Gets Me To Finish

A great idea (not mine) was to form a Facebook group for painting whilst in isolation and I decided to join as it looks like my place of work will be closed down for a few months (or more). This I hoped would spur me on to get more painting done but in fact I seem to be riding a reasonable bubble of enthusiasm so double score.

However whilst I was still feeling the wish to finish off part painted projects Matt P was good enough to get me to pull out three phalanx's that needed just one little job doing.....

Yes, sticking little sticks in far smaller hands! It takes about 30-45 minutes to do 96 figures worth, that being one block. These are of course Baccus 6mm boys and are meant for a game Lee and myself were going to run at Joy of Six a couple of years ago but things got in the way and we could not finalise the game and the project ran out of steam. I plan to attempt to finish this off whilst I am off work along with plenty of other projects.

So This brings the total to 25 blocks, that's 2400 figures and that's a lot of bristles! I hope to get round to showing off the whole army as it stands as it should look quite impressive. The general perception is that 6mm works out costing less than other scales but this little lot at todays prices comes in at £180 for castings. That said I would not be so mad as to paint up that amount of units in 15mm!! This project is all about creating a mass effect so I really look forward to being able to pit this mass against Lee's thin Roman line.

Plinths Oh Plinths

I received these plinths a few days back from Model Display Products which are for the WWII Busts I have on hand (and a couple of spares). As always service was fast and price is very reasonable. The small ones are for the FeR mini busts that I will be starting sometime in the near future. Before that I still have the British Commando to finish.

I have also been working on regular models and have some 6mm phalanx's to post and am at the final stages of two units of 15mm Companion cavalry that should be finished in the next two days. 

After that is six battalions of French Napoleonic infantry that will be up for sale when finished as will the Companions. Not sure what I will be doing after that, possibly 28mm Vikings or Cowboys. It could be anything, I am actually enjoying painting as much as I ever did and at least this way I still have plenty of family time. 

Talking of which I played another Command & Colors game with Joseph. The photo's came out too poor to post, just as well as he thrashed me 2-6 banners LOL

Adler French ADC's

I actually finished these with the Prussians but I had started them about 3-4 years ago so way too long in the finishing.

The main reason for the slow pace has been the lack of real need for these guys. I simply have so many I have as many as I would require in any game we have played so far but if we ever get round to playing a really big battle I may still need more so I may need them one day.

All told this gives me another four command bases for Division or lower commands using our rules. Of course if I use another rule set I may need even more command bases or need messenger stands. 

As you would expect from Adler these have so much detail that you feel you need to keep going. Better detail than some 10mm castings. It really has taken too long to finish these and the fact I still have so many more unpainted makes me smile. Many of my extra command will find their way onto infantry bases whilst I will continue to add to me command bases as well.

I actually have a sizeable amount of Adler French castings I bought via Dave D at the first Blog Con and far more Baccus that still need to be painted. My plan is to paint up some of the French Baccus infantry and get them sold on as I can't see me needing THAT much more French infantry given the quantity Lee also owns not that it will stop me painting up some for myself at the same time.

Command and Colors Napoleonic Lockdown

So working for one of the unnecessary retailers I have been sent home to cool my jets for the next few months. Yes you read that right, this is not going to be a three weeks and back kind of things. I am confident that it will be at least two to three months before we can expect to be making our way back to work. This of course will allow for some things to be better. Today was the first day that I was free from going to work (close down stuff) so it has been marked by the first of what I hope will be many games with Joseph of Command & Colors Napoleonic. We also have ASL to play as he has played a couple of scenarios and last but not least I will be running a roleplaying campaign for the rest of the family as well as playing our huge collection of board games. So much welcome family time between the kids homework and my hobby and house duties.

So todays scenario was from the original release Salamanca (British attack on French Right) 22nd July 1812. The situation in the photo was taken about half way through the scenario with my only cavalry unit long since lost whilst Joseph's British cavalry has forced one regiment into square but he failed to cause casualties and my fire had reduced his two regiments of cavalry to the point of not being too much of a threat. 

In the end I was able to destroy both regiments of his cavalry when he ran out of cards and then we fought over the building hex near the rived Pela-Garcia with me finally getting it back for good as the British losses brought him close to defeat. We always play that I need an extra banner to required. 

In the end he just did not have the cards to co-ordinate his attack and I was able to pick off his regiments when he could not withdraw them behind his lines and took my 7th banner (he lost a leader when a unit was removed).

Given I have the first four expansions we are in place to play through quite a lot of scenarios, so we will play out the last two scenarios from the base set then back to the expansions that have for the most part had just a few games played from.

Next Up

The next bust I plan to paint is British Commando WWII by Young Miniatures based in Korea. This is a far less complex figure than the Polish Lancer or even the German soldier I finished recently. I am trying a few different things, first I have high and low lighted the bust by spraying a light primer from above and darker primer from below though I think I really need to use stronger contrasting shades.

The other change is quite major, I will base cote it watered down acrylic and then over paint in oils attempting to a more subtle shading through blending. Being new to oils this is going to be interesting. I have already started work on a spare face and been reasonably happy with the result. This will be far more time consuming but I hope for far better results. 

Prussian Reserve Regiment 22 Adler Miniatures

Anyone who has followed this blog over the years will have seen a few Prussian Battalions shown here. I am still working through all the regiments that did not fight at Waterloo but were involved in the 100 days campaign. 

The 22nd Regiment was part of Pirch's 2nd Corps and whilst the rest of the 7th Brigade fought at Waterloo under the command of Brause the 22nd missed the action.

I continue to add flags to battalions that all most certainly did not have them but given I was well into the originals before I realised that why not continue. I still left the third battalion without even though it's not a fusilier battalion but that's me.

The standard depiction of our units of 4 skirmishers out front with 24 figures in the main body. These being Adler you get a little more Varity in poses. The skirmishes have three poses and the main body two or more versions to buy from.

One battalion I adopted a three deep line and two battalions have a mounted officer to add to the Varity. Basing is my normal outdoor paint (bitter chocolate tester from Homebase) with sand dribbled over, left to dry and surplus brushed off. I then drybrush a couple of lighter colours then add static grass and tufts.

I still have 44 more battalions to do so no where near finished, plus more artillery and cavalry but in far fewer quantity. Not that I own all the battalions required so I will paint up what I have before getting any more. This certainly moved onto a vanity project as I really do not need to paint up the rest and will never get them all on the table at the same time. I still also have plenty of French I really don't need as well as plenty of British to paint for my son.

The next up on the table will be two units of Companion cavalry I also don't really need :-)

CGS Miniatures Polish Lancer WIP

I started this bust about two weeks ago, still got a fair bit left to do but happy with the progress so far. The bust is by CGS Military Figures and depicts a Polish Lancer at Waterloo. The detail is very crisp, casting very good and dimension's feel right. This is one of many Napoleonic busts they do and you will be seeing more of them as time goes on as I plan to do quite a few. Cost wise it's actually very cheap in comparison with many out there not that I am in any way qualified to judge one from another having painted just a couple of busts so far.

I still have the actual lance to build and paint as well as attach the right arm. Also plenty of touching up to get it looking right. It's possibly a bit light blue but it will contrast well with the cuirassier I plan to do at some point this year.

Just for fun, I have added a 6mm Prussian command base for scale. This and others will probably be my next post as I have finished these just before starting the bust. Once this bust is finished it's on with a couple of Macedonian Companion units from Magister Militum that I believe I bought either at the last trip to York or old Worlds Championships I attended. Not made a show in a few years now.