Bunker Hill

Successor Thureophoroi

2026-01-18T02:23:00.000-08:00

Now adding Thureophoroi to my slowing growing Pyrrhic/Successor collection. Adding to my Pyrrhic collection will be my primary focus this year which will include both the Pyrrhic and Republic Roman forces as I go along. I'm curious how far I'll manage to stay on target as I can get side tracked as you know if you have been following me for any length of time, but in my defense I have been getting better.

The miniatures themselves are Aventine miniatures which I find to be fantastic and will make up a large share of my collection along with some Wargames Foundry. I would say Aventine miniatures rank among some of my favorite miniatures on the market easily.

Painting the figures was a lot of fun with some parts going pretty quick(for me) and other parts slowing me down quite a bit depending on the requirements. The colors I used were my usual Foundry and Vallejo, but also a little P3 and Mig pigment mixes for some weathering. A distinguishing feature of Thureophoroi was their large white shields which presents a challenge for us wargamers as it's easy to make them to bright or to dark. I'm quite pleased with the result as it was probably the most time consuming part of the miniature to paint and would have been disappointing if I didn't like the result.

Thureophoroi provided a light infantry role on the battlefield and were flexible enough to both skirmish with javelins and form up in a phalanx with long spears making them very useful troops indeed. I'm happy I don't have to pronounce their name and rather just write it.:-)

Thanks for Viewing!

Miniature Company- Aventine Miniatures

Late Roman Equites

2025-12-28T02:21:00.000-08:00

Some Late Roman Equites I finished a little while ago. I did say I have a backlog of units to post.;-) They are some much needed heavy cavalry for my Romans....well I always need more cavalry then I have to be honest.

As cavalry goes they were not overly difficult to do which isn't to say they are not time consuming which they are just that the parts were pretty accessible to paint. What can I say Foundry miniatures just keep standing up to years very well indeed. Are they over priced? Yes. Will I still keep buying them? Yes of course and b*tch the whole time as I do probably. However, I always keep my eyes open for a deal and avoid full price when possible. This Christmas I didn't order the Foundry deal as I ordered other things, but last year I did and when I visited England I picked up some.

The unit has a few repeats as I used what I had at hand, but that's fine as it gives a unified look to the unit which works for Romans.

I have another unit of Equites to do, but they are Foorsore miniatures which are excellent as well!, However, I'm staying on my Pyrrhic project.for now. I'm almost caught up on the units I've finished of which Late Romans are again one of them.

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company-Wargames Foundry

Confederate Artillery (15mm ACW)

2025-12-20T23:04:00.000-08:00

There are only a few periods I do in more then one scale and ACW is one of them. This is probably my favorite period overall and therefore I don't want to be limited in what I can play so not a surprise this period is one of them. I didn't have enough confederate artillery so decided to paint some more, but now they outnumber the union so now of course I'll have to paint more union and on it goes!

It will come as no shock looking at my blog that 28mm is my scale of preference, but it does have it's limitations and therefore to be able to do all the scenario's I want I have to be able to go down in scale. For example scenario's with multiple buildings, towns, lots of artillery and/or cavalry or even loads of infantry regiments, ships etc. are beyond what I can do in 28mm. Also my 28mm collection is based for playing games with Black Powder, FoB3 and other such systems where number of stands do not matter, but I still want to play games of Fire and Fury, Longstreet and Pickets Charge which require x number of bases per unit so these will come in handy.

These figures are old glory and are my oldest figures in my collection I think. I'm referring to the figures themselves and not to the paint jobs as these are very recent. I have hundreds and hundreds of these in bags in my lead mountain. Very happy I do as I hate to think how much they cost now! I really like the figures as they pack a ton of character even as old as they are. Painting these is really fun as the sculpts are very painter friendly and do not require quite as precise work like the AB's do for example.

The colors I used were mostly Foundry, but I did include a quite a bit of Vallejo as well. The grass was mostly fine flock and bushes as static grass was a bit to tall for these figures which are true 15's and smaller then a lot of 15's these days.

Next for this collection is probably some cavalry for both sides as that's in need of the most at the moment.

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Collection- Old Glory 15's

Pyrrhic Epirote and Tarentine Pikemen Phalanx Re-Based

2025-12-18T23:03:00.000-08:00

I rebased my Epirote and Tarentine pikemen phalanx onto single figure bases mounted on movement bases. I do not like my units on multiple bases so lately I've been mounting them on one base, but adjusting the depth depending on type of unit.

Since my Spanish Reconquista and Late Roman/Germanic projects are at playable levels needing just a few character models and units to enhance the gaming experience(more Romans on the way) I decided to turn my attention back to my Pyrrhic project as I wanted another large army project to add to the table.

My Pyrrhic army is starting off point to eventually make my way into the Successor wars, but that some time off as the Pyrrhic army and their Republican Roman adversaries will keep me quite busy!

The figures are from the excellent Aventine Range which I personally think are some of the best figures out there. I expect the collection to include Aventine, Wargames Foundry and Victrix which all go well together so I foresee no problems in acquiring the figures I need.....I already have a lot so it's going to be a very large project indeed!

It's an interesting project to do as you get to have fun with color and a whole lot of variety. Some models are not to difficult to paint while others can be very challenging in particular those in linothorax

armor.

The AHPC is coming up and I have a bunch of Pyrrhic stuff primed and ready to go, but before then I'll be posting a few things I've already finished that are from other periods. The next Pyrrhic unit won't be ready for a little while.

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company-Aventine Miniatures

2nd Continental Light Dragoons

2025-11-28T23:08:00.000-08:00

As is often the case with me I find myself behind on posting figures I've painted and this is no exception. I painted these a few months ago, but just now got around to posting them. I really do need to up my game so to speak in terms of posting what I've finished.

Adding some more AWI units in the form of the 2nd continental light dragoons, but I'll likely use them to represent any continental cavalry. I usually use historical units as a guide to painting units rather then using them for just when that regiment actually was fielded so if I make errors it's not that important as long as they look the part.

These are Perry miniatures and were actually quite difficult to do in terms of painting. They are all one piece sculptures which you would think would be easier, but for some reason the riders were quite a bit thinner then their separate rider sculpts and the detail was quite shallow in some places that I had to paint in my own which made painting them trickier and swearier then normal. The pay off is always great with Perry miniatures as they look really nice when finished, but they do make you work for it at times!

This past year or two I've made an extra effort to paint cavalry as most of my collections lack the correct amount as I tend to put them off and I'm happy to report I do have more cavalry completed coming up although in a different period.

I hope to get the units I already painted up posted soon, before the AHPC begins in December which should be fun!

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company-Perry Miniatures

Late Romans vs Late Romans To The Strongest! (Solo)

2025-09-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

The rival warlords Nexiust and his loyal legions face off against his rival Primus and his Burgundian allies.

I finally decided to have my first solo game. This came about due to the fact that my wargaming has been reduced to maybe playing a game once every 3 months or so if even that. Why? Well my regular opponent no longer (war)games very often or least not that I'm aware of as he prefers mostly just to paint in regards to miniatures. The other group lives over an hour away and has their own gaming group, but are also not gaming as often as they used to at the moment due to real life interfering. There is a club I used to go to about a half hour away. Friendly folks, but they mostly play games I'm not really interested in (Fantasy ,Sci-Fi ,some historical but always skirmish) plus often with unpainted miniatures which sadly I cannot overlook, not to mention I really dislike transporting my miniatures. Since wargaming includes both painting and playing for me if I'm not gaming then the motivation to paint is affected. Well, I knew I had to do something or wargaming as a whole would just come to a halt period. This would not be a good thing as the wargaming hobby has had a very positive affect on the quality of my life.

Solo gaming. Hmmm would that really work? When playing a game I've always looked at it as very social activity and probably the part I liked the most even more then the game itself . The hobby talk before the game, friendly banter during the game, and the after game discussions and plans. This would not be present. I also worried about favoring one side too much leading to a boring predictable game.

Well I'm happy to say I enjoyed the solo game a lot more then I expected! Of course I would have had more fun playing a friend no question, but the experience was quite fun which is the important thing! I think the rules To the Strongest! had a lot to do with it due to the friction in activations where units can fail to activate which changes the dynamics disrupting plans not to mention the grid system eliminated any kind of fudging and fiddling of units and speeds the game up. As long as you try to play each side as best you can then you will have a good time as the cards will give you plenty of surprises.

General Nexiust in the center with the legions and commander Cyprus in his cataphractarii leading his division of cavalry on the left and commander Poximer leading the auxiliaries on his right face off in the distance General Primus and his legions center with his cavalry under Optomier and his ally Chieftain Hangar and his Burgundians.

The cavalry prepare to engage.

Poximer's Aux. Begin to advance

Hangar's Burgundians roar their defiance

General Primus with obvious Germanic tastes

Genaral Nexius who isn't above showing the heads of previous enemies as an example of what happens when defying his rule.

I decided to use my Late Roman/Germanic collection as it's my largest to play a kind of civil war of two rival Warlords. I did need to substitute some units for others as I didn't have enough of a particular type. For example I didn't have 3 cataphractarii units on one side rather just one and the other two were equites(normal cavalry). There were more substitutes, but I think the overall impression of Late Romans with Germanic allies fighting Late Romans was achieved.

A mighty clash of cavalry led by Cyperus himself!

More clashes of the cavalry looking for advantage.

Hangar charges with his Burgundians, but Aux. hold their ground.

Back and forth the Auxiliari's and Burgundians fight, but neither can seem to get an advantage

In the cavalry duels Optimer's heavy cavalry manage to outflank one of Cyprus forward pressing units.

Optimer's riders crush the enemy underfoot

Disaster for Cyprus as both he and his cataphractarii are shockingly ridden down!

I was always holding back from playing To the Strongest! as I didn't think I would like the grid system and the cards instead of dice.....I was wrong to say the least! I really liked the grides as it just made moving units so easy without any fuss and the process of flipping cards was more fun then rolling dice I found. Also, since I could take my time I didn't feel the game drag as often happens when learning new rules. I found myself completely engaged as to what would happen and not wanting to stop playing which is a very good thing. It was a very tense game with charge at the end deciding the game!

I thought maybe the cards on the table would be distracting, but they were not as I picked them up after each "division" was completed and the attack/save cards were played off battlefield. Really like the way the victory medals were worked especially with the amendments. Do you really want to rally that unit? Could cost you victory medal in doing so. I won't explain To the Strongest! here, but those that play will get that. Quite a few interesting choices to make in that whichever side your playing you are making decisions.

Nexiust seeing his cavalry flanked destroyed and his right flank bogged down decides a desperate charge of his legions to break Primus center is the only chance he has before his flank will be set upon by cavalry

Auxiliarii vs Auxiliarrii, Legionarii vs Legionarii and Warlord vs Warlord clash in the center!

Nexiust and his Legionarii's desperate charge pays off and they break both of Primus's Legionarrii's sending them scattering and Primus himself being dragged off to safety by his bannerman.

Remember when I said that I was worried that my preference for one side could lead to unconscious bias to the side I was playing......well I lost so that answered that! To the Strongest is an excellent game and if I had to nit pick I'd say not having the units base to base takes a bit from the visual, but that can be easily adjusted simply by making the boxes smaller, but I wanted them "standard" until I'm more comfortable with the game. I highly recommend playing To the Strongest! and I plan on playing many more games in the future along with Simon's For King and Parliament and his yet to be released Age of Reason(Corporal John?) ruleset for 18th century warfare all which are right up my ally with a focus on fighting armies.

So It looks like wargaming will continue through a combination of solo and friends which is a very good thing for me indeed and has already fueled my desire to paint more units to fill in the gaps of my existing collections and grow others. Other rulesets like Field of Battle and TFL also look promising for solo due to friction in activations which I think is very useful in solo wargaming.

Thanks for viewing!

American Howitzer and British 3 Pounder "Butterfly" Artillery

2025-09-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

Like usual it's been awhile since my last post which is mostly down to laziness as I've finished a few units since the last one, but also my productivity has been down largely due to not much gaming, but more of that on another post.

First up is an American Howitzer. I don't really know why I did it as they don't feature in many scenario's. I suppose just because I liked the look of it and the crew and the off chance I'll need one.

It was fun to do as I got a chance to experiment with white a little bit. Another thing is I decided to stay with a dark red brown for the wood of my artillery like my first one for my Americans. I plan on a few more artillery pieces for them, but probably shouldn't need too many.

Next up is a 3pounder "Butterfly" gun to go with the 6 pounder I already have. I will probably need a few more British Guns then American so more will be one the way at some point.

I really do like the uniforms of the British artillery crews in particular the southern dress as they do look rather spiffy and professional. The wood they used was also a nice grey just really adds to the effect. Another bonus is they are easy to paint in comparison to some of the other uniforms the British wore!

Well that's it for now, but I'll probably post another unit this week since I still have some vacation left.

Thanks for Viewing!

Miniature Company-Perry Miniatures

Von Donop Hessian Regiment

2025-07-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

Finally started my Hessians for my AWI collection in the form of the Von Donop regiment to kick things off. I just kept putting off doing Hessians, because the uniforms I knew would be a challenge....not as challenging as the British early uniforms, but for sure more complex then the Southern campaigns I have mostly been doing with the Americans and British.

The unit is modeled after the Von Donop regiment which can be read about on Wiki at your convenience, but truth be told I pretty much use regiments as a way of keeping variety in my force and some historical grounding, however in game terms they will be used whenever I use Hessians not just if Von Donop was present(bonus if it is!).

The Hessians/German mercenaries often had this straw color to the uniform as did this regiment, however as you may have noticed mine do not. The answer is pretty simple in that I really dislike that color for large portions of a uniform and reaching into my bag of liberties I changed it into a buff color which I prefer.

Like many of Perry's miniatures they are demanding to clean and paint(I thought I was going to pull my hair out doing the musicians!), but the payoff is well worth it. The Perry's hit the nail on the head with AWI and imho captured the period better then anyone, but they sure make you work for it!

In addition to this I have even more backlog coming and much of it AWI which is fitting considering the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the war I've spent a lot of my time attempting to model and game. It's a toss up between the AWI and ACW as to my favorite period. As far as looks probably AWI, but for reading probably ACW, but either way both have remained consistently my favorite. Every time I do other projects I eventually come back to these two. Always more to do!

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company-Perry Miniatures

Nap. Russian Infantry #1

2025-06-30T23:35:00.000-07:00

I actually did this unit quite awhile ago, but didn't post it yet. They are my first attempt at painting a 28mm Napoleonic unit(not figure) and I had a great time! I think a huge reason for that is the figures themselves are superbly sculpted and casted and are some of the most painter friendly models I've done! The figures if you don't know are from Front Rank(now under Gripping Beast) and are exactly right up my street in terms of style and sculpting as alluded to.

My approach to painting Napoleonic armies will be similar to how I do my ACW armies in that the units will be small so as to better work in relation to the table I have in my hobby room. My table is 5ft x 8ft that I can extend to 5ft x 10ft if needed. I could go larger, but to be honest I wouldn't want to as it would get too cramped. In terms of rules I like rules where the player sets the size of units like Field of Battle 3, Black Powder etc. In addition I prefer fighting portions of a battle rather then the whole thing so all in all it works out for me in this approach to unit sizes.

A note on how I paint my figures. I paint my figures with the idea of being largely historically correct, but I will take as many liberties as I want to get the look I'm after regardless if it is accurate or not. In other words rule of cool is in effect in my projects. This unit is an example of that in which I like the look of units with some in greatcoats and some not although my understanding is they would either be one or the other. If you see something incorrect then half the time it will be deliberate and the other half ignorance.:-)

I'm currently painting a French unit to figure out my colors for the armies and then I plan on bouncing between the two with the intentions of adding Prussians into the mix as well....Front Rank or Calpe hmm... maybe both. This of course is a long term project because time needed to paint it all and the cost(mostly metal) as I'll largely be using Front Rank, Calpe and maybe some Victrix if I can push through assembly process. Oh the Flag is from Flags of War I think if anybody was curious.

I've noticed I'll need to add a spot of matt varnish again here and there as a few got some shiny areas. Oh well things you notice after taking a picture. I'll try and post some more stuff as I now have a bit of a backlog. I'm so lazy taking pictures and posting!

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company-Front Rank

Harlem Heights 1776

2025-05-05T11:24:00.000-07:00

Brig. General Nixon's vanguard make contact with Major General Leslie Light Infantry Brigade. Bottom of the screen is North and the top is South. Key features are Clarmont Hill with the LI on top. Hoaglandt Farm behind the buckwheat field on a hill, behind that the orchard on a hill and behind that Jones's House also on a hill. Both the southwest and northwest have thick woods.

A few days ago I had a few friends over for an AWI game using the excellent Field of Battle 3 ruleset and a scenario from the always good British Grenadier scenario books. The battle we fought was Haarlem Heights 1776. The battle itself took place right after the American's major defeat at Long Island. The British with justification felt the Americans were so inferior that they let their guard down and fell into a trap and were defeated. The British were arrogant and while pursuing American skirmishers with their light infantry actually blew horns like they were on a fox hunt just to give you an idea of the mind set. The battle itself wasn't a major engagement(although not minor either) with less then 1800 a side actually involved, but it was a significant battle in which the Americans defeated the British on the open field for the first time after a series of defeats and gave the Americans a much needed morale boost. If you check out wiki that will give more detail of the battle itself as it would take too much space in an already long post.

The British ( Mike and Sebastian)

CinC- Gen. Howe

Major Gen. Leslie , Lt. Col. Stirling, Col. Von Donop, Major Gen. Cornwallis, Major Gen.Vaughan,

The Americans (Franz and Myself)

CinC- Gen. Washington

Major Gen. Greene, Brig. Gen. Nixon, Lt. Col. Knowlton, Brig. Gen. Sargent, Brig. Gen. Beall

Basically the objective for the American players is to defeat the British light infantry under Leslie and the early reinforcements of Stirling and Von Donop before the later arrival of the 33rd under Cornwallis and the elite Grenadiers of Vaughan.

Gen Washington and Howe while technically are commanding they both pretty much just funneled in reinforcements using their staffs to figure out where, but did not really get very close to the action therefore I didn't allow them to command individual brigades.

Another factor in the battle is in that most Americans were regulars, but quite inferior to British regulars at this point so I gave them militia status and actual militia as rabble, with the exception of riflemen units who were given full regular status.

The last factor is low ammunition for both sides which increasingly became a factor in the battle and so much so it pretty much ended the fight historically. With this in mind about mid point in the game and after a unit had fired it had to make an ammo check before it could fire again. Any fail was out of ammo for the rest of the game. While it didn't decide the game it sure did make it's presence known!

Leslie's light infantry take positions at the fence line and atop Claremont Hill.

Nixon's riflemen vanguard are engaged by British light infantry, but cause no casualties.

The riflemen move to outflank the light infantry.

Nixon's main body arrives giving an unpleasant surprise to Leslie!

The arrival of Nixon's main body pins the British Light infantry allowing the riflemen to continue their outflanking maneuver.

Completing their outflanking maneuver the riflemen deliver devasting fire into the light infantry.

Disaster for the British as one Light Infantry battalion is routed from the field!

Leslie retreats to the remaining light infantry battalion on Clarmont Hill as Nixon's men pour over the fence.

Nixon sends half his men to deal with the rest of the light infantry and the other half in the direction of Hoaglandt farm on the opposing hilltop. Things are looking grim for the British!

Stirling's 42nd Foot brigade arrives and not a moment too soon for the British!

Stirling orders the 42nd into line atop Hoaglandt farm and the nearby buckwheat field while the accompanying 3 pounder artillery prepares to engage.

Knowlton's Rangers arrive out of the woods to support Nixon's advance on the British in the center.

Sargent's unattached infantry and 6 pounder take the field with Gen Greene taking command of them.

And Gen. Sargent arrives with the rest of the brigade.

Greene and Sargent take their troops on a march around the woods to the west in hopes of outflanking and trapping the British on Hoaglandt farm and Clarmont hill.

Nixon's men begin exchanging gunfire with the light infantry on Clarmont Hill.

Nixon's troops take cover behind the fence and stone wall as the British 3 pounder engages. Nixon is waiting on Greene and Sargent to get on the British flank before risking going into the open field.

The American flank march is almost there until the timely arrival of Von Donop's Hessians near the stone wall and opposite the orchard.

Greene immediately reacts to the Hessian threat and deploys his units into line and get's the 6 pounder to engage the Hessians.

The unexpected accuracy of the American artillery pushes the Hessians off the wall.

This gap was all the Americans needed who daringly poured over the walled and assaulted the Hessians!

Von Donop watches in disbelief as his troops are routed from the field!!(newly painted unit....)

Beall's Flaying camps arrive which are rabble militia. Had to use 2 hessians stands as I ran out of rebel's.

In the gunfight between Nixon's regulars and the Light infantry Nixon's men were getting the better and decided to launch an assault to knock the light infantry off Clarmont hill.

Big mistake as the light infantry threw back the Americans causing one battalion to fall back and the other to route! While this helped the British their morale was still getting close to breaking.

Just as Nixon was getting ready to make a push on both Clarmont hill and Hoaglandt farm he was shot dead from his saddle from a stray musket ball temporally paralyzing his brigade until a new leader could take command!

Some welcome relief for the British with the arrival of Cornwallis and the 33rd near Jones's house.

What do you mean you forgot the second box of ammunition! The British 3 pounder withdraws from Hoaglandt farm out of ammo.

With the Hessians out of the way Green moves to the flank of Stirling who in turn orders one battalion to turn and face the threat. In a blaze of musketry they send the artillery reeling backwards.

Now that Stirling's artillery was forced to withdraw and his right flank forced to respond to Greene's flanking attempts Knowlton's rangers move through the buckwheat field and send repeated waves of musketry into the 42nd's flank.

Which caused the 42nd to break and run in the direction of Jones house to the shock and dismay of the retreating artillery not to mention Stirling himself! The British are out of morale chips making them vulnerable to the army morale card when drawn.

Vaughan's Grenadiers arrive, but are they too late!

The army morale card was drawn and the British failed their roll causing the crown forces to quit the field. The American's win!

What a great game it was! Remarkably the game followed history pretty closely even using our own adaptations to the scenario. The American Flying columns and the British Grenadiers also did not take part in the fighting at the end as I believe was historically the case. If the British were not so unlucky in losing one of their light infantry units and the Hessians so early I have little doubt the Grenadiers would have made short work of the Americans if allowed to get into the thick of the fighting.

I want to thank everyone who took part in the game for the good atmosphere and fun we had in playing the game! I'm really looking forward to the next one!

Although my AWI collection isn't small I realized it's still not near as big as I want it to be and I have lots more to do! Getting all your figures on the table can be a real morale booster in getting more things added.

Also my initial set of pictures came out so bad, that I basically had to re-do the game from memory and take new pictures of the game. Great thing about having a hobby room and the figures all yours. I'm still learning the camara so not where I want to be yet, but getting better. My friend Mike took some great pictures of the game in actual progress so please go visit him at https://dreispitz.blogspot.com/2025/05/awi-field-of-battle-3rd-edition-battle.html . Because of this the unit's won't look exactly the same in terms of composition of figures.

Thanks for viewing and reading until the end of a very long post!

Caesarian Romans

2025-03-20T22:55:00.000-07:00

For a long time I've wanted to do Caesarian Romans in particular the Wargames Foundry ones as I always really liked them and to this day still consider them the best out there. I don't know why I never got around to doing them, but finally acquired some in a trade with my friend Mike.

Once I started painting them I was having so much fun, I ordered a large amount of them in a Foundry sale which is only really how I can get them with the price increases, shipping and customs and all. Since I paint pretty slow by the time I need more miniatures some sale is bound to be happening. I suppose it's that way for many of us metal miniature painters as I still paint relatively few plastic and resin miniatures for many reasons that are commonly known like assembly, heft etc.

Somebody gave a great description of the Foundry Caesarian Romans looking like they are fighting on rugby pitch which translates to brutally fighting in a no quarter given or asked toe to toe manner which will really contrast well to the sophisticated look of my Hellenistic opposition I have planned. Plus Caesar vs Pompei , Spanish, Gaul and Germanic tribes and Spartacus Slave revolt all sound intriguing to do as each presents a completely different game.

Lately I've been putting all my Dark Ages and Ancients on single bases and using blue tack to hold them onto movement bases which holds surprisingly well. I hate re-basing and I don't like sabot bases either and this seems the best solution for me to keep pace with my changing taste in base sizes I seem to go through. For example These bases are 120mm x 60mm, but I'm thinking of trying 100mm frontage to get a quicker start on gaming which won't be an issue as all I need to do is buy new movement bases rather than any dreaded re-basing.

I decided to give them a look that says they have been fighting for some time so I gave some with shield designs and others with just red to show not enough time to paint their shields as the next fight is already coming up. They are all in red to show a bit of a veteran status and one off the more experienced units..

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company- Wargames Foundry

Confederate Cavalry

2025-02-15T07:24:00.000-08:00

This will be third submission to the challenge and my second cavalry. I painted a union cavalry and now I'm adding a confederate to keep pace with the union. I really would like to find a way to paint cavalry quicker, but how I prefer my models to look pretty much requires the same method every time. Something about old dogs and tricks comes to mind....

The figures are once again the very lively and characterful Sash and Saber range which are really fun to paint and make you hum a civil war tune as you go through the process.

The paints I used were mostly Foundry as they have been my go to brand for many years plus of course the ever trusty Vallejo line with some Mig pigments for weathering rocks and stuff.

I'm not sure what I'll paint next as I still need more cavalry and dismounted cavalry for ACW, but some of my other collections are really in need of some additions right now.

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature company- Old Glory Sash and Saber

Union Cavalry

2025-01-25T07:12:00.000-08:00

Adding more ACW to my collection. I'm kind of reluctant to move to other periods at the moment as I really need to add some units to play some scenario's I have in mind. This is the first cavalry unit I've done for this collection as cavalry always lags behind with me.

Almost all my major collections are lacking in cavalry and that's because I really don't like painting horses with all the straps and flesh to cover not to mention the riders typically have more fiddly bits then infantry! However, this year I've decided to try and put my head down and get some finished so I can increase the scenario's to play.

The figures are from Old Glory Sash and Saber line which really pack some character which I tend to lean towards. They are not as big as Perry and certainly not Redoubt, but work great in their own units. The colors used were mostly Foundry paints with some Vallejo here and there.

Next up probably more ACW and cavalry, but I really never know if that will be the case.

Thanks for Viewing!

Miniatures- Sash and Saber

Christopher

Hello 2025 and some ACW Causalities to start off

2025-01-02T05:23:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! I've decided to enter the AHPC once again this year in the hopes it will get my painting back on track. It did feel odd not being a part of the event and watching from the sideline after so many years participating so it's good to be back as it's tradition after all!

I've decided to start off with some ACW casualty figures as they are very much needed, but haven't got to them yet for reasons unknown. These will likely be my first of two batches as I will need more.

The figures are from Redoubt miniatures which are probably my favorite ACW figures as they really do pack a lot of character and are very painter friendly. The figures are large so you really can't mix them with other ranges very well, but in their own units work great.

I can't say what I'll do next because even I don't know, but I have been keeping the ACW theme going pretty well last year so an odds on favorite that will likely be next.....maybe.

Other things this year is I tried two new games. The first was Hail Caesar which had mixed results as the QRS is really bad and therefore caused us to have go back and forth trying to find rules which really turned off two of the players, but I came to the conclusion it's a very nice game once you learn the rules and more importantly decide how you are going to play them. Will it replace Impetus for me?....probably not however it's a game I would like to play more of as I see a lot of fun potential.

The other game was Lion Rampant which I thought was a solid set of rules for a beer and pretzels kind of game. Very easy to learn and quick to play. That said it doesn't fill me with excitement to play or collect for, but for a pick up game here and there it will do fine.

The game that I'm most excited to try out is Midgard as the idea of heroic leaders has some appeal without them completely dominating the game. I suppose somewhat like WAB used to be, but with different mechanics.

Thank for viewing!

Miniature Company-Redoubt Miniatures

ACW Command Stands

2024-07-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to adding some command stands for my ACW armies although to be honest I've had these done for a few weeks already. Although I haven't posted much lately I have been busy with my ECW renovation project that I'll show when I'm done(Almost there just a couple more units).

I think the commands are Longstreet for the confederates and Reynolds for the union although I just use the commands for whatever I need for the scenario and do not worry so much if they are the exact leaders or not except perhaps Lee who is just too obvious I suppose.

The figures are a mix of Perry and Redoubt which do manage to fit together even if the styles are quite different oddly enough. The troops have to be in separate units as it's much more noticeable.

I did manage to get my collection on the table for Brawners Farm scenario from the Infernal Rebel Yell scenario book from Brad Butkovich using Field of Battle 3 rule set. It was a heck of a game where it looked like the rebs where going down in defeat, but managed somehow to claw a victory. A very tense game! Sadly my pictures did not come out, but my friend Mikes did and I recommend you go to his blog post for the complete game which he did a fine job of making a narration of it.

The game

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company- Perry, Redoubt

Early Saxon/Germanic Collection rebased and the current state of my Late Roman/Germanic Collection

2024-02-25T03:27:00.000-08:00

I took a break from ACW to re-base my Saxon/Germanic army for use with skirmish and army based games like Impetus, TTS and the upcoming Midguard rules by James Morris.

Why did I do this when I already had sabot bases for the figures you may ask? Well after seeing James Morris units on what I would call movement bases for individual figures rather then sabots I loved the look and flexibility as the figures could be moved around on the base rather then in a fixed sabot. With that in mind I set to work on my re-basing project to movement bases!

This flexibility allows me to make a unit a heavy or light one by removing or adding figures that does not leave a hole like a sabot base does. Also I can move the figures closer or farther apart whenever I want without needing a different sabot base and of course I can place the figures closer together.

James used magnets which is useful, but this requires where the figures are to be free of basing material which I don't like as it looks too smooth compared to the edges and limiting. I decided to use blue tack to hold the figures in place and it works very well!

With this method I can use my figures for any system be it skirmish or army based as I'll just need the base size requirements.:-)

I made the movement bases 3cm high which allows me to handle the base and not the figures which is something I've really come to prefer these days.

Usually I find re-basing a chore, but this time I had quite some fun as I didn't need to hammer and cut rather just make the movement bases themselves and transfer them from the sabot bases to the movement trays.

Not content to stop there I also re-based my friend Nick's excellent Late Roman/Arthurian collection shown above that I luckily purchased from him. It did require more work as I needed to completely re-do his bases to match my own collection, but worth the effort!

Just to round things off I thought I would show my Foundry Late Roman collection shown above which is based for Impetus, but can also be used for TTS and Midguard as well. These are a mixture of both my own(lighter based) and Nicks Late Romans(that I got off him,darker based) although I need to re-do his bases to match mine as can be seen if you look close.

Oh one cannot forget casualty counters either as I really like having these. These are also a mix of my own and Nick's already with matching bases.

So am I done? The answer is no not even close as I plan to use these collections for small skirmish all the way up to very large battles with multiple players! I think we all have a little megalomania in us(even if it takes years to get there)!

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company- Footsore, Gripping Beast, Westwind, Wargames Foundry

More Reb and Union artillery

2023-12-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

Hello I'm back again with some more ACW. I needed some more artillery for both sides so I painted up some although these have been finished for a little while now in which time I've been tinkering away on other projects.

First up are some Rebel batteries from probably my favorite ACW range Redoubt miniatures as they pack a huge amount of character and flavor of the period. Anyhow lots of fun painting these up!

I'm really getting somewhere now with this project which always helps with the mojo! I plan on doing some command, cavalry, casualties and such next and then see where I am.

The union artillery I decided to try out the Perry plastic artillery set. As plastics goes it is pretty good set and while not as nice as the metals it gets the job done and still looks good.

Assembly went fine and parts seemed to fit pretty well which is important as I hate plastic assembly so I'm not turned off to doing more of these. Since the union has more artillery these sets will come in handy.

That's all for now, but I do have more stuff I've done just as ever haven't gotten around to posting yet! The future will see more ACW, ECW and perhaps a surprise project I've been thinking about.

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Companies- Redoubt, Perry miniatures

More Rebs for ACW

2023-09-26T02:20:00.000-07:00

Continuing on with my ACW project in the form of some Rebel units. I'm actually starting to see some daylight on this project. Still have a way to go, but really feeling like I have made progress.

I hope everyone isn't getting tired of seeing ACW, but I'm trying to stay focused until I get this project to what I consider a playable stage. I have too many projects at the 75% stage, but not quite there and I don't want this too be another. I don't mean finished or everything I want just to a point where I can play a couple different scenario's. I'm worried if I do something else it could be a long time before I come back so I want to avoid that. It's hard as so many things are tempting me!!

The figures are a mix of mostly Perry metal and plastics and a couple Sash and Saber Old Glory. Once again I prefer metal quite a bit more, but these plastics were pretty good once you got past the dreaded assembly part.

I'm not sure how others paint their Rebs, but I really like to play up the ragged multi uniformed, whatever I can get my hands on type of look. I know many units managed to keep somewhat of a semblence of uniformity, but I always prefer the more chaotic look. To achieve this the paints I used were the usual Foundry and Vallejo paints.

Hopefully I'll have some more units to show soonish. I think I have enough infantry for now so I'll switch and add some more artillery next.

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company- Perry, Sash and Saber

2023-09-13T07:50:00.007-07:00

I've been gone for a bit, but that's how social media works for me it seems. I have been painting so do have a back log of things to show. Here are a few more union units to show.

I'm actually starting to get somewhere with this project. I've got about 12 union infantry units and almost ready to add some more reb infantry that will give me around the same number. So with a few more artillery to add to the few I have and some cavalry I'll be ready to start playing scenario's which will be nice!

The figures are all Perry/Foundry and are a mix of some metal and mostly plastic. As a rule I prefer metal, but these plastics painted up pretty decent plus they do help fill out the ranks cheaper. My collection will stay mostly metal, but I will supplement some plastics like these.

The colors I used were mostly Foundry which are my favorite paints plus Vallejo which are also quite nice.

Next up will probably be the rebel infantry I'm working on and then see what happens. Oh I was thinking about cleaning my blog up as it has some projects I no longer do or pictures that are really out of date. This is a pretty old blog so there has been changes along the way.

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company- Perry Miniatures, Wargames Foundry

French and Indian Wars game

2023-05-01T04:51:00.004-07:00

I had Nick over for a game of Sharp Practice 2 set in the French and Indian War. It was the first time I got the collection on the table for a game and I was pretty chuffed! The reason it took so long was because I wanted to have enough figures for both sides and I also didn't like how the rules for Indians were written in the lists in which they acted like little more then mobile assualt groups. The problem was solved in Lard Magazine 2022 in which the Indians were given an alternative way to be fielded that is much more in line with how I perceived they fought which was small groups sniping the enemy followed by hit and run attacks while trying to preserve their warriors. Basically the blue print for light infantry.

The pictures were taken from my phone so not of the best quality, but does give you an idea of the game. Maybe one day I'll sit down and make a proper lighted photo shoot of the figures in action, but I'm a lazy photographer when it comes around to taking pictures which is why my postings lag behind in my hobby works.

Nick played the French and I played the British colonials. There were no regular troops and was fought by regional troops, like marines, rangers, conscrips, volunteers, militia and Indians. The game was a learning curve as the period really forces you to make decisions about keeping your troops in formation for easier control and massed volleys or breaking them up into groups to avoid being out flanked. It was great fun!

I'm now full of inspiration to paint up more for the period to include figures and terrain!

I'm looking forward to the next game of French and Indian wars, but I do need more trees even though I have a lot, but not quite enough it seems!

Thanks for viewing!

Some Rebel and Union Guns

2023-03-30T06:23:00.001-07:00

Re-based a couple older guns and added a couple newer guns for my ACW collection to support the infantry I've doned already. First up is the rebel battery.

Artillery always looks cool on the tabletop and even more so if assembled in groups or batteries.

Painting artillery is a mixed bag as I really enjoy painting the crew, but the gun itself can be a bit annoying to clean and even paint, but does payoff when finished. The rebels really do offer one a choice to indulge yourself in variety when it comes to their apperance.

Next up are some union guns which offer a contrast to the rebels with more of a uniformity, but still some opportunity to mix colors with coats removed.

All the guns here are from Perry miniatures metals and while a pain to clean up sure do offer some fantastic posing that really gives a sense of action!

I have some more ACW on the desk as I still have a ways to go, but I think some French and Indian War stuff might get posted before that.

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company- Perry Miniatures

Hessian casualty markers for AWI

2023-03-05T08:20:00.002-08:00

I always like casualty figure markers in games as I feel it adds a little extra to battlefields rather then just a lone dice so I use them if it's practical. The Perry twins really do make great casualty markers.

I needed a small break from my ACW project so decided doing some markers now was as good as a time as any.

Still trying to get used to my computers editor which is a bit limited. My old one was better so might have to get an editor program.

I've been painting a bit more so some more ACW, F&IW and TWI will be featured soon.

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company- Perry miniatures

More Rebels for ACW

2023-02-26T10:45:00.003-08:00

While my posting and commenting is unsurprisingly lagging my painting is more on track. I've managed to more or less stay on my ACW re-basing/painting project which is great as I'm better able to resist the wargaming butterfly as time goes by(not completely of course).

These are all the very characterful Sash and Saber ACW range which I really like.

I got a new computer and it's editing is a bit wonky so if some of the pictures look odd that may be why. I just don't have the patience anymore to try and get the perfect angle (grumpier as I get older I guess).

I'm actully starting to get somewhere with this project which is nice. The ACW along with the AWI are my favorite periods so having the army sizes I want to game with is quite important.

More ACW is on the way along with a few other items I did.

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company- Sash and Saber

Some more Union and a house

2022-11-07T06:53:00.001-08:00

My blogging is very touch and go the past couple years, but it's still going which is a positive. Need to catch up on what the everyone has been doing. Still working on re-basing my ACW and painting new commands. First up some Perry's re-imagined Fire Zouaves which is the same as before except different flags and officer uniform. I might do a third as I still have figures left for one of these.

Then some regular union from Sash and Saber which are my favorite alongside Redoubt for the ACW period. So much character!

and another unit.

And yet another.

And last unit..

And finally if your still there a four chimney house from the ever so great Hovel terrain with a couple of tweaks.

A lot of gratuitous amount of pictures, but I post the most pictures here as this is where I keep a log of my material so to speak and other sites it's more paired down. I'm working on some confederates right now so they will be in the next lot. I'll keep switching between the two.

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Company- Perry, Sash and Saber, Hovel Terrain

Rebasing 28mm ACW

2022-08-14T08:25:00.001-07:00

Texians

This is something I've been thinking over for quite some time and I finally pulled the trigger. I've wanted to make my units smaller for intermediate to large battle games, but at the same time make the bases bigger so I could tell a story of a kind for each unit. I've gone with two 60mm frontage bases with depths varying from 40mm, 60mm and 70mm depending on the troop type.

Iron Brigade

For me 28mm is all about the figure and the posing and very little to do with representing an actual unit size and in fact large units on a table not suited for it just looks crowded. If you want to represent units in appearance it should really be done at the smaller scales imho. I have an 8ft by 5ft. table which works great with the size I've chosen and really puts everything into proportion in my eye. In fact all my games with my AWI collection were played with comparable frontages and it works great so it's been tested so to speak.

Alabamians

I've also raised the bases higher so I don't need to touch the figures when picking up the base which helps with wear and tear. Once on my table it's not very noticeable.

Fire Zouaves

I'll probably post these in batches until the rebasing is finished which could take awhile because I have to paint up some new commands. After that settles down then it will go back to individual units as I complete them.

Skirmish

Thanks for viewing!

Miniature Companies- Redoubt, Sash and Saber, Perry