Russian Horse Artillery

I really struggled to get these figures finished, I think I've reached saturation point with artillery and tried to rush the basing. As is normally the case when I try to rush things, it turned into a complete disaster which I tried to rescue and then had to start again from scratch.  If it wasn't for the Curt's painting competition and the weekly deadline day I don't think I would have managed to complete these.  This is exactly the motivation I was hoping to get from the painting challenge.

 In the end, I decided to paint up some skirmish infantry and casualties to add some character to the wider bases I've decided to use for horse artillery.   Each base represents a battery of six cannons, I'll probably add some howitzers later in the year as batteries were sometimes deployed with 4 of these as well.  I think I've got enough artillery for the time being though.

This brings me to 140 points in the competition, quite a way from the 1,000 points I committed.  However, the cavalry and infantry I have primed will start to increase the points a lot quicker over the next few weeks. I'm also toying with the idea of resurrecting the 'oldhammer' project I started a few years back.

In the meantime, the dragoons will be finished shortly, they took longer than expected as I wanted to experiment with colours on the horses until I got a result I was happy with.  These will be ready for next week along with the cossacks and hopefully the hussars. 

This will complete the Russian forces for Montmirail and the other battles of the so called 'Six days of glory'. After that I can move on the French infantry 

For reference, I used the following paints on all the artillery figures (all Vallejo):

Cannon/Howitzers - Russian Green (894), Medium Olive (850), Olive Green (967)
Green Uniforms - Millitary Green (975), Flat Green (968), Olive Green (967)
Grey Trousers (Horse Artillery only) - Dark Grey (994), Neutral Grey (992)
Brass - Brass (801)
Metal Areas - Natural Steel (864)
Black - Black, Dark Grey (994)
White - Deck Tan (986)
Red - Flat Red (957)
Wood - Flat Brown (984)
Flesh - Medium Flesh (860) 

Photos from Joy of Six 2014

Just completed the basing on the horse batteries so they're all ready to be photographed for my Thursday evening painting challenge submission.  I've really struggled with these, basing and painting 45 artillery pieces and crew has taken it's toll over the past few weeks.  Good news is that the dragoons are coming along, but, probably won't make it into the submission tomorrow as I've spent too much time getting the horses to a level I'm happy with.  I'll take and post some WIP shots tomorrow when I photograph the horse batteries.

I've also been sorting through some pictures and came across a number I took at the Baccus Joy of Six event back in July.  I took these as inspiration to keep going with the 6mm project and thought they're so good that they deserve to be shared.  I wholeheartedly recommend this show to everyone, it's friendly, well run and full of enthusiastic wargamers.  Roll on July 2015.

First up is Ian's ( The Blog With No Name ) Quatre Bras game - the pictures really don't do it justice (they were taken with my iPhone) and it was great to see the figure and terrain at the show.  Also enjoyed chatting to Ian - thanks for the kind words.

Second are a few pictures of the Battle of Kalisz 1706 game - once again a fantastic example of what can be achieved in 6mm.  To me this is the only scale for doing large battles now:

Russian Light Batteries

I completed the Russian light batteries this week and managed to get them submitted to the challenge just before my deadline, this brings me up to 99 points:

Once again I've gone with three models per battery as these usually consisted of 12 guns (8 x 6pdr cannons and 4 howitzers).  Four batteries have 2 cannon and 1 howitzer and one has 3 cannons as I had them spare so painted them up anyway.

I'm pleased with the way these turned out.

Unfortunately, Storm Rachel meant that I didn't get home from London until late on Wednesday so didn't manage to complete the horse batteries.  These should be finished today/tomorrow ready for next week's submission.

Next up is the cavalry, I only need Dragoons, Hussars and Cossacks for Montmirail so will try and get these completed over the next week or so.  I haven't painted any 6mm horses yet, so I'm not sure how long it will take to get a result I'm happy with.

I will try and post more WIP shots going forwards as I've now worked out how to use the camera on my iPhone.

First Points

I finally managed to submit my first photo's for the Analogue Challenge last week.  I've now got 54 points to my name and making good progress on my next submission.

I managed to complete the Russian heavy artillery batteries just before Christmas, it just took some time to get my camera from the back of the cupboard and take some reasonable photo's.  The result's are below:

I've based my Russian batteries up in units of three models each on 20mm x 30mm bases to give me some flexibility in how I use them in games.  I plan to use all three models (2 x 12pdr and 1 x 10lb howitzer) to represent a typical 12 gun heavy battery which consisted of 8 x 12pdrs and 4 x 10lb howitzers.  The Russians liked their artillery and I want them to look imposing during games.

I actually bought twice as many guns as I need for Montmirail as I misread the Nafziger orbats.  I painted them any way as I'll need them for the larger battles.

Close up shot below:

The next submission is due on Thursday and I should have 5 x 3 gun light batteries completed by then.  I textured the bases this morning at 5am before leaving for London, this means I can get on with painting them tomorrow when I get back.  I've also finished painting the horse batteries so will be trying to get these based up as well.

This will complete all the Russian artillery and infantry for Montmirail.  Next will be the cavalry (Dragoons, Hussars and Cossacks) after which I can start on the French infantry.

My plan is stick with 6mm until mid February and then switch to 28mm to make up the shortfall in points before the competition closes on the 20th March.  Although Ian over at The Blog With No Name is suggesting I stick with the little guys throughout.