Sunday 27 December 2015

From JohnM - 18 mm Napoleonics (48 Points)

As many of you know, I have recently put up my 28mm Napoleonic collection for sale. I had put a lot of work into the collection over the last 10 years, but two issues kept on coming up.....storage and playability. After a lot of thought and some preliminary feelers, I put all but my Anglo-Portuguese and the Brunswickers up for sale. It has been pretty successful, with just 14 units of French Infantry left to go, and I have made enough to replace the 28 mm armies with three Divisions each of French and Anglo-Portuguese as well as a Spanish brigade with money to spare. This includes several cavalry units as well as artillery and command. The new army will be all AB miniatures, based on metal stands of 6 bases per unit and are presently being painted in southern Europe and Asia. I have already accumulated a dozen units and more are on the way. A proportion of the funds are also been directed at a secret project that I will reveal soon, but the madness of a wargamer with funds to blow, knows no bounds.


I am not a slouch though, so I have decided to paint up several bases of artillery which I hope to complete by the end of the challenge. To get some practice, I have over the last couple of weeks painted up a British unit that I present here. Half of the figures were painted before the start of the challenge but I can claim the points for 12 figures.

1/77th Regiment, the East Middlesex, Campbell's Bde, III Division, Badajoz 1812
The terrain if anyone is interested is from Crescent Root's 15mm collection, It is MDF that has been painted  with a textured paint and it is quite nice. I bought it for my 20mm WWII gaming, it is a little small for this but useable. The collection includes a mat, bases for the houses and additional destroyed top stories.
I must say that the 18mm figures are quite challenging to paint and I am happy that I have just a few to do. I am still looking for a flag vendor, the Flagdude has unfortunately become unresponsive again, but I will remain hopeful as really he has the best flags.

Great work John. I find the AB 18s often take as much work as 28s due to their fantastic detail. You've done them proud here.
It was a brave move to sell your 28mm collection in favor of 15s (or, I guess, 18mm), nevertheless I can understand completely. 'Big Battalion' 28s, and their attendant terrain, demand both a large amount of storage and play space to really enjoy. This is why I often do my favorite periods in two scales: 28mm for skirmish/small action scenarios, and 15 (or smaller) to play larger actions.
I'm going to count ABs as 20mm for scoring so these will net you 48 points. Well done John.

19 comments:

  1. I fully support John's bold switch to 18's as I have managed to pick up some of his Front Rank French!. John when you realize after completing the 18's that 10 is really the scale you need give me a call!

    Wonderfully painted miniatures!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Look fantastic. My eyes and shaky hands can't cope with the smaller scales

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great painting work. These figures are really good!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very nice job John I look forward to seeing them in person some day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very nice. They could almost be 28s.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very nice. They could almost be 28s.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Fantastic brushwork on the wee lads! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. ABs are gorgeous. I should know I've painted enough of the wee buggers! You've done a sterling job on these John...

    ReplyDelete
  9. AB Figures are the bomb. I've only painted a few WWII figures, but they are just magnificent, and you have done a lovely job on these. The finished army will look amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Crikey, I would have thought those were 28s. Very nice.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lovely! I can definitely see the appeal of 18mm for this period.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Absolutely superb, but I just couldn't cope with the scale - hats off to you Sir.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great work John! Nice to see more Naps painted up :) You can never have too many of them in the world!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great work and having painted up some AB recently I know the time and effort needed to make them look that good

    Ian

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great looking unit and the photos are particularly nice. Great scenery.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Well done John! I'll get used to you painting those puny 18mm, I promise ;-)

    ReplyDelete