Tough week with the heat but on schedule for Falkirk Muir (not Culloden!)

Firstly a correction! Marcus has informed me that the first Public demonstration game is actually Falkirk Muir 1746 and not Culloden although that battle is also in the future plans. I have asked him for details of when and where the game will be hosted in Scotland and I will share them here once I know as it should a great spectacle with huge numbers of Epic figures on the table. Link to some info about the actual battle can be found here: https://blog.historicenvironment.scot/2026/01/the-battle-of-falkirk-muir/

Phew, it's been HOT down here in Kent this last week or so but I have managed to hit my schedule of painting two more regiments of Govt. Foot for Marcus to complete the commission of another four units to be delivered by 17th July as we agreed. I just need to texture the bases (I always superglue the front rank only to make it easier applying the Vallejo texture before gluing the rear rank strips into place), once dry which only takes about 3 hours, I apply patches of static grass leaving areas of bare earth showing. Marcus has the flags ready to add. These will be packed up tomorrow (Monday) label booked and printed via Parcel2go using Royal Mail Tracked 24 service with proof of delivery signature which costs an additional £1.25 to the tracked service. It will go to the Post Office drop off Tuesday Morning. I have used Parcel2go for  many moths now including shipments to the USA and Ireland via FedEx which has really speeded up the delivery time over Royal Mail. 

This coming week I have a pile of 24 Hinchliffe figures which I think are Streltsi? THese are for Old John. I have also taken delivery of another Faction of WoR 15mm's for  Noel along with more Epic ACW sprues for him. 

First base of Bavarians in 1/72nd!

 Things have slowed up a bit with the recent hot weather which dries out the paint on the brushes so fast but having painted a first base of Austrian Cuirassiers I could not resist doing the first base of Bavarian infantry, The figures are by HaT and I used the same combination of poses as with the Austrians, ie two men firing and an officer at the front, standard bearer centre middle rank etc. I'm pleased with the result and a second base is undercoated ready to start next. The Austrian cavalry are nice, bit of a squeeze on the base but OK and I'm not sure if I should add a flag or not to each base. All very colourful anyway,  Flags by Warflags just resized in Word and printed at 'best' quality.

 

3rd Foot (Buffs) and 48th Foot ready to march to Culloden!

 This weeks output has been these two fine Regiments of Foot ready to make the long march to the field of Culloden as they did in 1745. Both are Buff faced units as are the two that I will be painting this coming week but Marcus requested off white (I use Vallejo Cream White) for the belts with a special dispensation for the 3rd East Kent Regt who are of course 'The Buffs' and was my Grandfathers regiment during the First War. I used pure Vallejo Buff for the Buffs!

Have to say I'm enjoying the lighter workload now and genuinely enjoy painting these units of 60 figures for Marcus planned demonstration/display game in July. 13mm Warlord Epic AWI's are the sprues being used so uniform is not perfect for the earlier period but in this scale it's pretty good I think?. I paint just 3 strips in a day session so 4 days out of 7 to compete the 120 figures plus basing, Marcus will add the flags.

Shoulder your Firelocks!

                           Next up are the 14th and 62nd Foot. (Before the magic happens :)

My Grandfathers First World War Attestation paper, 3 Years with the Colours 3rd East Kent The Buffs.

 

Just more Austrian 'Toy Soldiers'!

 I really like this HaT 'Toy Soldier' box that my Austrian Artillery arrived in this week, not seen one like it before as it's just a kind of generic box with no dedicated box art, and as I purchased them second hand on eBay I guess it's an older box maybe? The artillery is a great box set with 4 guns and 24 crew figures for £6 that I paid! I only require 2 for my DBN army so wasted no time in painting them up. Also painted another 'Hungarian' unit this week from the Austrian shako set so I painted the yellow knots on the tops of the trousers, I'm happy with them anyway. 

Just need two bases of Chevauleger to complete the 12 element army (plus command base). I now have the first Bavarian infantry on order and what a fantastic set they are, Link to Plastic Soldier Review of the set:  HERE

A few more photos so far.

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.