Long time, no see

So, it's been a while. I realized just a couple weeks ago that I haven't posted in months and it's a damn shame. A lot of things have been going on in my life lately, which is no excuse, but I'll blame it on real life.

I moved from Washington, DC back to upstate New York at the end of April, which is why I didn't post for about a month or so, with a lot of stuff in boxes and just being wrapped up in putting together my life in a new home. The lady and I grew up here and the move was a bit spur of the moment after she got a job opportunity that was too hard to pass up. I was fortunate enough to keep my job and work remotely, so things just worked out there.

That said, for the last month or so, I don't have much of an excuse. I went to Historicon and ran a Dux Britanniarum game using my Last of the Romans campaign supplement. Most of the end of June and beginning of July was spent frantically building and painting terrain for the game, so I just didn't have the motivation to post updates while I did so. Below, you will find some of my pictures from the game, which I was too wrapped up in running the game to write a good battle report, which I regret.

I was also trying to paint up forces for Sharp Practice 2 and I managed to paint the bulk of my Butler's Rangers for the AWI, who operated all over the area that I live in, fighting for the British and with the Iroquois Confederacy. I have a friend who had ancestors who fought on both sides of the conflict in upstate New York and descended from Laura Secord's family. Laura is considered the Canadian Paul Revere and is a bit of a big deal, so its a bit of a personal project for me. Here are some pictures:

Also, I've been working on my Napoleonic forces as well. My initial goal is forces for the 1809 campaign in Germany and Austria, so that means French, their allies, and Austrians. What this translates to is my favorite project I've done since my Franks, Wurttembergers. What I decided is that I didn't want to do metals if I could help it with my Napoleonics, or at least for the line infantry. Also, I decided that I didn't love the Front Rank Wurttembergers. Nothing against the quality of the miniatures, I just don't love the sculpting style, especially when compared to Perry, which I view as the premiere manufacturer in Napoleonics, followed by Victrix and Brigade Games. With all that said, I decided to go plastic, which is something I've been wanting to try out anyway. I bought a bunch of French and Austrian plastics secondhand and started slapping them together. I had to do a little bit of fudging while painting to make the jackets and helmets look proper, but I'm very pleased with my results. I also needed to make the Jaegers, which are rifle armed, so I used Perry Riflemen arms and some cut down muskets, combined with the bodies of the plastic voltigeurs. Coming up soon will be the light infantry, which are a combination of plastic voltigeurs with Victrix flank company shakos and arms, which I'm very pleased with.

 Led by Lieutenant Hans Bernhard, the young, but dedicated junior officer and second son of a minor noble in the court of King Frederick.

Feldwebel Harold Schleimfuss, the no nonsense sergeant who enjoys nothing more than good discipline.

Jaeger Sergeant Essen Hundwurst, who's proclivities have led to some concerning reports at the battalion staff meetings.

 Sergeant Oskar Meier, the grizzled but well-loved Jaeger sergeant.

As if the Wurttembergers weren't enough, I also have been working on my French, with all the leftover bodies I don't need for my Wurttembergers, and my Austrians. All of these guys are plastic as well. The greatcoat bodies for the French are great because they allow me to paint them quickly as well as give me the ability to make multiple forces with a small investment. With the addition of a couple groups of line without greatcoats and different leaders, they could be French, Swiss, Italians, Irish Legion, and if I'm willing to overlook some irregularities, Saxons.

The dashing (read dastardly) Rene Lepew. Leader of men, wooer(botherer) of women, and the sword in your back, he is a consummate gentleman in all but reputation.

The Austrians are one of my favorite forces in the period and I feel that they are criminally underrepresented on the tabletop. The white uniforms just look so good! Below are the first few groups of them, along with my test piece for a plastic Hungarian fusilier. I'm pretty pleased with him, both with how good he looks to me and also how easy it's going to be to do a few groups. All I had to do to get a passable Hungarian was shave down the seams of the gaiters and use the paint job to do most of the work. What this allow me to do is use more of my Austrians, which I over-bought in order to get the helmets I needed for my Wurttembergers. I'm also hoping to have enough extra helmets and bodies to make some German fusiliers for the 1806 campaign, which will allow me to fully utilize all the Austrians I bought. And here are some pics:

And if you thought that was it, you'd be wrong. I've also gotten rolling on terrain for my Sharp Practice games and some more for Dux Brit as well. I'm not going to go into detail as they are just works in progress at this point, but here are pictures.

All in all, I still don't have an excuse for not posting, but I've not been idle. I'm planning on being more regular over the next few months, hopefully with a battle report or two as well.