From BobV: A Peninsular Brigade and some bonus 18th C. Command [Children's Books] (280 Points)

 This week I have completed the second of four planned Napoleonic brigades. I had a little extra time with this batch and decided to  paint some of my remaining 18th Century command figures. This portion of the project includes 112 infantry and 8 mounted officers, all in 18mm. 

After perusing the foyer of the Analogueville Public Library, I decided that this brigade has a definite connection to the Children's Book section, at least it does in my world.  We'll see if you agree. Many, many years ago, in the summer between 5th and 6th grades, I volunteered to work at a tiny branch library in a little valley town on the edge of the Southern California Desert. For a kid who loved books it was the perfect job. I was taught to reshelve returned books and eventually even given the heady responsibility of working behind the desk to check out books. All of that was fabulous experience but it wasn't even the best part. The best part turned out to be the daily responsibility of shelf reading, going through each shelf to ensure all of the books were in their proper place. 

Not only did I end up learning the Dewey Decimal system in spades, I got to see every single book in the branch library. I soon discovered my favorite sections and some of my favorite authors, including C.S. Forester, George Fielding Eliot and Martin Caidin. While most kids discover Forester via Horatio Hornblower, I happened to find an old copy of Rifleman Dodd. That afternoon, I forgot about the shelf reading and quickly found myself beside Rifleman Dodd, crawling across Portugal behind enemy lines. Thereafter, I was hooked on the author, the genre and the history. Rifleman Dodd is still my favorite "children's book" as it started me on a long and pleasant road of reading history and led to a hobby I greatly enjoy. To this day I remain enamored with almost any book that can be found in my beloved 940's and 359 sections.     

On to the Brigade...

This brigade consists of two Portuguese battalions in winter colors and two British battalions in Peninsular uniforms. All figures are 18mm AB from Eureka Miniatures USA. The flags are from Fighting15's. The Brits are flying the colors of the 33rd West Riding and the 35th Sussex. I have tried to get the correct facings for each but that sort of detail is not all that important to me. I like using historical OOB's whenever possible but all of my battalions (or brigades as the case may be) may stand in for others in any given engagement, so hyper-accuracy is not really a requirement.  

This portion of the project was kind of a bear to paint, I found the Bavarians much easier. It is likely because the British battalions are larger at 32 figures so progress is not quite as visible but they have some extra detail as well. I use a variety of base and shading colors with some contrast paint for shading. You have to be careful with contrast paint as it tends to flow everywhere, especially on top of any layers that are not fully flat. I do like the depth of color it provides. I rarely drybrush anything at this scale.

The extras this week are 8 mounted officers from Eureka's 18mm SYW range. I believe they are labeled as Prussian or Austrian but at this scale and in this era, they are pretty interchangeable.

This week's scoring is as follows:

112 x 15mm foot @ 2 points = 224 points

8 x 15mm mounted @ 4 points = 32 points

Children's Book Section Bonus = 20 points

Total = 276 points

In two weeks it's back to the Empire with a brigade of French Ligne. Happy Monday all!

Sylvain: The story about how this post fits with "children's books" is well argued. You really had a dream job as a kid. Your colors (the blue and the red) are vibrant and almost burst through the screen. I will throw in some extra points (4) for the flags to bring your total to 280 points. Great production and great read!