Mindless painting

I have a couple different units-er, perhaps groupings of figures would be more accurate-on my painting table.  I'm presently actively painting some Hundred Years War French.  They are just your basic Old Glory French from their Crecy/Poitiers range.  Unfortunately, unlike my good friend Dean Motoyama, I am unable to paint 90 figures in a week, let alone 90 in a day.  Not only that, I'm on deadline, the last of the year, so I'm just picking at what I can.  They may be done this weekend, or maybe not.

The other unit on my table is mounted Kentucky militia from the Old Glory Wayne's Legion range.  These Kentuckians were an important part of Wayne's army and performed the valuable mission of drawing fire away from the advancing Legion at Fallen Timbers.  Any frontier army from the late 18th or early 19th century would have mounted militia.  I have a couple of bags of these figures and I'd like to have them done by the end of the summer.

The figures I'd really like to move on to are my Victrix Napoleonics.  It's time to get serious about my War of 1812 project.  The deal with my colleagues, Mark Waddington and Doug Hamm, was that I'd be responsible for the units at Bladensburg.  The British have two small brigades there.  I have a lot of the American militia units, but need more.  It's a tough call because I'll have to justify building dozens more stands for what amounts to a one off engagement, unless I do something hypothetical around the siege of Baltimore.  Further complicating things are the new figures constantly added to the War of 1812 range by Knuckleduster.  They seem really nice, and they've recently added U.S. Marines and Joshua Barney's bluejackets are coming. I have some ersatz Marines as well as 24 sailors, but the miniatures aren't great.  In any case, I still have something on the order of 200+ Brits to paint before I have to get serious about a decision.

On my painting table: gunners, ballplayers and Cavalcade Miniatures

Sometimes it's just hard to post.  It's not that I'm doing nothing, it's that my whole world is in process.

I've actually been painting my little (I wish) butt off.  Last weekend I finished painting up all those nice U.S. and Spanish artillerymen I wrote about.  They're finished, but the basing isn't done.  Not on all those silly American infantry either.  Why?

In the foreground are the Perry gunners.  Very nice, uncluttered figs.  In the back are the RSM Spanish artillerymen.  I'll get a final photo out when they are properly based.

Well it's the Christmas season dontcha know.  This year I've foolishly decided to paint some figures for two of my non-painting friends.  So as we hurtle toward next weeks's X-mas deadline I have to knock out twenty three 28mm figures. It's a lot but I'm making pretty good progress.

First on the list is 15 baseball players.  They are the last of my Reviresco baseball stash, and I wanted to paint them for my friend who is a big baseball fan.  He's equally divided between the Yankees of the Bronx Zoo era and those 80's Cubbies.  I decided to paint them up as the '84 Cubs that won the NL East title because I am an inveterate Yankees hater.  There was something very working class about that Cubs team, and I painted them up in their blue away pullovers.  There are some fiddly details on them that give the uniforms some character.  Should be finished with them tonight.

Tim's '84 Cubs from Reviresco.  The figs are pretty simple, and most of the detail has to be painted in.  Even so, every team I've painted has been fun. 

The other gift I'm painting is a batch of figures from Cavalcade Miniatures.  I first saw Cavalcade's French and Indian War figures on The Miniatures Page, and decided I needed an excuse to at least paint some.  I ordered a box each of the Rogers Rangers and French Marine figures.  The miniatures are all in serious winter dress and are wearing snowshoes.  The figures are quite nice with lots of detail  The muskets, in particular, are quite delicate and look very nice.  They are large and bulky in their heavy winter clothing, but anatomically consistent.  If I have a complaint it is that on a few figures the mold mark runs right down the miniatures' faces.  Though the flash is minor, on a couple of figures, removing this adequately was difficult.  They'll remain in queue behind the Cubs probably until Friday night.

In the queue are these Cavalcade French and Indian War figures on snowshoes.

The holiday vacation begins at 2:40 tomorrow.  You best believe I'll be blowing out on time and headed home to my painting table.  I have big painting plans for the break, and I'm hoping to get a lot done.

A Little of This and a Little of That

I wish I had something sexy to share like the hussars, but frankly things are going to be kind of uniform and boring for a bit.  I have painted, but not based, 18 American regulars for the project.  They were mostly figures I'd stripped and repainted.  The process was sloppy, and despite plenty of effort, I just didn't get all the gunk off from the previous paint and primer.  Thought I did . . .

OG Wayne's Legion figures.  They're awaiting basing-hopefully this weekend.  They actually look better than this-geez I hope so.

I also painted up my very last handful of usable Front Rank militia types, mostly command figures, and combined them with a couple of the Lewis and Clark figs to use with the militia masses I'll be calling into service at Chickasaw Bluffs.  I have an odd mix of figures to use for militia.  Lots of them are AWI figures from Front Rank and OG.  However, a fair number of them are from the Mountain Man range by Foundry.  I got them much cheaper than their present price, and they add some spice to volunteers out to chase off Indians and drive the Spanish of out of N'awleens. I need at least 80 figures in eight units for my planned scenario, and each unit needs command figures.  So I used the generic militia flags from Quindia studios to give them a bit of unit identification.  The flags turned out well-I really like them. Thanks Clarence.

A chance to show off my Quindia flags with my militia units.  I'll need about 80 militia figures in all for Chickasaw bluffs.

On my table right now is a bunch of artillery.  One of my purchases for this project were guns and gunners by the Perry brothers from their AWI range.  I've mostly painted the guns, and I've got to say I'm disappointed.  I've bought other guns from the same range, the six-pounders and crews for the Brits and the Americans and these were just lousy castings.  The gunners look great, but the guns look like the molds need cleaning.  These are the only disappointing miniatures I've had from them.  Just a simple Vallejo blue gray with a little gray dry-brushing before painting in the black hardware, Vallejo brass for the barrels, and then a follow up dry-brushing.  The odd gun is a Front Rank piece.  Not uniform with anything, I thought it might work as a militia-served piece.

Spanish guns in natural wood and American guns in blue-gray.  You can see the Perry gun carriage on the left is actually twisted.  Disappointing.

The other guns are from the RSM range now produced by Dayton Painting Consortium.  I can't say enough good things about these miniatures or DPC.  They were extremely easy to work with-great communicators for a small operation.  I'm really happy with the figures.  They have plenty of detail and love the elevating with the level figures.  My only beef is the figures,which came as a bagged set, create only three man crews, rather than the conventional four man crews.  I'll have to figure something out.

The RSM gunners by Dayton Painting Consortium are nice.  Not quite Perry nice, but cheaper and serviceable.

The guns, also RSM from DPC, are also nice.  The little three pounders are perfectly serviceable.  The twelve-pounders, while nicely detailed, seem undersized.  I can seem them as eight pounders, but the carriages and barrels should be larger.

More pictures when everything is done.

Texas Hussars: Done at last

The Texas Hussars clearly showing off their shields

I guess it didn't take that long to complete them, but the Texas Hussars are finished.  I painted the adarga's black, as the Murillo prints showed, and the Spanish coat of arms as with the sabretache.  I may go with the blue on the cuera lancer.

More from the front

Frankly, I'm pleased.  They look nice and were relatively easy to build and paint.

Close up of the officer figure, clearly showing the adarga, or apple shaped shield

Texas Hussars: carbine and adarga

Well, these are almost finished.  There are only two bits left to do:  the carbine and adarga, or apple shaped shield.

View from front right quarter.  The pants are highlighted, and the sword and hands are painted.  You might be able to make out facial detail

I'm taking a quick break from cutting the shields from .010 thickness styrene because it's tedious and I'm tired of it.  It also lets me take some updated pics of the Hussars so you can see the almost finished versions.

Front view of the horsemen

Texas Hussar officer.  He has silver lace as well as trouser markings. 

 After swapping an e-mail with Doug Hamm in B.C., I decided to go ahead with the adargas.  I was up in the air at first because honestly, based on the pictures I have it wasn't clear this shield was used.  The Murillo watercolors clearly show a round shield.  Second, it was unclear I had enough room for the shields.  However, Doug was right when he said the apple shaped shield defined the appearance of this unit.  Unfortunately the location of the pelisse over the left arm precludes mounting it on the hussar, so I'll have to place it on the left sheepskin where holsters would be located.

This illustration of a cuera lancer convinced me to go ahead and paint the adarga for the hussars.  My shield will be mounted in the same position.

 Doug suggested cutting a template and tracing out the design, which I did.  I cut and filed a way a small hunk of .040 styrene and used it to trace out on the much thinner plastic.  It's done the trick, though I still have some work to do.

Shields cut from thin styrene and carbines await my attention.

The carbines are awaiting my attention, but that won't happen until the shields are cut and the backs are painted.

Texas Hussars WIP pt. 2

I've made a lot of progress on my hussars.  They are to the point now where at least they look like hussars.  The dolman was tricky with it's looped braiding.  It's possible to make those loops pretty thick, but I wanted to allow the vermillion to show through.  I did highlight the Dolman, but not light enough.  It's one of those tight-fitting pieces without a lot of folds, so there's not many natural spots to lighten.  The buttons are Natural Silver by Vallejo.  I like Vallejo's metals very much, though they can get pretty thick and goopy with age.

The hussar's belt is Vallejo Vermillion and Vallejo Dark Blue, highlighted with lightened versions of each.  I used Ceramcoat white on all the belting and lace.  It concerns me a bit, because it doesn't cover real well, but I think it looks okay.  The trousers are Vallejo Blue Gray.  I haven't highlighted them yet, but I hope to do so tonight.

According to the Murillo picture and the other photos I posted, the Texas Hussars did not have a sabretache.  I should have cut it off but I didn't, and it's a little late now. I opted instead to decorate it with the arms of Spain.  It's small and looks alright.

I don't have a ton o of things to do.  Tonight I should be able to finish highlighting the trousers, paint and detail the hands and sword, and probably paint the faces.  That leaves me two challenges:  the carbines and shields. I should have left the carbines on the sprue to paint them, but no-dopey me.  I'll probably paint the base brown before gluing them to the belt and swivel.  Then have at it.  The shields are difficult.  I don't want to cut ten round shields from sheet plastic.  I know I'll get them wrong.  I've got some ancient shields that I'll dremel the bosses from, but the hard part is sticking them to the figures.  I've thought about just gluing them to the valises on the left rear, but I doubt they'll stay.  I've also considered trying to drill in a pin, but that will make a major mess.  I've even considered leaving off the shield altogether; they aren't right, they would need some sanding to get the "apple" shape.  But the shield is part of the charm of the Texas Hussar.  You'll see what I come with in my next entry.

Taking Stock

It is the last day of October, and addition to answering the doorbells for trick or treaters, I thought it might be worthwhile to review the month just completed as well as the year in terms of projects and purchases.

 Frankly, I find this to have been a productive year for a number of reasons.  I'd just like to focus on expense for a minute.  Three or four years ago I spent money on figures like a drunken sailor.  They might have been figures I might eventually have an interest in painting, but I basically just stockpiled figs.  Mostly they were OG figures I ordered through my membership in the OG Army.  I stockpiled huge numbers of Hundred Years War figures, American Revoltion Figures, War of 1812 figures.

 Two years ago that all changed.  I stopped using credit, and began paying cash for everything.  I'm in the credit card users protection program.  This year I've bought few figures, often using Christmas and birthday cash to buy the figures I needed.  No purchases on spec, all purchases directed at a particular project.

 At the same time I've been able to reduce some of my figure stocks.  I painted all of my 15mm Jacobite project in August, with the exception of some of the very cool baggage that go with them.  I finished all of the American Revolution figures I picked up for my Hobkirk's Hill game.  Though I still have figures to paint for AWI, and will also buy minis for future battles, they can wait until I'm ready.

I've also taken on two projects this year.  The first was my Sluys battle.  I still think of this as Sluys round one.  I learned a little bit about the period-though not as much as I'd like-and put together two fairly representative fleets.  David Manley's medieval naval rules also provide for some single ship battles and I'd like to build another round of ships to make use of them effectively.  It's a low cost, high labor activity, but I think I'm up to the challenge.

Finally, there are my Mississippi projects.  This is really a labor of love that can cover the Spanish-American tensions as well as Fallen Timbers.  I've purchased a fair number of figures for this project.  The Perry hussars I'm currently working on, the cuera foot, horse and Spanish artillery from the Dayton Painting Consortium are waiting to be painted.  That's about 45 figures.  I also have American dragoons and mounted militia to paint, plus regular infantry, militia foot, and artillery to paint for about 120 figures.  I also have about 80 unpainted Indians I would love to finish, but I have 100 or so painted figures, so they aren't exactly necessary to the project.

So that means I need to paint 165ish figures with some 80 figures optional.  Plus terrain pieces, plus deciding on a set of usable rules.  I'm thinking Brother Against Brother with some modifications for cavalry.

I envision running at least one scenario using the Mississippi figures at Enfilade.  That means figures need to be pretty much wrapped up by early April in order to playtest games before the convention.

WIP: The Texas Hussars

My Mississippi Project is going to require a fair amount of painting for both side.  Foot, horse and guns-maybe 200 figures between now and Enfilade.  (Really?  What am I thinking?) Of those, 50 figures are mounted.  I've purchased all of them and they're just awaiting paint.  The Americans have twenty mounted militia from OG, and ten light dragoons also from OG.  The Spanish have ten of the mounted cuera from Dayton Painting Consortium and ten of the Texas Hussars based on the Perry Brothers plastic French Napoleonic hussars.

The Perry figures have the virtue of providing several different head choices, so it was possible to pick the mirliton shako worn by early French hussars.  The pieces fit well and and aren't ambitiously fiddly.  I've finished all the horses and am working on the riders.

I started by assembling all the bits-horses and riders and shooting them with white primer.  I chose my horse colors carefully.  All the colors are Delta Ceramcoat or Vallejo.  All colors received a drybrush highlighting followed by a dark wash.  The sheepskins are ivory washed with a grey-brown. I chose Vallejo's vermillion for the colored points and the valises, and trimmed them in Prussian blue.  The bridles, strapping etc were all in Ceramcoat black with a quick highlight of charcoal.  I found the horses to be fairly simple to do.

Right now I'm wrapped up with the riders, which are a bit more challenging.  Face it, hussars are pretty busy and the challenge is to remain patient enough to finish them.

Thus far I've focused on finishing their shakos and pelisses.  I painted the base coat of the dolman Vallejo vermillion.  Then I painted the pelisse Vallejo blue gray, highlighting with Vallejo azure.  Then I did the fur edging in Ceramcoat spice brown.  I decided to give the pelisse white lining, but because I wanted good coverage I used Vallejo foundation white. I worked for a while on the pelisses, but finding them fairly tedious I took time to do the shakos.  I stayed with a basic black, avoiding the red wing in one of the examples.

That's where they stand today.  I hope to have the pelisses finished tomorrow, and move on to the dolman.

Making the Most of My In Service Days: Thursday Live Blog

It's darned early, 5:03 AM.  I have today off, courtesy of my principal, the much revered Brian Lowney and the Puyallup School District.  October 6th and 7th are district and state in-service days.  In the old days we had these days off to participate in teacher trainings offered by districts state wide.  Now they're pretty much used for catching up or taking a break after the first month of school.

I plan to use my day mostly for painting little men, so I'll keep you posted throughout the day on what I get done.  Warning*: this will be live blogging, little snippets of info, hopefully accompanied by pictures as the day goes along.  It will also be largely unfiltered.  I'll mix in various other activities as the day goes along.

5:10 My day begins with our pets.  15 year old cat Daphne, mini-Australian shepherds Jack and Lucy, nine and ten respectively get fed and then I take the dogs for a walk.  Nothing long, about 15 minutes in our development.  It's been pissing rain the last 24 hours, but I managed to get them out in between most of the raindrops.  It's dark, so picture taking is out (besides my iPhone is charging and my pics will be with my phone today. Probably.) After we get back and dried off a bit, I'll settle in to read and maybe a nap until Lorri heads off to work at7:00.  I've been a bad sleeper for a number of years now and the best I can manage is 6 1/2 or so hours per night.  Last night was worse than usual.  Pretty wakeful after 2:30 and wide awake at 4:00.  Definitely a nap in the cards.

For now I'm going to read An Artist in Treason by Andro Linklater .  It's a biography of James Wilkinson, general in the American Army during the Revolutionary War, but more importantly in the period from 1784-1813 or so.  It is a 2009 biography about one of the most extraordinary rascals in American history, and covers the era of my Mississippi project.  It's a very accessible work about Wilkinson's role as a spy for the Spanish during this critical era.

7:25 Emerged from the shower to howls of protest from Daphne, the dogs had their daily savaging of her food from her dish.

Today I have two chief goals.  The first is to finish basing the Space 1889 Martian swordsmen and Wayne's Legion figures I have on my desk.  You can see them here.  I used wood putty on their washers and Litko bases respectively as build-up.  Shouldn't be a big job.  I'll write more about them later.  The Wayne's Legion figures are from Old Glory's range.  Serviceable despite some errors.  The Martians are from RAFM.

I also want to finish painting the big critters. These are Gashants, riding beasts of Mars, again from RAFM.  I really like this particular version of the Gashant.  They appear large and fierce.  They are the mounts for some Martian native light horse, er, native light gashant, um, irregular mounted forces.

10:10  I'm off to run some errands--library and a haircut.  Worked on my Gashants while watching Khartoum.  Definitely one of my favorite movies.  I worked hard to even out the color on the critters.  They've been washed at least three times now.  First with a lighter color, then a darker shade of the base color, then with a black wash.  Started on the horse furniture, er you know what I mean.

 

2:00 Got back from my errands had some lunch and plugged in The Outlaw Josey Wales.  Probably my favorite Western and definitely my favorite Eastwood.   I've worked for about an hour adding details to the Gashants.  Painted their beaks, saddles and reins, their head armor in addition to blanket rolls and strapping.  Probably another hour's worth of work to go.  Unfortunately I have to take a break to make the dog's food (long story,) and clean up the kitchen. 

5:05 I've finished the Gashants and the basing for the Martian swordsmen.  I'm getting dinner ready which will keep me busy for a while.  

 8:30  Finished basing all the figures, and I'm probably ready to call it a night.  Maybe read for a bit, and check back in with finished figures tomorrow.

Do Overs

I don't know about you, but I'm contemplating re-painting some figures.  Twenty years ago I painted in a completely different style.  I was a paint stainer.  It was a style I learned from a friend of mine, Bill Stewart.  He was, and remains very good at it, is highly productive with this technique, and continues to produce lots of beautiful  figures with it.  I had some success with that technique, but I also produced some very light colored figures I no longer like, and I'm thinking about repainting them.

The two figures in the middle are painted for the Legion system in the Fallen Timbers campaign.  The two outside figures are in the later 1797 regulations.  The figure on the right is in the all-blue winter dress.

With the Jacobites and their enemies finished, I'm beginning work on my next project-my hypothetical war on the Mississippi River between the U.S. and Spain.  Many of the American figures will come from the Old Glory  Mad Anthony Wayne range.  I painted figures for the Fallen Timbers campaign many years ago, staining them.  Today my technique is more of a block color with highlighting way of painting.  I like it better because the colors look more, well, colorful.  I've include some of my old figures, along with some of my newer figures from my Lewis and Clark project as comparison. The other reason for re-painting was that the U.S. uniform regulations changed in 1796 with the reorganization of the Legion of the United States and the end of its odd color-coded style.  With the reorganization of the Legions into four regiments, the army retained many of the features of the previous uniform, but with simple red facings for all units, the colored bands on the round hat were eleminated, and everyone had a black bearskin crest on their headgear, rather than white for some.

These are the same uniforms the Lewis and Clark Expedition wore on dress occasions, and were in service from 1796-1804, and the figures could do double-duty for L and C and my Mississippi campaign.  So I'm likely going to do the repaint.  The alternative would be to buy more of the Anthony Wayne figures.  To be truthful, I have a lot of these figures painted, together with bazillions of OG Woodland Indians, but I've never played a game with them.  They've lived in their box for years!  That is a shame.  With lots of excitement about my project, which could become a nice weekend mini-campaign, I'm leaning toward the repaint.

I've also included a poll.  The question is would you consider re-painting some of your figures?

Figures, Follies and Foolery

It's August 14th and back to school is just around the corner.  My summer game plans have not gone well. I just haven't been able to do as much as I hoped.  First, I'd like to offer my litany of excuses.  Come on, Congress had the debt ceiling fiasco, we're entering a political campaign season, everyone's handing out excuses, it's only fair I share some of my own.

Hallmark English regiment nearly complete

Three partly completed regiments.  I have these four pictured units left to complete.  Would love to be done with them by Friday August 19th.

First, I made some painting plans for the summer.  They were to finish my 15mm Hallmark Jacobite project and move on to my interesting 1797 hypothetical war in Mississippi project. Let's just say I haven't gotten as far as I'd like.  I ended up having a lot more British troops to paint than I thought, in fact more than actually served in Scotland in 1689.  That's okay.  The fact of the matter is that I'm getting close to finished painting all 180 figures.  That still leaves cavalry, guns, gunners and various accoutrements to paint as well, but when they are done, they're done.  It's a finite, finished project.

Ahh, my messy painting table. One Hallmark unit finished, but not based. To the right are some Old Glory Wayne's Legion figures patiently waiting their turn in the painting queue.

While I haven't finished a damn figure for my Mississippi project, I am acquiring some new minis.  Many of the figures I'll use for scenarios for this project will be drawn from other activities.  Wayne's Legion figures and militia types from Lewis and Clark and Fallen Timbers;  Spanish figures from Lewis and Clark; Indians from Fallen Timbers.  However, using some birthday bucks and a bit of my stipend from my Ellensburg teaching gig I've ordered some new toys.  First, I ordered (and have received) a box o' Perry French Napoleonic hussars.  Remember this picture? Those figures, with their mirliton options, can be made with the Perry hussars by adding a round shield-the perfect accessory for catching Comanche arrows. Nice stuff, definitely less fiddly than the British Napoleonics I was assembling earlier this week.  I also ordered more of the soldados de cuera figures that London War Room produced.  They are now made by Dayton Painting Consortium.  While I've provided a link to their website, you won't find pics of the cuera soldados there.  I ordered enough figures to add one figure to each of my two existing units, and one more unit for a total of three.  In addition I added a mounted lance armed cuera unit to go with the hussars, and some guns. I'm kind of itching to work on these guys, but Jacobites first.

Boxes of figures!! The Victrix Brits I packed off to Ellensburg lie below the Perry Hussars I received for my birthday.  "Our day will come . . . "

 In terms of the follies, I announced the purchase of a new set of ACW naval rules a couple weeks ago.  I've watched patiently as the mail carrier has driven off each day without dropping off my long-sought rules.  Finally, Friday, after I had not received my rules, I called old friend David Sullivan because he said he had ordered them after reading my blog post.  He told me he'd received his order from Bay Area Yards.  Gah!! I went back to the Bay site, and still sitting in my shopping cart was my order.  I'd never actually sent it in. I, of course, immediately remedied that problem.  So Sail and Steam Navies should arrive soon, I hope.

 There is some upcoming foolery this week as Dave Schueler brings his naval game down to Game Matrix Friday for a truants game.  I believe this may be a Barbary Wars game, one of Dave's obsessions, and it should be fun.  This is more of a playtest than anything else as I know he's been searching for the right rules.  I'm really looking forward to it and will be sure to pass a report along.

The field is fallow

I've had a heckuva time getting anything done lately.  I've got about three different projects I've been piddling at on my desk and getting frightfully little done on any of them.  I've entered one of those zones I face a few times a year when I don't get much done and just kind of hang out and read.  I'm not sure I have a good reason.  I did have a nasty fall at home a few weeks ago.  I really banged up my left leg just below the knee and it has a huge knot.  If I sit for very long it gets very stiff.  It's finally starting to get better and maybe that will help.  Today was a good painting day.

All the hard stuff is done.  Eight small cogs for Sluys.  They need masts and bowsprits, then it's prime 'em and paint 'em

I spent the weekend  painting a bit, but finished nothing.  First, I have eight small cogs I'm working on.  I need small cogs for the Flemish forces at Sluys, and will have a few left over for the French.  I'm getting more motivated to jump on the rest of the ships for Enfilade so I can get on with playtesting the scenario.

16 miserable figures that aren't even hard to paint.  Why can't I get the done??!! Argh!

 I worked a little bit on these silly Perry figures for the King's Provincial Regiment.  It's the last unit I need to paint for Hobkirk's Hill.  Again, I need to playtest the scenario so I gotta get on them.  Right now, every hour I spend on them seems like weeks.  Gah!!

Absolutely one of my favorite minis of all time.  Alys and Her Pussycat by Hasslefree Miniatures.

 This is Alys and her Pussycat based on the Alice and the Cheshire Cat from Hasslefree figures.  Its my last HF figure, and is one of my favorites.  It really captures the subject well.  Not quite finished, just gotta do something with the base.

Two limbers, two gun crews, three mounted officers and one ammunition wagon await my attention.  Perhaps I should just cover it all with Scenic Cement and give up.

This stack of Perry boxes are all the guns, gunners, wagons and officer figures I need to do for Hobkirks.  For the most part they're just for show and don't comprise a whole lot of minis.  Even so, it's a big pile of boxes.  Sheesh.

Yes, There's Magic in the Air

It's February 27th and there is snow on the ground outside my little house.  It's been a week of winter.  Though I've managed to get some figures painted while avoiding burst pipes sliding on the ice, the late for Puget Sound snow has been weird.  But today, February 27th marks the beginning of my favorite time of year--baseball season.  The M's play the Padres, who share their training facilities in the Peoria, AZ, in their annual charity game before opening the Cactus League season in the coming week.  Better still, it's on the radio.  So, my big plans to spend the morning at work correcting assignments will take a bit of hit, as I only work a couple of hours instead of three. Ball game is on at noon, and I'll be painting a Hasslefree figure as well as my languishing unit of British loyalists while listening to Rick Rizzs and the boys.

Ahhhhh, I love baseball.

2010: The Good, the Bad, and the Dumb

2010 is coming to a close at last.  In retrospect it wasn't a bad year, it just seemed long and plagued with issues that made miniature wargaming difficult.  If I had to pinpoint one major shortcoming of the year it's that I didn't get to play enough games.  Why?  Part of it was simple exhaustion.  I'm a wretched sleeper who struggles even more to snooze when confronted with stress and anxiety.  I had the latter in spades in 2010 with the JagWire trial in the spring and the continuing saga of my in-laws health, moving, and general inability to care for themselves.  On the other hand, the trial is finished, and my mother in law is amazingly on the mend. My goal for 2011 is to game at least once per month if not more.  Twice would be nice.

 One of my goals for the year was to purchase fewer figures.  I try to track purchases on the blog, but I'm really awful at it.  Updating those settings is something I really procrastinate about so I have little idea if I've purchased more than I've painted.  I can tell you I believe I'm ahead of the game.

I had a few substantial figure purchases this year.  I bought a lot of Perry AWI figures.  The good news is they are almost all painted.  The big American Virginia and Maryland units for the southern campaign are finished.  I've painted most of the British figures--about twenty left from purchases in 2010.  I've even dipped into some older reservoirs of AWI figures.  My other big purchase was of Spanish Civil War figures in 15mm.  I did a little less well with these.  I probably have close to 100 figures left to paint, and I'll close these out this year. 

I painted 540 figures in 2011, within the range of 500-600 figures I projected last year.  For the first time I struggled to keep plodding away every night.  I've talked about my eyesight issues and it's really bugged me. If I hadn't had a magnificent June, I wouldn't have come close to meeting my goal.  I have really enjoyed painting during the Christmas vacation weeks.  I simply have to find a way to paint at least an hour every day.  My down days I've really enjoyed reading, and simply put I am a reader always have been.  Somehow I need to find a balance between the two.

I have no major plans for new purchases.  Well, sort of.  After receiving a copy of David Manley's medieval and renaissance naval rules I'm looking around at some of that stuff.  Outpost miniatures and Navwar both carry medieval cogs.  Can you say Sluys anyone?  I may also pick up some Raiden planes for some Airwar C21. In terms of actual figures, I have some troops I'd like to add to my AWI.  One of my Enfilade projects is Hobkirk's Hill, and I'll need some ammunition carts and/or limbers for the Americans.  Perry makes some very nice ones.  But beyond that I have loads of figures to paint.  I also have eight Hasslefree minis on order for role playing, and I didn't order, but haven't forgotten the ship models from Bay Area Yards.

What will I paint this year?  You can depend on some AWI.  I have lots still to paint:  the 23rd regiment, Von Bose Regiment, two Guards battalions.  I'll be busy.  Beyond that, wherever my interest takes me.  I would guess I have 10-15 unfinished projects, and I just want to enjoy painting them.  It took me the better part of two months to finish the Invalids and Coffin's Light Dragoons, but in the end I enjoyed how they looked.  Maybe that's my new motto:  Take yer time and paint 'em nice. 

One of my goals is to do a bit better job keeping up with this blog.  I'll try to do more with works in progress.  Dean Motoyama over on the WAB blog does such a super job with that.  I'll also share my thoughts and suggestions on books, rules and stuff that might be helpful.  In any case as this blog nears 20,000 page views, I wish the best for you and your families in 2011.  Thanks for visiting because it keeps me writing. 

Finished at last:: Coffin's Provincial Light Dragoons and Other Hangers On

Actually I'm showing off three units.  The first is the light dragoon regiment.  Like most cavalry units in the southern AWI, it's a small unit.  It represents 80 men, which is pretty typical for the war in general and the campaign in particular.  Horses were hard to come by, and once procured, i.e. stolen from a partisan for the opposite side, they could be difficult to feed.  Both Americans and British complained about shortages of horses and keeping adequate mounts.

 Coffin's light dragoon unit is a loyalist formation.  I've painted these figures based on the notion they were actually a South Carolina loyalist unit, perhaps raised from the South Carolina Royalist infantry regiment.  There seems to be little or no information about the unit on line.  However, after I inquired on TMP, the most reliable information was that they were red, faced yellow.  They wore light dragoon caps, beyond that not much is known.  I used figures I got in a trade from Doug Hamm.  The riders are Front Rank, and they are very nice figures. The horses are a bit of a mix.  Some Front Rank and maybe some Dixon mounts.

I've had these on my mostly cluttered painting table for two months.  I like 'em but I'm sure glad their done.

The flag is totally apocryphal.  Flags, as you know, for AWI are bit of a hit and miss effort.  Brits we usually know pretty well because, well, they're British with a long regimental history in most cases, and there is a clear record of their standards.  Provincial units, unless they were taken on the British rolls after the war are pretty dicey.  I chose the yellow standard to match the facings and gave them a GR cypher inside the gartered emblem.  I added simple crescent and palmetto devices.  I also chose a standard over a cavalry banner because many irregular units-militia and yeomanry in Great Britain-seemed to have small (32" square) banners.

Coffin's regiment was present at Hobkirk's Hill and Eutaw Springs.  They did some fighting at Hobkirk's, trying in vain to capture the American artillery when Greene's infantry broke.  They were charged by William Washington's dragoons and driven off.  At Eutaw Springs Coffin's cavalry led the British counter-attack when all American troops fell into confusion as they looted the British camp.

 The second unit is the battalion of convalescents at Hobkirk's Hill.  It was a temporary formation composed of invalids in the hospital at Camden but were well enough to fight. The invalid battalion was in Rawdon's second rank at the battle, and little is said of their specific performance at the battle.

 My unit is composed of Perry figures in southern dress, but retain their cuffs and facings colors.  This actually works for them because they would have been composed by men from many different units.  Their flag is simple union standard with no regimental designations.  Simply a flag to align themselves on.

 The last unit is the Queens Rangers.  I've actually photographed these before.  Doug Hamm painted these, and I acquired some from him last year in our Enfilade deal.  However, over the summer he painted up a few more bases and now my Q.R. unit is a more useful six stands of troops.

 I'm taking a bit of a break from AWI and will painting about 50 figures for my Space 1889 project.  I'll show the painted Indians and Martian askaris over on my Shastapsh blog when they are done.  Should go fast.  How long does it take to paint and wash a bunch of khaki?  After these are done, however, I'm kind of up in the air about what comes next.  I have just the New York Volunteers and some artillery to paint for Hobkirk's Hill, and then I'd also like to paint up the South Carolina Royalist Dragoons that defended Charleston.  Maybe them, but we'll see.

All pictures were taken with my silly phone camera, 'cause honestly it's just a lot easier to work with it. Rumor has it Santa is bringing me photographic reinforcements.

Interlude: Fell On Black Days

I occasionally get inquiries about this blog.  Why don't I post more frequently?  I try not to have any snide reactions, but sometimes I just don't have something to say, or the time or inclination to post.  While my goal is to post once per week-one that I am certainly not meeting at the present time-it's important to have something worthwhile to write about.  The last month or so, I haven't done a lot of gaming, and other activities have gobbled up my gaming and paint time. I'm gonna share some of THAT with you.

As you know, I'm a teacher.  One of the favorite parts of job is advising students on our high school newspaper.  Our first issue came out on October 22nd, and it was good, I liked it.  Getting the paper out requires a lot of time, a week's worth of 12-15 hour days.  Not conducive to gaming or painting unfortunately.  We enter our second production cycle this week.  More skimpy game-related schedule coming up.

It's always important to have something important to blog about.  I could share with you what I'm thinking, when I'm showering or how happy I am scratching my dog Jack's tummy, but how that relates to this blog is probably not very important.  I haven't played a game since September 18th at Fort Steilacoom.  Got busy and didn't put up a blog post about that.  However, tomorrow is our annual Museum of Flight day, one of my favorite gaming days of the year, and I'm really looking forward to that. 

I confess to a being in a bit of a painting funk.  I'm concerned about the struggle I'm having with painting.  I just am not seeing very well.  I've been to the opthamologist, gotten bifocals and those are ghastly for painting.  I'm using reading glasses.  They're comfortable, but give me a headache after about 45 minutes.  It's hard to get much done under those circumstances.  I haven't picked up a brush in about ten days.  I usually go through periods like this during the year, so not to worry, but it does impact my time on task and slow down my projects. I'm working on a couple of British AWI units

One thing I've willingly surrendered some time to is reading.  I love to read and always have, but 2010 has been a big reading year for me.  I've always been a read before bedtime kind of guy, but lately I've been a big read all evening guy.  And it's a good thing too, because I've been focused on some massive tomes.  Hersch's biography of Willie Mays weighed in at 600 pages, Massaw's biography of Andrew Carnegie was 800 pages, even Stieg Larsen's Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was nearly 600 pages.  No cheapies here.  I'm currently reading Richard Rhodes wonderful The Making of the Atomic Bomb, and I'm about 3/4s of the way through its 800 pages.

One other distraction was the baseball playoffs.  I'm a lifelong Mariners fan and usually when they are "finished" so is my interest in the season.  Despite the fact that this may have been the most ghastly season in Mariners history, I watched a lot of playoff baseball.  In this year of the pitcher, there were just too many great performances to let it slip away unwatched and unnoticed.  I loved the Giants/Rangers matchup and was thrilled to see the Giants finally win it all. Lincecum, Lee, Matt Cain, and Doc Halladay were fun to watch and it was worth the time and trouble to pay some attention. 

In any case, I hope to return this blog to our wargaming sponsor-the letter M for miniatures.  Until I do, I'll read and listen to Soundgarden or Iggy Pop (my current musical passions,) read a lot and enjoy the Museum of Flight.  Stay tuned, we'll return to regular programming soon.

The Summer in Review

Tomorrow is September 2nd and the first day of school.  As a teacher, I always calculate my calendar a little differently than other folks.  The summer has more meaning for me.  How did I use my free time?  What did I get done?

Most importantly, how was the gaming?  Did I get any painting done?  I think I can safely say it was a good summer for gaming.  I got in four Truants gatherings, a trip to Surrey to play with Doug, and the Summer Skirmish outing all made for a satisfying bunch of games.  I even left out the super thrashing the Martians gave the Brits over Shastapsh.  It WAS a good summer for games.

Most importantly, I dragged out my SCW and 1/600 ACW naval  projects.  It got folks talking about them, and made me play with them and fiddle with the rules a bit more. 

It was a productive painting summer too.  I finished about 200 15mm Spanish Civil War figures.  I also made big inroads on painting two of the big AWI Virginia regiments.  4th Virginia is done, and the 5th Virginia is half done.  I'll wrap it up in September.

Looking ahead to fall.  I'll wrap up the Virginians and move on to paint up more SCW figures (I have enough for three more units or 66 figures and three vehicles.  After that it'll be some AWI loyalist horse.

Work in Progress: Greene's Virginia Regiments.

Sometimes I get captured by a period and put everything else down to work on it.  June it was Spanish Civil War, July and August it is the American Revolution.  As I've stated previously, I'm very interested in Greene's Southern campaign.  That's after the disaster at Camden, but includes Cowpens, the race to the Dan, Weitzel's Mill, Cowan's Ford, Guilford Courthouse, Hobkirk's Hill, Eutaw Springs and maybe throw in the Siege of Ninety-Six.

So how does this play into my painting projects?  To do these actions there are four Continental units I have to have:  1st and 2nd Maryland, and 4th and 5th Virginia.  In their first actions these units are good sized 300-400 men.  But as the campaign winds down both get much smaller. In my 1:10 scale, those are some BIG units.  The two Maryland battalions weigh in at 36 figures, the two Virginia units at 40 figures each.  My 1st Maryland are all Front Rank figures, and one of my favorite battalions.  I painted it in the early 90's for an early Enfilade project, and they've held up well.  I painted my 2nd Maryland during the school year last year.  They're Perry figures.  I like them, but I'm a bit less wild about the paint job.  Somehow my effort at combining washes of lighter areas, such as trousers and shirts, and highlighting the brown coats didn't work out so well. Just didn't get the contrast right.The 1st Maryland were studs, veterans of the units destroyed at Camden.  The 2nd Maryland not so much.  They were trained but green at Guilford, and when they broke, it forced Greene's decision to retire from the battlefield.

I just finished the 4th Virginia.  It's a big unit and took me most of the month to complete it.  I used a combination of Old Glory Continentals in firing line and Continentals in hunting shirts firing.  Neither of these packs of figures are top of the line in terms of posing or accuracy.  The hunting shirt figures even have cuffs with buttons.  Nevertheless, I am too cheap to just not do them, and too lazy to do 16 or so figure conversions.  The 4th Virginia was one of three large trained, but unblooded undits in Greene's main (third) line at Guilford Courthouse. On the table, that's ten stands, fifteen inches frontage.  This unit also fought at Hobkirk's Hill and Eutaw Springs, though in much smaller versions in the subsequent actions.  I gave them the Trumbull standard with the rectangular array of stars and one in the middle.  They are six-pointed stars and I'm not sure I did such a good job with that.

I'm currently working on the 5th Virginia Regiment, brigaded with the 4th and commanded by Isaac Huger. It's another massive paint job, with 40 figures at 1:10.  These are Perry figures.  I love painting them because of the potential varieties in figures.  When I ordered them last Christmas, I decided on the shoulder arms pose.  Not one I usually choose.  I love the firing line figures, and the advancing poses, but, at least with the Perrys I've discovered a disadvantage in this.  They're busy enough that cramming them all on stand with muskets pointing hither and yon can lead to problems with adjacent bases, so I just kept it simple.  There is a combination of four different figure styles here-southern Continentals in regimentals, Southern continentals in single breasted coats, southern Continentals in shirt sleeve order, and black troops.  All of them are very nice and fairly easy to paint.   Lots of animation and variations. I've begun work on the twelve figures in regimentals.

Got some birthday cash and earned a little extra pay working at J-Camp a couple of weeks ago, so I've invested in enough Perry British infantry in Southern dress to paint the two Guards battalions at Guilford.  Ahh, another endless project.