Monday, 12 December 2016

Skirmishers

From the latest Perry boxset come 8 plastic Union skirmishers. Nice figures that give a lot of options but sometimes I just wish for a figure that requires no glue to stick it together.







Saturday, 10 December 2016

Endurance

Bouncing from one civil war to another at the moment. The Orange Auxiliaries are finally finished albeit with slightly worn colours at the moment. It has only taken the best part of 2 years. A cavalry unit next I think.



Wednesday, 16 November 2016

Union

And along come the smarter Union Forces. Also for sale - pm me

(I should add that I'm planning on dropping by the Reading show this weekend if anyone would like to see them in the raw)






Saturday, 5 November 2016

Confederate

I quite enjoy doing these. There are 7 core figures in the unit - all from the original Perry ACW set. The challenge is to make a unit that looks very different. The bits box provided arms, weapons and heads where required. The original figures are not terribly dynamic but I hope its a reasonable take on a Confederate firing line. My own favourite is the man waving his hat, a thing that seems to occur in every Troiani print. Most figures have grey coats and blue trousers but a few mixed up browns and coloured blanket rolls create a non uniform appearence.

They are for sale at a sensible price if you are interested. PM me at foresightpaint@gmail.com for info or if you want other figures painting. In the meantime here are the photos:





Tuesday, 18 October 2016

Virginia

Or 'Virginyah' as they keep saying in the Gettysburg film. Anyway, whatever they are called, here are the first 3 stands of a generic Confederate firing line. All are from the original Perry ACW set with support provided by the bits box. The anonymous Federal marching enemy are not far behind



Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Rebels

Still not finished but enough of the Orange Auxiliaries to get the idea. Aim here was to test out the new backdrop. Despite 1 or 2 21st century inconsistencies I think it works.




Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Appin

Along come the Stewarts of Appin - all 150 of them with my scale of 1 to 20. Some light conversion work on the man with the Lochaber axe and the casualty. `The standard hangs in the Edinburgh Museum alongside that of Barrell's foot. Next up - Lovat's Frasers.






Confederates

The first base of a Confederate 'firing line' battalion using figures from the original Perry ACW box set - with accessories from the bits box primarily to provide muskets and bayonets. Some of the joints are a bit iffy if you look closely but overall it works I think. Im working on a Union unit at the same time using the marching figures - both will be for sale so pm me if you're interested




And I found the b&w function on the edit package.........


Thursday, 6 October 2016

Americans

Young FSP has gone off to boarding school so I took the opportunity to remind myself what he had stashed away amongst all the Lego and Airfix. I came across these and thought I'd give one a go, liked it and have decided to build a Battalion for both the Union and the Rebels. The former will be home to all the marching figures while the latter will be a firing line heavy on conversions. These are old models but I prefer the smoother finish to the more angular later ones - like the Zouaves.


Monday, 26 September 2016

Enterprise

Anyone expecting photos of a 1;10 flying replica of something going at warp speed is going to be disappointed. Sorry. This is more to do with the enterprise (or lack of) that pops up on Dragons Den as largely hopeless business men and women pitch ideas to potential investors. It's entertaining but scary to think that the UK economy is reliant on such deadbeats.

I'm waiting for the first wargames related business to crop up because I'll be texting the programme with the following questions as soon as the entreprenuer steps out of the lift:

1. Will your website have a redundant telephone contact number?
2.Will you accept orders and then fail to follow up with the client with some form of feedback?
3. Naturally you will be ignoring emails?
4. Your failure to think ahead will be deemed sufficient acceptable reason for a lack of response?

Now I could drone on like a caller to Jeremy Vine but will keep it short. I'm prepared to accept that with a few exceptions we rely on the enthusiasm of what is a cottage industry. It's a risky business but regrettably the moment money changes hands the old 'cat developed leukaemia' gambit doesnt cut it anymore. If I'm kept up to date I'll tolerate delays of a reasonable magnitude but your domestic crisis is really not my problem - would you accept an order that I said I could not fund because I'm going on holiday and needed the cash for something else? Doubt it.

Sounding a bit TMP so I'll stop. 

Thursday, 22 September 2016

Barrell's

My third Culloden Battalion finished. This time its the 4th of Foot. Barrell's Regiment who stood on the left of the Government line. On next to more tartan and the 21st but I will be ordering some of the new Crann Tara figures first. The mounted Jacobite command figures look terrific





Poilu

I'm reading Peter Hart's "The Great War' at the moment. Spoiler alert - the German's lose. Very good especially on the French in 1914. They took terrible casualties as like everybody else they learned what combined arms in the modern world required. It was a doctrinal equivalent of the race to the sea as everyone sought to outflank each other in operational and tactical development. And in the end, guess what, it was the attrition wot won it.

I wont claim this figure to be an homage to all that. I simply had a few of these Renegade figures lying around and felt like painting something different. He'd look even better with a bayonet.



Saturday, 10 September 2016

Fox


Doing a bit of clearing out and I came across this. It's a photo I took early one morning of my Fox CVR(W) on Sennelager ranges in 1985.

As a light role Battalion we had 8 of these. The 30mm Rarden would have gone through a BMP but would have probably bounced off anything heavier. Despite this I lost count of the number of times I was asked (told) to launch a counter attack against armoured opposition.The fact that the vehicle had sucha high centre of gravity also meant it was prone to toppling over....

Still, it's quite a nice picture

Thursday, 25 August 2016

Trent


In the enduring debate on ECW sizes these figures always seem to get forgotten. As Bicorne and Renegade slug it out against Perry and Warlord the slender range of 2 mounted Generals from Trent sit quietly in the wings. Apparently 'Newark Characters' they share catalogue space with Stapleton Cotton, King John, Bromhead and Lady Godiva. It's a strange mix but these are great figures that fit effortlessly into the B and R camp. I've no idea who the sculptor is but they should do more.




Saturday, 13 August 2016

Fanion

It has been a while since a French Battalion marched into view so here are the latest bunch of scruffs. I had a set of Fanion bearers sitting around waiting for the usual Eagle Bearers to hog the limelight so I thought I'd give one of them a chance. Apparently red was the preferred colour of the 3rd Battalion but I have to admit it looks a little strange to me. I've left it unglued so the option of an Eagle remains

They are available if anyone is interested - 24 figures all Perry, 16 plastic, 8 metal £112 plus postage at £10. There is a proper blue and white Battalion coming along in about 2-3 weeks with not a greatcoat in sight. Let me know if you want early photos.





Saturday, 25 June 2016

Cannon

Something other than a red coat or a tartan one. This hopefully represents one of the 10 three pounder guns manned by the Royal Artillery at Culloden. The crew is actually a set of Hanoverian gunners from Minden Miniatures but with a few minor alterations. I think they look the part.



Friday, 17 June 2016

Vignette

I originally bought these to try and bring some variety to the infantry Battalions. I had'nt realised they were all dismounted cavalry and to see them waddling around the battlefield in very large boots would have been rather demeaning. So I went for the vignette option given that they were taken from an illustration in the now iconic Haythornthwaite 'ECW' book.

They are supposed to be Parliamentary officers and come from the unbeatable Bicorne ECW range.



Monday, 13 June 2016

Cameron



Finished! I'm working my way across the Jacobite front line at Culloden on the basis of one figure equals 20 real combatants. The Camerons apparently fielded about 600 men on the day and were the largest Clan contingent so here they are represented by 32 models. Each base has 8 figures so the Govt Battalions will all be 24 strong. It rather puts them on the large side but they look the part. Stewarts of Appin next on the list - thankfully there were only about 150 of them.

Monday, 30 May 2016

Stug




I’m a little bit out of touch. It has been a busy start to the year and hobby stuff has had to take a bit of a back seat. What painting I have done has been undertaken in dribs and drabs – my ECW and 1746 projects move glacier like towards an as yet undefined end state. I quite enjoy doing the occasional Napoleonic or WW2 piece for variety so with this in mind I present a Flames of War Stug 3. I don’t pretend to see the attraction of wargaming with FoW (but then I’ve never taken the time to read the rules) but I never fail to be impressed with the quality and extent of their model range.

Sunday, 22 May 2016

Autumn




Haven't done Flames of War kit in ages so as I had these lurking at the bottom of a forgotten box inside a bigger forgotten box I thought I'd better get them done. They had been there since 2008 by the way - 2 years longer than the real second world war by my reckoning.

I have to say I was quite pleased with how they turned out. Pea dot in 15mm is always a challenge and for the first time the finished article had the feel of the design.. Base coat was pale brown with a brown GW wash. a few splodges of cam black brown and then small dots of orange brown over splodges. Simple and the 2 crew teams look the part. A full rifle pl is on its way to help