Some SCW heavy metal

 Hi everybody, 

Last weeks weren't unproductive but instead I will share what I've done today: a couple of T26 from Pegasus in 1/72 . The kit are dead easy to build and nicely detailed and i grab them for a decent price during my trip to Paris (Tony's shop) and two days after "et voilà".  The two tanks will be a good and versatile addition to my Republican forces for "Des Tranchées aux Barricades "rules or my WW2 Soviets. 

More and crazier things very soon...

Cheers 

As the year go pass by

 Hi ladies and gents, 

One year since my last post. One year with no hobby news, times runs fast that's no lie. I'm sorry for the lack of activities in the blog, real life took is toll and I'm more and more conscious that blogging is almost  an hobby in itself and an absorbing one 

A silent blog was by no mean equal to zero wargaming / hobby stuff during the last year, I  should say quite the contrary for my usual standards. The last year saw me painting quite a lot, trying new tools and technics. As usual the dispersion factor was quite high but and this is a first, I sold a few things (my Star Wars Legion stuff mainly.)

I started and continued a lot of things in 28mm :  ACW, Renaissance & Thirty Years War, Sci-Fi, I  put on a stand-by the Russian Civil War collection in 1/72 scale and the Spanish Civil War in 15mm.  I painted a few 1/72 XVII things, bought new and shiny rules, I occasionally carried on with the 1/35 -32 stuff. I also done some scenery for various settings and scales. I will try to post pictures of all of this in the next weeks. 

Currently I'm trying to implement different forces (30-40 miniatures each side) for the Spanish Civil War but this time in 1/72 -20mm, using my old stash of Hotspur, Irregular, Minairons, BUM and some plastic soldier (Airfix) conversions.  I aim to use it with the  "Des tranchées au Barricades" rules link  a really interesting set for skirmishing early XXth century conflicts but can be probably used well beyond. I made a small test (activation/ fire) and it looks like it can provide a fun and easy to grasp game. More about it soon.

Welcome back ! 

A photo session:  

Overall view of the mat 90cm by 67,5cm the rules uses a grid. The terrain except the trees and the building is homemade. 

From the Nationalist side Regulares advancing and taking cover in the fields.

Maybe a Magnum agency reporter was assigned to the Republican side defending the road. Capa? Taro?

Regulares officier doing briefing the reserve.

The Ejercito Popular Republicano counterpart doing the same.

Regulares about to take cover in an enclosed field.

The Republican infantry ready to receive the incoming assault.

Turbans and fez aren't a welcome sight for the Republican defenders.

A Republican Madsen lmg defending the tree line.  

The Moroccans Regulares got the support of some infantry 

 

    

A requisitioned car doing probably some messaging messaging missions for the for the HQ staff.    

1/72 Boxer revolt

 During may 2020 I've got the short lived idea to paint the amassed pile of shame by theme or project, trying to focus in achieving something. I decided to start with my Boxer Revolt in 1/72 one of my oldest project in that scale, I started to paint the Orin Boxer set like 12 years ago maybe more. I remember trying new painting tricks, transforming Airfix WW1 Us Infantry into marines, buying littles Buddha statues in Chinese bazars etc... but of course the project staled and stopped, the boxers boxed started a long sleep...Until the last year, when I decided to at last paint the Boxers. 

The Orion set was at the time and still is , a great set. not only the quality of the sculpting, the variety of poses and troop types but simply by is mere existence! 20 years ago I wouldn't imagine that a Boxer Rebellion box of plastic miniatures could even exist. 

One of the consequences of retaking the 55 days in Beijing or Tsientsin  project was to discover this great blog Just need varnish with great posts on the topic and to buy Diana Preston's "The Boxer Rebellion" book to go a bit further of the Ospreys. 

A few pictures of the last may work, the whole Orion set painted except the woman and child miniatures that I didn't find. Soon pictures of the Legation forces.

Boxer mob

Chinese regulars: Manchu bannermen, infantrymen with the more modern uniform.

Kansu braves

1/72 Napoleonic and ACW Union infantry

Hello everybody, second post of the A wash a Bourbon comeback serie! It's time to a smaller scale to show up !!

ACW in 1/72

Union infantry from Hat:

Ok it's not crispiest set in the market but God! Thanks Hat for providing us an ACW set in 1/72 with drill poses. Details are great and overall accurate ( Period specialists will probably find issues but for me they fit the bill) Even with identical poses, little differences here and there in the clothes give some lively feel to a whole unit. 

Having already a huge lead pile of 15mm for the ACW, when I saw the miniatures in the flesh and you know how will finish the sentence... I couldn't resist. 

If you want to start an American Civil War project on the cheap with cool minis Hat is  the way to start. I only hope that this release is a success so the range will expand.  

Revell Union artillery set. 

Originally bought as a proxy for 1870 french artillery when I thought to start something "Franco-Prussian War in 1/72 " with the Emhar sets many moons ago. I finally decide two or three years ago to paint as its original purpose. This set (originally from Imex I think) shows is age and the virtues and faults of the original brand. Dynamic poses for the artillerymen, a slender anatomy, the gun itself got the minimal necessary details so it's fast and easy to build and paint ( mental note: artillery is never easy to paint..) . The limber... on the other hand.. is less good, stiff and unnatural poses for the riders, the horses are closer to big mules and the limber is really bare, too minimal. But once again it's 1/72 plastic ACW artillery set with limber weren't available easily in the shops at that time (Italeri didn't made yet their reissues).  So it was a more than welcoming addition to an ACW or - as it was a FPW- project .

Hat Napoleonic Spanish line infantry

At last our prays where heard!!! A decent set depicting one the most relentless Napoleon foe, the Spanish army in 1808- 1809. Hat released a few years ago four sets line, light infantry and grenadiers and an infantry command box. overall it was a nice, smart and a more than welcome move from the miniature company. Their previous effort with the Napoleonic Spanish was the guerilla and let's say that it was a more than uneven product, mildly saying. 

The miniature are really nice to paint with enough details to ease your brush work, not too much mold lines. Those are great miniatures like the ACW series and a companion to the Emhar set. 

This battalion is based for the Bataille Empire ruleset and belong to a commission from my friends of Ars Bellica.  

A battalion from the Irlanda Regiment 1808

Hasta luego...

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.

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.

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.