Russian's and Prussian's Oh My

Wow, it’s been a long time.  After taking about a year off I finally picked up a paint brush again.  It’s amazing how quickly I lost my limited painting skills.  In any event, below are the results of the last two and a half months.  I apologize up front for the quality of the pictures, (and the painting for that matter).  

My Russian Dragoons have become somewhat of a local joke.  While I was very pleased with the quality of the paint job on them, their tabletop performance left everything to be desired.  Those big Front Rank figures didn’t finish a single battle still on the table for the first year or year and half.  So, naturally, I decided to paint another unit.  You can really tell the effects of almost a year without touching a paint brush on these guys, not all that great of a paint job, hopefully that means they’ll kick ass on the table.

As always, click the photos to enlarge.

Siberian Dragoons, figures are Front Rank

Oops!  Looks like someone reversed the two command stands in the photo, flag barer should be next to the officer... My bad

And if you’re painting any Napoleonic Russian’s, you’re required to paint at least one artillery battery at the same time.  (Yes, it is an actual requirement, because Russian, and because Peter keeps on painting more $%&^ French Artillery)

I paint all of my Russian Artillery batteries as 3 stands to reflect the larger number of guns.  The above is a 'medium' battery denoted by only having 3 gunners per stand, a 12# heavy battery would have 4 gunners per stand.

To me, Prussians are a good ally to paint.  Depending on the year, they can be allied with the glorious, righteous forces of the Czar, or with the vile, despicable forces of Napoleon.

Blue?  Yep, a Prussian foot battery. 

Perry Figures, as I recall this is the pack with the gunners running back the gun.  A little blurry picture, but maybe that's a good thing.  Looks like the gun tubes need a touch of smoke in the muzzle before they get packed up. 

Peter talked me into painting 3 Prussian Line Infantry units for Historicon this year.  Clearly he was paying attention in his psych classes.  All the Prussian Infantry below are Calpe figures.  I really like their figures, they were fun to paint  (would have been more fun if I could paint better).  Price and figure size wise they're compatible with Front Rank.

First unit

Second unit

Third unit

And finally, Landwehr cavalry, almost Cossacks, but with much snappier uniforms.

I hope to see some of you later this week at Historicon.

So much lead, so little time.

ROME FALLS!

On August 24th, 410 A.D. Rome was overrun by the Visigoths, resulting in the fall of the Western Roman Empire.  Just how much did the  political corruption and the apathy of her citizens really lead to the Rome's fall?

But… on a much lighter note - I painted something!

Not my best work, (either painting or photo) but at least it had me picking up a brush again.  First up, the latest addition to the French Cavalry.

The 7th Regiment, Chasseurs a cheval

Looks Like I need to replace my photo backstop

With the completion of this unit it brings my French Cavalry to one Dragoon Regiment and three Chasseur a Cheval Regiments.  The 2 Chasseur a Cheval Regiments were part of my original goal for this year.  I still need to complete one more Duchy of Warsaw Uhlan Regiment, but… I seem to have gotten distracted and started another Russian Dragoon Regiment.  We'll see what happens by the end of  the year.

And the last bit of painting.

Looks like I need to touch up a little where the epoxy is showing by the wheels.

I picked this up at Cold Wars 2012, and finally found the motivation to paint it.  This angle seems to make the horse look undersized compared to the wagon, but it doesn't look that bad in the lead/resin.

Hopefully the next post won't be as long a wait as this one was.

So much lead, so little time.

Lest we forget

239 years ago, on April 19^th, 1775…

Captain John Parker and roughly 70 members of the Militia gathered on the Lexington village green at dawn. Their intent is not to engage the troops, but rather to show defiance to the Crown.  As the British Regulars approach on their mission to seize or destroy the Colonist muskets, powder, cannon and other provisions Captain Parker instructed his nervous men:  "Stand your ground; don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here." 

The British officers order them to lay down their arms and disperse.  Some men disperse, some do not, but none lay down their arms.  Then a shot rings out from somewhere, more shots follow from both sides.  The outmatched Militiamen retreated, and the Regulars continued on their way to Concord.

The rest, as they say, is History.

Now, where did I put all of that American Revolution lead I had laying around here..

So much lead, so little time

Chicks with Guns

But first now that I have you attention...

Below are the latest results from my meager painting production so far this year.

First up, a much need addition to my French Cavalry forces.

Don't worry, the chicks with guns are below, you'll see them soon

I've also beefed up my Renaissance force a bit.  The light artillery battery had the privilege to be routed off the table mere minutes after been placed on it by Joe's Ottoman's a couple of weeks ago.

I've also continued to slowly build up my Space forces.

O.K., you've been patient, first the kid friendly version

And for the PG 13 version.  

And I bet you you didn't expect to see any real chicks in the post...

So much lead, so little time

D & D, The Final Frontier

So, when you can't come up with any original coherent thoughts, what do you do?  Troll the inter-webs until you find something of course.

NO EXCUSE

Wow, it has been a while hasn't it?  One whole year.

While I could offer a whole bunch of really good excuses, as we used to say the Army;  “The effective range of an excuse is 0 meters”. 

While I did manage to complete a few units last year, I haven't got around to taking any photos yet.  So, in the interim, I present the following quote attributed to Cameron Sawyer that I stumbled across while surfing the inter-webs last week.  I can't confirm the accuracy of this, but as the Czar, I approve of it, (facts do not concern the Czar).

"The Napoleonic Wars gave the French the word bistro as a reminder of the rude, conquering Russian officers who demanded quick service in French cafes. Bystro means quick in Russian. Russian, in turn, got sheramiz avat, meaning to beg. Hardly any Russian today knows it, but this word comes from the French phrase cher ami. The starving, freezing French soldiers, retreating in disarray after the defeat at Borodino, would knock at the doors of Russian farmhouses and implore the farmers for food, crying: cher ami!" - Cameron Sawyer

So much lead, so little time

I Painted Something!

It’s been a while, but I seem to finally be over my bout of painting burn out. 

But first, some non-hobby updates.  I’m still dealing with Sandy’s gift that keeps on giving… no it’s nothing that has to be treated by prescription drugs (get your minds out of the gutter).  My office building just had full power restored last week, and has at least 2 elevators working now.  I assume that means that both I and my staff that have been scattered over 3 states since Sandy blew in way back in October will soon be back in one (hopefully mold free) location.   I’m going to hate adding an extra hour and half back to my commute each way, but it pays the bills.

First up, the Russian Guard Jagers not my best work, but they’re done.  I actually finished these right before Christmas, but I just finished the bases last weekend. 

A Bombard battery.  The observant will note these bases aren’t complete, because I need some recommendations from the handful of folks that read this.  Way back when I started my Renaissance Armies I finished my infantry bases in a very basic, paint the wood with a mixture of glue and green paint and dip in railroad turf to flock the base.  My basing has evolved since then, but the dilemma is do I continue to base the infantry the same way for a consistent ‘uniform’ look?  Or do I change to my current basing technique, and have an inconsistent look? (I’m sure at least one of you will say rebase the old ones to the current style – but I hate rebasing). 

Looks like the background needs replaced, I see a seam.  Or maybe it's a lightning bolt?

Soon to follow, a unit of Pikemen which are about 60% done so far.

So much lead, so little time

Oh Sandy!

Sandy has gone, (if she would have looked like this I’d be a lot more upset about the brief time we had together) the power is on, and the Internet connection is working!  Damage is limited to trees that were snapped off, a shingle here or there, and some flashing around one chimney. 

My office is closed, I’m not sure if it has water in it or not – the only thing between our building and the East River is the FDR and a helipad.  And since there is no mass transit running between CT and Manhattan I have some time on my hands.

I was actually feeling motivated to paint some Russian’s again and had planned on finishing up my Russian Guard Jagers, when disaster struck!  In my earlier rush to paint these I forgot that the Russian Guard Jagers had Orange facings, not Red like the ‘normal’ Jagers.  O.K., no problem, I can paint over the red… except I can’t find my orange paint.  Given the number of trees that are still down and stores that are closed I really don’t feel like making a run to the hobby store.

Maybe next weekend I’ll some photos of completed figures to post.

So much lead, so little time.