2020 Retrospective: The ongoing war against the lead mountain

Fighting the battle against the lead mountain - 2020

I like to kick off the year with a retrospective of what was done the previous year and in summary, if COVID-19 was good for anything, it was staying at home and getting figures painted.

COVID-19 was terrible for gaming though, our ACW campaign remains in suspense since February. One highlight though is that I only started one new project Star Wars: Legion and Victoria has come along for the ride painting her own force of Imperials and has a solid win-loss record against my poor Rebels who she knocks about with abandon.

Back in May I felt that I had more than enough stuff for the Agincourt project and kicking around in the lead mountain found and painted a few 28mm Napoleonics that were left over from the force that I had last painted anything for back in 2014 

Needless to say with typical reckless abandon for me I've added about 13 more units of French and now also have a sizeable collection of about 15 units of Anglo-allied troops and this collection continues to grow.

I'm leaving Wisconsin in April and returning to the UK so I'll be able to reunite both halves of the collection and start on some really big battles.

So, in summary despite painting more 28mm than I ever think I have done before, I've only made a net dent in the lead mountain of 8 foot figures and 20 mounted figures. But, I now have three months of not buying figures before the move to make a bit more of a dent in the lead mountain.

The actual numbers below:

28mm Figures Painted and Based: 705 foot, 128 mounted, 1 dog, 5 ducks, 10 guns, 1 boat, 2 walkers, 1 escape pod, 1 vehicle

44 Perry Miniatures ACW Confederates foot.
12 Perry Miniatures ACW Confederates artillery crew and three guns.
46 Perry Miniatures ACW Union foot.
65 Perry Miniatures HYW English foot.
24 Perry Miniatures HYW French foot.
12 Perry Miniatures HYW French cavalry.
6 Gripping Beast El Cid Almoravid foot
2 Gripping Beast El Cid Almoravid camel riders.
6 Gripping Beast El Cid Andalusian cavalry.
4 Perry Miniatures El Cid Christian cavalry.
1 Spyglass Miniatures "Chick".
1 Airedale Terrier.
Barrage Miniatures Clinker boat.
Star Wars: Legion - Luke Skywalker.
Star Wars: Legion - Princess Leia.
Star Wars: Legion - Boba Fett.
Star Wars: Legion - Jyn Erso.
Star Wars: Legion - R2D2.
Star Wars: Legion - C3PO.
25 Star Wars: Legion - Rebel Troopers.
7 Star Wars: Legion - Rebel Commandos
Star Wars: Legion - Rebel Commander
Star Wars: Legion - Rebel Comms Tech
Star Wars: Legion - 2-1B Medical droid
Star Wars: Legion - R5 Astromech droid
Star Wars: Legion - Orson Krennick
2 Star Wars: Legion - Rebel AT-RT.
Star Wars: Legion - Crashed escape pod.
Star Wars: Legion Cassian Andor
Star Wars: Legion K-2SO
Star Wars: Legion Riyo Chuchi
Star Wars: Legion Rune Haako
234 Perry Miniatures Napoleonic French foot.
4 Calpe Miniatures Napoleonic French foot.
48 Perry Miniatures Napoleonic French cavalry.
13 Warlord Games Napoleonic French cavalry.
4 Perry Miniatures Napoleonic French guns.
172 Perry Miniatures Napoleonic British foot.
3 Perry Miniatures Napoleonic British guns.
39 Perry Miniatures Napoleonic British cavalry.
2 Warlord Games Napoleonic British cavalry.
2 Westfalia Miniatures Napoleonic British foot.
40 Warlord Games Napoleonic Hanoverian foot.
Pierre Ducos mounted: Brigade Games
Pierre Ducos on foot: Brigade Games
Michael Hogan mounted: Brigade Games
Michael Hogan on foot: Brigade Games
JTFM Enterprises SU-76
5 Warbases ducks
Too Far Lardies Hugh Jarse
Partizan Princess Elizabeth

6mm Figures Painted and Based: 18 mounted, 18 cattle
18 WSS Danish cavalry.
18 cattle.

Terrain Made:

Victoria Painted:
Star Wars: Legion Darth Vader
21 Star Wars: Legion Stormtroopers
7 Star Wars: Legion Imperial Scouts
2 Star Wars Legion: Z-74 Speeder bikes
Star Wars: Legion R4 droid
Star Wars: Legion medical droid
Star Wars: Imperial Officer
Star Wars: Imperial Comms Tech

New Figures Purchased: 681 foot, 86 mounted, 18 guns, 4 speeders, 3 walkers, 2 tanks, 1 cart, 1 horse
18 Perry Miniatures ACW gunners.
5 Perry Miniatures ACW guns.
8 Perry Miniatures ACW foot.
240 Perry Miniatures Napoleonic French foot.
18 Perry Miniatures Napoleonic French horse.
16 Warlord Games Napoleonic French horse.
4 Perry Miniatures Napoleonic French guns.
176 Perry Miniatures Napoleonic British foot.
35 Perry Miniatures Napoleonic British horse.
3 Perry Miniatures Napoleonic British guns.
2 Warlord Games Napoleonic British horse.
96 Warlord Games Napoleonic British foot.
3 Victrix Napoleonic French guns.
15 Victrix Napoleonic French foot.
3 Victrix Napoleonic British guns.
15 Victrix Napoleonic British foot.
6 Perry Miniatures 100YW mounted knights.
3 Westwind Druids and a sacrificial goat.
92 Star Wars: Legion foot
4 Star Wars: Legion bikes
3 Star Wars: Legion walker
JTFM SU-76
JTFM R-35
Eureka Miniatures Egg collecting set
Eureka Miniatures Field bakery
Eureka Miniatures Government official
Eureka Miniatures Cantiniere
Eureka Miniatures Wheelwright
Eureka Miniatures French mob
5 Wargames Foundry British mounted
5 Wargames Foundry British mounted

Unpainted Figures Acquired: 63 foot, 22 mounted
48 Perry Miniatures Agincourt for my birthday
Star Wars: Legion Cassian Andor & K-2SO for fathers day
2 Westfalia Miniatures Highlanders from Drew
Star Wars: Legion Jyn Erso from Drew
Brigade Games Pierre Ducos from Victoria
Brigade Games Major Hogan from Victoria
Brigade Games French ADC's from Victoria
Brigade Games Sharpe & Harper from Victoria
5 Brigade Games British Rifles from Victoria
2 Brigade Games British Officers from Victoria
Brigade Games British sapper from Victoria
14 Perry Miniatures British Light Dragoons from Marie

Princess Brenda

My last painted figure of 2020 is Princess Brenda and is the 705th 28mm foot figure this year, lockdown has certainly be useful for painting figures.

Princess Elizabeth c.1945 was the freebie given away at Partizan 2012 and it's been shamefully sat in my backlog ever since. The sculptor is Matt Bickley (thanks to Phil for the correction).

For those interested in the colours used, her hat and battledress tunic and hat are from a base of VMC English Uniform, the skirt, shirt and tie are from VMC Khaki. The stockings are from VMC Beige Brown and the gloves, bag and shoes from VMC Saddle Brown.

After a wash of AP Strong tone the base colours are re-applied and a couple of highlights added to each. The badge and buttons were picked out in VMC Bronze.

Princess Brenda has been used to summon a trip across the Chambers of Challenge XI and some food based output will happen over the next few days

Here's wishing you all a Happy New Year and may 2021 be an improvement on 2020.

Paul

12th (Prince of Wales's) Light Dragoons

 

My last game of General d'Armee revealed that I needed more French infantry and more Anglo-allied cavalry, and I've been working to redress that. 

I've already added another battalion of French foot this month and today have finished the 12th (Prince of Wales's) Light Dragoons to boost the Anglo-allied cavalry contingent.

The 12th (Prince of Wales's) Light Dragoons that were part of the 4th British Cavalry Brigade taking part in the Battle of Waterloo but were not present at Quatre Bras.

All the figures are plastic Perry Miniatures from the Napoleonic British Light Dragoons 1808-15 set.

Once you know how to assemble them correctly (the instructions are not good on carbine placement) they are a splendid set of figures that can be made as either the earlier uniform worn up to 1812 or the later uniform that you see here.

Being plastics they are very easy to play around with too, as I had modelled this unit with their swords at the charge and I wanted to give some movement to the unit, so the Roan horse on this base was modelled overhanging it quite a bit.

Major Michael Hogan

 

Today's post features Major Michael Hogan, an Irish exploring officer from the Bernard Cornwell Sharpe series.

The figure is another one of the rather gorgeous Paul Hicks sculpts done for Brigade Games. Paul has really captured actor Brian Cox playing the role of Major Hogan in the TV adaptations.

Maj. Michael Hogan: "It ain't justice, Richard, but politics, and like all politics it ain't pretty, but well done it can work wonders."

Major Michael Hogan is a little early for my Hundred Days forces, Bernard Cornwell had killed him off with a fever during the Peninsular Wars.

I thought Wellingtons trusted Exploring Office would be a great addition to the Napoleonic collection, either as a character in our Sharp Practice games or as an ADC in my General d'Armee games.

The blue is done off a basecoat of VMC Dark Prussian Blue, washed with AP Strong Tone then with the Dark Prussian Blue re-applied. Highlights with successively more Royal Blue were applied and then finished off with a wash of AP Blue Tone.

Also working towards my Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge I added a pair of stocks for the Hall of Traps bonus round.

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XI begins

 

Seasons Greetings from Scrivsland.

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XI has now been running a few days so I thought I ought to update Scrivsland with the progress so far.

My first entry was a small group of Napoleonic French officers and ADC's

All three figures are from Perry Miniatures, the two on foot from the Line Infantry Officers advancing set and the one on horseback from the Mounted ADC’s pack.

Day two of the Challenge saw me venture into the Chambers of Challenge for some bonus points with my entry for The Aquifier with a duckpond of all things!

The base is a 80x60mm MDF, also from Warbases the banks around the pond were built up using Polyfiller and a few loose rocks added, one of which in the pond.

For the water effect I painted the bottom of the pond a very dark muddy brown and added a couple of glazes of dark green, once that was dry the pond was filled with heavy acrylic gel and allowed to dry overnight before the reeds and ducks were stuck in place.

The ducks were also from Warbases, I'm really happy how the whole thing came out.

Day three saw me earning more bonus points in the Chambers of Challenge with my tenuously linked entry for The Golem’s Haunt.

I planned to use some left over pieces to make another Brigade commander for the Napoleonic collection so this gave me a good opportunity.

Each of the figures is made up of components from at least two of the Perry plastic sets, both the Hussars and Chasseurs a Cheval and they are painted as from the 7th Hussars.

The standard is from GMB Designs.

The final entry before my break for the Holidays is another Chambers of Challenge entry, with Hugh Jarse in The Chamber of Darkness.

The figure was a give-away by Too Fat Lardies and I already have one painted up in my Burma collection.

This figure is straight out of the Commando comics of my youth with his gangster Thompson SMG with drum magazine, perfect for being captured in greyscale.

The figure is done from a base of VMC Basalt Grey, Black Gray and Pale Gray (sorry no Neutral Grey) followed by a glaze of Black Grey then worked back up with basecoat and highlights. I was not too happy how the flesh came out so that was gone over again with a thin wash of Tamiya Smoke so he looked less like a zombie.

I really struggled with the photos, I think it took about 20 minutes to paint but 40 minutes messing around with the camera settings. I eventually settled on my usual green background as more monotone backgrounds came out terrible.

On deck at the moment are many more Napoleonic figures and I hope to have at least a unit of light dragoons finished before the end of the year.

Exploring the Chambers of Challenge XI

 

Challenge XI is almost upon us and I've not picked up a paint brush since the weekend, instead concentrating on getting figures cleaned up and primed in preparation.

Looking at the bonus's available in the Chambers of Challenge XI I've made a small order on Eureka Miniatures to help me grab a few bonus points in the dungeon while maintaining the Napoleonic theme that I plan to have run strongly through my efforts over the next three months.

I've got a whole load of stuff already prepped and primed, including a unit of British Light Dragoons and a French Infantry battalion already stuck on bottle caps ready to paint, there are a few commanders already to go, and for when I fancy a break from Napoleonics, a Gambrel Barn, Han Solo and a Renault R-35. Yes that Southern Comfort mug really does contain two battalions of Hanoverians!

Yesterday evening was spent building a battery of Victrix Artillery ready for priming today, the anticipation is palpable.

There are also some figures I prepared for last years challenge that were never done, so it looks like I'll keep busy these next three months.

More Pierre Ducos

 

Last week I painted up the mounted Pierre Ducos that Victoria bought for me, this week I painted up the foot version.

When I painted the mounted version, I really thought that Paul Hicks (the sculptor) had really captured Féodor Atkine in the Ducos role, but the foot figure is even better and I'd say a dead ringer for the chap.

To maintain continuity I've painted in the same bottle-green coat and dark grey breeches - although I do note that he changed into brown boots when he got off his horse ;)

This figure marks quite a milestone as the 700th 28mm foot figure I painted this year. If the pandemic has been good for something it has been staying at home and painting (mainly) 28mm Napoleonic figures!