Old Mill / Farmhouse and Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

Blowing the dust off the blog before the year ends with a terrain piece I painted up because it's time I posted something and more importantly because the yearly Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is ready to start here on the 20th of December and lasts until mid March or so.

The challenge always helps me get back into the painting chair and it's a tradition I've been involved with since the 2nd iteration when it became an open event. We are now going on the 10th edition so pretty impressive run Curt has managed to keep going! With this 10th edition Curt decided to put together a special challenge where the competitors will be traveling to a unusual and fascinating kind of island so I highly recommend visiting the link I gave above for the details.

Another reason to get the blog going is the fact I need to start learning how to use my camera again which I still cannot properly use. Maybe one day I'll actually know how to use it!

The model is from Ziterdes terrain and supposed to be a mill if you add the water wheel it came with or can be used as a large farmhouse. It's made out of foam so is surprisingly very light for it's large size.

The building painted up nicely using a selection of my usual craft paints with a liberal amount of Mig pigments for some weathering. This example will work for most any European setting from the horse and musket period right up to modern day so a useful piece indeed. I think I may have some more of these buildings, but would need to check my inventory and if so will likely paint up some more.

As usual I have backlog of things to post that I'll try to add in between the material I post for the challenge, but the challenge will take priority so if not during the challenge then after. I hope everyone has enjoyed their year so far and thanks for your patience!

Merry Christmas!! May all your stocking be stuffed with plastic and lead!

Thank you for viewing!
Miniature Company- Zitterdes terrain 

Regiments Permskiy and Rostovskiy (SYW Russians)

In my cabinet I have one lonely regiment of Russians for my long stalled Seven Years project and decided they needed some desperate reinforcements and so decided to paint up a couple regiments to  bolster their ranks in the form of  Permskiy(White/Green flag) and Rostovskiy(White/Yellow flag).

Some highlights are the Permskiy Regiment took part in the invasion of east Prussia and the battles of Paltzig and Kunersdorf and Rostovskiy also joined in the invasion of east Prussia(twice) and fought in the battles of Gross-Jägersdorf, Zorndorf , Paltzig and Kunersdorf as well.

The regiments are uniformed in the standard Russian colors of green coat, red waistcoat,pants, cuffs and turnbacks . They typically wore black gaiters, but I prefer the white parade gaiter.

The figures themselves are from Front Rank and while perhaps a bit dated compared to say Foundry are still quite nice figures and paint up well enough. I'm hoping Front Rank will revisit  their AWI and SYW ranges and give them an update similar to what they did with their Napoleonic range with their superb new reinforcements additions. The flags are from the fantastic GMB designs.These guys took longer then I thought as I rather foolishly figured I only needed a week or so to finish them because of the uniformity......yeah right........they took darn near 3 weeks!! Forgot about all the little details SYW figures entail to include a ton of buttons, straps and flaps etc. Now I understand why my SYW project got stalled in the first place! I will of course return to the SYW , but I do need to take a break again from the period just hopefully not as long as the last one.

It will take some time before I have fully completed armies to play the SYW period properly, but fortunately I also enjoy "imaginations" gaming which will allow these figures to see some wargaming until then.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniture Company-Front Rank

Apcheronski Regiment

The unit that stands before you is the Apcheronski Regiment which for many Russian Seven Years fans is a must do unit as they have a very distinctive trade mark. The gaiters on Russian regiments is normally white or black, but the Apcheronski Regiment fought so hard at the battle of Kunersdorf they were said to have stood "knee deep in blood" and so are allowed to wear red gaiters as a reward. The red I used for the gaiters was more of a dried blood(maroon) which I also did for the red leather parts.

My friend Mike at Dreispitz is a big fan of the Seven Years War and drew me into the period. I started off with the French as they were a good choice for getting us started, but I always had my eye on the Russians. I just really like the Green and Red combo and after doing this unit I have decided they will be my main army for the Seven Years War and leave the French and Austrians to Mike. We both will do Prussians as you really cannot game the SYW without them and so they will need to be done at some point! 

The figures are from Wargames Foundry with a mix of older and newer versions. I prefer the older range to the newer one, but will happily mix the two. It's a good thing Wargames Foundry has made changes in management and brought back their older ranges which are brilliant coupled with the new pricing and the old buy x and get x free deals has really put Foundry back in my good graces. Since their paints are my favorite coupled with what is now once again a huge amount of lovely figures to choose from at what are now at least affordable rates has put on smile on my face.

The unit was painted using mostly Foundry paints with some Vallejo. The standards are from GMB designs and are great as always.

Thanks for viewing!:-)

Miniature Company- Wargames Foundry 

Francis De Chevert

This model is from Front Rank and is Francis De Chevert. When not playing himself I also use him as standard brigade general figure for my French army.

Like all front rank figures the miniature was an absolute joy to paint and has wonderful detail in the model. A special note going to the horse which I believe is finest I've ever had the pleasure to paint. If the other current Front Rank horses are as good as this I'll need to buy some cavalry of which I'm normally not that keen on doing!

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Front Rank

Le Royal - Artillerie

Now for some artillery to my FIW/SYW French army in form a 12 pounder Le Royal - Artillerie to give some heavy supporting punch to the army. The figures are from the superb front rank SYW range and were an absolute pleasure to paint and I highly recommend them.

I had an option between a red or blue carriage for the cannon and decided on blue carriage as I like contrast, but I may try a red one out sometime too.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Range- Front Rank

Le Regiment de Royal- Roussillon

Up now is my 2nd FIW/SYW French regiment Le Regiment de Royal-Roussillon for my wargames project with Mike.

The figures are from Redoubt and the Flags are the lovely GMB designs. My opinion on the figures are mixed in that I like the troopers, but the command is not as good . The clean up on these was also pretty awful as I had to cut and file a lot which is my least favourite part of the hobby. I'm not sure why this is the case as Redoubts Indians and ACW I own (and like very much indeed) don't seem to have too much flash. That said, what I do like about these figures quite a bit is the posing which I think really looks the part.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Redoubt