American Militia

 A friend said he had some spare American and French AWI figures, which turned out to be several boxes of Hat, Revell and Accurate 1/72 scale plastic figures. There are enough for a complete army, as well as a good number of SYW Austrians and Prussians (I can feel another diversion coming on)!

I decided to paint some of the figures that came in boxes of 'Militia', giving me sufficient for four regiments.  There are loads more in the boxes, which I raided to provide some officers and figures converted to make standard bearers. Here are the results, one regiment in buckskin dress and the three others in less than formal military attire:

My British are now pretty much outnumbered, or will be when I finish off the two or three regiments of American regulars.  Some of the SYW Prussians might end up serving in Hessian regiments. And, I thought I had finished my AWI binge.

Britains Deetail Apaches 1/32

 These figures have been hanging around the edge of the painting table waiting for the few final touches and a few days ago I finished them off. 

In their original colours the figures are nice but finished in gaudy colours and those horrible lime green bases:

The figures themselves are quite accurate, with good detail and quite nice poses.  However, I thought they would benefit from a make over. I looked on line for some typical Apache dress and colours and tried to match it and make them look more realistic:

It was fun painting the brighter than normal colour schemes and I am quite pleased with the result. I believe Britains Deetail figures were made as paired sets to provide an 'enemy' and, although not sure, I think the Apache foe was the Mexican set. I have some of those and will paint them to match.  I also have mounted Apaches and Mexicans.  There is scope for sme skirmish games methinks.

Sneakin' About! Airfix AWI

The mojo is still there, so I painted another US battalion using some of the advancing/creeping infantry. This will be the last lot for now as I need to work through some more Warrior French, although I am easily distracted! That said, I have half a dozen British Light Bobs on the painting table.

I do enjoy painting the old Airfix figures, which provide light relief one in a while:

Glorious Airfix

 One of the most enduring Airfix sets has got to be Washington's Army.  At one time (I believe) these figures were the only 20mm tricorne wearing troops available. They have served in the Prussian army, fought the Jacobites and British Grenadiers. They have been painted as french and Austrians. They are not very accurate and there are some odd poses, but they are charming and still of use for wargaming.

Over the weekend a dug a load out and painted one lot as British and another as Americans. Not very well painted, but they look OK at arms length and will join my other Airfix units:

What fun. I have been bitten by the bug and more figures will follow - maybe even a French regiment or two!

French Imperial Guard Cavalry - Warrior Miniatures

 As a bank holiday project I decided to reorganise and base the Guard cavalry.  I had an unpainted lancer regiment, so I painted these and added them to the organisation.  They were the 2nd Guard Lancer regiment, the Dutch lancers in red.

In all there are five regiments, The Chasseurs a Cheval, The Grenadiers a Cheval, The 1st and 2nd Lancer regiments and the Empress Dragoons.

The cavalry are providing an escort for the great man himself, with his staff.  the Chasseurs are the close escort.

Apart from the Red Lancers, all of the figures are the stunning work of Jeffers.

I also finished off the line artillery, adding one of my batteries.  I believe there are 3 or 4 more in a box somewhere.

The French army is almost finished, although I am painting six battalions of Guard grenadiers and the are four more line battalions which may turn out to be the Young Guard.

25mm Warrior Miniatures - French Line Infantry

 Bit of a mega project this one, but today I finished painting and basing the rest of Jef's French French line infantry.  There are a few more line grenadiers and voltigeurs to complete, but the bulk of the line infantry are now ready to take to the field.

Altogether there are 18 battalions.  I have set them up here as three, six battalion brigades, each with a commander and a division commander at the head. Or, it could be three divisions with a corps commander, depending upon the scenario.

I have still to do the Guard cavalry, again combining my figures with those from Jef's collection.  There are no Guard infantry, but there are plenty of unpainted figures in boxes and I am preparing a batch of five battalions of Old Guard. more on that as they develop. 

There are quite a few guns to base as well.

Les Higgins Project - British Household Cavalry

 Over the past year or so, I have been gradually accumulating Les Higgins napoleonic figures.  I have finally finished off the two Household Cavalry regiments, namely the Life Guards and Toyal Horse Guards.

In addition, when time permits I paint the odd infantry figure and last weekend I had done enough to deploy a brigade, consisting of two line battalions, a light battalion and some Rifles.  Some were eBay purchases that required a quick clean up and new bases.  Others were painted from scratch.

I am working on some Scots Greys, but I do not have enough yet to make up a 12 figure units.  Some French Dragoons are on their way too, so I should have enough of those for a regiment.  Finally, I have worked on some French infantry as well as some British Light Dragoons.

Back scenes for model soldiers

 If like me, when taking pictures of figures, it is a nice idea togive the image a setting.  I quite often download images from the internet. Well, Norman who often sends me pictures of his figures has decided to produce some back scenes to set off his soldiers.

Furthermore, Norman has decided to go for quality, printing them on heavy duty paper. The result is exceptional and certainly enhances the posed figures. 

I have no interest in any commercial sense nor any links to this enterprise, but I thought readers might find a use for such an item. They can be found at hello@seenik.co.uk and are availablre on eBay just search for seenik.

Here are some of Norman's figures with the appropriate back scene. Even if not interested in the back scenes, enjoy the lovely figures!

French Infantry

 I have started merging my Warrior army with that painted by Jeffers.  From my collection, rebased and reorganised, I have sorted out eight battalions, a battery and a general to command them all.  It makes up quite a nice division size formation, with a mix of line light and a grenadier battalion.

There are are four line fusiler, one grenadier, one voltigeur and two light battalions.

I know that my structure does not accurately reflect the real French organisation as I have pooled my voltigeurs and grenadiers into battalions.  In reality this would have been companies, which I don't think would work with 12 figure units:

The difference between my figures and those from Jef's collection are the flags.  I use the original cast flags on my figures, while Jef has replaced his with paper flags. You will see this on the next batch of infantry figures. Also Jef's figures are better painted than mine!

25mm Warrior Miniatures French Army - The Light Cavalry

 Another phase in the merging of two armies and rebasing is complete. This time it is the French light cavalry. Consisting of three light lancer regiments, two of chasseurs and two of hussars, they make a splendid sight on the table. Also, another horse artillery battery joins the army.

A closer look at the lancers:

One of the chasseur regiments:

The stunning hussars:

And, finally the horse artillery:

I have started on the infantry, which I hope will prove to be an easier task than rebasing the Austrians. I should mention that the majority of the excellent painting is by Jeffers and I am simply tinkering around edges.

Another blast from the past.... Westland Lysander 1/72

 As I mentioned before, I have been going through some old memory sticks and have found a few old pictures from around 2008.  This one stood out as i had forgotten about it and recalled the fun I had painting the model and the figures.  The aircraft is depicted as having landed at a jungle airstrip to drop off supplies and pick up a wounded soldier. 

The aircraft is a Westland Lysander, probably Airfix with Far East markings.  I think the kit originally had a spy figure in a trench coat!

The figures are a mix of Airfix, Revell and Matchbox.  The observer's head was turned to the right to give the impression that he is watching the loading operation.

The settting is just a textured board with a picture of a jungle scene downloaded from the internet.

And so it begins ... 25mm Warrior Miniatures French Army - The Heavy Cavalry

 Last week I started rebasing the French Army, having more or less completed work on the Austrians. However, in the case of the French, I am adding units from my existing French Army, suitably based to match the Jeffers collection figures.

The first batch consists of the French line heavy cavalry.  The combined total is, five regiments of Cuirassiers, one of Carabiniers and four of dragoons. There is also a horse battery.

Currently Marshal Ney is in command.  This was a clever conversion carried out by Jeffers, who is also responsible for most of the painting.

Mystery Figure

 Does anybody know what this figure represents?  It is almost certainly a Miniature Figurines S Range sculpt and is 25mm.  I am thinking Mongol?  There is no catalogue number either on top of or underneath the base.

1/72 Plastic Ancient Egyptian Army

 Whilst wading through the sea of white as I rebased the whole of my Warrior Austrians, I painted small groups of plastic 1/72 scale Egyptians. The figures are mostly Atlantic, with a few Zvezda items to make up numbers.

The army consists of 10 chariots, four archer units, six of infantry and a command with escort:

The figures are all quite roughly painted using Speed Paints, but they stand up to the one foot rule. Next, some Hittites.

Some old pictures

 I was going through an old memory stick when I found some old pictures of Airfix 1/76 figures set in the Western Desert.  I must have painted these around 2009 when I was working overseas and had lots of spare evenings. They are a mix of Aifix 8th Army, Afrika Korps and the Bren Gun Carrier with 6pdr:

I think these old figures can be made to look quite attractive with a lick of paint.

Yet more Austrian Infantry

 The weekend saw me finishing off another batch of Warrior Austrians from the Jeffers collection. This time the units were one Jaeger battalion and four battalions of Landwehr.  I had to paint a couple of officers to make up the numbers. They make quite a colourful display:

I have now just about reached the end of this project.  There are quite a few odds and ends to sort out from the remains of downsized battalions.  In all there are about six further battalions of line infantry and grenadiers.  However, I will have to paint an equal number of command groups, of officers, standard bearers and drummers.

Ros Figures, 25mm French Imperial Guard Foot Artillery

 Seeking a change from the sea of Austrian white, I decided to finish off a project. Last night I completed a  some figures that have been sitting on the corner of the painting table for a long time.

Here they are, Ros Figures 25mm French Guard Foot Artillery, circa 1975.  They go off to join my Ros French forces. The castings are quite nice and they paint up well: