Hello everyone, its great to be back in the swing of the Challenge again. And here is my slightly delayed first entry of this year, a 28mm Prussian Napoleonic 6pdr Foot Battery using Perry Miniatures.
There are 4 gun models each based separately with 4 crew on 60 x 90 bases and form part of an ongoing Plancenoit Project (both sides) and this will form one half of my main focus this year, Points wise there are 16 28mm figs at 5 pts each (80) plus 4 crew served weapons at 10 each (40) for a total of 120.
I was hoping to get these in before Christmas and had the figures done but when I went to the box of bases there were none the right size π so I started on some Cavalry, then found some bases I could join together to get the right size so went back, to these !
I recently retired so I'm hoping to get a lot done this year and have set myself a huge but I think achievable target of 2500, so I better get a shift on. My other main project will be, surprise, surprise Italian Wars, I am expanding my Swiss, which I haven't touched for a while as well as some Spanish so expect to see some of those soon.
Behind the scenes Day 1 of the Challenge is always horses day for me, using my oil paint method it's much more efficient to do them in big batches so I had a load undercoated ready to go and did the oil wipe stage on Day 1, getting some Italian Wars, Napoleonic and Crusades stuff ready. The horses are all dry now and I'm working on some already, they all need hooves, saddles, reigns etc painting but a good start.
Some Cavalry next then onto some Swiss.
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Welcome back to the Challenge, Ken! Congratulations on your recent retirement. It must be so nice to be able to focus on the fun things in life like playing games and painting toy soldiers. Sounds like bliss to me!
Your Prussian guns look terrific and ready to lay down some fire on the perfidious French.
I look forward to seeing your Plancenoit project come into being. Now, bring on the cavalry!
- Curt





Excellent looking Prussian artillery, its a tough one which I like more, Napoleonics or Italian Wars, so it sounds like Im going to be spoiled!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Cheers Iain, lots of both coming up !
DeleteCrikey that’s a lot kit - again nice to see Prussians on the table and oil painted horses takes me back a long way, a method I have long abandoned.
ReplyDeleteCheers, proper old school units π Never found a better method for horses so I never changed π
DeleteMaybe one of your submissions will show a horse in progress or has that one bolted?
DeleteI do 50 to 100 horses at a time so they are all done for this challenge (hopefully) but the method is on the Yarkshire Gamer Utubes Channel π
DeleteVery lovely work, they will look great on the table.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much Steve π
DeleteGreat Stuff Ken! Looking forward to watching your projects grow over the Challenge!
ReplyDeleteLooking for some Big Growth this time !
DeleteAnother massive KenR project? I'm looking forward to seeing the hordes of figures you produce for it in the coming months. The battery is a great sign of the awesomeness to come.
ReplyDeleteCheers Stuart, I don't really do anything smaller ππ
DeleteGreat looking models. There's just something special about a Napoleonic artillery battery.
ReplyDeleteIt's that Big it needs it's own Postcode π
DeleteOoooh what a combo! Lovely work.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much π
DeleteThat is most certainly a grand battery , Ken! I like very much the hue of the guns and the crews look great! Hopefully the dice roll well for them!
ReplyDeleteCheers, an old school Battery certainly looks grand π
DeleteVery inspirational! I love what you've done with the bases.
ReplyDeleteCheers, years of practice π
DeleteNice Prussians Ken!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sander π
DeleteNice looking artillery unit Ken. The Prussians of this era had pretty dull uniforms, but you’ve got a lot of character going on. Looking forward to your horse boys and Italian wars stuff.
ReplyDeleteCheers Peter π
DeleteUsed your painting method for my Sarmation horse horde years ago. Really good for large units.
DeleteLovely, I know quite a few painters apply oils to horses. With oil being slow drying, how long does is take to dry before they are safe to handle?
ReplyDeleteDepends on technique. Old school would do successive layers of oils and let each one dry which could take weeks. I use an acrylic underlayer and oils as the top "wipe" layer. In a warm room probably 3 or 4 days before they are workable. I've speeded the process up by putting them on a radiator for "speed" painting π
DeleteVery fine work, Ken! Love those guns and your horses on parade look most impressive already
ReplyDeleteMany thanks π
DeleteGreat work, Ken, good to have you back.
ReplyDeleteCheers, what else would I be doing now I've retired π
DeleteExcellent looking battery of artillery Ken and a booming opening!
ReplyDeleteπ cheers for that π
DeleteWonderful battery Ken. Enjoy retirement. It’s pretty good.
ReplyDeleteCheers Bruce, I hand the last of my kit in today so that's it !
DeleteGood to see these Ken, agree that massed horse painting is a real time saver but I'm not mad enough to use oils. Best wishes for the retirement
ReplyDeleteCheers mate, I have tried a few other methods but can't get close to the speed and look of oils
DeleteExcellent brushwork, Ken!
ReplyDeleteCheers Ray π
DeleteWhat I have learnt from parents, retirement is very busy time, I hope you find to paint some minis! :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent painted Prussian artillery Ken!
ReplyDelete