Turning those Shutdown Blues into Prussian Blues

Hi everyone!

Just a brief update. As some of you know, I work for the National Park Service as a Park Ranger. Because of the government shutdown, however, I’m unable to report to work. But now that the holidays are over I’ve been able to sit down and work on some figures this evening.

These are the newer Prussian Landwehr figures that Warlord put out last year (I think). I was excited that shakos were included in the set, so I put these guys in them because. Just worked on some basic block painting tonight which will be followed by shading tomorrow. Then it’s on to the second half of this battalion!

Form Battalions!

An update on the Prussians!

I've gotten all of my Landwehr together and placed in their proper battalions. This is about half of General von Horn's 7th Brigade. This is the first time I've managed to get all of the figures together in one place (though some still need assembling as you can probably tell). I decided to increase the unit size to 30 figures based on some things I was reading about historical battalion sizes.

Right before the above photo was taken, however, disaster very nearly struck. I had these figures on the second shelf of my display case when the first shelf (with my X-Wing Miniatures Game ships) decided to fail and fall right into them.

After a few terrifying moments and numerous curse words, I was relieved to find that the damage was minimal. Only three figures had broken off their bases, and they weren't even finished so it was an easy fix. A few others had some chipped paint and slightly bent bayonets, but these also proved to be quick repairs. 

After all the commotion subsided, Jimmy came down to see what was going on.

All told, I have 150 figures here representing the Landwehr. Needed still are 96 or so more to represent the regular army troops. And I have at least 100 more Landwehr figures sitting in boxes (think I got a little overzealous in collecting them over the years). So I may decide at some point to create another brigade from Yorck's Prussian 1st Army Corps....likely the 1st Brigade which was also heavily engaged in the assault on Möckern.

Prussian Landwehr: 2016 to Today

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I've been working on some Napoleonic Prussian Landwehr since mid-2016. I'd gotten some sprues of the Warlord figures on sale in 2013 but had neglected them until I decided that one day I wanted to paint them up. I decided to follow this awesome tutorial by Laurens Vannijvel (with a few minor modifications in paint colors) as it seemed pretty quick and straightforward.

I settled on Silesian Landwehr at Leipzig in 1813, since I knew there were a ton of them there. I've been fascinated with the battle since I took a French history class in college and it seemed like a good opportunity to eventually build forces for some of the other nations involved. But first, the Prussians!

The following images were taken at various times between 2016 and today. Hopefully they capture some of the evolution and progression they've gone through.

First step, of course, was to prime these guys in black gesso!

These figures' bayonets broke off, so they became test figures. The guy in the middle is wearing a brown coat that some Landwehr were reported to have worn in 1813. Sources say these troops would have been lumped together in the regiment's 4th Battalion.

Painting like a madman late into the evening.

Painting Prussians and watching Zulu!

A mostly-finished Zug (squad) awaiting grass for their bases. As my last blog post mentioned, this would later come back to bite me.

Reinforcements are on the way! All of these guys are now finished and make up my 3rd Battalion. As you can see, I ended up picking up a few more boxes of models to bolster the force.

Their numbers have grown from this:

A cleaner shot of my finished Landwehr troops from about October 2016.

To this:

Here are the Landwehr as of tonight! All it's missing is the drummer (who was primed last night). 

So after having done all these figures, I've decided to do more. A lot more. I'm planning to recreate General von Horn's 7th Brigade, which war part of General Yorck's Prussian 1st Army Corps and heavily engaged at Leipzig. These guys represent the 3rd Battalion of the 4th Silesian Landwehr Regiment. 

This battalion is primarily made up of the original Warlord Landwehr figures, with a few of their metal versions thrown in for variety (as the plastic set only has three poses). The sergeant in the back is from Front Rank, and the officer is from Perry.  

I also made a few distress markers a few months back. Since Warlord released some new Landwehr models that include shakos (which some Silesian units wore as late as Waterloo), I had to pick up a few boxes. They'll be incorporated into my brigade and will represent the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 15th Silesian Landwehr Regiment. 

These are bits of Warlord and Victrix gear on some 25mm GW bases I had laying about.

Finished markers! Looks like they were discarded in a bit of panic, don't they?

I'll post a photo of the drummer once he's finished. Then it's off to the 2nd Battalion!

Static Grass (Prussian) Blues

Hello! Long time no see!

I've been working on some Napoleonic Prussian Landwehr off and on (mostly off) since mid-2016 and am determined to finish them in short order. I'll give more details on that project in a later post, but they're going to be Silesian Landwehr from the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. 

But while picking up the project again, I noticed that the static grass I'd been using was out. Unfortunately the place that I'd ordered it from had gone out of business, so I got some Gale Force Nine grass thinking it was the same color.

It was not the same color.

It was not the same color, and my OCD would not allow me to just ignore it and use the new stuff. So I actually spent several months trying to find the original grass before finally saying "forget this" and adapted with what I had.

Thankfully I'd used good old Elmer's white glue, so all I had to do was soak the figures in water for a bit before peeling off the old grass. I was relieved to find that it came off pretty easily.

Enjoying some "Champagne of the North" while working! Totally appropriate as Prussia's King Frederick William I described it as "best for our climate" and had his son, the future Frederick the Great, learn how to brew it. It was supposedly a hit with Napoleon's troops when they went into Berlin after the Prussian military disasters of 1806. 

It was pretty tedious doing this for 30 figures in one sitting, but it had to get done. Berliner Weisse and Prussian marching music certainly helped speed things along.

A visit to the basement from my cat Jimmy also helped make things bearable.

After taking all that grass off, it was time to put on the new stuff. Tedious Fun times ensued.

But it was worth pushing on! Here the finished battalion is awaiting a final spray of Dullcote. Now the rest of the regiment can proceed as planned! 

Stay tuned for more updates on these dudes.

And to make sure this doesn't happen again any time soon, I bought all the grass that Huzzah Hobbies had in stock.

Campaign Against Cancer: X-Wing Miniatures Event 2018

This year's Campaign Against Cancer took place on April 7 at a new location: Huzzah Hobbies in Ashburn, VA. This was just one of several locations throughout the world (the event's gone international this year!) to host an event dedicated to raise money for cancer research. This year's proceeds went to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in the United States and the Kids with Cancer Foundation in Australia.

It's an event near and dear to my heart as I lost my grandpa, Bob Abel, to cancer on September 15, 2010. He served in the US Navy from 1944 to 1976 and flew all manner of naval aircraft during his career. Grandpa was also an avid model builder and helped me paint my first toy soldiers. I've been playing the Campaign Against Cancer in his memory ever since I first learned of the event in 2016.

Although I was sick as a dog and not feeling well, I pushed myself. Following my disastrous performance at Han's Holiday Hangover in January, I hadn't played X-Wing at all prior to this. I hadn't even bothered to unpack my box afterwards. Although I was still flying the same list (Lt. Karsabi and two Rho Squadron pilots in Assault Gunboats with an emphasis on cannons), I had a much better time. Seasonal affective disorder is a real thing, folks.

Loaded up on cold meds, Zicam, and ibuprofen, I hit the tournament! I realize now that I only took two photos during the whole event. I blame the cold medicine and the overall fatigue that set in around Round 3.

Once the cold meds wore off, I started feeling pretty bad. I could barely stand at one point and played most of one game seated, which is something I never do. Thankfully in Round 6 I got a Bye, which meant I could leave 75 minutes early. It was an opportunity I took advantage of.

Although I probably should've stayed home, it was a fun time! Mindset is everything when it comes to games like this, and I think I was probably getting a little too competitive there for a bit. This event was a reminder to me to not take things (especially tabletop games) too seriously....the whole point is to have fun! I can't wait to take part in next year's event!

APRIL 21, 2018 UPDATE

It was just announced that globally we raised $37,058.78 total! That's significantly more than last year! Ashburn, VA contributed $777.01 of that final amount.

READ MY 2017 CAMPAIGN AGAINST CANCER REPORT HERE.
READ MY 2016 CAMPAIGN AGAINST CANCER REPORT HERE.

Han's Holiday Hangover X-Wing Miniautures Tournament 2018

On January 7, Labryinth Games in Washington, DC hosted the Han's Holiday Hangover X-Wing Miniautres tournament. In attendance was much the same crowd as December's Holiday Starkillers Strike Back, and there were once again trophies and prizes to be won.

I decided to fly Lt. Karsabi and two Rho Squadron pilots in Assault Gunboats with cannons. But the day was a rough one: I had a pretty bad headache and the snowy weather wasn't helping to my mood (I really miss those sunny SoCal winters at times). But I made an effort anyway. 

In terms of my playing, the day was a complete disaster as I lost handily in every single game. As per usual, I only got a few photos.

For my trouble, however, I got the Jawa Junker Award! Even though its the last place trophy, I still put this up on my desk and have it proudly displayed beside my 2015 Force Choker Award. 

But still, I didn't have that good of a time overall (I want to make perfectly clear that this was through no fault of the event organizers...they were AWESOME). I just think I'm getting burned out on X-Wing. The current meta just isn't fun to play and I'm frankly tired of always losing. I try to practice as much as I can but life and work are starting to get in the way and I can't afford to stay competitive anymore. So I think I may take a break from the game for a bit and let the batteries recharge.