From NoelW: No painting, no points

My painting over the last ten days has stalled somewhat. I have to report that, effectively, I've completed nothing. I'm not sure this is the first time that someone has posted no painting to an Analogue Challenge - why would they? - but I'm still going to be able to write quite a bit about it! Try and stop me.

Firstly, I've been doing a fair bit of writing, which means a fair bit of research, too, hence a fair bit of time. I'm writing something for Black Seas (ssh! secret - can't say more) including another scenario for one of the magazines - but to illustrate it, I need a couple of painted merchant ships. Which I didn't have. So, that's one new priority on the painting desk.

Secondly, I've been stalled by that curse of the wargamer: too many distracting projects. When I set my personal targets for this Challenge, I knew there were a lot, but my hope was that I'd be able to make small advances on each, and the variety each week would keep me going.

In fact, that's worked too well. Having strayed towards the Afghans, which I hadn't planned on doing, I was lured further into the Second Afghan War, which wasn't in my list, unearthed the Perrys Brits-for-the-Sudan box, and, hey presto! yet another task was added to the list.

Then, rebasing my wife's Union army reminded me I'd Berdan's sharpshooters in the drawer, and these are irresistible figures. They just had to be undercoated. Then base colour...and so on

At the same time, my good friend Jon emailed to say that his therapy for lockdown has been to compile a Perrys' World War 2 order, to be fired off as soon as they re-open - so have I finished his Afrika Korps or Italians yet? I haven't, of course, so that's new priority three.

The upshot: I've started four unplanned pieces of work, each interfering with the other and with my original plans, and finished none of them.

But, thirdly and lastly, the killer. Although at least it's an excuse for a little eye-candy: having been really pleased with rebasing the Union army last week, I realised that my Zulu collection needed similar treatment. My zulus are a mix of all sorts of manufacturers gathered over maybe as many as 100 years: Redoubt, Minifigs, some ranges which no longer exist, Warlord and, mainly, Foundry and Perry, and based in at least five different ways. The smallest zulu in the collection is a Minifig, 22mm high. The tallest is a Redoubt figure at 35mm. Yes, they look daft next to each other. But, in the mass of zulus, now I've taken the time to base them in the same style, you really don't notice.

So, as a small reward for reading a post quite literally about nothing, here's my Isandlwana-In-Progress - not too accurate yet, but still beginning to look pretty good:

The unsuspecting camp:

The oncoming tide:

Overwhelmed:

I promise some actual painting next week!

From NoelW: Another Mixed Bag

This week I thought I wouldn’t get much painting done as I’ve spent most of my time rebasing a Union army. When my wife and I were courting (that’s right, in the nineteenth century) one of the things we did together was wargame. Although our armies had quite a few imaginative flourishes, they were essentially Airfix Union and Confederate. In our current lockdown state, we were reminded of this and she has suggested a revival game, though our armies are no longer Airfix. Mainly Wargames Foundry, in fact.

As they’ve not been out of the box for a dozen years, they needed reorganising so we can use Black Powder. Hers first. So I’ve been sitting out in the sunlight, prising figures from various old cardboard stands and creating units of 6 bases on 50mm square mdf.

I’ve been standardising on 50mm for several reasons. I’ve been using it for cavalry for some time, with 40mm for infantry. So three cavalry bases are almost the same length as four infantry: 150mm to 160mm. Using two ranks of foot to a base gives me normal foot units of 16 figs or 6 cavalry in one rank. That’s been my basic approach for some years. However, in the last three years, I’ve been building most new armies as individual figures on single bases, to make their use for skirmish games, sieges and rough terrain easier. In mass battles I put them in sabots, generally four figures per sabot. These sabots have to be 50mm square. 

As I rather like lots of variety in my forces, I’ve some armies built of units of 12 individual figures in those sabots, so still the 150mm frontage. Small units are not everyone’s cup of tea, but they’re (obviously) quicker to paint, meaning more scope for variety in the army as a whole, and they can be brigaded together into “brigades” of 24 figs, if I want that. My wife’s Union army is basically units of 24 fig foot and 12 figure cavalry, now on 50mm bases to fit that general pattern.

So here’s the rebasing for this week, about two thirds of her army. The sharp-eyed amongst you will see that the rearmost unit and general are Confederate. I sneaked those in! 

No points for the rebasing, of course, but I’m going to count them off against my British Intervention Force target, as these forces will form the opponents for the BIF who're on the way to support my Confederates.

But I also have managed to find time to finish some of the painting I began the four weeks ago. Two armies: the Zulu War, which is a current particular fascination, and Afghans which, though strictly for the North West Frontier, I’m including as irregulars in my Sikh Wars project.

For the Zulu Wars, I’ve four infantry that I found skulking in the back of a drawer, a mix of manufacturers:

three mounted Frontier Light Horse

and six dismounted

And five Natal Carbineers scouting the plains of Zululand:

These are all Perry figures.

The Afghans are also designed by the Perrys, some from their current range, some from their Wargames Foundry Afghan and Sikh sculpts. Firstly, 8 irregular infantry:

And finally a command stand, which I’m particularly pleased with:

For the imaginary scoreboard, that’s 9 cavalry and 19 foot, so 185 points, all of which, Stuart, will add to our little Bolt Action side challenge, to give me a current total of 275 points. I'm closing in on you!

However, I’m slipping behind my overall plan, having filled only 13 of the 16 slots I should’ve completed by now.

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	Command stand 8 Irregulars	15 40
1860s British IF/ACW			Union rebasing	0
1880s, the Sudan	Buildings	15
Walmington/Sealion			3 Civvies 6 zombies Bandstand	15 30 2
Waterloo
WW2 Desert
Zulu War	NNI Frontier Horse Natal Carbineers	30 60 50	Pearson & Chelmsford 4 foot	25 20
TOTAL		317		247

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