More soldiers and new terrain mat on order.

I have been giving the issue of terrain for my 6mm Crimean War games a LOT of thought recently. Do I go for a grid, maybe squares or hexes or a fully textured open board? To be honest as much as I like gridded games I knew that I wanted to get back to open terrain again, and with the decision made to stick with DBN (DBC?) as my go to rules - with a few small tweaks to reflect the changes over the intervening 40 years -  I looked a round for a solution that would not require hours of work. I remembered that 'Norm' had mentioned the Geek Villian textured mats so went and had a look at them. It did not take me long to realise that this was the product for me so I have on order a 6x 4 'Summer Grass' mat that looks to match well with my bright figure bases. The clincher was the fact that the mat is thick enough to place hills BENEATH it, and I think my various S&A Scenics hills will work well with this. I have long had an issue with freestanding hills as they never look natural and of course I could form larger hills from layers of foamboard should I require a specific shaped hill. My games will be played on the 5 x 3 dining table which is just the right size for my planned games. So everything is slowly starting to come together at last and I'm actually really looking forward to getting started. I don't have any plans to do any other projects or periods but will continue to enjoy adding further bases to what is now a fair sized collection.

The mat is due to arrive tomorrow so I will take the opportunity to get some photos of the Crimean stuff so far on it in the order of battle I have in mind. I'm really pleased with the mass effect of the bases, it's just what I was looking for. So far I have painted:

Russian.

9 bases of line infantry (including 1 Greek) 72 figures per base

2 bases of skirmishing infantry  18 figures per base.

3 bases of cavalry 24 figures per base

2 artillery 2 guns and li8mbers per base

command base.

Allied.

6 bases of British infantry (including Guards and Highlanders that comprised the 1st Division)

3 bases of French infantry

2 bases of skirmishers 1 British rifles and 1 French 

4 bases of cavalry 3 British and 1 French (The French is being expanded today to 1 Light and 1 heavy)

2 artillery bases 4 guns.

Combined command base.

With 18 bases of infantry comprising 36 x 36 figure battalions I'm getting closer to my target of 24 infantry bases plus skirmishers.

I have on order from Irregular Miniatures two of the 'Crimean Camp sets' bell tents, huts, supply wagons, flag poles etc which should make a couple of nice baggage bases.

Below: More of those pesky Russians! The red flags I'm using to mark Guards, Green being line.

More figures for John.

A few shots of this weeks output. I'll be getting this lot in the post tomorrow (including the Minarions featured in last weeks post of course), and for the week ahead it's a couple of Les Higgins 20mm battalions for Tony then more ECW's for Graham the following week. I also have a new customer who has asked me to paint 10mm Fantasy armies for him and this project will sit nicely beside what I have in hand filling in any gaps. I was quite keen to do this project as it offered variety from the historical stuff and a fresh challenge. Some may recall the contribution I painted towards James' (Mad Tin Hatter) 'For Joshua' charity project (HERE), and these are very much in the same line so looking forward to it.

First off, Col. Richards Regiment (British in Catalonia). 23 Strelet plastic figures, mounted officer is Les Higgins. Cast on flags hand painted to match the reference sheet.

          Below: Higher Command figures (Minifigs) the white coated figure is an artillery General.

                         Below: Catalonian Cuirassier Regiment Aragon (Les Higgins). 12 cavalry.

Below: French Dragoons Le Roi, trumpeter in Royal Livery.

Below:  Catalonian artillery crew with mounted commander. (Warrior and Lancer crew). Figure at rear is a standard bearer for La Maine infantry (unknown make).