A good Austrian start and more Wars of The Roses!

I'd say that these are turning out just as I wanted them to and hoped they would. I really like the wavy edged bases from Warbases which do fit together if wished. I decided upon 9 figures per base sized 50mm frontage by 60mm depth to give more the impression of a body of troops in a deeper formation, they will still suit well for DBN just a slightly larger playing are required than the standard 2' x 2' (600mm x 600mm) so I think 3' x 3' will work well. So far we have:

3 bases of German infantry

1 base of Hungarian infantry (shako and blue breeches)

1 base of Grenadiers (base edge marked with red dots)

1 base of Grenzers ( just 6 figures as these will be Light Infantry marked by Yellow dots)

1 Command base.

Painting. I have kept things fairly simple here, big thanks to 'Jeffers' who suggested Vallejo Cream White as being perfect for the Austrian coats, its a heavily pigmented shade that covers really well and contrasts nicely with the white of the belts etc. I do start with a sparing dry brush of sky grey over the black base coat first then build it up from there. Some photos below to show progress.

Opponents - after a lot of thought I have decided that following the completion of the Austrian 12 element army I'll be doing Bavarians to face off against them! I need a change from French and it's historically correct plus the HaT Bavarians look beautiful. I'm not thinking or planning beyond this, it's my Summer project and I'm enjoying myself again. Flags are from Warflags having tracked down a source to download from because the site seems to have sadly gone now?

Commission work. All of the above is of course secondary to my commission work on which I spend about a couple of hours or so most days, far less than I used to and that's nice. Having completed and returned the Spanish siege troops for Tony I bashed through the WoR Levy (lowest grade troops with very little armour maybe coats of mail and the generic plain helmet)) bill and bow bases for Noel to complete the latest Faction, a good  solid weeks work produced 4 bases of Levy Billmen and 8 of Bowmen (64 figures) plus the circular command base (which I always paint for free by way of a gesture of thanks to my most solid customer Noel). I just to get the bases textured etc over the weekend then I'm back to more 1745 Govt. Foot for Marcus next week. The headset is certainly earning it's keep :)

I'm at it again! New project new video.

 Inspired by the wonderful work of the 'jpwargaming' channel on YouTube (link below) I have been tempted into the world of 1/72nd plastics, starting with a 12 element Austrian Napoleonic army for DBN. It's just a small scale/part time Summer project to see where it goes. My new video explains all:

And do check out the jpwargaming video that got me started on this! 

Spanish Napoleonic Siege artillery and Engineers.

 A nice little batch of 34 figures painted this last week for Tony. Blue appears a bit lighter here than in the flesh due to my choice of 'blue' LCD's I think. They have all just had a thin coat of Vallejo Satin varnish (still drying) to protect them when packed but Tony does intend to give them further coats of his varnish as they will be based individually. Figures are 20mm but not sure of maker?

Thank you Tony, enjoyed painting these. 

Now it's back to more WoR for Noel this week.

Commission work - what's in the queue?

 It's been an odd period for me recently, I seem to have spent a lot of time thinking about Life in general, looking back and trying to look ahead. When one reaches the grand old age of 68 it's hard not to spend time reflecting and certainly with regards to this hobby of ours I have been doing a lot of that! Over half a Century since I painted my first Airfix soldier I'm still doing it although I no longer have aspirations to large wargame tables and big battles, in truth I have done all of that many times over, enjoyed it very much but it's done now for me. That said I'm still interested in small scale games such as many I see in the 2mm Facebook Group where there is great creativity which I enjoy following.

All of the above said I am still able to enjoy bringing metal or plastic soldiers to Life with my modest painting skills and grateful that I am able to top up my Pension a little each month in this way. I remain grateful to those few friends and customers who still enjoy what I do, so thank you.

So what's in the pipeline? Having just finished the recent batch for Old John including these nice  20mm castings from Art Minaturen in Germany (below) I'm about to embark on 24 Napoleonic Spanish Artillery figures plus 10 siege Engineers for Tony (Foy), again 20mm. Following these I have more Epic regiments for 1745 Culloden  for Marcus and then back to more WoR for Noel. I am indeed turning away commission requests, two in the past month, because I have to feel comfortable with my work load and my schedule. 

Anyway, onwards my friends and keep those brushes moving!

For Old John.

For Tony - ready to start work on.