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)

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.