1/72 Napoleonics and Red Devils

Feeling a bit unfocussed recently, so been doing a bit of this and a bit of that. Here we have a box of Hat Napoleonic French light infantry, which are needed for the ongoing Waterloo project:

and a few Italeri British airborne. Sculpts are okay but Esci sculpted some goofy poses.

And my dog looking sad because she has only been on two walks and had one breakfast so far today.

Romans and Greeks

Thebans for a Plataea scenario I plan to run next week at the club, these are 1/72 Hat:

And some more 28mm Gripping Beast Punic Wars era Roman cavalry, as this project trundles along:

Napoleonic Russians and Dragoons

Last week I started on Napoleonic Russians - I have quite a horde of Zvezda and Strelets picked up in a job lot earlier this year. These are very nice figures, I did some Guards infantry and Cuirassiers by Zvezda, and a unit of British Dragoons by Hat that have been patiently waiting their turn in my painting queue for about 6 months.

Napoleonic Spanish

I've been making progress on my Swedish army for the GNW, but still await bases to complete the three regiments already painted. Between Swedes, I have completed a brigade of 1/72 Spanish for my next Lasalle project (Albuera). There are no Spanish to speak of in 1./72, so these are Hat 1806 Prussians- vest and bicorne makes them look close to early war Spanish uniforms.

HOTT army, light dragoons and a Congreve rocket battery

The last couple of weeks have been busy with work-related travel to Vancouver, the UK and now I have to go to Ottawa tomorrow, but I managed to finish my 28mm HOTT army "The Warband of the Winter Witch" which also features a lovely Reaper Frost Giant:

Plus a battery of Hat 1/72 Congreve rockets for Lasalle:

And Italeri British light dragoons, also 1/72:

Naked Greeks and Muslims

I added some more hoplites to the growing Greek-Persian Wars project, these are Hat 1/72 from the Theban army box and I intend to use them to represent Persian-allied Greeks of Ionia or Boetia. They are okay I guess, a bit flat in terms of sculpting, but the shield transfers help them out and hide their naughty bits.

I also picked off a few more Muslims for the El Cid project, these are 28mm Gripping Beast (I think) that I picked up in the MayDay auction. I stripped them and painted them as North African invaders, the banners are from LBM Studios and I think really help make the unit pop. They are pricey but really worth it.

Persian heavy foot and bow

Been working away at these guys for the last little while. They are Persian kardakes or Lydian hoplites and some armoured Persian archers. The figures are Hat 1/72, which are okay, but not quite up to Zvezda. The shields are topped with LBM transfers which are superb, although a little small for the shield size. They are based on 60mm frontages which can convert to just about any ruleset. I'm thinking Impetus but have been reading FoG too.

1/72 Hoplites

Last week I blew the dust off some 1/72 Greeks and Persians for a change. There are some Hat figures here, which are very so-so, flat poses and require you to make and affix own spear. Pain in the butt! I used VVV shield transfers.

I also found some Caesar hoplites that are much more 3-dimensional, and come with spears.

1/72 Macedonian DBA army

I rebased a bunch of 1/72 Macedonians for DBA (II/12), it is a mixture of Hat and Zvezda who both do some good figures for this period. Alexander himself leads on the right wing with some Thracians, Greeks are on the left, Macedonian pike form the core of the foot with some very useful light troops for support. With a catapult and an elephant it could easily morph into the Imperial version (II/15).
 

I also dug out enough plastics to put together a late Carthaginian army that I might do next (II/32).

Banff and back again

Just returned from a short holiday in Banff with the family, even managed to get the young ones to walk up Tunnel Mountain and some other short trails with minimal tears:


Before I left I had just finished painting a unit of Hat 28mm Andalusian heavy infantry militia, these guys look better than they fight:


Like the Almoravids, they are relatively slight compared to metal, and I managed to break one of the thin plastic spears when I picked it up to photograph it. I have a bad feeling about their durability, but I do like the way they look. Any suggestions on how to improve the durability of thin plastic weapons, other than replacing them with wire spears? Would painting them with pva white glue help?