Roll Out the Barrel's

The first sort of 'straight' Government unit rolls (slowly) off the production line. Barrel's (4th) Regiment of Foot. A perennial favourite of wargamers, they famously suffered the heaviest casualties of any Government unit at Culloden. As usual, figures and flags from Flags of War.

Disappointingly, a varnishing incident has resulted in frosting on the left side of the flags, but I think I can rescue that. 

The one point to note is that the cuff lace on the FoW figures is the 'gate' type, whereas Barrel's wore a sort of spine and feathers arrangement. A certain type of wargamer would have filed the lace off and painted in the correct style. Clearly I am not that type of wargamer.

The full unit arrayed. For Sharp Practice, 3-4 groups of 8 (if regular infantry) are commonly grouped together under a single leader, or leader and sub-officer/sergeant. Adding a command base allows me to field a 'regiment' for differently scaled rules. 

What's this 'column' thingy then?

Hat company rear.

 

A Most UnScottish Jacobite Army

On checking the dates of my posts I note I haven't posted anything this month. This is despite continuing to add (albeit gradually) to the Jacobite forces. And notably, I realised I had been painting more or less all the 'non-Scottish' elements of the Jacobite army.

I also managed to get a game in with near neighbour Martin, Sharp Practice 2 (SP2) set in the American War of Independence. Having not played SP2 for a while, this was very much a baby-steps exercise for both of us. Luckily, Martin is a quick learner, and I am sure he will be keeping me on the straight and narrow in future games. 

Anyway, on to the painting... 

More Highlanders 

The second half of the unit of 12

Not happy with the one on the right..

Fewer jackets, more shirts makes for easier painting

I think my tartan is getting better

Regiment de Lally, Irish Piquets

Frontal view

Repurposed AWI figures masquerading as the Manchester Regiment

They will also do duty in my AWI forces

Rear View

North British Fusiliers 21st Regiment

North British Fusiliers 21st Regiment - Rear View

I am now actually starting to get to the point where a few more groups will make it possible to run a small game..  I'm very much looking forward to that.

1745 Dragoons & Artillery

I'm still working my way through the first unit (12 figures) of 'kilties' for the 1745, and I get the feeling I may be overdoing it a bit. I mean, who does highlights on the sock garters? 

But in the meantime, I have added a few other units. Oh, and decided that I couldn;t resist adding a couple more groups to the Shatp Practice forces. So an order to Flags of War, and I now have some North British Fusiliers, and some Irish Piquets to add to the forces arrayed. 

And this post was started ths morning, so by now... I did manage to finish a couple of things... 

Then there's these...

Close ups are very unforgiving...  I do need to fix Cumberland's face. And the drgoon standard bearer has been fixed since this picture was taken.

So the planned small forces will be: 

So far, 3/10 groups done for the Jacobites, 2/10 for the Hanoverians. Still a way to go... Right. Off to airbrush the base red for Lally and Scots Fusiliers. And another half-dozen 1/56 French tanks. 

1745 - A lengthy discourse or procrastination?

I've been planning the 1745 Project for some time. In fact, looking back at things, I first pledged to the Flags of War Kickstarter for figures back in 2018. Needless to say - this is not the oldest project \I have going, but it is one of the oldest since I moved continent in 2016. 

To date, there have now been three Kickstarter 'Waves' from Flags of War, and I have bought into each, so now, with the exception of the Irish Piquets,  (which I am now kicking myself I didn't get..) I now have a little of pretty much everything - 

I've actually had a long term hankering for a 1745 campaign or armies or battles. I suppose; having grown up with hugely conflicting and sometimes romanticised versions of the myth, having walked Culloden Moor in the rain, and learning to sing 'Hey Johnnie Cope' as a small child, it's inevitable that like most Scots, I would have some impression of the whole thing. I remember illustrations of how the Scot was depicted in contemporary or near contemporary prints and papers.   

'Sawney on the Bog House' att: James Gillray, (Wikipedia)

Untangling the myth from facts was immeasurably helped by Stuart Reid's 'Like Hungry Wolves' and '1745, A Military History of the Last Jacobite Rising', some contributions by John Prebble 'Culloden' and more recent publications such as 'The Army of George II 1727-1760' Peter Brown and 'The Lilies & The Thistle' by Andrew Bamford. There are also of course, the Osprey Books on uniforms, clothing and campaigns. With the one thing in common being the illustrations that show inordinate amounts of tartan. There are tartan breeks, tartan waistcoats, tartan coats, jackets, cloaks, hose, plaids, hats - in fact, a wealth of tartan. 

It's not worth re-hashing all the debate about tartans here, most readers will know that much of the tartan myth is a spurious 19th Century concoction at least partly to soothe injured pride in the far-flung Imperial outpost of North Britain. So we know that tartan would not have looked as we now know it. 

What we do have are contemporary or near contemporary illustrations such as the famous painting by David Morier:- 

'Culloden', David Morier via Wikipedia

Not to mention numerous near contemporary portraits of Lairds, Clan Chiefs, and other 'High Heid Yins' of that ilk. Many of them wearing extraordinary, and to the modern eye, ludicrous amounts of tartan.

I'm suspicious of such sources, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, that there was a real tendency to 'other' the Jacobites, and what easier way than to play up their barbarity of dress. It's the equivalent of all those Victorian illustrations of Africans with bones through their noses and grass skirts. Savages, of course. 

Then there was the proscription of the kilt, so gentlemen needing to display their Scottish-ness were depicted in trews, waistcoats and jackets of tartan. Whether this was reflected in their daily dress it is impossible to know.   

In any case, I should really be painting dozens of kilted savages, with claymore and targe, dirk and musket, but instead I am shilly-shallying - and to date have spent more time on Shock Markers than on actual infantry.

Now, whether to do artillery, 10th Dragoons or \Bagot's Hussars next? Anything to defer the savage hordes,

1745 - A Lacy Diversion

On schedule, and as glorious as the other figures so far, I now have the third release from the Flags of War 1745 Kickstarter. This release was some Hanoverian Grenadiers loading, Bagot's Hussars, Artillery, and some other rather nice specials, like 'Rude' Highlanders and a very nice Hanoverian Sergeant. 

I now have all the figures I need to do a reasonable sized Jacobite engagement for Sharp Practice, essentially 9 'groups' a side. For other rules, each figure could be 1-5 or 1-10 giving 40-80 men per group. 

The corollary is that I now have no excuse for not getting started painting. I should really finish up what's on my workbench, but where's the fun in that.. ? So, inspired by another post of someone having painted the Royal Ecossais, or Lord Drummond's regiment. I grabbed a single base yesterday and had a crack at it. Here's the results... 

I have to say I'm very happy with how these turned out. Being uniformed, they are probably the easiest to paint for the Jacobites. The plan, (which will doubtless fall apart very quickly..)  Is to alternate between Hanoverian and Jacobite groups, doing one per side till they are all done. Although it might make more sense to tackle them 2 bases at a time, as the roster is:

Jacobite

2 groups - Lowlanders (Duke of Perth's)

1 group - Royal Ecossais

2 groups - Highlanders (MacPhersons)

2 groups - Highlanders (mixed)

1 group - Bagot's Hussars

1 group - 3 lb gun with crew 

 Hanoverian

3 groups - Barrels (4th) Regiment (2 x Hatmen, 1 x Grenadiers)

3 groups - Buffs (3rd) Regiment (2 x Hatmen, 1 x Grenadiers)

1 group - Government Highlanders (64th?) 

1 group - Cobden's (10th) dragoons

1 group - 3ln gun with crew

Hopefully two fairly evenly matched sides. In hindsight, I probably should have made the Jacobite cavalry a 'mixed' unit of hussars, lifeguards etc, as the mounted were so few in number, especially compared to the relatively numerous Hanoverian mounted.  

By wargamers logic, I should now do one of the 'line' units for the Hanoverians, having done the glamour boys for the Jacobites. But I have some red coats to do, time to crank up the airbrush! 

"It's a Trap...!"

 As Admiral Akbar so pithily noted, sometimes things that look great on the surface are hiding unforeseen hazards. 

As I become more familiar and comfortable with 3d printing, simple things like cleaning the plate, the print, hollowing the model, adding drain holes, setting supports and levelling are easier and easier. So I have reached a point, where I almost feel guilty if the printer isn't running. Well, that's no problem really, I have lots of STL (3d Object) files. What could be easier than slicing those, copying them on to the USB stick and cranking up the printer? And there's the trap.

There are Two jeeps in this picture...

Confession time. I already have a ton of vehicles for Chain of Command. As the game is primarily a platoon vs platoon, vehicles are usually just support options. You might get a couple of Shermans or a couple of Marders in a scenario, but most of the time, the tanks and armoured vehicles are just a support act. Sure, it's nice to have a UNIC whatever for 21st Panzer Division when I'm playing a Normandy scenario, or a Sherman Flamethrower. But I reckon I must have easily a hundred or more 28mm (1/56) vehicles from Rubicon, Warlord and elsewhere.

So I don't really 'Need' to be printing 1/56 armoured vehicles. Sure, I could add a Deacon or a Command vehicle, no one is going to think me mad if I add a couple of jeeps, an LVT Buffalo or a Semovente 90. But once those are done, there's nowhere to go!  

Ships and stuff... 

So I print a few ships off for a bloke I know, he's playing Coastal Patrol (the Lardies 'Cruel Seas') and the prints look nice...  Nooooo... must resist... too many projects already. 

But how would it hurt to run a few off for myself; after all, you only need a few, they won't take long to paint, a blue cloth is all the terrain you need. And bang,.. just like that, I'm downloading the rules (Too Fat Lardies Summer Special 2011 £5.50) and figuing out how many coastal freighters I might want, and whether a Fairmile D or B would be best, and where to source clear acrylic bases (or not) 

And then there's the funky stuff you look at, and say to yourself - that's cool! French 1930s armoured vehicles. Laffly 80, Panhard 179, VUDB armoured personnel carriers..  and next thing you know, you're looking at Perry's French desert troops, and wondering .. Vichy or Free French? Or maybe some Foreign Legion, I am pretty sure I have some Ruffian 'Arab' types in the lead stash...   and that's it, another hare off and running!

Oooh - steam-punky and Colonial. Still awaiting cleanup

Have I mentioned I have a Resin Kegrasse P16 Halftrack I picked up cheap on eBay, a VUDB or two, and AMD Laffly 80 all printed? All I need to find is a file for a Dodge Tanake and it's on.... 

Not to mention I did a bunch of 15mm prints for a friend, and I do have the 'O Group' rules... 

French & German Early War in 15mm

So probably just as well I took some time out and actually did some painting as opposed to printing...

Poor blokes..!!

Ok, it's only two figures scavenged from the Perry plastics set, on Warbases dials and Warpainter Scenics tufts, but these guys have been hanging around for ages, so it's yet another part of the 'tidying up' of the backlog. They will most likely be Shock Markers for Sharp Practice. 

All I have to do is not let the printing outrun the painting...  ha!!!