Battlefield Lull

While it has been a busy week, not a tremendous amount of progress on the hobby front.  With nature throwing a switch, temperatures have climbed dramatically in the last week.  What that sudden change in atmosphere triggers is that my workload flips from indoor activities to outdoor activities.  Yardwork jumps to the fore as the garden and lawn spring back to life.  Infrastructure such as sprinkler systems and lawn maintenance equipment need adjusting and a general clean-up is required after putting everything away back in October and forgetting about it.  Cycling back on the roads is seeing a marked increase as well as I test out both body and bike for the upcoming campaigning season.  With that shift in direction, wargaming has seen a bit of a lull. 

Heavy fighting at Casteggio

There was one game on the week's docket.  That remote game, on Tuesday, saw a four-player refight of Montebello.  Tuesday's Montebello witnessed the fourth playing of the scenario, and it was another good one.  With experience from the previous three games and having increased player numbers, I figured the battle might be fought in two sessions.  Well, we managed to fight to conclusion in one long four-and-a-half-hour session.  Everyone was likely exhausted after that mini marathon.  The fellas in England certainly endured a late night.  I finished curating the game photos this morning.  Hopefully, I can sit down and tap out a battle report in the coming days.

On the painting desk, I did manage to produce a second Russian infantry regiment of two battalions for the 1799 project.  Like the Russian regiment produced earlier, these figures are AB Miniatures.

These two, thirteen figure battalions march out as Musketeer Regiment Dalheim.  As expected, the AB sculpts are marvelous.  On the painting desk is a third Russian regiment.  The third regiment will muster out as a grenadier regiment with its short mitre hats.

Painting output was down in April compared against the first three months of the year.  Without going back to painting seasonality analysis and tendencies, I suspect that seeing a drop in April is normal.  We will see if painting ticks up in May.

The lead photo captures a snapshot during the Montebello game with the French attack on Casteggio in the foreground and the detritus of the game room in the background.  The large screen in the background monitors the game in session.