just a little farther...

So, April was a bit of a blogging failure. I did not get very much done at all.Mostly this was due to work both security and military duties. I also was kept busy by my kids and birthday parties( mostly mine! ;) ), and a lot of wife mandated family activites! The later was yard work to include gardening and outdoor grilling. A big weekend was spent repairing an tending to the Rosa Sharon hedges and other plants that were waking up from the winter slumber. I also have been doing daily runs, insanity workouts and ruck marches/ runs; as fitness standards have not been relaxed and I have been doing little since deployment ended. This makes it hard on a 45 year old body as I do not have the quick recovery time of my youth! Despite the lack of April posts, I did get a bit done. A break in weather let me prime up the new Battle Fleet Gothic ships. I also printed up several Stozels Structures and added to my que of unbuilt PDF! I did some kit bashes with plastic troops, painted a bit on my incomplete armies that Household-6 wants done. In addition to this, I began painting the ork fleet and primered my Napoleonics. The fleet still needs a bit more work to be ready for a photoshoot. GW has ceased production on the Specialty Game range. With no available cash and lots to do, I can't order any available stock. I will try to pick up some more on Ebay and other sources later, but at the moment the fleets are locked in. The ork fleet is only four classes of ships which I have begun painting in the style of my 40k warband. The speed freaks Evil Sunz got some red and metal brute ram ships, the deff Skullz received some basic Onslaughts with the oscar like prows painted blue( blue is magic for them), the disiplined( for orks) Goffs got the big gunz frigates in black and red, and the military minded Blood Axes now own the unreliable torpedo frigates in gray and green. I'll have to dig out a few 40k ork squads to properly show off the paint once completed. I still have to figure on the chaos ships, but I'm leaning toward green and grey to match my nurgle marine traitors. I'm mostly excited to get started on my Nappies! The coats of primer are drying as I type! They are Victrix and Perry plastic. The British have Victrix Penninsular War Flank company and artillery and Perry plastic British line. I like the detail in the Perry models best, but Victrix let me build crouching infantry so I can form nice firing lines. I'll keep the regiments represented by individual manufacturers as although they match in size, the differences in sculpts do not mesh in the same unit! I primered them in white spray because I really want vibrant reds and whites. I hope to add a victrix center company, another flank company and additional artillery set. From Perry I will add another infantry company( or two as British Rifles are included! GOOO, SHARPE!), and a British cavalry set like the Hussars. The French do not have artillery yet, but they do have heavy cav and dragoons sculpted by the Perrys! I also have the Perry French line infantry. The sculpts are very good and the cav sets include casualty figures and battlefield debris which is very welcomed by me as the extras will dress up the artillery and make objective counters/ casualty dice counters. I plan on another two dragoon sets and a few more French cav sets...dismounted dragoons are also included! The French infantry was a mixed bag for me. The sculpts and options are great, but they are all marching! You can build six skirmishers, but no firing lines. Victrix has a large selection of French units, so I will see what they allow. I primed these fellows in black because of all the dark colors. I also prefer to work from black undercoats. The plan is to use the troops in skirmish games set in the Penninsular War and some of my favorite Sharpes books. I would not be suprised if I also do the Early India campaigns of Wellington as the Penninsular War uniforms are of the Period. I will eventually get around to the larger regimental/ division battles. This will be after I amass more troops. I'll nd to figure out basing too. I do not want to redo my work into block formations, so I will need to make movement trays to allow for the bigger clashes of formations. For now, Mr Sharpe will be taking on French cav, infantry, and dragoons trying to give time for the rearguard to spike the guns...after blasting some frogs to oblivion of course! ;)