Painting Challenge - Incorporated Militia Battalion of Upper Canada

It's been awhile since my last submission but I've had several units on the go.  These are a 24 man unit from the Incorporated Militia Battalion of Upper Canada.  However, only 8 count towards the challenge as I had painted the original 16 last year.   The  unit is mostly made up of Perry plastics with with a few exceptions as follows (all in the 8 new additions):

• the two kneeling figures are Victrix plastics, but with Perry packs so as to have the same kit as the rest of the unit;
• the officer with the round hat is from Brigade (ex Victrix) and comes in a pack with 3 metal command figures and 30 heads to turn Victrix British infantry into Royal Marines.  Apparently round hats were all the rage among the young Canadian officer corps during the war.

My old gaming buddy Ross had noted that my American infantry regiments gave the look of individual figures firing at will.  With this unit I tried to get the impression of platoon fire by completing the new 8 figures in firing poses and basing them together.  The remaining 4 bases hold figures in the process of reloading and readying to fire.

The Incorporated Militia Battalion was formed as a permanent standing force from men in the existing militia units of Upper Canada (now Ontario).  They were well trained and pretty much as good as regulars and fought well during the War of 1812.  Members of the unit served all along the frontier and fought in many of the battles.

The original plan was for red uniforms, but supply issues led to them getting green faced red for a time.  This makes a nice contrast in the thin red line.  Officers apparently got scarlet coats faced blue, and darned if I can find any reference to the musicians. In the end I decided that they got the regular green faced red with extra lace.

Go Chelsea

One of my students is going to Sochi (on the left below)

http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Chelsea+Valois+bobsled/9438001/story.html

Pimping Loki's Giveaway

OK, my online buddy Andrew over at Loki's Great Hall is having a giveaway.  Because he's decent chap and an excellent painter (and ok because I want free swag) I am promoting his giveaway.

Please go check out his stuff.

Interesting Conversations With Shopkeepers

Yesterday my wife had to go to the fabric shop.  I go along because I am interested in her sewing/quilting hobbies and because can I use her discount card to buy useful stuff.  For instance, yesterday I got a small cutting mat for $3 (less than 2 quid for UK readers).  Plus she always knows the specials and when stuff is on a good sale, or if the "sale" is actually the normal price.  This was useful when I got the vinyl for my sea mat.

Any, I digress so back on track.  Yesterday, I popped across the street to the art & craft store to buy paints and look for X-acto blades.  I paint with mostly artist acrylics, plus some cheap craft acrylics and never touch the special "model" paints as I assume that they are the same stuff but cost more!  So I got my Liquitex flesh and iridescent bronze but struck out on Xacto blades.  The clerk looked at me and said "That's a very interesting combination of colours - what are you painting?".  She was good and said "OK that makes sense" with out looking too weirded out when I replied that I paint model soldiers.

It reminded me of a time early in my gaming career when I bought 3 metres of green felt for a gaming mat.  This was long before SWMBO so I paid full price, i.e. at a premium but I was young and uneducated in domestic and fabric matters.  This was in October, so close to Halloween. The clerk looked at my purchase and asked "Are you going as a frog?"

Painting Challenge - Entry Fee

Zeke was my entry fee for Curt's Painting Challenge.

I am not sure of Zeke's exact origins, but the smart money is that he is a Minifig Boer commando whom I inherited via RossMac's spare parts bin.  The old style true 25mm figures aren't much in fashion thee days but I think that they have a certain charm to them.  They paint up very nicely with the right approach.  

To the best of my memory (never the best), I've never seen a Peckinpah movie so I based him of Westerns that I have seen - True Grit (both of em), Butch Cassidy, Clint Eastwood etc.  I opted for a muted dusty appearance to suit the lone wolf who hasn't seen a bath or a laundry tub in a long time.

Painting Challenge - 9th US Infantry

Next up for me is the US 9th Infantry regiment, but once again only 8 of the 24 figures should count towards the Challenge.  I've been beefing up my 16 man units to 24 strong and the US 9th was next to get the upgrade.  These are a mix of 16 Perry figures and 8 Victrix.  The new additions are all Victrix and I partially rebased the unit to mix the two makes.  These were all painted up straight out of the box - ok, out of the box and then assembled as per the box as closely as I could get.

I've represented the 9th in the Official uniform - blue coat with red facings and white lace and the 1812 shako.  As with the 16th US,  the packs are a fudge as they regulation pack was shorter, softer sided and had black straps (not white).  More over there shouldn't be a blanket roll on top - I clearly painted these before I worked out that I should trim off the blanket roll like I did with the 16th.  I learn, but slowly, so the next US battalion will be the Perry figures with the shorter pack and the blanket roll trimmed off. 

I quite like how the unit paints up, but having looked at the photos I need to fix the flags a little.  RossMac noted that my 16th gave the impression of soldiers taking individual aimed shots rather than volleys, and I've aimed to get that appearance here as well.  I should really do a red coat unit that mimics the look of platoon volleys rippling up and down the line.

For the last two shots I have added the 2nd Light Dragoons.

That's 4 units of Americans.  Now I need to work on the good guys!

Christmas Reading

Most years I tend to get some very good history books for Christmas, and 2013 was no exception.  Two are highly recommended. The third I haven't read yet, but based on my skim through and O'Hara's past work it'd bet my hat that it's a corker.

I am about halfway through this one.  The defenders have just pulled back from Maleme airport in fear of the seaborne invasion.  We'll see how that plays out for them…

Excellent work that gives the full story from before the Greco-Italian war in Albania through to resistance.  I find it very interesting how the SOE hired operatives for Greece - they looked at archeology and classics grads from Oxbridge.  The theory was that they would understand Greek!  It did also give them excellent cover.

On a personal note, it is kind of weird for me that two of the witnesses quoted also appeared in one of my favourite books from childhood - Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals (Durrell's brother Lawrence and tutor Theo).

This is a book I've read before, but I am very happy to have my own copy instead of continually borrowing copies from local libraries.  I am sure the librarians are happy I have my own copy too!

Excellent book, and highly recommended - as are all of Graves work.  It covers both Crysler's Farm and Chateauguay, from the Americans two pronged assault on Montreal.

I haven't done more than skim through this yet, but his other books are excellent and this one looks great.  O'Hara covers the twin convoys Vigorous from Alexandria and Harpoon from Gibraltar in June 1942.  These actions are really the Italian Navy's best moments from WW2.

Vigorous turned home when the Italian heavy units closed and Harpoon resulted in the Battle of Panteleria.  Panteleria was the one occasion where the Italians won a surface engagement in WW2.