"Kitty Bonny"; a gift to a friend, and my first entry in the challenge

The last few competition it took me a few weeks before submitting a first entry, so I decided to break the habit by submitting something straight outta the gate. It will put me on the board and motivate me to add to this early start.

2014 was a very difficult year for me; I spent most of the year unable to walk after undergoing three knee surgeries and at one point, after a series of complications, I seriously feared I might never get to walk normally again. Although I've mostly recovered now it's in those difficult times that you get to know your real friends, and I am lucky enough to count on a few amazing ones who supported me, visited me and cheered me up through these hard times. So I decided that, for Christmas, I would do something special and individually paint for each of them a unique figure as a show of gratitude. I rarely if ever paint for someone else and the plan is to paint something which represents them or something they love.

So my first figure of the competition is a gift to one of my best friend, Emilie, a great girl with a love of cats. In fact, she even has a cartoon cat as a tattoo on her arm. The figure is from Dark Sword Miniature's "Anthropomorphic Animals range", obviously a cat, and it's an awesome sculpt full of personality. The pink details and plumes are also a wink to Emilie's favourite colour.

I named the figure "Kitty Bonny" and I cannot wait for Xmas to give it to her.

That should give me 5 pts to start the competition with panache (I posted this in both my blogs, after all a pirate is historical, but a cat pirate is definitely fantasy!)

Imrie paints Murawski

Just a quick pic of a Duchy of Warsaw figure painted by the incredibly talented David Imrie, one of my favourite miniature painter. 

Carry on...

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, the historical side

Its that time of the year, when temperature drops, snow covers the ground and we get ready for another crazy painting challenge! So as usual I decided to join the fun, along with a whopping 71 other crazies! Yes, the challenge keeps getting bigger, and this year there are a few changes. First and foremost the Challenge now gets its own blog,  and all the participants get to participate in it by writing their own entries. We also get a date in which we can post our weekly updates. In my case Tuesdays. This should help Curt manage this massive endeavor. 

So as usual I've set myself a goal slightly above what I've done in the past, this time 600 pts! The scoring is as follow for the 28mm painters :

28mm foot figure = 5 pts
28mm mounted figure, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 10 pts
28mm vehicle = 15 pts

I've been working hard on Oldhammer recently, but I do want to include some historical painting in the challenge. So here's the goal, on the historical side of my hobby :

• 4 gun Austrian battery, with 12 crews : 100 pts 
• 24 Canaanite Royal Guards : 120 pts 
• 12 Canaanite javelineers/skirmishers : 60 pts

Historical total : 280 pts.  

So all in all between my historical goal (280) and my fantasy goal (315) I'm short 5 pts but I have a few individual figures and surprises in mind to fill that gap. Of course, I reserve the right to change my plans without any notice! This is merely a tentative plan to help me focus.

Also, as Curt did last year, every two weeks there is a theme bonus round. These are worth 50 pts each but I do not count them in my point planning, although they will surely help me reach my goal if I can submit enough of them: 

• December 14: Cold
• December 28: Mount(s) & Rider(s)
• January 11: Victorian
• January 25: Myth
• February 8: Hot
• February 22: Comedic
• March 8: Anti-Hero

I have an entry in mind for all the bonus round except the cold and the hot (which I may or may not participate in depending on my progress). But I'll keep my ideas secret and they will be revealed on the appropriate dates.

So the last two weeks I've done as much as I can on the prepping side, trying to be better prepared than year's past. I haven't prepped everything, but its a very good start. 

My prepping table this morning

For those interested, you can find the Fantasy side of my challenge here

And finally, I'm proud to mention that Murawski Miniatures is sponsoring the challenge this year.  And boy are the prizes worth it!

Napoleon Minion Imperial Guards

What happens when you mix some of my favourite cartoon characters with my favourite historical era?

The secret force behind Napoleon's rise to power (and probably responsible for his fall).

2nd battalion, 1st infantry regiment, Duchy of Warsaw

I recently finished the 2nd battalion of the 1st infantry regiment of the Duchy of Warsaw. You might remember a while ago I painted the 1st battalion. 

For this unit, I decided to use the recently released "Duchy of Warsaw Retreat from Moscow/Campaign gear" from Muraswki Miniatures, which I really like, combined with a mix of campaign and full dress figures, to create a diverse and rag tag bunch. I also used some figures from the new firing line command. As with the rest of my Polish force, they are meant for the 1809 era, specifically for the battle of Raszyn. 

I'm quite pleased with my work on this battalion, I think it is one of my better painted Napoleonic battalion. I'm getting used to Paul Hicks sculpting, which helps. It's weird to say, but before painting Murawski figures my Napoleonic collection was basically all sculpted by the Perrys! I also used this regiment to try different greys and white/beige recipes, as I'm currently looking for a new way to paint white uniforms. I might go with the method I used for the trousers of that grenadier on the far left.

So I now have 2 regiments completed, the 2 battalions of the 1st and 2 battalions of the 8th. Not bad. I intend to work on an artillery battery next and a command stand, and I should have enough to field a brigade for our games. When that is done I'll post a pic of the complete brigade.

Here is my now customary picture of the complete regiment. I love the 1st regiment in 1809, with the yellow facings and the big white flags.

Up next on the historical painting table, either some Canaanites or more Poles. I haven't made up my mind yet.

Back to ancient times...(Canaanite archers)

Today au menu a unit of Canaanites. No I did not forget about my biblical project! I've been waiting patiently for Warlord games to re-release Cutting Edge Maryannu Chariots, which I expect will now be very soon. I need those to finish my second Chariot unit and my Canaanite Prince. In the meantime I worked on my Napoleonics and Oldhammer project, but recently I had to itch to work on some biblicals, so since I have a few infantry units left to paint I figured I'd paint those. My original plan was as follow :

- 2x6 chariots
- 2x24 spearmen (close order)

- 1x20 archers (open order)

- 3x12 skirmishers (slingers or javelinmen)

- 1x Canaanite prince on chariot

However after discussing it with John, and after reading a few rulesets we decided to build forces for War & Conquest first,  of approx. 1650 pts.

So the new plan, very similar, became :

- 1x5 Maryannu Chariots

- 1x4 Maryannu Chariots + Canaanite Prince

- 1x24 Royal Guards

- 2x24 Spearmen 

- 1x12 javelinmen

- 1x12 Shasu Bedouins

- 1x12 Slingers

- 1x16 Archers

It's a bit Chariot light, I think, but Chariots are expensive and long to paint, so hopefully I'll add more as time goes by. So I decided to do the archers next. Royal Guards I will keep for the end I think, as I usually do for my elites. I used the same painting technique as for my other Canaanites, 3 layers with an AP finish, and the same limited colour palette of pale blues, red and raw linen.

Canaanite archers were semi-trained militia or conscripted peasantry. Canaanite tradition dating from tribal days dictated that the infantrymen supplied their own equipment, but it is unclear whether this still applied into biblical times. It seems a distinction was made between militia armed with spears or bows. Canaanite infantry was mainly used as support to the main shock troops, the chariots. 

My original basing scheme was to put 4 or 5 figures per base for open order, but after doing some tests 5 per base is really too much for 50mm square bases and it looks crowded like a close order unit. So I went with 4 per bases, which looks quite good and different enough to both the skirmish bases (3 per base) and the close order (6 per base) to be easily recognizable on the battlefield. 

I might have got an old batch as these were not as clean a casting as what I usually get from Foundry, although not in the Perry level of bad casting. Still I really like Foundry biblical range, and these were no exception. Great movement, and a joy to paint. 

So now all that's left to do is 3 chariots, including my Canaanite Prince, one unit of Royal Guards and a small unit of javelinmen. Not bad at all.  

The striketrough are completed units.

- 1x5 Maryannu Chariots (2 completed)

- 1x4 Maryannu Chariots + Canaanite Prince

- 1x24 Royal Guards

- 2x24 Spearmen 

- 1x12 javelinmen

- 1x12 Shasu Bedouins

- 1x12 Slingers

- 1x16 Archer 

Currently on my workbench on the historical side : the 2nd battalion of the 1st infantry regiment of the Duchy of Warsaw, obviously Murawski Miniatures.

My new Oldhammer blog

I recently decided to split my worlds, so to speak, and to create a new blog to host my Oldhammer (and related fantasy) projects. 

I've been using this blog to post on my recent Chaos army but frankly it feels like almost two different hobbies with often different readership, and so it just makes more sense for me to separate my two passions in different blogs. Especially since I wanted to blog about the collecting aspect of Oldhammer, and also write lenghty posts about warhammer rules, army lists and such. Things that, frankly, would bore any historical only gamer ;-)

I will slowly move the Oldhammer posts and pictures from here to there, and really use this blog for only historical painting, AAR, etc.

So for the Oldhammer or fantasy lovers, the new place to be is 

Of Marauders and Citadels (just click on the image below). And please follow!

Of course nothing says you can't visit and follow both of my blogs, if you swing both ways ;-)

La Bricole is back, come visit!

La Bricole, our little Horse & Musket (mostly) forum is back after suffering Forumer's great and deadly migration. 

We are but a few at the moment but more and more of the old regulars are coming back.

If you're an old member, or if you're looking for a fun and laid-back forum devoid of any drama (ahem), I encourage you to come visit and join!

However, and I cannot stress this enough : if you enjoy Wargaming forums with drama and talks of politics, religion and other controversial subjects, you will find this place incredibly boring! You've been warned!

Exclusive first look : Poniatowski and the Polish high command, from Murawski Miniatures

It's the summer of the Poles, apparently, and we have even more new stuff coming from Murawski Miniatures, and it's just not any stuff! Yes, the Prince Poniatowski himself is almost ready to ship and he is just stunning! And he comes with his own unique rearing horse.

 

 He’s actually been designed to be standing up in the saddle but also fits well on the standing horse and also works on the galloping horse if you prefer (not as dashing if you ask me, but to each their own) :

Roger has yet to confirm this to me, but I believe he will be sold with his AdC.

And that's not all folks! 

Also soon to be available is a pack of Duchy of Warsaw high command

All in all, the new sculpts consists of : 

Poniatowski
Chef de Brigade
General / ADC
General with sword
General in Colpack
Cavalry general
ADC

Those figures are the last of the summer releases, but expect even more campaign dress in the fall. 

Polish horse artillery now available from Murawski Miniatures

And the new stuff keeps on coming from Murawski Miniatures, this time in the form of Horse artillery in busby. Yes, we are keeping Paul Hicks busy!

The Horse Artillery are for the period 1812-14 and are available in either firing or loading poses. The loading comes with 2 figures with the "firing rod" for you to choose which one you use as the head gunner - just get the modelling knife out and cut it off.

And here are a few picture of the Retreat from Moscow skirmishing pack inked by Roger (we only had pictures of the greens before that).

2nd battalion, 8th infantry regiment, Duchy of Warsaw

Here is the second battalion painted by Roger for my collection, meant to represent the 2nd battalion of the 8th infantry regiment of the Duchy of Warsaw. 

For those you missed it, pics of the first battalion can be found here . This one is in the traditional march attack, and again Rog has done a beautiful job. I finished basing it a while ago, but in a moment of stupidity/absentmindedness I glued the damn flag upside down! So I had to reorder a flag from GMB and carefully remove the upside down flag to put the new one. Doh! 

I intend to start painting another battalion soon, the 2nd battalion of the 1st regiment (I already painted the 1st battalion) so to have 4 battalion. Add a artillery battery in there and I should have a small Polish brigade for my next game, once all those knee problems are behind me.

 

and a pic of the whole 8th regiment

First ever sale from Murawski Miniatures

Roger celebrates his 50th birthday in style with his first ever sale. 

Prices have been discounted by up to 25% where possible, in order to help the old man thank the supporters of the range and mark his half century. Roger hopes this will drive sales and allow him to fund the next string of releases, i.e. the Polish hussars, chasseurs and cuirassiers. So if you have any interest in seeing these made and you've been itching to start a Polish force, now is the perfect time to take advantage of some really good prices. 

For a detailed price list, showing all the discounts available, check the ordering page of the website 

There are a host of releases in July and August, so please keep an eye out on TMP and on this blog for more.

The first of the releases is the now-completed firing line.

 

  

It is comprised of 18 unique figures, and is designed to represent a Grand Duchy of Warsaw battalion 1809-13 giving fire. Each pack contains:

  
Command – six figures – £8.00 GBP, reduced from £9.25 GBP

Fusiliers – six figures – £7.00 GBP, reduced from £9.00 GBP
Grenadiers – three figures – £3.50 GBP, reduced from £5.00 GBP
Voltigeurs – three figures (these can also be used as extra skirmishers) – £3.50 GBP, reduced from £5.00 GBP

Exclusive first look at the latest figures from Murawski Miniatures

Just received some pictures of the latest batch of greens from Murawski Miniatures and they are fantastic! Here is an exclusive look at these little beautie.

First, a figure clients have been asking since the very first days of Murawski Miniatures (hint; a dashing cavalryman and Marshal of the Empire). Yes, you all guessed it right, Józef Antoni Poniatowski, Prince Poniatowski

Prince Poniatowski in all his glory

Then we have "Retreat From Moscow", the latest addition to the infantry range, Poles in winter gear, perfect for the Russian campaign and a nice complement to the recent Perry range. 

and then some extras; a Brigade command pack and an officer casualty figure : 

No pics yet, but also currently on Paul Hicks's workbench are the Horse artillery and guns!

Awesome, hey? I'm impressed with what Roger is doing with the range. Not just the quality of the figures, but the way he's been methodically building the range. Raise your hand if you ever thought you'd see that complete of a range of Poles. I've complained so many times about the numerous half-completed ranges in this industry, it's great to see Roger's commitment to finishing it. Rumours have it that the Swedes might soon receive the same attention...

And for those who haven't seen them yet, here are pictures of the recently released infantry in firing line, which I will add to the website in the coming days (the impatient ones can contact Roger and he will send them a listing right away). I especially like the officer firing the pistol, great sculpt.

And after a slight flag problem which I will explain in my next post, expect pics of another painted battalion of Poles in the next few days.