Re-Based 40mm Napoleonics

You might remember I picked up some painted 40mm French Infantry from Ebay a while back. With some help from Steve Shann I have rebased them after a bit of a refresh to bring them more in line with my own figures (Not much bit of highlights on flesh and a brighter blue highlight mainly).

I also took the opportunity to re-base my cavalry from single bases which were a pain to store and move and always got damaged. So having just finished these off I thought why not get a few snaps for you.

British Light Dragoons, all Perry's but with some simple conversions to arms and a head swap.

These two mounted officers are both Ebay purchases rebased and touched up. The left is Sash and Sabre the right is a 3d printed Piano Wargames.

Two lots of Sash and Sabres Voltiguers.

This lot with a Perry Officer and a Perry Voltiguer on the far right.

I also put the Light Dragoon commander on a larger base, again makes him less prone to damage and looks nicer I think. An NCO rather than an Officer, as I paint more I am looking at 3d printed officers for these figures.

He's a Perry trooper with hands swapped mounted on a AWI Front Rank horse which came out quite nice.

Then there are the 40mm French I bought, these had a fabulous paint job, I did though add my own touches to these guys, a highlight to the blue to make them brighter and extra layer of pale flesh highlighting the face. Other than that its mainly just a rebase. Battalion one.

Battalion two essentially the same process and outcome.

Battalion three in white. A slightly smaller unit, the white had yellowed with age somewhat so required a layer of highlight to bring it back out, again though the starting point was excellent so not a huge ammount of work.

Lastly a re-base for my French Hussars very much the same as the British Light Dragoons.

Much happier with these on larger bases, As you may have guessed this is now a little out of hand for Skirmish gaming and I am actively reviewing how we step it up to battalion level. Lots more to paint so a couple of brigades a side with artillery and cavalry support eventually.

Megalomania at its finest.

No more to base or re-base now so it will be on with painting fresh units, I really need to focus on British and Spanish, the French have essentially 7 battalions ready, with only 1 British and 2 Spanish to face them.

Watch this space I guess.

The Elizabethan Irish Finished

I based the last of the Irish up today, so with the exception of an Irish Warlord its complete. Still finishing off the English but not lots to do so hopefully Phase 1 done this month (English and Irish, dotn ask what Phase 2 is yet)

Here are the highlights, lots of pictures, I have added commentary on the manufacturers for those interested, for those not you may just want to skip and look at the figures..

31 companies of Irish, of course I can use many of them as Auxiliaries for the English

First up seven companies of Gallowglass. As with all of these troops there is a big mix of manufacturers to add to that irregular look and a bit more terrain than the English.

A Lord in his Gallowglass gear with a standard bearer carrying the flag of the O'More. Antideluvian Lord and Gripping beast standard bearer.

As with most of these the larger portion are Perry's, or Antideluvian although non of the latter on this base,  from the Wars of the Roses range but this one also includes a 3D printed archer, Gripping Beast Gael standard bearer and Flags of War axeman.

As with the above Perry and Flags of War but also 3 Antideluvian figures.

The wolf hound is plastic from Wargames Atlantic, one Perry figure on the left the rest are Antideluvian.

Front Rank are Perry's and rear rank Antideluvian.

Mix here of Foundry, Steve Barber and Antideluvian with plastic wolf hound and 3d printed archer.

A metal Wolfhound here with Flags of War, Foundry, Antideluvian and Gripping Beast. I particularly like the front figure with the huge sword, this is from a pack by Antdeluvian based on a 16th century woodcut by Albrecht Durer and its a cracking pack of figures that captures the woodcut perfectly. I have however spread the pack over a number of bases.

Mainly Antideluvian here with a Steve Barber figure in the middle and another Gripping Beast Gael.

5 units of Bonnacht, these are Kern but paid and typically better armed than their more feudal counterparts.

Wolfhound with mainly Perrys figures and one Gripping Beast Gael. I have no evidence at all for the Wolf Hounds, call it artistic licence.

Again four Perry's figures and this time a plastic Gripping Beast figure at the back with a Redoubt metal head.

Flags of War at the front and Perry's following behind.

Right mix here, the front figure is Flags of War along with the flag of the O'Neils, Perry piper, Antideluvian to the right, Crusader to the left and Gripping BeaSt standard bearer.

This more static group is a favourite, again Gripping Beast standard bearer with a flags of War Bloody Hand of O'Neil flag, two Antideluvian figures (Particularly love the chap with the doublehanded sword and large red mantle), Perry piper and Gripping Beast Champion challenging the English to battle.

Six units of Irish Light Horse.

Slightly different approach with the cavalry I have kept companies manufacturer specific as both horses and riders dont really work mixed. These guys are all Redoubt, the rear left hand figure is the only one from 3 companies of Redoubt with an original head, as I am not a fan, the other two are Steve Barber Thirsty Years War heads. The Irish horse were great skirmishers but being without saddle or stirrups could not stand up to English horse in close combat.

Another 3 Reboubt all with head swaps, the two outers from Perrys Irish the inner is a Redoubt ECW head.

These 3 are Crusader Scots Thegns with Steve Barber Thirty Years War heads and the flag is the Earl of Tyrone. I think these came out well.

More Redoubt with a mix of head swaps, Steve Barber and Foundry Conquistadors.

Crusader Scots Light horse, no changes except the horse on the left, once his shield was fixed with araldite I couldnt get it off and it blocks him fitting the correct horse so this had to do instead.

Lastly Footsore Irish Dark Age Light Horse, I think they fit quite well.

The Shotte you have already seen but here they are again for completeness, mainly Perrys.

This Redoubt Figure is quite nice but the original head is not so great, I quite like this battered Morion and drooping moustache, a head I cut off another figure and damaged a little bit but seems to work quite well.

4 Perrys with a Morion head swap at the back and a West Wind Dark Age Irishman at the very back.

This one has an old Essex Irishman, a Crusader Kern with hand swap, 2 Perrys and another Perry Bonnacht with hand swap, the hand swaps have plastic muskets and hands from the Warlord ECW packs.

I may have got carried away with the Kern, 9 companies, although to be fair the English used them as well so they are multi purpose.

I have tried adding bits of terrain to these to add interest and accentuate their irregular nature, on here we have Flags of War, Crusader, Gripping Beast and Antediluvian.

Perry's, Antideluvian and Crusader.

Antideluvian, Gripping beast plastic, Crusader and Perry.

I like the log effect on this one that also has Perry, Crusader and Antideluvian.

Flags of War on the left, Gripping Beast in the middle, Perry back right, Antideluvian front right and Crusader in the centre.

This has Flags of War, Gripping Beast plastic, Gripping Beast metal and Perry's.

Two Perrys, a Crusader, Antidiluvian and a plastic Dark Age Gripping Beast in the centre with the baldy head.

Perry's, Crusader, Gripping Beast and Antideluvian in this one.

2 Perrys at the front, 2 Crusader middle and right with a crusader archer back left and a chunk of the privet hedge from my garden front left.

Lastly Perrys front left, Antideluvian middle and right with a Crusader Kern with head swap in the centre and a Gripping Beast warrior rear left.

So there you are the Irish in their war glory, just the one Leader to add and its done. Thank goodness!

Resolve Markers

The Irregular Wars rules requires us to record the resolve of units, which can gradually erode until they break. Similarly James's Midgard rules use Stamina in the same way and this needs to be measured in some way.

James uses innovative magnetic basing but I am not sure thats the way for me.

Initially I had thought casualty markers as below, however these are difficult to read from a distance, easily knocked and, given I need 50 or so, thats a heck of  a lot more figures to buy, paint and base.

A search on ebay showed a different solution, so I am giving these a go and just need to decide what colour they should be, 5 options numbered 1-5 from left to right.

Number 1 is my current favourite and pretty much a match for my basing.

Number 2 is almost the same but slightly darker with just one dry brush.

Number 3 is a base coat with no dry brush at all and probably my least favourite.

Number 4 is black with a quick dry brush to provide somm contrast.

5 is plain black and the one I thought I would like best as it matches the dice. I am not so sure now.

So, thoughts on a postcard, which works best on table?