Monday 31 August 2020

Weekend Progress

Over the past few days, I have completed another four of the Warlord hard plastic French Napoleonic Lancers. I have ended up with three of the five lancer bases including the 45 degree pose, which is fine. In the end, I didn't use the standard bearer arm nor the sword carrying arm, although I did convert one of the 45 degree arms with the help of a Stanley knife and one of the sword carrying arms - thanks Steve J!

I have also been slowly carrying on with the creation of buildings for our planned Border Reivers gaming, so hope to have something actually completed to post in the next few days - in the meantime, here are the four Lanciers…..






27 comments:

  1. Keith, I remember having a go at these when one of the issues of Wargames Illustrated had a free sprue. I mounted in 3’s with the ‘awkward’ lancer in the middle, to try and negate or contain the lance just generally getting in the way.

    I am increasingly seeing advantages of painting in small groups.

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    1. Thanks Norm - I have painted in small groups for a long tome now - generally one "base" at a time, whether it be two cavalry, or two, three or four infantry. If I stick at it for three hours, I can generally complete one base per night.

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    2. Great stuff Keith interesting your comment on painting volume, it's a post I have planned in the coming days on the optimum number of figures, just increased the number from 12 to 26, definitely a step to far.... :-)

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    4. Hi Stu, nearly missed your comment here! I used to paint larger groups and to be fair, IF I ever start another large collection - say a new Napoleonic or WSS etc - then I probably would aim for 8 or 12 figures at a time - but 26 is most definitely a Bridge Too Far for me - in 28mm anyway - 15mm WW2 would be fine....

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  2. They’re coming along nicely Keith...
    It’s a shame that you don’t get enough ‘upright’ lance arms as a basic default pose for all the rank and file in the box... plus some more active poses and sword arms for those who like that kind of thing...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Yes I agree Aly and it seems a pretty obvious thing to do - as I mentioned, I think your friend the Perrys put a bit more thought and effort into how they sculpt, so there are a variety of possibilities even though there may only be a couple of basic bodies per pack

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  3. They look good and I'm glad my suggestions was useful Keith. As Aly says, they really should have uprigth lances as the default pose, with a few additional poses as extras.

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    1. That's my feeling too Steve although a friend of mine said he likes the 45 degree pose for a change....

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  4. Lovely looking quartet of Lancers!
    Best Iain

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    1. Than you Mark, they are nicely sculpted figures

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    1. Cheers Ray, I am happy with how they are turning out.

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  7. These are coming along nicely Keith. It's funny how we have our own preferred batch sizes. I can't paint any more than 32 15mm or 20 28mm figures in a batch before boredom sets in, so am constantly amazed at those blog pictures where people have batches of a hundred or more.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence - its a very long time since I painted any 15mm - I used to do them in larger batches. Also, I have probably over stated it above - it does depend on the era and complexity of the uniforms - for RCW etc, I probably would paint 8 or 12 infantry at a time - but Napoleonics etc wear me out with the multitude of different colours, too many at once and the last ones start to get a bit ragged looking!

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  8. Looking good Keith. I've always been a big batch painter but I might try painting smaller groups for a while as have been losing impetus lately. Cheers Greg

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    1. Cheers Greg - I vary - as mentioned in my response to Lawrence above, its not as cut and dried as I implied in my first comments - some figures EG an individual personality, I will paint from start to finish individually, to ensure the quality of the end product is as high as I can manage....doing 20 at a time would just mean the last five had the paint slapped on any old how!

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  9. Very nice lancers Keith. The conversion looks really good and natural.

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    1. Thanks Dmitry, that is one of the great advantages of plastic figures..simple conversions are easy to do!

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  10. Lovely Lancers, Keith. The green uniforms and bright facings are a stunning combination.

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  11. Thanks Dean, they certainly have a very attractive uniform

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  12. Nicely done mate. Looking forward to seeing the new buildings.

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    1. I lack your focus Mark. that's the problem - been messing around with the bloody things for weeks now and nothing gets completely finished ...AND, I keep getting an urge to build another one! I think I will post some progress shots tonight though - also finally got an order off to the UK for a few Reiver figures, so thats something to look forward to.....

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