Victrix French Infantry Completed

...and ready for Sharp Practice? I finally managed to finish a box of Victrix French Infantry. Took awhile due to a intermittent periods of lack of motivation. I'm happy with the results. Here's what they look like. (pics of the grenadiers & voltigeurs were posted previously. )

Fusilier companies:
Eagle bearer, guards, and drummer:Battalion:

Victrix French Line Voltigeurs

The left wing "elites" of the line battalion. Next up the Fusiliers & "Big Men."

Skirmishing in front of an old Spanish church (from Old Glory).

Victrix French Update

Okay, I've finally finished painting some of these guys. Only ten Grenadiers right now. The temperature finally dropped down enough so I could put the finishing touches on these guys. As anyone here in WA State knows this past week had record highs - 100-plus degrees. I'm also recovering from a stomach ailment - maybe a combination of the heat & mild food poisoning. Anyway - here are a couple of photos:I had a slight problem with the base coat. The flat white spray (from Walmart) went on some figures a bit rough. This made the finish too bumpy for some stuff - like the officers sword, so I ended up scraping the paint off & applying a new smoother base coat. I need to be sure to remember this the next time I prime figures with spray paint. Smooth finish base coat is good, rough is bad.

Overall, these aren't t terribly hard to paint, just a lot of tiny (& time-consuming) details - like the piping around the collars, cuffs, turnbacks & lapels. Oh, and I almost forgot to paint the cockades on the bearskins - I noticed I'd forgotten to paint them while flocking the bases. Now, I have 50 more similar figures to paint. The Voltiguers are next; then the four "companies" of Fusiliers. Actually only about 10 figures each, but they will have the four different colored pompoms for each of the four companies.

Work Bench Update

Well my mom's visit ended today - she's already back home, safe and sound, in Hawaii. I think I'll take a shot at painting again this week. However, I hadn't totally abandoned my efforts while she was here these past three weeks.

Here's what I managed to do in-between trips to Victoria, B.C., Crater Lake, OR, Pikes Market, Uwajimaya, Northwest Trek, etc., etc.

Primed & initial base coated a box of Victrix French.
Helmeted & primed a unit of OG Teutonic Knights & several Battle Honors knights - I used Green Stuff on one to build a flat-topped helm into a Sugar Loaf helm. I plan to paint them using the colorful heraldry from the period, like the ones in the Codex Manesse.
Here are OG & 1st Corps Greek Hoplites mounted & separated into two 24-man units. I also hammered & "Dremel'd" brass rods for their spears. I picked the rods up at Fantasy World in Tacoma the other day. Interestingly enough, when I was looking at the rods (which are located to the right of the entrance/exit door) a guy ran out the door with two large boxes of remote-controlled cars under his arms, and without paying for them. The guy was actually caught before he could leave the parking lot. So much for a peaceful hobby.
Here's a comparison shot of 1st Corps & OG hoplites. They are a good match in size & style. The most noticeable difference is the 1st Corps helmet crests are a bit thicker than the OG ones; but nothing to distract from the overall look of them together in units. I did replace the 1st Corps shields with Steve Barber models; I traded these with a fellow-TMP member who wanted the larger 1st Corps shields. I've had some good trades on the TMP, by the way.
These are OG 12th Century Spearmen from their Mongols in Europe range. Their full-mail armor & kettle hats make them appear to look a bit later in time - I could probably use them in my HYW French army. I've also added brass rod spears to these guys too. They will be in a combined formation with crossbowmen up front - at least before going into close combat.

I also fashioned plasticard movement trays, and added magnetic sheets from Joann's.

Okay, the next postings should be of painted figures.

Last Old Glory Order

Well, at least for this membership - ending in July. Here's what I received in the mail today (all 25/28mm):

OG Viking ship & crew.

OG 12th C. Infantry (from the Mongols in Europe range).

OG Teutonic Knights Command (mounted)

OG HYW Crecy/Poitiers English Personalities (very, very nice!)

OG Japanese Infantry (from the Boxer Rising range).

OG Japanese Cavalry (from the Boxer Rising range).

OG Japanese Artillery Crew (from the Boxer Rising range).

OG Mounted Turcopoles (First Crusades range).

OG 75mm Creusot Gun (Boer range).

Crusader Late Thracians w/Javelins & Spears.

Crusader Murmillo Gladiators.

Crusader Armored Norman Bowmen.

And I still have Victrix French, OG & 1st Corps Hoplites, Crusader Thracians, Great War Miniatures & OG WWI Germans, as well as various terrain projects still sitting in my cabinet! I should be very busy for the rest of the year - if not beyond.

Victrix French Line Infantry

I decided to work on the box of Victrix French Infantry. I thought it might be therapeutic - the gluing together of the parts, and all. They seemed to go together faster than the British set I worked on a few months before. Or, maybe it's that I now know what to expect.

I opted for using the bearskins for the grenadiers & the longer plumed shakos for the voltigeurs. As most know, Victrix sets have enough spare/extra heads & arms for swap outs.

From the several posts of completed figures by other folks, I had thought there would be a lot of marching poses - that is, arms for marching poses. As it turned out I had to purposefully remember to add a few marching poses to ensure I had a bit of variety. There are enough parts to make most of them in firing and advancing poses - which is what I wanted & why I chose Victrix for my Napoleonics. If I wanted purely marching poses, I would've just ordered Old Glory figures - they look nice enough on the website.

A couple of the figures were modified a little using a hot knife to alter leg & arms poses - just a couple of the officers. I used my Dremel to sand down the bases a bit - for a lower appearance on the 20mm (approx.) round washers.

Anyway, I next will give them a quick clean-up wash & add some caulking to blend in the bases. After that, an undercoat of while; and then on to painting. Not sure when I'll actually get around to that - as my mom will be visiting with us for a few weeks soon. Until then, Vive le Empereur!

15th C. Knights

Finally picked up a brush yesterday after over a month & finished my six remaining Old Glory WotR dismounted knights. I used known 15th C. arms for the tabards. A couple from period illustrations & the rest from known historical folk. In the photo below, left to right: Anonymous from period illus.; German knight; anonymous from period illus.; Lord Gruthnyse; Sir Thomas Montgomery; & Sir John Say.
And just to show that I also attempted the arms on the backs of the tabards.
Please don't judge me too harshly - these are for wargaming.

I hope to use these guys in some Siege & Conquest scenarios. I now have to decide what my next project will be from the following list (in no particular order):

- Victix Napoleonic French
- OG WWI German Trench Fighters, OG A7V tank, & Great War Minis Jaegers
- OG & 1st Corps Greek Hoplites, & 1st Corps Oxybeles
- Crusader Thracian Javelinmen
- Sash & Saber Napoleonic 12-pounders
- Town ruins (including a large one-piece terrain I picked up at Enfilade on the cheap)
- VFM WW2 Waffen SS
- Redoubt Trojan War chariot riders
- Battle Honors Feudal Knights (only four)

Additionally, I need to place a largish final order to OG before my membership expires next month.

Enfilade 2009 - WAB Game Hosting

Today, May 24, 2009 is historic, in that I managed to survive GMing my first-ever WAB game - at a Convention, no less. Actually, I had a lot of help from Bruce D. - a very experienced WAB gamer. Also, Adrian & Dan were on the next table running their large Punic Wars game. Indeed, I called over to Adrian several times when Bruce "disappeared" a couple of times. First off, I'd like to thank all of the aforementioned folks, and also Kevin Smyth for loaning me his English longbowmen. Not only for this game, but for the play-test games leading up to today. Also, thanks again to Adrian & Dan for the use of their game board & terrain - and of course, Adrian's English (some finished just days before).

Now on to the game itself. The 4 players for this game included Bryan Shein of Pacific Sky Games (& outgoing President of NHMGS), Damond Crump, author of "Patrol" - a great set of WW2 skirmish rules, and Kim Harris from Eastern Washington and board member of Tactical Solutions, a convention held in Spokane. So, with folks like these, you know I was under a lot of pressure; actually I couldn't have asked for better players. They not only had a lot of patience with me trying to get my GMing down, but also had everything to do with the game flowing so well. We actually finished 6 turns (the agreed upon finish) in well-under 3 hours. We were allotted 4 hours.

The English players were very intuitive & aggressive. They utilized all of their forces well & the end of turn 6 saw much of the French forces with heavy casualties. the French had good intentions, but consistently bad dice rolls. The battlefield itself was largely still contested, though - no side had a clear advantage over the other. It was somewhat of a draw. The interesting thing was that this was the closest finish in favor of the English for the four games this battle was gamed. The three earlier play-test games all ended with the French looking like they would end up winning. In large part to the arrival during turn 3 of Richemont's two forces of mounted knight - which was unknown to the players. During the actual battle, the arrival of these forces did in fact turn the battle in favor of the French.

Here are some photos I managed to take in between my not-so-perfect GMing. Which must not have been so bad, as all the players said they had a good time & forgave me for any mistakes.
Here are some pictures of the Punic Wars game run by Adrian & Dan - I apologize for not captioning or describing the action going on.
I was lucky enough to play a Roman Seas game hosted by Eric Hotz on Saturday - very enjoyable - definitely a game I would like to play again.

Old Glory War of the Roses Dismounted Knights

Here are 24 of 30 Old Glory WotR dismounted knights w/2-handed weapons. The other six still need their tabards done. I polished the armor using a combination of using a Dremel with a plastic bristle brush head & then the side of a needle - I think this is called burnishing. Select areas were given a black wash then buffed a bit with a Q-Tip. I'm sure painting the armor silver is faster, but I like this finish. The figures are given a final protective coat of Krylon Clear (gloss); appropriate parts have a flat finish using brush-on Vallejo matte.

Battle of Formigny - Play-Test Update

Here we are - only two weeks from Enfilade. Today, we had the third play-test for the Battle of Formigny. Bruce D. has graciously volunteered to assist in GMing this game at Enfilade. I'm really fortunate in this, as I'm still quite the novice WAB player & GMing at a convention is a big leap (probably a leap too far for me solo at this point in time). Anyway, we stopped at the middle of turn 4 - and both Bruce & Adrian thought the game can definitely be played out well. In fact, all three play-test games have gone differently. I played my French the first game; Adrian & I switch armies for the second; and Bruce D. played the French today. I'm pretty happy with the scenario. We hope to replace the larger river with a stream (hopefully Dan P. will let us use it - I'm sure he will since we're using his board too! :} )
Here's a pic of the basic layout of the units for the start of the game. Actually, some of the English forces aren't exactly in place, as we had just finished the game & were in the process of re-staging them again - hopefully for one more play-test game; for me to hone my GMing skills more than anything else.
The English have their backs to the stream.

Old Glory Stucco Spanish Church

I just finished this nice model from Old Glory. I actually finished the church & tower last week, but only finished the cross today - wasn't sure what color it should be, but settled on plain white. It is intended for Peninsular War scenarios; and possibly for WWI & 2 stuff in Southern France. Here it is with Victrix British.
Below is a shot of the side of the church adjacent the bell tower.
The shot below has a Victory Force US sniper in the bell tower.
Finally, a shot of with the roof & bell tower top removed.
It is a very nice model, and quite simple to paint. I primed it all in flat black; then dry-brushed successive coats of Ceramcoat Mudstone, Sandstone, & Sandstone mixed with White for the stucco. The stones were dry-brushed with a light grey mixture. The roof was dry-brushed with a pale red mixture, adding various amounts of Yellow, Sandstone, & White. For the wood, a mixture of yellow & red ochre was dry-brushed on. Pledge (formerly Future) floor finish was brushed over the entire model for a protective coat. Then it was given a final spray coat of Krylon Matte Finish. Next is an Old Glory bombed-out European 3-story building.

Play-Test Battle of Formigny

Adrian & I play-tested a game which we will be hosting at Enfilade next month. We based the game on the Hundred Years War battle of Formigny, using the scant information available online. We feel it will be an interesting game because it will showcase the famed English longbow against heavily armored French knights & MAA. There are also terrrain factors (a stream to the initial rear of the English), light cannon (French), & an unexpected flank attack. Here is a link to a brief overview of the battle: http://xenophongroup.com/montjoie/formigny.htm and a map from the same link:
This will be my first-time hosting (GMing) a WAB game - so I want to prepare for this as best possible. We plan to have at least one more play-test game. Hopefully, I will be able to post a review of a well-received game next month after Enfilade. Either way, I enjoyed learning more about my French army, as we well as Adrian's English. I particularly like my French late-Hundred Years War army - with its powerful mounted & dismounted knights, light cannon, crossbowmen & handgunners. The missle troops are like the anvil (keeping the enemy engaged) & the knights are like the hammer.