Fynske regiment

A small update.

Here we have the Danish Fynske regiment.

That means that all my old stuff for this project is published but that also means that I have to start painting some more miniatures…

"...Sveriges blomstrande ungdom..."

Well you can’t just have Danish troops on a battlefield, you need some Swedes to make a Great Northern war. Here are some of the Swedish troops I intend on going Erst-Hugo on their asses.

Närkes regiment in red and blue.
Västerbottens regiment in white and blue.
 

And a steady hand will come in handy in this scale...

How I painted the Danish troops

How to..

What I have done
* Removed the flash and cleaned the models.
* Glued the models on wooden sticks, paint stirrer or popsicles is perfect for this.
* Gave them a “zenith light” painting, this is probably totally unnecessary in this scale but I did it anyway. I first sprayed the models black and when that had dried I sprayed a light layer of white over the models in about 45 degree angle. This will make a natural light and shade on the model. This will give a much better effect on 28mm scale and I will not use it on all my 15mm models.
* I then painted them in the colors they will have, making no attempt to make any shade.
* Then I painted the models in a thin layer of GW:s Devlar mud.

* Then the trick is to highlight the models in the same colors that was under the thin layer of Devlar mud. This will make a quick and very effective effect.

And with some sand painted in downwatered brown and some flock they look splendid.

Handpainted flag...

Great Northern War

 

When I started my Great Northern war I chose the 15mm scale. This project was never intended to be a main project but rather something that would always be in the rear, something in between other projects.

I needed Swedish troops and someone to battle against, and instead of choosing the more common Russian troops I chose Denmark.
Many years ago I played a demo game of “ Gå På ” in Lincon here in Sweden. I got the rulebook but nothing more happened. 

Sometime this spring I think, something made me get interesting in the whole thing of Caroleans and the Great Northern war again and I bought some miniatures and the new edition of the rules, and now I think it’s about time to show off some of the models I have painted since then. My hope is that these posts will inspire me to pick up the project again and start painting some Swedish and Danish troops.
If I will use the Gå På rules or the Black Powder rules I haven’t decided yet but I will base the miniatures according to Gå På and then I could use it to either one of them.

 

The Danish troops are bought at Black hat miniatures
http://www.blackhat.co.uk/online_shop/index.php?cPath=22_161&osCsid=e926a01a00ecb1e355d85293ff5823a0

The Swedish troops are bought at Dixon miniatures
http://www.dixon-minis.com/dixoncatalogue.php?maintype=22

Caroleans

What would later be known as the Great Northern war had its background and the excuses to start a war many years before.

Carloeans, the most well known soldiers of at least the Swedish part of the Great Northern war made their name during this conflict. But they were formed before the war.

Charles XI (eleventh) (1660 –1697) quickly found out about poor shape of the Swedish army and navy early in his reign in the wars against Denmark. And something had to be done.  In 1682 the new army reform known as the allotment system was decided. The system would prove to be so effective that it would be used for 200 years.
Each counties or province would raise and supply a regiment, about 1000 or 1200 men in “good or bad time” A couple of farms (about four) was called a Rote and would have to equip a professional soldier, provide a croft (a small farm cottage), farmland and one volunteer soldier who then could make a military career. This meant that the rest of the men escaped the former use of forced conscription.
The regiment was made up of men from the same region and would have attended the same military drills and would then know each other and already be friends if the war would break out.
Each company had to report how long time it would take to be gathered and formed at the regimental gathering place. Many test mobilizations was conducted and detailed maps was drawn, roads for the mobilizations war improved and many gästgiveri gårdar was built (a kind of hostel were you could spend the night, get some food and change to a fresh rested horse).

Detailed plans were made and tested and after some years the King would have a peacetime force that could mobilize and be ready to be shipped out of the many military harbours within a very short time. 

And the force would be a masterly drilled and a very disciplined force that with the belief in their own fighting force and king and country would be on the same level of combat will of the SS of the second world war, totaly brainwashed in a fanatical Lutheran indoctrination. 

This would become very handy when his son Charles XII (twelfth) (1682 – 1718) was crowned king after his death and all of Swedish neighbors thought that the young and inexperienced king and a famine that had befallen Sweden would make her an easy picking and it was time to take back all the land Sweden had won in the wars of in 17^th century.

Sweden blue-eyed believed the diplomats and “eternal friendship” reassured by Russia, the friendship agreement signed by Denmark and so on. Little would Sweden know of what would befall her in the years to come…

Oh and as a side note, thank God for Erik Dahlberg and his mistrust and his prearrangements in the parts of what was then eastern Sweden.

Meeting a cavalry charge...

And with that little introduction written in a Swedish view of things I think it safe to show some of my Great Northern War stuff.

Tents

I got some Renedra plastic tents for my local gaming club (VÄS, Växjö spelförening) and have now painted them up.

I liked these tents and feel they where really worth the price. The tents are so generic that they could work from classical Greece, medieval, Napoleonic’s and work in an futuristic game.

And I guess that some of the tents could work in a different scale then 28mm as they are original intended for.

I bought the tents on Warlord games shop. http://store.warlordgames.com/plastic-tents-4247-p.asp

French Napoleonic Infantry 1804-1807

When the Victrix Austrian boxes is lurking on the horizon I thought it would be best to beat those Habsburgers once and for all. To arms…
I promised myself that I wouldn´t paint another cavalry unit until I completed at least one more unit of line infantry. The cavalry units are fewer models, and are so much quicker to paint…

But after a long time as half painted models they are finally done.
I tested to use a mixed basing size so they would be easier to reform into different formations.

 A close shot, focused on one of my favorite models in blue pants and a dirty unshaved face.

 In mixed formation, skirmishers to the front.

 In square formation to repel enemy cavalry.

I just love those Victrix boxes, there’s a lot of bang for the bucks.

American Rifle Squad

I didn´t have the exact weaponry for an American Rifle squad according to the Force on Force rulebook but this will have to do.

One squad leader and two fire teams, one grenadier in each fire team and one AT4 in one of the fire teams.

Painting modern American camo

I made a quick tutorial how I indend to paint my American troops. Sorry for some of the bad pictures.
These models were fun to paint. Expect more to come.
The technique I will show is something that worked perfectly to paint German tropentarn camo in 28mm and I hope it will work here to.

I will try to paint a 1/72 Caesar model after this camo.

Step 1: Spray paint the model white.

 Step 2: Paint the on the places that you want the camo on with Valejjo 884 Stone Grey.

 Step 3: Use a sponging technique with the packing material you get in some blister when you buy miniature.

And sponge on some Vallejo German Fieldgrey 830 over the basecolor camo.

Step 4: Sponge on some Vallejo Green Grey 886.

Step 5: Paint all metal and other things like the straps for the goggles and so on with Vallejo German Gray 995 (best paint ever). I even painted over some of the earlier painting I have done with a water down mix of German Gray to give a better effect on shadows and to mark where the kneecaps ends and so on.

Step 6: I painted the skin with Vallejo Flat Flesh 955.

Step 7: Painted the boots with Vallejo Iraqi Sand 819.

Step 8: Now I realized that I had enhanced the shadow on the uniform but not on the skin and boots. Now would be a god time to do it instead of doing it in step 5.
So paint some watered down German Gray on the last parts, the boots and on the edges of the skin. I also painted some GW Wash Devlar mud on the places I wanted to enhance the shadows on. You should not paint the whole model with watered down German Gray and Devlar mud as this will make the effects of the camo disappear, just paint were you want to enhance the shadows.
I think the model is now tabletop and could be used in play.

Step 9. I now highlight some of the places on the model with the same basecolor I used on that place. So Iraqi Sand to highlight the boots and Flat flesh to highlight the skin.

Step 10. Small useless detail that no one will notice on a gametable. But fun to see if you look closer.
An American flag on one of the shoulder, a light highlight of dust on the weapon and a thin layer of red on the underlip the model. The lip I painted with GW Wash Ogryn Flesh and this should only be applied on the underlip or else it will look like lipstick.

So there you have it.

Ambush Alley, Force on Force

I used to be really interesting in modern military but I have never really gamed it in a miniature games. I have had my eyes on Ambush Alley for some time and read thru an example quick starter rules I found on their homepage. The rules looked really interesting.
And when some friends at the club started to talk about it and started to show some of the miniature they got, I couldn´t help myself but to order the rulebook. I had some 1/72 miniatures from Caesar from a friend. Some Americans and some insurgents that I exchanged for some spare 28mm Napoleonic’s.

Here are some Americans that will soon get on the painting table. I think they will be a good start.