From TeemuL: Rest of the British Napoleonics (40 points)

I promised last month to finish the British unit for Peninsular War this month and here they are, although almost on the last minute. I've been hunting squirrels and skulls, no time for these kinds of projects. A Shako Duel on the next AHPC, perhaps?

Nothing new with these guys, the same old Victrix plastics, four on the 40x40 base. These are meant for front row of the unit, kneeling soldiers allowing the back row shoot (or just look around). As I said earlier, this unit was assembled of the minis I had left from three different Victrix boxes and I had to use every single body to make a complete 24 strong unit. That's why the unit as whole might send mixed signals, if you are looking at it like a vignette. But on the table they will be in different formations anyway, so they will look funny at some point.

These are painted as 24th Warwick, as at least as my research on the box covers says. Mixed Contrast paints and traditional acrylics to get them done in reasonable time. Some time spent on regluing the broken bayonets...

At this point of the project and challenge, I guess a photo of the whole unit painted during this challenge is in order. Here they are accompanied with a commander stand painted in December. The commander is Uxbridge, thank you Curt for correcting that detail.

And below is the whole British Army at my disposal at the moment. The plan is to have two playable forces when I retire in about 15 years. Two units in a year should do it!

Not much more to say, 8 painted minis for 40 points. And I hope to finish an entry or two before the Challenge ends!

***

________________________________

Lovely work Teemu! These new additions look great and I'm sure welcome recruits to your growing force of British Napoleonics. Remind me next time and we'll get a 'Shako Duel' on the books. I'm sure there are more than a few of us that would pick up the gauntlet.  :)

- Curt

From TeemuL: More Brits in Peninsula (20 points)

Okey, nothing special here, just four more Brits to fight in the Peninsula War. This post almost didn't made it, I was too busy to paint two days in a row and they I got a flu. Paracematol doesn't do wonders, but it helps a bit and combined with proper timing I was able finish this lot and claim 20 points. More importantly, I was able to keep my streak alive (posting something everyweek since AHPC VI or something).

These are the same Victrix minis I painted last month, again gathering everything from the bottom of the box, so all kinds of poses, heads and arms combined to a 4 man stand. I could try to say, that I aimed for a campainged look of seasoned veterans, but really it is just what I had.

The story behind is that I bought two partially used boxes of these and was just able to create two 24 man units - but it meant I couldn't assemble them as I wanted, but what I had. There are random number of drummers, standard bearers and commanders in both units, but I can live it that  - the unit is not 24 strong in the real history either. :)

Still troubled by the flu, so no long posts and basically there is nothing new. Something different next time and more Napoleonics in the near future. So 20 points please.

 Well Teemu, that's one nice little entry indeed great work on the dynamic posing! Sad to hear you are still suffering from the flu, get well soon we want to see more of those excellent Napoleonics!

 Cheers Sander  

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 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 TeemuL: The last base for 42th Highlanders (20 points)

A bit over year ago I started painting 28mm Napoleonics for the first time after getting a reasonably prized deal. My intention is to paint British for the Peninsular War and I have planned to paint one base per month as a decades long side project, ready for my retirement days. I'm bit behind that monthly schedule, but today I can present the sixth and last base for 42nd Highlander Regiment. Minis are from Victrix.

This base is a command base, two banner/flag bearers (without flags) and two commanding officers. I've been working with what I have, so the ratio of soldiers might not be exactly right, but the company isn't 24 men strong either...

I first thought that tartan would be the hardest part on these minis, but I found rather simple way for that - the pattern is quite dark, too, so it is hard to see. The most difficult part are all the white dots in the socks and hats!

I have couple of Highlander minis left, not enough for a unit, but I'll use them to make command bases crowded or something like that. I have assembled three British units next, so 72 minis, but while gluing the final backpacks and heads, I realized I had zero bases for them... I made an order to Warbases, but it is painful to order something from UK these days when living in EU. My orders to UK have dropped significantly and I try to find some resellers in EU - it is quite easy with minis, but MDF is other story. I mean of course there are MDF bases in EU, but I want Warbases MDF bases... I might be crazy or something?

Red coats, black bear fur hats and colourful kilts, some sand and other materials to make an impression of Peninsular area as I imagine it. Quite simple, but then again not.

The whole unit

There are 4 28mm minis, 5 points a piece, so 20 in total. I try to get another post ready, focusing on the themes.

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

I love Napoleonics! The dashing uniforms and fashions, the colourful and vibrant personalities, the sheer awesomness of the history of this period is just so darn interesting. And I don't say this just because of Curts interests. I genuinely like learning and reading French Revolutionary history and the Napoleonic Era.

Your commitment to slowly delve month by month into this era is awesome. 

BUT ... painting tartan kilts ...  madness! I do not know how you've done it, but the kilt look terrific and the whole unit together looks formidable! Well done Sir!

20 more points for you!

- Sarah

From PeteB: Stronghold Terrain - Richard - 28 mm (5 points)

I wanted to finish more figures this week but I could only manage to finish this lovely figure from Stronghold Terrain that I bought on the last CRISIS. People who know me and my avatar will understand why I had to paint this figure. 

I hope you like him and thanks for watching.

Points: 1 x 28 mm Foot Figure = 5 Points

TeemuL: Lovely mini, great pose and colours. Very neat and excellent base. But I think you tease us a bit, at least those of us who don't know you. So what's the story behind your avatar and you? 5 points for you anyway.

From BobV: Yet more 18mm Napoleonics (375 Points)

 

Greetings all!

I'm pushing hard to complete the goal of painting all of my remaining 18mm Napoleonic lead. This week's entry of four battalions of French Ligne, two Battalions of British line and a unit of Portuguese Cacadore skirmishers finishes off all of my remaining infantry castings.

All of the castings are AB Miniatures 18mm. The flags are from Fighting 15's. Here are some closer shots of the French:

And the British, this time in late war uniforms:

And the Portuguese Cacadores:

This week's points total: 

184 x 15mm foot at 2 Points = 368 Points

I'll be back shortly with the last of my Napoleonic cavalry and another entry for the library. Have a great week everyone!

Sylvain: Lovely work this week again! The quality of the painted miniatures you produce and the constant energy you demonstrate week after week in finishing model is an inspiration. I will add 7 points for the flags and banners. Very impressive!