Possible New Project

Glenn is thinking of adding a new Napoleonic collection: true 25mm figures painted in "toy soldier" style and finished with a gloss clear coat. I can definitely see the appeal. I whipped up these 25mm Minifigs Prussians in a day, and I do think a table full of these would look splendid.

20mm Wayne's Legion: Mounted Troops

Progress continues on my commission! This group of mounted figures completes the US forces.

US Dragoons

The dragoons look awfully sharp with their black leather straps. I could not find any sources for them carrying colors, so I made their standard a plain blue guidon.

US Mounted Officers

That's General Wayne himself in the buff facings. I love the look of these sculpts. Nothing overly heroic here, just commanders intent on the action.

Mounted Frontier Militia

I think these ragged frontier types, both foot and mounted, are my favorite figures in the range. I hope that by varying the colors I have done them justice!

I now move on to 144 Indian warriors. I have no idea how long that will take. Wish me luck!

1/72 SYW Prussian Infantry

I have been working on this project for almost two years. On a whim, I bought a few boxes of HaT Industries' 8280 "7YW Prussians Marching" and a box of 8282 "7YW Prussian Command." Each figure has the option of a tricorne, miter, or peaked cap. The marching figures come in only two poses, which is actually perfect for well ordered infantry.

I painted these with a simple block painting job, applied the dip, and based them up. Although each figure is not a masterpiece of painting, I do like their look on the table.

IR7

IR17

IR21

IR30

I painted these as a trial to see if I liked the range enough to commit to some armies. Well, I do like them enough, and I have ordered some boxes to supplement this starter force. This is just the kind of simple painting I can do while supervising my children's schoolwork.

18mm Greek Generals

These singly-based figures will serve as commanders for my Greek and Macedonian armies.  

These are all 18mm AB Miniatures ancient Greeks. Did you know that AB Miniatures had an ancients line? They have classical age Greeks, late 1st century BC Romans, and 3rd century Sassanid Persians. None of the ranges complement each other/

20mm Frontier Militia

At the Wabash, a large proportion of Wayne's force was made up of frontier militiamen, dressed in buckskin and linen. I have always struggled to make those ragged hunting shirts look good, but this time I think I got it just right. Hopefully Bill agrees!

I have started on the American mounted figures and should finish them within a couple of weeks. Then I have 144 Indian warriors to paint, and I can get this commission in the mail to Bill!

Commands and Colors Game Board

While I have my kids at home, we have been allotting an hour and a half each day as game time. When I was a teacher, I frequently used games as a learning tool. 

My kindergartener has been practicing her reading skills with Glenn Drover's "Extraordinary Adventures: Pirates," and my third grader is practicing arithmetic and probabilities with "Yahtzee." Since my 6th grader already plays Avalon Hill's "Advanced Squad Leader" without any trouble, he helps me administer the lessons to his younger sisters.

This week we will move on to some miniatures gaming by teaching Commands and Colors Ancients, probably my favorite board game ever.  The kids and I took some plywood from our salvage pile, stained it, and glued a fabric hexgrid (available from Spoonflower) with spray adhesive. Mike McFadden, a friend of the blog, had created the graphic and arranged for Spoonflower to make it available.

Once the adhesive had dried, we applied several coats of clear lacquer to seal the fabric and place and provide a durable gaming surface. I special ordered some 80mm hexes from Litko and applied the terrain overlays using the same method.

We got some strange bubbling under the fabric as the lacquer cured. Should I do this again, I would either use a stronger initial adhesive or find some way to apply pressure while the lacquer cures. For now, though, this is certainly a good enough board for my kids to learn the game,

This also gives me a reason to break out the 15mm ancients collection. This is Alexander's army, and you can see that the 80mm hexes work perfectly with DBx style basing.