Drum Roll Please...

My "Sharpe - est" wargames unit to date.

Here is what I consider to be the best wargames unit I have ever produced. As I said on my last post they were animated and painted for another collector who changed his mind with them and gave them back. The yellow facings and Rifles officer were an idea which appealed to him. Well, I am an Essex lad!

I have now re-based them and brought the numbers up to make a 36 man unit ready for Black Powder (or similar) rules.

The figures are from the old Pax Britannica (now RSM95 range) 20mm range - the rank and file figures started off as a pose "British infantry advancing", but they animate splendidly with a little cutting and twisting.

I have gone a bit picture heavy for a single unit with this post but as they are my "bestest ever unit", they deserve to be shown off!

Slight change of plan with the next few posts - now they will be the ACW in 10 & 20mm scales. 

RSM95 20mm figures animated, painted and re-based from 2012-2014!

Cannot rush these fellows!

More Figures From Mr. Hezzlewood

Here are some more Hezzlewood figures I animated and painted few years back for a collector.  Interestingly he started a blog and passed them of as his own work. Well, he never signed a Prenuptial Agreement. Anyway, his interest was short lived and he actually gave all the figures back!

Classic 20mm Hezzlewood figures still available in the US from DPC as the RSM/95 range.

Here are the hussars. I am changing the bases to suit Black Powder rules and to get rid of the sand colour. Never did like that finish. I need to build up the numbers for the unit and as the range does not include Elite Company figures I need to start making some busbies. 

I have managed to add some British command bases and start to rebase the matching French.

However my favourite work to date is a British Infantry battalion which I have nearly finished basing again. That will be my next post. 

Then it is back to the Tumbling Dice WW1.

The War Between the States

Figures from the late Steve Hezzlewood's Pax Britannica range. Available from the Dayton Painting Consortium in the USA

Those who followed my old blogs will know that the American Civil War is the period I have gamed the most: 20mm is probably my favourite scale: to my mind Steve Hezzlewood's 20mm figures are the best sculpts in this scale. Ergo, these must be the best wargames figures ever. Or something like that.

They are, like the Tumbling Dice WW1 figures, under represented image wise on the net. So here is my little bit to redress the balance.

Despite the fact that I sold off all my painted ACW figures, including the Airfix ones, earlier this year and the very obvious attraction of the Hezzlewood range I have decided to start again from scratch in a completely different scale.

Here is a work in progress shot of my embryonic 10mm ACW collection:

Hopefully the base work will be completed by the end of the weekend.

10mm figures from Pendraken and based for Fire and Fury. Completed April 2014.

More German Infantry

 

As promised I have added to the German infantry. My main concern, with such a long break in between painting sessions (2 years), was that I would not have the same paints or forgotten which one's I used. Fortunately I found a scrap of paper which listed the colours in the tin of unpainted stuff. None of it was a dried lump at the bottom of the pot either. Very handy!

I am moving back to the British artillery next as I wait for more round individual infantry bases. Plus it makes a break from the field grey. 

However, my next post will be a small digression onto the War Between the States and more figures that are unrepresented on the internet.

22 figures, less than two companies-these units are going to be big.

10 more Tumbling Dice German infantry completed April 2014.

Looking Back To 2012

So, while I wait for the paint to dry on the latest German infantry, a quick look back at what I managed to complete in 2012. 12 infantry, 1 artillery piece and a MG and crew. Clearly I need to up my game here-"Crush the Kaiser" has over 50 figures per German infantry battalion for example. 3 battalions to a regiment. I definitely need to burn the proverbial midnight oil.

What I hope does show in the photographs is the charm of these little figures. The Tumbling Dice "Old Contemptibles" range has been around for years now, it covers the whole conflict and is very reasonably priced. Stood side by side with 1/72nd scale plastics they appear small-but they match well enough when spaced out the wargames table. Besides the range has pretty much everything you need in one place.

But enough rambling. I hope that the bases on my next batch dry sooner rather than later (I decided to use oil colour and a "quick dry" additive as the base coat a few hours ago - still looks wet to me!). Will post them as soon as I can.

Tumbling Dice 20mm figures completed 2012.