Projects Update

We spent Mother's Day weekend in Joseph, Oregon at Wallowa Lake. Joseph is an arts and crafts hub especially for bronze work. At last count, three bronze foundries operate in the small town. Many of the corners along Main Street display large bronze statuary. One of these is a rendition of a Nez Perce' warrior on horseback accompanied by his wild dog. As the picture below illustrates, this is no household bronze statue.

Nearly one month from my last post but a lack of entries does not mean I've been slacking. In painting production, a number of projects witnessed progress as seen from the Monthly Painting Tally. Of course, much of the count was consumed by the 6mm project but added to that were 44 28mm figures.

6mm Ancients (2nd Punic War):
Basing is complete on all 6mm ancients. Added to the collection in May were 96 Libyan Veteran infantry, 48 Roman Triarii, and 30 mounted command stands. Each command stand contained three "Roman" mounted officers. I didn't have sufficient figures to paint two stands of Triarii so I ended up with 1-1/2 stands painted. All figures were Baccus. To further the project, I ordered a hex template for painting hexes onto either fabric or a flocked gaming map. My plan is to spray one of my green, flocked game maps with a hex overlay for use in Command and Colors.

28mm Ancients (2nd Punic War):
Although hesitant to embark on yet another project, I completed the 24 Aventine Principes and really enjoyed painting them. These 28mm Ancients may only be a slight dabbling in the period rather than a full project. I tried LBM shield transfers for the first time and really enjoyed the ease at which they could be applied. With the LBM transfers, the shields look fantastic.

Following the Aventine figures, I have on order Hastati and Principes from Renegade and Greek Hoplites from Crusader. I've always wanted to paint a unit of Greek Hoplites and now will be my chance. For all of these units I ordered LBM shield transfers. Perhaps, I can field the Greeks as Carthaginian Greek mercenaries.

28mm Napoleonic Project:
The battalion of French line infantry from Brigade Games is complete along with two Front Rank skirmishers that I omitted from an earlier battalion. These Brigade Games' figures painted posed no painting frustrations and I took advantage of Lon's Memorial Weekend sale to pick up another battalion of French and enough figures for two battalions of British. I've not seen the British in-hand and look forward to their arrival. The British have separate heads so the look of the battalion can be customized.

18mm SYW Project: 
Two Prussian cavalry squadrons were finished in May with one squadron each from Cuirassier Regiment #6 and Dragoon Regiment #11. Both squadrons will muster as the 5th squadron of each.
15mm Second War of Italian Independence Project:
Two squadrons of Sardinian light horse are complete and will muster as the 1st ans 2nd squadrons of the Aosta light horse. With no Italian cavalry available in Old Glory's 1859 range, I substituted French Chasseurs d'Afrique. The French chasseurs match closely to information I have on the Piedmontese light horse including the tall shako and greatcoat thrown over the saddle pommel. On the painting table are two battalions of Austrian foot. One battalion will be painted as the 3 BN 7th foot to complete the 7th infantry regiment and the second battalion to be named later.

May 2011 Painting Totals:
A varied mix of era and scales are represented in May's painting totals. With 260 figures, May represents my best output YTD. As seen below, four different periods in four different scales. My believe is that this variety allows me to maintain painting focus without becoming bored.  

Projects Update

With Spring coursework completed and no travel plans until later in the month, hobby life is beginning to return to more tranquil times.

18mm 1799 Italian Project:
On the painting table are 26 AB Austrians in casquet. Very finely sculpted figures with nicely detailed faces. Actually, these Austrians have some of the best 18mm faces I've seen! These 26 figures (24 foot and 2 mounted officers) will become two battalions of IR Frelich under Kaim's command at the beginning of the campaign in Northern Italy.

18mm SYW Project:
Twelve Austrian hussars from regiment #34 are complete. These Eureka figures will be mustered as the Dessewfy Hussars with light blue dolman and pelisse. Both the Austrian and Prussian hussars, to my eye, lean towards the two dimensional sculpt and some of the poses are definitely long and lean. The galloping horses don't fit on the 30mm depth of the heavies and must be based on 40mm squares. I rationalize the extra frontage and depth for the light horse as representing the more open formation that their real-life counterparts would have maintained on the field. Additionally, the light horse are based in half-squadron strength rather than the full squadron strength of their heavier brethren.

15mm American War of Independence Project:
Rebasing artillery and cavalry begins. I rebased all of the infantry onto Litko bases but never made it to progressing to the artillery and cavalry. With so few of these bases in the collection, this mini-project should be completed rather quickly. My initial thought is to base two horse on a 40x30mm base and one gun and three crew onto a 40mm square base.