20mm War of 1812 American Regulars

The commission of Frying Pan and Blanket Amalgamated is coming along. I continue to be impressed with the quality of this line. Bill owns this figure line, so if you like the look, reach out to him to place an order!

The latest troops are these six regiments of US regulars. I had a lot of fun researching the uniforms. The supply issues that plagued the Continental Army were still present in 1812. The US army lacked domestic sources of textiles and dyes and had to make do with captured British stores. Just as in the early war, US regulars had varied colors of jackets and trousers.

The cast flags on these figures are a challenge to paint well, but I am happy with how they turned out.

4th US Infantry

9th US Infantry

11th US Infantry (Regulars, by God!)

23rd US Infantry

25th US Infantry

27th US Infantry

I will likely spend the weekend basing up all ten regiments, then on to the next batch!

Resin Gun Emplacements

 Blogger is still giving me fits on uploading images. I'm afraid this is the best I can do.

These resin terrain pieces were a Christmas gift from my friend Kevin. They are the perfect size for 15mm guns, and I think they will work well for any period from the dawn of gunpowder through Vietnam.

The sculpting is first rate, and the resin casting is very crisp. I would love to order more pieces from this company. Do any of my readers know who MBT&T might be?

20mm War of 1812 British

My current commission is moving along nicely. Today I finished these 95 War of 1812 British for William. They will soon be joined by another 144 Americans. 

1/72 US Infantry in Vietnam, Mid-war

 I was a gen-X kid, and the Vietnam War seemed a very recent event growing up. Many of my friends' fathers had served in the war. One of my childhood friends was one of the "boat people" who escaped the communists by sea in 1975. When I served as a soldier from 1991-9, the training seemed focused on the guerilla war in southeast Asia.

The US's misadventure in Vietnam was too recent and too personal for me to want to game. Over the past decade, my attitude has softened a bit, thanks largely to two books: "Vietnam: the Necessary War" by Michael Lind and "Steel My Soldiers' Hearts" by David Hackworth. Both of these books forced me to confront some of the myths that surround the Vietnam War, and both got me thinking about the conflict in a more critical way.

A few years back, Jon Freitag gave me "Front Toward Enemy" as a Christmas gift. It was the first Vietnam War game that I actually enjoyed playing, and I started to envision converting it to miniatures.

The figures I will use are from Orion in 1/72 plastic, and I like the sculpts quite a bit. These were block painted and followed by the dip.

The next box I am painting is Viet Cong. I hope to have enough to play a small scenario very soon.

28mm Gauls: Medium Cavalry and Generals

The last bits of my Gallic army are the medium cavalry and the commanders. The cavalry are some of my oldest completed figures, dating back to 2005. I had the perfect amount of figures to field the three units needed.

The generals are all recent paint jobs, completed this summer.

And that is it. The Gallic army is done! 

28mm Gauls: Light Infantry and Cavalry

The Commands and Colors system rewards a general who can make good use of his skirmishers. They are highly mobile, with the ability to move and shoot AND evade close combat. They cannot provide a killing blow, but they can wear down the enemy with missile fire and slither away from most attackers. I consider CCA's treatment of light troops to be the best I have seen in any game system.

The Gauls have a variety of light foot troops. Archers and slingers act just the same in the rules, with a range of three hexes. Javelinmen and light cavalry have a range of two.

The slingers were the only light troops I had painted for my first army. Everyone else here has come across the painting desk within the past two months.