Peninsular Architecture.. and some voltigeurs!

Here are some of my French Napoleonics again - this time with added Voltigeurs! Two of the chaps have been done so far, and the next two have been started, but have been packed away with the house cleaning mentioned in my last post etc. Hopefully they will be done soon! When I have them all done, I'll post some more details on paints used and colour schemes etc, but safe to say it's a mix of Foundry and Games Workshop colours. Figures are Foundry (naturally!), and the buildings are from Hovels 'Spanish' or Peninsular War range.The two buildings are H11 Double three storey house with ornate balcony (without the balcony!) and H13 Taverna with arched porch. You might spot some cut up bits of the door mat that makes up the wheatfield, that I've added to the stable interior at the back of the Taverna. This was mixed in with PVA glue and added on to the floor of the building. The paint scheme for the buildings eludes me at the moment, as I have packed away my card files, but I have to say as a wargamer, make a record of paints or combinations of colours you use! It's saved me much heartache over the years, as I can refer back to colour mixes that I've tried. Only problem is, that like much of my stuff, it's temporarily in storage!

On another note, I've started on my Impetus armies - work on some Swiss Handgunners began on Monday night. Hopefully next time, I'll have some pics! See you soon!!

 

 

Far, Far , FAR too long!!!!!

Hello all!

Apologies for being away for so long - 10 months is quite some time!

There has been much activity at Pell Mell Towers, though not on the painting and gaming front, and my lack of blog posts are certainly indicative of that! However,something far better has been happening, and September saw the arrival of mini-painter number 2, so with two small people taking up our time, life is very different! Massive hugs and love to the young fella - a potential opponent in a few years time - and big love to the Lady of the Towers, who did the hard work of carrying him for 9 months, and much of the hard work since!! His big sister loves hm!!

In other news,  most of my painting and modelling 'stuff' is now packed away in boxes, as we prepare to put the house on the market and try and move. After having most of my modelling stuff around me for years, this is a very strange state of affairs and somewhat un-nerving. However, we'll press on, and hopefully 2013 will be a successful year in  gaming terms as well!

 Imperial Romans, painted up for WAB. They represent the Augusta Sebosiana (?), a cavaly unit based in Britannia after the invasion of AD43. These chaps could do with a quick revamp - they were painted about 5 years ago, before the age of proper matt varnish! Not bad though!

Foundry early Saxons - still some of the nicest figures the Perry twins sculpted. These chaps are based on individual bases, and represent the rear figures in a unit for WAB - single bases for casualty removal. The unit didn't get any further than this, though with the purchase of 'Hail Caesar' rules, they might get a recall to the warband next year...... we'll see. Still some of my favourite figures I have painted.



Here are some Foundry Egyptians - again work of the Perry Twins, and forming part of my WAB New Kingdom Egyptian Army. Different paint schemes, basing colours and scorched static grass - not bad! Again they need a new coat of slightly matter varnish, but still not bad. Another army desperately crying out for the 'Hail Caesar' treatment me thinks.......

However, I haven't been completely lazy over the last few months - some painting has taken place, and modelling as well! I'll try and get some pics up in the next few days, but since the last post I've been painting my French Napoleonic voltigeurs, Peninsular War buildings, making some dry stone walls, and generally being a bit of a butterfly!! Good news in some senses, not so much in others. Any how, 'til I get the photos done, here's some old work to keep people smiling - some Imperial Roman cavalry, Early Saxons, New Kingdom Egyptians, and finally the backside of the Comte de Tescaux' Regiment from my Mauritzanian adventure! All these figures are from Wargames Foundry, and have been painted over the last few years, and represent projects that 'never quite got off the ground'..... well that's about to change, fingers crossed!

2013 will see me focus on just two or three projects - definitely Mauritzania - more on that another time, my Napoleonic stuff (with possibly some variations), and my English Civil War collection. However, there is time for a slight, final distraction before the big push starts - something completely different....... a couple of late Mediaeval armies for the 'Basic Impetus' rule set!!! The butterfly will rear its beautiful head again briefly! And yes, I still  haven't got my head round laying out text and photos in Blogger!! Until next time - Keeeeeeeeeeep painting!! ( if only I could find my paints........)

Grenadier Company

Hello again! Below are the latest addition to my French infantry battalion - the Grenadier company. These chaps seem to have taken ages, but finally they're completed. They are all Wargames Foundry figures, and as three of them are all the same figure, I've tried to introduce a bit of variety to them, with different coloured overalls, patches, blankets etc. To the right, you can see them in marching order with the First Company, and below, in the courtyard of a tavern somewhere in southern France, before marching off en route to Spain. The final figure in the company is the Sapeur, wearing his bearskin and brandishing his axe. Although sappers would normally have been with the 'Head of the Column', they were often drawn from the Grenadier company, and I like to think that he has returned to see some old comrades in arms - in truth it was just to break up the monotony of the same grenadier figure!

I hope you like them - next up will be the other 'elite' company of the battalion - the Voltigeurs - or light company. See you soon!

Hello again - with a new project!

Hi everyone. Firstly, an apology for being away so long - I know it's been a big gap between posts, but I lost the blogging 'bug' for a while. Any way, it's nice to be back, and there's a new project in the offing! Mauritzania is on the back burner for various reasons (which I'll go in to at another time), but don't fear - it will be back!

Anyway, the new project...... well it involves the alleged pinnacle of wargaming - 28mm Napoleonics. I have had a copy of the Black Powder rule set for a while, but haven't got round to trying it out yet. The idea is to build up two forces to carry out a Peninsular War scrap on a small scale, using various amendments to the rules that I've picked up from various blogs and wargaming websites. Judging by various comments, the ability to be amended appears to be the beauty of Black Powder, in the sense that it gives a great framework that can be tweaked to fit the situation of the individual gamer. In my case, it's a lack of space, limited funds and only a certain amount of painting time........like most gamers then I guess!

First up then is the start of my French forces. I've had some of these figures - from Wargames Foundry - for about 8 years, but failed to get any paint on them.... until now. This is the first fusilier company of my first battalion, somewhere in Spain circa 1813. Enjoy! Next up will be the grenadier company, in a few days time. Until then...au revoir!

Back again!

Well, it's been a while - a scarily long time to be honest, and the plan to update this blog every two weeks or so has fallen very definitely by the wayside! 'Real life' (TM), redundancy threats, and car accidents have transpired to stop some painting progress, but hopefully we're back on track now, and the job is safe, we have a new car, and the holidays are here! Things haven't been totally quiet though, with scenery being the focus over the last few weeks. I've also started work on the Comte de Tescaux' Regiment - with their off -white, blue and red uniforms. The test figure for this regiment is on the left.
First up though, is a Hudson and Allen barn, which I picked up a few years ago at the Vapnartak show in York. Sharp-eyed viewers might remember it from earlier posts. Eagle-eyed viewers will spot that I didn't show the base off in earlier posts, for the simple reason that it wasn't done! Now it is, and it can be shown in it's full glory. Also on view are some of the dry stone walls from Coritani miniatures, which I've collected at both the Derby and Partizan shows over the last year or so.
My recipe for basing is fairly simple - after the standard diluted PVA glue and sand/small gravel mix, it's all painted using Games Workshop paints. I start off with Scorched Brown as a base coat, then dry brush up in successive layers Dark Flesh, Bestial Brown, Bubonic Brown, then a final drybrush of Bleached Bone. This is a recipe I picked up a few years ago in White Dwarf, and it works well. All my figure bases for 'European' theatres are painted like this, and the edges of figure and building bases are painted with GW Graveyard Earth. Rocks are either left in their 'drybrushed' state or are painted a mix of greys, washed with GW Badab Black wash, then dry brushed up with Foundry's Arctic Grey 33A tone. The walls started off already pre-static grassed when I bought them, so this was stripped off with warm water and a scourer - be gentle! Then they were undercoated in black, then drybrushed up in the follwing order - GW Adeptus Battlegrey, Codex Grey, and finally Fortress Grey. Static grass is added using patches of diluted PVA glue, then some grass tufts from Antenociti's Workshop - summer I think - and bushes using Woodland Scenics clumps. All spot on!

I've also discovered a new technique for painting wood as well - moving away from the traditional brown, to a more faded and sun-bleached grey colour. Shown in my rather out of focus scratch-built barn, this consists of a black undercoat, followed by a drybrush of Foundry's Granite 31A shade, then 31B, and finally a drybrush of Rawhide 11B. For a bleached look, finish off with a final brush of Rawhide 11C. I washed the 'wood' with GW Badab Black again in small quantities, and 'greened up' the structure with Foundry's French Dragoon Green 70. However this process is in reverse, starting with the 'C' shade higher up the building's foundations, then a layer drybrushed on of the 'B' tone, finishing with the 'darker ' (ie. damper) 'A' tone.

The building on the right - with the Regimental Ensign of the Comte de Tescaux's Regiment and his Colonel arguing about dispositions - is the first piece of Mauritzanian 'Real estate', representing the Toll House cum Border checkpoint. It also doubles up nicely as a roadside tavern - hence the table with roast chicken and tankards outside! The building and walls were picked up at Partizan in Newark this May, and are from Hovels.
The walls are actually from the 20mm 'Battleground' range - a suggetion from the very helpful chap on the Hovels' stall - and they work very nicely too, with slightly smaller, more in-scale bricks. My recipe for brickwork was also a bit experimental, but finished off being a GW Scorched Brown basecoat, with drybrushed layers of Foundry Brick Red 59A, then Madder Red 60A (in small patches), then Brick Red 59B, and finally Mediterranean Flesh 125A and GW Dwarf Flesh in small patches. Wash with GW Ogryn Flesh and Badab Black in small patches, and 'green' up using the above technique with the Dragoon Green! Simples! The plaster on the building is the Foundry Butter Fudge 55 pallette, and the roof is the 32 Slate Grey pallette. I've made the building and the surroundings 'modular', so the tavern can be used in isolation or with the barn and walls together.




The Roast chicken and table/chair set also come from Hovels as well - it's these little things that add to the whole feel of the piece. The final picture is of my first wheat field - more on that, and the next instalment of the Comte de Tescaux's next time - which hopefully won't be so long! I may also have progress on the Mauritzanian Guard Regiment too! Until next time!

So it begins......Mauritzania!

Greetings again!

It's been a mad week, and real life and work have got in the way, but back to blog land we go!

One of the aims of Fall on Pell Mell!, apart from sharing my work and thoughts, inspiration and eye candy, was to drive forward my wargaming projects - the thinking being that if I started a blog, I'd need pictures to go on it, and that would keep me focussed on one project (maybe!) at a time.

So we come to Mauritzania. Some time before last Christmas, inspired to start a late 17th/early 18th century project, but knowing nothing about the Marlburian period, I created.......ahem..........discovered archives and documents relating to the small nation of Mauritzania. This kingdom - sadly now disappeared from history - lay close to the French border, in what is modern day Germany. Possibly.......

The documents 'discovered' tell of the events of the early 18th century, when the rulers of Mauritzania, the Royal house of Mauritzans, were undergoing something of a succession crisis. To describe briefly, Heinrich Rudolf XXIII (the previous ruler) has recently passed away, and left the throne to his legimate son, Heinrich Rudolf XXIV (the 24 H.R. Mauritzans of that name.....). This ascension has been challenged by the Count von Azder - the previous king's illegitimate son by an earlier ill-advised marriage, which was hastily annulled by the Mauritzanian Government. As a lasting quest to avenge his maligned and dear-departed mother, who died shortly after his birth, and in an effort to claim the throne he (wrongly) believes is his, Von Azder has rallied a rag-tag bunch of central European princes and dukes to his shady cause, with the promise of financial rewards from the lucrative coffers of Mauritzania should he be triumphant. An attack on Mauritzania is imminent!

Providing much experienced backbone to the invading forces, are two 'unofficial' French Regiments. Unofficial as Louis XIV couldn't possibly have anything to do with such a despicable cause........however the Sun King has an eye to the long game, and may have possibly nudged two malcontent colonels, the Comte de N'Etteau, and the Comte de Tescaux in the direction of Von Azder, backed by large purses. After all, every little helps......

So the scene is set. The Mauritzanian Border is on a state of alert. The whole of Europe is........er, completely unaware....... and the Comte de N'Etteau is on the march with his Regiment of Foot, moving steadily towards the time of invasion.

(Any similarity to the names of British high street supermarkets and food outlets, is purely co-incidental by the way.........)

The Comte de N'Etteau's Regiment practising field tactics. Even the Comte's dog, the unusually named 'Dai' (it's a Highland terrier) accompanies the Regiment on the march.

Mean while, over the border..... the Ensign of the Mauritzanian National Regiment boldly flies the flag, waiting, waiting.........'Green and Gold Forever!'..........

Until next time.......

Me, my scales and life

Well, here goes.

About me - I'm a thirty-something Midlander, originally from Nottingham. I suppose with that heritage, and the proximity to the 'Lead belt', of Foundry, Games Workshop, Warlord Games, Northstar, the Partizan Show, et al, it was inevitable that at some point in my life, little soldiers would make an appearance .

I blame my dad - early memories of making Airfix kits. Then followed the ground crew, 1:72 figures, and my very first copy of Wargames Illustrated - issue 55 if I recall correctly - fairly rapidly followed by a Donald Featherstone book from the library. Tamiya figures and tanks featured somewhere in these formative years as well!

Since that hallowed day of my first Wargames Illustrated purchase, hands shaking as I perused the articles, I've meandered down the wargames river. I started on 15mm, progressed to 20mm WW2, then finally arrived at 25mm (the one True Scale), black undercoats, and 3-colour system a la Dallimore.

Oh yes - I'm also a re-enactor of almost 20 years as well - fighting battles as a pikeman, Musketeer and Sergeant of the English Civil War. I also dabbled with the American Civil War as well for a few years, fighting in both the Blue and Grey as our regiment took on dual roles!

As to title of this blog - it comes from an order given during the English Civil War - my favourite period of history- to 'Fall on Pell Mell', and indulge in a bit of hand-to-hand fighting!