St Petersburg Opolchenie & Ronin Gameday

Smashing out another update before November ends, home stretch now with the Russian Project.

I've been working on some Pike wielding Opolchenie to go alongside my existing musket wielding ones, which will be easy enough to write up some stats for in Sharp Practice. Likely represented as Wallahs with Hearth and Home and maybe Surly as characteristics. 

Ever since I saw this illustration I knew I must have some of the Foundry Militia, these particular batch representing the St Petersburg Opolchenyie. For some of the scenarios I have planned they will be particularly welcome.

Not only are these incredibly easy to paint up, the sculpts on these Foundry faces are just fantastic. Crisp and full of character. I will definitely be considering getting some of the Militia wearing Kolpak (I believe is what they are called). I've also found time to paint up a Moveable Deployment Point for the Don Cossacks.

 

With those done that leaves me to finish the last unit before I move onto painting the French side next year. The Pavlovsk Grenadiers is definitely a unit that I've been wanting to paint for years now, its taking some time for the base coats but we are about half way. This will add some more color into the force, along with my Cossacks which is predominately in Greatcoats, as I prefer the campaigning look.

For some gaming, I put another Ronin day on for some friends which was thoroughly enjoyable. I'm going to try and get organized for this next year and have a mini tournament. Painting some more small warbands is easy so won't detract from the bigger projects. Another friend has me interested in Silver Bayonet also, so will likely dip into that.

 

Anyway its back to the painting desk for me, to get some Grenadiers done!

Painting Update - Sharp Practice Support Options

Just another quick entry for me to keep the ball moving. 

The next unit of Opolchenyie are about 50% done, just waiting on a few pikes to show up for them. I have rummaged through my desk about 10 times to find some more, but alas have run out. Either way base-coats are all done. 

I thought I'd keep myself busy this week painting up some of the main Support Options for my Sharp Practice list. I usually run out steam at this point with projects but I honestly had a blast painting some of these. Options are as follows: Water Cart, Ammunition Cart, Exploring Officer.

You don't actually need a model for a Exploring Officer, but it allows you to take a Fixed Deployment point, so it works for that. Mainly wanted to paint up this lovely Foundry sculpt, absolutely full of character. Would work for a Officer to escort perhaps also from a narrative perspective. In his wonderful Russian Green uniform, it has indeed made me want to get some Line Infantry without Greatcoats. 

With the carts I was a bit intimidated, I do not paint MDF a lot, barely ever. Something I do wish to remedy next year. I thought I'd run a query through ChatGPT for basic basecoat/drybrush method using a darkest to lightest gradient, to see if it could work some miracles for me. It certainly beats endlessly trudging through old forum posts. Anyway, with a bit of a prayer I soldiered on working from darkest through to lightest and was pleasantly surprised at that point how decent it looked. Then slapped some Wood Stain all over the things, and after drying I was very chuffed indeed. 

Not only has it actually managed to simulate wood very well, I have now become convinced I do not need to be scared painting MDF. I may well indeed looking at getting some building kits next year to have a go at. I just need to hit them all with a varnish this week, to get the sheen off from the Woodstain.

 Anyway, here is the finished products and a WIP of the Officer during Basecoats stage.

Thanks for reading and until next week.

Productive November and Don Cossacks

Continuing along the painting train for November, I managed to finally get the Cossacks I'd bought a month ago painted that have staring me in the face. Finally got over the hump to paint some horses and once that was done it was full speed again to get these ready for a game with a friend this weekend.

It was nice to add some more colorful units to the army, as much as I love painting Greatcoats. 

Here is some pictures from the painting desk and from a game I had with my friend this weekend. They didn't necessarily get a good showing but they at least were a speed bump for the French Grenadiers! 

Also a picture of the whole force painted so far since Late September, very happy with the progress and its not slowing anytime soon. At this point its painting other options, and Support choices for Sharp Practice.

On another note, I took a look at using AI to write me some a wargaming scenario which we used for the Sharp Practice game. The idea I took from a video Littlewars TV put up, and it really proved incredibly useful. Today's game was based around a rear guard action near Smolensk, where the Russians had to use scorched earth tactics on a local village to slow an approaching French advance guard. One of the things our Sharp Practice games are always missing is movement. It sadly tends to end in lines shooting at each other until one side breaks. This definitely fixed that problem, we had a game full of back and forth action repositioning units and some brutal melees. We have definitely been lacking task rolls in our games, which means units have to actually respond and move instead of just shooting. 

Needless to say I will definitely be refining some scenarios for regular play and incorporate these at some point into a narrative campaign. Likely next year, when I get some French painted also.

Next on the painting table is some Pike wielding Opolchenyie, so will be checking in again soon.

Finland Life Guard Jaegers

Quick update and we are still full speed ahead with the Russians for 1812-1813 project.

Honestly, I've been really enjoying this and I'm glad I finally got my toe into Napoleonic's. I've always loved the period, I just tended to gravitate towards Victorian era wars more often. 

These are a small unit for Sharp Practice meant to represent the Finlandsky Leyb-Yegerskiy Polk (Or the Finland Life Guard Jaegers). I just got finished reading Ospreys "French Guardsman vs Russian Jaeger: 1812-14, and the story from Leipzig enamored me with this Regiment. Lets just say they were some tough sods. I initially planned to include a Flag, but like most Russian Jaeger units (Line or not), they simply didn't carry Flags into battle. I did see GMB flags do a flag for this regiment in 1813, but this is likely when the Regiment was on parade. 

Anyway here is some pictures and of a small tester Foundry sent me for some Pavlov Grenadiers (Think I may have to paint some up at some point!)

I'm particularly happy with how the Brown came out for the Greatcoats and the Officer is a fantastic sculpt.

For rest of the year we will continue to smash through as many Russians as possible. I am about halfway through some Cossacks, with the horses completed. I am really looking forward to putting them on the table. After that some Opolochenie with some Pikes to join my existing other unit. Once thats done, its painting up game pieces like Ammo carts/Water carts, nothing too taxing.

After seeing how nicely these came out, I am very strongly considering getting some French opponents done for my Russians. Plenty more Greatcoats makes for easy painting wins!

October and Napoleonics!

Like most Wargamer's other projects get waylaid by prospects of other shiny toys or periods to game. It seems like this bug has definitely afflicted me this year, regardless of the painting output.

The original plan for the year was to get into a position where I could be gaming ACW, but as seen by the infrequent updates due to life getting in the way of hobbies, this has not transpired. Looking at it, I'm actually fine with taking a more lax approach to project deadlines, as the size of the projects inevitably seems to grow from my initial plans.

So with that said, something completely different which I have wanted to buy for a long time some Foundry Russian Napoleonic's. These are on par with their ACW range when it comes to scale, just absolutely lovely sculpts. I've always been interested in the Napoleonic wars, but more enthusiasm is often placed on Victorian era projects. With that said if there's one thing I adore painting, its a Greatcoat and the Napoleonic Campaigns of 1812/1813 are rife with them. I chose specifically for my Jaegers to have Forage Caps, as I do really love that appearance the Russians had in the Crimean War.

I have a few friends who have Napoleonic army's and I play Sharp Practice far too much, so finally have got cracking. The project started just over a month ago and I am very happy to at least say I have a starting Force for games. This list is based on the Partisan Russian forces of 1812/1813 and also following the French into Prussia in 1813 and was honestly chosen based on my fascination with Russian Jaegers and Cossacks. 

The starting list is as follows:

• Three groups of Line Jaegers
• Two groups of Opolcheniye (St Petersburg)
• Two groups of Line Jaeger Skirmishers

Next on the painting table are as follows:

• One group of Opolcheniye with Pikes 
• One group of Cossacks 
• Two groups of Guard Jaegers 
• Support Options for the Force  

I'm also working on various scenic pieces such as Moveable Deployment Points, Water carts, Musicians for Support options. 

Most of the list is in Greatcoats as mentioned, which are not only easy to paint but look great en-masse especially for Russian army's. Realistically this is what most armies on campaign looked like (unless the sun was out!)

One new thing I should have done years ago is finally magnetize my bases. This has been an absolute life saver taking models down the club and I really wish I'd done this with my ACW Collection, so will need to figure out how to sort that. It does add a few pounds on the old Warbases order though!

With that said here's some pictures from a recent game and of the units themselves. (I hadn't quite finished the third block of Jaegers in time for the game, but it was a fun game nonetheless!)  

 

 

 

The plan for the rest of the year is to finish off the remaining options selected and start gaming on a regular basis down at the club with these. 

We are also planning another Ronin day, for another chance to bring out the Samurai. I'm hoping to get some more Koreans painted as I enjoyed these before but I will see what time permits. 

I guess final thoughts would be positive. My hobby output has nearly eclipsed that of last year, despite a slow pace near the summer months. Actually getting my ACW collection on the table will happen at some point, certainly the enthusiasm comes and goes. The problem isn't my Confederate Collection, its getting some more Union done! 

August Painting Update

Phew, its been a while!

Alongside moving house and just generally some painting fatigue, I have been slowly painting various pieces here and there.  

Once I'm settled, I do hope to finally get some games back in towards the later half of the year.

Anyway, what I've been up too as follows:

8th Alabama who historically were recorded as being very well turned out in all shades of various shades of Grey. These have become a favorite of mine for my Confederate regiments. In addition another Cannon for the highly unlikely event two will ever get fielded in a game of Sharp Practice, still always fun and easy to paint.

Next up some images of my finished Battletech projects. First up is my 5th McCarron's Armored Cavalry. These were very fun to paint and I tried something different for the cockpits, which turned out well.

Then onto my 2nd St. Ives Lancers, really love the Sea-Green of this scheme. Some in action shots also from a game.

In addition I was able to attend Tewkesbury Medieval Festival for the first time this year. Yet again another period I didn't think would ever catch my attention has now got me absorbed. The Wars of the Roses was always a period I have heard is popular, but it seemed rather daunting to get into due to the complicated history. Like any period it just takes some time and reading to start understanding and then the appeal sort of clicks. Needless to say to I am going to be starting some Wars of the Roses, 28mm was my initial thoughts for Lion Rampant. Only problem is I do rather want to play larger action battles, and I think its time to try out a smaller scale. I always loved the idea of 15/6mm and did paint a few stands a long time ago as a tester. I'd love to be able to recreate some of the classic battles of the period without taking months/years to paint both sides.

 Anyway some pictures from the festival:

 

The orders in with Baccus and I'm looking forward to painting something different. 

 

With that said, I am definitely hoping to start consistently posting again now after being settled in new house.