Monday 5 April 2021

Epic Easter Parade!

So after 3 weeks of frantic painting I have completed the first 600 infantry, 7 guns and crews and a couple of mounted Generals. It's a very good start to a project that will now slow down a bit as I turn my brushes to some commission work, but I still plan to add a few bases per week to keep things ticking over. I have to say these strips really suit my style and the end results are very pleasing. I have settled into a routine of doing 3 strips at a time, and the timing is about 4.5 hours per regiment including basing. About the same for both sides, Yanks quicker to paint but takes time to trim down all of those hats to kepis!

A couple of points to note:

The gaps in the regimental frontage does bother me a bit. I ordered some 50mm wide MDF bases with the plan to rebase but when they arrived the strips would not fit! 55mm would work to close the ranks, but is it worth the effort to save 5mm? I'm not sure yet but need to decide before I go much further.

The artillery models do lack a bit of detail and are quite chunky and generic. I don't mind the wheels with the lack of spokes and I like the crew figures so I'm going to probably replace the carriages and barrels with metal Kallistra versions which are on the way to me and should fit well. Meantime I tried trimming down the barrels to look more like the rifled guns, not brilliant but better.

I have substituted the mounted commanders with metal Kallistra ones simply because they are such lovely sculpts with more variation. Horses are very slightly smaller than the epic version so I may well stick with Kallistra for all of the mounted cavalry at least, not sure yet, the epic cavalry look great BUT the price is  steep compared to the metals at £40.00 for 60 resin cavalry. Kallistra work out £24.00 for 64.

Some may recall my mention here of the 1st edition Fire & Fury rules and my attempts to track down a copy over the last year or so? Well, ebay finally produced the goods, a set in good condition with all the playsheets etc, and I managed to get them for £20.00 ( the buyer was asking for £30.00 buy it now). Should be with me later this week and I have a few thoughts on using them with these bases. I have to say back when the rules were first released I loved them and played many games both solo and against various opponents including members of the South London Warlords. 

I also have some 10mm scale ACW buildings on order from Timecast, it would seem that this old wargamer is not yet ready to give up completely, that maybe Napoleonics were simply just not for me, and that I will find what I have been looking for in this epic project, a few thousand of these figures could look mighty impressive!











 


23 comments:

  1. Lovely parade Lee. I have just put my brushes down for a ‘neck break’ :-), but from my slow progress, your volume and work rate are even more impressive. I hope a dirty wash will help bury some of my questionable painting errors. I am timing this base and so far I am 1½ hours in, so I don't think I am managing to bring down my painting time as much as I had hoped, we shall see!

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    1. Hi Norm,
      Over the years I have taught myself to paint fast but with some precision. I find a big part of it is establishing exactly where to apply the paint and where to leave a little black showing using strong colours. After a few of these strips it becomes second nature although having painted 30 strips I could really do with a change so I'm painting 3 units of WSS 6mm cavalry for Gerry followed by 30 Peter Pig ACW Rebs for Graham C this week. Weekend should see me back on the Epics for a few days. I think we need to take a long term view of the epic painting but I do think it will be worth it.

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  2. Lee, they look - dare I say - epic! I have some of the Timecast 6mm buildings and they are wonderful models.

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    1. Thanks Ian. I'm looking forward to the buildings as they look really good on the website.

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  3. Bloody amazing... Re. the bases... I think I see what you mean... could you just saw the ends off with a micro saw?? I know they are not solid and that will reveal the inside of the end of the base, but a little green stuff or putty to fill and flatten it off and jobs a good 'un??

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    1. Steve, since I last commented on this, I have found the rebate under the base to be so slight, that in practice it can be cut without the need for packing. I am reducing both end of my infantry bases, so that I can still use the locator pins and so that units formed in column still sit nice and evenly behind each other.

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    2. Steve/Norm, I have cut a couple of the bases as you suggested, easy to cut and really does not notice at all. I just wonder how best to ensure a straight and even cut? What tool would you recommend? I just used my craft knife to take a couple of MM's of each end and it makes a difference to the spacing.

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    3. Lee - I would go with a razor saw.. and a mitre box to keep the edge nice and straight.. lots on google/ebay and not pricey...

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    4. Thanks Steve, perfect :) Just ordered a set from eBay, I think it will massively improve the overall look of the regiments.

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  4. Great looking parade! Everyone loves a parade. You’ve done quite a lot. I don’t really mind the gaps; they tend to disappear when looked at all together. 😀

    I’m a little surprised at you searching down the original Fire and Fury. I really like the 2nd edition but my main rules of Choice are Regimental Fire and Fury.

    If you are looking for ACW rules and don’t mind a little shameless promotion; I wrote a review of several ACW rules on my blog at the end of February (otherwise know as ACWrary). 😀

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    1. Hi Stew, cheers for the comments.

      I think in my case the old F&F rules is a nostalgia thing, at the time they came out I was playing Johnny Reb II exclusively and really enjoyed them (I thing they lost something in the subsequent editions), and I found them really refreshingly easy to pick up and play. I know they lacked the historical edge of JR but they played quickly and were great fun. I will take a look at the regimental version as you mention it and have a read of your blog :)

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    2. Stew, just found the link to the post you mention, thank you. I'm going to have a good read through but I did have a quick read of the F&F review, both regimental and brigade which was really useful and has got me thinking!
      Lee.

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  5. Well impressive, can't wait to see some cavalry and zouaves.

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    1. Thanks Rob. On the whole I am happy with them as they really do look like advancing lines of civil war infantry closed up shoulder to shoulder but with the slight waves in the lines. Looking at the typical image of 15mm figures with open ranks this makes a big difference and certainly speeds up the painting. Zouaves due for release next month and are cast in the infamous new warlord resin (love it or hate it!), so are a lot more expensive.

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    2. Not encountered Warlord resin - is it just the price or are there other reasons to hate it?

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    3. I just keep reading lots of comments re the 'new' resin used by Warlord, I really don't understand it yet although lots of complaints about broken/snapped figures. Price is certainly an issue, £40.00 for a box of 300 Zouaves or Iron Brigade! These plastics come in around 35p per strip of 10 and the detail is very good, can't understand why they are not producing the additions in the cheap plastic strips?

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  6. Lee,
    Great parade of figures you’ve done a great job. I quite like the gaps between the bases especially if you end up using these for large scale actions with a base being a regiment (DBN -ACW variant etc.) There are some photos on one of the epic Facebook pages of the Peter Pig mounted generals they’re about the same size as the warlord mounted Officer although their infantry are large! I also have my first Eskice resin printed pieces I will try and get a few bits done to show you.
    All looking good.

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  7. Awesome looking epic force in your usual rapid pace! Lovely finish, I hope you keep them, but at least you're enjoying putting them together!
    Best Iain

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