Time for a parade - Bravance

 By way of an experiment, I'm playing around with updating the blog via PC rather than tablet.

Partly this is so I can use the camera on a phone which gives much higher quality images. I was conscious that Bravance as the first of the SK armies I painted and finished had rather indifferent photos. As the pioneer I'm seeing if I can upload the better quality photos on to the blog and give a long overdue parade to Bravance....

First King Leonardo

 

Son and heir, Prinz Louis

Army/Wing Commanders L to R: Landgraf von Bernsdorf, Markgraf von Traben and the Seneschal Chevlier de Buchheim

Corps commanders L to R: Von Eitelsbach,  Graf Von Wernhe, Freiherr von Wernhe

Division / Column commanders

The army

Guard cavalry

Line cavalry

East Bravance Infantry

West Bravance Infantry

Combined standing Grenadiers

Artillery

Emigre Infantry

Bravancian Freikorps Cavalry

Bravancian Freikorps Infantry

T'Other Partizan 2023

Just back from my second show of the year, the Other Partizan.

It was very busy but had tailed off by the time I'd had enough around 2.30. Failed to meet up with anyone from the virtual wargames club or David from Sussex (I did ask someone who looked very like him from his pictures but his response was "oh no absolutely not..." as he rushed away from Col Bills and the strange man who had accosted him, so apologies to David and the man who looks very like him.......☺)

I did speak to Chris Kemp of NQM fame (https://notquitemechanised.wordpress.com/ and Martin Rapier (https://tgamesweplay.blogspot.com/) and had a brief chat with Ken the Yarkshire gamer who helpfully was wearing a shirt identifying himself (http://yarkshiregamer.blogspot.com/). I also said "hello" to Aly Morrison (https://alystoysoldiers.blogspot.com/) who said I should when I indicated in comments I had failed to do so at Britcon. Aly and I were following each other taking pictures of games and at one stage a game had Aly, me and Henry Hyde all trying to get a photo.

So (unusually for me) here are the photos I took before juggling tablet and iPhone (don't ask it's a long story) became too much and I gave up.

I think this was the Iron Brigade Dragon Rampant Winter is here

Boondock Sayntes Laslot 1785 Mughal India and de Boigne

Old Pikey's Operation Resolve 20mm Cold War

League of Extraordinary Kriegspielers ? Setting the East ablaze Back of Beyond

The Bunker? Retreat to Allepo? WW1

Chesterfield Old Boys Western Desert

Nick Hindley Giant Risk

Like a Stonewall? Battle Graus Spanish Reconcista?

League Gentlemen Anti-Alchemists Garibaldi in Sicily Biscotti Wars

Newark Irregulars ECW Battle Gainsborough

Eclectic loot - not including some Ironclad log scenery.

Impressions - busy, very, very noisy. Only Derby at Donnington rivaled the assault on the ears! Could easily have spent more and would not have been that upset if I had not gone at all - my back hurt, the noise was hurting my ears and there were too many people! Yes I have become a grumpy old man!

The Games were very nice to look at and confirm my theory that these days have to have large eye-catching buildings, boats, castles, trains on sculpted terrain. The problem is, the more "normal" games don't get a look in.......and the figures are almost secondary. There was an ECW game I didn't photograph that had a town and a castle under siege and may have had a boat as well! None of these resemble what I have ever encountered at a club or game played at friends or mine. Unless you have some sort of dedicated wargames room, probably not that practical either for storage or unless you play games set in the same theatre.

While personally I think it's a bit of a parallel hobby (wargames "showcasing"?) and more akin to model railway layouts, I think the real pity is you become jaded very quickly; there were many games I passed by as (such as the Newark Irregulars) which just had figures with perhaps some buildings on the edge (like a real battle) as they were not as eye-catching as those with a centrepiece dominating the eye. While some appeared to be played, I got the impression this was secondary.

Before the mobs appear with flaming torches, I think the modelling is superb and must have taken hours, the effort to put the game on and cart it around shows enormous. They were spectacular and will feature in the wargames mags. Credit to these people and all the preceding should be applauded and celebrated. But.....

You will need to argue long and hard to convince me this represents wargaming. It represents what you can do, but not what most of us do. Most people's efforts are on the figures, terrain comes way down the list for most, certainly after figures and rules. I think it represents a minority in wargaming that no doubt some lucky individuals experience, but not us mere mortals with feet of clay......

Expedition to lead mountain......

In an email conversation and comments on this blog, I mentioned to Andy McMaster of "Another Slight Diversion" blog https://blog.belisarius.org.uk/ that I thought I had some RSM Hanovarians "somewhere" .

As I spent Saturday cleaning up officers, drummers and ensigns for the British line, as well as repairing 8 who had lost bayonets while listening to the last disc in the audio book of Last of the Mohicans, I thought I should perhaps try to find them......

The reason was I wasn't sure whether they were Hanovarians......there was an inkling they may be British, in which case I needed to find them to work out if there were enough officers.

Now expeditions to my particular "lead mountain" are not to be undertaken lightly , not I hasten to add due to the risk of wild animals or tropical diseases or even cannibals or lack of oxygen, rather it can be a most frustrating experience.......

The "garage" (which it's clear was never intended to be used as one) is crammed full of junk, not all of it mine. Most of the older toys are under what I hoped one day would be a wargames table again. So I roughly knew where the SYW box was. However, I remembered that when purchased many moons ago for a bargain price from a certain online auction site, they had originally resided under the other end of the table, but I was certain I had reorganised them (the foam they came in being visible).

Torch in hand I delved under the table where I thought they may be after moving some boxes and found a box which I thought was mostly Russians and Prussians. Extracting it, I looked inside and there were the RSM figures!

Instead of Hanovarians, I found 36 British including command, 28 Prussian grenadiers and various command, plus some generals with horses and around 3 artillery limbers plus guns and gunners! A rich haul! What is more, digging around in the main SYW box I found more officers and another French line unit (which I had completely forgotten about) as well as what looks like a Soubise conversion!

I had bought some surplus RSM bits from Andy, so with my discoveries I have more than enough for British as well as expending the French and can use up various command figures for other armies.

It's amazing what you can find.......this is despite having a reasonable mental inventory of what miniatures I have lurking in the garage!

First of the British line

While conscious I probably should be concentrating on the next Soldier King army, I have found myself distracted by the French & Indian War......

Many years ago when up in Newcastle, I had eventually embarked on gaming the Seven Years War after a couple of abortive or half - hearted attempts (15mm followed by Spencer Smiths) in what was then 25mm scale.

While I really wanted to do Austrians, I found my opponent, Pete Foggin had British and some Austrians. We lacked Prussian, French and Russian armies. I therefore found myself building an army of the hated Prussians (using Pete's sculpted and cast figures - having to add command figures as Pete was too egalitarian to make any!).

Parallel to that, I contemplated French, but soon found myself straying from Europe to North America.....

Hence, although my French army had cavalry added, the infantry were the regulars sent to Canada. Native Americans were added, along with other bits. At some stage we refougt the battle of the Plains of Abraham (or Quebec if you prefer). The armies had been built for WRG 1685 - 1845 at 1:50.

I think for the battle we may have used an adapted version of Loose Files and American Scramble. While I had enough French line and we could scrape up enough British from Pete's figures, there were a few gaps that needed filling. I painted very quickly using washes, Canadian militia, Marine and some British light infantry (as Pete had none). I also had a sculpt from Miliput I'd made intending it to be a Native American. It turned out too tall and gangly so was abandoned. Discovering the figure when preparing for the game, I looked at it and started seeing a very close resemblance to General Wolfe......

A bit of work and a unique figure for Wolfe emerged. I don't remember much about the game apart from the adapted rules not working that well. The LI performed magnificently.......for the other side as I was playing Montcalm!

For years, the LI and Wolfe have been the only British completed; looking at the unpainted items, it seems I bought some British and Americans to provide opponents to the French. The recent purchase of the RSM / Pax Britannica 30mm and Rafm 25mm have added to the pile. However, I now have enough British to provide opponents (or will do once painted).

After much contemplation, it seems fitting to build the British around Wolfe's army at Quebec; 2 units with yellow facings, two with white, one each with orange, black and buff plus Highlanders, converged Grenadiers and a few Rangers.

The first 44 rank and file have been cleaned up.

While cleaning them up I listened to an audio book of Fennymore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans.

Injuns and IDF (or Hurons and Halftracks)

Unseasonably warm weather in the UK meant painting was out of the question; a wet palette might have coped but I find it requires a slightly different technique as the paint becomes thinner.

I therefore spent the weekend between two projects. Firstly some Rafm Native Americans / First Nations warriors were cleaned up with some requiring the addition of weapons.

Next the IDF M3 halftracks for the 35th Para Brigade attached to Ugda Tal.

Finis!

At last, I have finished painting the two battalions of Regiment du Berry.

What I thought would be a quick job has turned into a marathon! I spent lots of time getting the gris-blanc to a colour that wasn't to far from the existing French. The hard bit was trying to paint in a style that would not look completely different while getting something I was happy with.

Need varnish and flags and basing, but they are done for now.

The existing regiments are awaiting their flags refreshing as the varnish has yellowed considerably, Bearn was especially effected.

You can't go back.....and why maybe you shouldn't try!

A cautionary tale....

I embarked on the painting of the two battalions of Regiment du Berry on the expectation it would be a quick job. After all the bulk of the figures had already been blocked in so would just need touching up and a few figures added to fill the gaps....

Well it turns out it wasn't that simple. First I had to add around 8 figures to the same style as the previous painter. OK done. It was then that I examined my existing figures. The new figures were way too dark. Far darker than even my darkest figure's "Gris-blanc" coat, the particular French grey-white shade.

So I tried to remember how I'd painted back then. It was just before switching to black undercoat and layers. It must have been washes and drybrushing (as per Peter Gilder's guide from Military Modelling). So I tried a drybrush of lighter grey. No still too dark.

Part of the problem is my old figures are varnished and the varnish has discoloured giving an antique yellow hue. I cannot see how they were painted.

So, a thin light grey- white wash was applied over the dark drybrushed colour. Red was applied to one battalion. At this stage I began to realise that I would have been better to simply strip the figures and start again.........

Maybe, I'd have been better to not try matching, but just paint in my current style or using Contrast Paint? What was I thinking?

While intellectually I realise you cannot go back in time and be the person you were 20 years ago, I'd assumed you could replicate your painting style? 

It turns out trying to paint the way you did 30 to 40 years ago is harder than it seems....

Even realising how long ago it was gives pause for thought......

Anyway, this is where I've got to. I need to finish off a few more colours to see how they look.

Les Francais...

After completing 2 units of infantry for Banst (previous post) I decided the motivation wasn't there and rather than it become a chore, I put them away and did something else.

As my reading (and brain) is stuck in a French & Indian War theme, it seemed sensible to work on that.....

After sorting out the marching figures and strengthening weak bayonets, followed by some sorting of units, both RSM and Rafm, I put to one side some French bought part painted. This was interrupted by a parcel which needed collecting from the post office. This turned out to be Rafm Flint & Feather range packs from Australia, mostly canoes, something I had not bought originally (but always coveted).

The figures were part of the lots which had lead rot. These however, had been part painted. The bases had something on the underside, which didn't look like the lead carbonate bloom on the others, more like undercoat or results of glue.

I debated stripping the figures, but in the end decided not to. If they had been primed, then it should have prevented the lead rot developing. As a precaution I removed the residue (which didn't produce the same black on the gloves) and brushed them with the gum turpentine and mineral oil solution.

My idea was that the pre-painting should save some time. It did mean trying to match someone else's painting style and somehow blending them with my existing figures. My French had all been painted just prior to switching to a black undercoat, so are simple block washes, without shading.

The figures appeared to have been painted black in most areas, followed by a drybrush of grey. After repairing areas in black where the paint had rubbed off, I coated some extra figures to make up the numbers for two battalions for Regiment Berry. Touching up the white meant I had a grey to use to blend in the new figures. After a couple of hours, I had this:

More work is needed to match my original units. In the background, is the command stand of Bearn - their flag has suffered the most from varnish discolouration and fading and I may attempt to freshen it up with paint. They are also there to provide a reminder of ancient painting style. 

The units were originally done for WRG's 1685 - 1845 rules at a 1:50 scale working on French units of 14 figures to include a separate grenadier and LI piquet figures. I'm not convinced the piquet skirmishers were around for the SYW, although in Europe, the French deployed entire regiments as skirmishers (from memory). I should re-read Lee Kennett. Anyway, for consistency, I have kept with 14 figure units even though Chartrand estimates the standard battalion of being 550 (11 figures), with Berry having 960 in its two battalions (480 or 9 -10 figures). The game works on 600 or 12 figure battalions. Real life unit strength varied due to captures at sea, reinforcements, desertion, death and disease and towards the end, the regulars were made up to strength with Canadian militia.

The extra figures will allow for the formation of ad-hoc grenadier battalions (as at Ticonderoga) or for variable scale games; for smaller battles, a higher figure ratio is probably needed, such as Lake George where the 200 men of La Reine represented by 14 figures = 1:15. Of course this does mean more figures for militia, native Americans etc.

The first of Banst

First unit finished for the Electorate of Banst.

Technically one of the Electoral states of the Empire, character generation through up an Elector with a scandalous past who, while militarily talented, has an antipathy for almost every other state and is disliked in return by many!

I have pictured him as possibly something of a cad; a slightly Frederickan character who has little tolerance for others coupled with an inventive military outlook. His army is essentially a mercenary one, for hire and inspired by the ideas of the Marshall de Saxe.

There are two "Legions" each with three "Cohorts" of infantry, a unit of "Velites" (LI skirmishers) and "Horse" (Dragoons, Hussars and Lancers). Each has some light "Flying artillery" ( horse artillery) and an amussette musket. All but the hussars wear a "neo-classical" helmet and the colour scheme is green faced red with buff.

The army's genesis was born out of a desire / need to use up surplus figures; initially , I only had enough AWI Spencer Smith for the main armies, but had left over Napoleonic lancers and cavalry as well as some later additions in a slightly smaller size, including AWI light infantry. Judicious purchases allowed modifications; the infantry and dragoons had head swaps using the AWI head on AWI grenadiers or French Napoleonics or Bavarian / Wurtembourg Napoleonic heads on AWI cavalry. The artillery ended up with heavily modified ACW kepis. The tricorne surplus heads were used on Napoleonic or ACW bodies to produce civilian militia / rebels.

Just for Jonathan, the inspiration and painting guide sketches (already I have deviated from some colour choices).

Britcon and lead rot

Popped into Britcon today. Second time it's been held in Nottingham.

Predominantly a competition convention, it has some traders, a bring & buy and limited games other than the competition ones (I noted two....). Some traders present last year were missing, but there were new replacements. Last year had three booksellers, this year only one....

There were none of the 3D printing traders which seemed to dominate last year, however some of the usual resellers and familiar faces were back, but many of Nottingham's lead belt were absent again. A couple of the new traders were resin scenery makers.

Bring & buy was........underwhelming. Mediocre painted armies at inflated prices, perhaps aimed at the competition gamers?

I ended up picking up a Margeret of Anjou and Henry VI figure sets from a new manufacturer (Athena Miniatures) for WotR. Other than that it was terrain; some nice little Italian / Spanish houses and various self-adhesive flags from the Square, some ready done desert hill / ridge pieces (set of 5) and impulse purchase and biggest spend......F&I war stockade and fort pieces from Ironclad Miniatures - various separate resin pieces so various permutations of simple forts can be created. Reasonable price with deals for complete forts:

https://www.ironcladminiatures.co.uk/ourshop/cat_870020-French-and-Indian-Wars-28mm.html

With the F&I war being a focus at present, couldn't resist.....

Returning home, I carried on with the lead rot treatment. The cavalry and artillery had been brushed with brass brush and dipped in the turpentine / mineral oil on Friday. Today they were washed in detergent and rinsed. The last remaining figures were brushed and dipped this afternoon.

Now just to clean them all up, prime and paint them!

Tackling the lead rot.....

Finished work so thought I'd have a go at tackling the miniatures showing signs of potential lead rot.....

I'd ordered some brushes used to clean spark plugs and similar. There are a nylon, brass and steel brushes in the set. I thought the brass would be the most suitable.

I'd also ordered some gum turpentine and mineral oil; sceptical at first, I'd discovered that gum turpentine is used as a solvent including being used to remove varnish and old paint, including notorious white lead paint.....

So, I set too brushing the figures to remove the grey dusting which I suspect is lead oxide (or carbonate). The paper didn't show much in the way of removed material and then I noticed the figures of the gloves I was wearing.......

For the record, in addition to the household gloves, I was wearing a half face mask, such as used for spray paint. Now the gloves had some black paint on them but most of this is from brushing with the brass brush.....

After cleaning (the figures are shiny and there appeared to be no loss of detail) they were dunked in the magic mixture of 50:50 gum turpentine and mineral oil. I'm not entirely sure what the oil is for, whether to dilute the turpentine or as a protective coating to keep out moisture, but it certainly changes the appearance of the miniatures.....

The only downsides are figures being a bit oily and the smell of the turpentine! It's certainly a distinctive odour!