Hoplites - a wall of shields and spears!

My commission work this year has included a large number of hoplites by Crusader Miniatures. These were painted in stages I’m pleased to say - not all at once! But I’d actually lost count of just how many until recently when the client sent me this photo of them all fixed to their bases and ready for the final basing material to be added.

Now that’s what I call a solid Greek phalanx! 128 figures in total, 8 figures per base. I must admit to a moment of pride seeing them all ranked up like this. It was very satisfying to see. Also, kudos must go to the client for his prep work on these. Spear hands were all carved out to enable a nice secure grip on the spears, and all the shields were drilled and pinned in place. It’s a power of work to do in itself, but no chance of any shields or spears popping off these boys.

All the shield transfers were from Little Big Men Studios, and I painted the shield rims in a variety of bronze, solid colours or patterns. The Crusader hoplites are a real favourite of mine. I like the standing pose a lot, something which features across several of their ranges.

I’ll have more hoplites to paint next year for a commission. Those ones will be Foundry ones with over-arm poses, but also very nice looking miniatures.

British 32nd Cornwall Regiment of Foot

Before getting stuck into my plans to build some armies for a bit of ancients wargaming, I decided I really needed to get this unit of British Napoleonic figures finished off. They've been sitting half done on the shelf for longer than I could remember, and I had no excuse other than a lack of focus and general hobby ennui. Once I sat down to finish the job, they were done in no time. Silly really, to have left them unfinished for so long when such little effort was needed to get them over the line.

I gave the unit the flags and facings of facings of the 32nd Cornwall regiment, which adds another battalion to the collection for the 5th Division at Waterloo, this one being part of the 8th brigade commanded by Kempt.

When it came to basing, I didn't have enough of my usual mdf base sizes to hand, so ended up resorting to my old style of using 6 smaller bases instead of 4 larger ones. I decided to split the flags onto separate bases to allow them to be positioned more centrally in the line, and I think it does look better.

I used a couple of coats of varnish on the figures this time, which does mean the finish isn't as matt as I normally like, but I think it has made the colours a bit more saturated looking, which should help them to stand out more on the wargaming table. More importantly, I hope it will mean fewer paint chips and required touch-ups.

Although the idea is to spend the greater balance of my free time on my new ancients project in the coming months, my Napoleonic collection is still very much ongoing, even though it's been neglected for a while. The next British unit will most likely be either the 28th North Gloucestershire or another highlander regiment, and I'm planning another game soon with Neil Thomas' Napoleonic rules to try out some modifications I made to add interest for solo play. More on that - and my ancients project - in future posts.

Thracians - Ist Corps

 

This was another relatively recent commission, this time for 28mm (25mm if you prefer!) Thracians from 1st Corps. I did two units of 12 in total, part of an ongoing ancients project that includes Scythians, Greeks, Persians and more besides. I do like 1st Corps miniatures on the whole, albeit some of their ranges more than others.

The requirement here was for plenty of colourful variation in their clothing, and a good amount of patterns on the tunics and cloaks etc. Thankfully I had lots of good reference photos and illustrations to use for inspiration and ideas.

Again, basing was done by the client, so this is as finished as I can show them. Another great project to have worked on. In a future post I'll show some of the Scythian cavalry I'm currently painting, which are equally colourful!

Despite doing a lot of commissions this year for ancients, I found myself wanting to embark on an ancients project of my own, and eventually settled on the Punic Wars. It might have the projects I've been working on that have inspired me, and possibly also the buzz around Warlord Games' epic scale release for the period, but the more I read about the battles of that time and the different armies involved, the more I thought it would be a fascinating conflict to focus on for wargaming. I'll share more about the project as I get stuck into it in the coming weeks and months.

Hope everyone is enjoying their own hobby projects.

Cheers,

Kevin

28mm hoplites from Crusader Miniatures

To say it's been a long time since my last post is an understatement! But I'm happy to say that I'm still here and still involved in the hobby, but with a bit of a twist...

After an unexpected and unwelcome change on the job front last year, I now find myself painting miniatures full-time, which is great, but it has meant a lot less time and energy to devote to my own projects. As such, I haven't had much to post about hobby-wise, but rather than let the blog die off completely I thought I might as well start sharing some of the painting that I have been doing (with client permission, of course).

First up is a 32-figure batch of 28mm hoplites from Crusader Miniatures, which were completed today and finished off with shield transfers from Little Big Men Studios. I've painted a large number of these hoplites at this point, and I'll share photos of the rest of them in future posts. Like all of my commissions so far, the figures will be based by the client.

I plan to add a bit more info about my commission painting at some point soon, but in the meantime if you do have a need for the services of a miniatures painter, feel free to get in touch using the contact form on the blog's right-hand column, as I have capacity at the moment to take on additional work.

I'm sure I'll have time in future to post more about my own personal wargaming and painting projects, but I hope the commission-related content is still of use/interest to any blog visitors. Most of the commissions I've been doing have been 28mm ancients, which has got my mind thinking about projects from that era that I'd like to do myself. As always, I've lots of ideas, but it's just finding the time and energy to do it all!

Another game using Neil Thomas' Napoleonic Wargaming

 

This week I thought it was high time I gave my newly painted British units their first proper battle, so I set up the 6 x 4 table, laid down some terrain and, for ease and quickness, pulled Neil Thomas' Napoleonic Wargaming off the shelf to use for the occasion.

Not really a battle report as such, but I thought I'd share some of the photos and a few notes on how it all played out. It was an enjoyable few hours, and great to get the figures out for a decent sized game. I used 16 units per side (basically doubling the size of the game recommended by the rules, which works perfectly well), with the British joining forces with their Prussian, Brunswick and Hanoverian allies.

The French were assaulting a well defended position, trying to seize a town and the adjacent crossroads.

Apologies for the photos being a bit on the dull side. The lighting wasn't great in the room on the day. In case you're wondering, the red counters represent the number of bases a unit has lost. The other coloured counters represent hits. For every 4 hits a unit sustains, it loses a base. I use the counters to keep track rather than removing bases. I'll eventually make some casualty markers to use instead, which will look decidedly better.

The French begin their advance on the left towards the town and crossroads

The French right also prepares its advance 

Brunswicker, British and Hanoverian troops on the British right

As the game progressed, I fed in the first additional troops for the French: two more line battalions and two battalions of Imperial Guard

The French negotiate the fields in front of the town. Long range artillery fire has caused casualties among the Brunswick troops at the end of the woods

French battalions engaging the Prussians

French cavalry arriving on the road leading to the town

As the battle progressed, the French left suffered in front of the defenders' heavy musketry, eventually losing its first battalion. Feeling confident, the Brunswickers advanced out of the woods to engage a unit of French conscript infantry (a move they'd later regret)

Over on the right, things were hotting up with the arrival of more Prussians, including uhlans and a battery of foot artillery

Just as the French assault was faltering, their Polish allies made a timely arrival

The French conscripts routed the Brunswickers after a fierce exchange of volleys, while the Polish troops were getting ready to try and dislodge the British and Hanoverians from the town

French heavy light and heavy cavalry move further onto the battlefield. Chasseurs and cuirassiers peel off to help support the right flank attack...

...and eventually charge the Prussian uhlans in the flank (who have just routed a French line battalion)

The cuirassiers do the same to the Prussian landwehr, who had just finished off another French battalion with a bayonet charge

Fast forward a bit, and one Polish battalion has managed to drive out the British from the town area opposite them. However, more British troops arrive in the form of light dragoons, who would go on to lose a brief clash with French cuirassiers before retreating back down the road

Polish infantry capture one half of the town

As the day wore on, a French Imperial Guard column clashes with Prussian musketeers, destroying the already weakened unit and opening up a hole in the allied line

The Prussian landwehr ended up surviving two charges by the French cuirassiers and would remain on the field until the end. The uhlans on the other hand were eventually routed by the French chasseurs.

After 16 turns of play I decided to call a halt to the battle. Although the French had finally gained a foothold in the town, their infantry had sustained too many casualties to be able to fully capture the crossroads and the other built-up area. British heavy cavalry were also threatening to overrun the French foot artillery and outflank the French left

On the French right, their infantry had been almost completely routed, with only one weakened Imperial Guard battalion remaining. The cuirassiers and chasseurs faced a wall of Prussian infantry and artillery, so could do nothing more except retire

So, a hard day's battle for both sides but the field was still in the hands of the British and their allies by the end. It was always going to be a tough objective for the French given that I didn't give them any numerical advantage, but it was a fun game nonetheless. The final number of units routed was 6 for the French and 4 for the British/Prussian. If things had gone better for the French on their right flank, it would have been a different story, but the Prussians reinforcements sooner than the French ones did, which probably was the deciding factor in the end.

British Royal Horse Artillery

 

Another addition to my growing collection of British Napoleonics, this time a few bases of horse artillery. It's likely that most games I play will only use one or two bases to represent a battery, but I do like the look of three guns together.

The blue on the uniforms has turned out a bit brighter than I'd planned, although it is slightly exaggerated in the photos. Apart from that I'm pretty happy with them. I wasn't sure if the figure with his hand reseting on his sword hilt is supposed to be an officer or not, but decided to just treat him as another regular crew member.

As far as the British and Allied army goes, the collection is getting there slowly. I seem to paint in bursts with sometimes long gaps in between. Hopefully my current run of painting enthusiasm will last for a bit longer.

Here's a group shot of everything that's been painted with 1815 scenarios in mind:

I still have plenty of unpainted metal in the pile - more heavy and light cavalry, another two Highlander battalions and one of line infantry, several Hanoverian battalions, Brunswick infantry and cavalry, and various command models. I'd also like to add some Dutch-Belgian units and Nassau troops eventually. For now though, this feels like a decent playable army for the small games I generally have time and space for.

I might take a break from the painting to focus on some terrain modelling next. I have an idea to create two 2' x 2' boards for small games, and will share some photos of that if it goes to plan.