RCW infantry 1/72

Hi everybody, 
More than a week without giving some news, but hopefully the brushes weren't inactive mainly with the Great Northern War commission and the subject of today's post, some 1/72 Russian Civil War  bolshevik infantry bases. 
Those were started and modified many moons ago (maybe two years) since, most of them were left barely primed in black until four days ago. All the miniatures were modified to get an approximation to a RCW look, so helmet were removed for example replaced by peaked and fur caps. This was done in hurry to try to have them ready for a game. The transformations were aimed to get the overall look and they aren't totally historical right (WW2 collars and some equipment left) Apologies. 
The 1/72 amateurs have recognized already figures from Pegasus, Hat, Plastic Soldier Company, Esci/Italeri from their Russian WW2 miniatures sets

Two of them as test, to see how works the finished base decoration. I added the bayonets to the Mosin Nagant rifles, for me, the almost napoleonic pointy bit is definitively associate with the Russian soldier of the first half of the 20th ccntury and add something more to the RCW look that I was searching. I will probably reduced the number of different khaki colors used, in sake of painting speed and to give a more unified look to each unit despise the fact that the pictures show a motley look and huge variations in the clothes colors.

I wouldn't like to finish without mentioning Mr Mark Plant and his wonderful site on the RCW "Pygmy Wars" a mine informations and resources (be aware that some links related to the site, sadly, don't work) whatever Hat off Mark.

Some of the goals for 2018

Hi everybody, 

This post is a kind of official stance, to impose myself some goals for 2018. The following are the projects that I would like to finish this year:

- Keep on painting the Ars Bellica Club Great Northern War collection, 

My friends of Ars Bellica, flooded my shelves with a huge 1/72 commission to paint. The different countries at war are present even Cossacks and Ottomans. I couldn't resist myself and bought one of the huge Strelets box the court of Peter I. 

- Finish the remaining Egyptian themed figures : 

- Bowmen
- Hand to hand small unit
- Command bases
- Chariots 
- Do some themed scenery, like rocky ground areas, palm trees, bushy areas etc... some houses, maybe some cattle.
- Then paint the Sea people Caesar box and maybe another one "foe" , maybe libyan tribes, let's see.

- Retake my really old project the RCW 20-1/72 collection

Through the years I've been collecting a lot of figures for the period, ending with some unfinished units, a lot of WW1 plastic miniatures, Russian related or not, trains (RCW always need trains) and scenery stuff in different stages. Cutting short, a good chunk of my lead&plastic unpainted mountain.
One of the 2018 resolutions , is to start to organize and paint them more regularly so I can start to play, there's several rules sets that I want to try.

- Old school wargaming nostalgia with the George Gush Renaissance rules 1420-1700

With my friend Rocroi1643, we're planning to play again with this venerable rules from one of the modern wargame founding father , George Gush. We want to retake our scale of predilection, 15mm. To do so I'm planning to paint a small French Huguenot Army. It will like coming back some twenty and something back ... Time Machine on, please....


As you can see my workbench is really busy with a lot of different  projects going on. I will inform of the progress regularly and I wait for your commentaries. One of the aim of the blog was to record, and organize my painting output but also to put my work under the scrutiny of fellow wargamers. I think that share our work and tips is a great way to improve our painting, don't you?

Pictures really soon.

28mm WWII Artizan miniatures

Hi , 
Today double entry, as promised in a earlier post, I took some picture of the U.S infantry from Artizan's WW2 range before sending them to their owner in Tenerife.
 I added some details to paint them as Free French of the 2ème D.B's to go along the Half-track, they suppose to represent the personnel of the 9th motorized company, almost  formed of Spanish republican exiles and famous for being the first ally unit to reach Notre Dame de Paris in 1944.

A few retouched pictures (I blended with the terrain the minis bases)

 

1/72 Nexus/Atlantic Ancient Egyptians update

Hi everybody, 

The second spearmen unit of my generic Egyptian generic army is done, I'm quite happy about the result. With the previous one they will form the core of the army. Next a small hand to hand unit, some archers and chariots. For the later, I've got already the chariots from Atlantic and Caesar. 
The Atlantic/Nexus one's is not bad, but the wheels are really a downer, so I bought the Caesar set, much better researched and done, I guess I will mixed both until I find a solution for the wheels. Once all of this they're painted I will started with their foes, the Sea People.

However after painting them and other stuff, a few lessons have to be drawn:

-The work on the base have to be more clean. Some figures got their legs and feet too "dirty" with the dry brush and the texture applied overlapped the bases, so I should be more careful.

- I've got to find a more appropriate set up for the next pictures, a mess and stained table can definitively be improved to a more neutral background or , as I will add some scenery a themed set-up.

I will probably add some more observations to that list. The two units are now in their box, which bottom is coated with a steel shit and the miniatures bases have some magnet rubber. I decided for once to invest some money on a decent storage system to preserve the painting work. 

Here the pictures:

The second unit:

The two units together:

First Ancient Egyptians done

Hi everybody, 

First entry of the week-end, the first unit of Ancient Egyptian spearmen. In the background the first elements of scenery almost finished.

More soon.

Palm Tree

Hi everybody, 

First terrain entry on the blog, a palm tree base for a future Egyptian themed table.  The palm tree is a cheapo aquarium model coated with a mix of paint and white glue.

More scenery and the first Egyptian units finished soon.

Walk like an Egyptian - Nexus/Atlantic Egyptian Army Set

Last year (I guess) in a moment of sweeping nostalgia , I bought two boxes of Nexus - Atlantic Ancient Egyptians, one the infantry , the other the chariots, I couldn't resist to rencounter those old friends as I bumped into them in a model shop.
I must confess that they didn't age too badly, not much flash and they looked better that I remembered: good proportions , not too much silly poses (For Atlantic Standard). Of course nobody can wait for a total accurate rendition of Egyptian soldiers, I would call it more a Hollywood version, overall I agree with the PSR, link, here.

Nonetheless, they fit the bill to start a few units for to game with some unknown, yet, rules. 

Below a picture of the miniatures (work in progress)

HAT El Cid Spanish infantry 1/72 figures

Hi everybody,

I'm trying to start a medieval project to play with easy, simple rules. (I know, it's another project in the dreaded to do list).

I took the remaining of the Hat El Cid Spanish infantry figures to build up my first units. It's an interesting and useful set to anybody interested in early medieval wargames. 

First you got a lot of miniatures, 96 in total, light , medium and heavy infantrymen, with a great variety of the their arsenal (spear, bow, crossbow, sling, javelin, etc..). You can have a more detailed look here.
The majority of the figures can be used for others feudal /crusaders armies other than Spanish if you're not too picky. The only setbacks are the plastic, is too soft and certain pose with shield who are too flat. Overall is a great set.

Here is one unit of "heavies". Most of the spears have been replaced with wire.

Rubicon M3 Half-Track

Hi,

I just finished a M3 kit from Rubicon, an easy and really nice kit. I tried to paint it to evoke the 9th company'a vehicles from the french 2 D.B a unit mainly composed by exiled Spanish republicans .

This model will be sent soon to Tenerife to a friend escorted with a dozen of Artizan GI's.

Spanish Civil War Republican infantry 54mm-1/32

Happy New Year,
As mentioned in the previous entry,  the 54mm fever stroke hard. Below, you can find some pictures of some 54mm Spanish republican infantrymen in various stages of completion.
I used the WW2 1/32 Airfix figures reissued a few years ago, DAK (very useful set), Commandos and British infantry. I hope that I caught the overall look of the Republican army (EPR) during the Spanish Civil War