It is hard to believe that it was 6 months ago that I began my return to blogging and Napoleonics. In that time, I have made exactly three posts - all in August last year. It isn't as though I haven't had plenty to share, but as always, time spent blogging is time away from other aspects of hobbying.
The plan to produce large Napoleonic armies for Epic Black Powder met an unexpected and unwelcome wall. Essentially the keen eyesight that has served me so well for so long has succumbed to age. It happened almost overnight. One week I could paint 12mm figures with the naked eye, the next I needed glasses to even find them. This made me re-evaluate the Napoleonic project. So out went the 12mm, and in came 28mm. I decided to try and use the same frontages as the epic figures, but the cavalry struggled to fit on 3 on a 60mm frontage, so they will now be on 75mm wide bases. Not everything has been purchased yet, but I have painted two units.
 |
| 16 figure battalion. I've split the last element into the two elite companies. |
 |
| I like the flags that come with the Warlord plastic figures. |
First up, the second battalion of the 8th French Line. I used the full three tone painting technique on them. The thought was that I would take my time and make these Napoleonics the best army I ever painted. But recently I decided that I'd prefer to just get two armies painted as quickly as possible. Enter the slapchop technique - a white drybrush over a black undercoat to create depth, and then the use of contrast paints. This week I painted my first British battalion using this style.
 |
| The 29th Worcesters - home of my favourite sauce. |
 |
| They're not the most beautiful figures I ever painted, but they work. |
I'm pretty chuffed with the slapchop results, and this will be the way I approach the rest of the armies.
In case you think I've only painted 2 battalions in 6 months, I've been busy painting other stuff too - ancients for myself and a whole pile of commissions.
 |
| Lannisters for Craig |
 |
| Some Thureophoroi for my Pontic army |
 |
| Light Infantry and cavalry for the same |
 |
| Iraqi T-72s for Craig |
 |
| The Enchantress (3d print) |
 |
| Blob and Pyro (3d prints) |
 |
| The Goblin Queen (3d print) |
The Marvel Crisis Protocol collection keeps growing.
 |
| Rebel bus |
 |
| Shadow Collective bus |
 |
| Maori warriors |
 |
| Two 1840s British units |
 |
| Close up of the Brits - Old Glory figures |
The Maori and Brits above are for a Muskets and Tomahawks project which will be the French and Maori Wars (never actually happened, but stay tuned). These were the first figures that I practiced slapchop on.
And now, my prize collection. I collected GI Joe as a kid in the 80s. I read the comics and loved the stories. So when I found a patreon who was creating 3d sculpts of these guys, I joined straight away and started to get stuff printed by Potbelly minis in Wellington (the superheroes above were printed by him too).
