East Prussian Grenadiers 1813

I think this will be 3 posts in 2 weeks so maybe some sort of record for me? Anyway this is another unit that was lingering around the workbench unloved. This will be my last contribution to the Miniature Modelling Mayhem : May Painting Challenge. I've thoroughly enjoyed the challenge plus the chats with the guys definitely helped my output, especially in the past couple of weeks when I needed a wee lift, so thanks very much to the MMM Group on Facebook! 

I have made a little video to accompany my blog post if anyone is interested.

So the 1st East Prussian grenadiers are a combined grenadier battalion with 2 companies from the 1st East Prussian regiment with white shoulder straps and 2 companies from the 2nd regiment with red shoulder straps.

Sorry for the burnt out pictures (I'll put it down to the ipad, thats my story and I'm sticking to it) 

I have tried by best to keep the coats dark while still getting a good highlight on the blue, it can be quite tricky and you can't really see the result until the troops are based up. I've used the Foundry blue triad and for variation sometimes I skip the blue highlight mixing the mid tone with GW Fortress Grey. I've also on a few troops simply put the base shade blue over the black undercoat then mixed a little of the same grey into the base shade. I'm quite pleased with the effect.

Although it really isn't noticeable on the table I have given different hair colours to the troops. It's a lot simpler than it sounds as I paint my troops in groups according to their pose. Each group gets a specific hair colour and when all the troops are finished I mix them through giving the battalion a good variety of hair colours and poses.

I messed up on the command drummer by trying out a wash on the drum. I'm afraid washes aren't for me unfortunately. Something I have noticed in the time I've been painting my Prussian collection is that the detail around the belts of the Musicians is not always cast well compared to the troopers, you have to hunt a little for the belt work in areas. 

All in all it's great to have another battalion finished, I always get a brilliant feeling when I'm varnishing the last couple of figures of a unit. My Silesian grenadiers unfortunately, stalled not because I didn't want to paint them, simply that my available free time dried up. I may finish them before moving onto my next project however I feel that I need to return to my Saxon army soon?

I hope everyone is enjoying their projects and getting plenty painted!!!

So until next time Happy Wargaming!!!

Crazy Platen Command Base

After taking a break from Napoleonic figure painting with the Xyston ancients I decided I would finish off a couple of long neglected projects. The 1st is a Prussian command base inspired by a famous painting of an officer from the Lithuanian dragoons (Crazy Platen) and his trumpeter during the battle of Mockern in 1813.

As usual I have made a small video on youtube if anyone is interested.

The story goes that Major Crazy Platen of the Lithuanian dragoons was attack and wounded by a (French) uhlan, fighting back Platen failed to unhorse the enemy horseman when his trumpeter took matters into his own hands. The rest as they say is history. . .

I was quite inspired by the painting and thought I would recreate it in 18mm for my own 1813 Prussian army. The uhlan is actually a Polish uhlan from the AB range with his Czapka removed and placed on the ground plus hair added with green stuff and he was forced back in his saddle with his head forced back further.

An energetic horse was selected and was forced a little into a stressed position and supported on the base.

Crazy Platen started life as a Russian AB figure, had his head removed and replaced with a Prussian head pinned in place. He also had a stray gauntlet removed from 1 hand and his body repositioned a little plus lance freed from its foot holding.

The trumpeter is a Prussian trooper with his hand drilled out and a trumpet taken from a French trumpeter (if you know the AB range then you'll know were it came from). I also added wings to the musician that are missing in the painting (I figured is he was hanging around with a Major than he had to look the part). I also selected another energetic horse and messed around with the position and raised them a little as the Prussian dragoon is a smaller style figure than the other 2. All that was left to do was to paint them.

This is the picture that inspired me to make the little scene.

So not perfect but I did enjoy completing them in the end. It took me so long to finish them as I already had a dragoon command, and my mind set pushes me to paint things I need on the battlefield.

I went with an often discussed lighter blue for the dragoon coat only because that was the colour of coat I had used on my already completed Lithuanian dragoon regiment. The uhlan I copied from the painting is a trooper of the 7th however with a little discussion on the OOB with my good friend John S should probably have been from the 8th? It's been so long since I started them I had forgotten.

Anyway I hope you have enjoyed my little scene and next up some more Prussian foot soldiers.

Happy Wargaming!!!

Athenian DBA Xyston 18mm

Again it's been a good while time since my last blog post, life has been pretty hectic the past few weeks, months and probably year or 2 so fingers crossed for the next few months. Anyway I have continued with the help of the MMM group challenge and chats to make some good progress on some almost forgotten projects. The 1st of these is my little dabble with ancients. . .

I am pleased to say I have finally completed my 1st DBA army, and if your interested I have made a wee video of the completed troops.

The troops are from the Xyston range of ancients and are absolutely lovely little figures. I've painted them up as an Athenian army to either fight other Greek states or Persians. At 1st the idea of drilling the hands, attaching the shields and after the painting applying the decals/transfers to the shields filled me with dread however they came together really smoothly.

I have really enjoyed painting and also basing the little dudes, the figures have so much character and the variety of poses make them a joy to collect.

The decals I used for the shields are from Little Big Man Studio, after the 1st couple of efforts they went on really sweet and add so much to the finished figures.

Another massive plus for the figures is the quality of the horses, again there are a good few poses and the horses are lovely sculpts.

I thoroughly enjoyed painting the linen on these wee guys and it was a great change from my Naps. The Vallejo model colour range has so many rich shades that are perfect for painting ancients.

I think I maybe painted an extra base or 2 as its easy to get carried away when painting them.

With the basing I had considered using static grass or a combination of burnt grass and tufts however after having looked through pictures of the area I decided to use 2 different types of tufts and keep the ground work quite light. I'm happy enough with the finish.

So what next? Well I still plan to paint my Napoleonic collection however as a fall back I have Macedonians, Persians and plenty more Greeks if I fancy a change.

Next up will be a Prussian cavalry command.

I hope everyone is enjoying their painting and gaming,

Happy Wargaming!!!

Prussian Grenadier WIP1

If you have seen any of my recent posts you may have spotted that I'm taking part in a painting challenge. I'm chuffed to say I've been making good progress on the figures I have been working on. In the last post I showed a Silesian landwehr battalion plus some skirmishers I managed to complete and through the end of the month I managed to catch up with an East Prussian grenadier battalion that I had started a good while back so now I'm onto Silesian grenadiers.

I am continuing to make youtube vids as a record of my progress through the MMM challenge as it only takes a few minutes.

So this is my progress so far, East Prussians need a little work on some of the figures plus the bases need completed, I have made a steady start on the Silesians and since this picture I have now pretty much completed half of the battalion. A little work is still needed on the Crazy Platen command base then it will be ticked off however for the moment I'm concentrating on getting the troops painted and I'll do all the basing together at the end of the month (famous last words!)

My pictures aren't great with the dark shades however you can get an idea of how they are coming together.

I have been messing about with the highlights of the blues and still need to give the figures a couple of matt varnish coats.

Thanks a million to the guys over on the MMM group, the chats have been a great help in keeping my focus especially when I've been knackered after work. Also we attended the Falkirk Wargames Club show on 7th May, Carronade. It was a great show with plenty of traders and games on show and I'll post up a wee vid plus pics soon.

Hope everyone is enjoying the good weather yet still getting some painting and gaming in

Happy Wargaming!!!