KenR : 10mm Malburian Savoy Infantry (40 pts)

Something a bit different for me today. I don't do much smaller scale stuff so you might be a bit surprised to see these. For those who don't know this is my one failed Project, I bought 1,000s of these about 20 years ago and never did anything with them. About a year ago I started tinkering with them and have been using them as a break in between other stuff and its slowly building into a Project.

For me where small scales come into their own is when you have big units so when I started putting these together I played around with the layout and number of figures (with my usual complete disregard for rules) until I came up with this 40 figs on 4, 40 x 30 bases. This is my 9th unit.

This unit are 10mm Pendraken figures and are the first "new figures" I have done for this project, the firing and high porte poses were not available when I bought my original figures, so of course I had to buy some more. I had to look up the scoring for these and they are a point a piece for a total of 40 for the unit. The flags are from Maverick Models who do a great range in all scales for this period (and many others).

I'm using the order of Battle for the Battle of Chiari 1701 as a list for the units I'm building and these represent the Monferrato Battalion from the Army of Savoy Piedmont which at that time was an independent state and an army I've been interested in since an article on them in an early edition of Wargames Illustrated. The detail on the figures is superb and handle close up photos quite well, even if it shows up the bits where I've spread the basing over the figures !

So that's the first post today, you'll see a few more of these during the Challenge as I use them as a palette cleanser in between "proper" units, next up is another boat 🚢 

These Savoyards came out very nicely Ken.  The Pendraken 10mm WSS and NYW ranges are very well done and you've done them justice.  Love the big Yorkshire scale units and basing.  And of course the flags just make the units.

From Richard P - WSS Bavarian Boismorel Grenadiers (90 Points)

Ok i'm finally off and running! After a recent family illness and subsequent bereavement which has seen me travelling backwards and forwards to the Isle of Wight I managed to finish off my first submission to this years event. I had planned to get a lot more done by the end of the first month of the project but alas real life decided that was not to be. Hopefully now things are beginning to settle down I will be able to get back on track.

So first up is a unit of 18 Front Rank miniatures painted up to represent the Boismorel Grenadiers at the Schellenberg. The plan with this project is to create units that can represent Battalions for big battles using Beneath the Lily Banners rules but at the same time allow the figures to be used for a Sharp Practice campaign so I decided that I would have units of 18 figures each consisting of 16 foot (2 x 8 figure units for SP2) plus 2 figures that can be used as leaders for Sharp Practice. The only thing I have yet to sort out are the Standard Bearers as in SP2 they don't really feature but it would be nice to add a flag or two to each Battalion when they are being used for Beneath the Lily Banners. 

After a bit of experimentation to try and replicate the coat colour in the image below I eventually settled on a Black Red (VMC) base highlighted with a 50/50 mix of Black Red and Gory Red (GC) and finishing with a final highlight of Gory Red. I am quite pleased with the finished result. 

18 x 28mm Figures = 90 Points 

In before the cut! And with such glorious grenadiers - I'd say that you've managed a very close match to that red. 90 points sees you comfortably onto the leaderboard!

Tamsin

From VictorC: 10mm WSS Spanish Battalion Zamora Arrives! (61 points)

After a week of being sick and then a cold snap prevented me from painting and priming any figures.  I was able to get this one unit done.  The Spanish Battalion Zamora has arrived!  As with all of the Spanish units for the Battle of Almanza the flags are speculative.

From Minion Tamsin:
Another great 10mm WSS entry from Victor. I'm glad you're feeling better now. Very nice painting indeed on the little chaps. That's 60 points and another point for the flag.

VictorC: 28mm Foundry War of the Spanish Succession Infantry (55 points)

This week submission contains 11 War of Spanish Succession troops. These are Foundry figures. I've painted them like the "Old Yellow" uniforms for the Spanish. Also I painted these with oil paints and this was my attempt at painting troops in mass with oil paints.  

 I have no idea if the commander of this group had a green jacket or not but I liked it so I went with it. 

I still have to work on painting flesh at this scale. I haven't found a good technique I like.

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Painting mass troops with oils? Wow, you're a braver (and more patient) man than me Victor. Good on you! I really like the yellow coats with the blue facings - very sharp. If you ever wish to try doing flesh tones with acrylics I can recommend both the Vallejo and Foundry flesh 'systems'. Another quick cheat is to use a midtone flesh colour, apply a wash like the P3 Formula Flesh Wash (most paint ranges have something similar), retouch the raised areas with the same midtone colour and then for a final highlight, add a bit of white to the mix. Works a doodle for rank-and-file figures. 

55 points for your climb up the roster. Well done!

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From VictorC: Four More 10mm Spanish Battalions Arrive for Battle! (224 points)

Over the last week and half I was able to finish 4 more Spanish battalions. Please give a nice warm hand to the Guadalajara, de la Armada, Cordova battalions and the Valladolid Grenadier battalion.  They have made hard journey to the battlefield and they will not be denied their right to fight!

Again all of the flags are speculative and taken from what I could piece together from various sources. 

The de la Armada battalion

The Cordova battalion

The Guadalajara battalion

The Valladolid Grenadier battalion

I have 9 more Spanish infantry battalions to complete for my Battle of Almanza project.

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What a terrific group of battalions, Victor. I like the punchy bold colours you've used for these fellows, with my favourites being the chaps in yellow from the De la Armada and Guadalajara battalions. I'm curious: what rules will you be using for this Almanza project once it's done? One thing for sure, it's all going to look spectacular, especially with what you've shown us to date.

224 points for your march up the points roster Victor. Excellent work!

From VictorC: The Spanish Battalions Granda and Cuenca in 10mm (120 points)

Two more Spanish Battalions: The Granda and Cuenca units are ready for action against the British, Dutch and Portuguese. 

The flags are my speculation of what they looked like, I couldn't find any reference to them at all.

I'm looking forward to finishing up the Spanish and putting them, along with the French out on the table just to get an idea of what I've undertaken here.  

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Another wonderful addition to your War of Spanish Succession collection Victor! The uniforms' green is very nice and I like your flag, conjectural or not. For your next post please give us an idea of your force to date - these beefy battalions really will look great massed together on the tabletop.

122 points, including a couple more for the brave banners. Well done Victor!

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From VictorC: First Two Spanish Battalions for the WSS in 10mm! (120 Points)

I completed the first 2 Spanish battalions for my War of Spanish Succession project. Joining their French allies are the Walloon and Spanish Guard battalions! Only 16 more battalions to go. 

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Ah, excellent! We often see many of the northern European actors in the War of the Spanish Succession that we overlook the Spanish themselves. Great work Victor! I really like how beefy you've made your battalions, they really have a great sense of mass. Are these still Old Glory figures? I quite like the look of the compressed ranks.

These two battalions will give you 120 points - Well done Victor!