Vive l'Empereur!

Vive l'Empereur!  Wait... what?!?

The Iron Marshal has been tasked with organizing a new provisional corps.

A fine gift from my friends in the South.

Davout reviews his First Provisional Division of four battalions.

Gen. de Brigade Le Frog commands for now.

The Second Provisional Division of five battalions

lacks any commanders

The Second Provisional Division clearly better painted.... err uniformed & supplied!

Divisional Artillery Assets are rebuilding

Davout's Provisional Corps:

Seven Ligne Bns.

Two Leger Bns.

One Foot Battery

The True and Honest Prussians were complaining of a lack of French to scrum with and so a great Ebay campaign has been waged over the last year and a half.  Von R. has another ~5 or so Bns. waiting for command stands to fill them out and another 2 Bns. are in the mail from Ebay.

Likely will have around 15 Bns of infantry when its all done.

Much has changed in the last 18 months.  A move far to the North has caused little gaming or painting to occur.  The hobby is not quite dead and the lead pile is assailed with brush in hand once a blue moon.  Will need to find some time to find a new gaming group or hold a few solo games now that I am acquiring both sides.

6th Prussian Line

Today a question came up on TMP that made me want to reference my Prussian line muskeeter figures, but I realized that I dont really have any good shots of either the 6th or 7th Line on my blog yet.

As I use this blog as an archive for reference at times I dug out the 6th Line for a quick photo shoot. As always, all figures are Calpe Miniatures with GMB flags.  My desk lamp appear to be making the figures look more gloss than they are in person.

This also gives me a chance to show off my latest Ebay purchase, set of 6 trees with a rough ground terrain piece.  The maker cleverly put magnets in the forest floor piece and the  trees are all on one inch round washers.  They stand on their own, but are even more sturdy with magnet in play.

I/6th Line

II/6th Line in foreground

Quick close up shot of the gear... because so often I see an amazing paint job and want to copy it and they never take pictures of all baggage that Napoleonic figures tend to be modeled with.

1st Westphalian Landwehr (Again)

The 1st Westphalian Landwehr was the very first unit I painted.

And now they are getting demoted, to the 2nd Westphalian LDW for generally being warlord plastics and insufficiently pretty. 

Calpe Miniatures were of course obtained as replacements. 

 1st Battalion is already completed and ready for the basing pit.

In the background left you can the West Prussian Dragoons are camping out on the heights.

I love the enthusiastic figure.  

He cant seem to decide if hes going club someone or stab them.

Next battalion up is in firing line and already well on its way.

Bremen Volunteers, Part 3

6th Uhlans and New Basing!

Part One and Part Two

From L to R, Lutzow's Hussars, Lutzow's Uhlans, Lutzow's Cavalry Command Stand and Bremen Volunteers

Majority of the conversion work visible in this shot on the Uhlan figures

Close Up of the Bremen Volunteers

(I've since brushed the static grass off the right hand horse)

Good view of the new basing from von R.

Unbased

My collection of Prussians is finally Unbased.  This is an occasion for serious elation.

Two and a half years ago when I began this adventure into historical wargaming, the painting wasn't nearly as good, the miniatures were definitely not as good, and the basing honestly probably detracted from otherwise serviceable figures.  Having enjoyed seeing many other's collections, I think one should never underestimate the impact of good basing.

Here we are in June 2012, painting my very first unit, some Warlord Games Landwehr.  The figures and paint job are not that great and neither is the basing.

Fast forward a bit to the third (or so) unit I painted, the 12th Line. Paint jobs getting better, the figures are amazing Calpe lead (which makes serviceable painters look better!), and the basing... it almost takes away from the figures.

Today I ended my struggle with what I believe was E-600 and Superglue.  I am a very slow painter.  The time per figure is probably atrocious by most standards.  I don't paint every night or every weekend, but in 2014 I believe I painted somewhere in the neighborhood of 44 Cavalry and 48 Infantry in a year... of about a figure every 4 days.  In general when I am painting it's about 12 figures per month.  So when I was starting out, and got some of these figures over the "finish line" there was a bit of "never again" and they got glued with permanent intent.  The cavalry was the worst with its large surface area and tough glue; much frustration and ill feelings flowed in the direction of my painted lead and ever growing lead pile.

And its All Over Now:

Everything that is getting rebased is now unbased (the warlords games plastics were determined not to be worth the effort or time).  The liberated lead will be placed on Litko bases with heavy duty magnets and then off for rebasing in an improved style (by local mercenary brushmen). I have also taken the opportunity to touch up some of the early units and add in easy upgrades, including Vallejo flesh wash.  

A great, if not particularly photogenic, victory against the lead pile!

Adventures in Caulk: Road Construction Part 3

Picking up the tutorial from Part 1 & Part 2:

1) Let dry for 24-48 hours.

1a) While its drying, spray watered down PVA (50/50) from spray bottle on everything.  I applied several coats over the few days it was drying, hoping to cut down on gravel loss in the future.  Make sure you wash out the spraying apparatus in between PVA coats.  

2) Apply dark brown wash.

3) Let dry again (we let it sit another day).

4) Dry brush Cocoa and Trail Tan picking out both the dirt texturing and the gravel

5) Final dry brush of Bamboo on the dirt texturing and Oyster White on the gravel (to further highlight the gravel).

6) [Optional] Apply BULK matte sealer.  I purchased some Krylon Matte, but found it did not dry as clear as Dullcote after several tests.  The advantage is the Krylon comes in a standard spray paint can size for the same price as the tiny Dullcote can. I applied some of the Krylon matte to the roads, bushes, and walls after they were finished painting.  

Cavalry Month

November was cavalry month for Prussian I Corps!

Von Roder's reserve cavalry takes a leap forward with the completion of the 

Westphalian Landwehr Cavalry,

6th (Lutzows) Uhlans and 3rd (Brandenberg) Uhlans

The recent additions with their lance pennons.

Custom Lance Pennons for Lutzow's Uhlans, Bremen Volunteers, and Westphalian Landwehr.  

6th Lutzow's Uhlans

3rd Brandenberg Uhlans

All that remains for the mounted arm is the 2nd and 5th Dragoons!

I expect the 18 figures of dragoons to be done by December. 

Bremen Volunteers, Part Two

6th Uhlans, Bremen Volunteers

Bremen Volunteers, Part One

Bremen Volunteers, Part Three

Results after all the green stuff work months ago.

Westphalian Landwehr Cavalry

For various reasons I have not painted in several months.  The Nine Month Plan is in shambles.

To get back in the saddle I made a push to get the Westphalian Landwehr Regiment off the painting table this weekend

Calpe Figures as always. Custom flag to follow as based on the orange and black flag on Mont St. Jean

The Royal Scots Greys

Breaking News: The Live-In Painting Assistant Accepts First Commission—Horses for The Scots Greys

Lady Butler's Scotland Forever

Due to the massive effort to implement the Central Planning Commission's Nine-Month Plan for the Uplifting of the Prussian Kingdom and Victorious End of the Befreiungskrieg, the Live-in Painting Assistant currently has 44 horses of the Von Roder's I Corps Reserve Cavalry on the table, which fortuitously allowed the prototyping of various Greys (also here, and here).

First a "White":

Trumpeter of the 3rd (Brandenburg) Uhlans

 Greys:

Dapples:

Artillery Officer in Progress

Comparison:

Selection of the (8) prototypes.  White to Dark Dapple.

Painting Notes:  

For White Horses Mid-Tone is Ceramcoat Oyster White, Bridgeport Grey and Americana Snow  in a 1:1:1 ratio.  Highs are American Titanium White or Blick White.  Shadows Ceramcoat Bridgeport Grey.

All models are Calpe Figures (the ones with the horse furniture are Calpe Dragoons).