Wet Paint: 2nd Squadron, 1st Dragoons, Bavaria 1809

And the next set of Dragoons is done:



Obviously, basing and flag still have to be done. For that last, I've ordered some sample flags from Maverick Models. I ordered the 50mm Effect flags on material. Once they arrive, I'll stick one onto the ensign here and photograph him along with the entire unit.

Uncharted seas game 08/03/2011

Yesterday Alan, Eddy and myself played a game of Uncharted Seas. We didn't have a scenario but just lined up three fleets and had at it. The three fleets were more or less evenly matched (I used the models I had available and did not bother to work out the point values). Each fleet consisted of a basic starter fleet with some additions (cruisers or flagship):

* Dwarves (Eddy): 1 battleship, 2 assault cruisers, 3 cruisers and 6 frigates
* Orcs (Alan): 1 battleship, 1 battlecruiser, 1 assault cruiser, 3 cruisers, 6 frigates
* Humans (me): 1 battleship, 1 flagship, 3 cruisers, 6 frigates

The game for the Dwarves can be mentioned quite succinctly: they spent most of the game catching up to the action and in the end contended themselves with tangling with the Orcish battlecruiser that had split off the main Orc fleet. The Dwarves managed to sink the battlecruiser by the end of the game.

For my part, I started on the opposite side of the table as the Dwarves so I did not have any interaction with them during the game (we played on an 8x6 foot table). Most of the reason for this was a decision I made after turn one to change the axis of advance of my fleet by 90 degrees to concentrate on the Orcs. The reason for this was that I saw myself ending up between the Orc and Dwarf fleets being shot at by both had I continued on my initial course, and I did not quite fancy such a fate.

So, the main battle for me would be against the Orcs. After we closed up a bit, the frigates got into play when Alan launched his three brace of frigates in an aggressive move towards my cruisers which were leading the fleet. While my frigates had been lurking behind my battle line ready to counterattack such a move -- and did -- by the end of the frigate action, I was down one cruiser which had been decrewed by an assaulting frigate (with some help of long range fire of the Orc battleship). The end of this phase saw all frigates of both sides wiped out (the intrepid frigate that had boarded and decrewed my cruiser was summarily overrun and sank by the Tears of the Empress' Favorite Concubine, my battleship), two of the Orc cruisers suffering medium damage and one of my cruisers out of action.

Then it was time for the big boys to come out and play. Alan was moving his fleet on a more or less regular (these were Orcs, after all) formation, with his battleship closest to my fleet and the cruisers and assault cruiser in line abreast next to it. He initially did have the wind against him (one factor in my decision to go for the Orcs. I also would like to publicly deny any involvement of my clerics in the change of wind direction -- the mere thought is preposterous :) ) but it turned favourably a bit later only to turn straight into the Orcs' faces in the final turn of the game. My own fleet was in its classic battle line astern: the (now) two cruisers leading, with the Tears and lastly the Empress' Cynical Smile (the flagship) following.

While the main fleets were approaching, during and after the frigate action, I was somewhat apprehensive of the Orcish guns and the fact that they are forward firing: this means that for an Orc ship, moving closer to the enemy and presenting your optimum firing stance are the same thing, as opposed to my ships, whose strength is their broadsides. I shouldn't have worried though, as the reason why my battle line is the classic deployment for the humans is that the cruisers, leading the line, take the long range fire on the approach while the big bruisers (the 15 and 14 dice broadsides of the Empress and Tears) close up relatively unscathedly to deliver their fire. And that is exactly what happened: my cruisers took some damage closing in (less than expected because of the intervening frigates and small fore arcs of the Orc ships) while Alan's battleship got slightly dinged by (long range) fire from my cruisers and battleship. Then my two big ships came into close range of Alan's battleship (blithely ignoring the Orc cruisers as they would be easy prey once the battleship was gone) and blew it out of the water with their massive broadsides. The aforementioned turning of the wind in the last turn helped as it meant the cruisers suddenly did not have the move to ram my battleships, which might have become nasty. Scratch one Orc fleet.

Some pictures of the game:

The Orc fleet sails onto the table:



Part of the Dwarven fleet:



The Human fleet after making its 90 degree turn, with the cruisers racing to overtake the battleship and take their place in the van:



The Empress' Cynical Smile serenely sails to its place in the line, sheltering a frigate squadron:



The high point of the frigate action - Orc frigates in an all-out ramming attack. The center one would decrew the Human cruiser:



The main battle fleets in close contact. Human cruisers have turned in behind the Orc battleship which is about to be subjected to the broadsides of the Human big ships:



Action on the other side of the table: the Orc battlecruiser in its final moments, besieged by Dwarven firepower:

Step by step: painting Bavarian dragoons

While I was painting the 1st Dragoons, I took photos of proceedings at regular times. The idea is to document how I approach painting these days, which is a lot different than how I used to.

When I paint these days, it is with the idea of painting armies of figures, not individual figures. I've got a full article on army painting brewing somewhere in the back of my mind, so consider these pictures as an introduction to army painting, my way. Most important bit to take away from this (and it is shown in the pictures as well): nothing (and I do mean nothing) gets more than two layers of color (not counting the black undercoat).

The full regiment base coated:



Horses, flesh, grey and red first layer done:



Everything else first layer done:



Horses, flesh and reds final layer done:



Grey overalls and horse furniture final layer done:



Everything done except metals:



Everything done:



Feel free to scrutinize :)

Building fortifications - part 1

I'm planning on doing a game on the battle of Holowczyn soonish. One of the main features of that battle, apart from the insane opposed river crossing into a marsh by the Swedish, were the fortifications thrown up by the Russian infantry. So I decided I needed some of those and started building.

Fortifications in the early 18th Century (Holowczyn was fought in 1708) - and much of the 'Black Powder' era at that - probably consisted of gabions, lenghts of plashing and whatever woody bits were at hand. Well, that or what I happened to have at hand, which was:



The idea is that the further along the fortifications, the more hurried they become. So first there's gabions, then wood logs and branches stacked between stakes, then just logs stacked. The Russian army at Holowczyn was of course much more prepared and dug in than that, but sometimes historical reality has to bow to the rigors of time and bits availability :).

1st Squadron, 1st Dragoons, Bavaria 1809

Finished just in time for the February points cutoff, here's the first squadron of the 1st Dragoons, fresh from under the painting brush:



The 1st Dragoons had 2 squadrons in the 1st Division during the 1809 campaign, so the chaps above will be joined by another two bases currently on the painting table.

1:300 SF scenery

As mentioned in my [State of the Union post](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000398.html), one of my side projects is Science Fiction ground warfare in 1:300 scale.

Some time ago last year, I managed to buy a few 1:300th scenery items for this project off of Ebay. In order to break up the horde of Bavarians to be painted, I just painted these up, along with two items from a Mainly Miniature Modern Industrial set:









Next on the painting desk are 12 Bavarian dragoons. Men wearing white on horses, in other words.

1st battalion of the 2nd Line Infantry Regiment of Bavaria, 1809

It's fully finished and photographed for your ogling pleasure:

2nd Bavarian line Infantry, final three companies

And after the [fist half](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000405.html), here's the rest of the battalion:



I sat down and calculated the time spent per figure on this. It came to about half an hour per figure if that. I think I'm getting the hang of this army painting thing :)

Prussian Flats - Von Winterfeldt Regiment

The pictures below show my first attempt at painting flats. I ordered a unit from [Berliner Zinnfiguren](http://www.zinnfigur.com/All/E_Home_Set.asp), and painted them up in a rather simplistic style with a minimum of layering. The regiment shown is the (Seven Years War) Prussian 1st Musketeer Regiment Von Winterfeldt. I used the same decor as the halfling pictures below - it saved me some time of getting out my proper 18th century buildings ;-)

Although they look not as nice as the multi-layered flats one can find online (and which are real pieces of art), I prefer this toy-soldier style for gaming purposes much better.

Halfling Civil War

As part of my efforts to paint up figures acquired many moons ago, I came across a bunch of halfling figures (originally Grenadier, now to be found at [Mirliton Fantasy](http://www.mirliton.it/index.php?cName=fantasy-2528mm-half-men), marketed as 'half-men'; the same figures also appear as Copplestone figures, so I am somewhat confused about their real origins). These days, I paint my figures rather quickly, and use the Armypainter dip (medium tone) to give the figures a deeper shade.

Just for fun, I decided to depict them as a 2 armed gangs of smugglers meeting along the riverside. The cardboard buildings are old Townscape Games Workshop buildings from the eighties. The boat is a 'botter' from [Shifting Lands](http://www.shiftinglands.com/ships.htm).

Note the flag carried by one of the halflings - regular visitors to the Dutch amusement park The Efteling should recognize the face as Holle Bolle Gijs - a proper flag for the always-hungry halflings.