New Project - Polish 10th Brygada Kawalerii Pancernej in France

I've been getting in a lot of games this year, but I have had trouble focusing on getting projects done/stuff painted.  With Shifting Sands 2016 confirmed as early war centered around the German invasion of Poland and France, I think I finally have some motivation to focus on a project and completing it.  I could just use my Polish 10th Mechanized Brigade ("the Black Brigade") or my early war German Panzer or Grenadier forces, but instead I have decided to do the one evolution of "the Black Brigade" I don't already have - the 10th Brygada Kawalerii Pancernej - 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade for France 1940.

Many of the members of "the Black Brigade" that escaped the fall of Poland by crossing into Hungary traveled to France to help form the Polish Army in exile.  General Maczek, the commander of "the Black Brigade" formed the 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade.  Highly motivated, but poorly equipped and treated less than professionally by the French, the 10th fought well in the Champagne and Bourgogne regions supporting their French allies only to be cut-off when neighboring French units retreated/withdrew.  General Maczek again ordered his men to leave another defeated country - those that managed to escape France helped form the core of the Polish 1st Armoured Division that would return to France in 1944.

This Flames of War force will use the "Compagnie de Fusiliers-Voltigeurs" Colonial list from Blitzkrieg.  The Fearless Trained rating of the Colonials seem to fit the Poles in this instance as they will not use the Trench Warfare or Integrated Defences rules, but will hit on 3+ during assaults.  I've got 211 infantry/crew figures, 15 guns/mortars and 6 tanks to paint up as pictured below.  An interesting note is that the tanks used by the 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade were R-40's - Battlefront doesn't make this model, so I'm using Old Glory for them and the French 75's (all other models are Battlefront).  I will just use the stats for the Hotchkiss tanks with the R40 models since they are nearly identical.  Here is everything prepped and primed:

Now, some of my gaming buddies question my ability and desire to paint for myself anymore since I seem to be continually farming out painting projects to Tim at Saguaro Painting Service or Philgreg painters.  I still like to paint for myself, it's just that I have a lot of projects and haven't been able to focus on many.  I can, and will paint this army myself...and proceed to defeat the doubters on the game table!  Expect updates as I make progress on this force...

28mm American Civil War Union Command & Artillery

Here are pictures of the 28mm ACW Union Command & Artillery that currently complete my force.  All figures are by Sash & Saber and were painted by Philgreg Painters and myself.  I also did the basing (which I hate to do...).  Flags are from GMB Flags. These figures will make their debut on the table today in a game of Black Powder (I hope to have pictures and a brief AAR of that game posted soon).

Division General Birney

 Brigadier Burling

 Brigadier Graham

 Various Commanders

 Union 12-pound Napoleon Battery

 Union 10-pound Rifled Artillery Battery #1

 Union 10-pound Rifled Artillery Battery #2

Completing these allows me to place my ACW project to the side for a while (with the exception of using it in games that is).  Eventually I would like to add some cavalry along with some different command stands, but that's down the road.

28mm American Civil War - Union Infantry

As promised here are pictures of the 28mm American Civil War Union Infantry Regiments that I've just completed.  All figures are by Sash & Saber with the flags from GMB Flags.  Painting was done by Philgreg Painters and myself; I also did the basing.  As with my Confederates, I think I'm done building infantry and will likely only add different command groups going forward along with possibly doing some cavalry (both mounted and dismounted).

2nd New Hampshire Infantry Regiment

 3rd Maine Infantry Regiment

 7th New Jersey Infantry Regiment

 57th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment

 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment

 68th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment

 105th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment

 141st Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment

I'll be posting up pictures of the Union command and artillery later this week.

28mm American Civil War - Confederate Command & Artillery

Here are some pictures of the American Civil War Confederate Command and Artillery that I completed last year at the same time I finished the infantry.  I didn't take pictures at the time, but in anticipation of a game a few of us have planned for the 26th, I broke them out to finish documenting the army as it stands.  I recently acquired a box of Perry Confederates that I'll be making the last two South Carolina regiment's from Kershaw's Brigade out of.  After that I will likely just add new command stands and some cavalry (both mounted and dismounted) down the road sometime as I'll have close to 300 infantry!  All of the figures are 28mm Sash & Saber and were painted by Philgreg Painters (I did the horses, cannons and basing).  Flags are the great GMB Flags.  A few of the photos are a bit off; I'll try to remember to redo them next time I'm taking pictures. 

Confederate General Barksdale

 Confederate General Kershaw

 Confederate General McLaws

 Various Confederate Commanders

 Confederate 12-pound Napoleon Battery

 Confederate Mixed Artillery Battery (12 pounder & 10 pound Rifle)

 Confederate 3" Artillery Battery

Up next will be some Union troops.

28mm American Civil War Confederate Infantry - Barksdale's & Kershaw's Brigades

It's been a few months since I posted and I haven't accomplished much, but I have been working on a task that I really dislike; basing figures.  I've just completed basing 8 regiments of 28mm American Civil War Confederate Infantry that were painted  by Philgreg painters for me last year.  All of the figures are from Sash & Saber with flags from GMB flags (they are great)and are organized with 7 stands of 4 figures each.  This configuration will allow me to increase and decrease the regiment size depending on the scenario and ruleset being played; I will likely use them for games using Black Powder and my friend Don's Action Front rules that are under development along with possibly breaking out that old standby, Johnny Reb III. 

The units represent Barksdale's Mississippi brigade and 4 of the 6 units in Kershaw's South Carolina brigade of McLaws Division at Gettysburg.  I hope to run a refight of the Peach Orchard for the 150th Anniversary next year and this will be the core of the Confederates.  I am not working on the commanders and artillery support with a December 2nd target date for completion to use them in a game of Black Powder.  The Union forces for this scenario are currently off to Philgreg being painted and I will have to deal with basing when they get back...ugh, did I mention I hate basing?

Anyway, there are the units:

21st Mississippi

 18th Mississippi

 17th Mississippi

 13th Mississippi

 8th South Carolina

 3rd South Carolina

 3rd South Carolina Battalion

 2nd South Carolina

I would like to eventually add the two remaining regiments from Kershaw's Brigade, the 7th & 15th South Carolina.  I may also look at adding different command stands from other regiments so I can do different brigades and battles, but first thing's first...artillery and command for this group.

A New Year - 2010 resolutions?

Well, the New Year and New Decade is here and though I haven't been updating this blog much I have actually been doing some gaming related activities. I had a target date of December 31st to finish off my Uruk-Hai scout army for LOTR, but I'm going to be a little behind on that...maybe this weekend...the reason I'm mostly behind is that I decided to do up another box of Warg Riders that I won at the Gathering In the Desert Primer event. So here's my "plan" (subject to change at any time, of course!) for 2010:

1-Finish the Uruk scouts for LOTR: I plan on taking pics and posting them next weekend.

2-Do a bunch of buildings from Old Glory and JR Miniatures, along with some accessories from Pegasus and a piece from Hirst Arts; I want to get this done by the end of January or so because I'll need this stuff for a couple of tables I'm supplying for the Gathering in the Desert.

3-Touch up and rebase a bunch of 15mm Napoleonics I got in a trade. I traded off a 25mm Early Imperial Roman army for these troops since some of the local guys have started playing Napoleon's Battles and Shako II. I'll likely trade/sell off the Russians I got so I can expand the French and Poles I have.

4-Finish up the 15mm DAK trucks for my FOW army.

5-Finally finish up the chariots for my 25mm Mitanni army for WAB.

6-Get some figures suitable for 40k Stormtroopers to add to my Daemonhunter Army.

7-Start on a Warhammer Fantasy Army: I have a large number of Dwarf Wars figures that I can proxy as either an Orc army or an Empire army based on how they are armed, but lately I've been thinking of starting either a Skaven or a Dark Elf army instead.

8-Start on another 40k army: I have my Grey Knights and I think I will start off by adding IGuard and Space Marine allies with possibly expanding these to full blown armies in the future. I'm also interested in Eldar and Dark Eldar though too...

9-Finish off and base up a 15mm Marian Roman army that was painted by Philgreg painters in Sri Lanka. This is for Might of Arms...a good game which I hope to play more of this year.

10-Commit to one "new" game...I'm thinking this will be Uncharted Seas, but we'll see.

That's all for now...hopefully I'll have the time (once my son's basketball season is over with at least) to update the blog more frequently.

Happy New Year!
Tom