Friday, April 10, 2020

From NoelW: Another mixed bag


For my second Quarantine post, I’ve managed four different offerings, as I’d hoped. However, I wanted to fill four empty cells on my spreadsheet, and I’ve only managed three, because the first really belongs in my Walminster on Sealion project and I already filled that cell last week. It’s six WW2 zombies, completing those I began in Challenge X.



Not sure who makes these. They're very simple plastic models, easy to put together but of limited variety. Their uniform is German, but I've painted it in a more "generic" colour so they could be used in several different contexts.

Next are three Treemen.


My family have several fantasy armies, though they’re rarely gamed with these days. My wife has both dwarven and elven armies, with their own lead piles, which I manage occasionally to make small inroads into. The treemen belong to the latter.

I don’t remember when she acquired these particular ambulant trees, but it must be at least ten years ago, so the chance of figuring out who manufactured them is pretty slim. She already has something like a dozen of the beasts from many manufacturers. I think these are the last of the unpainted. 



They're abut 40mm high, so I'm giving myself 8 points each for my running "score".

Next are 12 British infantry from the Cape Wars. They are Perry Miniatures.


The figures in this range are largely in campaign dress, and I’m always in two minds about campaign figures. Generally I prefer full dress, even when it's essentially unhistorical, as I like my toys to be attractive models, as far as I can make them. It’s usually hard to make campaign dress appealing, and uniforms tend to look alike. I actually bought into this range because I like the look of the Xhosa, rather than their British and Boer opponents. So I finished the Xhosa months ago, but the Brits have been a few figures now and then.



My fourth offering is part if another project that chugs along a few figures at a time. This is the Peninsular War. Napoleonics are my central passion, particularly Waterloo. But it was the Perrys’ Spanish figures that persuaded me to focus on the Iberian peninsular. These are beautiful units, and I want them all – which, again, would be pretty unhistorical if fielded as one army, but that’s basically what I plan to do. However, like most Napoleonics, they take a lot of work to produce worthwhile results so, again, I only paint a few figures occasionally. I want to be able to field lots of pretty units without impossible amounts of work, and my table is only 4 feet deep, so my Spanish battalions are only 12 figures.


I’ve used the same approach with another lovely Perrys' range, their Napoleon in Egypt range, though it looks like their battalions will be expanding to 16 figures to look more convincing!



This battalion is from Espana’s Division. Carlos d’Espana fought in several of the major encounters in Spain, though I’ve not been able to work out exactly which ones these figures would be most suitable for. Anyone know?

Summary of my Quarantine so far:

Project
New Task
‘Points’
Old Task
‘Points’
Agincourt




AWI




Black Seas (1/700th)




British in Egypt: 1801




Cape Wars
12 infantry
60


Carthaginians




Crusades
Command group
20


ECW




French in Egypt: 1801




Frostgrave/fantasy
3 Treemen
24
Frankie
5
Italian Wars




Lord of the Rings




Minden (15mm)




Ottoman




Peninsular War


12 Spanish
60
Republican Romans




Sikh/Afghan Wars




1860s British IF




1880s, the Sudan




Walmington/Sealion


3 Civvies
6 zombies
15
30
Waterloo




WW2 Desert




Zulu War
NNI
30


TOTAL

134

110

11 comments:

  1. Great looking mixed bag, love your treemen and your Spanish are fab!
    Best Iain

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  2. Great figures, I particularly like the Cape Frontier figures. I'm not sure I agree with you on the campaign dress versus full dress question, but in any case these figures are looking very good!

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  3. Great mixed bag Noel. Love the Spanish!

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  4. Lovely work. The Cape Wars figures look good, even if they aren't as smartly dressed as regulations dictate.

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  5. Those Spanish are fab Noel! I have found Steven Thomas’s blog at https://balagan.info/peninsular-war-painting-guide-spanish-infantry very useful when painting my 6mm Spanish. It is a treasure trove of information. Maybe you will find some useful info regarding Espana’s Division....

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  6. I really like seeing someone doing the Spanish proper. Well done Noel, these fellows look terrific.

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  7. Looking good Noel and I quite like the Cape Wars figures.

    Christopher

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  8. Urgh, stop it Noel give us lesser mortals a fighting chance okay? I only managed to paint 14 odd figures and you? Paintsbomb squared... Nicely done maestro!

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