French Cuirassier and Austrian Aid de Camp

Our local group is taking the plunge into new Napoleonic rules set General d' Armee so I used last week to prepare for our first game. 

The order system of General d' Armee calls for a quite a few more Aide de Camp than I had.  I painted 5-15mm Austrian Aide d Camp.  They are from Battle Honors.  I really enjoyed painting the figures. For older sculpts they nicely detailed. 

Here are the 5 Aide de Camp

I decided to add some punch to my my french forces so I painted up two units of Cuirassier.  The figures are from AB, which is in my book the best 15/18mm figures you can find.   To top it off if you are in the US you get to buy them from Eureka Miniatures USA  which is run by Rob Walter, on of the nicest guys in the hobby.   Amazing figures and outstanding service, what more could you ask for.  (I may be a little biased)

I painted the 3rd Cuirassier which were in Nanouty's division at Wagram. 

I also painted the 12th Cuirassier from Nansouty's division. I really like the yellow collars and appointments,

Here picture of the full group

In total I was able to complete 29-15mm Cavalry for a total of 116 points.  Which I believe will just make my challenge goal of 2500 points.  Whew, that was a close one. 

AHPC #7 The Potpourri Post

The last week has been a real challenge to stay focused.  I have been all over the place painting a little of this and a little of that. 

I tried to stay focused and finish off my WWII project.  I got a pretty good start working on the last of my Americans.  I painted 20 28mm Americans with winter equipment from Warlord Games.   I really liked the figures but the castings are a bit brittle and had excess flash.  When unpacking them I had three rifle barrels that were bent and covered in heavy casting residue.  I managed to break the barrels while cleaning and straightening them.   I know Warlord has fantastic customer service but running short on time I didn't want to wait for the replacement so I repaired the figures.

Here are the two squads of American infantry in winter gear.

I used  the snow texture paint from Games Workshop called Valhallan Blizzard. It was really easy to work with and looked pretty good as I got the hang of it.  I may go back and add a bit more of the texture at a later point.  My advice is put on more than you think you need it seems to shrink as it dries.  On the whole I think it gave a nice snowy look.

Here is the group together.

After finished off the first group of WWII Americans I hit a bit of a block.   So I jumped back to a little side project I have been working on occasionally.  I painted a 24 figure unit of British infantry for the War of Spanish Succession.

The figures are all 28 mm Front Rank.  I think Front Rank make some of the nicest figures around.  The figures are a bit exaggerated which works well with my painting style. They are on the well fed side of 28mm so they don't always mix well with other manufactures.  The unit they are supposed to represent is the Welsh Fusiliers.   The flags are speculative as I was unable to find good documentation.

The last bit of painting I was able to complete was to finish out some troops needed for an upcoming game of General d Armee.   My  Austrian cavalry was under strength  so I added some Dragoons and Cuirassier.  All the figures are 15mm and from Battle Honors. 

Here are the two squadrons of Dragoons

And the two squadrons of Cuirassier

The full group

All total for the week (and change) I was able to paint 44-28mm infantry and 28-15mm cavalry

AHPC Post #6

Its been a busy week for me from a hobby perspective.   Thanks to a 3 days weekend I was able to get quite a bit done this week.   I finished up the last of the First Corps World War II Russians.  This week included a couple sub machine gun squads, 2 medium machine guns and an anti tank rifle team.

Here are pictures of the two 12 man sub machine gun squads with supporting light machine gun teams.

Below there are the 2 medium machine gun sections

Lastly the anti tank rifle team.

Here is the full group of Russians

In addition to the Russians this week I was able to move on to some early war Germans.   All the figures are from Wargames Foundry.  I love these figure they are a joy to paint.  Its really great to see 20 year or more old sculpts hold up so well.  Great detail, clean casting and a good variety  of poses.  Whats not to like, oh yeah the cost.  But in my opinion you do get what you pay for with these Foundry figures.

Here are the squads grouped in twos.  The first two pictures are four rifle squads.  I was tempted to paint helmet markings but decided against it since I am planning to use these guys for 1942-1943

The last group of two includes a rifle squad and a sub machine gun squad.

The last picture is the full group picture including the German Platoon commander and his aid.

I was able to finish 93-28mm figures this week.   It was a very focused painting week and doubt very much it happens again.  I am toward the end of my World War II figures on hand.  I have an order placed in early January to Black Tree for more Americans but haven't heard anything from them since my order early last month.  I doubt very much I see them in time so its on to something new for next week.

AHPC #5-Russians out the wazoo

This week has been a very productive gaming week for me.  I was able to finish three squads (and change) of Warlord Russians I started last week. In addition I started and finish 4 large squads of 1st Corps Russians .

 On top of that we played our first game of Boarder Rievers. I got to play a group of Irish delivering whiskey to the Armstrong clan.  We were ambushed by the treacherous Maxwell's (played by both my sons).  It was a good day for the Irish.  We completed a lopsided trade with the Armstrongs and stole a barrel of whiskey, a pony and a cow for good measure.   We used modified Mordheim rules, which really worked well.   

I will apologize now, there is a whole lot of Vallejo Khaki Grey used in this post. I could have put in some more uniform color variations, since the Russian supply system wasn't known for its precision, but I opted for speed. Using Warlords painting guide was a big help.   

The first group I finished were from the Warlord Soviet box.  Great box. lots of possible variation.  My oldest son is the actual owner and assembler of the figures so I take no credit for some of his "creative" poses.  I started putting paint on this group two weeks ago but wasn't able to finish them in time for last weeks deadline.  

I started with two large rifle squads

I also completed an Sub-machine gun squad with light machine gun support team and a couple of extra figures from the box thrown in.( I may use them to fill out my platoon leaders section)

This is a look at the full group of Warlord Russians.

My next group of Russian Infantry are from 1st Corps.  I really like these figures. I do have two small issues.   One is they are very well fed 28 mm and will not mix with the Warlord figures.  The second is some of the hands on the Russians look like they are wearing those foam hands you see at sporting event (the hands are huge). 

Over all I really like the way they took paint.  I picked them up in a trade so I didn't have much input in pose selection.  I know 1st Corps makes a number of different dynamic poses so I will probably order some to flesh this out and give custody of the Warlord Russians to my son. 

I was able to finish four 12 man rifle squads

Here is a picture of the four squads together

Like I warned you there was a lot of Khaki Grey used in this post. Sorry its so boring. I am moving on to some 1st Corps support weapons and SMG squads for next week.

Over all I was able to finish 88-28 mm figures and use most of a bottle of paint

AHPC Post Number 4

This week is a catch up post for the last few weeks. Over the last few weeks I have focused primarily on World War II.  However Pirates and Border Reivers were able to creep on to the panting table. Just to be clear this is not one weeks work I have been working on them overt the last 2 or so weeks.  Well anyway here is what I have been up to

I was able to get a start on my Warlord Plastic US Infantry.   I am not a fan of plastic figures normally but these were pretty good.   Really the only issue was in assembly.  Of course I did NOT read the instructions.  I am sure most of you know this but I didn't know there were specific arms for specific weapons.   After some time trying to get things done my way rather than the right way I consulted the instructions which very clearly lay out which arms work with which weapons.  Luckily I had not cut all the arms off the sprues.

Here is the full class picture. 1 Captain, 4-10 man squads, a 4-man HMG and 2-3man MMG's (one disassembled for movement),  a 2- man bazooka team and a 2 man medic team

My only problem with the Warlord figures (aside from self inflicted issues) is that the weapons are very thin and prone to breaking.   I was also able to complete a medium and heavy machine gun to support the rifle platoon. The support weapons are also Warlord but cast in metal.  


Having exhausted my supply of GI's I moved on to some 28mm West Wind WWII Russians I purchased eons ago. On the whole I think they look rough unpainted but I think they paint up nicely. I picked them up from Old Glory 25's so the price is hard to beat.

I completed 2-10 man rifle squads and 1-12 man sub machine gun squad with an attached light machine gun.

Speaking of Old Glory the my next bit of work was on some 28mm Old Glory Pirates for a friend.   Its a mix of servants, pirates and various.  This ia a really fun range of figures. In my opinion they are some of the best sculpts Old Glory has done.   Putting my bias out there,   I love Old Gory, they were really my introduction to wargaming.  Back in the day, as a poor college student, the choice between food and figures was made much easier by the pricing of Old Glory.  They tend to look pretty rough before painting but seem to paint up pretty well.

I painted 13 pirates this week.  I am not sure how I ended up doing 13 but I have a few more to go to finish the whole batch, I included a close up of the guys I liked the best.

As part of a group project I painted 10 Border Reivers last week.  We had agreed to put together small contingents for an upcoming game and this represents my contribution.  The figures are 28mm, I picked them up from Sgt Major Miniatures but I am not sure who the actual manufacturer is .

By my count I have a total of 109-28mm foot and 1-mounted

AHPC- Third Post

Its more Germans for me this week.   Thanks for all the advice you guys gave my on my first group.  To answer a few questions that came up.  I am planning on using these guys for Bolt Action and Chain of Command.  The main reason for the foray in to WWII is to try to pull some of the local Warhammer 40K gamers to the true faith, historical wargaming. My guess is the dice mechanic for activating troops would appeal to them.    But before I can give it a shot I need to get some more troops done.

Originally I had planned to paint American and Germans for Italy but it looks like the Germans I have may be too late war for that.  I may come back to the Italy campaign since its so diverse and interesting but for now I am going to forge ahead with generic troops.

This week I was able to complete 4 large squads, some support weapons and an officer with radio operator.

The first two squads are from Artisan.  Nice figures with good detail and easy to paint.  There are some small proportion issues but nothing major.

The next two squads are from Warlord games.   I should start by saying I am not a fan of plastics but these are really pretty nice.  There were some assembly issues, but I'm sure that was user error.  Its been a long time since I have put together plastic models.

The last subgroup are some two man support groups of LMG and a Panzerschreck..  All of these figures are by Artisan.

Last but not least is the Hauptmann and his radio operator. These are also by Artisan

Here is a group photo for the week.  Next week moving on to the GI's

60-28mm Germans should be 300 points.

AHPC Post 2

This week I am moving into uncharted territory for me.   I know World War 2 is one of the most popular periods to war game but I have really never been pulled in.   Well now that's going to change.
I decided to kick things off with some Germans.  They fight just about everyone and they all wear gray... right?   Well no, in the last week or so I have discovered there is a bewildering array of  troops and uniforms.

This week I was able to complete 30-28mm mid-late war Germans.   I believe the figures are Artisan, but I am not positive.

Here is the group photo.   Below I have broken out the squads.

This squad has a mix of camo smocks .  Based on my research they would most likely be SS or possibly Panzer Grenadier.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

I really enjoyed painting these figures.  There were a few small issues in the sculpts where the body proportions seem off a bit.   For next week I will be painting more Germans and possibly moving on to my US troops. 

If anyone has a suggestion for a website with good uniform information please let me know.