Last Painting for the Year

With the end of the Wars of the Roses project I thought I had finished painting for the year, but the other day, when cleaning out my study, I came across two boxes of figures that had been sitting there for years. In one contained a bunch of Franco-Prussian figures that I had bought from a departed friend's estate. The other had sixteen one-of-a-kind NZ Wars figures in it. Since painting existing "stock" saves me a bit of cash when we are trying to restrain spending, they have provided a final painting project during these holiday days.

The first batch was twelve Wargames Foundry Imperial Guard infantry. These had been badly stored before I got them - a couple had broken bayonets and others had knocked badly against each other and a few were just bad casts - so there was a bit of repair work required. I had painted (and later sold) a swag of these back in the 1980's, so there was a bit of déjà vu as I worked on them. For now they will sit, painted, in a box until I get around ordering a command group to complete the unit. Six are in bonet de police, as below, and six are in bearskin - yes I know that the bearskins were not worn in 1870, but these were the figures I had...

The second batch are eight dismounted Prussian hussars that I have painted as the 16th Regiment. The third batch, still in progress, is a unit of six Prussian uhlans.

Then there were NZ Wars Maori figures. About twelve years ago I got quite keen on this period and made a selection of 28mm masters with the intention of casting them up. The project went nowhere and the masters just sat there. Looking at them now there are a lot of anatomical problems, but they're OK. A friend, with whom I have gamed with for more than 40 years (and who hosts most of our games), is very keen on this period, so I have painted them up as a gift for him.