From ErikP: Horse & Musket Civilians in the fields, Wargames Foundry 28mm (25 points)

 Hello Everyone, 

This is a set of 28 mm Wargames Foundry, 18th century civilians bringing in bundles of crops.  These are for my 28mm Napoleonic games, mostly I use Sharp Practice rule set, and have done a few small games of Black Powder too. 

These five (5) foot figures with a few bundles of wheat, the sack is from another pack, I think it's also Wargames Foundry. They were a lot of fun to paint, as well as the few bits of bundled crops for a little scatter terrain, so I did these too. I'll submit the separate Terrain Post for the couple of points they might be worth.

For Sarah's Choice consideration, two farm ladies.

:

"...I hope you saw her petticoat, six inches deep in mud, I am absolutely certain;"  

Probably, no one will get the quote, but that's okay. 

Painting these I use several different types of paints; Army Painter Speed Paints 2.0, Vallejo, Army Painter Quick Shades. I used the Speed Paints to get started, then add layers of regular paints, and dry brushing, use quick shades, then more dry brushing, and touch ups. 

One on the funniest challenges of painting these civilians was the water in the buckets.  I wanted to get a good water effect, and I am pretty happy with the results.  

I used Speed Paint 2.0 Tyrian Navy and added more Speed Paint about a 2/1 mix to dilute it.  Then once dry used gloss varnish, about three coats. I also used it on the wooden spoon and the lower face of the guy drinking, but it doesn't show up as well. Might need a couple extra coats for varnish.

I enjoy adding extras to my game tables, even when it has nothing to do with the scenario objectives.  Scatter terrain, animals, and civilians of course.  Just to add a little something to make things more interesting.  

With these done, I'm off to finish some more Prussians.

Summary of Points:

5 x 28mm foot @ 5 points = 25 points.

Total = 25 points.

Squirrel Points = +1 [Prussian Epic (13.5mm), Napoleonic Civilians 28mm] 

Total Squirrel points = 1.

-----------------------------------

Sylvain: Lovely farmers' figurines. I like how your bases evoke a wheat field. They all look so rustic and the extra bits add a very nice touch. Bravo!

 

 

From MartinC Napoleonic Bavarian Line Infantry (117pts)

I have been slowly, for me, building a 28mm Bavarian army to fight my Napoleonic Russian army. The army is mainly build from Victrix plastic figures, their set is brilliant with 54 figures in a pack including 2 mounted commanders. I topped these up with 2nd hand metals from Perry and Wargames Foundry and some new Perry infantry, cavalry and artillery. Overall the force is actually bigger than the force that invaded Russia, but gives me 4 brigades, which is a nice size for valour and fortitude rules, our current go to set of rules.

1st battalion of 4th line Regiment. These are a mainly victrix with a few wargames foundry

I've enjoyed painting these, lots of coloured washes, but they do take ages. 5 more infantry battalions to do, 2 cavalry and the artillery and brigade commanders

Scores on the doors

21 x28mm infantry = 105pts

1 x 28mm mtd = 10pts

Total = 115pts

I always love the Nappys Martin, and these are some great Bavarians that you've brought us today.  I found the early Victrix kits fussy, but I love their late Roman sets.   Maybe I'll have to check out their Bavarians.  I am adding a couple point for the flag.

From TeemuL: An officer and a Scotsman (15 points)

The way the timezones and locations on Earth work, I guess I'll have a second entry for today. Continuing my previous entry I add a command stand for my Peninsular army. I worked on these entries simultaneously, but this took longer to finish and I didn't expect to finish this so soon after the first one.

Here we have a commander and a trooper. I guess many "sirs" are mentioned on this scene, somehow the atmosphere doesn't feel very happy - might be composition or my imagination. The officer here is Picton from Perry's metal range, but due to previous errors, he is riding Uxbridge's horse... The models are designed for Waterloo, but I have done my research and Picton fought in Peninsular War, too. The Scotsman is a plastic Victrix, here in the colours of Black Watch - an unit I have previously painted.

Some parts are painted with Contrast paints, some parts with more traditional approach. Best tool for each job, they say? The base is mdf from Warbases and covered in sand, self made tufts and other materials. More attention to the base was used here, because there was more space. I just need a different backdrop for these, the dungeon doesn't look much like Spain...

I'm especially happy how well the horse came out, the browns are quite nice and work well with reds and blues. The red coat of Picton looks nice with fur lining, too.

I guess there is no question who is in command here and if the bad news are welcome or not...

I risked a close-up shot, too. Nice moustache and the details on the hat are now nicely visible. I guess this is 15 points, 10 for a mounted and 5 for kneeling model. Also I get my first squirrel: 28mm Napoleonic British. Next, something completely different!

__________________________________

A very evocative if somewhat mysterious command stand, Teemu. I think you may have turned things around as the figure is actually Uxbridge and the horse he's riding is Picton's (Picton was famous for wearing civilian clothes and sporting an umbrella). It's all good as Uxbridge was in the Peninsula, but under Sir John Moore, not Wellington (He eloped with the Duke's sister-in-law and had to make himself scarce). Yes, it's all very complicated. Anyhoo, Picton's horse is excellent, Uxbridge's moustache is impressive and I really like how you did the kilt of the highlander. I can just hear the poor Jock murmuring, 'Jayzus, where did I drop those wee EarPods...'

Excellent work Teemu!

- Curt

From TeemuL: Peninsular British (20 points)

This is the start of the 24th Warwick unit for my Peninsular War project. These are plastic Victrix minis and I already have painted two 24 strong units of these, so I'm getting used to these. The brushwork is a mix of Contrast paints and basecoat & wash which seems to work ok and is quite fast.

My research is bit lazy at this point, my source is mainly the Victrix box and choosing 24th as this unit was a bit random selection, but here we are. I painted 66th previously and their cuffs are a bit lighter green than these. In the future I should get more in-depth sources for my project, especially when I start buying and painting cavalry and artillery.

I've been painting something every day and I have more entries in the pipeline, but I really need to speed up in order to make a decent approach towards my points goal. I just realized that usually lots of my points come from Challenge locations, so this year might be very difficult for me. :)

This is not quite a squirrel, just 20 points, but it will be in a near future. Yep, 28mm miniatures are worth 5 points, so this is 20 in total.

__________________________________________

Like these hard-bitten fellows you have for us, you've been in the ranks for years. Welcome back to the Challenge, Teemu! 

Being an archivist by trade, I find your more laid back approach to historical research quite refreshing. :) That being said, I think these Warwick fellows look great, and I especially like the vibrant green facings complimenting their red coats. Sartorial comments aside, I'm sure they're eager to have more of their comrades around them as a few of these poor chaps have been knocked about a bit. I look forward to seeing the entire battalion in all its glory.

20 points for your opening volley! Great work, Teemu!

- Curt

From: LeeH & RayR - A combined project round-up (and punch-up)

Ray and I got together yesterday to bring both sides of our Retreat from Moscow project together in the Rejects Shed-o-War. Laid out on the table we are more than a little amazed at how much we have got done during the painting challenge. Once again this amazing event has stimulated our creative juices, whipped up our enthusiasm and kept our brushes whirling in a way we never normally manage to replicate at any other time of the year. 

Ray beat Lee on points... so we recreated that beating in
front of our combined output from the Challenge 🤣

We've had a good long chat about our respective armies and have already made a list of extra units we want to add. We have already started making some of the terrain we want for this project and yesterday we made agreed what to buy next and exchanged ideas of items we would like to see on a future battlefield. So while the frenetic pace of activity during the challenge will abate a little over the next few weeks, we are hoping to keep that enthusiasm burning throughout the year. Ray summed it up perfectly when he describe our efforts during the Challenge as "phase one of the project". 

From JohnS: More Spanish Heroes (50 points)

As the closing time looms I have managed to complete ten more Spanish for my Peninsular War army.

 

 

A mix of Perry and Brigade Games (with perhaps an Offensive Miniatures officer on the right) these ten militia were actually a lot of fun to paint.

I like my armies to consist of individuals, not all the same figure in the same pose. Militia units give me a chance to scratch that itch.

Every figure is dressed differently, with a range of equipment but I have tried to tie them all together with pops of the Spanish national colours of red and yellow. I can just imagine these two officers walking into a cantina and saying "Hey you, you're in the army now. Do you want the hat or the sash?"

I must mention the basing. Our regular gaming buddy Gavin is a big fan of Peninsular War games and has created an enormous batch of Gav's Special Spanish Basing, made up of a host of "secret" ingredients. He has gifted us regulars with a 2 litre bottle of each. It may take some time to use up!

Thanks to the regular chats with the other Challengers (organised by the Magnificent Millsy) I have achieved a Personal Best this Challenge. They don't call me Slowpainter for nothing!

10 x 28mm Infantry @ 5 ea = 50 points to finish

_______________________________

These Spanish militia look magnificent John. I really like how you've made each unique yet managed to maintain a consistency so the look like a unit when brought together. That secret mix of Gavin's looks the business and with two litres you'll have a lot of arid basing ahead of you.

Finally, congratulations on achieving a personal Challenge Best this year. I'm delighted that it provided you with good impetus for getting models off the paint desk and on the game table. Bravo!

- Curt

From JohnS: At the Sharpe End (40 points)

Continuing in my random historicals Stretch Goal today I am visiting the Peninsular War.

Anyone familiar with the Sharpe TV series of the 1990s-2000s will recognise a few of these Riflemen and their trusty Spanish allies.

SB himself is not among this lot. He is with another group that is partially painted so not Challenge material. These five include two officers (Sweet William and Lord John) and three Riflemen including a Chosen Man.

These miniatures are from Brigade Games and are very finely sculpted and were quite a pleasure to paint.

Accompanying our Rifle heroes are three unnamed Spanish Militia. Bad Things always seem to happen to these poor chaps so it is best if we just refer to them as Brave Spanish Martyrs 1, 2 and 3.

The Spanish are from Perry Miniatures.

These eight figures will be added to my large Peninsular War collection of British, French and Spanish (plus a few Portuguese) that started as a couple of Sharp Practice armies and have grown considerably over the years.

8 x 28mm Infantry @ 5 = 40 points

--------

How wonderful that at last I get to minion one of your posts John! Great to see you expanding your retinue to fight that despot "El Guapo", who has plagued so many of our tabletop adventures!

A doubty looking bunch of riflemen able to swat a gnat at 300 yards no doubt, but my favourite is Sweet William, who I always found to be a rather engaging character in the books. His appearance in the TV Show also reminds me of a tabletop opponent you and I regularly see across the table John! (sans eyepatch of course)

Well done - that puts you ahead of a certain other challenger at this late stage of the game... 

Can Mssr Alan pull one of of ze bag or have you got him pipped at ze post????

- Paul

From TeemuL: Peninsular British (80 points)

Earlier in the Challenge I painted the last base of my Highlanders and promised more. There was a small problem, I noticed I didn't have any bases for the next units. So I ordered more and received them, thank you Warbases - it was surprisingly easy this time, getting a package from UK to EU. Anyway, there was another issue. I had bought two boxes of Victrix British Peninsular Infantry from a marketplace, but both of them were little used, so not all the minis were there. One box was Center Companis, another Flank Companies. And when I did the calculations, I had exactly 72 soldiers, which means exactly three units of 24. Because I wanted to some unity in units, I had to assemble all the 72 minis to know which kind of poses I actually had and what kinds of hands etc, how many commanders and so on. Quite a task when someone should focus on actually painting minis during the challenge, not assembling a horde of minis.

But in the end it worked out, I had three units to paint, some of them had more commanders or flags than others, but that doesn't worry me too much, the units were not 24 strong in the real life anyway. Here I present the first four bases of the new unit of my retirement project, Napoleonic Peninsular Wars.

These are mostly assembled from Centre Companies box. Luckily those boxes were quite identical, one had curved swords and the other had straight swords being the main difference. Based on the information on the box, I decided to use blue details, which means they can be Foot Guards, 1st Royal Scots, Kings German Legion or 4th Kings Own and possibly several others, too. Since I already painted some Highlanders, let's say these are 1st Royal Scots. After more research I may need to change my mind...

These are a combination of Contrast and traditional paints, clothes and backpacks are mainly Contrast paints, others painted in traditionals with a odd wash here and there. I was looking forward to have white pants, but decided to try light grey in the end, using watered down Basilicanum Grey Contrast paint. I'd say there are ok for a game, but not for a historical diorama. Luckily I'm aiming for the first.

Let's see if I can make some progress in the Heaven this week, but if not, this is still a nice 80 points for, coming from 16 28mm plastic minis.

—————————————————————————————————————————

Hi Teemu

Wow! That’s a lot of minis to organize and assemble!

As a retirement project I don’t think you can go wrong with Napoleonics … beautiful uniforms, large & small scale battles and once you’ve completed armies in one scale you can replicate in yet another smaller scale (looking at you Mr Snowlord … haha)

Well done Teemu and another 80points to your scoreboard

-Sarah

From RayR: Retreat from Moscow - L'escadron sacré (101 points)

 

The Sacred Squadron (French L'escadron sacré) was an ad hoc cavalry unit which served briefly in the French Grande Armée during the final stage of the Emperor Napoleon's retreat from Moscow in 1812. It was remarkable in that it consisted - out of military necessity - entirely of officers, with those below the rank of colonel serving as troopers.

The Sacred Squadron was formed on 23 November 1812, by the Bobr River (perhaps at Borisoff, in modern Belarus) to serve as Napoleon's bodyguard. It was disbanded on 10 December 1812, in Kowno (modern Kaunas, Lithuania). It therefore served during the crossing of the Berezina (26-29 November), and continued to exist for a few days after Napoleon's departure for Paris on 5 December.

Its existence is recorded in the 29th Bulletin of the Grande Armée, by which Napoleon hinted to the French people for the first time the scale of the disaster which had befallen the Grande Armée:

"Our cavalry was dismounted to such a degree, that it was necessary to collect the officers who had still a horse remaining, in order to form four companies of 150 men each. The Generals there performed the functions of captains, and the colonels of subalterns. This sacred squadron, commanded by General Grouchy, and under the orders of the King of Naples (Murat), did not lose sight of the Emperor in all these movements."

No written order establishing the unit has been found; it is possible that it was set up orally. No official record of those who served in it has survived; considering the circumstances, it is possible that none was ever made, or that the records of Marshal Berthier (Napoleon's Chief of Staff) were lost during the retreat. Other sources give lower numbers than Napoleon's 600: Chandler says 500.

In addition to its commander Général de division Grouchy, the following are said to have served with the Sacred Squadron:

Général de division de La Tour-Maubourg
Général de brigade de La Grange 
Colonel Rambourgt 
Colonel de Fernig 
Lieutenant-colonel de Castellane
Lieutenant-colonel de Lascours 
Chef d'escadron  de Gramont 
Chef d'escadron  de Potier 
Capitaine Aimé Benoît Delamalle
Lieutenant Le Bon Desmottes 
Lieutenant Claude-Xavier-Louis-François Martin
Lieutenant Saint-Geniès 
Sous-lieutenant Korte 

My 2 Commanders, both are from Front Rank miniatures. On my brand new Warbases sabot bases.

These 4 are all Casting Room Miniatures and all have had green stuff cloaks and a scarf to hold his bicorne on.

Four more figures from Front Rank, there was no need to add anything on these, I could have added a cape for the Guard figure, but didn't want to spoil his uniform.

So there we have it, Napoleon's Sacred Squadron, or 10 Mounted Commanders, if you don't want the Sacred Squadron in a game..

Points are easy, 10 figures at 10 points each, 100 pts, maybe Teemu would like to add some extra for the the cloaked commanders.

TeemuL: It would have been wrong to expect nothing less than a weekly Retreat from Moscow entry from Ray in addition to bonus points grab! Good to see some mounted additions to your force, at least some have enough food to feed the horses and make their travel a bit more comfortable. As the bestest of Minions, I'll give you a bonus point for the cloaked commanders.