Hobby distractions.

I'm meant to be painting Zouaves for the clubs ACW project, but in true gamer form I got side-tracked by something else.

I had bought a set of Warlord Games Napoleonic Highlanders, a nice enough box with 24 figures at the charge. However there was a lot of bent and broken muskets and bayonets, now I can't fault Warlord Games customer service, replacements came pretty quickly, but I had already been soured so sold these metal figures and bought 2 boxes of Victrix plastic Highlanders, one centre Coy. and one flank Coy. box.
And it is these that distracted my painting efforts the other night as I assembled a unit of these instead.

The flank Coy. box came moulded in a different colour if you're wondering......

I assembled these as if they would be in a square, with the front rank kneeling and prepared to receive cavalry and the 2nd rank firing, between the 2 boxes you get 8 kneeling bodies so the addition of a piper and Sgt. help flesh out the front rank to 12 figures.

The figures are as nice as any you will find and as far as I'm aware are the only plastic highlanders on offer, you get 60 figures per box, though only 4 standard bearers which limits the number of units you can produce. The flank and centre Coy. boxes differ in the moulded on 'wings' for the elites, which is a nicer touch than having to glue on extras as with Warlord games plastic British, and also sabres rather than claymores in the officers hands.
A big grumble, and one that I would agree with, is that some of the parts are too fine and easily broken, in fact some parts are pre-broken, namely the muskets, bayonets and swords, though I have a broken standard pole out of the box too. (Though these may get replaced with steel rods at some point.)
Also the finials being moulded to the poles will make attaching standards a bit tricky, again these may be replaced.

A nice box though and if you can suffer the fragility of some parts you could make at least 3 units of highlanders for the price of 2 metal units.

Not that civil.

So the group I game with from time to time has agreed to get into Black Powder. Huzzah!

But not Napoleonics…..never mind, it's a start and I reckon Napoleonics will follow.....

(I've also found another group that play historicals, but have only met the virtually due to this coronavirus thing that is happening.)

They didn't chose the AWI either, for which I have a box full of the now defunct Wargames factory sprues sitting in a box in the shed.

They've chosen the American Civil War, in 28mm, inspired by one of our members working on Perry Miniatures "Battle in a Box" starter set with his dad. A conflict I always envisioned, if ever playing, playing in a smaller scale than 28mm. And I say if ever playing as the period doesn't really grab me, despite some great films covering the period, with Glory being high on my list of all time favourite war films.

So as the Perry brothers where in lock down until last weekend Renedra miniature dispatched several "Battle in a Box" sets to various addresses in Northern Ireland, mine being one of them.
And what a box it is....

The princely sum of £95 gets you a flat A3 size box crammed with grey plastic sprues and some green plastic bases, over 170 miniatures are alleged to be in this box, alongside some simple rules penned by Alessio Calvatore, whose name you might recognise.

This is the sight that greets you on opening the box, a load of plastic sprues vying for your attention from behind a painting guide and the small set of rules mentioned earlier. So what do you actually get? I found it difficult to find out so hopefully this will help someone out.

Two Generals, a choice of headgear, arms and some epaulettes to add. Even an extra head should you decide to cut the head of the model. These sprues are unique to this box set. (Running total figure count = 2)

4 Confederate command sprues, each sprue contains an officer and a drummer plus a set of arms to make a standard bearer from the next sprue. (Running total figure count = 10)

13 sprues of Confederate soldiers, in 5 poses with enough arms to make them all either carrying their muskets at the "right shift" or charging, a good choice of head gear. One of the figures has a separate cartridge box and it is this figure intended to be turned into a standard bearer. (Running total figure count = 75)

4 cannon and 3 sprues of crew. This is the only cost cutting in the box, there are no limbers supplied for the artillery and only 4 crew figures per gun, and while this matches the metal packs you would buy from Perry Miniatures it is at odds with the plastic artillery set which supplies the limbers and 6 crew per gun. Some instructions for these would of been useful, even if only to help identify each type of gun supplied. (Running total figure count = 93)

4 sprues of American Civil War Infantry. These are the generic, either side of the conflict, infantry first released by the Perrys. 12 figures per sprue, most in single poses and parts to make a drummer, standard bearer and officer in a frock coat. And again a mix of head gear. Quick to assemble and easy to paint. (Running total figure count = 141)

4 sprues of Zouaves plus 2 sprues of Zouave command, same poses as the Confederate infantry above and I rather suspect one was sculpted from the other. A nice unit to break the monotony of painting greys, browns and blues. (Running total figure count = 165)

And finally 3 sprues of Cavalry, these can be assembled as either side in the conflict. (Running total figure count = 177)

Also in the box is a farm house, over 4' of snake rail fencing and a selection of bases, though the bases are the size needed if using 15mm frontage per infantryman and 20mm for cavalry.

So a jam packed box, which in Black Powder terms will give me 6 standard units of infantry, 1 of cavalry and 4 batteries of artillery, enough to get started though a second box might not go amiss.

There's a picture of me under procrastinate in the Encyclopedia Brittanica....

...or there should be.

I have been doing wee bits and pieces now and then including starting into Napoleonics, which was sort of inevitable now that I am closer to 90 than being born.

I had a load of 15mm figures from Napoleon at War which was abandoned by its creator for some reason and traded away 1/2 of it for a big box of Warlord Games 28mm stuff. And after sorting through that, and despite preferring the Peninsular era, have decided to do the 100 days campaign and concentrate on the battle at Quatre Bras as my focus for building both sides of that engagement, only having to add Rifles and Highlanders so far.

I even got a Regiment painted, I have decided to play with regiments rather than Battalions for the time being.

I decided that speed rather than display quality painting was my goal here so have used contrast paints, I reckon I could churn a unit out a night if I get the chance to actually sit and paint, but 2 young children and a dog sort of limits me still.

Despite focusing on Quatre Bras (Is Trois Bras a garment worn by Martian prostitutes?) I also started building a farmhouse based on La Haye Saint. Using plans provided by wargames Illustrated to accompany issue 358, which I managed to nab before they went behind a pay wall...

I am planning to do a tutorial on how I make and detail the small barn which principles will apply to the whole set of buildings.