Prussian Landwher Infantry – Hinchcliffe 25mm

I am slowly doing up some figures for Songs of Drums and Shakos and while I already have a few metal 25mm figures based for Napoleon’s Battles, I had this single Hinchcliffe PN13  figure laying around.  He got a paint job when I did the Battle Honours 15mm Landwher.  He has some friends that I have carefully cut from a block of four to now be singles, but that will be for a future post.

Prussian Landwher Infantry – Silesians this time

Another unit completed, Silesians this time.  These were delightful to paint, although the yellow was a bit fiddly, however after sploshing it on I went over mistakes with other colours and the result was a lot better than I expected.  The guys without shoes are a nice touch.

For the record these represent the 3^rd Silesian Landwher regiment – in Napoleon’s Battles’ speak 16PrSLW.

That last picture was taken using the flash and gave an inferior picture in my opinion, but I included it for reference and as a reminder to avoid using the flash if I can.

Figures from this unit also feature in my post on hedges.

WW2 Matilda Tank MkIIs – Part 2

Finished. 

I agonised over the colours for the Caunter camouflage scheme.  My aim was to have a faded, used look and so I didn’t want anything too bold.  I was very happy with the VJ 70977 Desert Yellow that I applied over the base coat of Tamiya Flat Brown.  After trying out a few light blues on a scrap of card i had painted with the base coat I settled on the VJ 70906 Pale Blue.  The real problem was with the grey green shade.  To use a light grey looked too much like the light blue and a dark grey stood out too much.  I was having much the same trouble with greens.  One of the first I had tested was a craft paint colour Folk Art 923 Clover.  It gave a poor cover and I put it aside, but after going through other greens I came back to it and decided it gave the best worn look.

After that it was easy to do the distinctive red and white recognition stripes and I also added personalised vehicle names, more for fun than anything.  As the vehicles were meant for Crete I wanted something with a bit of Greek theme and went for Hero (my first choice and easy as only four letters) and based on its success I then called the other two Hector and Hercules.

Finally came the weathering.  I researched rust and settled on using some VJ 70982 Cavalry Brown which I painted on in a few spots and then used my finger to wipe off, just leaving a  stain in most cases and I was happy with that.  My research had also turned up the use of lead pencil to dirty up vehicles and that was the final bit of work I did.

PS These are Command Decision miniatures.

Hedges

I have a long term plan to improve my terrain pieces and after a recent trip to Middle Earth, I mean New Zealand, I was inspired to have a go at making some hedges.  Previously for a Napoleon’s Battles game of Waterloo I had cut up a pot scouring pad into suitable strips and used it as is, with no detailing or basing.  They looked okay, but lacked charisma or stability.  Using the same material, but with bases from pop sticks, ever handy PVA glue, some sand, flock and lots of paint, I went to town making a dozen hedges.

 

I experimented a bit trying to produce something for a sunken road and my first proper hedges I didn’t take all the way to the end of the stick.  A couple I roughed up to break the uniformity.

 

 

 

For my next batch I will add some trees and do a smaller hedge height (these are 15mm, but I will try and see how 10mm looks). I might even try for a gate.

By painting the bottom of the base brown I also figured I could use the hedge sections to fill in as trenches or similar earthworks.

 

 

Antony Beevor - Books

I have just finished reading Antony Beevor's Second World War and while slightly off topic I did give me lots of ideas about using Crossfire for various desperate actions that occurred during retreats etc.

As a single book on the defining event of the 20h Century I highly recommend this book.

http://www.antonybeevor.com/index.php/previous-books/the-second-world-war/

The Far Seas

Played this boardgame in a couple of hours with Richard yesterday.  I was the Allies and we used all the optional rules.  Fun game, even if I did do a poor job of stopping those pesky German crusiers.

Here is a review of the game http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4270/the-far-seas

Prussian Landwehr Infantry

Not so long doing these, given I bought the packet about this time last year.  They cleaned up well (mostly – there was some, eh, build up of metal round the base of the muskets and the body of the figure in some of the castings, but it was random and only in a few cases was it a problem to remove).

The Battle Honors figures painted up really well, using my standard black undercoat, with the dark blue coat taking on a much darker and possibly more appropriate hue as a result.  The mix of kit on the figures was fun to paint, as were the bare feet, clogs and axes.  I was particularly happy how the flag turned out as the dark grey on the black gave it a bit of life.

For the record these represent the 2^nd Pomeranian Landwehr regiment, and in Napoleon’s Battles’ speak 16PrLW.