Piedmontese Artillery.

Unfortunately 'real life' and family visitors have prevented much painting and hobby based activities of late so the only thing I've got done is this Piedmontese artillery piece and crew .

Here's a slightly better photo . The uniform info I have says 'yellow' leather belts - I'm assuming this means a 'buff' colour and as this is the third army (the others being - Neapolitans and Papal) I have use these figures for I'm pleased with the different uniform colours of the Piedmontese . Hopefully when things return to normal next week I'll get the remainder of the cavalry done and some Generals so I can set up a small game to take on the Papal forces in 1860 Italy .  

We've Been On Holiday .

No ! not a Hobbit Hole - our camping 'pod' , we've been away for a week or so on holiday near Whitby in North Yorkshire staying in the above 'pod' on a rather nice camp site .

The weather forecast was poor - but luckily they got it wrong and we only had one wet day .

Charlie meets 'Sir Nigel Gresley' - and was not impressed - more interested in the packed lunches a group of women passengers were eating.

The steam train journey didn't bother him at all !.

I scan the horizon for ships and wonder why I've never got to grips with naval wargaming !?.

Picturesque harbours (Staithes).

Mrs 'K' (with very pale legs - says a lot about our summer!) and Charlie.

Whitby Abbey - always impressive ! . No wargaming content this holiday although the Abbey got me thinking medieval 'Lion Rampant' . The break has done me good and I've returned to the painting/wargaming table with fresh enthusiasm .

Painting Revolution !.

For years I've been using my painting tray sat on a fold down table next to my armchair to paint figures on , in poor light I have a lamp sat on it and it has served me well. The other day my wife was using MY table to do some 'girly' crafty things on !? , sooooo instead of sulking I thought "will it fit in front of the computer ?" and it did ! - why didn't I think of this before !? - its right next to a window - very well lit and now I can watch pod casts etc whilst painting !  - Huzzah !!!! .

Getting on well with 15mm Fantasy figures , here Conan is confronted by a giant bear !.

Piedmontese Lancers .

My next order from Irregular arrive at the weekend comprising of 2 squadrons of Lancers and a gun, crew and limber/team . Spurred on I painted up the first of the Lancer units .

They are the Lancieri Di Novara , I've decided to go a bit more cavalry heavy with the Piedmontese force and as I haven't got any lancers in my Unification of Italy project they were an obvious choice . Just to make things a bit more interesting they had their shako covered with a 'yellow' waterproof cover . Irregular figures are not the most detailed but they do paint up quickly and at 'wargaming table distance' (about 3' ish) they look as good as any other manufacturer .

A Mini Project.

My wargaming colleague 'A' said - " are we going down to the Reading show this November ?" , we did this show last year and combined it with wargaming in our hotel room and lots of bad for you food ! (http://tonystoysoldiers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/warfare-reading-2014.html ). One of the challenges was playing on a 2' X 4' table ( the maximum size we could use in the room ) so we were limited to which games could be taken to play . We thought this year we would take different games down to use and 'A' has a 'secret project X ' he is working on - so I wondered what I should take new this year ?. I'm a big fan of 'Lion Rampant' medieval skirmish rules - but this takes up to much room - however there are going to be a fantasy variant of them next year and I was thinking of painting up some figures for it  . I'd come across the 15 mm Copplestone Casting Fantasy range and really liked the figures and was going to use them for it , so I thought if I bought a few of them I could use them with the excellent 'Songs of Blades and Heroes' rules which came be used on a 2' X 2' board . The figures have arrive very quickly and are for 15mm very detailed ! .

The problem is 'A's prejudice to fantasy - it hasn't to be to 'far out' ! - I think he used the term 'histrofantasy' ie fantasy based on historic facts/periods , so I preposed a sort of Dark Age - Conan the Barbarian setting so I can sneak in the odd Troll - Witch etc ( and  giant bear see above) . The figures are rather nice and I'm looking forward to painting them - will only need a couple of dozen or so at present and they will make a change from all those 28mm Napoleonic figures.

Doing The Worthy .

I was looking at a post I wrote about 12 months ago stating what I hoped to achieve in the coming year . One of the statements was that  I was going to get some more of my Napoleonic figures painted up. Hmm ! haven't touched them yet !.

This French Infantry battalion was already blacked up ready to paint so overcome with guilt I decided it would be a very worthy thing to get them painted . Was not looking forward to it to tell the truth, 36 figures and French infantry is a bit of a task ! , but I 'buckled down' and got on with it ! .

It was not as bad as I thought it would be , the figures were a hotch-potch of full dress and campaign dress so there was a pleasant mix of poses and figures and I managed to get them done in a week !.

They are the 18th Regiment of Ligne and are the last of the French infantry figures I had left unpainted 'phew' ! . I still however have about 4 unpainted Austrian battalion to do ! .

Seeing I've got them varnished and based up I have rushed them onto the table as reinforcements in a game I'm playing at the moment (centre of the table near the table edge) . Rather pleased with myself getting these done as I was dreading doing them , I wonder if the 'curse of the newly painted ' will dog them in the game ?.