Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Odds & Ends


IR1 (Winterfeldt) march past the Gasthaus Alter Fritz (Old Glory figures painted by Der Alte Fritz) on their way into service with the Grand Duchy of Freiburg. Buildings by Herb Gundt, terrain boards by Der Alte Fritz and trees by K&M.

With much regret I had to put the Minden Miniatures on hold this evening so that I could complete the horses for the second squadron of Prussian cuirassier regiment CR13 - the Garde du Corps. The Garde du Corps was a 3-squadron regiment that usually fought along side the CR10 Gensdarmes regiment. I am using the Elite Miniatures SYW Prussian cuirassier castings for this regiment and have completed two 12 figure squadrons in time for the next battle, this coming Saturday December 1, 2007 in Brown Deer, Wisconsin, at Chez Protz. I will post pictures after I get the figures based and ready for battle.

It's looking like tomorrow night will be devoted to playing "catch up" with all of the figures that I've painted over the past month that need basing before this weekend's game. This lot includes the 24 Garde du Corps, 12 Zieten Hussars (previously photographed on these pages) and another surprise that I can't reveal just yet. Gallian spies may be monitoring this journal, so I don't want to give everything away at this time.

I dabbed a little more paint on the second batch of 30 Minden figures last night and so now most of the basic colors are blocked in, save for the muskets. I don't know why, but I really dislike painting muskets for some reason. It's probably due to the fact that I never seem to be able to paint a straight line down the musket barrel when I apply the pewter colored paint. I recall Hal Thinglum once declaring that he hated painting cross belts on British Colonials. I guess that we all have our own personal bete noires when it comes to painting likes and dislikes. Were it not for the weekend's game, I bet that I could complete the final 30 Minden figures by next Sunday. We shall see.

The picture shown above was taken back in 2006 and is posted for no other reason than the fact that I felt that I ought to post some kind of picture with today's posting. I never get tired of looking at the marvelous buildings that Herb Gundt has built for me. The "Gasthaus Alter Fritz" is based on the real thing, located in the village of Hochkirk just across the street from the famous church where the Margraf Karl (IR19) regiment held out against the Austrian hoards and bought time for the rest of the army to escape the trap that Marshal Daun devised to snare Frederick and his army on that fateful day in 1758.

The Prussian figures have been sold to the Grand Duchy of Freiburg (Randy Frye) so they are no longer a part of my army. They are Old Glory figures and I have to say that they are not all bad. It seems that everyone paints the Winterfeldt regiment if they are building a Prussian army, and I'm tempted to repaint it with either Potsdam Miniatures or Minden Miniatures, but then our group already has two other Winterfeldt batalions so maybe enough is enough.

This evening I was looking at the white board (dry erase) that I have near my basement painting table and notice some interesting items (at least they are to me). I post the dates and locations of our group's wargames as well as a running total of Olley Painting Points year to date. We have played 13 wargames this year and so next weekend's battle will be the fourteenth of the year. That's a lot of wargaming, I guess. The game tally includes some of the convention games that we ran at the SYWA convention, Little Wars, the Big Game and Rock Con.

As for Olley Painting Points, I am up to 1,053 points as of today. The system, devised by Phil Olley of Old School Wargaming fame, is an easy way to keep track of one's production. An infantry figure or artillery casting count as one point, and cavalry figures count as two points (since it consists of a horse and a rider). I'm guessing that I have probably set a personal record for painted figures in 2007. Either I need to get a life and cut back a little bit or I'm going to start getting dirty looks from my wife and daughter. I keep telling myself that I can slow down the production line (and I target 60 to 72 points per month). But just when I think that I've got things back in balance, along comes a new line of figures (Frank, you know who I'm talking about) that truly inspires me to paint more, or else a big wargame is coming up and I just have to paint one more unit for the game.

At least my Prussian army is nearly done and I can get on to the task of painting more of the opposition Austrians. It never ends.


9 comments:

  1. Personally I hate painting mustaches. Don't ask me why . . . I just do.


    -- Jeff

    ReplyDelete
  2. Funnily enough, I am like Jim on this one and don't like painting muskets either. it's because I use the Foundry 3 paint system ansd it seems I am painting woodgrain on something that nobody really notices anyway, plus the brass butt end etc. It seems to take ages and for little visual reward, although I can't stop myself doing it.

    By the way Jim, you do know that Austrians are the next army Richard is sculpting for me don't you? :-)))

    Cheers,

    Frank

    ReplyDelete
  3. Guys,

    Does anyone paint the British?

    Theo

    ReplyDelete
  4. Not a fan of muskets myself, although painting moustaches is a breeze; when you are using a black undercoat, you simply neglect to paint the top lip.

    A quick gray highlight and, like lightning, you have a veteran musketeer.

    He must be a veteran, count his gray hairs, inspect that salt-and-pepper moustache...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Frank: I hear you brother. I think about all of that time wasted painting wood grain on the stocks because I've seen all of the famous Foundry style painters doing the same. Actually, I don't mind painting the stocks, it is the gun barrel that befuddles me for some reason.

    Other bits of wasted painted items include gaitor buttons, belt buckles with brass, and sometimes the sword knots. Few would notice if I didn't include them, but then I WOULD KNOW and that would bug the heck out of me.

    Minden Austrians: ulp! I knew that there was a reason for my delay in painting Austrians. I may have to hold off until your Austrians become available. My guess is that it may be awhile though.

    ReplyDelete
  6. British? Sure!
    ----------
    42nd Highlanders
    44th Foot
    46th Foot
    1/60th Foot
    Rogers' Rangers
    Lots of cavalry based for Ken Bunger's Tricorne rules, the original Tricorne rules BTW.
    A bucketload of artillery.
    ------------
    Your Servant Sir,
    Bill

    ReplyDelete
  7. Theo,

    Between Bill, Jim and Randy (myself) there are a bunch of British Infantry units in our group. We are light on British cavalry but I am sure there will be some added in time.

    For infantry I have 2+1 British (Highlanders, 27th Inniskilling and the Jersey Blues), with three Prussian, three French and two Austrian. Most of the infantry units are at 60 figures two are at 48 figures.

    Plus one French cavalry (36 figures) and one Prussian cavalry (24 figures).

    Best, Randy
    The Blog is looking good Jim.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Boys,

    Thanks for the comments. Great to our boys are in there, too!

    Theo
    Belfast

    ReplyDelete