Last Painted Figures of 2015

With Jon and me hot for Chain of Command, I have been expanding my 28mm World War II armies a bit.  One of my grail projects is to play a skirmish campaign set in the Battle of the Bulge.  I have never been able to find a good set of rules for WW2 skirmish, though, until Chain of Command.  I love the way the rules reward good tactics, so I am starting this project.  Most of it will have to wait until my big commission is done, but I have snuck in a few figures when I could.

These Artizan Fallschirmjager got their covering of Dullcote this morning.  While the figures are not really meant for cold conditions, I thought that painting their hands as gloves would make them look right.  Their uniforms are bulky enough that they could easily be wearing several layers.

For my 28mm WW2 figures, I just do a block paint job and then use the dip for shading.  It works really well on these drab uniforms, and it is VERY quick.  These eight figures took about two hours.

Before I started my commission, I had painted up these 14 Artizan Americans in overcoats.  Something obviously went wrong with the Dullcote, though.  I am hoping that once they have their snowy bases complete, the fogging from the Dullcote will not look so out of place.  Still, I may strip these and start over.  I love the flat finish that Dullcote gives, but my last few cans have proven maddeningly inconsistent.  This is the first time I have ever had such fogging, but then this was the first time the Dullcote ever came out in a stream instead of a spray.

2015 Retrospective

2015 was another busy year at the painting desk for me, with a total of 1,510 figures finished, or about four figures each day.

This year most of my painting was for commission work.  When I moved to my dream neighborhood in 2011, I lost my dedicated wargaming room.  Now I am saving my pennies to build a two story garage with the top floor as a dedicated hobby space.

My 2015 totals were:

28mm Foot: 150
28mm Mounted: 36
28mm Guns: 4
15mm Foot: 1040
15mm Mounted: 254
15mm Guns: 26

For my collections:
15mm Ancient Greeks, 280 hoplites, 112 light troops, 24 cavalry
15mm Napoleonics, 24 British cavalry, 38 French cavalry
28mm Napoleonic French, 30 cavalry
28mm ACW, 16 Union infantry
28mm World War II, 14 American infantry, 8 German infantry

For commissions:
15mm Napoleonic French, 648 foot, 168 cavalry, 20 guns
28mm Colonial British, 96 infantry, 16 gunners, 4 guns, 6 mounted generals

My Analogue Hobbies scoring system total for the year was 4,506 points, a slight increase from last year.  My problem with that system is that it equates scale with painting difficulty, something I do not think is true at all.  A 15mm AB French fusilier is two or three times more difficult to paint than a 28mm WW2 American infantryman.

I plan to spend 2016 plugging away on my giant Napoleonics commission.  I had hope to finish it within a year, but with three small children placing demands on my time, that probably won't happen.  Still, I am maintaining a good painting pace.

Happy gaming in 2016, everyone!

Giant Commission -- Complete French Army

It took six months, which is about two months longer than I expected, but it is all done.  Here is the entire army.

Line Infantry

Light Infantry 

Light Cavalry 

Heavy Cavalry 

Artillery

Imperial Guard

Markers

That French army includes 648 foot, 168 cavalry, and 20 guns.


And now the next army waits.  Here are 252 Austrian line infantry just waiting for some paint!

Giant Commission -- French Cavalry Casualties

This is the last actual painting I did on the French army.  There are four chasseur a cheval, four dragoon, and four cuirassier casualties here.

Because of a mix-up, I ended up painting four early French horse artillery crews instead of the guard horse artillery.  I made a little order with Eureka USA to make a battery.  The guns are Blue Moon.

Now I am flocking all the bases for this enormous army!  I have added and sealed the ballast and am nearly done adding all the static grass.  Then I will Dullcote the whole thing and get it in the mail!

Giant Commission -- French Infantry Casualties

Glenn will be getting 10 infantry casualty markers.  12 cavalry markers are waiting on bases before I can start them.  Once they are done, the army is done.

Here you can see the basing material.  All the army is based, and all the bases have sealed fine brown ballast on top.  I am halfway through adding the static grass.  This is time consuming, which is why I have not made any posts lately.  I'll make one big post of the whole army when basing is complete.

Giant Commission -- French Guard Cavalry, Wurttembergers, Odds and Ends

These are the last units for the French army.  Now I just have casualty markers to make.

Guard Cavalry: Horse Grenadiers and Dragoons

Guard Cavalry: Chasseurs a Cheval and Lancers

1st and 2nd Wurttemberg Chevauxleger

Replacement Guard Horse Artillery and Fusilier-Grenadiers

While I wait on bases for the casualty markers, I will start basing and flocking the army.  There are almost 200 bases to do!

Giant Commission -- French Dragoons and Carabiniers

Well, that went much faster.  After my cuirassier funk, I was able to crank out these 42 cavalry in just six days.  These are 12 regiments of dragoons and the two regiments of carabiniers.

Just four regiments of guard cavalry and 22 bases of casualties left in this army!