Natholeon
eldannardoAnother Blog? I can’t even keep this one updated on a regular basis! Well, no, but then I have been a bit busy. My new daughter, Olivia, was born on the 28th October. As if that wasn’t enough, we are moving in 2 weeks as well, so a lot of my stuff is getting packed away. Having said that, I have continued to paint some 15mm Marlburian, and will try and get some photos uploaded soon.
What I am going to do though, is moving the tracking of my Marlburian project to a new blog based on a campaign in the imagi-nation of Frankenberg. This documentation can be found here http://frolicsinfrankenberg.wordpress.com/
The plan is that this strong narrative thread will pull me on to get my 15mm Marlburians finished ASAP. It also allows me to be a bit more creative rather than just showcasingphotos of my models, which is what seems to happen here. Sometime in the near future I will also put a new blog together specifically for WWI.
In the meantime, stay tuned to Frolics in Frankenberg.
Nate
Well, after numerous changes of mind, I have finally settled on using 1644 as the rules for my Marlburian project. I’ve therefore had to start looking at 24 figure regiments. The intermediate plan is to have 8 infantry, 4 cavalry and 4 guns finished, enough for 1500 points a side. I’ve broken this down again into making sure that I have 4 regiments of foot, 2 cav and 2 guns per side completed first.
I’ve been painting figures in groups of 12 infantry or 6 cavalry to limit the boredom factor that I often find with painting too many of the same figure, so a lot of these pictures show the first half of regiments. All figures are Lancashire Games.
The Gardes Francaises
The German La Marck regiment
The Lyonnais Regiment. I have since worked out that the drummer shouldn’t be in the livery uniform, but in regimental colours. He will be repainted, but only after everything else is finished!)
The Gendarmerie – not a particularly good photo, as it is all front on and a little blurry.
The British Foot Guards. There is a limit of 20 figures in this regiment, so that is how many I have done. The individually based 19th and 20th men are on the right hand side. In order to make sure that they didn’t just fall over on terrain all the time, I have glued thin magnetic strip between the sidesof the elements. This works very well.
The rest of the British Infantry, in complete 24 figure battalions. Churchill’s regiment and Stanhope’s regiment featured.
The first of the Dutch are – German! The Brandenbourg Regiment in homage to my ancestry! Not sure about the Lancashire Games figs here, as the hat brim is perhaps too flat. My reading is that the sides were turned up, but I’m not too worried, as the flat hat really differentiates them.
I’m just working on the other 12 figures of the Gardes Francaises at the moment. Not pictured are the 24 figure Picardie Regiment, the Villequier Chevaux-Leger and the first 6 figures of Wyndham’s Horse.
I’m really enjoying the Marlburian project, and it is my priority for the rest of this year to get it finished. However, in about three weeks or so there will be a new baby on the scene, so we will have to see how far I get.
Nate
I’ve finished off the two regiments of French that I was painting – the Regiment Champagne and the Regiment Lyonnais. I accidentally glued the wrong labels and flags to the command stands, but have now swapped them around, although that was just slightly annoying…
Being a committed and focused painter, I also thought I’d pump out a few other figures. Here is a squad of GIs for Rules of Engagement (more about that later).
And a close up
I also painted up the first of many Mid-Republican Roman elements for Field of Glory. Here they are hiding behind their big red scutums…
They were quite easy to paint, and the main reason for painting them was to get an idea of how long it might take to get the whole army done. I’d say, if i could focus, three months. Reality? Give it a year or so… Especially as the Marlbs aren’t finished and the Napoleonic Principles of War book showed up today.
Finally, I recently invested in Song of Blades and Heroes, and its Napoleonic version Song of Drums and Shakos. I really like these rules, and I’m thinking that SDS will work very well for the NZ Wars. I’m also looking at SBH for a Celt-Roman skirmish game. Without further ado, I’d like to introduce my first Celt – his name is Obelix.
I’ll catch up on the great first game of Rules of Engagement that Dan and I had in the next post.
Nate
Filed under: Marlburian
I fit the wargames butterfly mold very well. Even when I decide on a project that I want to complete, I still um and arr over rules. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and my logic has arrived at a final conclusion. I play, and want to play, many different preiods and genres of wargames. But I also have limits on my time. Therefore, it makes sense not to have to learn too many rules systems. So I’ve decided to narrow down my wargaming rules to a few sets that are multi-purpose without losing the character of the period. With this in mind, the top contenders are: Ancients – Field of Glory; Horse and Musket – Principles of War; WWI and II – Rules of Engagement. For Pike and Shot, I am currently at a loss. I like the look of 1644, but will definitely buy and try Renaissance FoG when it comes out. I’m hoiping these rules will revolutionise and revitalise the tournament environment, so that we never have to suffer another comp using DBR…
Therefore, I’ve gone with 18th Century Principles of War for my Marlburian. This means 9 figures to an allied infantry unit, and 12 to a French one, which makes my figures go further. It also appeals to my painting style and my laziness. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy painting, but dislike painting too many of any one thing. So 9 figures to a regiment is perfect for me – I just don’t get bored! There is also a finite number of units to paint in order to enjoy a game, and I am very happy with this aspect as well.
I’m using the Dutch army list for the Anglo-Dutch allied army, and the French list for the French (well, d’uh…). All of the Brits are painted, and can be seen here supported by a Hanoverian Battalion:
The ability to put an army together rather cost-effectively and relatively quickly has huge appeal. What about the rules themselves? I like what I see at the moment, not having actually played them. If they don’t work out, I’ll just use Shako instead, as I know that I also like those rules, and the basing can be the same.
Next: 3 finished French units by next Monday 24th August – for real this time!
Nate
Filed under: Marlburian
My apologies. Two weeks late and the Lyonnais regiment has only begun to be painted.
I can’t believe how busy I have been this month. We’ve had a school inspection (which we passed with flying colours), I’ve had loads of marking, and of course, the house is on the market. The latter has eaten away most of my free time, I’m afraid.
So where am I currently in terms of wargaming? 12 figures of the Regiment Lyonnais are undercoated with base colours painted. About a third of the way through. I chose the Lyonnais because of their awesome colour scheme – red cuffs and stockings with green waistcoats!
I’ve been rethinking rules again. The current decision is to go with the 1644 rules, as I was going to originally. I may look at the command system and maybe applying the Warmaster mods I was thinking of anyway. The big thing is that my French battalions need to be 36 figures strong, so a bit more painting yet.
Hopefully the first 18 Lyonnais will be ready soon. I’ll post as soon as they are.
Nate
Filed under: Marlburian
One day late on here, but it took time to base the regiment up. So they are totally finished. A bit of a rush job with the photos, but I’m a bit short of time this week - it’s parent teacher interviews.
Next week: Another French Battalion, due 3rd August.
Nate
As promised, I managed to finish another Marlburian unit. This is the Regiment Picardie, the senior line regiment in the French army. I thought that it would be a bit boring to paint with all that grey, but on the contrary I really enjoyed it. Marlburians are really a joy to paint – I love seeing them come to life under the brush.
And here is a close-up of the drummer. I really like how the livery turned out.
Not content with finishing the required regiment on time, I have also managed to sneak in a Demi-Brigade of French Revolutionary infantry. These are also Lancashire Games figures, but closer to true 15mm.
Yes, it is yet ANOTHER period. These were very easy to paint as well. I think it is just the whole 15mm thing being so different from 28mm in terms of painting time. The plan is to do about 11 French battalions and the same of Austrians. I’m thinking Bonaparte in Italy 1796, and basing the armies on the orders of battle for Arcole. If the project flies (and like the Marlburian one, I’m pretty sure that it will), I might even get some Prussians in there too.
And in the true spirit of Anglo-French friendship, here is a photo just for the hell of it:
‘Tirez les premiers Monsieurs les Anglais’ (OK it is a little early for Fontenoy, but it is a great quote!)
Yes, for the eagle eyed amongst you, I have rebased the English. It doesn’t matter what size your bases are for the Rank and File rules, and this system gives me the flexibility of using Beneath the Lily Banners or Principles of War, or even Shako.
I’ve also decided to amputate the command system from Warmaster and sew it on to rank and File. I think the two will complement each other superbly.
Next: Churchill’s Foot for Marlburian, due 26th July.
Nate
Work, work, work. I guess I should be thankful that I have a full time job during a recession, but I’ve had very little time to myself lately. It is school holidays and I’m still trundling into work every day… there is something distinctly unfair about that!
So what have I achieved? Rebasing! A whole two units. That’s it, no real extra painting except to finish off my Marlburian foot guards. There is a Warmachine Wroughthammer Rockram just sitting there staring at me at the moment. Oh well, this is what I have done:
Dan and I played some FoG when he came down a fortnight ago. We liked it. We liked it a lot. We decided to rejig our Arthurian armies , which means rebasing and more painting! Here is one of my battlegroups of 8 Medium Infantry elelments, all rebased and ready. I’m using my new fiels grass and hobby tac. At first it all seemed very easy – then I got a smidgen of hobby tac on my fingers. What a pain in the arse that was! It seemed that no matter how hard I scrubbed, the field grass did not want to let me go. Patients and being absolutely meticulous is in order if I am not to lose my sanity with the rebasing. It does look good I think.
I decided that 4 figures to a base looked far to sparse, but I didn’t want to reduce the base sizes. So the answer was obviously to cram more figures onto the bases. My plan is to base all of the Marlburians up for the Beneath the Lily Banners rules by Barry Hilton, but not necessarily to use these. I really like Mark Sim’s Rank and File rules, but they don’t really work with anything less than 4 bases to a unit. So, the answer is to combine 2 battalions into a manoeuvre unit. This works great with the French and Dutch regiments, but means that the British battalions will combine 2 different regiments. The partner of the 1st Foot Guards will be the 2nd Foot Guards in order to keepthe whole unit elite.
I’ve just ordered more French and some Austrians(because I have so much time to paint them), so I will have 12 battalions a side (6 manoeuvre units – or regiments), 4 cavalry (2 units) and 2 artillery. I aim to increase the amount of cavalry in the future too, but one step at a time.
I’ve decided to focus on the following, and to try to complete a project every week:
- Punic Wars Mid-Republican Romans 15mm Field of Glory
- Arthurian Post-Roman British 28mm Field of Glory
- Wars of the Roses Yorkists 15mm Field of Glory
- English Civil War Parliamentarian and Royalist 28mm 1644
- Marlburian Confederate and French 15mm Rank and File
- World War One British and German 28mm Rules of Engagement
- World War Two German 15mm Flames of War
- World War Two US, Soviet and German 28mm Rules of Engagement
- Science Fiction Chaos Space Marines, Orks 28mm Warhammer 40,000
- Fantasy Chaos Warriors 28mm Warhammer Fantasy
- Fantasy Mercenaries 28mm Warmachine
Everything else takes a back seat until these are complete – well, that is the plan du jour. It will be almost impossible to stick to it with my butterfly-like tendencies.
Nate
Due 19th July – Marlburian French Infantry Battalion
Here is a snapshot of the new Marlburians that I have been working on. They are 15mm Lancashire games, but they are actually closer to 20mm than anything. A decent size means that the detail is relatively accessible with a paint brush.
I’ve sorted out an Anglo-Dutch and French army for the 1644 rules of around 1250 points. When these are all painted I will look at expanding to a 2000 point force. Infantry battalions are 20-24 figures strong, and the cavalry units are 10-12 figures strong. I looked long and hard at Principles of War, but in the end, I wanted units with a bit more heft to them. I’m already planning to use 1644 for the English Civil War, so not having to learn a new rules system appealed. They were originally written by Rick Priestly for the War of Spanish Succession and then amended for ECW, so I’m sure they will play alright. There is also the familiarity and ease of understanding of Rick’s rules for me. So the decision is made. And now, without further ado:
More as soon as the whole unit is finished!
Nate
I’ve been quietly working on this for the past 16 months. A bit here and a bit there. He is a Front Rank figure that I got for my birthday. He doesn’t currently belong to an army, so painting him was purely a labour of love for my favourite general of all time.
Oops! Just realised I hadn’t painted the eyes on the horse. Better go do it now!
Nate
