Le Compte de Pommes Frites…

Has he had his chips in New France? We will have to see.

My command group is now finished, well apart from the sergeants and drummers.

The mounted officers, without some oik waving a Flag in the way.

The drummer is part way through being painted, he still has a fair way to go.

I am about to make a start on the Militia well I think they are…some idiot threw away the packet they came in and Essex Miniatures doesn’t have pictures for all of their ranges.

They seem to have a military coat, but no sword or, in some cases, even a bayonet. I will have a look for a uniformed militia unit and base these on an original unit. As you can tell by the paint on the civilians I was trying to use up some blue from the officer and drummer.

Ils Sony Finis…… Suivant

Well after a bit of a hiatus, I eventually got the French line finished.

I am rather pleased with them…

And next (suivant) I decided to get the mounted officers started so that they can ride the horses I finished.

As they are all the same pose I went for different uniform colours to give a bit of variation.

Once they are done it is onto the civilians and more militia.

The nice thing about the next lot is that they can represent either side.

Oh and the headless horseman kind of represents himself 😁.

Looking at this photo has the advantage of stopping me trying to find my second drummer..he is evidently already undercoated!

nous avons joué dehors

I took some of my French chappies outside to play…

I thought they might look better outside, instead they became washed out. Really only a wash to do, some highlights on the flesh and a bow at the nape of the neck. Oh yeah and the cockade on their chapeau. Not that I know what colour it is.

I am going to spray my other ones later before the thunder and lightning arrive tomorrow.

I was hoping to get the next lot earlier this week, but it looks like I won’t be spraying them at the same time.

Frère Jacques – Dormez-vous?

A bit more on my French tonight.

Knapsack, woodwork, metalwork and bayonet finished. I also managed to get some more done on the horses.

The palomino is looking a bit washed out, it needs a bit more shading and highlighting. The black leather on the bridle etc probably aren’t helping.

I was hoping to get these finished this evening, but as I started late it meant it was not to be.

Tomorrow I shall attempt to start earlier….

La Plume de ma Tante….

Well I managed a whole lot more tonight.

Tricorns, swords and boots black. Cartridge pouch red leather, equipment straps buff.

I also managed to get some paint onto the Officers horses.

The one in the foreground is to be a palomino. The paint was a bit thin to cover the black. I rectified this after the photo was taken.

The infantry have their knapsack, weapons and skin to do as well as the ribbon on the tricorn and that’s them just about finished.

I still have around another twenty to finish here and another 60 coming from Blue Moon so I need to keep the momentum going.

And He’s Off….

After two days off procrastination I managed to start.

Not exactly the greatest progress in the world but it is a start. Cuffs, breeches and turn backs all done blue (no doubt at least one of them will only have one cuff done).

I am not sure why it took me so long to get going again.

I also managed to finish this lot.

This is prior to them being shaded. So all in I managed about an hour and a bit tonight.

I saw another blog today talking about motivations etc so here is mine for this project

Motivation to do this period. Really High. I was going to go into 10mm using the Pendraken range but a mate at the club gave me his painted Blue moon French marines and woodland Indians (a few of the marines can be seen in the photo above). So 15mm it became.

Knowledge of the period – Minuscule. Does reading/watching Last of the Mohicans count? To be fair I have read a bit since getting started on this project, but not to the level of some gamers.

Uniformology – (not sure if this is actually a word) my knowledge on uniforms is two fold. Osprey and re-enactment groups. Oh and the Junior general website. That’s about it.

I chose my French regiment based on their flag. I liked the red and black of La Sarre. They even were in New France👍. See I did a bit of research.

Junior General is helpful in that it gives pictures of figures as they are paper soldiers.

I also don’t worry too much about the exact colour of the uniform. I use what paint I have (providing it is close enough).Some purists have probably bitten through their brush at this point. I have spent long enough in this hobby to stop worrying about such matters. I have had enough “that blue only came out in April 1815” or “the ammunition pouch should be grey, not black” over the years. This is not to say it isn’t important to some people, it clearly is…to them. But it’s a hobby. Life’s too short to fall out over a shade of blue.

I suppose what I am saying is each to their own.

Playability – to be honest I have one side (some rangers have been added to help this). The other person in the club who started this project too works off shore. Therefore few and far between. Not to mention I have so many different projects on the go, games might be even further apart.

Rules – To be honest, I haven’t a clue. We are going for a Skirmish/small unit style of game. We toyed with the idea of Sharp Practice, Chosen Men and another couple. The men who would be Kings would work with a bit of tweaking.

Tomorrow I will endeavour to paint some more.

Next up….

Well as I said in an earlier post…

A change is as good as a rest.

Having been a bit poorly, I was itching to get back to painting, and to be honest exciting new projects. These tend to cost money, so I decided to rekindle some of my unfinished old projects.

It was a bit embarrassing to realise how many unfinished exciting projects I actually had. But I decided next up would be my 15mm French and Indian Wars (seven years war)

There are a lot totally unbiased and unpainted still in bags.

I really only have French forces a mix of Various manufacturers.

This lot is for smaller, skirmish type games. And for that reason at the back we have Nathaniel ‘Natty’ Bumppo (no wonder he wanted to be known as Hawkeye), Chingachgook and Uncas. The bag next to them is full of civilians, so finding an Alice and Cora Munro shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I have a fair few woodland Indians so Magua shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

I remember reading Last of the Mohicans when I was about ten. I loved it. I have watched the various films over the years but I suppose the one I love the best is the Daniel Day Lewis one. Not sure why as it isn’t close to the book at all. Unless I missed the bit where Natty dresses up as a bear…

I think it is because it Is accurately (ish) costumed. First Nations actors play their own parts as opposed to white guys in makeup. I think I went to see it at the cinema a few times too, not to mention buying it on DVD. As well of all of the above part of it has to be because of this…

https://youtu.be/H2syST_MPn8

I love the Gael, I think it really works in the film, as does the soundtrack throughout.

There are few places in the world I really want to visit based on my hobbies and interests but the Great Lakes, and the Ohio and St Lawrence are definitely up there. When I was a child I always believed the book to be taking place in the Far North of Canada. Funnily enough I now live in the far North of the uk (there is only about another 35 miles before we run out of Uk) and further North on the Globe than the Great Lakes. But I digress…..

Next up French and Indian Wars…unless of course I change my mind again. However, I hope not, I just spent some of my Birthday money ordering some more from Blue Moon Miniatures.

Right I am off to listen to it again…

https://youtu.be/H2syST_MPn8

Para Heavy Weapons…completed

Huzzah they are finished.

To be fair they could do with a couple of coats more of varnish to protect the extremities.

Here they all are as a group.

Two 57mm AT guns and two 60mm mortars.

Anti Tank guns one and two. I swapped crew figures around on them all to aid easy recognition. However I then stuck a wall on one, which is a smidge more obvious.

Mortar one and two again with different crews.

why is it when you take a ruddy photo…. I evidently missed a mould line or two…grrr!!! Not to mention that sign is huge!

Now if I were to do these again I would have embedded the minis into the basing material and painted them in situ or just flipped basing gunk it up onto the minis base to hold them in place. (Not quite sure why I didn’t as it is a way I would normally do it). I blame being below par with the ickyness bug.

I am going to try and get a lot of my stuff painted this vacation. Wish me luck!

Painting Para’s Rudely Interrupted

Working on the Americans. Base colours all just about done and the uniform wash applied. Next onto the highlights and washes for the rest. WW2 uniforms are so boring to paint after doing the Napoleonic uniforms. But as they say, a change is as good as a rest.

Sadly however I wasn’t feeling too good and shortly after this photo was taken I had to rush off to the bathroom as Spewmagedon occurred!

Yesterday was a bit more productive…. I repapered the kitchen.

Quite handy for reference when painting dry stone walls.