Prussian hussars - 1st Silesian regiment

Well, it took longer than anticipated but I finally got round to finishing the unit of Prussian hussars I started in early December. They've actually been finished for about a week or so now, but it's taken me some time to dig the camera out to take a few snaps.

I decided to paint them as the 4th hussar regiment, which I believe is also known as the 1st Silesian. It seemed to fit with the fact that I've painted a lot of the line infantry as Silesians. I also liked the idea of doing the brown and yellow uniforms, which might not sound like the most colourful uniform choice from the Napoleonic era, but which is still rather smart I think. I still need to add a flag for the unit, but so far I've been unable to find out any information on what the flag looked like for this particular regiment. I thought about just using a generic Prussian flag but I'd rather use the correct flag, so I'll keep looking.

I must admit, I put off painting these hussars for a long time. They were part of the initial main purchase I made a couple of years ago, and having never painted hussars before I was a bit daunted by the uniform details. There were certainly some fiddly bits - and I'm sure I haven't got all the details correct (the blue horse reins / bridle etc are pure fantasy, no doubt) - but I persevered and got there in the end. They make a good addition to the collection and now gives me four cavalry units for the Prussians (besides the dragoons, landwehr and cuirassiers).

These will likely be the the last of the 20mm Naps to be painted this year, since I now want to spend some of my free time in enjoy playing a few games with what I've painted up so far (some battle reports to follow, hopefully). As the year draws to a close, I'm also starting to think about other projects for 2019, so don't be too surprised to see other wargaming periods (and scales) popping up on the blog. However, I'm certain that the 20mm Naps collection will continue to be added to throughout next year, so I look forward to sharing more with you as the collection grows.

Prussian horse artillery and terrain boards

Too late the join in the tabletop parade, this is the first of three horse artillery bases I'm planning to do for the Prussians. I'll likely do the remaining two in between other paint jobs, and eventually I'd like to add some limbers and horse teams.

I used a slightly different base size for these guys - 50x50mm instead of the 45x60mm I used for the foot artillery. I didn't have any of the latter size to hand, but I think I like this size better anyway.

For the Prussian blue, I experimented (yet again!) with my mix of paints, using Vallejo Model Dark Prussian Blue mixed with Charcoal Grey as a base, then adding a light grey to that same mix for the highlight. It gives a nice greyish blue colour which I think I'll use again for future units.

I'm spending a bit less time painting and more time on terrain at the moment. These are the first four completed Terra-Former tiles from Sally 4th. I picked up a set from their stand at the Carronade show earlier in the year but it's taken me this long to get round to putting them together. If you like the idea of using modular terrain boards for your games, I can highly recommend them.

If you haven't heard of them before, Terra-Formers are mdf frames, 30x30cm, that you glue together and fill with terrain of of your choosing. Different profiles are available, from flat tiles and hills to roads, streams and rivers, and more besides. The photo above shows one of my hill sections in progress. The idea is that you fill the frame with polystyrene or foam and then finish off with scenic materials.

What makes the tiles so neat is that they come with magnets for each side, which you glue in place. This means your tiles click neatly together on the table. So far, I've found that the tiles join very well, with minimal gaps.

Here's one of the stream tiles in progress. I used Kingspan foam, which is cut to size and glued into the frame. Next, I'll carve out the stream bed before painting, adding scenic water and finishing off with foam and static grass. It does require a bit of work, but I think it will be worth it in the end to have a collection of boards that can be used in lots of different configurations.

Here are some road sections in progress. I still need to add some more ground cover and finish modelling the roads. You can see how neatly the sections join.

I'll post some more pictures of the boards as they take shape, and I hope to have time to share some battle reports using them.

Meanwhile on the painting side of things, I have a unit of Prussian hussars on the go, which I'm hoping to get finished next week. Hussar uniforms are a bit fiddly to say the least!

Till next time, happy wargaming!

The Prussian army so far...

Time for the Prussian to have their little parade! Here's a short video I did showing a look at how the collection is looking so far. I'm hoping to add at least a couple more units before the end of this year, including some hussars and horse artillery, the latter of which is currently on the painting table, so more on those later. Hope you enjoy!

Prussian dragoons

This is the first of two units of dragoons for the Prussians. It feels like I always say this, but I did really enjoy painting these, so much so that I might decide to press on and do the second unit next.

As with a lot of what I've painted so far for both the Prussians and the French, I'm not 100% certain about the accuracy of some of the uniform details, but I take a fairly relaxed approach to that side of things. As long as they look fairly close to what they would have done, then I'm happy with that. For example, were the cuffs coloured or was it just coloured piping on the cuffs? I wasn't entirely sure. I don't spend a lot of time searching for these answers, so I just go with what I like the look of best if I can't find what I'm looking for quickly. As time goes on and my resource library gets bigger, I'm sure I'll become more knowledgable, but in the meantime I don't worry about the details too much. The main thing is to have fun, paint something I like the look of, and then crack on with the next thing in the lead pile!

Likewise with the flag. The unit is supposed to be the 5th dragoons (which I believe were also known as the 2nd West Prussian regiment), but I couldn't find the flag for them online - even a 28mm version, which I was thinking of buying and scaling down - so I've used this line infantry flag instead in the meantime.

As far as the rest of the Prussians go, I've been enlarging the infantry units from 20 to 24 figures (as I did with the French), and I have just one last base of landwehr to paint up. Once that's done, the Prussian army will be about the same size as the French in terms of figure count. So, I hope to do another video soon to show how the collection is looking so far.

Fench army video update

I managed to finish off the video this morning, showing the tabletop muster I did the other day for the French army. Hope you enjoy...

So what's left to paint? Well, there are plenty of units I'd like to add, but in terms of what's actually in the lead pile, it's looking like this:

• 4 x horse artillery and crew
• 18 x empress dragoons
• 9 x chasseurs a cheval
• 9 x line lancers
• 24 x line infantry
• 24 x middle guard infantry
• A few generals and line colonels

I'll probably add the horse artillery next, followed by the empress dragoons. If I'm going to expand the army proportionally I'll need to paint up more infantry units, but for the sake of variety I might add some French allies. I'm thinking maybe Bavarians, Wurrtembergers or Polish (all of which Newline has ranges for). Or I might choose to paint up some French line infantry as Swiss allies, which I believe used the same uniform. Decisions, decisions...

I finished basing my first unit of Prussian dragoons this morning, so I'll post some pictures of those next.

The French army so far...

I finally had some spare time to muster the French army onto the tabletop during the week for a quick photo and video. It was quite satisfying to see how far the collection has come since I started it, and I'm looking forward to adding more units, especially some more cavalry (although, horse artillery is probably going to be next on the 'to do' list).

I did shoot about 4 or 5 minutes of video with my phone, but I still need to process and upload it, so I'll stick it on YT as soon as I get round to finish it off.

In the meantime, I've just finished painting a unit of Prussian dragoons, so once the bases are done I'll share a pic of those. With that unit now done, both my Prussian and French armies are of an equivalent size, which is approximately 190 infantry and 27 cavalry each, plus 4 foot artillery and some commanders. Definitely large enough now to play some games, so my focus this weekend will be to crack on with building some terrain. More of that in a future post!

Marshal Ney

This is the Marshal Ney figure from Newline Designs, which I finished a while ago but hadn't got round to basing. I was originally going to add a foot soldier or perhaps another general to the base, but in the end I used some small, circular mdf bases covered in filler (with a hole cut in the top one) to create a kind of water trough. Not a very grand feature for a general's base, I know, but it's something different I suppose, and done partly for the sake of trying out the Woodland Scenics resin water I bought recently (which turned out well, but you can't really see it in this photo). I found pictures online of rectangular stone water troughs from the early 19th century, but I'm not certain there were circular ones. Seems plausible though.

None of the books I've read so far on the Napoleonic Wars has covered the life and exploits of Marhsal Ney in any great detail, and I would certainly like to read a good biographical account of this legendary soldier. There are a few to choose from, but nothing recently published in English that I have found so far. I like the look of A. H. Atteridge's book, Marhsal Ney: The Bravest Of The Brave, first published in 1912 but reprinted by Pen & Sword in 2015. It looks like a good place to start, so I'll track down a copy of that.

I'll do a big French army update in my next post!

More French...

Most of my time lately has been spent on painting more line infantry for the French, so there's not a whole lot to share that's different from some of the photos I've already posted. However, here are a few different bits and pieces...

Grenadiers and voltiguers. Same figures, painted differently.

Lying down on the job. One of the French line casualty figures from Newline.

Another general, on a smaller base this time.

I've almost reached the end of what I'm calling 'Phase 1' of my French army. I have one more mounted general and a one base of infantry to add, then it'll be back to the Prussians. There's still plenty more to paint in the lead pile (and more planned purhases, besides), but both armies are now pretty well big enough to give me a reasonable sized game, so I'm looking forward to finally trying out some of the rulesets I've picked up over time.

I'll do an overview of the French collection next time before posting some more updates on the Prussians. After that, I'll be spending more time on adding to my terrain collection and thinking about some scenarios to try out.

French line lancers

I finally finished this first unit of French lancers for the 20mm Napoleonic project. It ended up being on the painting table for a week or so longer than I'd hoped, but I don't like to rush these things! As always, the miniatures are by Newline Designs and (as always) they were very enjoyable to paint.

I replaced the separately cast lances with wire spears from some 28mm Gripping Beast miniatures, and they are a good fit size-wise. I made some paper pennons and glued these on, but subsequently realised that 1) they are probably a bit too big, and 2) the colours should be red over white, not the other way round (oops!). Never mind, I may go back and fix them at some point (which probably means I won't!). Next up, more French infantry...

French line infantry so far...

I'm a little over half way now towards my initial target of painting up eight line infantry battalions for the French. The latest unit is the one pictured here on the left with six figures per base instead of the usual four or eight. I like this basing better, so I'll probably stick with it for future units. Each base is 35mm wide and 25mm deep, so a slightly narrower frontage per figure compared to the 25x25 and 50x25mm bases. The plan is also to get each battalion up to 24 figures, so a few of the ones shown here need to be topped up.

There's a short video below to show the miniatures more closely. The next battalion is undercoated, but I will probably take a break first and paint some more cavalry or one or two generals.

At last...some flags!

I suddenly (and finally) got round to start adding some flags to my 20mm Napoleonic collection this weekend. I've been putting this off for ages, but it was annoying me that I had so many painted infantry units that were not really finished.

I haven't had any success looking for places to buy Napoleonic flags for 20mm scale minis, so these flags are courtesy of Alan Pendlebury from the excellent www.warflag.com - thank you, Alan! The designs are very well done, and look great on the tabletop. Unfortunately, my printer didn't do a great job in reproducing the colour of the red flags, so I painted over them, which helped a lot. The blue flag of the rearmost regiment printed ok.

The size that I decided to print them at are maybe ever so slightly bigger than they should be, but I preferred to give them a bit of height on the tabletop. All in all, I'm pleased with how they look, and relieved to have finally solved the problem of what to do for flags, thanks to warflag.com. I'll probably add flags to the remainder of the Prussian infantry battalions quite quickly now.

Meanwhile, I'm turning my attention back to the French. The collection is a bit further behind the Prussian in terms of painted units, and I really need to add more line infantry, so I'll be doing those next.

And the lead pile just got a bit bigger this weekend as well, with the arrival of another wee purchase I made from Newline Designs for more 20mm Napoleonic goodness. Lots to do!

East Prussian Landwehr Cavalry

So, my first unit of Prussian landwehr cavalry is now finished. I have one other lot of 9 miniatures still to paint, which will probably be done in the not too distant future. As with the French chasseurs, I've gone with three figures on a 45x30mm base, which is also handy for making the most of the Newline Designs unit packs, which contain 9 figures.

Rather than painting another Silesian regiment, I decided to paint these guys as an East Prussian, so it was nice to paint some red collars etc rather than yellow. The central figure in the command stand is actually a landwehr colonel, which I bought separately from Newline and swapped in for one of the regular troopers to add a bit of variety.

I'm rather fond of the landwehr portion of my Prussian army. I think it's the uniforms that appeal to me. They're simple but look good once painted up, and a bit more colourful than the regular Prussian line infantry. Apart from the other pack of cavalry, I still have one more unit of foot and that'll be the landwehr finished for now. No doubt I'll want to add more in the future, but this will be enough for the time being.

Currently on the painting table is a base of Prussian reserve infantry, which I decided to do next in order to experiment with how a 6-figure base looks agains the 4- and 8-figure bases I've used so far. I'll post pics of these and the other completed reserve infantry units in the next post.

Bye for now!

Chasseurs á cheval

I got my first unit of French line chasseurs finished and based today. This will be the first of two units, both of which will be painted as the 16e. I've painted chasseurs á cheval before in 28mm (since sold) and in 10mm, and always enjoy doing them. These are probably my favourite of the cavalry figures from Newline Designs that I've painted so far. Really nice figures. I spent a bit longer on the horses than I normally do. Horses are not one of my strong points, but I'm slowly improving I think.

I used the Osprey Men-at-Arms book, Napoleon's Line Chasseurs as my main reference for the uniforms. The command figure in the centre is based on one of Angus McBride's excellent illustrations from this book, showing a subaltern from the 16th regiment.

I decided to start using a different approach to basing cavalry for my 20mm Napoleonics. Instead of two miniatures on a 30x30mm base I'm putting three miniatures on a 45x30mm base. So, same frontage per miniature, but it'll mean fewer bases per unit.

It's back to the Prussians for my next unit. I started work today on some landwehr cavalry, which should be quicker to do than these chasseurs. I have two packs to paint, and may do both together, but I'll see how it goes. I hope to post pictures of these soon.

I doubt this blog will be getting much traffic at the moment, after such a long hiatus, but if you do stumble across it then I hope you're enjoying the posts. It's likely I'll be staying focused on this current project for the rest of this year, so if you like 20mm Napoleonics then there should be more posts to interest you over the coming months.

Prussian foot artillery

I painted these Prussian foot artillery units quite a while ago, but only got round to taking a few snaps today. As with the Jaegers in the previous post, I was experimenting at the time with using a much quicker method of painting, using only flat colours and abandoning all highlights with the exception of a wash and highlight on the skin areas. I think a tidy paint job with flat colours can still produce nice looking miniatures for the tabletop, especially at the smaller scales. That said, I still can't resist using highlights on the majority of my miniatures, although I usually limit the colours to just two tones when it comes to 20mm figures.

Unlike the French foot artillery I painted, I decided to put the guns and figures on one base. It's what most other people seem to do, and I think it does look better, so I'll probably go back and rebase my French artillery at some point. I almost always use mdf bases, but these are plastic Renedra bases that I had kicking about, so it was nice to find a use for them, and the size was perfect for what I needed.

I'm making good progress on the French line chasseurs that I mentioned in the last post. I may get these finished this weekend, depending on how much free time I have. Here's a quick 'in progress' pic. I'll post some photos next week once they're all done and based up. Happy painting and wargaming. Bye for now :-) 

Prussian command figures

All of these command figures, with the exception of Blücher, were painted fairly recently. I enjoyed doing the two line commanders in particular (majors, I think they would be?). I'm not completely sure if the white jacket and plume on the general is correct, but I like how it looks regardless. I desperately need to add some more reference books to my collection for Napoleonic uniforms in general, and the Prussians in particular. Quick web searches are ok, but I'm never entirely sure if I'm painting certain details correctly or not.

The figures are all 20mm scale from Newline Designs. I still have some more Prussian generals and line commanders to add, but on the painting table at the moment are some French line chasseurs. Painting command figures is a nice way to take a break in between units. I'm planning to do some French generals next, once the chasseurs are done.

It's been a while...

Many a hobby blog has likely had a post with a title such as this. To be honest, I didn't think I'd return to weepaintedmen, although I always intended to start blogging about my hobby again at some point. I felt (still feel) a bit of a failure for not having kept this one going, so my intention was to start over with a new blog.

But that now seems silly. I might as well pick up where I left off, even though it's been almost two years! After all, I haven't been idle as far as collecting and painting wargames miniatures goes. And where I stopped with the blog is where I kept going with the collection - up to a point.

My 20mm Napoleonics collection has grown - and continues to grow. It's my main endeavour at the moment, with equal time spent on building the French and the Prussian armies. I have a small pile of British and Hanoverians as well, which I'm hoping to start this year once the other two armies have reached an decent size.

There have been other projects on the go for me. Besides my collection of Newline 20mm Naps, I've also been building up Napoleonic armies for France and Austria in 10mm using Pendraken, and both are coming along nicely. I have a couple of 28mm ancient Greek armies on the go, too, and I even had the inclination to paint up some fantasy miniatures.

All in all, there's plenty to show in terms of painting, but not a whole lot in terms of gaming. I'd like to do post some battle reports in the future, especially with my 20mm Napoleonics, since I now almost have suitable sized forces to take to the tabletop.

So, the blog is back, and I do intend to keep it going this time. I hope visitors finds the posts to be enjoyable and interesting. Any questions, comments, I'd love to hear from you...

In the meantime, I decided to give the blog a quick theme change. The old layout and background was a bit too busy for my liking.

Here are a few random photos of some figures from my 20mm Napoleonics collection. Once I get my camera set up properly, I'll be able to share lots more. Happy wargaming!

Prussian Jaegers

Prussian Jaegers

Prussian cuirassiers

French line infantry in greatcoats, waiting to be based...