From RayR: Retreat from Moscow - 25mm French & Allied Officers (30 points)

I've been a very busy boy over the last few weeks, I've done a heck of a lot of painting!

Unfortunately most of it has been on walls and ceilings! Me & Mrs R have decided to move house, so the house is up for sale and I'm going from room to room, tarting it all up, ready for some photos to be taken in a couple of weeks. I've been in the same house now for 35 years, so its about time I get my own wargaming table and a new house of course.....

Its no surprise that my entry this week is yet more figures for my and Lee's joint project, 

"The Retreat from Moscow in 1812"

Both myself and Lee have well over indulged in the number of figures we've bought, these were part of my horde I bought at the Warfare show last year.

They are all from Perry Miniatures Pack FN170 Officers

Rear view

They can and will be used for any unit, as none are in a proper uniform as such and could be pressed into any service. I've gotta admit, these are really beautiful figures and were a pleasure to paint up. Perry's do make some crackin' figures.

As to the points, only 6 figures this week, so 6 x 5pts each is 30pts!

I've been asked several times what's our recipe for the snow. Its really not rocket science, Woodland Scenic Snow, tipped into an old jam jar (Damson Jam, my fav), its not measured out, then tip in some PVA, give it a stir, if its too dry, add more PVA, if to wet, add more snow. I added a little water, not even a spoonful. it just loosens on the pva. I've only made one batch so far, each week when I go back to the jar all it needs is a tiny splash of water and a stir and its back to its spreadable consistency. Surprisingly it doesn't go hard in the jar, unlike on the figure bases, where it ends up rock hard.

TeemuL: Continuing the well trodden path of Thursday Traditions we encounter Ray with Retreat from Moscow. As I have mentioned, your snow bases look great and thanks for the scientific recipe for the snow. I like the colourful and mixed look of these figures, I'm sure they'll give nice variation and realism to the units which are trying to survive the retreat.

Good luck with the house and move - and the future game table.

From Iain W: 28mm Napoleonic limbers and some command (150 pts)

 So, scraping in through the last gasp saloon I hope to make the cut with four 3d printed Napoleonic French transport teams and three MDF limbers from warbases. In addition there are two French mounted command and two Austrian  mounted command.  I've been playing a lot of Valour and Fortitude lately and that's been influencing what I'm  painting. In the rules artillery needs limbers, so I painted a first batch up pre challenge and these are the second wave. The team without a limber gets added to a limber team to signify horse artillery.  I really liked these 3d prints I got off etsy, good detail and largely matching Perry in size, you get three two horse teams plus limber,  traces and an artillery piece with three barrel options, the wheels are a bit big and the carriage is a bit small but I hope you will see some of them crewed up in the Challenge and at £13 including postage something of a bargain especially as there are no lines. The command chaps are here as ADCs as when you have to send a command beyond a certain distance you need to send a messenger, not essential but we decided it was a nice touch, the Austrians are spare Victrix Colonels while the French are assembled from a variety of Perry/ warlord/Victrix  spares, the joys of plastic kits! Painted in my usual slap dash single colours on a black undercoat,no highlights or fancy washes here I'm afraid, fast and dirty being my favoured format!

Apologies for my lack of posts/comments, the holidays had activities every day ( including a big family game of Valour and Fortitude, which was nice) starting a new job on the 2nd and then going to the US for work, in fact these chaps were mostly painted in a hotel room in Los Angeles, for scoring, eight mounted 28mm figures is 80 points, plus 20 for the other four horses I would like to claim 20 points for the history section (1809 ) now limbers are I think 20 points each, which seems excessive but I will have to pass that onto our mighty Monday minion to adjudicate?! These will also count towards the Napoleonic duel. I've also found I can't sign in to Google anymore on blogger so I am unable to comment on the challenge in Chrome,Firefox or Samsung which has recently happened and is infuriating to say the least !

Points 180? 150 points

All the best 

Iain 

Sylvain: Stunning work on these Napoleonic models, Iain! To me, the flavor of the Emperor is the colors and despite your self-deprecation, these miniatures sure look colorful and Napoleonicy (it that a word?). I will count your limbers as "crew served weapons" at 10 points each, instead of "vehicles" at 20 points each, which seems to make more sense, given their size. I'm sure your family had a blast playing with all your toys!

  P.S. Don't forget to include your Library Map😁.

 

From BruceR: 12 Polish Voltigeurs 28mm, Overdues and Returns (80 pts)

I've headed into the stacks of the Overdues and Returns of the library.  In the past I painted some Napoleonic Polish infantry from Muraski   miniatures.  I'd ordered a unit special and when received there were no Voltigeurs.  Of course it took some time to finish the troops and when done I decided to place an order for those Voltiguers and I did.  Months passed and I can only imagine they needed to be remolded and were not coming.  Not being a patient person I ordered some Front Rank figures with Colpacks (very cool) and painted those (last years Challenge).  After many months the Voltigeurs did show and as I had painted the others in a box they went. 

This challenge, I did pledge (to myself) to paint some of the languishing figures I had collected and these would add more lights to my French forces scouring the hills for Spanish guerrillas.  

The figures are slim and the rifles slight in comparison to the North Star Spanish I first submitted.  The figures are full of character.  I love troops reaching for cartridges and some of the figures have bandages as well. I also like the side burns and mustaches giving them the veteran look. 

Weather in the plains has been crazily mild until Christmas night when we paid for the nice weather with rain or as the weather folk call it frizzle.  Rain and cold a bad mix.  The roads were shear ice and no travel, with work closed.  So, to the painting desk and here they are somewhat earlier than I expected.  I hope you enjoy.

Early stages

 

Group shot

Ready to invade

The squared shakos

Close up of cartridge grabber, forage cap (touqe up North) and head bandage

I did my standard black undercoat and proceeded to give the faces a dark brown coat.  I work my way out on the miniatures and when complete a wash.  Some highlights and a brush varnish.  Ready for battle.  I and some local friends enjoy Sharp Practice and these will fit in nicely.  Having a counter to the nasty 95th rifles I have will be a welcome option for the French player. 

Points:

12 28mm @5             =     60 pts

Overdues and Returns =   20 pts

Total                                   80 pts

_______________________________________________

These Voltigeurs look excellent, Bruce! I like the bright colours, but you've still given them a weathered, old-campaigners look about them. I'm also quite admiring the arid groundwork you've given them - it definitely evokes those battlefields in Portugal and Spain. Well done!

- Curt