New Blog, and Old one still going!

Hi, just a quick note for everybody - as you'll see from my last post, I was pondering a move into more general wargaming, but I've decided to keep this one strictly 18th-Century!

For those of you hankering for a battle report of some sort (and god knows it's been a while from me,) I can only cordially invite you to notice my other blog at:

http://generalheadquarters.blogspot.com/

where for your entertainment, the 'French Upstart' Napoleon is taking on the combined allied powers somewhere in Germany in 1813. (So, from the perspective of this blog, Science Fiction!)

Bloggage

The SYW Painting Project groans on, but my wargaming remains active. As a matter of fact, I’m actually buffing up some ACW figures at present, following my recent reading of Bruce Catton’s excellent books on it.

Aha! The above sentence may be something of a surprise to you, as it’s the first time I’ve mentioned non-18th Century wargaming. I actually do a fair bit, like DBA ancients, Medievals, 2mm Napoleonics, ACW (soon!), WW1, etc. etc. However, I’ve always kept the ol’ blog strictly focused on my 18th-Century campaign. Mentioning anything else felt strangely like ‘breaking the fourth wall’ in a way, as if I was spoiling it.

However, over time I’ve come across many other blogs (Wargaming Miscellany, A Wargaming Odyssey, Geektactica, Steve’s Random Musings, Steel on Sand, - to name only a couple) which cover several periods. Plus, with this repainting scheme underway, it’ll be a fair while before I can campaign again for the blog – while in the real world, I’m still very active in the hobby. I've other campaigns I'm happy to share, but no blogging outlet for it all.

So, I thought I’d solicit some opinions from the valued readership – should I convert my blog into a multi-period ‘General Wargaming’ blog, or should I start a new one for this and keep ‘K-und-K’ strictly 18th-C only? I’m still pondering what to do, but haven’t made up my mind yet. Any other bloggers out there with advice are welcome to share their thoughts!

Grenadiers

I hope everyone's weekend went well - I had lots to do, but thankfully I also managed to squeak in a little bit of painting. In a refreshing change I also took some figures up to the finished stage in one go - my grenadiers!

Luftberg's regiment of Pilsen Grenadiers have grown from the eight originals (based to the old system, on the left of the photo) to twenty-four frosty-eyed killers, fit to maul any battlefield. The uniform is just based on the first paint-effort I did years ago on my originals, which combines the two usual facings-colours of the army - red on the collar, blue on the coat-tails & cuffs. It's not based on anything historical, but just came about because I liked it. The figures are Essex Miniatures' Hungarian Grenadiers, as I thought that would add a touch of Mittel-Europa swagger to the figures!

Oh, and you may have noticed something else: no command group, with flags and drums! There was a reason for this, as when I ordered my figures initially I decided against getting any commanders. I had some vague notions the Pilsen Grenadiers would be a 'Combined Grenadier' regiment, assembled from the detatched grenadier companies in the other regiments, in the typical style of the age. As such, I wanted to give them less of a 'finished' look with their officers, colours, etc. Purely personal inclination, of course, and it hasn't translated into paint-schemes or anything complex - I just like 'em!

Coming up next on the painting table, some strips of base-wood which I'm planning to paint up as river and road sections. My terrain is growing with my army!

The Pre-Holiday Works

Ta Daa! Here, you see the bulk of the completed brush-work. Obviously I was more stressed pre-wedding than I realised, as I managed to burn through pretty much the entire remainder of the Luftberg Infantry! Roughly, there's enough above for around four or five bases, using my current basing system of 12-figures per base.

Here's a pair of close-up views of some of them, arranged so you can see the back and front. I carried out all the painting to a structured plan, which I've detailed on one of my previous blog postings. It seemed to help, as I had all the stages written down on a big table and doggedly ticked off each completed section as I went ("Hats, done... Cartridge boxes, done..." etc.) It helped me see progress, which is definitely needed after a major session when you've just had to knuckle down and paint about 100 black gaiters - sadly there seems no way of avoiding at least 2 or 3 seriously dull 'plods' of this sort!

And here's an extremely-extreme-close-up. I stuck to the 2-foot rule, eliminating all detail that's not visible beyond this. Plus, the figures have still to be 'dipped' and this will greatly help with picking out details, etc. So, why haven't I dipped them yet? Well, I've not entirely finished all the infantry yet - I've just killed off the bulk of it. Here's what's still to do:

At the top you'll see my Grenadiers, who were left aside in the drive to get Line Infantry out the way. Below them, the red fellows are my skirmishers. I recently became siezed with the urge to paint them as Croat Grenzers, with a wildly impractical uniform of bright red. This means I'll actually have to destroy one of my new bases, as I've stuck the existing three down and they're painted in their 'old' uniform of a practical grey, which will never do! I'll only have my light troops sneaking silently through the woods and rocks while dressed in the most outrageously dandy-ish manner! These cut-throat fops can just count themselves lucky that neon hasn't been invented yet!

LAst of all, we have the deeply unglamorous stuff: a mass of horses, which I find the most irritatingly dull thing to paint; mounted officers, of which I seem to have loads; and the tail-end-charlies of the Line Infantry, the stray figures who came unstuck from my painting sticks and will have to be buffed up individually.

Fingers crossed for the weekend!

The Elector Returns!

Hello all! I have finally, after several weeks' absence, returned to normal life! I have been away from wargaming, first for the minor matter of getting married, then for a honeymoon. The wedding went brilliantly, and amazingly quite problem-free, so 'the empress' is now officially in the family, and I've now done some travelling in continental Europe. We headed off for a two-week cruise around the Baltic Sea, which proved to be fantastic. I've visited Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Russia, Sweden, Tradgardland and Norway. Quite a break!

Even with all that was happening, I still found myself in quiet moments pondering my hobby - I've quite missed it! Now that the wedding preparations and travelling have happily ended, I might be able to get back to normal. Despite thinking that I'd have no time before the big day, I actually found myself getting more painting done than normal, which means the mountain of Luftberg infantry is actually largely done. Now all I need to do is paint up some odd non-line units like grenzers and grenadiers, then I can dip & spray the whole bunch, and base them all. Once that's out the way, I can get on with the minor step of buying the Aschenbach figures and Luftberg cavalry I need to complete the armies to a playable standard. They look great, but it's quite a pain trying to run a campaign without a model army to put on the tabletop!

I'll start posting regularly again, and priority No. 1 is to get some photos of the painting efforts - updates on the way! Priority No. 2 is to read through all the regular blogs that have been posting for a fortnight and I've not had a chance to read. :-)

All Quiet on the Front!

dear me, but what a succession of obstacles have been thrown my way!  Wargaming has almost entirely ceased on the tabletop, what with the loft being full of junk (ie, 'cleaned out' which essentially just means everything being moved around - never matters how much you throw out, the rest of the junk just seems to expand and take up the room!)

Anyway, wargames space has vanished.  Painting has slowed to a virtual standstill.  The final purchase of figures has been postponed.  Spare time has disappeared.  All in all - a perfect storm of distractions to derail my hobby!  About all I've managed to do recently is read blogs!

Anyway, at least there's a reason.  In four weeks and one day, I'll be getting married!  Yes, the Empress herself will be setling down with me as I make an honest woman of her.  I've managed to keep at least some background hobby-activity up until now, but there's no denying the amount of time on hobbies is draining away- I'll have to admit defeat, temporarily hold off future posts, and get my head down for the next six weeks.  Mind you, the last two weeks of that time is my honeymoon, which should be an enjoyable and well-earned holiday!  Once that's done, I'll doubtless have stacks of spare time to fill up, so I'll be looking forward to my return to 'full time' Aschenbach & Luftberg campaigning.  Wish me luck, and I'll be back soon!

C

Happy Birthday, Dear Blog!

Much celebrating tonight, as this day marks the 1-year birthday of the 'Konig und Kaiser' Blog!  I thought I could go on for a bit about how much I've enjoyed it, how it's been great for my own hobby-pursuits, how it's given me focus and inspiration, not to mention bringing me lots of encouraging comments from kind fellow-hobbyists, etc.  But then I thought 'Pictures Speak louder than words' so below, by way of simple illustration, is a show of what a year of blogging your efforts can encourage you on to achieve:

Above is one of my earliest photos of my entire army.

And here is one of my latest photos showing a small part of each army!

Enough said...  Except for one last essential - a massive thanks to everyone who has ever commented or read and enjoyed any of the posts here.  It really wouldn't have got this far without your help!