LJ's Warpaint

My Finished Bretonnia Army

2025-04-07T02:17:00.000-07:00

The launch of Warhammer the Old World was a great opportunity to try and finally finish the Bretonnia army I've been working on since 6th edition. After many years I now have enough units ready to field a fully painted 2000 points army. Below you'll find each character and unit on display.

Sir Renauld of Montford, Duke on Royal Pegasus.

Sir Gilbert of Bastonne, Baron on warhorse.

Sir Bertrand the Brabançon, Paladin Battle Standard Bearer on warhorse.

Lady Isult, Prophetess on warhorse.

5 Knights of the Realm.

6 Knights of the Realm.

5 Knights Errant.

20 Men-at-Arms.

4 Pegasus Knights.

6 Squires.

1 Field Trebuchet.

Old Guard Grenadiers

2023-07-21T07:48:00.003-07:00

This battalion has been close to being finished for a very long time, today I put the final touches on the last three guys.

Models are plastic Victrix.

Pavlovsk Grenadiers

2023-07-19T08:20:00.003-07:00

Pavlovsk Grenadier battalion finished.

I started this battalion with the command last week, I did not expect to have them finished so quickly!

Napoleonic Russian army

2023-07-19T08:13:00.007-07:00

My Russian army for LaSalle so far. I still have a few pieces to finish, 2 units of Uhlans, 1 horse artillery gun and a battalion of Pavlovsk Grenadiers. After that it will make for 250 points in LaSalle, which is a nice place to call it some kind of done.

How I Base 2mm units for Blücher

2022-04-13T02:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a short tutorial on how I base my 2mm Napoleonic brigades for Blücher.

I use 60x90mm bases, which is the same size as the unit cards that were available for Blücher.

This base will become an Austrian brigade with 3 battalions and artillery support. The figures are from Irregular Miniatures, one strip is 3 ranks deep and has a frontage of 17mm.

I start with fine sand and some touches of Vallejo ground texture.

Base colour of Rhinox Hide.

Drybrush with Beige Brown and dapple with Luftwaffe Camo Green.

Drybrush with Iraqui Sand and Dark Yellow for the green patches.

Now with painted figures.

Flock with patches of green fine turf.

Finally add a few bushes with small pieces of clump foliage, and that's the first Austrian brigade finished.

The first few finished brigades face of.

Les Avant-Gardes - LaSalle2 battle report

2022-03-13T01:24:00.001-08:00

After a few years of not using my 28mm Napoleonics they are finally getting some table time again with LaSalle2. We've been having an absolute blast with these rules ever since we started using them. They are well written, the battles are dynamic, packed with tough decisions and surprising moments.

The scenario we played was the first one from the book, Les Avant-Gardes. Two villages lay opposite of each other across a stream. Both the villages and the stream crossing are scenario objectives. The game can also be won by reducing the enemy by 1/3 of his strength. For this game we doubled the recommended table size, which gives a bit more room for outflanking manoeuvres.

The Russians enter the battlefield with two infantry brigades, one of which are elite grenadiers. The French start with an infantry brigade and a light cavalry brigade. both armies move up and clash over the stream. The French light cavalry starts to move around the flank of the Russian grenadiers. Tremendously effective fire from the Russian artillery batteries takes out both of their French counterparts in turn one. Given this initial success the Russians press the right flank but are rebuked and eventually repelled by the French heavy cavalry. At this point casualties are starting to mount on both sides and the French light cavalry is posing a serious threat to the Russian rear. Trying to turn the tide of battle, the Russians launch one of their grenadier battalions across the stream against two French battalions. To everyone's surprise both French battalions break under the Russian onslaught and the French army is defeated by a sudden death victory for the Russians.

Once again a very fun game and a strong motivator to get those last few Russian units painted.

2019-01-26T05:27:00.001-08:00

A return to the blog - Black Powder and Hail Caesar

2018-04-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

Greetings reader!

It has been a while since my last post, more than two years actually. Recently I've been picking up some more steam with the hobby, resulting in miniatures painted and battles fought!

Here are some pictures of this weekends wargaming, involving Black Powder and Hail Caesar.

For my Black Powder armies (got to provide both sides) I'm working on a Russian and a French. I recon I'm about half way collecting and painting, having six infantry units ready for both sides. Also I think I've settled on a basing method, 4 per base on a 1,5cm frontage, with the depth of the base varying between 3 and 4,5cm. All my Russians are now based in that manner, and the French are up next for base-surgery.

The battle involved 6 infantry units a side with a artillery battery and a unit of hussars, two brigades for each player. Because of the small game size in Black Powder terms I decided to double the stamina values for all units. This seemed to work out well, causing some more eb and flow in the development of the battle. Also I decided broken brigades would be allowed to be rallied, but in the end the situation didn't come up. Lastly we used the Hail Caesar rules for disorder, calling for a special break test on the roll of 6 during shooting instead of causing disorder immediately. This caused some harrowing moments when the Russian grenadiers went in for a final push against one of the French brigade and closing fire caused them to fall back disordered. I'm not quite decided on what I think about this effect as in the standard Black Powder rules it would never occur. It does make charging that more dangerous! In the end the Russian main assault on the French center faltered and the French were able to crush the Russian right flank, breaking my last brigade.

Next up some Hail Ceasar game. This is the first time I actually played the game, after having the book for some years now. Inspired by using the break table in Black Powder I did a little test run with some Old Hammer models which turned out quite nicely. I then proposed to give the game another go with my friend and most regular opponent Guy who was happy to comply. Thus we dusted of those veteran soldiers of the Empire and threw in some Bretonnians to make two nice armies of 6 infantry, 3 ranged infantry and 3 heavy cavalry units. Those were quite sufficient to fill a 4*6 table and it was a great game.

My Knights of the Realm met with initial succes, breaking the enemy left flank infantry brigade, while his knights came crushing down on my left and center. This caused the balance to tip over in favor of my opponent. My general made some heroic charges but went down in the melee. His second in command did the same, and found the same fate. In the end the army was led by the lowliest clown, which caused a general rout.

Great games all in all and I hope to return this blog more often than I've done in the last couple of years. Cheers to you all. Also please leave a comment when you've enjoyed the photo's!

Forming up for Sharp Practice 2: Pas de Charge!

2016-03-20T12:47:00.001-07:00

In preparation for Sharp Practice 2 I dug out some old bases I had lying around and made some new ones for my Russian regiments. These are meant to move the 10 men squads while maintaining the basing method I use for Black Powder, thus keeping the miniatures compatible with both games.

On the painting bench I have some innocent bystanders for the Napoleonic era, which hopefully will make some nice characters for SP2.

Allons mes enfants!

The heaven sent Angel, my first Guild Ball model

2016-03-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

Kingdom Holland Grenadiers

2016-02-08T09:40:00.001-08:00

In anticipation of the upcoming Sharp Practice 2 rules I've started painting some of my skirmish based Napoleonics. Here are three Dutch grenadiers; "Leve de keizer!".
I hope the rules have been streamlined along the lines of Chain of Command, doing away with the long list of shooting modifiers for one thing, and clarifying the actual chain of command.

Lion Rampant - a skirmish in the Hook & Cod wars

2015-12-11T01:34:00.000-08:00

Here are some quick and dirty shots of a Lion Rampant game we played this week. We used two armies of 20 points, one being made up of: drilled mounted men at arms, bidowers, foot sergeants and crossbows with pavises, and the other of drilled mounted men at arms, expert foot sergeants, and expert archers.

The location of the fighting is somewhere in the Low Countries during the final stages of the Hook & Cod wars (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hook_and_Cod_wars i.e. de Hoeksche & Kabeljouwse twisten) One of these days the largely fictional characters of Jan van Schaffelaar and Perrol with the red hand might make an appearance. They are depicted in Oltmans' De Schaapsherder (the Shepherd) as sworn enemies since they both fancy the hand of certain young lady. The story has a very dramatic ending in the church of Barneveld, where Jan van Schaffelaar and his men are surrounded by the enemy. Presented with an ultimatum to hand over their leader van Schaffelaar decides to keep the honor to himself and jumps from the tower. He survives the jump but is presently bludgeoned to death by the peasant rabble waiting for him. Maybe these events would make for an interesting scenario in the future!

Written in 1838

Jan van Schaffelaar going down in history

Starting positions of my warband.

My crossbows are threatened by his sergeants. My opponents knights have hidden behind the house.

Both groups of sergeants are driven of. Following this my crossbows are routed. In the end the enemy leader and bows remain.

Retreat from Moscow - Dismounted cavalry

2015-12-08T01:08:00.000-08:00

Here are some more painted mini's from the Retreat from Moscow range.

Cossacks

2015-12-01T02:08:00.000-08:00

A little update on the Black Powder side of things this time. These have been laying around for a long time now, so I'm happy they are finally done. For the moment I use them as a small Cossack unit in Black Powder. The miniatures themselves are from the excellent Perry miniatures Retreat from Moscow range of which I hope I can add some more to my collection soon!

IHMN - On the trail of the Black Smook -

2015-05-20T14:20:00.000-07:00

I recently painted up some Victorian Sci-fi miniatures which I had laying around and did some rebasing in preparation of a game of In Her Majesty's Name. The setting is as follows:

It's the year 1887 and the peace conference of the second Crimean war sees all the leaders of the great European powers gathered in the city of Geneva. Each country has brought the nation’s finest diplomats, tradesmen and generals, each supported by their own personal retinue, looking after their safety and other ‘needs’.

And so it happens that the great Sherlock Holmes finds himself walking the streets of this fine city, which seems to be rife with political strife, trade disputes and numerous other activities taking place at the shady border of right and wrong. Always on the lookout for clues and criminals on the loose he visits the coffeehouses, where the latest news and gossip can be heard.

Lately there have been reports coming in of people with strange affections after presumed opium usage. People become ill or sleep for days and lose their memory. This opium, quickly dubbed Black Smook can’t be distinguished from normal opium and seems to be randomly distributed among normal deliveries. Early inquiries have so far revealed nothing, but the trail seems to lead out of town where some nobleman has recently been noted to take an interest in the opium trade.

The British delegation has dispatched The Consulting Detective and the Good Doctor to clear up the mystery, accompanied by an outfit of London Bobbies. Without the availability of a trusted opium supplier negotiations have seriously stalled as dignitaries can’t get their fix of relaxation and lose their nerves. Discussions become much more heated and the risk of more wars breaking out, instead of one being ended is becoming greater by the day.

On the other side of town Lady Ann has been kitting out her company for a trip to the countryside as well. It wasn’t hard to keep up with the latest police news, as the Queen’s men weren't exactly secretive about it. Seeing her own interests endangered by the recent disturbances of the opium trade she ventures out to investigate the source of this incursion.

This is are some images of our first two games, in which bobbies take a beating and lady Ann makes a daring escape with several pieces of vital information.

Both companies converge on a farm estate rumoured to contain a number of clues as to the source of the Black Smook.

The Yard approaches.

As does lady Ann.

Bobbies charge into fisticuffs

Both companies search the crates for clues.

The good doctors carries an objective of the board, but then succumbs to the constant sniper fire.

As Lady Ann and her crew have secured the farm and gathered all information they try to break out and make for the mountains.

A lonely constable stands guard.

A sergeant takes up a firing position.

Bijschrift toevoegen

A giant wolfman breaks out of the woodwork.

The Consulting detective is the last man standing.

After our first game it turned out my mate had to points wrong for his riflemen, so in the second game he used two less. However even with less numbers it turned out to be a resounding victory for Lady Ann and her crew.

As Lady Ann soon finds out a number of documents refer to a certain Graff Reichenbach, who owns an estate in the mountains. With the police hot on her heels so and her men make way into the mountains in order to find and question the count.

to be continued...

Moving on to bigger things.

2015-04-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

This time trying my hand at a 40mm miniature for the first time, and I must say I really enjoyed it. The bigger size invites you to spend some extra time on the details and the end result is also just that bit more satisfying compared to 28mm. I will definitely be getting some more of these in the future.
The model comes from the Perry's 40mm peninsular line.

Sharp Practice

2015-04-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of picking up Sharp Practice again in a few weeks I tried a scenario in solo-play. Searching the internet for inspiration I found the excellent blog of World2Dave and borrowed this scenario from him (for details see: http://themedetianwars.blogspot.nl/2014/11/the-attack-on-griffon-inn-sharp.html).

The French have settled down in the manor with some more troops dispatched to the barn. After a wild night plundering the wine cellar the French are now vast asleep with one lonely sentry dispatched on the road. The Russians are close upon them though, approaching through the woods at daybreak.

Two of the Russians attack groups are spotted!

The sentry rushes towards the house to raise the alarm.

And beats the Russians to it.

First to deploy is the French light gun, opening up on the Russians approaching the door.

Grenadiers follow.

The third Russian blind deploys a unit of Jaeger and line infantry

The assault on the mansion commences.

French infantry deployed nearby are drawn to the sound of the guns.

Charge!

Counter charge!

Jaegers sneak through the rocks, and take aim at the French line.

The Russians rally two battered units in line.

At this moment the large Russian unit went in for a new counter attack on the now exposed French and that is where I ended the game.

The scenario is quite nice and seems to have a good balance of forces.

I'm not sure the French made the best decision by leaving the house as they were in quite a strong defensive position, but I wanted to bring the game to an end.

Chain of Command - Tunis

2015-03-23T16:21:00.001-07:00

Here's a quick rundown of a Chain of Command game we played yesterday.

Tunis 1943

Forces involved:

German panzergrenadier platoon
sdkfz 222
5cm mortar
Medic
Adjutant

British rifle platoon
Armoured car
2' mortar

Objective of the game is a crossroad guarded by the British platoon.

The battlefield.

Germans start their probe.

British fall back.

German reinforcements arrive

British take up defensive positions and armoured car arrives.

Germans form a firing line and start pouring it into the Tommies.

The firefight takes its toll on the British.

Germans launch their final assault.

And take the position. At this moment the British force moral was down to 2 and we called the game. Victory to the Wehrmacht.

Pike and Shotte - The Battle of Pavia

2014-08-31T08:58:00.000-07:00

In between the smoke clouds of Black Powder I recently had a game of Pike and Shotte. We played the battle of Pavia from the rulebook, mostly using Warhammer Empire models. We had to scale the battalia's down a bit, but still managed to fill the table with an impressing amount of mini's!

Here are some pictures I took with my phone.

French positions

French left flank and Imperial right flank

Imperials in front of 'the river'

the assault commences

Imperial right flank takes up positions

French cavalry counter deploys

Heavy siege guns pound the French

Infantry gets stuck in

on the roll of a 3+...

battle lines clash in the swamp

In the end we decided the Imperials had a five point advantage, holding the French hq and being within reach of the Imperial objective to warn the Pavia garrison. All in all a very enjoyable game.

Black Powder Painting

2014-08-19T02:26:00.003-07:00

Since I started napoleonics some 1,5 years ago there haven't been too many updates on the paiting progress, but not all has been quiet on the painting front. Especially over the last holidays I've been painting quite fanatically. These last weeks it have mainly been Russians, which I'll show soon, but now they're almost all done my focus is back at the French again.

In the mean time I've also been busy with some skirmishers in a retreat from Moscow theme. I've played Song of Drums and Shako's once, and it felt like quite a nice little game.

I've also finished two of my three Austrian regiments and received some much anticipated Russian Cavalry reinforcements.

There will soon follow a post showing the developments on the Russian side of affairs.

Dragoons and Cuirassiers

Chesterfied - A Very British Civil War

2014-07-14T02:37:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been working on some new terrain and miniatures for A Very British Civil War.

Please have a stroll around the village.

The peaceful English countryside

A police patrol is going for a sandwich.

All is quiet..?

Trouble at the Kings Arms, rebellious scum

A BUF patrol reacts to the sound of gunfire.

But the Prince of Wales own volunteers are also nearby

The postmen try their new delivery system

Battle of Turovo

2014-03-17T03:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick impression of a recent Black Powder game. The scenario used is an adaptation of http://www.warlordgames.com/battle-report-the-battle-for-st-piere/ using smaller forces. In our case it pitted the French against the Russians on the way to Smolensk.

French:

Advance guard
4 infantry regiments
1 artillery battalion
1 regiment cuirassier (small)
1 regiment hussars

Main body
5 infantry regiments
1 artillery battalion
1 regiment cuirassiers

Russians:

Garrison
3 infantry regiments
1 artillery battalion
1 regiment cuirassiers (small)

Outlying force
2 infantry regiments
1 Jaeger regiment
1 artillery battalion
1 regiment cossacks (small)
2 regiment hussars (small)

The first few turns saw the French advancing towards the river. Making contact with the Russians on the left side of the village. In the end the French left flank was compromised, but the cavalry managed to protect the main assault, and one regiment could cross the river to encircle the Russians. When the main attack was launched the village was soon captured. Victory to the French.

The advance guard swings left

Russian possitions in the river delta

Russians possitions in the village

The French left flank makes contact

Russians finaly line up a shot

The advance guard is pushed back

The main force arrives

Cavalry hold the flank

The river is crossed

Oranje boven

2014-01-03T01:49:00.000-08:00

What seemed to start out as a venture into the English Civil War is now turning into a Dutch Revolt project. Here's the first unit of pike. I'm awaiting delivery of a few flags, so they'll be added later.

So much war, so much civil.

2013-12-24T02:44:00.002-08:00

Here is the start of something new, an English civil war army.
It's hard to chose sides in this war, so I'll just do two armies. The pike and shotte miniatures from Warlord Games make for a nice change from the napoleonic mini's.

First up are some pikemen from the Kings life guard, I'll reckon they'll make an impressive sight when the block is finished.

And then some shotte

And finally some cavalry

Battle of the monastry of Saint-Cyr

2013-12-22T10:29:00.003-08:00

For our third Black Powder battle we decided to use a flames of war scenario, mainly to have some guidelines for deployment and reinforcements. The scenario was dust up, where each player starts in an opposing table quarter defending an objective. Reinforcements arrive from the third turn from the other corners.

Here we see the British brigade deployed around the remains of the monastery of Saint-Cyr. 3 regular infantry and a unit of foot artillery.

In the opposing corner the french have deployed around their objective, the barn, filled with precious supplies. In the first two turns the French move up to put the pressure on the British. One of the British units responds fast, but is left unsupported.

The second French brigade arrives from reserve, and marches on the monastery.

Battle lines are drawn

The British fail to organize the thin red line, and the first unit is disordered.

The French cavalry brigade arrives and starts a move on the British left flank.

French infantry columns march on swiftly, but don't deploy in line yet. In the next turn British artillery fire badly damages the front of the column, disordering the first unit.

The first British reinforcements arrive. The cavalry brigade deploys to relieve the center.

French cavalry prepares to charge the ruins.

Finally the third brigade arrives, the notoriously late Austrians.

Cavalry charges force the center units into squares. A head-on cavalry charge proves to be to much for the shaken square, which is destroyed.

Infantry charges the ruins, but the British defenders hold their ground.
The French cavalry turns their attention to center, where the British guns are destroyed by gunfire.

The Austrian brigade starts to threaten the French left flank, but their progress is slow.

French cuirassiers are destroyed batteling the British cavalry.
French hussars charge the British cavalry, chasing and destroying them.

Here we decided to end the game. The British had two broken brigades and the French were firmly in control of the monastery. We thought the FoW scenario worked really well. Next time we might try one of the others!