Hobby Update - 16/12/19

Hi there!

It's been a slow time for my hobby lately but I'm finally kicking back into gear. These are some of the projects I've been working on lately.

6mm Napoleonics
Work on my 6mm Russian army has focused on dragoons lately. This project has been on a slow burn lately with distractions in the form of By Fire and Sword, Kings of Wars and 10mm ACW. I had painted a fair chunk for my army and needed a break. Starting back with four bases of dragoons. These have all been basecoated and washed. The green is highlighted as well so now I just have to finish the highlights and base them. These figures have been staring at me on my painting desk for a while so it's good to be nearing completion.

By Fire and Sword
Alongside the Tatars from my last post I've been doing some experiments with inks. These aren't typical washes like Games Workshop's or Army Painter's washes, but instead are highly pigmented inks that can basically be applied as a basecoat and wash in one. Hmm, sounds a lot like GW's contrast paints without the marketing... The two bases below were painted entirely with Vallejo's game ink line. The figures were primed grey then drybrushed white. The base on the right had highlights applied with regular paints, the left base is only the inks. I have a bit more experimenting to do and have added some Liquitex brand inks to help bulk out the collection. I'm really interested in this approach and will be using it to rapidly paint a Muscovy army that I have coming from Poland.

Kings of War
For a long time I've had a bunch of Russian Alternative "Dwarfs of Fire Canyon" (chaos dwarfs/abyssal dwarfs) lying around. I recently picked up the Kings of War rulebook and decided to rebase what I had already painted and finish figures I've already started. I have the next batch of figures basecoated and washed so they won't take long. I multibased these in a very simple fashion as I usually use grasslands tables. I think they came out well and I have some more figures on the way. This blog won't contain much sci-fi or fantasy stuff but this project will be an exception. Russian Alternative make really great looking figures at an affordable price for 28mm.

Napoleonic Russians - Pavlovsk Grenadiers (Павловский гренадерский полк) and Heavy Artillery

Hello there,

A quick update today. I was going to hold off posting until I had a decent bunch of units to put up but as the Pavlovsk Grenadiers are so iconic in the era, I figured they deserved their own post. I've painted the 1st and 3rd battalions (the 2nd in the Russian Army was a depot battalion and often not deployed). After the 1812 campaign the Pavlovsk Grenadiers would be admitted to the Imperial Guard, which they remained a part of until the Russian Revolution. I also finished my 12 pounder guns of which I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.

I should be receiving some Pendraken 10mm ACW later this week, so there should be some more variety on the blog soon. ACW is a side-project for me, only 300 infantry, 30 cavalry and 6 guns between both sides. I've got the rules for Altar of Freedom and have Regimental Fire and Fury on order and have a basing scheme in mind that should allow me to play both without any issues. All this side, side-projects often have a tendency to get bigger and I'm becoming really interested in the history of the war...

12 pounder foot artillery.

From the rear

Павловский гренадерский полк, 3rd battalion left, 1st right.

I love the colour on the back of the mitre caps, makes for a good player view!

Napoleonic Russian Hussars

Hello again,

Today I finished my first two bases of Russian Hussars. I'm painting every base as a different regiment for Blucher. This will probably look a little strange in squadron to a base games in ESR, so I might pick up some more hussars in the future to do that. These are fantastic models from Baccus that have heaps of detail. I've decided to paint the red Lifeguard (Лейб-гвардия) and blue Mariupol (Мариуполь) Hussars, unsure what the third base I have will be. I hope everybody likes them.

The Mariupol Hussars

Lifeguard Hussars

Rearshot showing the varying cloak trims (white for officers/trumpeters)

6mm Bridges

Hi again,

Just a quick post today. I've painted up the bridges I've received in my latest Baccus order. They're too small for my main river but are perfectly sized for my homemade creeks. Previously any 6mm games were bogged down by water as I only owned one bridge, so besides looking good they should really help gameplay on my tables!

All three bridges with a Napoleonic Russian battalion for scale.

Creeks and the mat are homemade. The buildings are Battlescale

Great War Russians (in progress)

Hello there!

Following a request on the Baccus forum that I put up some photos of my Russians for Great War Spearhead, here they are. Please keep in mind this is nowhere near the full force - I currently have 3 infantry regiments painted as well as some extra artillery and support stands. I am working towards a full two-division corps, however this project is on the backburner while I focus on the Napoleonic Wars. Differentiation between regiments is by epaulette colour - so far my three infantry regiments have red, yellow and blue epaulettes respectively. Headquarters bases are marked by a subtle X (XX for Division) on their back of the base to keep it out of the way.

One of the hardest things about this period is the drab uniforms. My Great War French in their blue uniforms stand out on their brown, muddy Western Front basing. When I started the Russians I decided the focus of the project would be a basing scheme that was foliage heavy to portray the untamed wilderness of Eastern Europe. Combined with the drab green uniform, this makes these figures really hard to photograph. I've had comments to the effect that I overdid the basing, however I think the effect en mass looks quite good and am happy with it overall. Until next time!

Division HQ

122mm howitzers. I also have three bases of 76mm field guns painted.

Divisional cavalry

Infantry

Machine gun

Machine gun

All up this is about a third of what I've painted for this army so far

Napoleonic 6mm Russians - Progress

Just a quick progress update on my 6mm Russians. I've finished all the infantry from the Baccus army pack along with the Cossacks and artillery. Hussars, dragoons and commanders to go.

Manufacturer Review: Baccus6mm

Hello again!

This post will be a review of the figures produced by Baccus6mm from the UK. As will no doubt become clear as this blog progresses, Baccus is my primary source of figures. This is for a number of good reasons. In an attempt to keep my reviews consistent I'll cover a number of things. I don't intend on giving a score for figures as I think preference for difference styles may render that irrellevant anyway.

- Quality and design of product
- How they are purchased/packed
- Service/Cost

Quality and design
Baccus figures are in my opinion a high quality product. There is minimal flash and few miscasts. Some figures have thin legs, particularly in the WW1 range. My French division had 3 figures broken in transit, however given there was around 400 that's not a huge issue... The figures are white metal and produced in strips in a couple of different styles. As you can see below the Napoleonic figures are a bit "blobbier" than the WW1 figures.Supposedly this style carries over to other rank and file eras such as the American Civil War. Detail is good, particularly on the Napoleonic figures were many uniform details are replicated wonderfully. The WW1 figures are more realistic in their proportions. In terms of height and compatibility with other figures, Baccus figures are usually slightly taller than the nominal 6mm - about 6.5mm. I have some Heroics and Ros figures for Moderns however and I think they could mix fine (I can't comment on Irregular, Adler or other manufacturers).

WW1 Russian Cavalry. My painting style on these green figures renders them fairly dark, I found it too difficult to get a good photo of the infantry.

Napoleonic Russian infantry. The uniform detail is stunning and figures have eyes and noses!

Napoleonic Cossacks. Again some amazing detail that I couldn't quite capture. Some figures have glorious cossack moustaches!

Napoleonic Russian artillery. These figures have tonnes of character and detail.

How They are Purchased/Packed
Baccus figures come in "strips", typically four to a strip for infantry and three to a strip for cavalry. Artillery is usually single piece so no fiddling with gluing tiny wheels or barrels. For purchasing, a typical pack of a single type of figure would contain 20 "line" strips and 4 "command" strips (96 figures). A pack of cavalry tends to have 10 line and 5 command strips for 45 models. Alternatively, there are also "starter armies" designed around specific games systems as well as even larger forces. Large purchases of a single type, such as infantry, may be possible in "booster packs". Figures do not come with bases unless you are purchasing a two-player starter for a specific system, allowing you to buy mdf bases either from Baccus or elsewhere, or purchase your own.

WW1 figures. This style of strip is typical for open-order style infantry. The base is cut to base the individual figures. On the right is a heavy machine gun team. There's plenty of detail but this camera angle is terrible for it.

Napoleonic figures. This cavalry strip is typical, and cut up much like open order infantry. Close-order infantry can be based with their strips intact which makes life easy.

Service/Cost
Baccus rates highly here. Peter answers emails promptly and is active on Facebook and the Baccus forum. The company always posts when there are production delays expected due to them attending conventions and shows. Turnaround on an order can take a while as figures are cast to order -  expect around two weeks for a large order, less for a small one. Figures are sent via Royal Mail and separated into easy to sort bags. Pricing is very reasonable in my opinion.

Prices (as of 20/10/2019)
Infantry pack (96 figures) - 6 pounds (11AUD)
Cavalry pack (45 figures) - 7 pounds (13AUD)
Napoleonic starter army (381 figures + 4 guns) - 35.83 pounds (68AUD)

Expect a flat 25% shipping rate for overseas purchases. Seems a lot but when the figures are cheap, I find it reasonable. I have had entire armies delivered for around 100AUD - the price of a single unit of Games Workshop figures in Australia.

Conclusion
Baccus offers excellent figures at reasonable cost. Their starter armies are particularly excellent value and despite the "starter" label, can often get you what amounts to an entire army for some games for barely the cost of a unit from Games Workshop. Peter Berry is running a great company.