Damn those Warlord people..... I'm going EPIC!

It's an enjoyable time for me with a fresh start looming. I have decided that as much as I like the AB 20mm WW2 figures I'm not going to go any further with them, I'll probably paint the rest of what I have and eBay them, probably get my metal cost back. Main reasons I think are that I did Bolt Action to death a few years back, and the cost of the AB's at £1.30p each is right at the top end of metal soldiers, more than most 28mm ranges even. I do understand that they are top quality but they are just not doing it for me. 

As the release date for the Warlord Games Epic ACW approaches I am increasingly drawn to them, and having cancelled my pre ordered epic bundle due to disappointment at the single sprue to represent both sides, I decided to take another look and this has resulted in my ordering the £90.00 starter set which contains no less than 2400 figures! Thoughts of one day returning to my favourite period again have long been in the back of my mind, but I knew that it had to be something fresh and would present an enjoyable painting challenge without being prohibitively expensive or time consuming. The video linked below sold it for me finally and I just can't wait to get my hands on the figures now. The more I see the sprues the more I can see the huge potential and the one thing that bothered me most (the lack of kepis on the Union sprue) has been resolved by the guy in the video who has simply shaved down the hats with a sharp blade, exactly what I plan to do. As a former re enactor of the ACW I could go on and nit pick uniform and equipment details, but at this scale I can certainly live with that. I do like the way this guy has also replaced the officer with a mounted commander too as it gives the command base more impact.

As always I really don't know where this project will go or end up, but in the back of my mind for probably years now has been a return to the original brigade level Fire & Fury rules which I know were not perfect, but for me was probably one of the very few sets of rules that ever brought the period alive as a game, and I must have played almost every set over the years up to around 1990 or so. I can see 8 to 12 of these bases having real visual impact as a brigade.

Finally I have to mention the price of these little figures at less than 4p each, I mean who can seriously argue with that? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEDZmz_zKpg

Didn't manage to get my hands on one of the freebie sprues and I see they are going for around a tenner each on eBay, but the release date is not far off now anyway.

24 hours later!

And the 12 WW2 Brits are painted. Enjoyed doing them and they took very little time really. As I have more to do a quick record of main uniform colour is in order:  Flat Earth (a light brown), washed with Sepia Wash, highlighted with 50/50 Flat Earth/Japanese uniform. (All Vallejo). Satin varnished (will probably change to Matt although the satin loses it's sheen with handling I find). 10 man rifle section including Bren gunner and NCO with Sten, plus a 2 man PIAT team. I'll certainly paint the rest of what I have here (another 15-18 figures), but still not sure if this will become a full blown project or just stick to commission painting for a while.

This week it's back to finishing off John's last few figures and Gerry's 6mm cavalry. John tells me the next box will contain some Ottomans, so something fresh as I have never painted these before.

 

First impressions of some AB 20mm WW2 figures.

 I'm not going to ramble on about how I got here, simple fact is that I have been eyeing up this range of late war British infantry on the Eureka site for probably months now, so with some funds freed up I placed a small order for a couple of infantry sections (10 figures per bag), a pack of Anti Tank Rifles (6 figures) and a pack of support weapons (a medium mortar and crew and a Vickers MG and crew). I have to say that they are wonderfully sculpted figures and vastly superior to the same plastics I attempted some time back. I don't really know where this will go from here, but as I always like to have something on the go for myself I have in mind a couple of reinforced platoons for Bolt Action and I'll simply enjoy working on them alongside some commission painting.

A big shout out to Eureka, I placed my order at 10am Monday and received a shipping notice at 2pm same day! Next I'm going to order some Germans.

As one door closes another opens!

This post might come as something of a surprise to some, although maybe not to those who have followed my shenanigans here the past 10 years or so. 

After 10 months of pretty intensive painting of 18mm Napoleonics, starting as a modest lockdown project that grew into a 1000 figure collection it's time for me to move onto pastures new. So in my time honoured fashion this beautiful collection is going under the hammer because the plain truth is that I have come to the conclusion that I'm no longer a wargamer, just a guy who gets a lot of pleasure out of painting model soldiers. 

I have made a video for YouTube as it's easier for me to do it this way and place the link in various FB pages etc before I have to resort to the dreaded eBay. From April 2020 to present here on the blog contains hundreds of images of the collection for perusal of close ups.

https://youtu.be/4ns-BJ-SUug

No doubt as I clear out all I presently own something else will take my fancy as I have no intention of stopping painting, but I may well simply paint to sell or on commission going forward and I still have figures for Old John and Gerry to finish off next. Oddly enough, having made this decision over the last few days I feel very happy about it, for some reason I have completely lost the ability to enjoy  wargames as I used to be able to several years back, for me the pleasure is in the planning and the painting. 

So, onwards and upwards. A couple of images of recently added bases of Bavarians and Prussian reservists. Also a couple of shots of the recently finished off bases of the 40mm figures which will soon be heading off to new owner, once I can figure how best to post/courier them! These sat on bare bases for the past year and I managed to get a really good match to all of the rest that I did back in Spain.

Cheers,

Lee.

Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde Impériale

Surely one of the most iconic and colourful units of the Napoleonic wars, these are of course AB figures which are cast wearing the red pelisse as often shown in images of the unit at Austerlitz. I made a mistake in painting the trousers green at first then corrected it to the buff breeches and boots. Only six figures but they have quite a visual impact I think.

I found this wonderful two minute video featuring a re enacted Chasseur on YouTube. What I like is the accuracy of the uniform and the way the equipment responds to the trotting horse movement, for example the shabraque rides up exposing the black leather holsters as is sometimes depicted on AB cavalry figures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcCPdcjmI1w

Reinforcements arrive through the snow and ice!

My last two orders from Eureka arrived together yesterday, four weeks after placing the first of them. No complaints though as the AB's are made and cast in Australia so was waiting on arrival of new stock. Good timing as my own AB stocks were running very low!

What you see are:

2 bases of Bavarian infantry (20) can't wait to get painting these.

2 bases of Prussian reservists in short jackets.(20)

2 bases of Prussian Hussars. (6)

More Prussian Landwehr (10)

2 bases of  Prussian line infantry (20)

Prussian 6 horse heavy limber plus howitzer (This will be my Prussian baggage base)

2 x 12b French guns (I already have the foot artillery crew for them)

2 bases of Chasseur a Cheval of the Guard (6) beautiful figures!

Bearing mind that in addition to the core DBN armies I am doubling everything up for use on the 125mm C&C hex grid this lot should keep me going for a fair while.

The last week has mostly been spent painting for Old John (20mm's) and Gerry (6mm's), but I did find time to slip in another 18mm French base Saturday and managed to get the Prussian limber painted Sunday. Unfortunately, having painted the six horse team I realised I could only fit four on the standard DBN baggage base....blast! Pleased with it though and I have held back the first Prussian v French game until this piece was ready for the tabletop.

40mm's on the march!

For the week ahead I have on the painting desk the couple of Bavarian bases, more Spanish WSS horse for John and a couple of bases of 6mm WSS cavalry for Gerry. IN addition to this I'm finishing off some 40mm bases as the collection is being sold to a fellow UK blogger. I am very happy about this as they have remained in their travel boxes for over a year now and I cannot see myself being able to enjoy them due to lack of space in this house and I know that they will be played with and cherished in their new home. They will be on their way by end of this week and it paves the way for the purchase of an Austrian army by AB which will push the total numbers of my 18mm Napoleonics to almost 1000 figures.

Photos show the limber piece, French infantry and British infantry bases added last in the last week, the British and French were really just using up some spare figures until the order arrived. Also five 20mm Spanish Dragoons (by Hagen) painted for John featuring a green/yellow colour scheme. I always now use WW2 Japanese uniform as a base coat for yellow as it covers over black in a single coat and makes a great shade for Deep Yellow with Lemon Yellow highlights. I painted the wheels with a touch of Glossy Black before I took the photos but decided it was too strong so knocked it back to flat black again afterwards.

EDIT: the limber team after applying the Vallejo Blue wash to tone things down a touch, much better I think?

Old Johns Spanish Dragoons.

  

Still painting away!

 This week has been a bit of a change from all that Prussian Blue! I have on the go some 6mm WSS, 20mm WSS, the last of my 18mm Spanish Napoleonics and 3 more Prussian Generals for the C&C set up so individual bases. I started the week by finishing off two more Spanish line infantry bases followed by the last 10 militia figures which cleans out my supply of AB Spanish. With the last four Dragoons base coated I'm also out of Prussians now until my order arrives from Eureka who are waiting on a delivery from Australia where they are cast. No problem as I have plenty to keep me busy.

It had taken me a long time to get my eye back in on the 6mm's, Gerry has been patiently waiting for about 10 months now to add to those I sold him, again using up packs of Baccus castings from my drawer. The addition of the second painting lamp was a gamechanger, and I really enjoyed being able to paint these delightful little figures again. I was able to match the basing perfectly using the same materials and Gerry is very happy with them. I only have enough foot for two British and two French, plus a couple of additional cavalry units per side, but at the moment Baccus figures are like gold dust!

The 20mm Hagen's for John will be finished today. I have been experimenting with the white uniforms, starting from a grey base coat followed by a carefully controlled dry brush, taking care not to obscure the button details wherever possible before adding stronger highlights of off white as the final finish. I think this works well and avoids that flat white look. I have more of these to follow up with next week.

I'm particularly pleased with the Prussian horses. I started with my usual Flat Brown over black followed by a 50/50 mix of FB & Japanese WW2 uniform (!). This time I added final highlights of pure Japanese uniform which really works well as I hope you can see. This will be my go to method for my future lighter horses.

I'm now considering ordering an Austrian DBN army from Eureka, still not sure but they are very tempting.

Battle news.

If we get a bright day over the weekend ( for photos), I'm planning a DBN battle on the card table, 1813 French v Prussian roughly 12 points per side. I have already sorted out the two armies in line with the rules army lists which are as follows:

1813 Prussians.  4 x Muskets (Ms), 2 x Jagers, 3 x Militia Muskets* (Landwehr), 1 x Heavy cavalry, 2 x Militia light cavalry (Landwehr), 2 x Foot artillery.   (Plus command base and baggage)

*Should be minimum of 4 but I only have 3  so far, ½ point per base.

1813 French.   2 x Young Guard (Elite muskets), 4 x ‘Marie Louise’ (Militia class muskets), 2 x Allies* (Militia class muskets), 1 x heavy cavalry (Elite) ** 1 x Light cavalry (Elite) 2 x Foot artillery (1 is Elite) Plus command base and baggage.

*Swiss for now until I get the Bavarians painted!  **Dragoons.

This time I plan a start to finish battle report as it's about time this blog featured some actual wargaming!