Eureka Miniatures Early French Battalion

Officer for Sharpe Practice games

Done... This first Napoleonic Early French  battalion kicks off a new long term project. I wanted to do an early French army for a long time and when some guys from the group had their eye on the Russians and Austrians last year this new project was born very quickly. My plan is to paint seven or so of these Eureka battalions. While initially painted for the Wars of the Third Coalition I will allow them to join the later army up to 1807 and use them with little modification for the Revolutionary wars in Europe and Egypt. So these battalions will give me a great base to expand on and paint up theatre specific units for the various armies in the future.

No Voltigeurs, Flag changed...ready to disembark in Alexandria

The Eureka miniatures are just fantastic. I've said this before on other manufacturers but the reason is I pick my minis very carefully these days. This French are really a different level with so many different figures full of character in the range. Even for this marching unit I needed just a few doubles. And the quality is superb. No mould lines, flash, broken bayonets or other annoying defects I still experience with other popular manufacturers. On top of that the sculpts have a great definition which helps painting greatly. They are somewhat pricey though, especially in Europe. I've ordered in the USA and another batch for pickup at Salute to reduce costs a bit.
Finally customer service from Eureka USA ans Australia was excellent so what can I say? I'm a happy customer..
Flags are from GMB Design. 

Not sure when I will paint the next battalion. Hopefully another one this year but I need to finish the Mexican skirmish force first for a game in December. January we go back to ACW to prepare our Gettysburg refight in July.

Beja rebased

I'm breaking my own rule here. I hate rebasing and I don't think any ruleset  should dictate me how to exactly base my figures but in this case I make a very rare exception. Only because I really didn't like how they turned out at first but more importantly, as you will read below, they deserved it.
I painted those three years back and I remembered well how quick you can actually finish them. Think I spent 2 or 3 evenings and they were all done. Problem then was we had a game the day after my third evening so at one at night I grabbed some bases, dipped them in GW Sand and considered them done.
I should probably do it more often because this mob is by far the most successful unit I have ever gamed with. Everyone in our club still remembers how they drove off the British and captured the fortified town in a heroic assault (thanks TFL for the Riot in the town card). This all in the first ten minutes of the battle.
Next Sunday we have a Sudan game again and the expectations for these brave beja are very high. So to help them with their new status I provided them with new new bases. It also helps that all the others use this basing as well. I think my tactic will be to hide them amongst all their brothers to only jump out to deliver the final blow and steal the fame once more. 

Anyway, on to the pictures. I know to be really impressive you need a lot more (like this angry mob from One man and his brushes) but the sight of them here today will cause the British players for our Sunday game a couple of sleepless nights for sure. Three more days to paint up more gatling guns guys...

This is how they looked

Bases in water

Rebasing was easier than I thought. After I've left the base drowned in water for a couple of days I could remove the figs without any problem.

Boothill Miniatures Mexicans 2

Today the second group of the Mexican skirmish  army I'm currently working on. Again great sculpts from Boothill Miniatures.  For the blue I've used Andrea 2nd shadow as darkest colour which is highlighted by Foundry B and C. Red was done with GW Mechrite as a base and highlighted with Foundry redcoat B and Vallejo Scarlet. Finally black, this was highlighted using Vallejo black grey and Foundry rebel grey A.

Just noticed there is huge difference of the quality of the pictures depending on the computer I use. I know this is due to my own diplay/settings but I'm confused which one is correct, are they blurry or acceptable?

Back to blogging with some Nap battle pics

After a long summer/painting/blogging break I recently picked up the brush again and decided it's time to re-enter the blogosphere. My RSS reader (Gruml) is telling me I've missed about 4000 posts so you guys have been pretty busy this summer. I've marked them all to read now knowing I missed out on lots of good stuff.
Had a great holiday and I could go on for hours talking about it but I guess I better stick to the topic here.

To get started again a couple of pictures from a French-Prussian game Rob, Jacco and I played last June using General de Brigade. Can't remember (erased) a lot of the battle except that the French Dragoons were far more effective than I liked them to be.  It was the start of Nap campaign organized by Rob. Don't have much details yet but I will try to convince him to do a post here again.

Tomorrow night a FoW desert game organized by our FoW fans Sam, Marc and Rob Suchet. They prepared a scenario and the idea is that we play the same scenario using I ain't been shot mum in a couple of weeks time to experience the differences ourselves. More on that later.

Carlist Wargame

A couple of weeks ago Rob and I got together for another Carlist War game.  I really enjoy playing and painting the period with the variety of troops and great minis available.
We used the Sharp Practice rules by TooFatLardies and as in my mind I always find it difficult to game Napoleonics in a skirmish like setting I do feel these rules are as good as it gets for Carlist War games. We just use them as is and create some specific cards for the Isabilinos and Carlist to reflect their different fighting styles.
Rob created the scenario in which the Carlist had to supply a small village and reinforce their position . The Isabilonos had to prevent all this and preferably burn the village.
No complete turn by turn run-through or detailed report today. As some of you may have noticed I'm running kind of behind in posting and visiting the blogs. I've not given up though, actually I'm completely recharged with way too many plans as usual.
Next weeks I'm traveling a lot but will be back early September with more Mexicans, start of the Early French Naps and the return of the ACW...

Full picture report of the day
I've also managed to recover my Carlist Gallery after my struggle with MobileMe removing my pictures   some Months agao.

Boothill Miniatures Mexicans

Ouch, It has been over two months now and finally I found the energy for another post. I returned from Salute with bags full of superb figures and many great ideas but somehow the whole thing lost me. Probably an overkill and I needed to recharge the battery...So I switched off the computer and cleaned the desk from all paints and miniatures. 
Anyway, I'm being more and more inspired lately. Played a great Carlist game last week (report soon) and in two weeks time I'm hosting a mini SAGA tournament. Also managed to get a couple of painting sessions last week.

These 28mm Mexicans are from Boothill Miniatures and IMO fantastic sculps. Great quality and easy to paint. Did a minor conversion replacing the musket for a standard on the now standard bearer.

Added a Mexican Gallery with some more pictures for the Alamo fans.

Salute and two new periods

Yes! it's that time of the year again. Next friday we drive off to London for our yearly visit to Salute. I think it's the13th time I go. Always with the same two good friends Jacco and Rob, always the same simple schedule. Friday we get lost in a bar in London, Saturday we get lost at the traders stands at Salute and have few drinks at the Fox after. At that stage we are starting to realize what we bought and forgot to buy and things settle in. Time to recover and go for good food. Sunday morning we drive back and have breakfast at the same old road restaurant which name I alway forget. It's terrible but..it's tradition...
The only thing that is subject to change over these years is the Hotel. We can't get any closer than we are this year so that saves me some footsteps carrying stuff back to the Hotel during the day.

I will also be attending (if I'm not buying myself in another period at the time) and say hello to the rejects and fellow bloggers at around one o' clock. Details are here. I'm not sure if the Dutch chapter looks that smart though.

On to the new beginnings...

First on the list is a skirmish Mexican army. I've had an eye on these great miniatures from Boot Hill Miniatures for a while but with the group now moving to Mexico finally an opportunity to buy and paint them. I will collect a bunch of them @Salute but in the meantime I could paint the figures I already owned. I figured you can't get enough Mexican commanders. Not based yet as I'm not sure if I will use them in Vignettes or add some other characters to the base. I look forward to paint more of these. These are great, great sculpts.

Second one is an Early French army. I wanted to do this for ages but finally had the courage to buy the minis and make the master plan. I will start with 4 to 5 generic battalions (Marc, you do 2 as well:) who will serve as a base covering the late revolutionary period until 1806. I only need to make sure I can change the flags on the unit. Artillery is covered and I only need to find some suitable cavalry figures. With the base done I will expand to Egypt and other specific theatres. This will keep me busy for years to come presumably but the good news is I'm not in a hurry..

Last week I did some test figures and figured out the paints and tried every shortcut I could think of. I settled for this look (only need some more dirt) which I can do pretty quick for my doings. Now I need hundreds. Wish me luck.
Figures by Eureka, fantastic range and unmatched quality.