British 8th Foot, War of 1812

My commissioned set of 8th Foot, War of 1812 is now complete. The company is made of a mix of Front Rank and Foundry figures, which blend quite nicely.

Navy Basing Update!

While my paints were out for the Marines, I also worked to resolve the  now long-standing beach basing conundrum. My previous attempt (and 1st prototype) did not fully convey the mediterranean shore as well as I would have liked. Rather that jumping straight into a major overhaul, I tried to see if I could work with the existing basing and correct it toward my originally intended look. This was accomplished by tinting the water with a dark blue & green mix, blending it out lighter toward the shore, and then applying a thinned layer of my wet sand color (British Uniform) on top to mute it down a bit. it might be a little unrealistic to have such a deep color so close to shore, but I believe it balances the minature and gives some much-needed contrast on the base while also mirroring the deep blue of the sailor's short coat.

This is a lot of words to say that adding a little sea green really makes the scenic base read visually more as a beach. Further changes down the road would be darkening the seaweed and rocks to increase contrast to the sand, but I may save those for the next figures...(And of course there are some edges to clean up...)

Petit Armée

One of the best parts of making new gaming friends is the expanding of your games repertoire. My friend Andrew has introduced me to a fun little game in Petit Armée.

Arming the HMS Sophie part 1

Having come across a good deal on a set of six turned brass cannon barrels at a local hobby shop, I am finally able to start properly arming my ship models. However, since they did not come with laser-cut wood parts, this means building my own naval gun carriages from scratch.

HMS Sophie Part 6 - Aft Cabin Renovation

Finally jumping back into my 28mm Royal Navy Brig project, it is time to revise the windows for the aft cabin. I feel my current version detracts from the rest of the model, so I am removing the part, and adding windows based on examples of 18th C. warships, and simplifying them to fit the look and scale of the ship.

1812 Sharp Practice Meeting Engagement

Returning once again to the War of 1812, I introduced a combined force of British Regulars with native allies in a game against the US line in another Sharp Practice match with my friend Dave.

Don't forget your Old Shipmate (Navy basing part 1)

Having completed painting the uniforms of my Royal Navy Landing Party, it is time to give some attention to their bases.

8th Regiment of Foot, 1812 (WIP)

Having completed my test model, I have been working on my commissioned 1812 British regiment. 

The force is a part of a series of figures I have been painting for my friend for gaming the War of 1812 using Sharp practice ruleset. The models here represnet the 8th Regiment of Foot, which fought in America during the war. They wear the blue facings of a royal regiment, and fielded in the earlier stovepipe shakos. The models are still WIP, but nearing completion.

The Wreck of the Dred Hawk

My friend Zach was back from D.C. to visit, and what better chance to catch up than on the tabletop! We decided to play a scenario of Sharp Practice using my Napoleonic Era figures. Here are the highlights (at least the ones that photographed well):

The Royal Navy Schooner Dred Hawk has run aground on the French coast. A patrol of Voltigeurs has spotted the stranded seamen.

British Line infantry, War of 1812 (Test Figure)

Allow me to present the first of a small British army from the war of 1812. This force will be a group of 38 infantrymen in early war stovepipe shakos sculpted by the illustrious Wargames Foundry, and serve as opponent to the 1st US Infantry.

Rescue the Riflemen! (a War of 1812 Game)

It was my privilege to play a War of 1812 game of Sharp Practice with my friend David this last weekend. We have been looking for a good ruleset for a large scale black powder era skirmish game to run some War of 1812, Peninsula War, and AWI games, so far this has been the most fun.

A Pleasant Surprise

I came home the other day to a very pleasant surprise. When I opened my front door, a large red envelope fell at my feet, from a friend from my naval reenactments. Inside were several boxes of of esci Napoleonic wars British soldier figures, from Royal Artillery to Hussars.

It was a very thoughtful surprise, and I look forward to trying my hand at these fine sculpts.

British Napoleonic Infantry Close Up

I've been playing with camera settings tonight, and the above is the result of a lot of fiddling. Camera set to TV mode (time variant), shot with diffused light coming from the sides, white balance corrected in Photoshop, to counter the effects of indoor lighting. The model is an existing part of my British Penisula War collection.

Hearts of Oak

I have been working on a set of Brigade Games 28mm Royal Navy shore party figures that Loni gave me for Christmas, and these are some of the most accurately clothed figures I have ever seen.

Miniatures Photography

One of the hardest battles of showing miniatures work online is the ability to get a photograph that does your painting justice.

HMS Sophie Part 5

As I was working with a hand auger, and not a power drill, my mast holes are not exactly the size I was hoping for when I drilled them.

Uneven Hole

To compensate for this, I have wrapped paper around the base of my masts until they plug in snugly.

A completed Mast section

On the test fit, they now stay in place quite nicely, yet are still removable for storage.

There's still much to be done, but i'm pleased at how this is coming together.

HMS Sophie Part 4: Hull details

Bowsprit and fo'c's'le

The bowsprit is nested and glued into a hole i drilled at an angle into the solid hull (another perk of doing the hull as one piece). I've attached the upper part using my craft twine, and you can faintly make out two wire loops. These will attach the removable rigging (forestay and fore topmast stay).

Deck detailing courtesy of Starbucks

The actual deck is made of carefully selected coffee stirs gleaned with permission from local Starbucks. I cut them to size with side cutters, then filed the raw edges smooth on an emery board. They are held down with superglue, as I found that Elmers doesn't hold fast enough to keep them from springing back up. One all glued in place, it is sanded lightly, and i drilled holes at the edges of the planks with a pin vise.

Functional Deck Ladder

The gunwales have ladders integrated onto the sides (as does the HMS Surprise on which I've based much of this). These are spaced to hold figures based with more coffee stirs. My officer of Artillery shows functionality of the ladder, and also serves to give some sense of scale here.

Sophie's aft cabin and rudder

Here we have the aft cabin of HMS Sophie, as well as the top of her rudder. I am not entirely satisfied with how this portion came out, and may revise it in the future. The intent was to make a faux leaded glass window using window screen painted as the lead over a dark blue plastic card underneath. This technique has looked good on some scenery buildings in the past, but does not seem to quite do it here.

HMS Sophie Part 3

Continuing on with the construction of my 18th-19th century Sloop of War, here are some Hull shots of HMS Sophie.

Hull of my HMS Sophie, already afloat in the waters she'll be sailing.

Again, the hull is a solid plank of 2x6 left over from a musket stock project, shaped with planes and rasp files. One gunport was built out of small planks and some plastic card for the iron. I made a greenstuff mold, and copied the port for the rest of the ship.

Close–up of the gun ports and ladder up to the deck

Ship's Crew

This is a shot of my Foundry Swashbucklers crew i've put together. I am using the boarding pike models sans pike, so that they can be handling the ship's lines instead.

The figures are pinned to GW bases topped in coffee stirs for the ship deck look. I unwound some jute twine and retwisted it to be rope-sized at scale, and made some proper coils onto the bases.

The ship is more of a fun story than the men, though. My friend rescued it from the dumpster outside a maritime museum, and it was in sorry shape. I spent a good amount of time bringing it back to life with replanking the deck, redoing the rigging, and, of course, giving it a new paint job. The schooner is as of yet still a work in progress, and it leaves me wanting for a bigger ship that could actually hold some guns, but it is a fine craft nonetheless.

Napoleonic British Infantry, Spain 1809, part 2

I have completed my test group of British Peninsula War troops. They were a blast to paint. For some variety, I gave a few grey trousers and the rest white. I really enjoyed putting these together, and love the way they look with varied poses. My favorite is still the one with the bent shako and the desperate look on his face. The basing is starting to have the effect I want when you put them all together.