Commission work update and building Langton ships.

Thankfully the Winter Blues episode is passing now and I'm feeling more upbeat again. The decision to pass on my Napoleonic Epics to Mal was a good one as it has helped me to clear the decks as I like to do from time to time and refocus. It was good to hear that they were ready to fight their first battle within a couple of days of Mal receiving them, which was after all what they are intended for. Going forward I have decided to focus on the commission work, (for my soldier painting fix!), and building up a small collection of the Langton Napoleonic ships and then possibly - just possibly - in the new year do something 'Ancient' based for myself which would be a real departure for me.

Commission work.

For the foreseeable future I am unable to accept any new commissions as I am heavily engaged on two big Epic projects that will keep me painting for many, many months ahead alongside some of my regulars. I don't feel at all overwhelmed by the task ahead as I have settled into a very solid and reliable method of painting the epic strips that produces good crisp results at an acceptable hourly rate. 

Having finished and posted the ACW Union Brigade box for Noel I went onto painting the first of the Peter Pig Scots for Graham, a 28 figure test unit which I feel turned out pretty well. These were followed up by another 2 regiments of Prussian Epics, this time the first of the Landwehr. 6 battalions of 40 figures each. 240 figures painted over 6 days which is quite a good output I think especially when you consider the strips are all cut in half and then any arm damage repaired with a small sausage of green stuff. My method is to prepare a full regiment of 120 figures at a time, base coat, dry brush dark Prussian blue, drybrush trousers mid grey, highlight coats (Litewka) with flat blue and then highlight trousers off white. I then paint each 40 figure battalion to a finish before starting on the next. The prep work is a days work ( I rarely paint after 5pm) but ensures a consistency of finish through the regiments. No doubting the most demanding part is painting the cap bands accurately and I do like to touch in the tiny collars unlike a lot of the epic painters out there I find it's worth the extra bit of effort. I'll probably just finish the bases over  the weekend as we have our young Grand daughters staying over tonight (The Rugrats as my wife calls them), who always insist on my painting multi coloured love hearts on the back of their hands about as much painting as I can get done when they are over!

Next two weeks are set aside for 2 battalions of 20mm WSS infantry for Tony along with the first 300 epic Confederates for Chris in New Zealand. Must say I'm looking forward to painting some more epic Rebs again. As mentioned previously this commission is for 44 units each of 60 figure with additional Warlord epic metal command strips split 50/50 Union/Confederate. So all in all I'm keeping myself pretty busy but thoroughly enjoying it.

Langton ship models.

The first British ship is built and painted ready to start the rigging, I just need to order a .5mm drill to drill the holes to pass the thread through before I can get started. I went for the brass sail sets again which are finer in scale than the metal sets but quite demanding to work with. I painted these on the brass sprue and then rolled them over a pen to shape them before supergluing them to the masts. While I'm waiting for the drill bit I'll start on the first French ship, a 74 gun. I must mention Mark Dudley here as he very kindly sent me a model that he bought 25 years ago and never took out of the packets! I mentioned this to Carol Langton who said I had an antique and that it reminded her just how long they have been in business, many thanks Mark and when she's finished no doubt the Dudley will make an appearance here. 

Photos below of all recent painting including a shot of the fully based and finished ACW Union brigade box for Noel.

First the 2 Landwehr regiments painted this week.

Below, Prussian progress so far for Tony2.

Below: The first of the Covenant army for Graham.

Below: The Warlord Epic Union Brigade box for Noel.

Below: The first of the Langton fleet underway. Might have to tone that yellow paint on the mast ropes down a bit although Nelson ordered them painted yellow after The Battle of The Nile in order to aid recognition.

Finally a shot of The Rugrats (Lilly and Violet), plus younger Brother Ozzy off to a party on Halloween as The Adams Family, their Mum and Dad dressed up too!

 

Now then, just imagine this ......

I had a vision the other day after seeing the amazing work in 2mm scale by Paul Clarke on the 2mm Facebook page. Probably - no definitely - the best example of how to use 2mm scale figures to their best effect for creating large armies that really look like armies! I know that quite a few of my followers who are interested in the smaller scales don't use FB so with Paul's permission I'm sharing a few of his photos here. I would love to hear your thoughts on his wonderful work, especially how the table and bases blend so well.

And so of course I immediately saw the potential of DBN armies in the scale done in this way, large bases each representing a brigade with hundreds on tiny men in various formations, marching columns, skirmishers out front,   mounted generals, supply wagons at rear possibly, this has really caught my imagination! Just 12 bases (points) per side would look most impressive I think? I'm thinking that 1812 French v Russians could be a good place to begin, 

As I always like to have something ticking along for myself this could make a perfect little side project maybe.

Photos of Paul's amazing Medieval armies shared with his permission, as Mr Punch would have said "That's the way to do it".

Some ACW's for a change and Napoleonic news!

Over the past couple of weeks I have been going through a sort of seasonal blues, feeling a bit up and down and definitely not helped by the political turmoil in this country at the moment. Having been a keen follower of UK politics for most of my adult life I can barely believe what is going on at the moment and what is to come over the coming week.

This weeks commission painting has been a brigade box of Warlord Epic ACW's, 300 Union infantry in 3 regiments plus the 3 gun battery and mounted officers. Just need to add flags and texture the bases to complete. Enjoyed doing some ACW's again as it's been a while. I have also taken delivery of the full ACW starter box along with 4 packs of metal command strips from Warlord which will allow me to build 44 x 60 figure infantry regiments split 50/50 Union/Reb for Chris in New Zealand, obviously this is a long term project but one I know I will enjoy. I must admit that I had not known that the ACW command strips were available in metal, the same strip just cast in metal and you get 5 of them to a pack.

This coming week I'll be painting for Graham and Tony before getting stuck back into lots of Napoleonic Prussian Epics!

Napoleonics now sold!  Aside from the above I have also hit that point once again where it's time to find something else to mess around with as an aside from my commission painting, and to this end I have now sold my 900 painted epic Napoleonics and they will be heading off to their new owner Mal this week who will actually use the figures, something I know I will never do beyond laying them out for photos or videos. I'm happy with this decision as anyone who has followed the blog for the last 10 plus years will understand, much as I still love painting soldiers my wargaming days are now long gone. No doubt I will find something new, starting with a couple of lovely Langton Napoleonic ships again like the little Frigate I did years ago that gave me so much pleasure. Was it really 2013!

Epics and more epics!

Firstly I would like to thank those who left comments on my earlier post re 1815 Prussians, all useful and we have now decided upon Prussian line regiments consisting of 3 x 40 figure battalions, 2 musketeer and1 fusilier, colours carried by the musketeer battalions only and the fusiliers with black equipment straps. We - customer Tony2 and I - ditched the idea of metal command figures for 2nd battalion as they just did not sit well and so reverted to a cut down musket which really does not look at all bad when viewed as part of a 120 figure regiment!

So, this weeks commission output is 240 Prussian infantry. Will just tidy them up and touch up flag edges etc over the weekend before adding textured basing. Next week I'll be painting a complete Epic ACW brigade box of 3 x 100 figure regiments, a three gun battery and mtd command. I also have another new customer for ACW Epics, 44 regiments of 60 figures being the starter army box and 4 packs of additional command strips. Clearly now I'm fully booked for many months ahead alongside my regulars, but it's where I wanted to get to with my painting service.

It's been a busy week all round with family stuff too, but I still managed to add a couple more bases to my own epic collection, 4th Btn KGL and the Life Guards. I now have a total of  40 x 20 figure infantry bases, 14 bases of cavalry and 6 battery bases of 2 guns each so now just able to sit back and enjoy adding the odd unit here and there. I'm vert keen to do Brunswick next just trying to select the best epic figures for conversion.

 

A quick question re 1815 Prussian infantry.

 

Is anyone able to help me out here please? Given that a Prussian line infantry regiment consisted of 3 battalions - 2 musketeer and 1 fusilier - would all 3 battalions have carried colours and if so what? I'm assuming the 1st battalion would carry the regimental flag but can't pin this down so any help greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Thank you for the replies, all useful. I have also been sent a link to the site below and must say it is an amazing reference source. I know how to proceed now and have noticed that both 1st and 2nd battalion flags are on the printed Warlord flag sheet!

http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/unitesPR.php

I'm working through a batch of Prussian line for Tony2 this week, what will be 6 x 40 figure battalions so 2 regiments of 120 figures. The centre (1st battalion) will have the regimental flag as supplied on the warlord flag sheet and given there is just the single command strip per 80 line troops if the other 2 battalions DID carry flags then a small conversion job will be required to add the flag - the metal Chariot command figures are too big anyway, much chunkier than their British and French ranges so we have ditched those (see photo) -
but if so what flag would be carried?

Hope this makes sense and we are only looking for a generalisation given the apparent complexity of the subject!

Cheers,

Lee

It's like Land of The Giants! Out they go but worth a try. The faces will get a thin wash when finished.

And back in the present!

Just finished another weeks commission painting, a batch of 15mm Peter Pig ECW's for Graham and a first test paint of epic Prussian line infantry for Tony2. 

As usual the Pigs are a pleasure to paint and these may well be the last of the Edgehill project figures I think and next up will the Scots, something I am also looking forward to. Some of the mounted generals here are matchlock (I think?) slightly chunkier than the Pigs but a nice addition of various commanders.

All of the Prussian infantry are required to be on half width bases, strips cut down, so 10 figures per base, 40 to a battalion. It's a simple job and they break fairly cleanly. Of course this presents an issue with lack of command figures from the epic strips so I'm hoping the Chariot Prussian metal figures will fit as well as the British and French do, you can only really tell once painted.  

For myself I continue to add metal command to my 20 figure epic infantry battalions, latest this week are the British Guards (3 regiments now with colours) and the Highlanders as you see below. I'm really pleased with how well this is working out and the sight of the entire brigade of 60 figures is very pleasing on the eye. The bases are 60mm x 25mm. 

Weekend now so I'll be painting just another 6 figure heavy cavalry base for myself, the Life Guards, and also prepping up another 5 Prussian infantry battalions for next week.

Have a good weekend.