More Vultures and a Wolf

Here's some more of the Moorcock/Hawkmoon figures.

This is the first Wolf Legion figure I've painted. It was interesting trying to do black on top of black on top of black. He came out okay but looks a lot better in the flesh.

The Carrion are Gathering

After my last effort to paint up a bunch of forgotten figures I decided to go one step further and revisit some figures that have been sitting, undercoated and part painted, on my table for a few years.

The figures below are from the time when I started this blog. They're some samples of the Moorcock Hawkmoon/Granbretan figures that I made for Eureka Miniatures. I made somewhere between 50 to 60 figures and they were never officially released. I'm unsure of the reason why.

Anyway, I had these ones sitting on my desk so I brushed the dust off them and gave them a paint job. I think I might get more of them and make a Dragon Rampant sized fantasy army. I'm also wondering if I should expand the range - Between these guys and the Prussian Landwehr from last week, I may just get my sculpting mojo back again.

These figures are from the Vulture Legion - A mercenary band that wear vulture masked helmets. In the Hawkmoon world the Granbretanian Empire all wear animal masks for some class related reason. I've seen a few other people's take on these figures (don't get me wrong, many of them did get sold regardless of official release) and they've all done them with dark (evil) pallets. I sculpted them with outlandish colour in mind. Something like the colours of landsknecht during the Renaissance with a bit of a Medieval feel. So I painted them as they should be painted ~ Colourful!

I've prepped another batch with different weapons. The original idea was to make them so that whole battalions of pike blocks and other weapons could be fielded. These ones below have a scythe weapon. This is not something mentioned in the novels but more of a signature weapon for the miniatures range. It looks pretty cool but would probably be completely useless in reality.

A minor leader type.

New Life for an Old Project ~ Finale

I had a fairly quiet Christmas so I got time to finish off this battalion. I'm pretty happy with it and I'm now contemplating if I should sculpt a few more figures to make it complete. Then I can do a few more battalions after I've added a bit more variety to the poses.

Whatever happens, for better or worse, here they are. As mentioned in my previous post the "command figures" come from Perry and Warlords.
(P.S. It must be better because I now have a new battalion)

New Life for an Old Project #2

A quick post.

I've painted up a few of my Landwehr and this is how they look. They're not the best figures out there, but I'm okay with them. I sculpted them to be clean & simple as well as quick & easy to paint. They are that but I definitely could do with a few more poses.

As mentioned in my last post, I was concerned that one of the figures was missing some of his nose that must be stuck in the mould. I knew there was something wrong with his face but I couldn't figure out what it was. Then I realised: he's missing his moustache (which must be stuck in the mould). No worries. I mixed a little putty and added a few moustaches on the figures.

Anyway, here's the first painted batch:

New Life for an Old Project

A few years back I made a few Prussian Landwehr figures in 28mm. I did intend to make a whole bunch of them because I couldn't find and decent, clean, well cast and easy to paint figures. A couple of weeks into this project I saw a new (at that time) range of Prussian Landwehr from Front Rank and I completely lost heart as well as faith in my ability to make these figures.

Anyway, moulds were made of some of the figures and I recently found a bunch of them whislt doing a clean up. I found enough to make a battalion so I've decided to paint them up. I'd added a couple of Perry figures for the standard bearer and drummer and the captain is from Warlord's as far as I recall (I did find a Perry commander so I may substitute him).

Here they are in the raw. Whilst cleaning the figures up (and they didn't need very much cleaning thanks to the great casting by Nic Robson at Eureka Miniatures) I noticed that one of them has a bit of a small nose. I have a feeling that there might be a tiny speck of putty that was the tip of his nose still caught in the mould.

If they paint up well I might make a few more and finish the range in the new year. I estimate that I'd need 5 more figures as a minimum: 2 more troops, a commander, drummer and standard bearer. I did have a few more half completed figures that I kept for a long time, but I threw them out a while back.
Alackaday!

Prussians ~ Now With an Added Pinch of Lutzow!

Back into Napoleonic's for the moment and, as usual, I'll try and get as much stuff done as I can until this jag wears itself out.

First up is a couple of squadrons of Lutzow's Friekorp Hussars. The Friekorp cavalry only had two squadrons as well as 2 or 3 squadrons of uhlans. So I figure: 4 figures per squadron will work for most Napoleonic games. It also works out as a unit of 8 for Sharp Practice. I'm waiting on the command figures for the uhlans and I'll do them when they arrive. I expect them to be an easy paint job.

The figures are Perry plastic French Hussars with heads from the their plastic Prussian Infantry boxed set. The commander and hornist have their original French heads. They look okay. Suitably "Waterloo" Prussian with all that black.

And I finished my final Lutzow Friekorp  infantry battalion and that's all I'll be doing. I'm unsure how many battalions there should be but there were at least three. All standard Prussian regiments had three battalions, so three it will be!

 

 

And I did a commander too which appeared in some previouse pics. I suppose, I should say this is Lutzow himself. But should I be so presumptive as to tempt fate? Who knows? Who cares?

I'll be adding some some skirmishers in the form of a Tyrolean Jaeger company but I also need a company of fusiliers in the litkwa and with a horsehair plumed shako. I don't know where to get these last ones. Brunswick Leib Regiment in great coats would work, but who makes them? No one. I could sculpt them but I don't want to so I might just double up on the Tyrolean's.

I also did another 6 French light infantry voltigeurs in great coats. These are again Perry figures. Not their best in my opinion. I didn't really enjoy painting them but they look okay, I suppose.

And finally, some more sabot bases. These ones are for officers/leaders for Sharp Practice in the main, but I guess they can be used for just about any other game where required. These were made for me, once again, by Mike Parker at Battlefield Accessories.

So that's what I've done. More to come soon. I'm tossing up whether to do another French leger battalion or maybe I'll do Lutzow's gun battery.

Bach-Sachenkrach's First One - Sharp Practice Game #1

Today I played my first game of Sharp Practice at our final NWA meeting for 2019 at Croydon RSL.
I played a brave Prussian contingent against a gang of pernicious Frenchmen commanded by Andrew (one of my previous General d'Armee opponents!). Another Andrew, who I've seen at the club but only got to know today, umpired the game with his experience of Sharp Practice in hand.

I set up a pretty basic table because I wanted to keep things simple and easy to negotiate for this test game. I used a basic downloaded list for 1814 Prussians with 2 commands of a pair of infantry groups and a third command with a unit of skirmishing fusiliers and a unit of schutzen (Prussian riflemen). Andrew's French had an equivalent force with 2 commands of a pair infantry groups and two units of skirmishing voltigeurs. We both had a Level 3 commander, two level 2 and two level 1 commanders.

This was a simple Encounter Scenario - We rolled and both had a starting Force Morale of 10. The French entered the table in a small orchard behind the central building and the Prussians on a road by the castle.

To The Sound of The Guns!

The fight started with lots of French chits being pulled which enabled them to deploy voltigeurs into the orchard and line infantry behind. The first Prussian schutzen appeared on the road followed by a column of musketeers lead by the newly appointed: Leutnant Bach-Sachenkrach.

Keen to impress The Major, the young leutnant halted, dressed his troops, and promptly tripped over a rabbit hole (three flags and a random event).

The skirmishers of each side took up positions and began a lively fire with the French coming off the better. Picking himself up our brave young hero, dusted himself off and eyed his men with a withering glare. He turned smartly to his front and promptly tripped in another rabbit hole (another random event) and ended up back on his arse.

Not the prestigious start to his career that Bach-Sachenkrach had envisioned.

Meanwhile The Major had arrived and lead his men into the central meadow. The skirmishing continued with the schutzen now gaining the upper hand but advancing slowly. The sergeant leading the voltigeurs had taken a light would which reduced his command capabilities.

Opposite the Prussian commander the French had advanced with great haste to a hedge and took up position behind the cover. The Major formed his men into line and advanced! A chance taken, and The Major (now with 4 flags) opened fire on the French causing considerable injury to his foes. A firefight ensued with both sides giving and taking minor casualties & shock.

Needing no further direction our young hero moved up to join his superior officer and... trod in a massive cow turd (a 3rd random event!). With dung up to his knee he waded forward into the battle line.

As young Bach-Sachenkrach finally moved into place The Major brought his own troops back to form a powerful firing line. They pummeled the French and smoke filled the meadow. Maybe it was confusion caused by the smoke but a cry rang out and Frenchmen left their cover with intent and swarmed forward (another random event) only to be met with a withering volley than sent them tumbling back over their hedge.

The skirmish fight continued with one unit of voltigeurs taking considerable casualties and shock broke and routed. A random shot rang out (yet another event!) and the French colonel who had moved to support his skirmishers was lightly wounded.

As the unequal firefight in the meadow continued the French commander decided to vacate the field and left it to the victorious Prussians whilst still in good order.

And so, Leutnant Bach-Sachenkrach, in his first action, looked sidelong at his commanding officer and thought to himself: I survived!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Conclusion:
Being my first game of Sharp Practice this was really a leaning process. It was fun and some entertaining events happened. I feel that the generic army lists are a bit wanting and could use some tweaking. The random nature of activation makes every move uncertain which I quite like. I took a gamble with moving my troops up in the center hoping to get 4 flags and the ability to activate them again. It paid off. But there were a few times that I found my troops floundering.

As far as command and control are concerned I can see that you really need your commanders in the right place. My skirmishers were difficult to control because I couldn't form them into a single formation due to them being different types (fusiliers and schutzen). The French didn't have this problem. I ended up moving the fusiliers back and out of the fight. Andrew, on the other hand, moved his level 3 commander up to support his skirmishers which left half of his line infantry floundering and unable to maneuver into a firing position. That was a pretty major mistake.

During the long firefight, I was also able to manage the shock with my level 1 & 2 subordinate commanders. Remembering to use the Flags is important and I feel I got the hang of this fairly quickly and tried to use them any time I could, often just to use Sharp Practice and get my rifles re-loaded.

I'm hoping to play another game sometime soon to get the rules firmly embedded into my thick skull and also to see what may happen next to the brave Leutnant Bach-Sachenkrach.

Thank you to Andrew & Andrew for the game. I really enjoyed it. I also won which does make it easy to enjoy the game just that little bit more.

EDIT:
Some extra photo's stolen from NWA member Russell.

See that fine, handsome fellow in dark Prussian blue.

 And a somewhat larger Napoleonic affair on the opposite side of the room.