Austrian Update - Core force done !

So following a spurt of painting I can declare the Austrian core force done!

The main force is two units of "German" Line Infantry as below, including their Officers and NCOs

Plus their "Third Rank" deployed as Skirmishers

That completes the "core" force.

I've also painted some supports - a gun and a group of Jagers will suffice for now and I can fill any holes from the generic support list. Looking forward if I want to expand I have some cavalry and a group of Grenadiers to do, but they can wait til I try the rest out.

It's been a bit of a grind, but not a terrible one. I felt I was losing my mojo with a dozen or so Line infantry to do, but then I got my second wind and got through the last couple of batches pretty quickly.

The artillery were no problem but for some reason I really struggled with the Jagers, to the point where I chucked the towel on and declared them "good enough". 

Not certain if I need a mounted officer or not? Will probably add one later. I'm also short of a Deployment Point but looking at them in the cabinet they are missing a Colour Party so I think I will paint one up just to make everything look "right" and also use as a Deployment Point.

Not too shabby for eight weeks on and off.

So now looking for an opponent to do the traditional hammering on their first trip to the table.

For those interested, particularly as a comparison to GW models and a good reason to look into historicals, this lot, 71 figures and a gun, cost about £70 and theres plenty left if I want to expand.  

 

A theoretical two thirds.............followed by a very real and nice three and a half

So today I finished (almost) the group of "third Rank" skirmishers. That means, if you squint, I've completed two of the three units in my Sharp Practice Austro-Hungarians. The catch is the final third is another big unit of fusiliers, 24 foot plus two officers.

Here are the skirmishers - as you can see they still need the basing doing but I think I'll do the whole force at once to keep some visual homogeneity. 

This doesn't mean the project is getting to an end. Once the core force is complete I'll need another 16 points of supports to use depending on scenarios. "Luckily" the core force is about 64 points, meaning I'll normally not need much extra if facing the French forces which tend to be quite low on base force points. I figure a unit of artillery and maybe some Jager is 14 of those 16 points, leaving a few spare for the odd or scenario supports.

As an aside I had three and a half pints of Elland 1872 Porter, Champion Beer of Britain five times and one of the nicest \ strongest beers I've had in a long time. Sadly the brewery closed it's doors this month so that will most likely be the last I ever get. Sad really.

Before the beer hit me I did manage to stick together the last of the fusiliers so I will hopefully not have too many halts once the production line restarts.

I stuck together 24 Fusiliers (only 16 in this pic) plus a drummer (Musician), NCO , Colour bearer and Pioneer. They will all come in useful as support options.

Tomorrow I'm attending a Sharp Practice day at Pendraken Miniatures, hopefully my Rebellious Colonists will throw off the oppressive yolk of Perfidious Albion! 

Cheers

  

 

General Update - Get off your keyboard and man your brush!

I'm trying to spend time painting rather than playing games on the pc. Turns out this makes my modelling more productive - who would have thought?

Having finished the first unit of Austrians I ran into he soft sand a bit. Basically my desire not to get put off by a large pile of unpainted plastic and lead meant I only assembled enough to do the first unit. Now that is done I discovered I had a few issues.

Firstly I didn't have any assembled figures - easy enough to fis there are boxes of then in easy reach (gulp)

Secondly I didn't have enough 20x20mm mdf bases for a second unit anyway.

Thirdly, I've lost (or possibly used?) the white rattle-can I am using to undercoat them

This has caused an unplanned pause. Luckily I also had spent a little time ruminating over the Austrian list for Sharp Practice and decided I would like to get a group of "Third Rank" skirmishers in the basic force. Historical side note - The Austrian-Hungarian Infantry Battalions of the Napoleonic Period were a little different to many others. The Battalions didn't have a designated Light Company as seen in contemporary British and French units tasked with skirmishing. Instead the Austrians relied on taking troops from the third rank of formations and sending them out to skirmish. It's not an ideal solution to say the least. Mulling this over, I thought it would be more appropriate for my main force to use these as my skirmishers rather than the original Grenzers or Jagers. So I ordered a pack from Perry's along with some extra command etc. These arrived yesterday as I was heading out for the other supplies. I went to Pendraken for some more bases, and picked up some spray paint, so the wheels are back on. 

I've decided its easier to base and put some sand \ grit on the bases before starting to paint - part of the changes I made to the process of painting based on the first unit. 

So the next unit on the production line is the Third Rank skirmishers. I have one group of six which in true Austrian fashion is totally inadequate to screen the main unit in line but I'm thinking that is a bonus as it will encourage me to deploy in columns, at least while I try and manoeuvre.  To be honest this is probably going to be necessary anyway as the 24 man units in line are a bit unwieldy if there is any terrain or obstacle in the way. Memo to self - reread the section in Sharp Practice about changing formation!

Anyway that's all for now - I feel obliged to include a pic so here is the next group of line infantry assembled and ready for undercoat

Cheers! 

     

Austrian Update - First unit done!

 A fortnight after buying them and the first unit is (almost) done. I still need to work on the bases a bit and get some movement trays, but here is the first 24 man line Infantry unit completed. I'm quite chuffed!

They come with two Leaders, an Officer and an NCO. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. I suspect the NCO will be useful once the action starts but as a junior leader all he can do is rally shock really. Anyway here is the boss

Almost certainly a Prohaska

I'm pretty sure I need to keep the momentum up but I need more 20x20 bases so I think the next unit will be either the Jagers or the Artillery unless I can make a quick trip to Pendraken in the next few days.

Progress on Austrians

Quick update. I'm wary of my history of starting many projects but ending few. The issue is painting - sometimes fatigue, but sometimes just being put off by the magnitude of the task.

To try and avoid this I'm deliberately breaking the Austrians down into small and hopefully easily digestible batches. My initial thoughts were doing them in groups of eight, which coincidentally match the size of a group in Sharp Practice. I did complete a group, but found it to be a bit of a slog, so I think I'll try groups of four moving forward.

Anyway here is my first group. Sharp eyed among you will identify them as IR Nr 4 in homage to my old friend John Henderson, who was one of the first "proper" wargamers I got to know and something of an inspiration.

Anyway, enough keyboard action, time to grab a brush and make a start on the second group

Cheers