from RayR - Retreat from Moscow - Survivors 85 pts.

  

Its back to the Retreat from Moscow once again for my next entry into the Challenge.

Yet more bedraggled French foot figures!

The 16 figures on show are a mixed bag of manufacturers.

Mainly being Perry Miniatures with a smattering on Murawski Miniatures just to make up the numbers.

Me and Lee were busy this week building more terrain for this period, including some ice as seen in the pics above.

The figures are mainly from Perry's Dismounted cavalry marching, pack FN174 and I thought I'd go for something different and bought a pack of  Armed Russian Peasants pack RN58. The fleeing French would pick up anything they could be keep warm, so why not a peasant coat of hat?

There are 4 Murawski figures in the group 2 Officers and 2 Sappers, which were spare figures.

Added to this post are 3 small barricade bases from Ironclad Miniatures

Just to help fill the battlefield with.

16 figures@ 5pts each gives me a total of 80pts, plus whatever Dave gives me for the barricades.

From DaveD. These are looking great Ray a proper frozen rabble indeed .no two figures the same . I love the setting too - that ice on the river is great . Certainly time to man the barricades - I’m make that 85 .

From RayR: Retreat from Moscow - Duchy of Warsaw 2nd regt Voltigeurs (35 points)

Yes more Retreat from Moscow figures and my 3rd post of the day!!!

This time around its more from the 2nd Duchy of Warsaw regt, but this time its their Voltigeurs.

All but one figure, the chap with the blue hat on the right, are from Murawski Miniatures again. I needed another figures in a Czapka, but didn't have one, so I raided the Perry minis box and pulled out this chap, wearing a civvie hat. Their commander is also a Murawski mini, although in my opinion he's not the best looking figure, compared to the other figures in their range, he looks like he's been sculpted by errrr me!

Its mainly his face to be honest, I should have chopped his head off and replaced it, poor chap.

Rear shot!

Only 35 points for these 7 figures, unless Teemu wants to give me any extra for the warm looking blue blanket, the chap in the front is cuddling?? 

TeemuL: Not very French to procrastinate on chopping heads off, isn't it? The chap in front, cuddling his blue blanket doesn't look that chilly, there should be more snow and frost on him to get any bonus points! :) Other than that, the usual quality from you for this project, another 35 points are yours.

From AlanD - Poles for the Retreat from Moscow (120 points)

It has been a busy start to the teaching year with one of my colleagues away, so teaching an extra senior class as well as running the History Department. I am teaching lots of ancient history and having great conversations about possible parallels between the rise of fascism and current political events, but the painting has been suffering.

It is a relief to get an entry in this week, especially since I missed the Home (or Homer) Round. I'm very much obsessed with Sharp Practice 2 at the moment, playing French Indian Wars with Paul O'G (see below) but also getting together a Grand Armee force for the Retreat from Moscow. This week I managed 24 Polish infantry, from Murawski Miniatures. With temperatures here around 40 degrees C, I have enjoyed making the snow bases.

Command Figures

Grenadiers

Fusiliers and Voltigeurs

I do really like Murawski Miniatures, and they are generally an excellent match for the Perry Retreat from Moscow range. I have to say, however, that I was a bit disappointed with some of the figures I painted up this week. It appears that Murawski asked Paul Hicks to sculpt a small group of Poles in winter gear for the Retreat, and these figures are top notch, like the one on the left in the picture below. However, it looks like they have bulked out their Retreat range by taking some of their figures in summer uniforms and adding greatcoats with modelling putting over the top, as with the figure on the right. Unfortunately, this hasn't always been done very well, with the result that some figures ostensibly wearing greatcoats still have their sleeve cuffs etc. It is a bit of a shame that they seem to have taken a short cut to flesh out such a lovely range of figures.

That being said, I am much happier with them all painted up than I was while I was painting them.

If you have read this far, you deserve to be rewarded with an account of the Worst Defeat I Have Ever Suffered in Any Game Ever. Last Wednesday Paul O'G and I played a game of SP2, in which my troops were utterly broken and routed from the table without having fired a single shot or damaged the enemy in any way whatsover apart from some harsh language. The lesson of this debacle was that marching slowly towards a formation of British regulars with their muskets presented is a very bad idea. The fact that I still enjoyed the game so much is testimony both to how great SP2 is, what a fun gaming group we have, and how fine an adversary Paul O'G is.

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More Retreat goodness, just brilliant. As I said to Millsy earlier, we've just come through a week of around -40 temperatures, so during my dogwalks through our neighbourhood park I would look not too dissimilar to these figures (except of course, no musket and I had a nice warm home to come back to!). 

Again, like your previous efforts with this project, Dux, you've done lovely work. I especially like the miserable drummer and the stoic NCO toting his halberd. It's too bad that this batch had some issues but you've obviously preserved. Perhaps in light of the 'Worst Defeat You Have Ever Suffered in Any Game Ever' the figure karma of working with these frozen fellows will allow you to enjoy some victories. :)

So, a 120 points for your climb up the roster. Well done Dux!

From AlanD - Retreat from Moscow (125 points)

A new school year starts tomorrow, so I made a big push this week to get some figures painted before production inevitably slows under the weight of marking. I have been finishing off the Retreat from Moscow figures in my leadpile, with Sharp Practice 2 in mind. As I have said before, these figures from Perry and Murawski miniatures are an absolute pleasure to paint.

In Painting Challenge IV, (or maybe V), I was fortunate enough to win some figures from Murawski Miniatures one of the esteemed sponsors of this madness. Their Duchy of Warsaw figures for 1812 are a great complement to the Perry range, and will be forming a good chunk of my army. More are on their way to join the unpainted lead, but here is a little group of infantry skirmishing. 

Some more Poles now, this time from Perry Miniatures. These men are not in such good shape, and include straggling infantry and horseless cavalry.

Some dismounted cavalry and an Eagle from various French units. I am particularly fond of the Carabinier with the twin pistols looking very Gangsta.

And finally some more assorted troops, including a wonderfully characterful Wurtemburg (I think?) chasseur à cheval and a stoic Grenadier of the Imperial Guard.

In total, that's 25 figures, and should net me 125 points.

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This is wonderful companion piece to your previous Retreat entry, Alan. 

As I've mentioned before, I think these figures demand a certain attention to their basework in order to come off well, and I think you've done a terrific job on them. The snow, the ice and especially the winter-kill grass really help to covey the weather these people had to endure. I've not worked with the Murawski figures but after seeing these I know I need to pick up a set.

125 points for you to add before your school year starts. Great work, Alan!

From IannickM : Duchy of Warsaw skirmishers (25 points)

We take a break from the little fellows (Halflings) this week, and completely change register by doing some Napoleonics! 

Indeed, au menu today we have five Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw skimishers, from Murawski Miniatures. The figures are from the Voltigeurs in Full dress, campaign dress set as well as the new "extra" scruffy Campaign dress figures. And boy are they scruffy! Roger has a real problem and just keeps producing more and more Poles! The sheer variety is one of my favourite thing about the range, and oh if all Napoleonic armies could get this level of completeness and love (other than the French and British, the boring and annoying favourites, of course).

The figures are fusiliers and voltigeurs skirmishers from the Duchy of Warsaw 1st infantry regiment, presumably in the middle of an exhausting campaign! I'll probably end up using them for skirmishes set in the 1809 campaign between the Poles and the Austrians (and maybe Brunswickers 'cause they look cool).

They are meant for a Napoleonic skirmish project I'm just starting, the goal to play really small scale skirmishes and maybe eventually bigger ones like Sharpe's Practice. But mostly, it's an excuse to give extra love to my favourite Napoleonic ranges: it seems I always paint Naps in batches of 16 or 24, and I wanted to work on small batches and individuals for a change. I must say it was a very different experience from batch painting Napoleonic battalions!

The Murawski figures are as usual lovely (I'm biased), and I'm always surprised I don't see more Duchy of Warsaw in blogs and on the battlefield, as it is really a lovely army with their distinctive Czapka and colourful facings.

Finally, I just want to remind y'all that Murawski Miniatures is giving away a complete set of such skirmishers (11 foot, 6 commands), so if you like what you see work extra hard on your productivity and such gems might be yours free of charge in about two months! (this extra motivation speech is brought to you free of charge, courtesy of Murawski Miniatures.)

So, for this entry that's 5 28mm figures, 25 pts, hopefully more to come in between Halflings! 

ByronM: Words you never thought you would say "I miss the halflings!".  Regardless of the halflings, these Napoleonics are cracking figures and paint jobs!  I really like your clean painting and how each one is done differently rather than all the same.  

Maybe this is how I have to do Napoleonics, a few figures at a time to get better results. Doing small batches like this really lets you focus on them as individuals instead of rank and file, and it really shows in your painting here.  Great work.  

From AlexS: Napoleonic. (402 points)

Hello everybody. My name is Alex and I decided today to maintain its reputation. After all, the reputation - very important!

So I decided to remind everyone that I was the crazy Russian who paints miniatures 100,500 per night, if not drinking vodka and does not play the balalaika. :)

So, let's begin!

The first battalion of the Baden infantry of the line from the magnificent manufacturer Murawski miniatures. I got them for participation in the last event, and as a matter of honor to paint and show them to all participants. Miniatures really delicious, especially stands out pathetic officer.

Secondly, the garrison battalion of Russian infantry from Perry Miniatures. Brothers made really beautiful miniatures, although made little inaccuracies, including hats. But we still love their work.

Finally the Prussian Landwehr battalion from Warlord. Excellent miniature (though they are too large hands, but perhaps they are calling in the army blacksmiths).

General view:

Total:
1 cav - 10 points
78 inf - 390 points
in all: 400 points

MilesR: Another fantastic points bomb which may put you in a well deserved lead position, or damn close to it (not sure what DaveD has up his sleeve).  I would a picture of your fully assembled armies - I'm sure it's breathtaking.  Very Well done, Sir.  Oh, I threw in 2 points for the flags.