A lot on the painting front

Hello everyone. Today's post might be a bit brief, but who knows. Up until a few days ago, I was engaged in a French bloggers painting competition, an equivalent of Curt's challenge, of sorts, but a bit more modest, with 13 contestants.

It is now finished, but you can still visit it, and enjoy the eye candy. You can also vote for the bonus entries on the right panel, after having seen them. Here is the link :


http://defi-ludhibelliste.blogspot.co.uk/

 I could't manage to reach my goal, having painted half of what I wanted, but then I only painted from the second half of the period, sooo, not that bad.

Speaking of Curt, I've also entered this year's challenge, but with a very low goal, since I know I will be busy at that time of the year.

Tomorrow, I'll post the rest of my entries.

Oh, by the way. For those who play Ancients with 15mm, don't forget Forged in battle's last kickstarter, already funded, about Rome and its ennemies, and you can also add the other references. Not bad.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/832150598/war-and-empire-ii-legions-of-rome

Crimean war in 10mm: the Russian horde

Hello everyone.

I finally managed to take some time to write something down. My new job takes a lot of time, and finds me knackered at the end of the day. However, I paint from time to time, and I've decided to continue my 10mm project. What you will get today is 2 regiments of Russian hussars: Kiev and Ingermanland. The minis are from Magister militum, because Pendraken don't do them, sadly.  I've also added as an extra, two British heavy dragoons to represent Lord Scarlett.

The Guards brigade

I decided to start with something really simple, the Guards brigade. It is a very symbolic unit, well-know for their resilience at Inkermann.

This brigade had three battalions, under General Bentick:
3rd Bat, Grenadier Guards
1st Bat, Coldstream Guards
1st Bat, Scots Guards

I used the Pendraken Guards, simply because they were easy to paint , in their greatcoats.  Sadly, there was only one standard bearer, so I made one little conversion cutting the rifle from one of the guards to replace it with a pin. It should do the trick.

Sorry about the surexposed pictures, but the light is a bit tricky today. Anyway, what you have here are 3 units of 3 bses each, which roughly equals to 2700 men, according to my rules. They would also be rated as Elite for morale purposes, equipped with rifles. As for special abilities, they would be steadfast, and would probably have the good fire discipline. Tough hombres, but not very numerous. For instance, a snigle Russian regiment would be 12 bases strong. And a Russian brigade has two such regiments...

Back to the brushes! With a new project: 19th century Europe

Hello everyone.

I'm finally back after quite a long time it seems. To be honest with you, I went through a phase where painting did'nt matter much to me, and blogging as well since it was all about painting and gaming. I hope my return will be more permanent, though it will be short since I will be going on a family holidays next week. At the moment, I'm with my parents, and my daughter, so I have a bit of time to paint.

Quite a lot happened since my last post. I was offered a real teaching post, of which I have been dreaming for the past 4 years. Finally. The downside is I had to work more to get noticed and was therefore exhausted during the evenings.

To get me remotivated, I started a new project, leaving aside the Ancients for a while. I wanted to play the wars of 19th Century Europe for quite some time. I've taken the bait, and I've started this new project, which I could call "The sun never sets". But I prefer the French title, based on the motto of the 3rd Chasseurs d'Afrique: " Tant qu'il en restera un!" ("As long as there is still one of us!", roughly).

What is it about? Well, it simply is my own set of home rules to play those wars, intended to be easy to pick up, fast, brutal, and with enough chrome to enjoy. And the first step is: The Crimean war in 10mm. I've picked some army packs from Pendraken, and have started painting them. Hopefully I will have enough to play with rapidly.

The Scots Guards

French Infanterie de ligne

So Long!

Romans, Thracians... It's all Greek to me: 15mm Ancients

First of all, even though I didn't do much during the challenge, a huge thanks to Curt for organizing this. I had misjudged the amount of work I had to do with my new job, and sadly never found enough time to paint.

Anyway,  I present you a lot of 15mm Ancients for Art de la Guerre. First, 26 Romans from Essex and Old Glory. The Roman mounted officer had been painted before and therefore won't count. Amongst those 26, 22 are legionaries with their shields handpainted. They can be used as allies, or rebellious Romans.

Voici quelques productions pour mes armees ADG, le tout en 15mm. Avec tout d'abord 26 legionnaires romains, Old GLory et Essex. Le but est de pouvoir en faire des rebelles ou allies. L'officier monte a ete peint auparavant.

Next, we have 6 Sarmatian horsemen, from Forged in battle. Always a treat to paint.

Puis, 6 archers montes venus de Forged in Battle.

Next, 16 hoplites, fron FIB, with LBMS shield decals.

Ajoutons egalement 16 hoplites,

And next, a lot of Thracians, from Forged in battle: 14 skirmishers, 10 of them having shields, with LBMS decals.

et avec ceci terminons avec le plat de resistance, des Thraces, avec 14 tirailleurs

And 12 footmen armed with the dreaded romphaia

et 12 mechants avec leur romphaia.

They have been bloodied already last week, and they won! No one messes with the Thracians!

Protect the King!

"Oh stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here, trusting their words."

For me these words entered legend in my youth. The 300 Spartans fighting for Freedom against the monstruous Persians. Not a myth in a strict sense, but the deed of these Spartans still echoes, and is often a synonym of bravery, and a will to fight for their own ideas, and Freedom. In a way, it is a good story, and what is a myth: a great story, with a morale (sometimes), and full of great deeds.

I had pledged for the War and Empire kickstarter, and amongst the packs, there was the "Death of Leonidas". I just couldn't resist and had to paint the minis. So here they are, Forged in battle 15mm representing the Death of the Spartan king, with LBMS shields this time. The dio will serve as a camp for my Art de la Guerre armies. These minis were a joy to paint. the sculpting is great, Forged in Battle is now one of my favourite brand.

Il s'agit d'une saynète en 15mm représentant la mort de Léonidas aux Thermopyles. Les figurines sont des Forged in Battle, issues de leur kickstarter. elles sont très simples à peindre et sont plutôt bien détaillées. Un régal à peindre, vous en verrez bientôt. 

Cette saynète tient sur un rectangle de 8*4cm, afin d'en faire un bagage pour mes armées ADG.

ADLG in Aniche part IV! Meet the Indians

As you might have notived, I'm not very active on the blogging front. Well, new job, painting, daughter... Too many reasons for me not to be there. Anyway, tomorrow, I'll go to Oxford with a few friend from Central London to attend a one-day ADLG event. So far, we are 18 players! Yay!

Also, if you look carefully on the left of your screen, you will see a Twitter widget. I have decided to post small news, not worthy enough to blog, so that you know what I'm doing wargaming wise. Feel free to follow.

Right, back to our adventures. If you recall, our Carthaginians salesmen had succesfully expanded the trade in China, Britain, and Assyria. Now they had to compete with more ferocious people, Graeco-Indians! Under the command of Stephane Vermeesh, it would be a tough negociation. It was the same army I had faced in Montivilliers, and with catastrophic results. So I knew what to expect.

A small corps of pikemen, an Indian ally and some Indian mercenaries. Lots of shooting and elephants. We had to act carefully.

I decided to send my medium infantry in the center, in the brush, supported by the heavies on the right, to attack in the flank. Meanwhile, the light horse would try to delay two ennemy corps. Tough job, especially when facing bowmen, but...

... I tell you Picard, luck is on my side! The Indian allies are unreliable, so I can move my light horse as I wish to, while Stephane tries to deploy in the brush to deny me the control of this central piece.

I think Picard took control of the mounted wing, since I'm now seeing incredible stuff: 1 light horse is delaying 3 pikemen, while the rest is preparing some nasty surprises everywhere.

In the center, the Orcish horde is ready to be unleashed agasint the Indian mercenaries. No need for a subtil plan hre. I have a huge advantage, and I want to exploit it.

Meanwhile, Picard and his flying circus are giving headaches to the Indians, by going everywhere he can.

And soon, everything is going from bad to worse for the Indians.

Yes! Antoher succesfull negociation and we are ready to take over the retails in the region. Oh I think the board will be pleased with this. Apparently we are ranked amongst the best salesmen in the tournament, oh boy oh boy. My plan was simple, but it worked perfectly. Now Picard, you can't say anything, can you?

Number 1, I must say I am pleased by the overall result, but there are still many flaws. Granted, thanks to my military genius, I managed to slow down 2 corps, and exterminate one of them. But this was possible because the allied corps had been unreliable for a turn. And to be honest, your heavy corps had been more or less useless, and could have been more useful. And why have you sacrificed so many medium infantry against the pikemen? You just had to deploy  nore carefully in the brush to threaten them from the flank. Let's hope, you'll play carefully in your next game. We need to bring some good results to the board.