Painting Pink Wargame Figures, and all that

 

Marshall Schwerin visits Saxony

I took this picture a long time ago, circa 2010, of a vignette of the Prussian Marshall von Schwerin visiting some little town in Saxony (probably sizing it up for a future invasion, no doubt). Schwerin is an RSM figure and his pet dog comes from a place unknown (hey, it was over 14 years ago - do you really expect me to remember?).

Herb Gundt made all of the buildings in the picture. The inn on the right is modeled after the Alter Fritz Gasthaus in Hochkirch.

The two-wheel wagon was made by Ed Phillips and the team of pioneers in orange waist coat are from the Minden Miniatures set of Pioneers (CIV-004 product code). These are really useful figures to have and can be painted as either civilians or soldiers in waistcoats from any European army in the 18th Century. 

Here is a link to the Minden web page (civilians) where you can find the pioneers. The first person to buy a pack will get some extra free figures.

Minden Pioneers at Minden web store

Prussian Dragoon Regiment Meinicke (DR3)
Minden Miniatures

One doesn't get many opportunities to use pink colors when it comes to painting war game figures. However, the Prussians have a few blue coats with pink facings in their army, notably the dragoon regiment Meinicke (DR3) DR3 dragoons and the fusilier regiment von Kreytzen (IR40). Kronoskaf link takes you to the history of the regiments. I would imagine that many table top Prussian generals have one or both of these regiments in their armies.

The image of the uniform for the Kreytzen fusiliers comes from Kronoskaf.

I don't have the Kreytzen Fusiliers in my Minden Prussian army so I had better get on to it and start painted a 32-figure regiment.

Punic Wars Command Figure Stands

 

Celtic warriors clash with some of Rome's Italian allies somewhere in Italy.
These are all HaT 54mm plastic figures.

The past couple of weeks have been productive from a painting standpoint. I took a painting kit with me to Florida when I was there on vacation for the first ten days of the new year. I pre-primed a 32-figure unit of HaT 54mm Celts and a couple of Expeditionary Forces Celtic command figures and packed them neatly in a box along with an appropriate mix of brushes and paint colors. I was able to get most of the basic colors  blocked in while in Florida, but I had to wait until I returned home before I could complete the Celts.

The newest member of the Celtic army (the unit on the left). One of four such 
warbands in my Hannibalic army.

I also finished painting some of the command stands these past two weeks. These include Massinissa (Numidian cavalry leader), a generic Spanish commander, and Mago Barca (Hannibal's youngest brother). These are all HaT 1/32 scale Punic Wars figures. I did a head swap to create Massinissa. If you look at the Mago Barca figure, you will see that I used that figure, lopped off his head, and replaced it with a Numidian head from the Numidian light cavalry box of figures.

Massinissa, the King of the Numidians

A Spanish general to command the Spanish contingent in Hannibal's army.

Mago Barca, Hannibal's little brother.

Here are two work in progress photos of the leader of my Celtic troops. He is a magnificent model made by Expeditionary Forces (see my previous post about him) and he appears to be 1/30 scale (about 60mm) rather than the 1/32 scale listed on the box.

The major pieces to assemble include the horse, the horse's base, the rider's torso, arms, head, cloak, saddle blanket, sword and shield. I added quite a bit of green stuff epoxy putty on the base to make for a stronger join of the horse's legs to the four holes in the base of the figure. The putty was slathered over the base near the hooves and smoothed out to resemble tall grass.

I only have some of the basic colors blocked in on the figure and I am very much looking forward to seeing how the figure looks when it is finished.

Finis

Gallic Trumpeter - 60mm Expeditionary Forces

 

Here is a picture of a Celtic or Gallic warrior playing a war tune on this strange looking trumpet-like device. I do not know what the instrument is called, but it seems like every Celtic war band not of the musical variety (The Chieftans perhaps?) has one of these in its ranks.

The figure is a 1/30 scale or 60mm in size figure made by a company called Expeditionary Forces. The US stockist is Toy Soldiers of San Diego (TSSD). (UPDATE: the EF box lists the figures as 1/32 scale, but I believe that the figures are actually 1/30 scale).

The picture below illustrates the size difference between the 1/30 scale and the 1/32 scale figures. As you can see, there is a significant size difference in the two figures. The horn figure will be used in some fashion as a "command stand" figure

HaT 54mm figure on the left and the Expeditionary Forces 60mm on the right.

The large EF figure was a lot of fun to paint and while it has some nice detail to the figure, it is not difficult to paint. The figure is made from a hard plastic and the arms/trumpet need to be attached to the torso. Luckily, the joins are crisply cut and so the figure parts join together quite easily. I used normal "super glue" with a dab of green epoxy putty in the cavity to create a strong join. The I primed the figure just like I would for a metal figure: grey primer, and finished it with acrylic paint from the Reaper Master Series of paints. The helmet used Vallejo "Old Gold" color. There are several more figures in the EF command pack that I might assemble and add to the Punic Wars Celts in Hannibal's army. The set includes a mounted war band Chief that looks spectacular and so I might have to paint him and use him as the commander of all of my Celtic forces.

Packaging for the EF figures.

Comparison of HaT Carthaginians (on command stand) with the EF horseman.

These are the various pieces available for the assembly of the mounted Gallic
chieftain. You can choose different arms, heads and shields for your model.

At Cannae, approximately half of Hannibal's army consisted of Gallic infantry and cavalry. As of today, I have four Celtic war bands of 32 figures each and two 12-figure Gallic cavalry in my Hannibalic army.

Next Up On The Table: I am assembling a legion of Italian allies to join my Roman army. I am using the HaT Italians and will use the same Roman organization of three groups of 32 figures and maybe some light infantry.

vv

More Roman Civilians: 54/60mm King & Country

 

The new Roman civilians from King & Country.

Today in my email In Box I received an update on some of the new figure releases coming from King & Country Miniatures this month. Among other things, KC is adding more Roman civilians to its Streets of Rome range of figures. Since I’m building a Roman town for my Hannibal Punic Wars convention game in 2025, I am very happy to see these new additions and they will soon add to the population of my growing Roman town.

The new releases include a butcher with his chopping table, a middle class woman shopper, a pair of stone masons, a civilian standing and observing what is going on around him, and a set of two laborers. I do not recall how many KC Roman civilians that I already have, but it is probably close to 20 different figure poses. This provides some wonderful vignettes on the table top and really ups the eye candy quotient of my table. 

January will hopefully see me starting on the building of my Roman town using cardboard, foam core board and balsa wood. I have been putting this task off, but it’s time to gear up the production if I want to have the terrain ready in time for the Little Wars Convention in April 2025. I’ve been more focused on painting the Roman and Carthaginian soldiers these past few months. Both sides are close to completion. In a pinch, I’m relying on 28mm Roman buildings that Herb Gundt made for me.

I am visiting Florida, Venice appropriately, for a week and I brought a painting kit with me so that I could knock out a 32-figure unit of Celtiberians mercenaries for Hannibal’s army. Upon completion I will have four Celt units, four Spanish allies, and two North African Carthaginian units for my infantry contingent. I have largely ompleted the Carthaginian cavalry consisting of Numidian light cavalry, Celtic cavalry, one unit of Spanish cavalry and one unit of Carthaginian cavalry.

Fife and Drum Web Store is back on line

 

General von Zeiten hands his Christmas list to one of his aides.

The Fife and Drum Miniatures web site has been repaired and works again.

Previously, customers reported that they could not put items in the shopping cart. 

My help assistance tells me that the problem is fixed now. To hopefully make up for the inconvenience, Santa Claus is giving everyone a Christmas/Holiday Season gift as described below:

Click the link to the store, below and enter the coupon code to receive a 20% discount on your order. This applies to all orders over $50.00 and the discount starts today and ends on Christmas Eve December 24, 2024

Fife and Drum Miniatures web store

Enter the coupon code "Christmas2024" (without the quotation marks) to receive a 20% discount when you check out with your shopping cart.

 

A Smoking Cap and a Place to Relax

 

Come on there. You know that you want one. a traditional men's smoking cap. You will have to supply your own smoking jacket, brandy and cigars.

I found an advertisement for this item in my email in box and I knew immediately that I would have to share it with my blog readers. Here is the link below:

Peter Christian menswear store

I have bought clothing items from Peter Christian in the past and so I can vouch for their product quality and good customer service.

And now you need somewhere to wear your new smoking cap. This looks like quite the place to have some "Me Time". Alas, it is not in my house.

It doesn't look like I will reach my annual goal of posting at least 100 posts on my blog. I am not going to try and pad the post count with a lot of fluff posts (I've been known to do that in the past). I have kept busy throughout the year so it is not like I am suffering for content ideas. However, for the past couple of months that old Black Dog of seasonal depression has taken a good hold on me and thus I haven't been able to get up the gumption to do a lot of blogging. Whenever we have a time change (Daylight Savings Time etc.) I find that I am affected to some degree.

I didn't even realize that I was in a bout with the BD until two different people told me that I seemed disinterested in things. When I hear that my ears perk up and I know that is the warning sign that I am in a depression. It's been hard to pick up my paint brushes and work on figures - that usually gets me back on to Happy Road.

I don't hide the fact that I have depression, but rather, I think that it is a good thing to talk about it out in the open. There's no shame to it. The more that people develop an awareness of depression around them then they are in a position to recognize the signs both in themselves or in others. Don't be afraid to seek out help or talk about it with your spouse or partner. And if you see the signs in someone you love, then don't be afraid to seek them out and talk about it and listen.

So I am taking longer walks outdoors with the dogs and just being outside of the house is often a good antidote for depression. I started on the Christmas decorations this week and that usually helps too. Painting war game figures helps unless you can't get yourself to sit at the painting table for an hour. Still, it is a fight to get back to my mental health base line, but I assure you that I will prevail.

Fritz

Happy Leuthen Day

 

Not quite the Leuthen Choral. German flats representing Prinz Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau
prior to the battle of Kesselsdorf in 1745.

The picture above was pinched from another blog, link below:

Mike's Dreispitz Blog

December 5, 1757 marks the Battle of Leuthen fought between the Prussian army of Frederick the Great and the Austrian army of Charles of Lorraine. The battle resulted in a Prussian victory and saved (temporarily ) the Kingdom of Prussia from defeat at the outset of the Seven Years War. The battle is notable for Frederick's use of the Oblique Order and is probably the only time that the maneuver was perfectly executed on the battlefield. Outnumbered three to one, the Prussians caught the larger Austrian army off guard and they defeated the Austrians.