Monday, November 18, 2013

44th East Essex Regiment part-1

My first day a day walker. I finished my last night shift Saturday then remained awake most of Sunday to force my body to reset. I got nothing accomplished yesterday. We had a massive storm disrupt the power here yesterday which once dark fell made me inclined to pass out. My wife and brood proceeded to play Uno by candlelight. I could hear the kids being excited by the prospect of no school when the power came on. Of course I postponed bed till The Walking Dead aired, I also prepared several alarm clocks and made sure my disappointed children went to bed with backpacks prepared.
I woke up at 2AM from a clock my wife set then ran the gamut of locating additional alarms at 0230! I did 40 plus min of Insanity( a workout regime derived from Spanish Inquisition codices) and did a 2.25 mile run in gusting wind. I scrubbed myself up and got breakfast of bagels and oatmeal and plenty of coffee too. All accomplished before 4AM and the designated time to leave my house by so that I am not late for work. If a time crush is found, I'll have to eliminate Insanity( a hardship, but noble sacrifice)
So here are my Napoleonic British thus far, they haven't progressed much since these photos were taken. I hope to have them finished by Christmas. I cannot get more Napoleonic or my desirous 15mm Alien Legion till they are finished. I also want them completed before I tackle my primed and ready British Artillery and the French dragoons and line infantry. Throughout the summer my TV tray was buffeted by everybody and each tap resulted in scores of the 44th being knocked about. I do not think they will be suitable for skirmish as is, so I am pondering basing them up in company formation. The Victrix seem to be more stable and as I have a lot of minis from the flank company set, I think I will set aside a few from my current box and future purchases just for skirmishing. The rest will be company based as well. It seems that six is fashionable for that style of basing, so that is where my planning is for the moment. I am going to keep the Rifles separate as I only have 4 and won't need much to move them about on a battlefield. Unfortunately these photos are not too great, but do show where I am with then for the moment!

My wife found this Airfix multipose at an antique shop near our house and picked up the mint still on sprue and in plastic baggie for $2. I am painting him as King's German Legion. My cousin does not game much at all but does collect the unpainted boutique  models and paint them. I have occasionally partici[ated in painting sessions with him on his figures. I also have to add that even as a young boy I wanted to own all of the Airfix line of multipose figures with the Polish Lancer still being the top tier of my want list. Still I am quite happy with this fellow and he will be photographed later once he is completed.


Sharpe and a rifleman scouting the flank of the 44th Essex. the grenadier company is now completed except for basing.


The command group flanked by the grenadiers and light infantry.
three companies of line advancing behind them all.


The light infantry company and the other two Riflemen. I do not have rules for the period yet, but I have noted that HotT  uses unit bases. Not that I will use that ruleset exclusively, but it does appeal to me as my toy soldiers fought foes from every era...as I suspect I can do again with HotT!
I'll figure out something though skirmish is still high on my priority. 


I haven't researched the 44th Essex at this point. In truth the only reason I selected them was because I am doing the Penninsular War...The Perrys also only included flags for the 44th Essex in the box. they also included the 33rd Regiment, but the guides included have them as 1815 Waterloo.
there will be more as time progresses, so I will be including other regiments. I just want to have the regimental colors on hand before I begin to paint the lads!


As you can see, I used a white Primer as I wanted the red coats to really pop. Although it worked out as well as expected, I think I have been using a black undercoat for far too long now. I suspect that I may go back to black on the future regiments.
I used some P3 and gamesworkshop paints on these fellows, but most is of a now defunct line of Derivan paints Minis line in 36ml bottles. they are the squeeze dropper variety and thin really well.
I hope to acquire more, but I bought them on sale as discontinued product...wish I knew of them sooner!
I have scores of Airfix, Esci, Revel and other HO scale troops for Napoleonic battles. I freely admit to using them in battles across Shag carpet forests, Oak floor plains, and Dining room table mountains in my youth. They battled for the domino houses and wooden block fortresses, no AWOLs have been reported and none were subjected to paint brushes. I can still pick out the troops according to national allegiance despite them all being cream or grey plastic.
My son now leads them in battle and is in charge of their billeting. Yes he even has control of the artillery and the minuscule cannonball stacks and artillery buckets and lanterns that are still 100% accounted for!
It does seem odd watching him play with them. I can report that the British troops are still thrashing the French as they did in my youth! Daddy is keeping the matchbox WW2 forces and the ancient Romans, Greeks, Celts, and Egyptians. Hey I did let go! he now has more than 80% of the HO scale forces and all of my Marx, Timpco, and Timee troops! He even now holds the lease on the Britians castle and it's knights and Moors!
That is all for this week, I got to get the kid's up for school. Expect future posts on Thurs or Fridays as my new work week will run Sunday to every other Wed, I just got today off due to fatigue rules!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks, Ray! As you can see they are still WIP.
    I need to get the hussars yet as well to protect the flanks from the French!

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