Some More AWI 10mm...

This army has been on the back burner for a while, possibly because I invested over 10 years in creating my huge 28mm force.  however, the bug periodically rears its ugly head for a few weeks here and there, enabling me to add a few more units to my ever growing force.  I have much more painted now than appears on this blog but I really need a basing purge before I even think about putting it on.

Anyways I have added some pictures of some British 3lb guns, some British Commanders and some jager.  The Jager now number about 15 stands but the rest are not based yet!  On the painting desk for the AWI at the moment are some continentals, British in Roundabouts, more Hessians and a shed load of militia.

I hope you like these.

British 3lb Guns

Commander and Highland Aide

Another roguish British Commander

Hessian Jagers

And even more British Commanders...

In regard to rules I was using a simple set I designed myself as British Grenadier does not lend itself well to large 40 model units.  I have tried several sets now including Fire and Fury Regimental, a Johnny Reb AWI conversion and even Black Powder but none have so far pleased me as much as good 'ol British Grenadier.  However, I was recently invited to play a friends AWI game using his stonking 40mm figures and using The Perfect Captains set of rues called John Bull.  Although the game is meant to be a company level game, with a few tweaks we have played several engagements now at Battalion level with great success.  I like the rules as they have elements of British Grenadier within them.  We have changed the rules slightly to cater for the disruption mechanic I like so much from BG and Loose Files and American Scramble but the unit cards are a wonderful addition with John Bull that give excellent period flavour.

I am always on the lookout for other great sets so any further advice from my fellow gamers would be appreciated.

10mm Napoleonics

My new big project (along with my 10mm AWI, Red Scorpion Space Marines and 28mm Italian Wars) is my 10mm Napoleonics.  Since the Perry's have released their plastic range of 28mm Napoleonics I have been frothing to do more Napoleonic Wargaming.  The period is one that I have a huge interest in and gamed intensively ten or fifteen years ago.  however it has been left on the sidelines for many a year due to my interest in other areas, namely the AWI.  I wanted to get back into it in a big way but one of the main reasons I have been so reticent to do so has been rules (and of course the huge amount of painting time to do big battles in 28mm).  I was lucky enough last year to be invited by one of my friends to play a re-fight of Quatre Bras and even luckier to be given Picton's Division.  I was not so over joyed when I was told we were going to be using Napoleonic Principles of War.  I have had this rule set on my shelf for fifteen years and did not have a high opinion of them.

However, this was a Napoleonic game, a rare and exciting prospect and I thought I would give them a chance.  The main reason I did not like them initially is that I hate brigade level games where the brigade is the tactical unit and I hate lots of paperwork during games.  NPOW uses both of these mechanisms (well actually its tactical unit is the regiment).  The game was in fact awesome.  Apart from the crossing off of boxes on well organised force sheet I didn't have a bad word to say about them.  The rules are slick, fun and more important feel right.  I love the fact that it takes into account the different fighting and command styles of each army and represents beautifully national characteristics in way that isn't just +1 if your British in line.

I have decided to put my forces together differently to my friend who used one battalion to represent the two or three battalions within Pictons Division.  Instead my units will represent each battalion historically within one unit.  This shown below with the French Line Regiment.  As you can see the three stands make up one unit on the table, but each battalion is represented within the one unit.  The two Cuirassier units will also be three stands each and each stand will represent one cavalry regiment to make one unit represent a cavalry brigade.  I hope I'm not being too confusing.  Anyways, these figures are Pendrakens fantastic new Danube 1809 range of figures.  They are every bit as good as the new AWI range and I love them.  I am not a fan of the rest of Pendrakens Napoleonic ranges and I hope soon they will release more figures to fill in the gaps (PRUSSIANS AND RUSSIANS PLEASE DAVE!!!)

A single French Line unit for NPOW of three French battalions (or a Regiment)

A single Battalion stand

...and from the back.

The unit in battle line.

French Cuirassier Regt,

Austrian Cuirassier Regt.  It will soon be two bases bigger to represent a Heavy Cavalry Brigade in game.

Sorry I've been away - But lots of new models to show for it!

First of all let me apologise for being away so long.  Life has definitely got in the way.  I have changed job a couple of times and moved house but now i'm settled I can hopefully begin to start showing you some projects that have been on my painting desk for some time.  I will be posting multiple photos over the coming days but I'm going to start with some of my fantasy/sci fi offerings.  These are generally from my 40k and Warhammer collections with one or two bits of experimental technique work (like more NNM or non metallic metals).

The first stuff I am going to show you is from my Red Scorpions space marine chapter.  I chose these guys after doing a commission for someone else.  They loved the paint job on a commander figure I completed for them and I so enjoyed the result I decided to do some for myself.  The army is only small at the moment and is fitting itself in between my other projects.  Below are pictures of my heavily converted Terminator Captain, my Venerable Dreadnaught, my Land Speeder with badly wounded passenger and some other work in progress bits.  I would love to hear what you think.  Coming later will be more work on my 10mm AWI, 10mm Napoleonics and 28mm Italian Wars.

Grenadier Battalion von Minnegerode Completed

The first battalion is complete the Grenadier Battalion von Minnegerode. The rest of the details are in the post below. I hope you like them.

Hessian Grenadiers

Right. I have been hard at work with my new 10mm Hessians and I have the first stand completed. The whole regiment will be posted soon and I am hoping to get my new camera to function better than this so please see this as a taster only. Obviously I cannot get as much detail on these as the 28mm but I think the models are excellent, without doubt the finest 10mm models I have ever seen. The variation in poses and detail is unbelievable. hat I particularly like is the effect of seeing 40 figures to a battalion as this unit will be. The unit represents the Grenadier Battalion von Minnigerode. The unit is made up of four companies from the Fusilier regiments Erbprinz, von Dittfurth, von Lossberg, and von Knyphausen. Each company has been painted to represent the parent unit. This particular company is from the von Dittfurth Fusiliers. I have gone away from using British Grenadier (which is a shame because I think they are excellent) as I don't see casualty removal working with bases like this and recording casualties will be a mess. I have instead written my own rules utilising several sets of rules I like (including BG as I have kept the disruption points system) and also a fantastic and amazingly original Throne of Bayonets (available here: http://guildford-wargames.org.uk/info/?page_id=27). ToB is a Napoleonic set of rules but elements of it will work for any horse and musket period game with a few tweaks.

The Army is no more... Well at least not in the UK

Hi peeps....sorry its been a while between blog entries but there has been a reason for this. I have sold my huge 28mm to a chap in California! However, I have replaced the army with a Pendraken 10mm army which I shall be reporting on unit by unit. I am concentrating on the Germans first so I will be posting the first completed Hessian Grenadier regiment soon. I have 5 units of Grenadiers to post, 2 Fusilier Battalions and six Battalions of Hessian Musketeers as well as Guns and Jagers. So please keep your eyes peeled.

Greatest apologies for this

Sorry guys....but I cant resist putting one or two of my fantsay and sci-fi based projects on here for people to see just so I can give examples of other styles of painting I sometimes indulge in. I do play the odd fantasy game, although historical gaming is my real passion. Below is a picture of one of my Space Marines I sold on ebay a few months back. I will be posting other off topic bits and bobs intermingled with the AWI stuff so don't be put off :) I am currently working on some ACW stuff too so now doubt that will be on here soon as well. I am afraid that I have given up on my Napoleonics at the moment, I just don't have the time to invest in another huge scale collection particularly one where I will need five times the troops I currently have for the AWI. I am now waffling.... so a space marine...what do you think?