At long last I have found the time to do a short display of the recently completed 10 batteries of Austrian Artillery - along with six extra 'siege guns' for use in 25mm games.The 'red' gun is still not quite where I want it to be, having become much brighter in photographs than it looks 'in the flesh'.
Other than this the whole addition is a great new group and it appears that the guns and gunners may see action in a Tricorne Wars game at Jeff's table in April.
While laying out the batteries for display I also recalled that my very first painted Austrian unit, of Hussars, was still not adequately presented here on the blog, so I chose to feature my newest and oldest Austrian units in a single shot.
It also brought to mind the question for other gamers,
"Which do you prefer to organize/play: games based on the action(s) of the great empires or smaller bits taken on by lesser powers?"
6 comments:
Looking good!
I think artillery is my least favorite thing to prep and paint. I know quite a few people mention cavalry as their least favorite, but I find horses can be painted up pretty quickly and look good, but artillery has lots of fiddly bits between the wood and the metal.
In regards to your question - I tend to go for fictional scenarios (like the ones from the Grants' writings) or ones that arise as part of a fictional wargame campaign.
Like the artillery.. very effective... what make are your cavalry?? with regard to your last question, then I guess "either" - what grapbs my attention is an interesting conundrum to work out... for which reason I like campaigns, and odd sided games, more than most!
I tend to agree with you fitz as regards to casting artillery, especially all those wheels! The painting I do not find so hard, it is the cleaning the castings (but now I have a new bit for my dremel that I used on all these guns and blew through all the wheels in one afternoon!) and assembling them (without breaking the little axle bits).
Painting the guns is not so hard anymore, not since I have adopted more of an 'impressionist' style.
The cavalry castings are Prince August as are the guns (you may have guessed from the little gripe about casting wheels).
I too prefer the campaign situations and the sometimes lop-sided battles that can result, not so much when the odds are truly brutal 4:1 or worse, but when the odds are tough like 2:1 or even 3:1 (especially when the 'defenders' are dug in Russians facing lots of cavalry) such puzzles can be real tough nuts to crack.
Gorgeous!
The picture on the Imperial blog is fantastic!
I'm far, far below your skills, I'm afraid ... my goal is a quasi recognizable by a visually impaired player at 3 feet ...
:)
Arthur
Thank you for your kind words Arthur.
I saw your troops from Tipplebruder, very colourful and functional in the way you say you wanted them to be I should think.
Before the text was added I had some trouble picking out what was going on...common I should think for a static image...but once the text was added the whole story came to life.
The only thing I can think of that might add tons to your pictures would be to hang a sheet or blue-grey towel behind the tabletop so as to cut out the background, since this adds SOOO much to the focus on the table which is the goal in most cases.
Cheers
Hi Murdock,
Very nice work on those Austrian guns, crew, and hussars! Hope to see more of them in the future.
Best Regards,
Stokes
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