War of 1812 Project (2)

The 15th US Infantry, the second unit of infantry for Scott's Brigade in the War of 1812 is completed. 

This time the unit is is firing line poses. Originally I had planned to mix the marching and firing poses, with the former forming the back rank and the latter the front, but once I had the figures on site, I decided not to mix them. The result is that Scott's Brigade will be made up of two regiments marching and two in firing line.

Also coming off the painting table, well technically it is still on the table, is the first of the French in Egypt items - the two-camel artillery limber and Ottoman driver. I can't quite complete this yet, one because I need the spare gun to sit on the limber (that I haven't ordered yet), and two because the dry grass tufts needed to complete the basing are on back-order and probably won't be here for another couple of weeks. But it is a start on what is shaping up to be a very interesting project.

War of 1812 Project

The 9th US Infantry, the first unit of infantry for Scott's Brigade in the War of 1812 is completed. 

I have designated this the 9th Regiment (simply because it is the first in the list).

The figures are remarkably easy to paint due to the simplicity of their uniform, although their grey jackets makes them a little dull.

French in Egypt Books

On the doorstep today, before the hundreds of children swarmed through the street for Halloween, was another parcel. This one contained Charles S. Grant's "Napoleon's Campaign in Egypt".

This is a two volume, hard back work. Volume 1 features the French Army.  Running to 111 pages it  contains a brief history of the campaign from the start of the campaign in 1798 until Bonaparte left Egypt in August 1799, with 51 colour illustrations, many by Bob Marrion, plus maps, black and white drawings, OOBs and uniform details.

Volume 2 covers the British Army and Allies. Slightly longer at 119 pages it follows the action from Bonaparte's departure to the end of the campaign in December 1800. Fifty-three colour and numerous black and white illustrations fill the pages, along with OOBs and maps. If I have any complaints it is that I would have like to seen a bit more detail on the Ottoman armies.

It is a superb book for wargamers by a very well known wargamer writing on a subject for which he clearly has a passion. It is fantastic painting guide and helps to feed my interest in the campaign.

War of 1812 Project

The War of 1812 has been a goal for some time...Napoleonics in America, it is just such an intriguing mix. The goal was to do the equivalent of a division a side but when my fellow gamer Keith launched into the project too I decided that I did not need to go so large and, since he has a large British collection, I could focus on the US forces.

I decided that my American contingent for this collection is going to be Winfield Scott's Brigade from the Niagara Campaign. I have always had an appreciation for Scott after reading his biography a few years ago. He was one of those larger than life characters that 19th Century America turned out and he remained in the limelight for forty years until he fell out of favour in the early stages of the Civil War.

The brigade formed a part of Jacob Brown's Left Division on the Canadian Frontier in 1813 and comprised of four infantry regiments - 9th, 11th, 22nd and 25th - supported by Towson's battery. The brigade was differentiated from other US regular units by wearing a simple grey tunic instead of the usual blue due to a shortage of blue cloth at the time when the brigade was kitted out. The brigade established a sound combat record in the actions along the Niagara and made name for Scott.

My version of the brigade is being built from the Brigade Games range designed by Paul Hicks. These are beautifully designed figures with rich detail...if anything a little too much detail for my impatient painting style. The figures have inspired me to expand this little force at some stage, maybe finish Brown's division which would only mean another eight or so units.

The first unit finished for the War of 1812 project is Towson's battery.

I also based up the two commanders that I had painted about three months ago.

And then yesterday the first of two parcels from the Perrys with the first of the French in Egypt. I simply  couldn't resist assembling the mounted dromedary unit...not that they will see any paint until after the Scott's Brigade is finished.

Egyptian Ruins - Part 2 ... and more.

It has been a busy day today and a frustrating one to boot. Thankfully when I got home I found this on the doorstep.

A parcel from Brigade Games containing my order for War of 1812 Americans.

The Egyptian ruins are nearing completion. After the glue dried on the "stone blocks" in the cork pillars I needed to apply a texture on the  rest of the cork surface. I wanted a coarse texture so I used an artist's texture paste to which I added some fine sand then applied the mix with a pallet knife. When the texture paste was almost completely dry I rolled the pillar on a hard surface to flatten out any ridge lines left by the pallet knife.

The textured full length pillars

Above and below, the broken pillars awaiting paint

Then everything was given a black undercoat. All the pieces were then drybrushed with Games Workshop Tallarn Sand. Two or three coats of increasingly lighter tones were then applied.

The painted base

The model dry assembled.

The next step will be to fix the pillars to the base, add some rubble and then add some stone slabs across the tops of the tall pillars.

Egyptian Ruins - Part 1

With my first order of my French in Egypt figures on the way, I have been looking at terrain pieces for use in future games. The plan is to make two middle eastern village houses, some ruins and some groups of palm trees. 

Since the weather on this Labour Day long weekend has been miserably cold and wet, ruining my plans to clean up the garden after a couple of months of neglect, I have started on the first item, the ruins.

The concept I have is based around this image I took at Karnak in 2009. 

I like the way that there is a mix of finished and unfinished surfaces on the pillars and walls.

I chose to make the base from foam board. I cut one face off the board and then drew the stone floor with a ball point pen. 

I used the same technique to create a raised floor in the centre of the piece and the walls at the front of the model.

I then painted all surfaces with PVA glue to harden up the foamboard surface.

Next was to made some pillars. For these I chose to use wine corks, of which I had a ready supply...a supply built up over a long time...honestly!

I found eight corks about the same size and shape and glued them into pairs as the basic pillar shape.

I also took one cork and cut it in three parts, then tore chunks off them. This will be a collapsed pillar. Four other corks will be used as partial pillar.  

To get that rough, broken finish that appears in the first photo on this page, I cut small pieces of thin cork sheeting and glued them to the column. 

When all of the pillars have had this applied, I will apply a finish to provide that partly finished look.

Project Management - Progress (2)

Oh dear...there is a variance in the plan already.

Part two of the plan is in progress. The War of 1812 figures have been ordered and are on their way. This part of the project plan is on target and should have a completion date of late-November, slightly ahead of schedule.

But the plan for the Heavy Brigade for the Crimean War British Army has slipped to the right. Why?

There are two reasons. First, experience tells me that the delivery time for the Crimean War figures is between four and six weeks (I am guessing that is because this is a fringe period and to control inventory costs they are cast to order - although the annoying thing for me is that I have to pay upfront but then wait for what seems an eternity for them to arrive - patience us not one of my virtues) and if I wait that long the pile will be exhausted for too long. Second, because I looked at the French in Egypt on the Perry site again an simply couldn't resist. So 54 foot figures, 24 mounted plus two guns, eight gunners a 4 horse limber and a camel limber are on their way. Another order to finish this collection is planned for November.

Also on their way (I hope) are 40 palm trees for use in Egypt that I bought off eBay for a whole $NZ 10.41. If this supplier works out well, this could be a source of my trees in the future. There will, of course, be a need for some middle eastern buildings and some ancient ruins for this campaign as well.

In the next few weeks I have a trip to Europe that will enable me to visit a shop that sells plastic figures. This will enable me to boost the lead/plastic pile a little and then I can look at the Heavy Brigade, when timing is not so critical.

The Revised Plan.