From NoelW: Penultimate pot pourri of painted pieces

As we’re nearing the end of the Quarantine Challenge (but not necessarily nearing the end of lockdown as, as far as I can see, little has changed for people like my family) I decided it was time to review my plan, as it was certainly “ganging agle-y”. I'd originally planned for 23 projects, each of which I wanted to touch twice (once to complete something already begun, once to do something new). By last week, I’d touched 14 of the 23 projects, addressing only 22 of the hoped-for 46 “slots” – not even half!

So, with time trickling out through the plughole of existence, I decided I’d aim to use the last couple of weeks to gesture in the direction of as many of the remaining projects as possible. This is a bit of a cheat, really, as I’d intended much more than this, but other things have eroded my time, so this is simply a way of making me feel a bit better about myself, as well as getting a few more projects chugging infinitely slowly forwards.

Here, then, is my penultimate post of smallish offerings, from several projects. 

First off, the American War of Independence. This has long been a conflict I’ve been interested in (since the days of O level history, in fact), but a project I’ve constantly failed to get back to. So, with a concerted effort, here’s a contribution for both sides.

For the Americans, a “butterfly”:

And for the Brits, the 45^th, Nottinghamshire, regiment:

Next, a Congreve Rocket for my Waterloo setup. I try to add something each year to the Waterloo collection around the time of the anniversary. This is a Warlord model. I find their offerings quite varied in quality, perhaps because they tend to buy up other smaller firms, but this model I really like, as it gives an unusual dynamism to the Napoleonic battlefield.

I’ll finish with a couple of Lord of the Rings characters. Hama, who is definitely one of the good guys, swallowed, according to Peter Jackson, by a warg en route to Helm’s Deep:

And Denethor, Steward of Gondor. Now, is he Good or Evil? He’s wearing black, so that seems definitive. Except pretty much everyone in Gondor wears black, so that’s not much help. As the faithful steward who turns out to be faithless, and the loving father who sets his son on fire, perhaps neither Good nor Bad, just slightly conflicted.

(Apologies for the overexposed photos, BTW.)

That’s 26 foot (130 pts) and 2 war machines (20 pts) = 150 pts. Cumulative total for the challenge: 1494

And the state of play of my projects, with less than a week to go, 26 of my hoped for 46. Can I complete another 20 projects in 5 days?

Project	New Task	‘Points’	Old Task	‘Points’
Agincourt
AWI	Farmstead	3	US Butterfly British 16 foot	30 80
Black Seas (1/700th)	2 merchants	20
British in Egypt: 1801			Generals de Rolls’ regiment	30 60
Cape Wars	12 infantry	60
Carthaginians
Crusades	Command group	20
ECW
French in Egypt: 1801	Guns	50	Command Gun crew	75
Frostgrave/fantasy	3 Treemen	24	Frankie	5
Italian Wars
Lord of the Rings	Swan Knights Denethor Hama	60 5 5	Harad cavalry Harad infantry	60 45
Minden (15mm)
Ottoman
Peninsular War			12 Spanish	60
Republican Romans
Sikh/Afghan Wars	Command stand 8 Irregulars	15 40	11 irregulars	55
1860s British IF	Command base	15	Union rebasing	0
1880s, the Sudan	Buildings	15	18 British	90
Walmington/Sealion	6 landing craft	30	3 Civvies 6 zombies Bandstand	15 30 2
Waterloo			Congreve rocket	20
WW2 Desert	3 trucks 39 Afrika Korps	30 195	15 Italians	65
Zulu War	NNI Frontier Horse Natal Carbineers	30 60 50	Pearson & Chelmsford 4 foot	25 20
TOTAL		727		767

ChristopherS. AWI British casualty markers

Still here just falling way behind on photographing the things I've completed....well actually falling behind on anything blog related in general.

These markers for the British will cover me for a little while, but I still need to do some more, but until then I have some Hessian ones to do first.

The figures are from the Perry AWI range and the bases are from warbases if I remember correctly.The paints I used are mostly Foundry with some Vallejo.

This was just a quick post to say hi and I hope everyone is holding up well.

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature company- Perry Miniatures

From TomF - AWI Mounted Officer and Movement Trays

Sorry for the long delay in posting another entry.  The academic semester in the US is done and I've now got more time to paint.

Just a quick thanks to all of the participants that have posted entries over the last two weeks.  They were much appreciated distractions from work.

I did manage to paint a mounted officer for my Sharpe Practice American War of Independence (AWI) force during the last two weeks.  It is a Perry metal miniature from the mounted American officers pack which I've painted as a British officer.


I attempted to do some layering on the horse and officer's coat which don't show up all that great in the picture.

The other project I finished over the past two weeks was the construction of movement trays for three AWI British infantry units.  I also flocked the bases of the miniatures and movement trays.  All the miniatures are Warlord plastics; most were painted over the winter.

Thanks for viewing.  Stay safe.

From NoelW: Napoleonics, Zulu war and some buildings

For my third quarantine post I decided to concentrate on buildings more than figures, though there’s a few figures here, too.

Firstly, a Sarissa bandstand. This is a lovely model and paints up nicely. It will take pride of place in my Walmington on Sea setup although, sadly, there’s no band to play there. Probably their instruments have been melted down to make Spitfires.

Next one of the Perry/Renedra plastic American farmsteads. This is likely to be used in several different contexts, so I’ve not based it or adorned it with fences, barrels etc (even though the kit contains a few of these which I'll probably use for scatter terrain, including a chair for the front porch.) I’ll count it against my AWI target, though it will certainly appear on ACW battlefields and in a small recently settled Western town, as yet unnamed, but which is gradually growing as new settlers drift in. I guess it might work in other colonial contexts, too. (Was Manifest Destiny colonialism? Discuss)

Third in this offering are four adobe buildings. These are my first stab at a collection my son bought from a Bring and Buy ten or more years ago, with the plan of using them for Somalia (to game Black Hawk Down). Unfortunately, the game never took place, as his interest in figure gaming was usurped by board and online games (I know! How could this happen?) so I’m intending to use them in the Sudan (they’ll become Khartoum rather than Mogadishu) and probably Egypt and Afghanistan, too.

A detailed inspection of the models suggests they’re actually intended for a context something like ancient Troy, as there’s a crescent shield hanging on one wall, and the pottery definitely is amphora-esque. I’ve not been able to discover their manufacturer, however. Possibly Grand Manner (they’re big heavy resin buildings, very much like those they produce, but not in their catalogue as far as I can see), possibly Ainsty, possibly Village Green. But probably not any of these.

As you can see, they’re painted simply, with a sprayed base and then “detailed” (I use that word incorrectly) with contrast paints and washes. The overall effect is pleasing enough and, as roofs and upper floors come apart, I can see the potential for a really big skirmish (is that an oxymoron?) game when I’ve managed to finish the lot.

Now, for those of you who’ve been patient enough to read this far, here are a few figures. They're from two projects started long ago, but still ticking over. Two of my favourites, in fact. I mentioned in my previous post Islandwana and the Zulu War more generally. So, speaking of generals, here’s Lord Chelmsford himself, arrogantly on his way to Ulundi whilst his army is savaged behind him.

And here’s one of his subcommanders, Colonel Charles Pearson, who led number 1 column in the invasion of Zululand. He’s depicted here being surprised by news of Islandwana. Or perhaps he’s just arguing with a subordinate about the exact location of the Zulus.

Pearson and Chelmsford come from the Perrys’ Victoria’s Little Wars range, whilst the officer Pearson is arguing with is from their plastic British Infantry Zulu Wars set. I do love the Perrys’ plastics. They’re the nearest thing to the youthful thrill of discovering a new Airfix boxed set.

Finally, three long-languishing elements of my British-against-the-French-in-Egypt project. Here’s Major General John Moore and companion, apparently having a discussion not unlike that conducted by Pearson. This is the John Moore of Corunna fame, not the owner of the Littlewoods chain of shops, the man behind Liverpool’s university of that name (that’s actually, John Moores, but who’s counting?) In 1801 in Egypt he was one of the most trusted of Abercromby’s subordinates.

Here’s one of his a colonels, of an indeterminate regiment with black facings (I’ve not painted one yet).

And finally, de Rolls’ regiment. This was composed of Swiss and Germans in British Service. As with several of the foreign regiments in British service, it’s hard to find the correct flags. The late Terry Wise’s Osprey on Napoleonic Flags contains a flag of 1805 for De Rolls, but it carries "Egypt" and the sphinx as battle honours. It’s also yellow, though the regiments’ facings are sky blue. Lacking any other info, removing the honours from the Wise flag seems the best option.

I award myself the imaginary points of 20 for all the buildings, 25 for the Zulu wars commanders, and 90 for the British generals and regiment.

Project	New Task	‘Points’	Old Task	‘Points’
Agincourt
AWI	Farmstead	3
Black Seas (1/700th)
British in Egypt: 1801			Generals de Rolls’ regiment	30 60
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	Buildings	15
Walmington/Sealion			3 Civvies 6 zombies Bandstand	15 30 2
Waterloo
WW2 Desert
Zulu War	NNI	30	Pearson and Chelmsford	25
TOTAL		152		227