Dear readers,
I know I have been a bad blogger. I have neglected you and kept you in the dark.
I have since started posting my work on a regular basis on the Pendraken forums rather than here. I know, bad Leon. You may slap me, I wholeheartedly deserve it - but I feel that posting my work on the Pendraken forums is less of a hassle, and it feels like I'm talking less to myself, but to a community. I'll continue trying to update this once in a while though.
In the meanwhile until I can get the courage to post another update here, my work is viewable here:
http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,10866.0.html
Yours,
Leon026
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Monday, August 17, 2015
Behold an update! The Coalition!
Part II of the Behold an Update! series of updates. The author makes a hasty post before disappearing back into his man-cave once more, never to be seen.
I've decided what to do for my "Coalition" (ie non-French) army.
I have settled with a Austro-Bavarian Corps, but with the addition of a British brigade to spice things up. While in the beginning, painting white was incredibly tedious, the Austrians have slowly grown on me, but I didnt want to just paint white all the time either, and needing a little "oooo shiney" battalions here and there, decided to spice things up by adding the colorful Bavarians and a British brigade (consisting of two British line infantry battalions, and two Hanovarian Landwehr battalions).
Currently its essentially a small division with two unfinished brigades. In one, I have 2 Hungarian infantry regiments, a Jager battalion, and some cavalry (Hussar and Uhlan regiment), and the other consists of a Grenz battalion, and two German infantry battalions.
Still left to do:
2 German Infantry battalions
1 Grenz battalion
Artillery
Bavarian brigade (4 infantry battalions, artillery battery)
British/Hanovarian brigade
Most of the work in this Army of the Coalition (of the willing) is still not done, but I hope to have plenty of time during my business trip to get some more done. Looking forward to painting the Bavarians though, as the colors are very different to the standard Austrian white! Even the British were quite fun to paint... other than the flags that were a massive pain :(
I've decided what to do for my "Coalition" (ie non-French) army.
I have settled with a Austro-Bavarian Corps, but with the addition of a British brigade to spice things up. While in the beginning, painting white was incredibly tedious, the Austrians have slowly grown on me, but I didnt want to just paint white all the time either, and needing a little "oooo shiney" battalions here and there, decided to spice things up by adding the colorful Bavarians and a British brigade (consisting of two British line infantry battalions, and two Hanovarian Landwehr battalions).
Currently its essentially a small division with two unfinished brigades. In one, I have 2 Hungarian infantry regiments, a Jager battalion, and some cavalry (Hussar and Uhlan regiment), and the other consists of a Grenz battalion, and two German infantry battalions.
Still left to do:
2 German Infantry battalions
1 Grenz battalion
Artillery
Bavarian brigade (4 infantry battalions, artillery battery)
British/Hanovarian brigade
Most of the work in this Army of the Coalition (of the willing) is still not done, but I hope to have plenty of time during my business trip to get some more done. Looking forward to painting the Bavarians though, as the colors are very different to the standard Austrian white! Even the British were quite fun to paint... other than the flags that were a massive pain :(
Behold an update! The French!
Here, the blog owner appears from his man-cave to unveil the scribbling he has made upon bits of metal.....
It's true that I've been gone, but I've also been hard at work (painting)! Really! There's been talk with my co-author of the blog to see if we can create a website to better organize our projects, but I'm waiting to see what he has in mind.
In the meanwhile.... my paint brushes have been furiously at work. Speaking of paintbrush, I did try out one of those Windsor & Newton brushes at 00 / 000 size that people have been talking about on various blogs. They're definitely quite something else - but there's this bizarre fear within me about "wasting" these brushes, and would rather use the Citadel Fine Detail brushes. It's irrational, I know. But even if the Citadel brushes lose their tips after a few months of furious painting, I still like them. All habits die hard.
+ + +
I did make a post on the Pendraken forums regarding my work with miniatures, but out of respect to the guys there, I try not to link non-Pendraken products. Whereas Battlefront have straight out and went ahead to ban / delete threads that contain non-Battlefront 15mm WWII products, I find their way of doing it rather insulting, in a way. Pendraken don't have that policy, even if their annual painting competition disallows non-Pendraken products - but the reasons behind that are a matter of common sense.
The current "French Army" in its "complete" form. At the moment it's divided into three brigades:
First Brigade, consisting of 6 infantry battalions and reinforced with 2 artillery batteries. The brigade consists of 3 line infantry battalions, and 3 leger battalions. They're essentially split into a Line Infantry Regiment with 3 battalions, a Leger Regiment with 2 battalions, and a Leger Regiment of 1 battalion.
Going from left to right, looking at the "complete" army, is the Cavalry Brigade.
The cavalry brigade consists of 2 hussar regiments (1er and 2eme Regiment du Hussards), and 2 Chasseurs-a-Cheval regiments (1er and 13eme Regiment de Chasseurs-a-Cheval), along with a horse artillery battery.
There is also a regiment of lancers that are out of place but are added in this placement photo because it's currently not part of anything, much like the Dragoon and Eclaireurs-de-la-Garde that currently act as "bodyguards" for the General de Division. Eventually though, I'll be adding another 2 regiments of lancers to have a lancer brigade.
The lancer models, from Magister Militum I was surprisingly pleased with, and felt they had the right proportions, and were also easy to paint. I ended up doing some surgical work on the porte-etendard and painted my own flag in its stead.
The final brigade, is the second infantry brigade. Consisting of 5 battalions of infantry, of which four are line infantry (two regiments with 1st and 2nd battalions each), and one Leger battalion in skirmish/open order to represent the more "veteran" Leger. Regiment wise, the flag was painted to represent the 9eme Regiment d'Infanterie Legere. This brigade too, is reinforced with a foot artillery battery.
All in all, this totals the French army at 11 infantry battalions, 7 cavalry regiments, 3 foot artillery batteries, and 1 horse artillery battery. The skirmisher stands have not all been completed, with several stands still need doing (depending on the ruleset used).
In addition, I have another 2 line infantry regiments left to do (though not sure whether to paint them up as the Swiss or one regular line and the other Joseph Napoleon), and one combined line grenadier battalion.
Eventually, I'll also have to paint up another brigade general and equalize the brigade around a 4-5 battalions per brigade mark.
That's it for the French for now!
It's true that I've been gone, but I've also been hard at work (painting)! Really! There's been talk with my co-author of the blog to see if we can create a website to better organize our projects, but I'm waiting to see what he has in mind.
In the meanwhile.... my paint brushes have been furiously at work. Speaking of paintbrush, I did try out one of those Windsor & Newton brushes at 00 / 000 size that people have been talking about on various blogs. They're definitely quite something else - but there's this bizarre fear within me about "wasting" these brushes, and would rather use the Citadel Fine Detail brushes. It's irrational, I know. But even if the Citadel brushes lose their tips after a few months of furious painting, I still like them. All habits die hard.
+ + +
I did make a post on the Pendraken forums regarding my work with miniatures, but out of respect to the guys there, I try not to link non-Pendraken products. Whereas Battlefront have straight out and went ahead to ban / delete threads that contain non-Battlefront 15mm WWII products, I find their way of doing it rather insulting, in a way. Pendraken don't have that policy, even if their annual painting competition disallows non-Pendraken products - but the reasons behind that are a matter of common sense.
The current "French Army" in its "complete" form. At the moment it's divided into three brigades:
First Brigade, consisting of 6 infantry battalions and reinforced with 2 artillery batteries. The brigade consists of 3 line infantry battalions, and 3 leger battalions. They're essentially split into a Line Infantry Regiment with 3 battalions, a Leger Regiment with 2 battalions, and a Leger Regiment of 1 battalion.
Going from left to right, looking at the "complete" army, is the Cavalry Brigade.
The cavalry brigade consists of 2 hussar regiments (1er and 2eme Regiment du Hussards), and 2 Chasseurs-a-Cheval regiments (1er and 13eme Regiment de Chasseurs-a-Cheval), along with a horse artillery battery.
There is also a regiment of lancers that are out of place but are added in this placement photo because it's currently not part of anything, much like the Dragoon and Eclaireurs-de-la-Garde that currently act as "bodyguards" for the General de Division. Eventually though, I'll be adding another 2 regiments of lancers to have a lancer brigade.
The lancer models, from Magister Militum I was surprisingly pleased with, and felt they had the right proportions, and were also easy to paint. I ended up doing some surgical work on the porte-etendard and painted my own flag in its stead.
The final brigade, is the second infantry brigade. Consisting of 5 battalions of infantry, of which four are line infantry (two regiments with 1st and 2nd battalions each), and one Leger battalion in skirmish/open order to represent the more "veteran" Leger. Regiment wise, the flag was painted to represent the 9eme Regiment d'Infanterie Legere. This brigade too, is reinforced with a foot artillery battery.
All in all, this totals the French army at 11 infantry battalions, 7 cavalry regiments, 3 foot artillery batteries, and 1 horse artillery battery. The skirmisher stands have not all been completed, with several stands still need doing (depending on the ruleset used).
In addition, I have another 2 line infantry regiments left to do (though not sure whether to paint them up as the Swiss or one regular line and the other Joseph Napoleon), and one combined line grenadier battalion.
Eventually, I'll also have to paint up another brigade general and equalize the brigade around a 4-5 battalions per brigade mark.
That's it for the French for now!
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Waterloo 2015
In the ultimate expression of my terrible addiction in miniatures and Napoleonics, I have traveled to Waterloo, Belgium to witness the re-enactment and commemorative ceremony of the 1815 Battle of Waterloo.
It was good that I had managed to get tickets about 3-4 months in advance, as not only were tickets sold out roughly 2 months ago, but the site was packed.
The site was gorgeous, and so where the costumes. Weather held pretty well throughout the two days, with slight rain towards the end of the day.
The number of reenactors on the field numbered roughly 5,600 last I heard on the loud speakers. The first day represented the French attacks on La Haie Sainte and Hougoumont, and the arrival of the Prussians, and the second day represented the British and Prussian offensive and the withdrawal of French forces from the field.
I also managed to find an interesting deal with a vendor (who happened to be ex-French army) whom I struck up a long conversation with, and managed to get a deal for a whole set of drawings and paintings done by Guy Sajer and Michel Faure, the authors of the graphic novels "Les Fils de l'Aigle". These were serial numbered and very limited, so I managed to grab these, with their "Les Hussards" drawing album depicting all the hussar regiments numbering one through twelve. I also bought a slate painting done by Guy Sajer, but unfortunately Belgian roads are just notoriously bad, and the slate got cracked on the trip home. I was really disappointed about this, so I tried to fix it the best I could, and will have to get a proper frame to hold it in place.
All the pictures are below - though due to the sheer amount of photos taken, there are only a select few below.
I have also several videos that I took, but here is one that has been uploaded during the final phase of the second day of the reenactments: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qtml3pql95a2ttr/20150620_215211.mp4?dl=0
Enjoy!
It was good that I had managed to get tickets about 3-4 months in advance, as not only were tickets sold out roughly 2 months ago, but the site was packed.
(French army officer of 1815 with one of 2015....)
The site was gorgeous, and so where the costumes. Weather held pretty well throughout the two days, with slight rain towards the end of the day.
The number of reenactors on the field numbered roughly 5,600 last I heard on the loud speakers. The first day represented the French attacks on La Haie Sainte and Hougoumont, and the arrival of the Prussians, and the second day represented the British and Prussian offensive and the withdrawal of French forces from the field.
I also managed to find an interesting deal with a vendor (who happened to be ex-French army) whom I struck up a long conversation with, and managed to get a deal for a whole set of drawings and paintings done by Guy Sajer and Michel Faure, the authors of the graphic novels "Les Fils de l'Aigle". These were serial numbered and very limited, so I managed to grab these, with their "Les Hussards" drawing album depicting all the hussar regiments numbering one through twelve. I also bought a slate painting done by Guy Sajer, but unfortunately Belgian roads are just notoriously bad, and the slate got cracked on the trip home. I was really disappointed about this, so I tried to fix it the best I could, and will have to get a proper frame to hold it in place.
All the pictures are below - though due to the sheer amount of photos taken, there are only a select few below.
I have also several videos that I took, but here is one that has been uploaded during the final phase of the second day of the reenactments: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qtml3pql95a2ttr/20150620_215211.mp4?dl=0
Enjoy!
Monday, June 1, 2015
I am still alive!
It has been a long time since my last post but that doesn't mean that
I haven't been painting. It's just I haven't been painting what I
intended to paint!
I was concentrating on my Napoleonics but a new development put a halt on proceedings. The Perry's are putting together some new Peninsular British Infantry. Now I have been using 1815 style uniformed Brits up until now and they are nice but they are not in the correct shako and I would be lying if I said it didn't bother me! The new figures look fantastic and come 'on campaign' which is exactly what I want.
Until these are released I will be giving the British a rest. I do still have a battalion of French infantry and some Spanish guerrillas that are due a paint job soon though so not a complete break from all things Napoleonic.
To be honest the main problem I have had is that I have so much stuff lying around that I tend to get dragged from project to project without getting anywhere. Recently in a bid to get on top of it all I went through everything and recorded what there is to do. I decided to put on hold any new purchases until I clear some of the current back log. That means mainly that my foray into Bolt Action will have to wait.
To start with I decided to clear much of the 40k stuff that I have. There were two reasons behind this. The first is that this is currently the only game system in which I have opponents willing to play. I have finally been getting in some games and I have to say I have been loving it. My choice of faction has much to do with this. You cannot help but have fun with Orks whether you play them or play against them. At a small 500pt level the game is quick and has none of the clunkiness that is associated with it at larger points levels. The second reason is that I genuinely enjoy painting the models. They are full of character and I don't find them a chore.
I have now almost finished my 500pt force. There are plans to expand this force to 1000pts in the future (no larger) but for now I just want to get the first 500pts finished. These guys started out as an experiment into painting over a white undercoat and using Citadel Washes. I am happy with the way they have turned out. Some of the models (the Kans in particular) are awaiting varnish and then their bases will be finished with grass tufts.
Next up is a 500pt force of Skitarii. The models are incredible and provide a nice change to the headlong charge of the Orks. I picked up two boxes of them. The addition of a 5 man (machine?) squad of Sicarian Infiltrators will take the force to 500pts. These then are what I will be painting up over the next couple of months. I will probably take them to 1000pts at some stage but right now I am happy to have two 500pt forces to play with.
With any luck I will have these finished before September and then I will have cleared the backlog of 40k. This will leave me with my British Paras for Flames of War and my Napoleonic French. I have had a hard time getting motivated to paint the Paras as I find all the camouflage a bit dull especially at 15mm. I will get around to them though! My Napoleonics will continue rumbling on. I love painting the bright uniforms and am very happy with the look of the finished models but I have no opponents lined up and so any actual gaming still feels miles away. My uncle has started to paint up a French army however so that is a step closer. Realistically I am a year or two off having enough models to play a proper game with.
Finally there will be one last project that I am looking to start but only after I have painted up the two 40k armies mentioned earlier. I am planning on collecting a 30k Heresy Sons of Horus army. This will be for myself and give me something to really go to town on. I have no plans on how big it will be or what exactly will be in it. I will instead let it grow organically painting up whatever takes my fancy, a bit at a time starting with Ezekyle Abaddon, First Captain and Master of the Justaerin...
I was concentrating on my Napoleonics but a new development put a halt on proceedings. The Perry's are putting together some new Peninsular British Infantry. Now I have been using 1815 style uniformed Brits up until now and they are nice but they are not in the correct shako and I would be lying if I said it didn't bother me! The new figures look fantastic and come 'on campaign' which is exactly what I want.
Until these are released I will be giving the British a rest. I do still have a battalion of French infantry and some Spanish guerrillas that are due a paint job soon though so not a complete break from all things Napoleonic.
To be honest the main problem I have had is that I have so much stuff lying around that I tend to get dragged from project to project without getting anywhere. Recently in a bid to get on top of it all I went through everything and recorded what there is to do. I decided to put on hold any new purchases until I clear some of the current back log. That means mainly that my foray into Bolt Action will have to wait.
To start with I decided to clear much of the 40k stuff that I have. There were two reasons behind this. The first is that this is currently the only game system in which I have opponents willing to play. I have finally been getting in some games and I have to say I have been loving it. My choice of faction has much to do with this. You cannot help but have fun with Orks whether you play them or play against them. At a small 500pt level the game is quick and has none of the clunkiness that is associated with it at larger points levels. The second reason is that I genuinely enjoy painting the models. They are full of character and I don't find them a chore.
I have now almost finished my 500pt force. There are plans to expand this force to 1000pts in the future (no larger) but for now I just want to get the first 500pts finished. These guys started out as an experiment into painting over a white undercoat and using Citadel Washes. I am happy with the way they have turned out. Some of the models (the Kans in particular) are awaiting varnish and then their bases will be finished with grass tufts.
Converted Warboss
Not the best photo of the first Boyz Mob
Awful photo of the Grots but they are just Grots...
Kan 1
Kan 2
Kan 3
The final Boyz Mob WIP
Next up is a 500pt force of Skitarii. The models are incredible and provide a nice change to the headlong charge of the Orks. I picked up two boxes of them. The addition of a 5 man (machine?) squad of Sicarian Infiltrators will take the force to 500pts. These then are what I will be painting up over the next couple of months. I will probably take them to 1000pts at some stage but right now I am happy to have two 500pt forces to play with.
With any luck I will have these finished before September and then I will have cleared the backlog of 40k. This will leave me with my British Paras for Flames of War and my Napoleonic French. I have had a hard time getting motivated to paint the Paras as I find all the camouflage a bit dull especially at 15mm. I will get around to them though! My Napoleonics will continue rumbling on. I love painting the bright uniforms and am very happy with the look of the finished models but I have no opponents lined up and so any actual gaming still feels miles away. My uncle has started to paint up a French army however so that is a step closer. Realistically I am a year or two off having enough models to play a proper game with.
Finally there will be one last project that I am looking to start but only after I have painted up the two 40k armies mentioned earlier. I am planning on collecting a 30k Heresy Sons of Horus army. This will be for myself and give me something to really go to town on. I have no plans on how big it will be or what exactly will be in it. I will instead let it grow organically painting up whatever takes my fancy, a bit at a time starting with Ezekyle Abaddon, First Captain and Master of the Justaerin...
Friday, May 8, 2015
Repainting X-Wing Miniatures
Well.... this was bound to happen.
I repainted my X-Wing miniatures.
Or rather, I did touch ups to my TIE Interceptors, and pretty much completely repainted my Firespray-31, affectionately known as the Slave I.
I mean, the prepainted figures are great, but I just feel that since I can paint better, it would be a crime not to do so. And besides, it was an excuse to mess with Object Source Lighting. No airbrush of course, because I don't own one.
I *had* to go ahead and get myself a 181st Fighter Group list, so here we are - Soontir Fel & Friends.
And the Slave I repaint. The colors themselves were inspired from someone who did a Slave I in this scheme on the FFG X-Wing miniatures forums, so I decided to go for the same design. Turned out awesome!
I repainted my X-Wing miniatures.
Or rather, I did touch ups to my TIE Interceptors, and pretty much completely repainted my Firespray-31, affectionately known as the Slave I.
I mean, the prepainted figures are great, but I just feel that since I can paint better, it would be a crime not to do so. And besides, it was an excuse to mess with Object Source Lighting. No airbrush of course, because I don't own one.
I *had* to go ahead and get myself a 181st Fighter Group list, so here we are - Soontir Fel & Friends.
And the Slave I repaint. The colors themselves were inspired from someone who did a Slave I in this scheme on the FFG X-Wing miniatures forums, so I decided to go for the same design. Turned out awesome!
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