Brigade Commander

Here we have the latest little vignette for the WVS project, the Brigadier von Jung, commander of the first Astrovian infantry brigade.

Being relatively young (see what I did there!), von Jung has a veteran advisor with him, sporting a coat from his service days in the 1670s and 1680s. I don't have a name for him yet...suggestions please!

And here is the brigade arrayed for action...

Regiments Frankl, Schrodinger, and Mahler (Grenadiers)

I am currently working on a Vaubarian infantry battalion, with a difference... Should be finished within a week.

The Light Brigade

 ... No, not THAT Light Brigade.

The 1704 Astrovian Light Brigade... a more rascally bunch of ne'er-do-wells you couldn't wish to meet.

Here's the latest addition to the project: The Swarovski Uhlans. These are irregular lancers from the fringes of the Astrovian Empire; from the wild hills and forests of Transvladachia.

And the commander of the Astrovian Light Cavalry Brigade: von Trapp (a man you wouldn't want to escape to Switzerland with, I can tell you!)

Here is the whole brigade... the Uhlans accompanied by the Czardas Hussars.

For these figures, I decided that I would speed paint them and only do two layers (no final highlight). I think they probably could have done with a further highlight on the red cloaks, but overall, they look pretty ok... 

Meanwhile, in Kaimenistan ...

Last weekend, I decided to use up some of the detritus from Christmas in the form of the cardboard packaging that inevitably resides in part of everyone's home awaiting the new year trip to the local tip!

I have mentioned before the wonderful Major General Tremorden Rederring website, and I remember on there they had made some cardboard hills. Whilst I didn't want these to be the same (theirs had firing steps to give the impression of concealed snipers in some part of the Khyber Pass), I did think a similar design could be utilised for the background to photos of the Back of Beyond collection.

And so...

I simply cut the cardboard shapes, sprayed them in shades of brown, and a little grey at the peaks, and then put back-supports on them so they can stand. The sharp-eyed will notice, they can be arranged in different 'formations' allowing some versatility. Construction time all told... around 40 minutes.

I think it looks ok, and adds a little atmosphere to the scenes.

Successors updated

Had a bit of a photo session recently.

This is just a quick post to draw attention to the fact that the Successors project page has been updated with some fresh pictures.

More to come for other projects soon...

Blog Housekeeping and Plans for the Year

Happy New Year!

The past couple of days I have been doing some long-intended housekeeping -tidying up the blog, adding a few more links, shifting things around in the right hand column, and also adding some more pages to properly reflect the projects I am working on at the moment.

There are a number of new project pages, and some old ones freshened up with new photos. Take a stroll round with a cuppa when you get 5 minutes.

For completeness, I have also added a page for the Classic Wargaming collection even though it has its own separate blog.

As for plans for the year ahead...

1. Wars of Vaubarian Succession (WVS). This will be my primary focus for painting and playing a few games in 2021. I have set a specific, ambitious painting points target here, but one that also allows me to stray into painting other things too.

2. Back of Beyond in Kaimenistan. I will also be tickling along the Back of Beyond project with the aim of having some small solo games as well. I have plenty of Chinese in stock to be working on, so they are definitely in the painting queue.

3. Other than those two projects, I have a 'paint what I fancy' mantra for the year, and as long as it adds to the various existing projects, no harm done. So, that could be more Pils-Holstein units, more Napoleonics, more Successors, more Colonials, etc. That is, of course, one of the advantages of having a range of projects 'in progress'.
Where I do need your help is in taming the new-project-itis... you have my permission to remind me not to stray from existing projects in the year to come. "I can resist anything, except temptation", as I believe the saying goes.

4. Shows. Who knows?! Wouldn't it be great to be planning to go to York, and Partizan, and so on this year?! Sadly, we will have to be patient. I am holding onto the hope of the second Partizan happening ... fingers crossed.

5. Games. I have said before that I am not much of a solo-gamer really. However, I have scheduled a few in for the year, and even if they simply descend into photo shoots for the various collections, that's no bad thing. 

That's about it... for public consumption anyway. Steve Gill and I are in regular correspondence around a number of other possibilities for this year. So, anything could happen!

Best regards to all for the year ahead. Let's make it a prosperous one.

All the best

Phil