He's only gone and done it

After worrying about the scale to go for Napoleonics, I found myself converting some recent eBay earnings into more 40mm Perrys. Whilst on their website I treated myself to a copy of Mike Snook's book on the Sudan. So at some point this week another 10 each plus officers will arrive for the 40mm forces. This will give me 21 aside excellent for skirmishes.

I'm beginning to feel that 15-18 mm might be the correct scale for mass battle  Napoleonics. Although the Pendraken figures are beautiful I'm not sure that they'll give me the asthetic I'm looking for. I've tried multiple basing schemes and can't get the "look" I want, which is very frustrating as I'm not sure I know what it is, but I'll know it when I see it!

Tabletop sale

This past weekend I took the eldest lad to the tabletop sale at Lincombe barn in Bristol. The site was easy to find and well set out. We got there around 1030 so might have missed the real bargains but we were happy with what we found. I got 2 books from John Curry - Charlie Wesencrafts practical wargaming and a don Featherstone book on airborne ops. Also there were Chris Scott and Paul Wisken who I know from the Featherstone weekend. They were clearing out some stuff so I relieved them of an old hex and chit version of Sealion, and some NW frontier castings from Don Featherstones collection, painted by hd great man himself. Even if that had not been the case, at £15 for 150 castings it was a bargain! Tom used his pocket money to get some Chaos Terminators for his slow growing Alpha Legion. Just before we left I got chatting to Rob Broom of Scarab Miniatures and before I knew it if bought a copy of War and Conquest. 

As I've invested in the West Wind ancients kickstarter I'm looking for a go to set of rules. I had thought of using Hail Caeser but you can never have too many sets of rules can you? The thing that really sold me was the news that on the forums were rules for using WHFB figures in a varient Rob termed War and Sourcery! If this means I can use the WHFB armies that have sat gathering dust against my remaining ancients then it must be a good idea.

I have moved all the wargaming stuff into its new home of the shed. With the insulation in I think the price of being warm in winter will be playing with the doors open in summer. 

Painting continues and this week I have completed some more Spencer Smith artillery, as well as the French Perry Napoleonics. I have to say that althought I've not done much more than I would for a 28mm casting, I'm much more impressed with the results on the larger scale figure. The British are on the painting table and I found myself watching youtube videos of sharp practise. If I do go down this route then the main choice will be whether to use Sash and Sabre for the rank and file or stick with the Perrys. As I want to get the Sudan book whilst it's on offer I might get a couple of more Perry figures then decide.

More thoughts on Napoleonics

I've almost finished the 40mm Perrys, and I haven't found them much more difficult than 28mm. As they're slightly larger I've taken my time to experiment with the 3 colour method proposed by the likes of Kevin Dalimore. Well, sort of; I've taken the effort to do some highlights and washes whereas with a 28mm figure it's just base colours and dip. I'll try and post some photos to illustrate the difference.

I've tried arranging the 10mm army on various bases but I can't seem to be happy with them. 8 on a 40x20 base will make 2 stands per regiment ( 4 grenadiers, 4 voltagiers, and 8 line) but then do I include command in that 8 which will make a low number of line castings, or do I go down the route I've gone for the ACW with generic infantry stands and seperate command stands? Given the need for grenadiers and voltageurs I'm not sure this is ok. I'm still looking sideways at the Blue Moon 18mm, but resisting so far.

I did but some 15mm Mexican American war figures after listening to a podcast on this period and realising that I could do both sides with not a lot of figures.

This months MWWBG

It seems I'm famous! An article on the Featherstone Weekend was published by Henry in this month's magazine, and it had several photos of yours truly in it. I have to say I think the best shot is of me accepting the prize for "best attitude" which captures the back of my head - undoubtably my best side!

Mmm

The Napoleonics have arrived. The Perrys have gone straight on the painting table as I'm keen to see how I do painting the larger scale.

I'm still not sure about the 10mm. They are very good sculpts but it's the scale that may be the problem. I have this nagging suspicion that no sooner will I have painted them then the plastic soldier company will release theirs. I've heard that similar to their ww2 range it may be in multiple scales, so then I'm tempted by their 1/72 range as I've built several of these kits for my son who's playing ww2 in that scale. If the ratio if figures is anything like that of the ww2 range then it might be possible to get large armies cheaply ( 150 15mm or 60 1/72 for £20 or so). Even using big battalion rules ( 40 men regiments) a reasonable brigade will be less than £100 in 1/72 and much, much cheaper in 15mm.

Either way I'll probably end up painting the 10mm first to see if I like the aesthetics etc once they're based. 

Take 2 scales for the same period?

I recently told you how I've sold all my 28mm Napoleonics as I hadn't used them. As you could have predicted, no sooner had I done so then I wanted to game in that era. This wasn't  helped by looking at all the beautifully painted Napoleonics lining the walls of the Wargames Holiday Centre. Before I new it I was looking sideways at the new Warlord plastics, but managed I resist. The main reason for getting rid of them in the first place was that I didn't have enough for a reasonable sized game, and I've got limited space. So I wasn't going to reinvest in 28mm. Then a little voice said,"you've liked the 18mm blue moon ACW so why not look at their Napoleonics?" 

For some reason, I don't think the way I've based the ACW will work for Naps so I want keen to go down this road, yet. I've previously tried 6mm and didn't like the amount of effort needed to get a good look; I probably also didn't have them based properly. 

At the same time most of the rules that are exciting me currently are for skirmish games. I keep toying with the idea of going down the road of Sharpe Practice. So finally I decided to order some 10mm Pendraken French and some of the 40mm Perry French. I'll paint them up and see which I like the best both in terms of finished product and the process. I think it's likely that I'll keep the 40mm for skirmishes and go to 15/18mm for massed battles but don't want to pre-empty myself. I think the deciding point will be when the Plastic Soldier ones come out. 

I didn't go to salute

Due to a variety of factors I didn't get to go to salute this year. I've been checking desperately online but haven't yet managed to find if there were any new items that might prove to be the next big thing. I had hoped that the PSC Napoleonics would be out or at least previewed, but not a sausage. Hopefully at Warfare?