Workbench update again

I will be dropping some figures into the basing department tomorrow and reiving some completed units back to share with you, so I thought I would do a quick update before these figures disappear off to York.

Firstly though I had two packages from Warfare miniatures yesterday and got really excited about some of these figures. Two units of Saxon Currasier and a pack of casualties I will also use as markers for Saxons.

 This also set me thinking, I have been planning to do a tutorial type post taking through my whole process from priming to basing. Not because I think I do this better than anyone else but I always think it worth sharing this stuff in case there is a little gem someone can pick up.


I will use the cavalry figures as this allows me to share my approach for both horses and the figures so keep an eye out this will be coming over the forthcoming weeks.

 So firstly I have my third unit of Saxon Guard (Polish guard of the Saxon army confusingly) painted up. Not to be confused with the second battalion hopefully coming back from the basing department finalized tomorrow. I am now just trying to decide if three battalions of guard or four is appropriate. Tmpted to do my Saxons in 4 battalion brigades each made up of 2 regiments of 2 battalion each. If so one more battalion of Saxon Guard required. Food for thought.


Anyway, the rank and file are all Wargames Factory as is the Seargent and one of the Standard bearers. The Officer, second standard bearer and drummer are Wargames Foundry.

 I think the above shows how two ranks with a virtual third rank of drummer and seargent works quite well.

 Then the Swedish guard, first battalion of these, all Ebor figures. Really please with how it has come out. Flags by Warfare in both cases.

I am playing my first game if Great Northern War hosted by Paul Robinson at the Grimsby club and really looking forward to this, so watch out for photos of the game and of the completed units (mainly Poles) coming back from the basing department this weekend.

Workbench Swedish Guard and Command

Whilst the Basing department is finishing off 3 units of Polish Horse, one of Russian Dragoons and more Saxon Guard I thought I might share with you the state of the workbench which is currently doing quite well thank you.


I had a pack of Warfare Heavy Cavalry Command sat in box, the horses were part painted but as I had ordered standing horses in error I didn't want to use them as part of a cavalry unit, a picture of Marshall Rehnskold in the Great Northern War Compendium reminded me of one of the figures and thought Mmmmm what if.....


So the below is a generic Cavalry officer who is now Rehnskold Swedish Marshall of horse and Army commander at Poltava and victor of Fraustadt where the Saxon army was destroyed. I particularly like the stances with fist on hip and the gabion will be added at basing stage to give it a little of something different.

 That left me with  standard bearer and a bugler, I decided that if I removed the Standard bearers arm and replaced it with a sword arm I could paint the two and make a Saxon Cavalry command base. I am pretty happy how this has come out.

I have also then finished my first battalion of the Swedish Foot Guards. These are all Ebor figures and the Standard bearers are awaiting their Warfare miniatures flag sheet to arrive (ordered about an hour ago) before these and the command can wing their way over to the basing department currently in York. I intend to have at least two battalions plus a grenadier battalion.

Lastly I am still working my way through the Russians and the first battalion is 60% painted.

I am really happy with how the photography has come out on these so will be trying to replicate this in future. Next on the bench is more Russians and mores Saxons. I have ordered two units of Currassier from Warfare so I can get started on Saxon heavy cavalry.


Hopefully some based up Polish units next time.


Cheers!

Gel Pens

Chatting to chum Chris Charlton and he mentioned an article in one of the magazines about using gel pens to paint detail on figures.  I was skeptical but decided I would give it a go.

I ordered a silver, a gold and a white with plans to use these to highlight the metalics and do the hat tape for tricornes.

Its early days but so far I am quite impressed with the results. 

The first figure below is a Swedish Seargent, I used the silver pen to touch the edges of his halberd after base painting it with a darker metallic, this is meant to give the impression of sharp edges to weapons.

 The second effort was on a Swedish officer. This chap also has the silver along the blade edges, I have also used the gold pen for his hat and coat lace and gorget.

 Lastly is the white, I have used this for the hat tape on the below Russian Seargent. The rest of the figure is not completed.

 Taken as a whole the results are very encouraging, its easier to do some detail than paint and quicker, for buttons you do have to be careful to make a quick dab, if you hold the pen on for any longer the ink floods the miniature. 


Taken as a whole, highly recommended, if only for certain jobs. The colours in particular are spot on.

The pens I have used are Uni-ball Signo, I have no idea if other makes are as good. These ones were about £2.80 from ebay post free. Overall a worth while investment I think.

The Russians are Coming

For some time I have been toying with adding Russians to my collection. Wargaming chum Dave is planning to do this army properly, but on numerous occasions Russian troops fought alongside the Saxons in Poland-Lithuania and I thought it might be nice to add a small force to bolster my Saxons and add contrast to all that Red.

I have yet to decide the final make up, I will certainly have 3 units of Cossacks. I have the dragoon unit below and will also have a unit of horse grenadiers. For the foot current thinking is 2 battalions of line in Green coats with a third unit of dismounted Cossacks. Dismounted Cossacks certainly fought alongside the Saxons in reasonably large numbers so I think this will look a little different.

I have started off with the Dragoons, in this case Ingermanlandski, the flag is from Reiver and the miniatures are all Ebor. The Paul Hicks sculpts are great to paint but I do struggle with the fit on the horses.

The actual troopers come in the one pose, its a nice enough pose but I do prefer some variation and so have added some head swaps for the second pack of 3.

 

For the second pack I took three heads from the range supplied for the Ebor Swedes and did some simple conversions. I like the outcome, I do hope that people are not yet bored of the head with the bandage appearing in units yet.

 

 

 

   I am particularly keen to have dismounted versions for the Russians, less important for other nations I feel but the Russians used them as infantry more often from accounts I have read. I like the idea of three bases like the other units but one base has a horse holder with horses whilst the other two have a firing line. Lets see what becomes available from our friends at Warfare and Ebor in the coming months.

 

I also intend to do a Horse Grenadier unit, the below are based on Kropotov's horse Grenadiers as pictured in the Osprey men at arms. Again these are Ebor, one of the three troopers has head at a different angle giving enough of a difference for me to decide not to bother with head swaps in this case.

 
Oh and I tried an outside shot hoping the bright sunshine might improve my photography, alas this was not to be!

 
The Eagle eyed amongst you will notice I have posted a picture of the Russian Pike before, However as I have changed their stockings from red to white I decided it deserved another picture.

 
As a work bench update I have also finished the first of the musketeers. Ebor miniatures and the kneeling front rank are on the painting table at the moment, alongside the last of the Saxon Guard battalions and the first of the Swedish Life Guard.

So lots going on. plenty coming through, I hope to have some Polish cavalry back from the basing department soon, I am also looking forward to the release of Warfare's Swedish Cavalry next month. However in particular looking forward to a trip over to Grimsby to meet Paul Robinson for a game of Great Northern War, you can see Paul's blog here http://grimsbywargaming.blogspot.co.uk/ and I cant wait for my first game from this period in about 4 weeks.


 So thanks for reading again and watch this space for more posts.

 

The Russians are Coming

For some time I have been toying with adding Russians to my collection. Wargaming chum Dave is planning to do this army properly, but on numerous occasions Russian troops fought alongside the Saxons in Poland-Lithuania and I thought it might be nice to add a small force to bolster my Saxons and add contrast to all that Red.



I have yet to decide the final make up, I will certainly have 3 units of Cossacks. I have the dragoon unit below and will also have a unit of horse grenadiers. For the foot current thinking is 2 battalions of line in Green coats with a third unit of dismounted Cossacks. Dismounted Cossacks certainly fought alongside the Saxons in reasonably large numbers so I think this will look a little different.

I have started off with the Dragoons, in this case Ingermanlandski, the flag is from Reiver and the miniatures are all Ebor. The Paul Hicks sculpts are great to paint but I do struggle with the fit on the horses.

 

The actual troopers come in the one pose, its a nice enough pose but I do prefer some variation and so have added some head swaps for the second pack of 3.

 

 

 

For the second pack I took three heads from the range supplied for the Ebor Swedes and did some simple conversions. I like the outcome, I do hope that people are not yet bored of the head with the bandage appearing in units yet.

 

 The above and below give an idea of how I want the dragoons to look. I am particularly keen to have dismounted versions for the Russians, less important for other nations I feel but the Russians used them as infantry more often from accounts I have read. I like the idea of three bases like the other units but one base has a horse holder with horses whilst the other two have a firing line. Lets see what becomes available from our friends at Warfare and Ebor in the coming months.

 

 

I also intend to do a Horse Grenadier unit, the below are based on Kropotov's horse Grenadiers as pictured in the Osprey men at arms. Again these are Ebor, one of the three troopers has head at a different angle giving enough of a difference for me to decide not to bother with head swaps in this case.

 

 The Eagle eyed amongst you will notice I have posted a picture of the Russian Pike before, However as I have changed their stockings from red to white I decided it deserved another picture.

 

 

As a work bench update I have also finished the first of the musketeers. Ebor miniatures and the kneeling front rank are on the painting table at the moment, alongside the last of the Saxon Guard battalions and the first of the Swedish Life Guard.

 Oh and I tried an outside shot hoping the bright sunshine might improve my photography, alas this was not to be!

 

So lots going on. plenty coming through, I hope to have some Polish cavalry back from the basing department soon, I am also looking forward to the release of Warfare's Swedish Cavalry next month. However in particular looking forward to a trip over to Grimsby to meet Paul Robinson for a game of Great Northern War, you can see Paul's blog here http://grimsbywargaming.blogspot.co.uk/ and I cant wait for my first game from this period in about 4 weeks.



So thanks for reading again and watch this space for more posts.