Basing PR&FR - 6 mm - What was done on January 2021

 Hi,

As a follow up about the few past weeks, here is the status of on-going Prussians and French, finally based, and so done.

As an introduction, here they are :

From top left, to bottom righ are : 2 PR Uhlan Rgt (1st and 3rd), 3 Landwehr batallions (PR), 1st Rgt des Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde (FR), and 3 batallions of grenadiers from la Vieille Garde (FR).

Before insights, here is how I based them.
I have very (I mean, really very) few place for this hobby.
That is the reason why I practice it by sessions.
Anytime, I need to get anything cleaned and prepared, then anything put back in place (and cleaned as well).
That "entry" ticket cost me about 15 minutes on each side.
So, I qualify and plan what to do, prepare a volume so not to spend more time setting/un-setting than really working, then... I start a session.

This session was based on the following :

Enough minis on their bags, enough bases, glue and some basic tool... so let's go.
Baccus strips are 4 minis per strip. I base 2x3 minis in two rows per base.
So, cutting is obviously needed.
But as a first step, strips bases need to be flatten because of "melting spots(?)" that could remain and painting temporary basing glue residues.

Obviously I do that as well before initial painting temporary basing, but now, up to base mini by mini sometimes, I pay a special attention so that each mini have a perfectly flat basement. It's easier, and safer, to do this with a strip rather than on individual detached minis. Also, take extreme care : Just slide gently the strips on the tool : hold them firmly but smartly, don't break anything !

I cut the bases as small as possible while preserving mini attach points to its' basement. So each strip is reduced to three minis strips, and I obviously keep the fourth one.

When basing, I always start by "the fourth" minis, the ones that are alone, and put 3 of them on the rear rank. This way, I may position them gently, not being in trouble with a front rank that would not let finger room for alignment. Front ranks are always the three "survivors" of the original strip. I glue them at a second step, as such :

The glue I use to set them in place is a basic (but really good) gel glue from Scotch (the green one - see first picture). It perfectly does the job for years and is not expensive.
Once minis are in place, I use white glue to seal them and flock.
I put a somewhat thick layer (very slightly diluted) on the base with an old brush.
Then I flock.
As it will dry, all minis will be sealed one to each other, reinforcing the overall solidity of the base.

For flocking, I use basic wood sawdust. On the picture it seems brown, but in fact it's green. (Mobile camera used)
Go to a place where they cut wood, be polite and gentle, ask accordingly and then you should get enough of it for 10 years.
Tint it with basic acrylics of various bright browns, green, and yellow (and mixes), let it dry (to avoid moisture), then you are done.
Don't forget the tip for the guy behind the saw...

You may find better "dedicated" basing flocking material, obviously, but it is expensive and for the size of the bases I deal with it is not justified on my side.

So, after all this "blabla", some closer pictures.
First the Prussians :

Then La Vieille Garde :

And finally les Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde :

Do not hesitate to comment or share you way for basing.

Thanks for reading,
Cheers and take care.

Bruno.

Napoleonic Prussians - 6mm - 3 Landwehr battalions

 Hi,

So, those three battalions are painted, varnished and ready to be based.
Here they are :

Flags are from my napflag stock. It seems historical flags attribution to Landwehr was somewhat random during the Napoleonic area, so for those of you that are knowledgeable about those they may sound as an heresy, but however I had to make a choice. Do not hesitate to comment your insights, as more Landwehr battalions will join in the future.

Colors used are from acrylic Prince August range (except specified otherwise).
Here they are :

Pant and rolled mantel : 836 (grey)
Uniform : 965 (blue)
Distinctive  : 817 (red)
White : 912 (ivory)
Black : 950
Rifle wood : 846 (mahogany ?)
Skin: 927
Gold : 996
Steel : Vallejo Metal Color 77.716

They have joined their little bag, waiting for basing.
Perhaps will I start basing as I have enough bases now and enough miniatures to start a session.
Not sure yet (will have lunch first - nothing is better than a good "blanquette de veau" to make your mind ;-) ).

Regarding Prussian painting, as next step, I also plan one artillery battery (4 guns / 16 crews) and 2 Hussars regiments ( 12 miniatures each).

And yes... after that I will take a break from Prussians, adding some more British Infantry and Cavalry to my armies...

Cheers and take care,

Bruno.

Nap flags - 6mm to 15 mm - A tribute to Mr. Pendlebury

 Hi,

Before getting back to my Prussians, I though it was time for a tribute.
About 25+ years ago I discovered a site that you may know, with a huge work about flags of the Napoleonic area.
From that time, I always use it as a major reference for flags.
This site is napflags, kindly hosted by www.warflag.com since end 2001.
Here is a direct link to the napflags index :

napflags by Mr. Alan Pendlebury

Resized and printed, here is what it gives at 6mm scale :

This is a sample of mounted flags. Left to right are some French (1812 and 1804 patterns), Austrian, Prussians, English and Brunswick flags.

The site contains a quite exhaustive listing for any nation of that time, their flags and also historical information.

Flags have to be resized. For this I use Inkscape, a powerful open-source vector drawing tool. I paste the flags picture in it, create a semi transparent colored box at the exact size I wish (ie. 9x9 mm) and put it at the foreground, then resize the flags bitmap in the background to match this size matrix, as such :

 

This way I create a full page of flags, as such :

Then I print on inkjet paper of good quality (labeled as "photo" quality, but light paper - should be less than, or around, 80g/m2 - low cost but good material), label the regiments when it has to, and cut flags strips :

Here is part of my flags, with mostly French and Prussian flags.

I also use this tool and napflags to label my packing boxes, labels, counters, etc... as such :
 

 

That's how I proceed for my flags, and that would not have been possible without the huge work done by Mr Pendlebury, as well as his will to share it freely.

So I just wanted to say thanks to him, wherever he is, and share with everyone it could help and would not be aware of this exceptional resource.

Thanks Mr. Pendlebury.

Needing more bases... so created 192 bases, 45 minutes, 0.19 cents each.

 Hi,

From past Sunday, my 3 Prussian Landwehr batalions move forward gently.
However, I had not enough bases, between FR old guard, Uhlans, and Lanwehr to come... 4 bases were a little bit short.

So, yesterday evening I created some.
What follows is really basic, and I believe the way I did is nothing new under the sky, but in case it may help someone, I share it.

This is an inexpensive (but clean) way I use since I started wargaming.
For me it works really great

Those 192 bases were done in about 45 minutes.
Each 1.5x1.5 base cost me 0.1953 € cents. (to be precise)

Here is the thing.

Buy a cardboard based folder such as this one (~1.5 €) :

Then cut one fold and remove the plastic and paper cover on each side of the half folder you use. (so you use 0.75 € material so far - stock remaining parts)

Just do a soft incision on the top of one side, all along, then the thing will come smoothly as you peel it off.

Then print a pattern for the bases you wish.

For anything graphical I use InkScape (Open Source Software).With such tool, creating such matrix is a matter of minute, millimeter sized and perfectly adjusted.

You cut the paper matrix to remove margins, then glue it to the card board.
Once dry enough you cut the matrix at exact size (roughly 1/2 of the fold - "landscape" mode). So you use half of the material (0.375 €) and keep the remaining for later use, so not wasting anything.

Then you return your prepared matrix and paint some basing basic color with basic acrylics.

Let it dry for about 10 minutes with some heavy book on it (not on the painted side).

Then return and pre-cut your bases following the matrix lines.

So, one will think ... here you will spend hours...
In fact, no.
Take a steel ruler, use it to guide the blade to do a partial cut on the lines. Horizontally and vertically. Take care and do it slowly, not too strong but a bit, for three reasons :

• You do not want to cut your bases yet, just create the blade path doing so later on
• You do not want to waste any of the 192 bases you plan to produce
• Eventually, remember you only have ten fingers. ;-)
  

On my side two passes per line, not too strong are enough.

Then you do not need the ruler anymore. From the marking you did, the blade will cut smoothly without getting out of it. Also, remember you only have ten fingers, so do it slowly and quietly, take care.

Start cutting strips, then take each strip and cut (detach?) the bases.

So, after about 20 minutes, here you are :

Your bases should be exactly the same size, will have one side pre-painted, one side with a white label... and they costed only 0.001953 €, so 0.1953 cents each.

Now, I have another issue.

I have too much bases for my minis... ;-)

Napoleonic Prussians - 6 mm - Uhlans 1st & 3rd rgt (1815)

 Hi,

Short update as I completed those by yesterday evening.
Time for varnish to dry, and as I am now on free time (vs. job), here they are :

Top 4 strips are 1st rgt. Then the 3rd. They are Baccus minis.
I did not expected doing them past Sunday, but in fact I did.
It took me about 3 hours.

Now, I have 3 Landwehr batalions to paint... by next Sunday.
I will probably start later on this evening.

Cheers and stay safe,

Bruno.

Napoleonic French - 6mm - WIP part II

 Hi,

Here is a short advancement status about the old guard I started about one week ago.

Status and pictures :

On going Grenadiers of the old guard are painted and varnished.

Same thing about the Chasseurs à Cheval de la garde.

They have been painted on evenings, by 1+ hour sessions along the week.
As a total time spent, I may estimate between 4 and 5 hours of total work to get there (for each of Grenadiers and Chasseurs, so about 10 hours total)

Paints I used :

I used a black primer (brushed Humbrol black matt 33, slightly diluted) then I used Prince August (Vallejo) acrylic colors except when said otherwise. Here are their references (numeric only as names are in french).
Conversion tables exist between PA and Vallejo references, so that should not be an issue if use Vallejo rather than PA.(ie : (PA) 970 = (V) 72)

For grenadiers :

Uniform blue : 965
All whites : 918 (Ivory - I never use pure white)
All blacks : 950
Red : 817 (kind of scarlett red)
Rifle wood : 846 (Mahogany ?)
Back pack : 875 (clear brown beige ?)
Rolled jacket : 836 (a grey - realized once done it should have been blue for the guard)
Flesh : 327
Gold : 996 - Metal colors in standard Vallejo/PA are not good. I still use that one (as I have it) but it has to be applied on a black background. At a time I will better use Vallejo Airbrush Metal Color (see thereafter).
Steel : Vallejo Airbrush Metal Color 77.716 (Aluminio satin) applied with a brush (obviously). That metal color is far better than any conventional Vallejo/PA metal colors.

For Chasseurs à Cheval :

Green (saddles/uniform) : 970
Trumpet exception (blue) : 840
Yellow : 948 - I prefer that "gold yellow" as offering better coverage and color depth than regular yellow.
Horses : 846
All other colors (red, white, black, metal,...) are like Grenadiers.

As a varnish I use an art acrylic painting varnish (Amsterdam 115 MATT for acrylic - brush applied). My 250 ml bottle is still 2/3 full after 3+ years... I pass 2 layers of it each tme. It makes it inexpensive in time, does stay clear and offers a good protection. Only thing is that it is a little bit satin but at 6mm it perfectly does the thing on my side.

What next ?

Still to be done is the basing. I have too few bases ready for them, so will have to cut and prepare (far) more. As I usually do, I put them in a bag waiting for bases to be ready. Also, I prefer to run dedicated basing sessions so will anyway wait to have more minis to be based before running a session :

Yep. Not sure they will all fit the 4 ridiculous bases remaining so far ;-).

Now, my French backlog :

So, here are :

• Line infantry
• Light infantry skirmishing
  
• Lancers of the line
• Lancers of the guard
• Elite Hussars companies
  
• Carabiniers
  
• Foot artillery
• Horse artillery
• Limbers
• remainings of previous backlog, so few of :
• Hussars
• Dragoons
• Cuirassiers
• Command

Anyway, my current focus is on Prussians.
So this week, I plan doing :

• 3 Landwehr batalions (24 minis each)
• 2 Uhlans regiments (12 minis each)

Once this will be done, I will probably change my mind with some english troops (that are nice too ;-)) for which I have an even more huge backlog.

Cheers and stay safe.

Bruno.

Napoleonic command - 6mm - FR & UK

 Hi,

This week evenings I worked a bit on my french old guard but not only.
For monthes I had some painted command I did not based yet.
Mostly French and English.
So, I did it as it was not that long after all (spent less than 1.5 hour in three evenings)...

They are mixed minis from different providers in time, so I am not sure of whom they were from  (except for the Baccus english and some frenchies)

I took pictures yesterday evening and quickly post them to conlude my remotee lunch break.

Here they are for France...

... and for England

They are based on 1, 2 and 5 € cents coins.
Depending on rules, 1 mini means Brigade command, 2 minis Division command, 3 minis Army corp command, or respectively ADC, Brigadier, Division at lower gaming scale.

This week end I'll continue my old guard and prepare some prussian Uhlans.
I will see if I have something advanced enough to be shareable.

Now back to job.
See you later...

Napoleonic French - 6mm - WIP

 Hi again,

As said in my Prussian WIP I, I am completing my French side in parallel with some French Guard. Here as well, those minis are from Baccus.
Currently planned are 3 old guard infantry batalions and 1 Chasseur de la guarde regiment.
I just ended up with a first set of strips, including command and some line.
Here they are just after first varnish layer.

As usual, light balance is wrong (underlying support is deep flat black, not blue), but however...
Flags are from napflags free flags, resized with inkscape as 7x7 mm side wide, then printed on photo paper. Historically, French flags were far smaller, but with scale, I prefer to size them to the available space left on the minis poles.

Here are two closer views on the command then line strips I did on that session.

Obviously, when looking so close paint job seems really bad looking, but you never see them that close on table top. To give you an order of idea, here is a comparison with a 35 mm height zinnfiguren.

Another time, picture is weird (contrasts are crazy and colours not right) and Zinnfiguren will be addressed in other posts, but it was just to give an order of idea for those not familiar with 6mm.

Next to come are those folks I introduced at the begining of this post, primed 2 weeks ago.

My french army is currently the biggest one I have and it's backlog of to-be-done minis is important. I will probably share on that as the old guard will move forward.

Cheers,

Bruno.

Napoleonic Prussians - 6mm - WIP

 Hi,

In 2021 I plan finishing my ongoing Pussians.
Here are 2 line regiments, 2 battalions each, I just flocked.
They are 2nd and 3rd as per 1815.
Minis are from Baccus.
Pictures have been taken with a mobile and somewhat yellow light, so shadows are somewhat "greenish", but real colors are OK.

Battalions are sized as Small (3 bases) or Medium (4 bases) so far. Those are my last remaining Prussian Line miniatures, and I had not the exact ratio between command and line. In my next order, I will manage solving that, including some more line bases to extend some Prussians to large units (5 bases) if required.

Next step will be creating their packing box.

So, in addition of now owning 5 line regiments (10 battalions) what is next for 2021 ?

Well, I plan addressing this (in other things)...

In the background are some ready to be primed Uhlans, with others still in their bag. I have material to build 3 to 5 regiments depending on gaming size for units.
Also, in bags are Landwehr (8 to 10 battalions), Command, Hussars (3 to 5 rgts) and 2 artillery batteries (2 guns each).

This is not a big backlog, but I will share as I move forward with those Prussians.

In parallel I am working on some french old guard and command.

As well, I have more important backlog for French and English troops, but that is another topic.

Cheers,

Bruno.

As time goes on... (Part 2 - some 6mm stuff)

Let's use my lunch break to share a second post.

I tried 6mm miniatures long ago.
I liked that scale very much from day 1 I discovered it.

I ordered, from time to time some units and packs, initially for collection/fun.
I then quickly started to play them with short solo games, requiring no more than 50x70 cms space as I reduced standard rules scale.

Then, from year to year I slowly extended my troops, and finally get nuts about 6 mm.

Those are really cute, fast and easy to paint despite what one could think if he have not tried yet.

Also, they are wonderful on your table, should it be for mass effect, if you have room for that, or to play short games at reduced scale in a limited space that is mostly my case.

Finally, they have a very good price/quality ratio.

I've finally gone with Baccus miniature, and am really happy with them.

Acceleration occurred one year and a half ago. I was in vacations, bringing with me my "survival kit". That was meaning brushes, paints and a good load of miniatures.

It was one bag more in the family car, but we somewhat survived that. ;-)

Back from vacations, end of July 2019, I had painted (and varnished) a good number of strips. It was the first time since years I had not done somewhat mass painting, and it was good to feel.

Here they were at that time, straight out of my luggage :

Then I based them...

I did some french line and light infantry, lancers of the line and the guard, dragoons, chasseurs and cuirassiers. Also, I started some Brunswick and English infantry, cavalry, artillery and command as well. (I only had Austrians and Prussians from the allied side at that time).

Then it extended a bit in time...

Here is the main part of my current collection as it looked few days ago.

 

Initially I tried different base formats, but the one that suites me better for about 1 year is 6 minis on 2 ranks for infantry, 2 minis on 1 rank for cavalry. All bases are 1.5x1.5 cms.

Rules I use are amended General de Brigade and more recently General d'Armee, where an infantry battalion is between 3 and 5 bases.

For 2021 I plan completing my Prussians with some more infantry Line and Landwehr, Uhlans and more command. I also plan adding some British guard or elite troops, and when it will be possible (due to Covid cart closing) ordering and starting a Russian Brigade or two.

I will follow up on that in later posts.

Cheers and stay safe !

Bruno.

As time goes on... (part one)

It's so long I did not update that blog...

Reasons are quite numerous, but this is not the real topic.
The real topic is what have been done all those years I did not see moving forward, and what is next.

In fact, I believe most of us have, at some time, some lowering in their motivation for sharing or even modeling, should it be due to job, social, family, health or pandemic context.

However, when being passionate about something, one never totally leave and will always get back to its roots at a time.

During those quite 9 years, I never left miniatures and modeling away, otherwise I would have lost my mind.

I went on painting (oil/watercolor), Zinnfiguren (roots again),  did some modeling (plastic and wood) but quite abandoned 15mm war-gaming. There are two reasons there. First one is I lacked room, second is that I was deeply disgusted by some providers as I wanted to extend my punic war-gaming stuff.

However, in parallel I went 6mm, back on my preferred period, meaning napoleonics.

At the very beginning of that year I made a status about what I did in that area.
I also questioned myself about motivation, objectives and ways moving forward.

In next post I will share about his.

First, about 6mm miniatures, and army corps I built so far.
Then about my projects for 2021, as one always need to have projects to move forward.
Also, I will probably extend to zinnfiguren (I really enjoy now and that is a pure oxygen bowl) or some other non war-gaming modeling stuff.

As you will notice, even if not my natural language, this blog will be exclusively written in english, there won't be any French parallel translation anymore. It costs too much time that is finally not justified.

Cheers to all, an happy new year, stay safe (important) and tuned (eventually).

Bruno.