Lion Rampant (I)

To kick off the new project I've been busy putting together some of the plastic figures from Fire forge games that I had. At first I was just putting a  few figures together with know thought to the end result. However I have refocused on what I need to make up a couple of suitable retinues. First purchase was for a box of Templar Knights on foot that I can split between two retinues. One thing missing from the fire forge (FF) range is longbows so I had a dig around and sourced 6 old plastic Bretonnians that will serve well. As these guys mixed in I will try and source a few more from E-Bay.

As with all plastic figures you always end up with spares, so wanting a few un-armoured infantry figures I have used some Wargames Factory Ancient Germans. I did have to add some green-stuff to the necks to fit the FF heads. I also filed down some of the details on the arms to make them look like plain sleeves.

So after putting the first few figures together I decided to get some paint on them, Firstly what colour scheme would I use. I quite like a Green/White combo but decided to plumb for Blue/Yellow. I may use the Green/White for a second retinue.

The first figure is the Gripping Beast Templar knight from the Death in the snow set they did a few years ago.

Men at Arms

Men at Arms

Next up is some old Bretonnian bowmen. 2 of these were already painted and as they are to be used as Bidowers I have left them as is and just re-based. I did manage a head swap on one for extra variety.

Bidowers

Next up are 4 crossbowmen that will eventually be built up to 12. The 2 un-armoured figures on the edge of the picture are the Wargames Factory conversions that I did. Quite happy with how they turned out.

Crossbows

Lastly the first of my foot sergeants, currently 9 of them. A couple of these are also conversions which gives me the option of downgrading the unit to Yeoman if I wish.

Foot sergeants

Foot sergeants

So that's the progress so far. I have another 12 figures built and undercoated as well as 2 more Bretonnian archers that I found. Digging around in my old Bretonnian collection I came across 3 mounted yeoman without horses. I've stuck them on some spare warlord horse I had, To make them a complete unit I took advantage of the Black tree sale and purchase 3 more squires from their fantasy range. They seem to match up well and a lot cheaper than trying to find official GW figures on E-Bay. So more building and painting required and hopefully shortly I can get some games in.

The last and first

As the title suggest these are the latest figures off the painting table. First up is some Austrian hussars for my Napoleonic collection. These were the last figures I painted in 2014. The regiment is No 10. Baron Joseph Stipsics. The figures and flag are all from Warrior miniatures. These guys are just in time for Thursday nights game.

Baron Joseph Stipsics Hussars

Baron Joseph Stipsics Hussars

Next up is some additional figures I painted up to add to my 3 Brunswick regiments. These figures are by CGM and black is very quick to paint, These were the first figures completed in 2015.

Brunswick infantry

To round off my 3rd Austrian infantry brigade I completed the 41st regiment - Kottulinsky, these guys are only at 24 figures. Again these are from CGM who do produce some very nice figures. The flag is from Warflag.

41st Kottulinsky regiment

41st Kottulinsky regiment

Not bad for a couple of days work. Now I have also made a start putting together my first Lion Rampant force. Got 8 of the fire forge figures built and on the painting table. I have also roped in 6 left over Brettonian archers which will serve as a Bidower unit for now. Should get some pictures of these up in the next couple of days

2015 Already

Well first off a belated Happy New Year to you all and thanks for following, I've spent the last couple of days mulling over a new project or 2 for 2015, Also in terms of keeping expenditure down I'm looking for smaller games, I've already got a number of large collections for various periods so want to settle on something smaller.

So the first project is Lion Rampant, the Medieval rules by Dan Mersey and published by Osprey. I've been following a number of blogs which have featured these rules and they do look interesting.

So that's the rules now which figures. Looking around my unpainted stuff I have a box of Gripping Beast Arabs and a box of Fire forge foot sergeants that need to be built and painted. With these I can base my games in medieval Spain, The Holy land or the Green fields of England. I can also use some of the mounted figures from my El Cid collections for the Arabs.

The only other project I am settling for is "Songs of Blades" a fantasy skirmish game, this will give me an excuse to paint up quite a bit of my unpainted lead which has sat in boxes since I was a teenager.

After this I think I'll be concentrating on just adding odd units to my various collections, Napoleonics, WSS, ACW and FPW. This should keep me busy.

2014 Year end review

Well it's that time of year where People start to review their progress on the previous years projects. So what did I set t to achieve.

So on to projects for 2014.

15mm Napoleonics - I wanted to complete enough troops for both the Austrians and Westphalians to allow me to run some divisional level games at the club. This has been my mainstay interest this year. So much so that I have continued to add units to both sides with no end in sight

15mm FPW -  I was aiming to try and get the Bavarians up to corps strength. This has been an epic fail with not a paint brush dipped or purchase made. However I did obtain some Bavarian and Prussian cavalry from Mick and aim to paint them up for a large game sometime in May.

10mm Crimean War - I needed to complete 1 more Russian infantry division and some cavalry. I also had a hankering to painting up a Turkish infantry division. Like the FPW stuff another epic fail.

15mm WSS - The Friedlingen project needed a bit of a kick start this year and progress was made early in the year with the completion of all the French infantry I required. I even purchased some cavalry, but since then it has stalled again.

So apart from lots of Napoleonics, what did I actually paint. Well fist there was some Skaven for WFB 3rd edition, don't know why just an urge I had. Always fancied painting some up and managed to pick up some bargains on E-Bay. I then decided to re paint some of my old Citadel men at arms that had lain unloved in a box for over 20+ years. There was also a handful of figures for Blood bowl which included 2 Trolls.

On the historical side I did finish off some French Regulars for my Musket and Tomahawk collection. I'll need to add some more British rangers to balance things out. In 15mm I painted up a mixture of Poles and Turks for some Renaissance battle which will need to be significantly expanded.

Painting \Totals wise is slightly down on last year, but I put that down to spending a couple of months re-basing Darren's Napoleonic collection.

15mm artillery - 12

15mm foot - 881

15mm cavalry - 145

28mm foot - 172

28mm cavalry - 8

Gaming wise I did get involved in 2 historical battles. The first was a re fight of Bunker Hill in which i was the Americans against Neal and Dave, A good fun battle in which I sneaked a minor victory. The other was Ramillies, a great hard fought game at Micks. it also saw Darren get back on the wargaming scene after a absence of a few years.

So what's for 2015, I'll leave that for another post as still a bit undecided.

Brozeczinski Grenadiers

These guys are my last unit of Austrian Grenadiers to finish off my brigade. They are the Brozeczinski Grenadiers made up of companies from the 24th, 30th and 41st line regiments. Like the rest of my Grenadier units the figures are all from Warrior miniatures. The flag is from Warflag.

Brozeczinski Grenadiers

Brozeczinski Grenadiers

Brozeczinski Grenadiers

After these guys I have enough figures left for one more line regiment and a couple of units of Hussars to paint. In the New year I will probably add to these some Uhlans and Grenzers  along with a couple of Hungarian line regiments.

On Thursday it was the last night of the year for the club before we reconvene of the 8th January, all we did was set up a large Napoleonic game with Austrians and Prussians defending a ridge against a larger French force.

A couple more Napoleonic units

As promised in my last post, I have manged to finish the bases on the next two units for my Napoleonic collection. First up is the 2nd battalion 9th Regiment for the Duchy of Warsaw. Like the other 3 units that will form this brigade the figures are a mix of Essex and an unknown manufacturer. Once again I went for the blue winter trousers. The flag is homemade until I obtain something more suitable.

2/9th Duchy of Warsaw

2/9th Duchy of Warsaw

Next up is a third unit of Austrian Grenadiers. I have found in all our games so far a brigade of just 2 units have been rather ineffective. So I've determined to increase the size of the brigade and this is the next unit. It is only 24 figures, but I do have another on the painting table at 32 figures.

Austrian Grenadiers

Austrian Grenadiers.

Now back at the club we had a bit of a clear out. it is amazing how much junk you can accumulate. We've also re arranged the gaming tables to give us more room on the large table. We even had time to run a small FPW game which I will feature in a later post.

Quick painting update

Just to prove that I have started to paint some figures again I decided to take a couple of photos of some finished work. I've still got 2 infantry battalions that I need to finish the bases on before I post pictures of them. So first up is another Divisional Commander base for my French and Allies troops. The figures are both from Essex Miniatures.

Divisional Commander base

Side view

I also decided to go back to my Bruswickers' and try and round the force off. I've purchased some extra infantry figures to increase the size of the units from CGM and I also plumbed for Lancashire miniatures for a artillery battery. It has been a while since I've used Lancashire figures and I was pleasantly surprised.

Brunswick artillery

Brunswick artillery

Hopefully by the weekend I'll be able to post up pictures of the finished Austrian Grenadier battalion and a Duchy of Warsaw battalion.