Champions!!

What a fantastic season, congrats to Coach Dantonio and the whole team.

A bunch of 3-star players on an unranked preseason team does not often become the best defense in the country and the 4th ranked team heading into its most cherished bowl game. This team is for real, and they proved it yesterday by smacking some Buckeyes.

And now, for the first time since 1988, on to the Granddaddy of Them All, the Rose Bowl. 

GO GREEN!

#beatstanford

Winter is coming...

And you all know what that means, right?

Yes, the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is back. I received an email a few days ago from Curt to inquire about my interest in taking the challenge once more, and I gladly accepted.This year I want to be a bit more ready with my stuff so the Trolls mentioned in my last post will wait a little while I clean and prime as many things as possible in the coming weeks!  

The Challenge is similar in format to last year, however with a few twist, first and foremost the inclusion of Sci-Fi and Fantasy figures. There is also themes per week, those interested can read all about it on Curt's blog 

The inclusion of fantasy miniatures is great news for me, as it means I'll be able to include my Oldhammer project in the contest. But while I intend to focus on my fantasy project, I also want to use the opportunity to work a little on my Canaanites and Napoleonics.

After some difficult thinking, I've decided on this target as well as my (tentative) plan.  So my magic number is...590 pts. It is more than I did last year (405 pts), but less than last year's target number (710 pts). A middle ground number, really.

Here's the rundown, which may be changed without prior notice at any time :

• 15 Chaos Warriors (15x5) : 75 pts
• 10 Chaos Warriors (10x5) : 50
• 15 Chaos Dwarfs (15x5) : 75 pts
• 4 Trolls (15x4) : 60 pts
• 1 Jabberwock (15) : 15 pts
• 20 Beastmen (20x5) : 100 pts
• 16 Canaanite archers (16x5) : 80 pts
• 1 Canaanite Prince on Chariot : 35 pts
• Austrian 6pdr battery (4 guns + 12 crew) (4x10+12x5) : 100 pts
• 1 "28mm figure that is inspired by a Sam Peckinpah film"* : 5 pts

 A nice mixture of stuff to keep me entertained all winter! I intend to try to participate in some of the bonus rounds, at least the villains and vehicles if I can manage it.

Now, if you'll excuse me,  I've got figures to prep.

*I have no idea yet what I'm doing yet! ;-)

My first Duchy of Warsaw Poles

Well, I finally found the time to base and photograph my very first unit of Poles, from Murawski Miniatures. They are meant to represent the 1st battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. As with almost all of my Napoleonic collection, the uniforms used are those of the 1809 campaign, which suits me well as I prefer the Polish uniforms of the 1807-1810 era. The Polish uniforms of 1807-1810 had varied facings and lapels based on the Division the Regiment was from :

Regiment	facing(1)	lapels	buttons
1 to 4 (1st division)	scarlet	yellow	yellow
5 to 8 (2nd division)	crimson	crimson	white
9 to 12 (3rd division)	white	white	yellow
(1) worn on collar, cuffs and turnbacks.

This can make for a colourful order of battle, and just great looking units. My force will be based on the OOB from the battle of Raszyn, an ideal battle for someone with a sizable Austrian army like yours truly. 

I painted these using my newest technique of a grey undercoat, 3 layers technique and a final coat of army painter. This method was used for my biblical army and some of my FIW, but it was the first time I was using it with Napoleonics. Before, I was mostly using a technique of black undercoat and black lining. I think it came out great, and the colours looks very realistic to me. I also tried a new way of painting yellow using mostly ochre colours instead of actual yellow. Again, I find it looks more realistic. 

I also painted 2 skimishers to go with the unit, however I'm still unsure of what basing I will use for my skirmishers stands from now on so I have yet to base them. I ordered some bases style from Litko to do a few tests.

Those damn Poles have more stuff on them than christmas trees! ;-) Looks great, but they are a bit more work than your usual Austrian soldier. But that's just me being lazy, I'm very pleased of the figures and my painting. 

So here it is, le 1er Bataillon du 1er Régiment d'infanterie du Grand Duché de Varsovie. As usual, flags by GMB, bases from Litko.

 
The 1st Regiment was part of the 1st Division and as such had yellow lapels and scarlet facings. The drummers and Sappeur's uniforms are conjectural and a bit of artistic license from my part, but from my readings we can safely assume the Poles were quite extravagant in their uniforms. It seems they would even vary from one battalion to the next! Which is always something that makes a miniature painter happy...

The figures were as advertised; lots of character, crisp details and just a joy to paint. I especially enjoyed painting the faces, and it seems all the figures have a personality of their own. And I decided to mix both full and campaign dress in the same unit to create a lot of diversity.

Vistula Legion now available!

Hot! Hot! 

The first releases of the Vistula Legion are now ready.  These figures, designed by Paul Hicks, represent the legion on campaign, and are ideal for the period 1812-14. There are no pictures on the site as yet, but please feel free to contact us for more details, or have a look at Roger's blog for some examples :
 
The packs currently available are:
 
- Grenadiers in Czapka (for 1813/14) – 2 different figures: £3.00
- Grenadiers or Voltigeurs in Shako – 2 different figures: £3.00
- Voltigeurs skirmishers – 3 different figures: £5.00
- Fusiliers (6 figure pack ) – 3 different figures: £9.00
- Command pack consisting of – 2 officers, 1 drummer, 1 bugler, 1 standard bearer, 1 sapeur, 1 NCO (7 different figures ) - £11.00
- 1 mounted colonel - £5.00
- 2 casualties - £3.00

We also added a pack of casualty to the Duchy of Warsaw Poles.

Roger sent me some samples and they are fantastic. IMHO some of the very best figures sculpted by Mr. Paul Hicks.

For more info
To contact us
 
Just ask if you have any questions,

The battle of Kesselstadt

Some pictures of our latest Napoleonic battle,  the battle of Kesselstadt. It was a fictitious engagement set in 1813 between Austro-Bavarian and French forces. We used Lasalle, a game we were strongly considering as our new rule of choice, and I must say the game proved us right! I was the GM, Rusti & John played the Allies and Nicolas the French. It was a simple pitch battle, but with a twist. The French had a brigade of two cavalry regiments hidden in the woods, and could unveil them anytime he wanted. As a GM I left those units upstairs, in their cabinet, so to not hint their presence in any ways to the Allies! Although in the end the Austro-Bavarians won a very close battle, the look on their two general's face when the Ellbrach brigade came out of the wood was priceless!

Enough of me talking, enjoy the pics. For once there's loads of them.

The Austro-Bavarian force is deployed along the Kinzig river

Some Bavarian soldiers getting, ahem, ready for battle

The Grenadiers reserve are already on the move

The Austrians answer back

Bavarians, looking smart as usual

John and Rusti, the Allies general

The woods in the forefront, where lies two hidden regiments of cavalry...

The French are moving in for the attack

On the other flank, a furious firefight

Surprise! Dragoons and Hussars join the fight from the woods

The firefight continues, both players being cautious on that front

You had to see this coming...right? Those poor bastards from the Archduke Rudolph regiment

However the murderous cannons of the nearby Austrian battery causes much damage to the French

                               The charge of the reserves! The Hungarian Grenadiers, supported by their "German" counterparts win the day with a successful charge.

The Allies succeed in protecting their left flank from the French cavalry (and killing the Hussars in the process) With many losses and the Allies still in control, the French have to retreat. It was a bloody and very close affair.

All in all, a fun and fast moving battle which I quite enjoyed. We are playing another one in October, this time planned by John. Using Lasalle again.

As for me, next post we talk nostalgia...

A new girl in my life

Say hello to Mimosa, aka Tiny, our new furry bundle of joy. She was my cousin's but he could not take care of her anymore  and so was looking for a new home for her. Being an older (9) cat I knew the chances of her finding a good home were slim to none so we took her in. 

 Our resident wise cat Leto, who turned 11 a few months back and spent his life as an only cat, has accepted her marvelously well and we are incredibly proud of him for that. We nicknamed her Tiny because she's quite small and she looks even tinier compared to our Lion sized Leto!

Having two cats sure brings a lot of action to a household! Fun times.

On the painting front very little to report, as I did little to no painting in July with the heatwave here in Montreal. I used my brushes for the first time in a month last week-end. Hopefully I'll have something to show in a couple of weeks.

Vistula Legion, casualties, and more from Murawski Miniatures

Lots of new stuff coming from Roger over at Murawski Miniatures.

First the Vistula Legion, and they are very pretty :

 

and then casualties (my favourites of the lot, they look fantastic!)

and finally some Duchy of Warsaw firing line (love the animation)

Paul Hicks did a fantastic job on the whole lot, and I'm very impressed by these new releases. I can't wait to get my hands on these beauties.

We expect these to be available late August or early September.

You can see more pictures on Roger's blog 

Leipzig refight at Roger's

In case you missed it, a few pictures of Roger and friends latest game, a massive game based on the second day of the Battle of Leipzig.

A lot more pics here and here  
It is quite impressive

Some Murawski Poles