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...

3 years doing what?

3 years doing what? The first posts of the "A Wash of bourbon" come back will share with you what I paint in the last 36 months. Expect a chaos of scales, projects, all mingled and presented in no particular order. 

With no further ado: 

1/35 WW2 Soviet sailors (Zvezda) and infantry (Tamiya) with a KV2 (Trumpeter) and a M3 (New Ray) 

Zvezda soviet sailors, I buy it quite discounted as it was an old box "gathering dust" in a shop - always scout your local retailers sometimes bargain and gems are hidden - My guess that the newer box from the Russian manufacturer include the same sprues. The miniatures show their age a bit, details are a bit soft, mould lines and gaps between pieces are here. Nonetheless really a dynamic set - maybe too much - the officer is almost dancing, I bend is leg to get a more restrained stance. The poses evoke the propaganda posters. In the background an early ww2 infantryman , also from Zvezda, sneaked in the photo-call.

The sailor with the rifle and the lonely infantryman were painted 2 years ago I guess,  the rest between the last week and yesterday. 

The M3 from New Ray was labelled 1/32 but is smaller so perfect for support my soviet forces. It's not a real kit, even if it requires mounting, it's a more a toy but cheap and easier to get on the table. Don't expect model kit quality but I'm sure that loading it with the crew stuff it will look better. NewRay's WW2

diecasts are recommended. 

The Tamiya box is a steal (Russian army assault infantry) , if you're interested in 1/35 wargaming grab it !! It still can be found quite cheap and with 12 miniatures you have already a squad with some extras. They depict the late war soviet soldier but can be use I guess from 1942 onwards.  Clean casts, crisp details, really cool for dry-brushing and washes. A must. 

The huge KV2 towering his comrades was originally bought with another beast almost 10 years ago maybe?  for a imperial wh 40k project but -ohhh surprise- ended shelved until I started with the 1/35 madness and remembered their existence. His brother will probably turn into a beautiful, tough, massive objective for the tabletop. 

The miniatures were painted 2 years ago already. 

All this stuff will featured in more detail in future posts.

More miniatures painted, more brush madness, more compulsive project really soon!! 

Hasta luego, À tout de suite, See ya! 

Wash of bourbon strikes back... 3 years later

 Hi everybody,

I can't believe but more than 3 years have passed since the last post, obviously too much time being silent for a blog and and a quite funny situation since I kept doing things in the hobby front. None of the 2018 goals have been met, none of them fully achieved of course, new items have joined the stash, aka "the pile of shame", new ideas have been flourishing.  

But using a too often read sentence in the blogosphere "Real life as taken is toll" the painting mojo came and went, as the "real world" events were ongoing. In three years good news have hopefully succeed to sad ones and I hope that  despite the actual situation I will kept a regular posting in this blog, a chronicle of a my wargaming and painting journey, welcome again to "A wash a bourbon " where, I hope, in the midst of too many and never ending projects you will find something interesting and useful.

Fancy a drink ?  

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.