Christmas Shenanigans

Christmas barbie. Not sure whether this should grace the title page of this blog. It was a bloody good cigar.

Wandered into an Oamaru second hand shop after doing our annual bike ride from Wianakarua(?) and found this bad boy.

Well, Christmas has come and gone and I am replete both in terms of presents and food. In the lead up to Christmas I got my amazing present from the wonderful chaps at Amazon.com. A 1966 edition of The Campaigns of Napoleon by Chandler. The book was in mint condition but missing a dust jacket. I am not sure whether it originally came with one but I don't mind. Already I have devoured the first Italian campaign and am getting into the more heavy readings about the strategies of the Corps de Armee .

In terms of the hobby, I have been plugging away at basing my little artillery park. I can watch the kids play badminton outside while I am in the sun porch. I am still awaiting restocks of the 6 team limbers but in the meantime I have plenty to keep me busy. Now that I have received my first present from Amazon I consider myself a little hooked. Last night I ordered these... They should arrive during my first week back at work. That should cheer me up a little.

 Gotta love summer holidays...

Santa is going to be good to me this year.

I have always wanted my own copy of David Chandler's The Campaigns of Napoleon but I have never really thought about actually getting a copy from Amazon. Well yesterday that all changed. I managed to track down a copy of the book from the United States and for the all up cost of about $150 US a copy is winging its way to me even as I write this missive. Yesterday my static grass arrived from the States as well so I am pretty well set up hobby wise for the coming summer holidays.

Can't wait to lie on the beach and work my way through Mr. Chandler's masterpiece!!!!!

Just in time!

Just as I finished my really fun group of wagon train figures my next set of figures arrived from Aussie. Now I have enough figures to work on until the end of the month.  I finally tracked down a company which makes static grass in the US so I am awaiting three tubs of "Summer". All in all this has been a pretty cool month on the painting front. I am just hanging out for the 6 horse limber stocks to fill up again with Hat's E26 release.

In the meantime here are some of the sets minus their static grass. I am soooooo happy with these figures from Hat.  They really add some serious eye candy to my French army. My pièce de résistance has been the coal in the field forge. I got some modelling grit which had been lying around in a box under the house for a few years and dipped very watered-down enamel paint onto it. It ended up looking quite coal-ish.  Pretty basic stuff but I am pretty chuffed by the results

You might just about be able to see the coal in the forge at the front!

I've got to go buy a Christmas tree so that I can wrap up my two boxes of French Infantry and stick them under. They will be such a surprise to unwrap on Christmas day!

Replenishing Santa's Sack!

French Baggage Wagon x2
French Ammunition Caisson x3

French Wurst Wagon x2

On their way from Adelaide even as I write this. I was going to buy 6x 6 horse limbers but it looks like there are none in the southern hemisphere. From following Hat's website it seems that E26 are restocks so with any luck I should be able to pick them up in the New Year.

This weekend since I am not working, I intend to base the light ambulances at least. Fun fun fun at my painting table!

Saturday night at the painting table

I can't say that it was exactly a night at the painting table but in was an enjoyable hour. The kids went to bed and the wife disappeared into the lounge leaving me to my wagon fabrication yard. I base painted the horses and painted the first coat of green onto the field forges. They look so cool even in their unfinished state so they are sure to get even better once I get a fresh draught of horses in from Adelaide.

As I have mentioned before I have really been enjoying this brew as I paint. It is a fantastic lager

The brewer deserves a medal for this lager and the dude who thought of the name... well I don't know what to do with him!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work in progress. All my projects are works in progress and seldom ever get finished.

A new project takes shape

With Christmas still such a long time away and those boxes looking just too appetising, I ended up starting to paint those two boxes of 1805 French arty followed by a box of baggage wagons and then a field forge. They looked so cool that a new idea started to form in my crippled little mind... How about creating the following....

The limbers for the cannon = 8*6 horse limbers
8 baggage wagons = 8*4 horse limbers
8 caissons = 8*4 horse limbers
3 wurst wagons (not sure whether 8 would be better) =3*4 horse limbers

Plus what I have now

Light and heavy ambulances and a field forge (each times three) plus four horse limbers for each.

The Hat sets come with only two horses per item. In my opinion any self respecting wagoneer would need a minimum of 4 horses per wagon. Cannon would probably need eight horses but I will settle for six.

All this will require another ten boxes...

The finished look should be absolutely awesome and a cool Christmas project should the weather turn to custard up at my mum's house. I am planning on taking three weeks off this year followed by another week in March. Plenty of time to enjoy the Summer with the kids and give the Grande Armee some serious wheels.

Will there be any figures left for Santa to put under the tree?

After finishing my Grenadier Cavalry I found myself gazing at a couple of boxes of 1805 French artillery like a junky eying a line of coke. My addiction as it is, it wasn't
long before my evenings were spent painting these cool looking figures. As of tonight they are based and looking pretty neat. I decided to make the bases 6cm by 8 cm just to give the figures more room. I am pretty happy with this as it makes the finished look quite a bit more imposing. I really liked the extra arms in this set. This meant I was ably to do the bucket dude, rammer and a random dude with a long stick. For the first time that I can remember there isn't a designated officer figure. There is though, the addition of a figure of a chap who inserts the plug into the touch hole (or at least I think that is what he does). In the coming week, I have promised to myself that I will finish these figures. At present the chaps are a little generic. I think I will repaint their trousers with a bit more variation to make them seem a little more "active-servicy". I'm thinking of building an army of General Bonaparte in Italy. I hope Hat will make a few sets of the early Revolutionary Wars armies from various nations. They have dome a few Frederich the Great sets so perhaps they could do... Italieri has done a early Austrian set but they are giants so I can't see myself using them.

My grand battery... Now for 20 battalions of 1805 French in greatcoats!!

Del-Prado's figure with a hat which is a little too big I think...

With these figures nearing completion and December not even here yet, I wonder if it will just be coal in my sack again this year... Maybe there is enough time to get some more figures from Aussie?

Anyway, I am not sure how much time I'm going to have from now on. Work is hectic and by the end of the day I'm pretty shagged. Still... Those baggage wagons....mmmmmmmmmmmm.