Figures for sale on ebay

The ebay pictures don't do them justice.

French pre 1812 reforms - Foundry Unit 1http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290385271363

French pre 1812 reforms - Foundry Unit 2
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290385271144&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Front Rank French Light Infantry

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290385270787&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

These are my last 3 to sell...

The its AB miniatures all the way

Cheers

Simon

New rulesets and a change of scale....

There has been a spate of rulesets release recently and I particularly like Lasalle and Black Powder. But here lies the problem, I don't have enough space to play either. My maximum table size is 6ft x 4ft and this is going to be too small for 28mm games ( I don't want to play skirmish ). On top of that I am running out of storage space !

So I have decided that I will go down a scale to 18mm. I've painted a few to test and I can paint them pretty well and paint a 32 figure unit 1/2 the time that I can paint a 24 man 28mm one.

So AB or CGM it will be probably AB.

So the whole French collection are on Ebay. With the Brits going on this afternoon.

Size Comparison

I thought this may be useful, lots of people seem to ask for size comparisons on TMP. So here we are. LEFT to Right - Victrix, Foundry, Offensive, Front Rank.

The pictures don't do the Offensive figure justice.

Front Rank French 8lb Guns & crew

I got some more Front Rank, this time some French guns. the guns are excellent. I painted them using the Foundry French artillery paints ( apart from the barrel ) and they were very easy to paint using the 3 layer method.

The figures came as a pack of 2 guns, but the crew are a mixture of loading and firing.

Front Rank French light Infantry

I decided to paint some Front Rank figures to get a good comparison. They are very well cast, crisp and clean with plenty of detail.

I have a couple of minor complaints on the figures. Firstly they shako plate is a little less detailed than most and looks a little blob like. Secondly I would like a little more variation in each pose. The variation in pose is just personal preference though. Minor quibbles.

I used the standard foundry 3 layer paint system although I have started doing it a little difference with large colour areas. I miss the shade, paint the mid colour then the highlight and then go back and shade at the end. It just seems to speed things up a bit.

My reservations about pose weren't as much of a problem as I thought, though I think they look quite good.

Another thing about Front Rank ( which I was aware of ) is that they are big. you can't mix them with foundry it just looks wrong in the same unit. That said they are fine next to each other in separate units.

No posts for a while...but I'm back..

Well after setting up the blog its all been a bit bare. I firstly had jury service then just as I got back got bloody swine flu. Great.

Anyhow, I have been painting and now have some updates.

Foundry French

The mainstay of my French army is made up from Foundry French. I tend to wait until the 20% off sales to stock up. I like the subtle variation in the campaign uniform figures and I mix in some greatcoat figures as well to give them that campaign look.

I still need to texture the bases.

Offensive Miniatures French...

My French army is under way, my first battalion is a line battalion from Offensive miniatures. I bought a battalion pack of 36 figures. There are 3 variants for the march attack fusiliers. The figures are a pretty good match for Foundry, the officer even has a largish head....

I like these figures, the detail is very crisp and they are easy to paint. Later I will post some comparison shots.

Rules, Rules and more rules

One of the decisions I've always been stuck by is which rules to use. I must have played them all nearly. What I always liek in rules -

1) No figure removal
2) Masse look, I just don't think troops based in single file look right in 28mm
3) Flexible basing
4) Simple system that can play ok with 5 -6 units a side or 20 untis a side
5) I like battlions, with lines columns and squares but soemtimes I may like to play the odd brigade game.

Well recently it seems to be boom times for Napoleonic rules, with the publication of Napoleon, Blackpowder and soon Lassalle ( which I am really looking forward to ) and Republic to Empire.

The British Army so far...

So far I have 3 British Battalion representing a brigade in the 3rd Division 1811. All Victrix apart from Picton himself who is from Front Rank. Victrix figures give a very good on mass feel.

Each battalion is 24 figures ( or 23 if they have a mounted officer ) on 4 bases of 3x2 measuring 50mm frontage x 40 mm depth. I tried giving each figure 20x20 but it looked too spaced out. I then tried 45mm x 40mm but some figures struggled for space so this seemed to be the perfect compromise.

They are all painted using Foundry paints. The flags are from flags for the lads.

The Collection begins

After seeing the adverts for the victrix figures I decided to dabble and ordered a few boxes. I decided that I would construct 16 figure battalions. This has now expanded to 24 figures as I like the mass look. It takes me around 2 weeks to paint the 24 figures.

So this picture is of the first 16 figures painted using the 3 layer method and is intended to represent the 88th. I'm pretty impressed and I have settled nicely into using the 3 layer system. The only colour I struggle with is red. i use the foundry paint system and I am happy with all the colours apart from the fact the red doesn't cover very well.

2009 A new beginning

So after many years of not painting (apart form the odd commission) and an even bigger gap between playing I started again.

January 2009 I received a large order of French and British peninsula figures. I began to paint. I started a plan, I would build a French and British armies for 1811 in 28mm.

The armies would be built for General De Brigade. My first attempt in 5 years of painting. A french battalion. I was quite pleased. However, I didn't really like the Elite figures, the French were OK but the British I really didn't like. So I sold them and started again.

A 10mm Phase.....

I went through a phase of 10mm, using the GFI AIM 10mm figures which I really liked. I could paint them pretty well pretty quickly, the problem was I couldn't import them easily into the UK and there were no british dragoons in bicorne....

Sold on eBay around 7 years ago.

Some AB British 18mmm Napoleonics....

About 10 years ago I started an 18mm AB Miniatures Napoleonic British Army, only to get bored halfway through and sell them. I have since seen these figures turn up at a big demonstration game. Small world. I do like the figures the best under 25mm by far, but as my eyesight is getting worse I was finding I was spending as much time painting these as I was 28mm figures.

My Dog Oscar

Last year as part of my recovery we got a dog. A miniature shnauzer called Oscar. He's a lovely dog full of character and great with the kids......

Welcome..

Well my first post to my blog. I'm Simon, born in 1969, married to Sharon since 93 with 2 lovely girls and a dog called oscar.

Last year I was diagnosed with a mild for of depression which was leading to panic attacks. I was not going to take this as is and examined my life to make sure my mental health was as improtant as my physical health.

I have an over active mind, I think a lot, it never switched off. So I needed soemthing to focus on that I enjoyed doing and was a long term target. I played golf, but I cant play every day and in winter I am limited to once a week. I looked at building a train set, but I couldnt bring myself to dot. So I went back to something I had done up until about 6 years ago and that was paint and build model armies for wargamming.

So December 2008 I began to build my Naploeonic armies and I would still play golf in the summer evenings.

The other advantage of painting my model figures was that I could do this in the house and spend time with my family at the same time....