Happy New Year 2023

Once Again, we have reached the time when we need to buy new calendars. Happy New Year, dear reader. I am attempting to focus my time for the upcoming year that is already seeing scope creep.

Seven Years War - Skirmish

At the scale of Sharp Practice, having a multitude of poses for skirmisher figures is a thing I am looking for. Since I am looking at the April 1759 actions in Bohemia, I am struggling to find appropriate figures.

I have some painted Prussian Jagers that I purchased off of Ebay. They are all in firing poses. They have the advantage of being painted and based. They are based in blocks of 4 figures, two accross and two deep. I prefer single based figures. The figures are kneeling and stanging firing figures. The figures are likely from Old Glory 15s. While my other purchased (but not yet painted) miniatures are either Eureka (Prussians) or Blue Moon (Austrians).

The Grenzers from Blue Moon look good in variety and in poses. I had purchased the skirmishing pack and the command pack. These just arrived recently and have not been base coated yet. My Prussian musketeers are from Eureka and are all marching poses. Which is probably fine for regulars. These are base coated but no other paint has reached the miniatures.

I have been looking at the miniatures from Henry Turner. These are STL files and could be promising. In the off chance that I get a 3d printer for Christmas, I was told that he has just released some Austrian skirmishers on his patreaon that will go to other sites in January. If that is the case, that may sort out some Croat/Pandour troops out for the Austrians. Wunsch's Prussians encountered a large number of "Croats" upon crossing the border in their advance.

The other troop type that I need are Hungarian troops. Among them were the troops from the Arch Bishop of Mainz's regiment Kurmainz Infantry. I will probably go with Blue Moon for these.

One terrain item that I need is a powder magazine. At this point, I have not been able to identify where the powder magazine in Peterswalde would have been. I am attempting to make one similar to one I found that was in a fort from the period. It is across the country from Peterswalde but it should do in a pinch.

ACW Naval

The plan is to print and paint some more ships for the Dawn of Iron rules. I am waiting to received the wash solution before attempting to start printing. I did pick up some books that should prove insightful on actions along the eastern sea board but I have not read them yet.

Terrain Beautification

I watched Rich's great video on his Burma build. It got me motivated to look over some of my older terrain pieces. One that sticks out is a Game Craft Miniatures factory building that I assembled a while back. I won't claim to have painted it. It is too basic for that. I plan on going through my existing buildings and seeing what I can improve. I also have a set of Impudent Mortal 15mm buildings that they did years ago that is still unopened. I plan on modifying these to look more Middle Europe that could be in Bohemia for my SYW project. As always, I will also try to make some more trees. Just dropped some money on eBay towards this.

Terrain Coming Along Nicely

I have gotten in some good days of painting lately. This has felt really good to have gotten stuff done. First up is the last of the Red Vectors buildings.

Next up is the Things From the Basement Shed and Blacksmith shop. I really like these buildings. They are more delicate than the Red Vectors but have more personality to me. I don't think my paint job is up to the quality of the models. I have several more houses to do and their fences. I hope to make more progress next week. Its going well.

Next up is the insanely small 15mm chicken coop from Things from the Basement. It was a tough build and I have two more to do. I loved it so much, I had to paint some livestock as well. I managed 4 pigs and three chickens. I think the livestock is from Donnington Miniatures but could be wrong. I need more chickens. A big thank you to all who helped me paint the pigs. Apparently, it is hard to go wrong. I googled Ukrainian pigs and found some gray pigs with black spots and went with that.

This brings me to show off the pigs in their new home, my previously painted sty. They seem rather content.

Next up on the bench is some more Things From the Basement Houses, fences, and some older fences that I never bothered to paint yet. Once that is all done, I plan on working up my tables for Second Kharkov. I am getting close.

More Terrain Progress

Having a few moments alone today, I managed to finish up a few more terrain pieces and a couple of miniatures.

First up is some campfires. These are tiny things that I mounted on US Pennies to keep them from getting lost on the table.

Next up are some scatter terrain pieces that will be useful. They are stacked supplies.

While I was working, I rebased a unit of Rebel Militia for the AWI and have them with a sabot base from Warbases in the UK. I really like them.

While working on minis, I found a few that I forgot to base. I finished those off. A physic for Sharp Practice and a Holy Man with a dog. The physic is a Blue Moon mini and the Holy man and Dog are from Peter Pig's ECW line (I think).

I had also finished a man plowing a field. But I have no idea what happened to the picture. While talking about Peter Pig, I had their War Memorial from their scenic line. It has been sitting around for a bit and I slapped some paint on it. I wanted the top part to have brass plaques on it and the ones below to be stone. Not sure if I am happy with it.

I also managed to finish another stand of trees. I tried making these a bit differently from the others that I have done. I like the look of them. Also had a chance to use some new tufts that I picked up this week.

I also started to work on a sample cane break and a sample swamp section. I am basing these on vinyl tile. I am then gluing some foam matting to it and covering it with a mix of caulk, sand and paint. This is sitting there drying at the moment. Nothing exciting yet but I hope to have more pictures as it gets closer to finished. Well that is it for today. Hope to get some more work done this weekend. I found an MDF building from Starfort miniatures that I have been dry fitting together. It is one of their Southern European houses. That may see the light of day at some point too.

More Terrain

I managed to paint up some more terrain. I have eyed Rich's small fields that he did for Sharp Practice years ago. I had bought some fake flowers a while back and promptly did nothing with them until yesterday. I knocked out a small field of cabbages or some vegetable. It was fun to make.

I also bought the premade Battlefront swamps. They look more like small muddy ponds. I flocked one of them and will be able to use it now. I also knocked out a small stand of birch trees too.

Then there was a stand of pines.

I also started on some deciduous trees. Everything was going well, until I tried to put the trees into their bases. One went in part of the way while a second had the post at its base snapp off. Now I just have to fix it. Trying to pin the pieces together.

New Terrain has Arrived

I just got in my eBay purchases. I picked up an Atlas Barn and Corn Crib. The picture on the box looks nice but inside are lots of fiddly bits. I can't wait to start on it. Next up is a pair of Woodland Scenics stuff. A smokehouse and a chicken coop. Both seem to be made from lead and look simple to put together. I am probably wrong about that. Last up is a box from Busch containing a rabbit hutch and two dog houses. One dog house looks decidedly more 20th century than the other. But still should find some places on the table top. All of these can be used for either my AWI, ACW or Eastern Front games. I am looking forward to working on them.

I have decided how I will be basing them. I will use some scrap pieces of the tile that I used for the city blocks for my East Front Urban terrain. I will use come caulk and sand mixture for the base and have nice little add ons that I can drop in behind my existing houses. All in all, it should be very nice.

Scatter Terrain and Distractions

Scatter Terrain

I placed an order with Stone Mountain miniatures a while back and they just delivered. The stuff looks great. The first pack is loose weapons, bugles, drums, backpacks, and artillery wheels. Pack 2 has barrels, crates, mealie bags, and stacked rifles. These will be very useful for several scenarios that I am working on. Pack 3 is nine campfires, two cooking fires, assorted pots and pans and two stacks of firewood. The cooking fires come with an animal on a spit. I must say, the critter looks kinda like a cat to me. The third pack is my favorite of the bunch so far. Last item that I picked up is a building. I have not taken it out of the packaging yet as there are several loose metal parts in with it as well as two hay stacks. They look good so far.

Distractions

Well, I have been motivated by others Imaginations Seven Years War projects and I decided to take the plunge. I will do two forces. The first is the Austrian aligned forces of Anhalt-Zerbst. It will consist of Grenadiers, musketeers, jagers and some Cuirassiers. These I have not ordered yet.

The next force became the Frei-Infantrie of von Mayr. I settled on Eureka and Blue Moon 15/18mm figures for. I just received my group of Hussars, infantry NCOs, Officers, standard bearers and drummer. Also have an artillery piece and crew. Also picked up a mounted officer to be the overall commander. I bought some Old Glory 15mm Prussian Jagers for this force as well. Two more packages to arrive and I will have my von Mayr infantry ready to go. Now I just have to find time to paint them.