Ships in the, erm, winter..

 I finally cracked, caved in, conceded defeat and bought some more ships from Warlord Games for Black Seas ..

Yes, having said for almost 2 years that this was a beer and pretzels game, and that having more, bigger ships would not add  anything to the experience... well, of course, that was all lies anyway. 

So, here are a couple of 3rd Raters - one done as British, one as French. I do also have the third that comes in the set but haven't rigged it yet. 

The painting style and technique was exactly as the previous sets , as was the swearing while doing the rigging

And, just to prove they are different to the Brig and Frigates I already have, here are all three, ready for Goldilocks to steal their porridge !

Here's all my Blogger Black Seas content:

• First Steps
• The full how-to guide with tips and tricks
• Third Raters
• Adding a resin-hulled First Rate, and some extra rigging ideas 
• A whole page of these, together with some info on how they were painted and some tips I picked up on how to do the rigging as well.

Lockdown Podcast #11

In another surprisingly lengthy podcast the full team celebrate being back together with a conversation that covers all bases, as well as a few associated basing materials.   

Topics addressed in almost painstaking detail include;

• whether ink is just watered down paint with a better PR, 
• if starting a new period by painting the terrain before the figures is a crime against nature, 
• whether if ArmyPainter is good enough for goblins does that mean it's also good enough for the legions of Rome, 
• how long can anyone talk about an army who's uniforms are all white, 
• definitive proof that Eddy Izzard is actually talented at that comedy malarkey, 
• is the choice to paint horses or riders first the wargamers equivalent of the age-old "clotted cream / jam" debate, 
• how invading Egypt might be the ideal way to take a war to the British, 

...and - of course, a timely reminder of the poetic genius of Eric Morcecambe. 

There is also a discussion about that perennial under-achieving arab army, the Fatimid Egyptians in ADLG, another set of questions in Andy's Quiz, and the second triumphant week of Teaching Timmy about Napoleon.

As usual the Podcast is published on Podbean, and is syndicated to all of your favourite Podcast platforms 

Lockdown Podcast #10

With a frightening lurch into double figures (or a proper round dozen if paintbrushes and glue are your thing) the Lockdown team from Madaxeman.com are back yet again with the weekly soundtrack to a weekend of painting and avoiding household chores. 

As usual the podcast is available on Podbean, iTunes, Spotify and YouTube as well as other platforms where you find your pods.

Hot topics for tepid discussion this week include whether the best yellow paint is in fact Plague Brown, the Tau of Fire Hydrant Numerology, whether there was an aftermarket for refitting Egyptian chariots with go faster stripes and pumping stereos, how posh would a Samurai leader need to be in order to qualify for a self flushing toilet, whether Sisyphus would have been daft enough to start painting 28 bases of horses and how many arms per man do you need to make Fireforge's box of Mongol infantry.

The regular feature on ADLG List Building this week covers the Nikephorian Byzantines (in all its various modes of spelling), Andy's Quiz of course returns to help us all disco-down into the weekend, we talk in more depth about playing actual games on Tabletop Simulator, and a new feature is born in the shape (and theme tune) of Teaching Timmy About Napoleon, an idiot's guide to the Napoleonic Wars

Giving Bataille Empire a Go in The Garden

Having spent ages in Lockdown painting my 10mm Napoleonic French army, I have been keen to give the Bataille Empire rules a bit of a go. 

The rules have a beginners scenario, with two smallish equal forces attacking each other across simple terrain which is intended to give players a chance to learn the basics of movement and combat before moving onto bigger games and adding the all-important "orders" layer to the game - so this was what I attempted to do one sunny weekend afternoon last week.

The game was set up on a standard ADLG 80-120 mat, and I used 30mm MU move distances using some sticks I'd made from 30mm electrical spacers.

All in all I'm pleased to report that the mechanics flowed pretty clearly and allowed me to push lead around without too much head-scratching, to roll some dice and generate some outcomes.

This was my very first time shoving Napoleonic lead around at all, so I mostly learnt that there is more to this lark than Ancients with more complicated uniforms - it's certainly a very different feel, with different mechanics built on the same fundamental D6-based engine as ADLG. All in all an encouraging start and proof that my 10mm painting frenzy has not been wasted. 

The full photogenic rules walk-through is now online 

Lockdown Podcast VI

This week the regular crew mark a double-triple podcast milestone (or, more prosaically, this is the 6th Lockdown Podcast) in their ongoing rambling discussion.

Subjects covered this week in the paint-chat include Chinese Chariotry Umbrellas, whether a reasonably close encounter with a tin of white spray paint counts as "fully painted" when it comes to Austrian Napoleonic infantry, Gnomepoleon's leadership qualities, would Steve McQueen have cleared that fence on a Harley rather than a Triumph, how long the 7 Years War ran for, if double-depth basing has led to the end of monopose units, digital photography techniques for toy soldiers, opportunities for Buddhist monks on tortoises in contemporary tabletop warfare and the vexed question of how many simultaneous painting projects is too many?

There is also a special feature on the Later T'ang Army (ADLG list 169) in which all 6 contributors throw a list on the table for critique and discussion, and the return yet again of Andy's Quiz.

As usual the Podcast is available from Podbean, or by searching for the Madaxeman.com Podcast on iTunes.

(The T'ang lists we discuss are all published on the ADLG Wiki on the Madaxeman.com website).

A handful of 10mm French Old Guard

I've dropped a few photos of these chaps on Twitter already, but realised that they hadn't yet appeared here as well.

These are Pendraken French in Greatcoats & Bearskins, with only flock and flags to add to finish them off.

The bases are 40mm x 20mm

Here are some earlier WiP shots as well

Something new, shiny (and tiny)... 10mm Napoleonics!

In a first for me (first time ever owning any Napoleonic troops - honestly..) here are some newly-painted 10mm Pendraken Napoleonics based up on 40mm wide bases for our CLWC club-standard basing for Bataille Empire.

These guys are undercoated in Army Painter blue spray, then inked in Army Painter dark blue ink before having the other colours added to them

These are a couple of test paints of standard sized 4-base units, for which I've used four 40mmx20mm DBx bases with two ranks on the rear base and one rank + skirmishers on the front rank base to set up the unit.

Bataille Empire incorporates skirmisher screens as a defensive factor in shooting rather than as separate units or bases, so these units are based to represent good quality French Line infantry, with the two shooting figures out front denoting infantry with a Skirmisher factor of +2

This is my first foray into painting Naps, and I thought that by doing them in 10mm not only would they get a good mass effect, I also wouldn't have to be too detailed on the painting of straps and the like. However, I did get suckered into adding coloured epaulets on these... against my better judgement. I also tried dark-washing the trousers of the main marching infantry, which came out a bit darker than I would ideally have liked, so I repainted some wioth another layer of white. The 2 shooting chaps at the front have uninked trousers at the moment for comparison.

I've not got any knowledge of this period other than at a very (very...) superficial level, so the apparently very important colour schemes for the pompoms and feathers in their hats and the like is somewhat ("entirely") beyond me. Grenadiers stick around the flag and have red pompoms, and everyone else has some sort of cllour that is only yellow in exceptional circumstances... is I think how it works?

The fun and easy bit is mnaking sure they look interesting from the back as well - here I've done different colours for blankets, backpacks and their other impedimentia. I was looking for that WW2 german style gas-mask holder, but seemingly they don't have those!!

If you prefer bigger figures my website has a review page with all of the 15/17/18mm manufacturers listed and rated to help you choose, and I also have pages that pull out all of the current listings on eBay for Napoleonics (separated into individual listings by nation) so you can go shopping there - but I think I'll stick with Pendraken and 10mm for now.

Naismith & Roundway under new ownership

It appears that one of the classic "true 15mm" manufacturers is now under new ownership, with Naismith / Roundway being bought from Navwar and now running independently - and with a proper web ordering facility too!

Whilst I'll no doubt miss the sporadic trip to a particularly unlikely and grimy part of NE London every few years, its good to see these extensive ranges back in full 21st Century distribution.

I've updated the Renaissance, Ancients and Napoleonic listings accordingly.

Reviewing the new "Painting War" series of magazines

One of the nice things about producing a website such as this one is that occasionally nice people send you nice stuff - and this is exactly what happened when Quino Ruiz contacted me via the Madaxeman.com Facebook Page to see if I wanted to road-test a couple of editions of their new magazine (more of that later...) Painting War.

Read what I thought about the first three issues in my comprehensive review

15mm Napoleonic Auction pages

Following up on the Supplier Directory I've now added two sets of pages with listings from "live" eBay Auctions of 15mm Napoleonic troops - covering the UK and US versions of eBay.

Both sets of pages cover all the Napoleonic troops currently listed, as well as separate pages for the "Big 5" of France, Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia.

The UK pages can be reached through this link, and the US pages are online here.

Looking for 15mm Napoleonics?

I've just finished pulling together a new Manufacturers Directory, covering the Napoleonic period, and the completed page in all its glory is now up and running on this website via this link.

So, if you are looking for 15mm Napoleonic wargaming figures to use for FoG:N, Lasalle, Shako, Piquet, To the Sound of the Guns, Grand Armee, Volley and Bayonet, Empires and Eagles, General de Brigade, L'Empereur, Napoleonic Principles of War, Black Powder or any other Napoleonic ruleset you've come to the right place, as my new 15mm Napoleonic Manufacturers Directory page has information about all of the ranges carried by ALL the 15mm Napoleonic suppliers.

Each manufacturers individual listing has details of the nationalities they make, taken from the list of nations explicitly mentioned on their websites - these include: French, British, Prussian, Russian, Austrian, Spanish, Polish (including Grand Duchy of Warsaw), Bavarian, other minor German states (Saxony & Rhine Confederation, Wurttenburg, Hannovarian, Hessian, Saxon, etc) Italian/Neapolitan, Dutch/Belgian, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, and Turks. Many also have generic equipment and dead and wounded ranges too.

For each supplier there is also an indication of whether they are making "15mm" 15mm figures or "18mm" 15mm figures, how they package and sell the figures (singles, packs of 8 etc), details on how you can order from them and a link to their site.

There is also a set of new Auction Pages pulling live auction listings from UK eBay for 15mm French, British, Prussian, Russian and Austrian troops if you don't want to paint your own!

I'm not personally an expert on Napoleonic gaming or indeed the figures so I had some assistance from some of our club members who are - but if there are oddities in the way I have classified and categorized each manufacturers range, please let me know and I can correct them and update the page.

The page is live and online here