New Toys Have Arrived

I just picked up some of the orders that I have recently placed. First of all, I received the three ships that I ordered from Sea Dog Studios from their Kickstarter that did not quite go through. They produced some of the ships and sold them to backers at a discount. I picked up two Bermuda Sloops and a Brigantine. I was so happy with them, I put everything else aside and promptly went to work on one of the Bermuda Sloops.

The kits are really nice. The parts are not too fiddly but you do have to cut the masts and spars from longer portions of thin dowel. Assembly was rather quick. Painting it was a bear with the hand shakes that I have from my meds. But I think I still managed something usable. The decking came out darker than I wanted but I still like it. No sails are provided and it makes sense. The Sailpower rules talk about it in that 90% of the game, your sail set that you would put on a model would be wrong anyway. The masts are designed to be taken out for storage and to show damage. My only complaint is about the cannon. Even after trimming the flash off of them, they are too large for the ship. I can't get them to fit properly. I will end up having to file them down until they do fit. Still, I am very happy with what I was able to accomplish with the first model.

It went together well. Was very happy with it. Painting it was very straight forward. I enjoyed it. Been watching amazon Prime movies while doing it.

Very happy with these ships. Now I am just waiting on the smaller ships that I have ordered from Langton Miniatures. I might have to get some Sea Dog 15mm ships as well. But that is another story.

Also, I picked up some Litko Aerosystems movement bases. I have been basing 15mm miniatures on US Pennies for a while now. These movement trays will actually fit them now. I am debating on using them for either my British and French Napoleonics or for my Seven Years War Prussian FreiKorps. I probably need to just buy more and use them for both.

Then there was a large box with my order from Miniature Building Authority. In it was a Southern Plantation, Outbuildings, a Southern Barn and a Russian Village. All very nice. And painted already.

Progress on La Hacienda Bonita & new miniatures.

OK, I gave the Spanish farm a name. I have started the process of spackling the evil thing. 15mm is small when it comes to trying to spackle the wooden model. I did not have this much trouble with the stand along model that I did for an East Front building. That same building mounted with walls and base is just a pain to work on. I have completed 2 sides of the two story building. I am leaning heavily on Rich's tutorial that he has posted on the TFL blog and on the Charlie Foxtrot instructions. They are both great. Not sure how exposed brickwork will work in 15mm.

The plastering portion of this exercise is not pretty. So no pictures on that. But I did receive my eBay purchases yesterday. I was really worried when I got the box.

As you can see, the postman must have sat on the box. But the miniatures inside were well packaged. I only had one issue. The mounted General came off his horse and the horse suffered some paint chipping. Fortunately, I did not buy that bunch for the mounted officer. I just wanted the infantry from that pack.

I now have two good groups of voltigeurs for my Napoleonics. Some need to have their pants repainted.

Here is the second batch from the same box that were unscathed.

I am not to sure about the officer in the second picture. Why is wearing a different hat than the others? I know the Brit officers had that kind of hat. I wonder if they used a different hats. The officers from AB all wore the same hats at their troops. Anyway, very excited to get these in. I should be able to get them based in short order. I will now have a full company of Chasseurs, a group and a half of Carabiniers (Plus an officer, an NCO and two drummers) and two groups of Voltigeurs. Not too bad. I also have cavalry and artillery support for the French. Once I have some terrain, I am ready for a campaign.

Sharp Practice 2 and New Napoleonics Figures

Early in the month, I was cruising through eBay looking for a way to quickly update my Napoleonic troops. I was looking for some painted miniatures and came across a company from China. They are selling painted miniatures. They were selling some rather nice looking troops. I thought about getting some riflemen but decided on regular line infantry to fill out the ranks that I already have. Well for about $30, I picked up 24 very nicely painted miniatures. They arrived way quicker than the promised turn around time on eBay.

So I have eight fellows painted up to be in a center company. Six fellows who look to be grenadier company men and four guys in the light company. then there are two fellows in strange hats that I don't recognize yet. Any ideas out there? I could not find them on google but I honestly did not look that hard. My go to site: http://www.napolun.com/mirror/napoleonistyka.atspace.com/ let me down.

They also came with an officer, a drummer, an ensign and a line sergeant. Very useful stuff here. They normally shipped based but I want to change up my existing basing to sabot basing with an 8 spot sabot and the figures mounted on small washers. A quick note on checkout and they showed up unbased. I could have probably told them buff facings too. Anyway, I will see how well they mix with my existing fellows. I know mine had buff facings and these guys are yellow so there will be some touch up.

I am very happy with my purchase and would be glad to buy from them again.

Other Stuff

I finished the first scenario for the new AWI scenario book. It is coming along quite nicely. Spent some miniature money on books for research. Been enjoying reading up on Marion and his battles. What I need are 2 playtesters who can run the scenarios and give me feedback. I am doing my testing in 15mm. I need to know if they will work as well in 28mm or 15mm from someone who does not have the ideas in his head and is reading too much between the lines that is not explicitly stated. Any takers? I just finished the battle at Great Savannah and am starting on the skirmish at Kingstree next.

Reassessing My Figures for Sharp Practice

As Sharp Practice 2 gets closer to being released, I decided to head over to the shelves and see what was lurking inside. I started with my Napoleonics. It has been forever since these have seen the light of day. Honestly, I was in better shape than I realized. I had purchased a slew of figures over time looking to do something impossible, make a 1 to 1 Battalion for both my British and my French. I remember painting night after night in an attempt to make it happen. I did not even come close. But, I have a good set of troops that are ready to go.

French Legere Battalion

I probably have the most figures painted for the French than anyone else. A historical unit at paper strength has:
4x Chasseur Companies of 70 to 140 men.

1x Voltigeur Company of 70 to 140 men.

1x Carabinier Company of 70 to 140 men.

Each company was composed of a Captain, 2 Lieutenants, a Sergeant-major, 4 Sergeants, a Furrier, 8 Corporals, 2 or 3 Drummers and 121 privates. On top of this was a color party of an eagle bearer, two sergeants with halbeards and 6 to 9 Sappeurs. It was commanded by a Chef d'bataillon (mounted), an Adjudant-Major (rank of captain), a Sous-Adjudant-Major ( rank of lieutenant), a Adjudant Sous-officer (a senior NCO), and a Drum Corporal.

So, what do I have ready? Well I have a full company of Chasseurs (the line company of the Legere (light) battalion. I have 72 men, four sergeants (two with fannions), two drummers, a trumpeter, two lieutenants and a captain.

I will apologize in advance for the pictures. I am working at night and am trying not to wake my family while I play with my toys. Thus, the lighting is terrible.

You can just make out the fannions in the picture. But that is only one company out of four. Well, I have the makings of more. I found two more painted officers waiting to be based. I also have fourteen men on painting sticks and two sergeants there as well. I also have a bugler among the waiting to be painted. I have a ziploc full of more miniatures to paint. I just might have enough to finish out two more companies if I get to it.

So for my grand plan of an entire battalion, well, that has fallen a bit short. I only have a single group of Carabiniers. There are nine of these brave men who are lead by a sergeant (the fellow next to the large rock). But I do have more of these fellows. Apparently, I had bought a big bag of them from Old Glory at some point. There has to be atleast 50 left in the bag. At the moment, I have 22 of them on Painting sticks. I also found a painting stick with two painted drummers and an officer for them. So if I ever break out the brushes, the Caribiners are sorted.

What about Voltigeurs? Well, they are not even basecoated. I have a whole 8 voltigeurs, plus two officers and a pair of drummers. Time to go back to AB miniatures and shop it seems.

What about the command staff. Well, I have one mounted officer painted and ready to go. I have a second mounted officer on a painting stick with a fellow that looks like an ADC. I also have my eagle bearer and sergeants all painted up.

The figures are better than my sorry photograph shows. These will be joined by three sappers that I have on a painting stick along with a drum major. These have not even been undercoated. But since I only have one company painted, it really does not matter.

But what Rich has mentioned is the supports that your base force can obtain. Well, I have a bit of kit. First I have a cannon with a four man crew. Yikes, this picture is awful.

But what about cavalry? Yes, I have some. I have 22 Chasseurs with a trumpeter, an officer and a standard bearer. They are complete but need their bases finished. Very nice minis that can be table ready in about an hours work plus drying time.

Given Rich's article, I am assuming that a base force is six groups of figures. Five groups of "line" troops (8 figures) and one of skirmishers (6 figures). Based on this, I have what I need for my French. What I don't have is my troops based very well for this. The French are too spread out. I can't really make groups of eight out of them as they are three to a base. It does work well to have them in groups of 9 as I can do their formations properly. Plenty of choices of big men are available. I will just have to work around this for the time being. I would love sabot bases but I would have to make them and rebase everyone. Yuck!

The British

My British are a generic light company. I have 60 men painted that are based in twos. I have another four that are at 80% complete. I have three sergeants for them and two officers. I'll do photos of them another night.

In terms of additional troops for the British, well they are out of luck. I have about half of a line company on painting sticks (36 men, 7 sergeants, two drummers and two sappers). I also have four officers, two drummers and a sergeant painted as well. For battalion staff, I have a mounted officer and a pair of standard bearers. I need to do some shopping. I have earmarked some British troops for my next pass through ebay.

What I lack is support option. I don't have any artillery for the British nor any cavalry. In terms of a base force, I have that with my light infantry company. I really would like to have some center company troops and then rebase some light company fellows to be individually based for skirmishing. But at this point, it works.

Conclusions

One thing I don't have yet is carts and baggage animals. I want a mule team. I think I have a generic cart somewhere that I can use. All I know is this, Sharp Practice is distracting me from finishing my terrain that I need to get done.