I'm home alone again for a week -well I have the dog and cat for company of course - but Shaz is back in the UK for a week with the kids and Gran children. She will be back on Thursday and once again will be bringing back some more hobby goodies in her suitcase. I'm planning to keep busy painting soldiers and getting in some long dog walks, my legs are aching this morning as yesterday I walked Poppy to the top of Monte Corona from where the views are magnificent, if I go again today I'll take the camera. It's rainy season here in La Safor Mountains, but the sun still shows it's face most days, today is dry and bright at 22 degrees.
I have been quietly beavering away on a little background project for a month or so now, the aim being to replace the Commands and Colours blocks with individual 15mm soldiers. Some might recall the huge box of 'Blue Moon' Napoleonics that came with us to Spain 7 months ago, sufficient to replace every type of British and French block with a figure. You can see below progress to date, British infantry, line, light & rifles and the first of the French infantry. 4 blocks per unit, 3 in the case of rifles. I have 6 British heavy dragoons undercoated (3 per unit) and will then hack through loads of French line in campaign dress. When I tire of the demands of painting 40mm soldiers I find I can whack through 12 or so 15mm figures in a couple of hours painting session, which is quite rewarding.
I have no plans to do anything more than replace the blocks and play on the board just as it is, I much prefer the feel of such playing pieces and the visual impact, they are robust enough to be scooped up and knocked about a bit. As you can see all will be based on 6mm steel washers with the intention of storing them in boxes lined with magnetic sheet. This combination of board games and models is something I am keen to take further in the future and C&C offers an awful lot of potential.
By next Friday I hope to present the four completed 40mm British line battalions, just eight flank company to paint this week and they will be done. I painted the two standard bearers and a drummer to complete all of the command figures required, as said before each battalion will be of 29 figures including a mounted officer. Then it's back to the French, slotting in more 15mm's as and when I feel like it!
40mm figures by Sash & Sabre, 15mm figures by Blue Moon, all available in the UK from good old Andy at Old Glory UK.
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| Busy, busy! |
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| Rifles to the fore, 3 blocks per unit. |
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| The board is darker than shown here, but I might yet lighten the figure bases to match. |
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| The light infantry are distinguished from the line by the loading/firing poses. |
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| First French - in greatcoats to begin with! |
Those minis look great on the C&C boards. Nice one.
ReplyDeleteThank you JBM, this has been a long time in the planning :)
DeleteWalks like that are good for both body and soul.
ReplyDeleteBoth sizes of figures look excellent. The C&C game with figures not only looks better than blocks, it also hearkens back to the original Battlecry game which came with 20mm figures.
Thanks Ross. I love the 40mm's but find them very demanding to paint, although the end results always please me. I currently have 350 of them painted now and approaching end of 'phase 1'.
DeleteI like the blocks artwork but like the 15mm's better!
That's a good compromise for C&CN, I like the look. Tony has produced a C&CN variant without the cards which we are trying out on Saturday!
ReplyDeleteI will be interested to read more on that idea Ian in due course.
DeleteHi 'Lee,
ReplyDeleteLovely job with the 15s and I can see what you are aiming at. Are you planning on tackling all the C in C armies?
All the best,
DC
Thank you David, I have in my mind to replace the blocks for all my expansions over time.
DeleteNice range of different scaled Napoleonics! Change is as good as a rest!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Indeed Iain, I'll never tire of painting model soldiers. Funny enough, it took a while to get my eye back in after the move to Spain and lengthy break, I really thought my eyesight had deteriorated as I found it hard to focus on the smaller scales, but all back to normal now and painting every day :)
DeleteLee, I like the C&C figures - I always found the blocks hard to engage with. Have you considered mounting them on thin round flat rare-earth magnets and getting some steel bases that they will stick to so you can move all 4 as one piece yet still remove losses? If you use magnets of similar size to the bases they will cling onto steel really well and I'm pretty sure there are companies that make custom sizes for steel movement trays/bases.
ReplyDeleteGood idea again Rob, I'll have to look into that, those rare earth magnets are very cheap if bought in bulk from China.
DeleteYour 15's are lovely... whatever came of those immaculately painted Perry Waterloo battle-sets you did??
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve, the Blue Moons are nice castings, much cheaper than AB's but with good detail and are robust enough for this job. They have had a couple of thick coats of satin varnish so can be handled as required.
DeleteThe Perry Travel Battle sets is an ongoing issue! I got shot of loads of wargame stuff before the move to Spain, sold a lot on ebay etc. The two TB sets I decided not to bring with me so offered them as a gift to Bob Cordery as I knew he would make good use of them. They went to my Daughter and son in Law who were going to drop them off to Bob as they don't live too far away from him. They then went through a separation and a rocky summer before getting back together again, all this time the sets have sat in the boot of their car. I'm still determined to get them to Bob. Life eh!