Old Glory First Edition AWI Command Stands

I had planned to paint all 150 Continentals at once, but it was just too much for me.  Instead this week I finished the 30 command figures, which gave me six command stands and six sergeants, who are not pictured here.

All figures are Old Glory First Edition.  Flags are GMB.

The figures are adequate and look nice once painted.  I did a quick paint job on these, not obsessing over the details.

AWI Loyalists (?)

It's winter in North Idaho, which means I cannot prime figures very easily.  Usually I set aside a warm day in October to spray a few hundred figures, and that sees me through the cold months.  This year I simply forgot.

So instead of finishing projects, I will have to go back and revisit some old ones.  I do have a few hundred odd figures that got primed and then, for whatever reason, set aside.

Like these 150 AWI figures, all first edition Old Glory, all march attack Continentals.  I had primed these about three years ago, ready to paint them once my buddy had finished his British Army.  Of course, he never did get those Brits done, and these Continentals have been sitting on a shelf since then.

I have a few ideas for these guys.

• Idea One: stick to the original plan, paint these guys as six regiments of Continentals for my British Grenadier American army.  Of course, I have no opponents for my American army, so it makes little sense to make it still bigger.
• Idea Two: paint these as six regiments of loyalists for my British Grenadier British army.  Although they are in various states of undress, I could simply paint the trousers in different colors, paint the coats red, go with a variety of facings, give them generic British flags, and call them loyalists.  They could then double as British troops as necessary, depending on how particular my friends are.
• Idea Three: paint these as a mix of Continentals and loyalists, base them individually, and use them for Sharp Practice AWI.  I have both scenario books set in the south, and these figures would allow me to field both sides for any scenario.

I'm really torn between these three.  I have all the GMB flags ready to go for option one.  These figures are in a mix of headgear, pants, and equipment, so they seem to me a good fit for Continentals.

The second option is tempting, as I could start playing some AWI games right away.  I have other figures I would rather use for British, but these will do in a pinch.  The problems I see are that I have no idea what uniforms the loyalists would have worn.  I assume they would have tried to present as British an appearance as possible, but that they would not have been high on any British supply officers priorities.  I also do not know what colors they may have carried in the field.

The third option combines the strengths and weaknesses of the other two.

It's a dilemma.  Or rather a trilemma.

Blue Moon 15/18mm Napoleonic Grenzers

Here are more figures from Blue Moon's Napoleonic range.  These are Grenzers marching, which can be a tough find.  Most manufacturers have their Grenzers in shooting poses, but they were not exclusively skirmish infantry.  I have struggled to find acceptable figures for my 1809 Austrian army, so these Blue Moon figures definitely fill a need for me.

I painted these as the 13th Grenz Regiment, from Nordmann's division in 1809.  Yes, I do know that most Grenzers were in white by then.  I like my Grenzers to wear brown.  The Austrian army already has enough white!

The marching infantry come in three poses,  but they are very similar.  I think two are looking ahead and one is looking slightly to the left, and the three have slightly different grips on their muskets.

I used one of GMB's 15mm flags, which are very nice.  I rarely use anything else any more.  The figures have good raised detail for the braiding on the trousers.  Were I feeling more ambitious, I would try to replicate the black and yellow braid.  As it is, I will settle for yellow.

I went with red for the rolled overcoats.  Again, most Grenzers probably would have switched over to grey overcoats by 1809, but this is a chance to add a splash of color to my Austrian army.

So overall these are very nice figures.  I think one of the more obscure manufacturers makes marching Grenzers, but Blue Moon are the first I have been able to get my hands on.  I guess you could use Hungarian infantry in shakos for close order Grenzers, but you will not have the distinctive hair styles.

Eureka WFR Austrian Infantry

These Eureka figures took me the better part of a month to finish, but I lavished some extra attention on them.  These are three battalions of German line infantry c. 1798.

Here is the 1st Battalion, Infantry Regiment 11.  They had rose facings with white buttons.  I am waiting on a flag for these men.

I paint the traffic hazard pattern on all my Austrian drums.

Here is 1/IR5 with flag from GMB.  The flag pole is a cut down pike from North Star.

As I age, my eyes are getting worse.  These are the first figures for which I have broken out my optivisor.  I know it slowed me down, but it was nice to be able to see what I was painting.

All my Austrian line infantry get barber pole flag poles.  I used a mixture of acrylics, oils, and enamels on these figures.  All the metal (buttons, gun barrels and fittings, shako and cartridge box plates) are Testors enamels.  All the cloth is done with acrylics. The white parts start with Delta's mudstone, and then I paint everything but the recessed areas with Delta's oyster white.  These facings are Delta's blueberry over Delta's manganese blue.  The overcoat is Delta's rain grey over Delta's charcoal.

The knapsack got an initial paint job with acrylics, then a dark brown oil wash.

The regiment in march column shows how much detail I put into these figures.

The musket stocks were painted with acrylic medium flesh.  I then applied a medium thick coat of burnt umber oil paint, loaded my brush with solvent, and streaked off most of the oil paint, leaving the grain pattern you see here.

The canteens start with Delta's brown iron oxide.  The straps are Detla's latte and the main canteen color is Delta's toffee brown.

Shako plates got a coat of Testors gold followed by a burnt umber oil wash.  I then tidied up around the wash with black acrylic paint.

Musket barrels, banding, bayonets, and locks are all Testors Model Master steel.

Faces and hair are all craft acrylics.  For flesh I start with Delta's dark flesh, paint everything but the recesses with medium flesh, then hit the raised areas with fleshtone.  I only used five different shades of hair in this batch.

Here is 2/IR5.  I love those GMB flags!

All told, I spent 25 days on these 60 figures.  That's a pretty slow pace for me, but I had to allow for a lot of drying time for oils and enamels.  The optivisor took some getting used to, and I know it slowed me down as well.

Still, worth it.  Totally worth it.  These are some of my favorite figures I have ever painted.

18mm Blue Moon Caesar's Legions

I have enjoyed Blue Moon's Civil War and Napoleonic figures so much, I though I would see how their ancients look.  These are from packs 15RAE-115 "Roman Legionaries Command" and 15RAE-117 "Roman Legionaries Advancing with Gladius."

The bases are the standard DBx heavy infantry bases, 40mm frontage and 15mm depth.  Although these figures are larger than most (17mm from sole to eye), they fit comfortably on the bases.

I really like these figures, and I have wanted to seriously game Caesar's Gallic Wars for a long time.  I have no idea what rules I would use with 15mm figures, but these are nice enough to tempt me.  I picked up some Gauls in the same order.  If look as good with paint on them as these do, I may have to start scouting out rules.

Austrian General, 1798

I finished painting three battalions of Eureka WFR Autrian infantry last night, and this morning I finished their brigade commander.  

I believe this is supposed to be a colonel, but so far as I can tell, this figure should fill in as a general just fine.

I have not seen anyone paint up this figure with a grey coat, but they would have been almost as common as white.

I spent extra time on this horse, and I think the extra effort shows.


I love this line of figures.  They are pricey, so I have to pick up just a few units at a time, but they are worth the money.