I won auctions for a few items on eBay recently. Most notable, is a collection of 6mm rivers from JR Miniatures. NIB sets containing a good assortment of shapes, including,
1-#3402 - River Y
1-#3403 - River Ford
1-#3405 - River Turn
1-#3406 - River Curve
1-#3408 - River S Curve
2-#3420 - River set
Nice looking pieces that appear quite durable. I would have preferred more straight sections but the collection is a welcome acquisition. The addition of these pieces will allow me more flexibility in scenario layout. Command Colors Ancients/Napoleonics: The CCN games continue. Although Scott was unable to attend, Kevin, Dylan, and I will met Friday evening for two battles. We missed Scott's rules' expertise but those are the vagaries of war. Game One was a continuation of Kevin and Dylan's Waterloo game. Kevin's expert use of the French artillery blew big holes in the British defenses exterminating enough British units to take the win. Game Two saw Dylan and I face off in Rolica (Second Position). Despite managing to squeeze the British through the narrow ravines on each flank and threaten the French defensive positions, the firepower of the batteries and lights destroyed enough of the attacking British to take the game. This is an interesting puzzle for the British. How do you advance up three narrow defiles and attack the strong French positions at the top of the ridge in a coordinated fashion? Clearly, I failed in the first attempt. Rolica deserves a second chance. 15mm Napoleonic Project: Albuera The final two regiments of Spanish foot are ready to be fielded. Now, all participants for La Albuera are mustered and ready for battle. Of course, the allies will be without artillery limbers but so be it. 18mm SYW Project: Both Austrian cuirassier squadrons noted in the earlier post are finished. Picked up a resupply of Eureka Austrian and Prussian foot from Scott at our game on the 9th. 6mm Ancients (2nd Punic War): Basing the Baccus 6mm collection continues and I painted 12 Spanish cavalry that I had laying around. One correction from an earlier posting: The base size is actually 24mm x 45mm rather than the 30mm x 45mm I noted. Of course, elephants are mounted singly on a 25mm x 30mm base. On order from Baccus are a small assortment of 2nd Punic War figures from their retooled range. I'm getting a bit excited about getting these forces together for a miniatures version CCA. While not my longest running, orphan project, this Carthaginian collection began in 2002. With a little luck, these 6mm ancients will see the table top in 2011. Not quite 10 years between concept and execution but pretty close. 28mm Napoleonic Project: Work begins this weekend on the sample battalion of early French from Brigade Games. The facial features and bicornes on these figures really provide much character. Looking forward to seeing these painted. In addition to the 16 Brigade figures on the production line, are two Front Rank French skirmishers that I had neglected to paint in fielding an earlier battalion.
Command Colors Ancients/Napoleonics: Joined up with the group as Austin packs up the remainder of his Otis Orchards belongings and places most in storage. By the time I arrived, most work was completed (excellent timing on my part) and CCN was on the table. The guys had played Rolica twice before my arrival so I challenged Scott M. to a game. Scott took the French and I, the British. The game was quite lengthy in comparison to the CCA games we've played with much punching-counter punching as both combatants jockeyed for position. The French had good success on their left flank while the British commanded the center. Stopping the French cavalry on the British right, the British made coordinated assaults in the center and left to eventually win the game 5-4. We had a very good evening of CCN at Kevin's on the 8th. In the first game, Kevin as Napoleon was down 6 flags to none against Scott only to come back and claim victory with a miraculous turn of events. Probably, still smarting from his narrow defeat, Scott (as Napoleon) thrashed me eight banners to three. My game wasn't even close. The third game of the night saw Kevin face off against Dylan. Game three was adjourned before a decision could be reached but at the stopping point, the game was evenly contested. 15mm Napoleonic Project: Albuera The 5th Cacadores regiment is finished and when I began affixing labels to the bases, I realized that I am lacking two Spanish foot regiments. Rats. I have 10 regiments painted but need 12. I left out de Espana's command. Twenty-four Spanish figures have been primed today and painting will begin once I clear the painting table of the Austrian cuirassiers. The tabletop is covered by a facsimile of the battlefield spread out over an area 6' x 7'. 15mm Second War of Italian Independence Project: The two battalions of Piedmontese infantry are finished. The 19th Century Miniatures order arrived with a box full of goodies. A cursory exam of the French Chasseurs d'Afrique shows that these will work for the Piedmontese light horse. Two more battalions of the 6th Line are in the painting queue. 18mm 1799 Italian Project: Finishing touches on two battalions of Austrian infantry regiment, Mittrowski are being applied this weekend. These two battalions bring the total number of battalions completed for this project to 26 allocated as 10 Russian, 10 French, and 6 Austrian. 18mm SYW Project: Following the 1859 Piedmontese on the painting table are two squadrons of Austrian cuirassiers. These two squadrons will be fielded as Cuirassier Regiment #3 and will bring the existing regiment up to its full complement of six squadrons.
Command Colors Ancients/Napoleonics: I returned from two days in the Renton office with a terrible cold/flu. The primary purpose of my trip to the office was to upgrade my laptop thereby sliding in under the IT deadline of upgrading to Windows 7 by Mar 31. Due to my illness, however, our CCN game was cancelled and rescheduled for April 9. Kevin has the labels for Waterloo mounted and ready for our trial. 28mm Napoleonic Project: A sample order from Brigade Games' French Revolutionary War range arrived. I ordered enough French to field one battalion for myself and one for Scott. The figures are very nice and will match quite well with Front Rank in size but are a little less well-fed. The animation of the drooping bicornes gives one the sense that these troops have witnessed hard campaigning. The skirmishers are exquisite! Below are a few samples from Brigade Games' website.
15mm Napoleonic Project: Albuera
Spanish command consisting of two Corps/Army command stands (two figures each) and six division commanders are painted and ready for flocking. I used this activity to rebase all of the French divisional command from one inch rounds (from Joanne's Fabrics) to 30mm Litko rounds. Now, the French divisional command mountings will be compatible with the Spanish and British commanders. One more unit remains to be painted for Albuera. That is, one stand of Portuguese 5th Cacadores. I originally had planned on having the cacadores distributed throughout the Portuguese foot regiments but the 5th Cacadores were an independent unit thus requiring a separate unit. 18mm SYW Project: Rob from Eureka USA announced that the SYW French are now available. The listing is quite extensive and some of the codes have as many as 60 variants. Below is the French listing: 300SYW400 French musketeer, no turnbacks, marching (60) 300SYW401 French musketeer, turnbacks, marching (60) 300SYW402 French drummer (5) 300SYW403 French officer (5) 300SYW404 French standard bearer (5) 300SYW405 French NCO (5) 300SYW406 Grenadier de France, marching (60) 300SYW407 Grenadier de France drummer (40) 300SYW408 Grenadier de France officer (4) 300SYW409 Grenadier de France standard bearer (4) 300SYW410 Grenadier de France NCO (4) 300SYW411 Mounted officer (5) 300SYW412 Mounted officer in cuirasse (5) 300SYW412 12lb cannon (5) 300SYW413 4lb cannon (5) 300SYW414 Artillerymen (16) 300SYW415 Hussar in mirliton (24) 300SYW416 Hussar Officer (3) 300SYW417 Hussar Standard bearer (3) 300SYW418 Chevau legers, tricorn (24) 300SYW419 Chevau legers tricorn Officer (3) 300SYW420Chevau legers tricorn, standard bearer (3) 300SYW421 Chevau legers tricorn, trumpeter (3) 300SYW422 Chevau legers tricorn, kettle drummer (3) > 300SYW423 Chevau legers bearskin (24) 300SYW424 Chevau legers bearskin Officer (3) 300SYW425 Chevau legers bearskin, standard bearer (3) 300SYW426 Chevau legers bearskin, trumpeter (3) 300SYW427 Chevau legers bearskin kettle drummer (3) 300SYW428 Dragoons in tricorn (12) 300SYW429 Dragoons in pokalem (12) 300SYW430Dragoons in tricorn Officer (3) 300SYW431 Dragoons in tricorn Standard bearer (3) 300SYW432 Dragoons in tricorn drummer (3) 300SYW433 Cuirassier du Roi (24) 300SYW434 Cuirassier du Roi Officer (3) 300SYW435 Cuirassier du Roi Standard bearer (3) 300SYW436 Cuirassier du Roi trumpeter (3) 300SYW437 Mounted general staff (3) 300SYW438 Dismounted general staff (3) Although I didn't request any of the French, I did place an order through Scott to resupply the Austrian and Prussian musketeers. 15mm Second War of Italian Independence Project: On the painting table are two battalions of Piedmontese infantry. These two battalions (24 figures) clear out the inventory of the unpainted Italian line infantry until the resupply from 19th Century Miniatures arrives. Currently, my order is in Pending status. March 2011 Painting Totals: March painting activities centered on the Albuera project and SYW project. The Blue Moon French figures were really a joy to paint.
