What I do when I'm not blogging...

Believe it or not, I do have a life. Silly I know, but I do things besides blogging. I have a job which challenges me (It's called  a "ministry" actually) working with some really interesting people. I have a wonderful family. I do reenacting and educating about history, especially the War of 1812 and World War I. I play bass trombone in a local town band. I paint... and that is the subject of the blog today.

Here are some recent examples of what I've been painting. My tastes are eclectic to say the least and I seem to have ADD when it comes to painting projects; too long in one period leads me to sloppy work. I'm proud of my painting, but it is not "museum quality" by any means.

The Swedish High Command around 1814, including the Crown Prince Karl XIV Johann (General Bernadotte) with two general types and an aide from the LivGarde. I can't remember the manufacturer and the figures can be 'scruffy' but I have them and they're paid for. Bernadotte's purple uniform is just... FABULOUS!

Napoleonic Russian Hussars - Regiment Soum. I liked the grey colouration. The figs are from an old Minifig line and started out life as another regiment. In switching rules, I had a surplus of Hussars, so repainting was in order to set them up for Shako.

 

From Battle Honours, third battalion, Prussian Reserve Regiment #9  in British supplied uniforms of the Rifle Regiment variety. I think the manufacturer uses British and Portuguese figures for these Reservists, which makes sense.
Based for Shako



79th Highlanders based for Shako. The rankers are ancient Ral Partha Napoleonics while the officer, ensign, and piper might be Essex, I don't remember. Much to my shame, when I looked at the photo, I realized that I had mounted the colour onto the pole sideways. Now... do I tear the flag off the pole or repaint on the staff? Tune in again.



Minifig Napoleonic Poles... who have no officer, colour, or drummer. Sometimes those things are hard to come by. But so are the magenta facings. Woops, sorry! "Polish Crimson" I know the colour isn't quite right but it's the closest I can come to it.



More ancient Ral Parth figures - this time Austrian artillerists, based for General de Brigade and painted up as generic War of 1812 militia gunners. I often paint stuff up as militia to empty the tiny bags of odd figs I find in boxes. Luckily, you can make 1812 militia of either side out of almost anything!

  

Minifigs Royal Artillery light foot gun battery for Shako. In Shako, the 'weight' of an artillery battery is reflected in the number of crew on the base. 2 for horse, 3 for medium/foot, 4 for heavy (12# or more.) The British are allowed "light foot" batteries with two crew which fire as horse guns but move as foot. I had extra figures and a left-over light gun, so here they are.

I'm sure you all recognize the Polish Lancers of Napoleon's Imperial Guard. The blue of the uniform photographs a little light but appears darker to the eye when the figs are on the table. Minifigs again.



French Napoleonic Cuirassiers by Battle Honours in 15mm. Nicely proportioned figures that are good to paint up... and I HATE painting cavalry! I have to put a flag on the standard bearer's pole but the Eagle will serve. I remember the old Airfix plastic Cuirassiers... and the pot-roast-on-a-stick that served as the standard.



French 7-Year's War artillery by Minifigs based for KoenigKrieg. This would be a 5 gun battery, each gunner signifying one cannon. I think the guns are Old Glory.

Militia 4-gun battery for KoenigKrieg. I've been doing militia units for this set of 7-Year's War rules with an eye to a possible "Imigi-nations" campaign. We probably won't use 15mm but I'll have the troops anyway. Again, ancient Ral Partha Austrian Napoleonic gunners and cannons by Minifigs and Old Glory... I think.

His Majesty's Native Allies! Native American/First Nations warriors by Frontier based for KoenigKrieg as skirmishers.

Hussars of Prussian Freikorps von Schorny for KoenigKrieg using Minifigs from their French Revolution range. (They're what I could get at the time.) The Freikorps were mercenary auxiliary regiments recruited by Frederick to serve as light infantry and do much of the dirty work the regulars refused to do (like burn and loot stuff.) They were scum, but the uniforms are interesting. This crowd is actually wearing the pelisse as a jacket rather than throwing it over the one shoulder as most Hussars did.

A Prussiand 7YW grenadier battalion, Battalion 3/6 "Kleist" to be exact. The two grenadier companies from each regiment were brigaded with the companies from another regiment to create battalion of grenadiers to take care of the toughest assignments in the battle. You can see that the breeches, waistcoats and mitre cap backs are different. Officers wore tricorns rather than the mitres. [Freikorps 15's figures -  very nice range]

1st Battalion, Regiment #17 "Mannteufel" of the Prussian army, Seven Year's War. Tough SOB's to a man. I have a Russian and Swedish 7YW armies and my wife has a Bavarian army. I'm working on Austrians, British and Prussians. On the side, I have some French, some Saxons, and one of the Reicharmee Kreis brigades.
(Talk about squirrels having a slap fight!) [more Freikorp 15's]



Britsh 7YW figures for North America - The Buffs! I realize it is a matter of taste, but I prefer figures in the Horse-and-Musket period to be in the 'march attack' positon. The castings nest nicely and look sharp! [Freikorps 15's again]



British line infantry from Freikorp 15's but in hunting shirt! An as yet unnamed green faced regiment. The hunting shirts are an off-white colour washed with brown ink.

 

More British - this time the 9th Regiment of Foot. Brown gaiters or leggings were worn in North America while grey ones were worn in Europe. Note the hatchets in the troopers' belts - another North American adaptation.



More troops in hunting shirts - militia this time. The unit is smaller and the boyos have coloured sashes in place of belts.

From Old Glory 15's, Austrian Imperial German regiment #13 "Moltke" based for KoenigKrieg which allow Austrian "German"regiments to be 4 stands large. Regiment Moltke was believed to have been the oldest regiment in the army, recruited in 1683 in the alpine counties. I found a colour called "Oyster White" for the coats which allows some contrast to the pure white of the belts. I have real soft spot for the Austrian Army. I've discovered that the modern Austrian army's units continue the traditions of the old Imperial army, even carrying the Double Eagle flag. The Vienna garrison continues to be the unit that traces it's linage to the old Hoch und Deutschmeister regiment.



More "Imagi-nation" stuff - Musket Minatures painted as an AWI unit (Congress's Own Canadian Regiment maybe? Or some Pennsylvania unit is Quaker brown) serving some country as militia, carrying the "Bonny Blue Flag" of Texas. Musket Minis look crude in the box but they paint up rather nicely.



Old Glory 15's Continental troops in light infantry caps painted as "Imagi-nation" militia or regulars of some obscure duchy like Hesse-Squeegie-Flusspferde. The "M" on the colour is for Margrave Manfred of Hesse-Squeegie-Flusspferde... or maybe it's for militia or for manicotti, the unit's regimental meal. You can guess too!

All this painting has taken quite a while. Some of this stuff has been sitting around un-photographed since early summer. Don't think I knock this stuff out in an evening! Even mediocre painting takes time. But as one spiritual director told me: "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly."