Quick uppdate and dreams about terrain

Hello,

Sorry no pictures this weekend because of life coming in the way, or in Anders the younger's case a cottage.

But we got some things done:

I have now finished the 24 line infantry you have seen in the WIP pictures so now there is only 18 models left to be done in the Bardin brigade. I have also started with two test figures for a Legre brigade and the result looks promising.

Anders the younger have started basing the West Prussian grenadier battalion and finished the assembling of 11 more Prussian Hussars, He just need to get some green stuffing done.

We have done some talking and decided to start with the table this month. I went down to the game store today and picked up a Games workshop citadel battlemat. We also have put in an order for 28 woodland scenic 3-6 inch trees and a lot of foilage, and silfor tufts.

The plan with the table is to make it very modular and well go into the details of that later but basically the plan is this:

STAGE 1
Trees and Hedges
STAGE 2
Roads, hills and rivers
STAGE 3
Large farm house

So stay tuned in.

Regards,

Anders the elder

Landwehr battalion ready

Hello,

My first battalion of prussian landwehr is finished and here is the result. I'm very satisified and also keen on building another of these units. This battalion in particular will be the only landwehr unit in my prussian brigade with a banner. They were not really given out to all units and was not standard - allthough the battalions sometimes procured their own flags to embody their pride and accomplishments.

Vorwärts!

Oh the colours...

A close-up of the command with a possible Freiherr of Silesia, also somewhat of a cameo of me, leading from the ranks.

Kindest regards,

Ander the younger

French line battalion in greatcoats with Eagle

Here is another update on my gathering french forces. An eagle-battalion in great coats!

As it stands now I have two battalions finished for my great coat brigade. I am able to paint them so fast compared to the Bardin uniform battalions, two days for great coats and one week for Bardin battalions. Right now I'm focusing on getting the Bardin brigade done as then Anders the younger can use the spare great coats to do more Landwehr.

Regards,

Anders the elder

Beginning of a French heavy cavalry brigade

Greetings,

Here is an update on my heavy cavalry. En avant!

Noble cuirassiers, reminding us of the burgundian knights of old...

Cuirassier command, with a trumpeter in the imperial livery.

Daunting dragoons

A close-up of the dragoons.

The dragoon command with mounted sappeur!

As you can see I have two squadrons of 12 finished, when the whole brigade is done I will have 3 units of 24.

Regards,

Anders the elder

Work in progress 2...

Hello everybody!

It has been a while since we last updated the blog due to work and studies. However, me and Anders the elder have still worked on our napoleonics project. Here are some pictures on what we are doing right now.

2nd Silesian Hussars on assembly. For more thoughts on the conversions and painting of prussian hussars, see the archives.

West Prussian grenadiers. Just about to be based.

Two weip battalion of french line infantry, soon to be fielded against the valiant foe.

French grenadiers and sappeur. A small but quite nice conversion, putting the french hussar heads on grenadiers and voltigeurs to give them a little more appeal.

Please leave your comments and ask us about anything!


Regards,

Anders the younger

Basing the battalions

Hello again,

After getting many positive comments on our basing we decided to share our ways of basing with you. We hope that you will find it helpful when trying to give your forces a more life-like appearance.

My experience is that details are what makes the bases look good. However, you have to be careful not to stifle the base with all sorts of materials. Choose your materials carefully, colour- and texture-wise and don't use more than three basic materials.

For this guide we've used my Landwehr and Anders the elder Voltigeurs. We begin with the prussians:

First I use Vallejos Sandy paste to get a good texture and to smooth out the base. After drying I paint it with watered down Vallejo Flat earth.

The first thing I add to the base are tufts of grass, patches of flowers (army painter) and other distinguishing elements. I make sure to not use too many tufts (army painter) on the same base as it can easily make it too heavy, so to speak. Remember that the bases are there to complement and not to take over.

The second thing I add is a mix of static grass and flock  from Gale force nine. I carefully distribute it in relatively coherent fields or streaks across the base to make it look more natural. The last thing we want is to have isolated patches of different basing materials.

The third material added is a lovely flock from Gale force nine (summer flock blend), that really gives the base an interesting and colourful touch, without being too garish. Soon the painted sandy paste will disappear but still give a good background colour to the basing materials.

Lastly I cover the remaining spots with a darker material, in this case with a tiny amount of dark green clump foliage and dark grass. This is to give a contrasting colour and a more dynamic base, suggesting a diverse flora. After everything has dried I paint the edge of the base black to frame the base (not shown in the picture).

This is my take on basing. While our bases are similar when it comes to materials and philosophy there are a few differences that should be pointed out.  Here is how Anders the elder does his bases:

In a similar way, Anders starts off with sandy paste but instead using Vallejos Beasty brown as a base colour.

The first part consists of the summer flock blend (Gale force 9) being spread out in patches on the base.

Secondly, Anders adds a light green static grass (GF9 because of shorter straws) that blends in quite nicely with the flock. This is then followed by some medium green fine clump foliage (GF9) to add a bit of texture.

Lastly the tufts of grass, flowers etc are added to finish off the base. While I do the base around the tufts and flowers (Army painter) Anders the elder chooses to place them in the last step. Whatever the order - the results are very pleasing!

In general my prussian bases are less bright to fit my painting style and to complement the colour scheme of my prussian brigade. Anders french forces however are more colourful and bright and because of that they need bases accordingly.

Again, we hope that this guide might inspire you in your basing adventures. Feel free to comment if you have questions or opinions on basing.

Kindest regards,

Anders the younger

Peacocks and Sparrows

Greetings,

One of the aspects of the Napoleonic armies are the great differences in style between the gallant french and harsh prussians. 

The command sections of our brigades/detachments will consist of a General de Brigade, Aide de camp and Colonel, and Oberst, Feldjäger and Staff officer, respectively. These will be based on 50mm Warmachine bases. In R2E the General/Oberst will be the commander, while the Colonel/Feldjäger will count as an "officer" making him able to join combats but having no command radius or command points. The Aide de camp/Staff officer is there to look good until the General/Oberst meet an untimely end. If that happens he will be replaced according to the R2E rules, with the Aide de camp/Staff officer.

When the brigade is finished this rugged gentleman will be the Oberst commanding the Silesian Landwehr detachment.

The Oberst comfortable in his "Kleine uniform" (campaign uniform). I did not use silver for his sash, instead I went with light grey, white and black stripes.

You might have seen this one earlier in a WIP post. Here is a better picture. An aspect of this model I'm proud of the gold, and there's alot of it!

This General will be the commander of my brigade wearing the Bardin regulation uniform.

I wanted to do something different with the horse for my cavalry commanders and officers I will try to do grey or white horses. A thing that I think makes this model pop is the light blue and golden sash.

This is the Aide de camp for the above pictured General. A bit of a dandy with his leopard skin horse furniture and good looks.

Not to mention his fabulous red boots with white trim and tassles. An interesting detail for french ADC's is the coloured armband denoting the rank of the General they serve. In this case light blue for a General de Brigade.

Kindest regards,

Anders and Anders