British 6-pounder limber (2)

January 17th, 2010 Giles Posted in artillery Comments Off


Painting output has decreased significantly since paternity leave ended and I went back to work at the beginning of January. After 5-odd years of painting 12 figures a week (6 during the weekdays and another 6 at the weekend) I'm trying hard (and struggling) to stick to 7-8 figures a week - the new batch is started on Monday morning and hopefully finished Sunday evening. I think it's important to set some sort of weekly target, if only to give yourself an indication of how many figures you can realistically expect to paint. This means that gaps between posts are likely to lengthen and so I'm hoping to maintain about 2 posts a week by posting pics of stuff I painted over the past couple of years but which, for whatever reason, has remained un-photographed. These items are all AWI, which will help with alternating posts between the AWI and the FCW - this alternate system of posts is what I intend to do going forward.

So first up is a Perry Miniatures British 6-pounder limber that I painted in September 2008 for the Long Island game that November. It remained "un-posted" because I had meant to attach tracing to the horses - I only got around to doing so last night. This is a companion to my other limber, here. As I said in that earlier post, I like to find photos of specific horses to work from and to identify particular breeds. Here we have a dapple dun and a golden bay. The dun was painted using the Foundry "Quagmire" palette with one or two extra highlights. The tracing is white cotton with a dark brown ink wash. I recall that the photos I used for reference had tails which were a mix of black and white hair, one with white hair at the top and the other with it at the bottom. I thought this might make an interesting contrast between the two horses.

Painted September 2008.



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Saxon Artilleryman

April 19th, 2009 David Posted in Saxon, artillery Comments Off

Saxon artilleryman. As so often with Saxon uniforms there is some disagreement in the sources so I have gone for the simpler possibilities.
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21st Reichsarmee Template - Feuerwerker of Upper Rhine Artillery Contingent

April 18th, 2009 David Posted in Reichsarmee, artillery Comments Off


After all those fancy musicians here's a taste of the darker and more workaday side of war - a very soberly dressed Upper Rhine artilleryman of the Reichsarmee.
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The Charleston Museum

April 25th, 2008 Giles Posted in Visits, artillery Comments Off



I had intended to post holiday pics in the order in which places were visited. But in the interests of keeping the military as opposed to architectural content on this blog reasonably regular I thought I would jump forward to South Carolina and the riches of Charleston's main historical museum. Charleston has several museums. The Confederate Army Museum was very interesting, although photos were not allowed. There was allegedly an Army Museum that contained several hundred uniforms from various periods, but I missed that one. Never mind - The Charleston Museum, apparently the USA's oldest museum given that it was founded in 1773, contains plenty of military stuff.

Of particular interest was an AWI Continental army 6-pounder. The caption explained that this is one of les than 10 extant American guns from the AWI period. The implication was that the entire gun dates to the period, but people I have shown these photos to suggest that the woodwork looks modern, or at the very least extremely well-preserved. Even if the carriage has been restored, this gun would seem to answer the problem I had as to what the tops of the ammunition cases were amde of - wood or metal. Some readers probably knew all along; I had suspected wood, having for some reason thought metal for some years, but this confirms it. Even if the carriage is modern, the way the woodgrain looks is still useful for painting. The museum has a second gun but it lacks the ammunition cases.

Also shown below are some accoutrements from the AWI. The uniforms themselves (of the 33rd Foot and 1st South Carolina) are replicas but the individual items of equipment are authentic. I like the way the Royal Artillery cartridge pouch has (with age presumably) taken on a buff colour.




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American artillery (3)

March 12th, 2008 Giles Posted in artillery Comments Off



Nic Robson gave me permission to put up these photos of the forthcoming Eureka "Molly Pitcher" and Continental artillery figures. The gun pieces are by Foundry but all the "humans" are Eureka figures. There are two crews, one loading and one firing. The figures are in shirt sleeves and I think capture very well the look of artillerymen in the thick of action. I strongly suspect the poses are taken from the Don Troiani painting of Molly Pitcher at the Battle of Monmouth; see here. Note the pose of the chap with the ramrod who is in an "overarm" position rather than the usual "underarm" pose that most manufacturers use; this pose just looks so much more intense and makes me wonder why the underarm pose is more common. I particularly like the shirtsleeves look - these figures could be used for militia gun crews and add variety to the Foundry/Perry crews in uniform coats.


I can't quite put my finger on it, but these sculpts just look the business. That's why I decided to paint them in a more "weathered" look than usual, with lots of soot, dirt and stains on their uniforms; I also tried to add some powder burns to the faces of a couple of the gunners. There's a certain nervousness in the poses and faces, that I think expresses the look of men in the middle of battle. It's hard to explain - sometimes sculpts just seem to come alive. I gave the figures all stubble to help suggest that "been at it all day" look of the Troiani painting. As for the faces, see if you can spot Homer Simpson and British actor Geoffrey Palmer..... The colours of Molly's clothes are taken directly from the painting. In short, a lovely set. I understand that Eureka are looking at a summer release for these figures. They deserve to shoot to the top of any AWI gamer's wants list. Many thanks to Nic and John Baxter for giving me a sneak peek.


9 figures. Painted February 2008. Guns by Foundry.




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February Painting - With Pictures

March 8th, 2008 ColCampbell50 Posted in Carpania, Courland, Front Rank, RSM, artillery Comments Off

Finally I was able to take some pictures. Here we have the Margrave of Carpania's Baron Trask of Eisenmuhlen (left) and an aide de camp to Generalleutnant Baron von Stuppe (right). Both are RSM figures. Baron Trask is the Margraviate's armaments expert and a master gunner in his own right. Because he is related by marriage to the Britannian royal family, he is also a Major General in that army and wears the Britannian uniform most of the time.


Carpania also added the Teutonica Musketeer Regiment to their army in February. These are Sash and Saber castings. I was short officer castings so they will have to be painted and mounted later.


Meanwhile, the Duchy of Courland has been recruiting as well, adding the Severinski Grenadier Battalion. The figures are Foundry and the battalion was purchased from Mark "Extra Crispy" Severin, hence its name.

Courland was also busy with its artillery arm. Here is a 12-lb field gun (MiniFig) with its gun crew of Front Rank gunners and artillery fusiliers.

And here is a licorne howitzer (Newline) with its crew of bombardiers and artillery fusiliers from Front Rank.

And for March, I'll be finishing the Courland 12-lbr (still have to put the matte glaze on it) and two mounted officers (the Duke himself and his son, who will command all the grenadiers) as well as some Courland cavalry.

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American ammunition cart (1)

February 19th, 2008 Giles Posted in artillery Comments Off




This is the Continental counterpart to the British cart I painted last summer. I seem to have bought two packs of these figures and intend to turn the second into a more interesting vignette. It occured to me the other day that sets like this are likely to see far more "action" that many regular units in one's collection. For example, my Black Watch, lovingly painted over the course of about 15 months, features in the Brandywine and Monmouth scenarios and not much else; it's not often that I'm to be putting those battles on, so the regiment lives only in cyberspace and my "Scots box". An ammunition cart on the other hand will appear whenever I have artillery on the table, which is likely to be every game. Already the British dragrope men I painted last year have appeared at more games than my British grenadier battalion and the two limbers I have (for a 3-pounder on each side) are crying out for relief. So I'm more than happy to put the time into making these Perry packs look the business, as they will appear on the tabletop far more often than anything else in my collection. AWI games usually have a fair amount of space too, so there is always room for things like this.

Everything other than the horse was painted last month. The base is the standard 50mm x 100mm size that I use for limbers, wagons etc. The continued collapse of the British economy has resulted in me spending far more time in the office than at my painting table, which is a shame because Perry Miniatures are releasing 11 more AWI packs next month and I really need to push my painting schedule forward. I foresee a large Salute order with Dave Thomas in April of Southern militia and British Legion cavalry. The 3rd Continental Light Dragoons are almost finished, but I'm going to have to bump off the 9th Foot to next month. For the rest of February I'm going to concentrate on the other artillery train packs I have - another ammunition cart as mentioned above, a second 2-horse wagon and a 2-horse 6-pounder limber. The past two weeks were taken up with painting some stuff that's so new I don't think it's been released yet - I need to check with the manufacturer to see whether I can show pics! Later this week I hope to show how I turned Eureka's SYW Saxons into AWI Brunswickers and showcase some rather nice terrain bits I obtained from some chaps in Australia (who have just finished making for me some 45cm high trees.....!).

Painted January/February 2008.
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Ammunition wagon

January 31st, 2008 Giles Posted in artillery Comments Off







This was fun to paint, and I was assisted by a good examination of Alan Perry's own "version" last December. I decided to paint this wagon in natural wood rather than "British blue-grey" mainly because I need 4 wagons for the Oriscany scenario. Painting things like this in blue-grey limits their use to British forces, whilst natural wood means they can belong to either side really. The traces are made out of white cotton which I stained with dark brown ink (thanks to WDP on the WD3 forum for this idea). The traces were a bit of a pain to glue onto the model, but I think they look ok. The first horse immediately after the wagon is supposed to be a "dun", hence the rather muddy brown coat. Duns have a "dorsal stripe" but this will be covered up by the harness. So you'll just have to take my word for it....The base is large, 50mm x 200mm, made on request by ERM.

On the painting table at the moment is an American militia regiment and some Brunswickers (Eureka SYW figures). I've been planning out the next few months' painting schedule and I want to try to finish off the remaining American Continental units I want to paint. The target for January is another British Saratoga regiment, the Continental 3rd Light Dragoons and more American artillery and limbers.

Painted January 2008.



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American 3-pounder limber

January 28th, 2008 Giles Posted in artillery Comments Off




This is the Perry Miniatures limber and 3-pounder. Perry make two sets, one for each side. The cannon in the British pack is covered up with canvas and so can't be used on the tabletop for a gun in action; however there is nothing to prevent the American gun for being used on the ground. The only problem with doing so is that the limber itself is then suspended in thin air...... The two artillery men make quite nice "add-ons", one looking bored and the other looking annoyed at having to put his coat back on. This latter figure is the same sculpt as one of the figures in the British drag-rope pack, with a Continental head-swap. The hedges in the background are made by an Australian chap called Barry; I will feature his terrain pieces, including some astonishing grape-vines, in more detail in a future post.

Painted January 2008.



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Baggage tumbrel (2)

January 25th, 2008 Giles Posted in artillery Comments Off



This is the second of the Perry tumbrels that I acquired at Christmas. For variety's sake I swapped the driver with the figure from one of my two 4-wheeled ammunition wagons, so both tumbrels don't look entirely the same. I also painted the horse as a bay rather than a chestnut. I find I don't paint enough bays because chestnuts are my favourite, and so my "default" option when painting horses. Looking at my "artillery train" the other day I realised that almost all the horses are chestnuts, so I quickly repainted as bays a couple of the horses currently on my painting table, which seemed to be in the process of becoming chestnuts as well. I painted a "dun" as well, although I'm not sure it turned out all that well.

These photos are the product of a marathon basing session last night. Over the next few days I'll post photos of the 3rd New Jersey, the 4-wheeled ammunition wagons and a limber. Incidentally, Henry Hyde tells me that a forthcoming issue of "Battlegames" magazine will feature an article comparing various AWI rules - sounds fun, so keep your eyes peeled. Also in the final stages of preparation is volume 4 of Touching History's terrain and model making books, which will feature the AWI, F&IW and ACW.

Painted January 2008.
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Suspected Spencer Smith Plastic Figures

January 17th, 2008 ColCampbell50 Posted in Spencer Smith, artillery, cavalry, gunners Comments Off

As part of the artillery and commander lots mentioned in the previous post, my seller included two painted, mounted officers (front center of below photo) that he identified as Spencer Smith figures.

He also included one gun, one howitzer, 15 gunners (in three poses), and 4 cavalrymen, examples of which are shown here. I am presuming that these are also Spencer Smith plastic figures. Confirmation from the learned readers would be appreciated.
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Baggage tumbrel (1)

January 9th, 2008 Giles Posted in artillery Comments Off




I was given two packs of the new Perry Miniatures "tumbrel" for Christmas; here is the first one (the second is finished but I want to add a different driver for variety). I willingly confess to not having heard the word before, but according to the Oxford English Dictionary a tumbrel is "a cart so constructed that the body tilts backwards to empty out the load; esp. a dung-cart." It's military meaning is "a two-wheeled covered cart which carries ammunition, tools, or sometimes money for an army" (Wellington's brother, the Governor of India, used the word in his despatches to refer to carts carrying military supplies). The word, in a different spelling, seems to date back to the 1480s.

As I've said before, I am a great fan of "extras" on a wargames table and this tumbrel will appear in pretty much every game. I did wonder whether I needed two of them, but the early Monmouth scenario reported below requires a substantial baggage train and the "British Grenadier" Oriskany scenario calls for 4 waggons to accompany the American column. So I decided to keep both packs and I am sure I will find a use for them. The pack comes with a tarpaulin-covered load, presumably ammunition. I have glued that in place on this tumbrel but won't do so on the second tumbrel so I can add other stuff like barrels. I also have a twinkle of an idea of a "rescue Major Andre" skirmish game, although the back of the cart is not quite large enough to fit a figure based on a penny (there is a figure in the Foundry pirates range of a gentlemen with his hands tied behind his back, who would be very well for a captured Andre).

Painted December 2007.

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