More Foundry Prussians

Another unit joins my 28mm Prussian collection...

I'm continuing to burn the brushes painting up figures from the late 19th century in Europe and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.  This is a second unit of Prussian infantry, rather similar-looking to the first unit I completed a couple of weeks ago.  That similarity is no accident, as both are comprised of 28mm Prussian castings from War-games Foundry, and use GMB flags.  There is some slight variation in the ground cover and the nature and placement of the officer figures, but overall still very familiar - 20 figures based in the main unit, and four figures on individual round bases to represent the deployment of skirmishers.

A somewhat rotund officer directing his men in the firing line...

There is also an additional figure on a round base at the corner in the photos - this is an artillery officer.  He looks very similar to other Prussian officers, but the helmet is a little different - a rounded thingy on top instead of a spike. His artillery piece and crew hasn't been painted yet, so he joined this infantry unit for the group photo.

Artillery officer in the front left of the photo...would stand in well for a general infantry officer too, I think

Individual castings on round bases will be used to represent the deployment of skirmishers

These Foundry figures are, as before, a complete joy to paint.  Figures sculpted by the Perry twins always seem so familiar, even when the period or setting is relatively new. It has been great fun to paint these fellows up.  In general, I still continue to be pretty locked in on this period and am even dabbling in some other scales!

Love these Foundry castings!

As before, still a long, long way to go with this project - even though I can now report that the forces available to the Kingdom of Prussian have doubled! Last time I mentioned an approximate goal of 166 infantry castings for my 28mm Prussian forces.  With this second unit done, that is 48 castings out of the way, leaving only 122 or so to go...patience, patience, slow and steady will be the path to the goal here...just need to keep chipping away, adding a unit here and there, and maybe by the fall or winter it will be time for a game of "Black Powder"...

The Greeks first battle!

After working all winter on a huge number of Ancient Greeks, it was time to get them out and on the table for a battle.  While the plan is to run a few story driven battles with everyone at Dallas's place, I really wanted to get a handle on the rules in a one on one game before attempting a big multi player game.

So, last week with Dallas away and no regular game booked, Greg and I got together to hash through the "Hail Caesar" rules and make a go at a game.

The protagonists were made up of a group of allied Greeks (Athenians and Thebeians) vs a smaller but more elite force of Lacedaemonians (more commonly referred to as the Spartans).   The battle field was made up of a lot of open desert area, with a well blocking part of one flank, and a few fields scattered around the edges.

Here are some of the Allied Greeks.

And here are some of the Spartans.

The rule set we used is "Hail Caesar" but most of you will be familiar with it in it's many other incarnations as: Pike & Shotte, Black Powder, or originally as Games Workshops Warmaster!


The game started with a lot of manuever failures on the side of the Athenians, with several units just refusing to follow orders. Eventually though after about 2 turns of minor move and adjust, both Greg and I went "Screw this!" and slammed our forces into each other.

 

 The initial hit, shattered an Athenian unit and sent it running right off the bat!  I suddenly worried that the game would be over in 30 minutes flat and that I would need WAY more units for a viable game.  However, it turns out that was a fluke, and things settled down after that with the push and counter push (literally) that phalanx combat was known for.

 Down the huge battle line, things went good and bad for each force.  In the center we fought forever back and forth, on the Spartans right flank they pushed through, and on the Athenians right flank, they pushed through.

The Spartan push on their right flank went well to start and then due to a number of bad rolls for them, and great rolls for 2 small skirmish units, they got held up for a large number of turns.  They finally routed the 2 small units but were too late to help elsewhere by that time.

On the Athenians right flank, they pushed forward, but then got pushed back 3 or 4 times all while shaken and disordered!  Amazingly they never ran and held several units in check for most of the game!  They finally did route near the end, but by then it wall in in the center for the game.

The center of the battle tied up at least 3 units on each side and was back and forth for a long time.  In the end both sides were battered, bruised, and shaken.  The deciding factor ended up being both of us throwing our generals in for a few extra combat dice, and units deciding to run due to being shaken and having to test on tied combats.

There were a lot of tied combats since phalanx units count anything that is a loss of up to 2 as a draw.  This meant that until they were shaken and had to test moral on draws, units just stood and took it!  The Spartans even more so, since they can reroll a failed armour save each turn so took far fewer casualties.

In the end, it was a blood bath with I believe 4 units left on the table!  Greg and I had a blast with it though, even though we made many mistakes, but figured them out along the way and corrected most of them.  We now both understand the rules much better and hope to have these figures out for a Thursday night game sometime soon!

More Firepower

I finally got some more Imperial Fist reinforcements completed. These have mostly been done for a few weeks, but Ive been putting off basing for a while in favor of a new terrain project that I will share when it's a little further along. My army has lacked some punch on the table, but I believe these units will correct that.

 These Mark III marines are part of a bunch of models I got used on Ebay. The price was right and they were advertised as primed only. Once I got them it was obvious they had been primed over a base coat of some red metallic paint. They were also glued together with what may well have been Portland cement which made swapping the bolters for plasma guns a bit tricky. All considered, I think the rehab project came out nicely.

 The Ryza plasma gun squad is from my original purchase last summer. Re-forming the resin hose was a nightmare and these are the first models I've assembled with the aid of boiling water. Despite my efforts, the hoses broke on several models and it was up to green stuff and superglue to finish the job.

A full squad of Ryza Lascannons for long range firepower. The lascannon cables worked much better at bending to form than the plasma cannons. They aren't segmented like the plasma cannons which keeps them from breaking.

These are the last of the Mark III marines I have for this army. I must say that although I love the look of them, I found them a real slog to paint. Looking forward the the Mark IV units I have in the pipe.

Franco-Prussian Progress - First Foundry Prussian Unit

28mm 1870 Prussians from Wargames Foundry

In December of 2017 I first posted about a new period and project - the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.  I had started down the path of 28mm figures, with an eye on one day staging a battle for the group using formed units and the very-flexible "Black Powder" rules.  I knew this would take a long time, for even a small such game (longer than the actual war, I expect) but I haven't given up on the goal - here is the first unit of Prussians!

As with the French from last December, these are castings from Wargames Foundry.  The overall unit is 24 castings strong - 20 foot models in the formed unit, and four individually-based figures to be used to represent the deployment of skirmishers.  The flag is from GMB, one of the only sources I have found for flags from this period (I think it helps that the Prussian flag bears a very strong resemblance to the colours carried by Prussian units back to the late Napoleonic era in the early 19th century).

For the King!

These Foundry castings were sculpted by the Perry Twins "back in the day", and while sculpting styles have evolved since that time, these are still really beautiful castings and I just love painting them - each time is like catching up with an old friend! The Prussian uniforms lack the true panache of the French uniforms of the Second Empire era, but these figures are still a lot of fun to paint, and I'm pleased with how this first unit has turned out.

Lovely castings, lots of fun to paint, even if the variety is lacking in the posing...

Any headaches? Maybe one - the standard bearer has some lovely ribbons cast on the pole, which would be fine if the ribbons were not set in such as way as to be stuck to the pole, making attaching a flag or banner all but impossible! It takes some delicate snipping, but the ribbons can be removed and bent back without too much damage, making it possible to attach a banner. 

So...one unit down, six more to go...?

So, this is one unit of Prussians, and it joins the two units of French I have already painted.  How many of these will I actually need in order to put on a decent game? I have done some back-of-the-napkin math (i.e. the highest level of math someone with my squirrel brain can manage), and I figured I will need about eight to ten Prussian units of some sort for the game - let's say two of them are cavalry, and one is an artillery piece, so that would leave seven foot units....at 24 castings per unit, that's about 168 castings just to cover the infantry!  In comparison, my 30k Sons of Horus collection, which is also quite (ridiculously) large, includes about 200 foot models, and took a couple of years to amass, so obviously this whole "Let's play Franco-Prussian War with Black Powder" is going to take a while.

But progress is progress! With these fellows out of the way, that leaves another...144 Prussian infantry castings! In the meantime, we can continue to play some skirmish-sized games with the awesome Eagles of Empire figures I have been painting as well over the past few months.  And if you go back to that original post from last December (and I salute your perseverance if you bother), you might have noted that I also ordered some figures in other scales at the outset...well, stay tuned for more on that...

AdMech Update - Skitarii Vanguard

I've been cracking away at the AdMech lately as I wanted to finish off the rehab of the last lot of models I got off kijiji. The latest ones to be completed are a squad of (eleven) Skitarii Vanguard. Why eleven? Well, there happened to be a squad of ten plus one extra special weapon trooper. So I figured I might as well paint him at the same time as the rest.
 

Here's the Alpha wielding an arc maul and arc pistol. "Phi" insignia added for his squad ID.
 

The rest of the boys (?). Painted in the normal style for my AdMech - cloaks Mephiston Red, Nuln Oil'd, then MR again highlighted with Evil Sunz Scarlet, insides of cloak Rakarth Flesh highlighted Ushabti Bone; bodyglove black highlighted with Mechanicus Standard Grey; metal bits Leadbelcher; brass bits Brass Scorpion highlighted Balthasar Gold; lenses and power bits Temple Guard Blue. 

The lads (??) carry spooky "radium carbines" that are not, shall we say, "Earth-friendly." The thing I find neat about the Vanguard is their utter disregard for Health and Safety standards. They don't really care that their weaponry is nearly as dangerous to them as it is to their enemies; I guess they just reckon that if something falls off them they can always get a mechanical replacement. Closer to the Crux Mechanicus, and all that.

Assistant squad leader carries the cool-looking "Omnispex". "Hey five-eyes!!"

Here's the whole lot so far - two Onagers, Sydonian Dragoon, Kastelan Maniple and datasmith, Ruststalkers, Infiltrators, Rangers and Vanguard, led by the Tech-Priest Dominus.

First Franco-Prussian Clash

Prussian troops surge...the wrong way...furious Franco-Prussian action from three weeks ago!

As you will have seen here and there amid recent postings I have started collecting and painting figures for gaming the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 in 28mm.  While I do aspire to do larger "Black Powder" type games, getting all the necessary figures done will take a bit of time.  But skirmish games can come along a lot quicker! I have been painting some amazing figures from "Eagles of Empire" and basing them individually for skirmish gaming purposes.  They finally saw their first action a few weeks ago!

Curt was in Winnipeg for a brief visit, so I took the chance to drag into the maiden game for the figures.  The scenario was simple - a skirmish on the outskirts of Wissembourg in the opening phases of the war.   

Dallas trying to encourage his figures with proper direction...in the foreground to the left, my Jagers were a touch skittish...shouldn't the regular chaps be leading this thing?

For rules we used...well, Black Powder! And it worked very well for an all-skirmish engagement.  Curt and Bill took command of the French forces, trying to defend a ruined farm house from what they told themselves were small probing attacks from a Prussian screening force (in the actual battle, these in fact would be among the lead elements of a Corp-sized German formation that would roll over the French division in the area).  The French had four squad-sized infantry units, with one forward-deployed in the ruined farmhouse, offering excellent cover and firing positions. 

Prussians moving forward...a possible coordinated assault is looming...

Uh-oh! Command blunder!! That will not help the attack go in...

Dallas and I took command of the Prussian forces.  Dallas led four squad-sized elements of Prussian regulars, and I took command of two squads of Jagers. We would have six turns to drive the French away from the objective - and could even call up an extra squad of regulars should we deem one to be spent.  

The French reinforcements were slow to arrive, but why hurry - and interrupt such a gallant defence of the building to their front?

Both sides features many unfortunate command rolls.  For our part, we could not get the Prussians to make the most of their advantage in numbers, and while we held out under the Chassepot rifle fire, the squads attacked the target building piecemeal, and were driven back. 

The Prussians try to force the matter...

But with no success, the Chassepot rifles continue to pour out a cracking fire...

The French, for their part, seemed reluctant to move forward and support that one squad in the building, with order rolls often coming up short.  They compensated, however, with a gallant defence, clinging to their position even as losses increased.  In the end, a victory for the French! The Prussians would have been forced to bring up the artillery to deal with the pesky French troops...

Big thanks to Curt, Bill and Dallas for playing.  It was super-fun to get these figures out on the to table and play a first Franco-Prussian war game, I hope the first of many, as I am really, really loving the period. And special thanks to Curt for driving in to visit from Regina, AND for taking ALL of these photos! Was wonderful to see you dude. 

Painting Challenge Wrap-Up - More 28mm Fanco-Prussian War

Troops for the Franco-Prussian war continue to mass in my kitchen...

As the end of this latest edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge approached, I thought it would be a good idea to get back to the project that drove my first several submissions - the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71.  This final submission contained another group of Prussian infantry and a group of French cavalry in 28mm.  All of the castings are from the excellent "Eagles of Empire".

Lots of character and animation in these sculpts

As always the ubiquitous coats are wrapped around the bodies of the Prussian troops

The infantry are intended to round out my initial Prussian infantry force. "Rounding out" is one of the primary mind tricks that leads to an enormous unpainted lead pile in my basement, but can also prove useful.  I had four Prussian infantry groups, three of seven models and one of just four models, and I had it in my head that I wanted all of the units to be eight models strong.  So this batch did the trick!

Dreyse "needle" rifles at the ready for the assault on France

Up next, some cavalry, the first cavalry I have painted for this period.  These are French Hussars - six mounted rankers and an officer (on the rectangular base to stand out a bit).

Officer ready to lead a valiant (and probably fatal) charge in defence of the Second Empire

Tremendous animation in the cavalry sculpts - the officer looks like he is going to charge right off the base!

I found it challenging to get clear references on the uniforms the French Hussars wore in this period.  References are never perfect, and an added challenge is that the French light cavalry seemed to be in the middle of a change to their uniform pattern when war came in 1870.  Those sorts of processes never were smooth in peace time, never mind war, so I don't really know which unit was wearing what, but I ***think*** this might be the look of the 2nd Hussars, although I might have goofed on several elements (including the colour of the pompom etc).  Oh well.

For the Emperor! And later...the Republic!

Incredible animation in these sculpts

While the "Death Ride" of the Prussian Cavalry at the battle of Mars-La Tour is infamous in the minds of cavalry fans, the Franco-Prussian War was a graveyard for cavalrymen.  With bolt-action rifles and breech-loading artillery, massed battle cavalry mostly ended up with terrible losses.  So the fate of these fellows on the table is likely to be grim...

In 1870 these units looked glorious, but in the thick of battle, the time of cavalry was coming to an end...

As before, the Eagles of Empire sculpts stand out, with a tall, lean character.  This style of sculpting was not my favourite, but over the months of working on these figures I have really come to enjoy them a lot. They are real beauties, and Soren and the group at Eagles of Empire are just fantastic to deal with - I recommend them highly!  The cavalry in particular also have a tremendous energy and animation to them, like at any moment they will come alive and charge.

Hussars - flashy boys of the light cavalry arm

One additional note to share with you all - a big "thank you" to Challenger JohnM.  Back in early January I submitted a group of French infantry from the period which included a command base and a regimental standard - but the standard was lacking an eagle.

A new eagle for my 1870 French forces!

JohnM was kind enough to mail me a few spare eagles! I fixed one to the previously finished command stand.  A few weeks ago these troops saw their first-ever action on the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts gaming tables, and the Second Empire French troops had a regimental eagle to defend proudly!  Thank you so much John!!

Action from the gaming table last week - French infantry defend their country against a Prussian assault, the presence of their eagle stiffening their resolve!

With a total of seven mounted 28mm figures and another eight 28mm foot figures, this submission was good for another 110 points, taking me past my 1,000 point target from back in December!  Unfortunately work went bonkers, and I wasn't able to add anything else before the Challenge concluded, but I'm still glad to have beaten my target.

So, another Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has come and gone.  Was little tougher this year due to some outside issues, but still a lot of fun, and a lot of great stuff finished. Looking forward to next year!