Italians and Greeks - Command Teams

I have returned from my vacation and after taking some time to get settled back into my routine I have been able to spend some time painting. I have been rotating between my Napoleonic painting project for Adepticon which can be seen on Guns of April and this project of completing my Italian/Greek army. The first up were my command teams, observer, and Unknown Hero base. I decided to get some completed miniatures up on the blog before I post a step by step. I am trying to speed up my painting process without sacrificing much detail but for me there is a noticeable difference between my best work and field-able armies. Personally, I enjoy the painting aspect of the hobby but let's face it I am painting these armies so I can play games. Enjoy the picture and more to come soon.

Italians and Greeks - Double the Fun

I am reading through the latest Flames of War book, Burning Empires, and I am getting quite excited about building an Italian Fucilieri Battalion (Infantry Battalion). I like the idea of not knowing the types of troops that will show up from game to game since each platoon in the army has a random Motivation and Skill rating. This of course could go horribly wrong and knowing my dice luck this will become a very frustrating army to play. Of course no plan survives first contact with the enemy so I felt if I was going to spend all this time and energy building this army I wanted it to serve multiple functions.

The very next nation in the Burning Empires book is the Greeks and conveniently for me they wore similar uniforms and used much of the same equipment as the Italians. So I set to work and began to design two army lists that would share the miniatures and using the continental uniform paint scheme I could have one army serve two purposes. There are only a few changes that would make the Greeks stand out because many of the officers wore English uniforms. So other than swapping out the command stands I could concentrate on painting lots of infantry and gun teams that could serve as both Greeks and Italians. Here are the lists that I came up with:

Once the core of these armies is painted I can supplement each army by adding in the elements that are unique to their respective nation. The only concern I had making this decision is the historical accuracy of playing Italians in the desert because their continental green uniforms were exchanged for their lighter desert uniform. The added bonus is I can also play the Italians in Mid War and Late War depending on the situation. I am really quite excited about this project because it will give me an Axis and Ally in Early War as well as an Axis force in Mid War and an Ally in Late War.

Here is the paint scheme I am using which is also located on page 43 of Burning Empires. I added a few steps to bring out some of the details such as highlighting the uniform and helmet. This will give the miniature more depth on the table.

Prime black
Airbrush 888 Olive Grey
Drybrush uniform and puttees 850 Medium Olive
Paint flesh 955 Flat Flesh
Paint boots, belts 875 Beige Brown
Paint webbing 881 Yellow Green
Paint helmet 830 German Fieldgrey
Highlight helmet with 50/50 924 Russian Uniform and 830 German Fieldgrey
Wash with Devlan Mud or Brown Ink
Tankettes, guns - German Fieldgrey (830)

I began the long cleaning process and I am working on cleaning and assembling everything before I begin to paint. I want the army to look consistent and I am hoping the assembly line process of painting infantry will go faster than other methods I have tried.

I will update the spreadsheet will status notes as I complete various stages and when there is something worthy of photographs I will post them as well.

Happy holidays

American Civil War Campsite

Several months ago I received a handful of tent sprues and a really nice campsite scene of some American Civil War soldiers. I spent a weekend painting up the collection and took some pictures. The nice thing about having this camp set is it allowed me to test paint the color scheme for my eventual Union army.

Take a look and enjoy.

The Guns of April Go Live

My hobby time has been very limited these past few months. I began these projects with the full intention to complete my armies and give the members of this blog something entertaining and educational to read. Unfortunately, the trials and tribulations of life often take priority over our fun and my time since June has been no exception to that rule.

I recently moved into a new apartment and was able to turn the second bedroom into a hobby room. Within a few days I was contacted by a group of hobbyists who are embarking on a project for Adepticon 2012. The 200th anniversary of the Battle of Salamanca is next year and we have decided to put together a large Napoleonic game celebrating this event. 3 players will combine their efforts and take on the responsibility of the French and 2 players will field those insidious lobster backs (British). If you couldn't already tell I will be on the victorious French side. 

In the coming months all of the participants will be posting their progress on a new Blog dedicated to the current and future projects of this wargaming group. Its called The Guns of April and in the future our plan is to create a new game and them to showcase each year during one of the evenings at Adepticon. 

So, I will be posting my painting and modelling updates for this project on The Guns of April  blog and will post friendly reminders here. I hope you enjoy. 

http://gunsofapril.blogspot.com/

Brawner's Farm Black Powder game

The historical gaming group that I play with about every two weeks hosted an American Civil War Black Powder game. We typically meet every other Friday in the basement of one our member's home and we play a wide range of time periods with the host providing the gaming table, scenery and miniatures. A truly amazing spectacle to behold and our favorite rules set is rapidly becoming Black Powder. It is simple to learn and we can host a game in the evening and have it finished in a few hours. We were surprised how different the games played from time period to time period and the rules reflected the tactics of the day very well.

Our Zulu War game was nerve-wracking as the Zulu's rushed the thin red line and every failed British order created chaos along the battle line. The American Revolution game we played consisted of a few volleys of musket fire followed by some effective bayonet charges. The American Civil War games we have played resulted in several short ranged firefights and only once the regiments were weakened were they pushed off the battlefield with cold, hard steel.

Wargames Illustrated published a new scenario for Black Powder called Brawner's Farm. We jumped at the opportunity to play the game and here are some pictures and thoughts about our experience.

The number of Confederate regiments and divisions considerably outnumbered the Union forces but the Rebel units were rated as small suffering some penalties in shooting and hand-to-combat. They were also easier to break compared to the standard sized Union regiments so all the players representing both sides felt confident beginning the game. The forces engaged quickly and it took some time for the Union divisions to form a battle line. This became a serious problem later in the game when the Union commanders failed some very crucial orders and the Confederate officers were exceptionally adept at rolling 6's to disorder Union regiments. This enabled a Confederate division to outflank the Union lines and threatened to roll up Billy Yank's right flank but the boys in blue retreated from the battlefield before this disaster could take place. The end result was a solid victory for the Confederacy but all the players agreed that the game needs to be replayed to see if the Union forces can hold the road. Enjoy the pictures.

Two Confederate Divisions march towards the surprised Union column

The Union army takes to the ditch along the road to form a battle line.

The Union army pours musket fire into the charging Confederates.

A textbook look at attacking in depth.

The Confederates take full advantage of their numbers and begin to envelope the thin Blue line. 

Currently Away From My Desk

My recent move and my current visit to see my fiancée has put a rapid halt to my hobby activities. I will have an update for everyone very soon because we recently played an American Civil War Black Powder game and one of the club members took some pictures. I am currently writing up the after action report in my down time during my visit to Vietnam so it should be posted shortly.

When I return home I will have some more information regarding our plans for our English Civil War gaming as well as our preparations to try out the new Hail Caesar rules. I look forward to bringing you some new photos and paints plans that I have been working on including my English Civil War cavalry and Ancient Germans.

Until next time.........

Warmachine and My Protectorate

In my most recent travels to conventions I was have some in depth conversations with my co-workers and decided to take the plunge into a new army for Warmachine. I have always had a passion for witch-hunters, inquisitors, religious zealots, and fanatics so I couldn't think of a more suitable army than Protectorate. Having a familiarity with the game system and realizing that I am not ultra competitive with my miniature wargaming, I decided to take a common approach to collecting this army. I would buy and paint miniatures that are aesthetically pleasing and I would only make new purchases once the miniatures I own are painted.

That was the original game plan and it fell off the rails slightly since some friends of mine knew I was starting a new Warmachine army and gave me some models as gifts. I am trying to complete the miniatures I own before moving on to anymore new items and I thought I would share my progress so far. The miniatures are in progress and you will see how they clean up at the bottom. I let the miniatures sit for 2 days before I dullcote them and then I clean up most of the miniature with a simple highlight. The purpose of this army like so many other projects and to get them done rather quickly and get them playable. I am not trying to win any awards and I just want to be happy with some nice and clean painted miniatures. 

Protectorate Paint Plan using the Paladin as an example. Each miniature will receive a paint plan so I can remember which paints I use for each type. 

Front view of the Paladin.

Back view of the Paladin

Racks. Definitely some cool miniatures.

The Covenant side view.

The Covenant

Kreoss and his Crusader Warjack finished

Another pic of Kreoss and the Crusader