Perry Miniatures v Foundry Wars of the Roses

A quick shot of a Perry designed Foundry figure with one of their new plastics. I have just started work on a box of these.

PM figures are much more anatomically correct with smaller heads and are half a head taller. Foundry WotR are some of the older figures and to me not really compatible. I will be building separate units and gradually replace my older Foundry figures.

The plan for 2010

The Matabele: Zulus with pom poms!

2010 is going to be busy for me as I try to get my new company going soI will need my painting to de-stress me! In 2009 I painted 210 figures which, much to my surprise is actually four more than during 2008. So how did I do on my 2009 plan?

Sudan
Well I still didn't finish the dreaded Gordon Highlanders but I did finish my second rub of sixty Beja and managed a game with them at the club. They are still a priority for 2010.

Great Northern War
I painted thirteen figures but my enthusiasm has dimmed beacuse of lack of output from Musketeer Miniatures. I know Bill has had a tough year but does he not realise that just by finishing the Russian command groups (they are promised "100%"for January. Right.) he will get a whole lot more orders? I love painting them so will do more.

Dark Ages
I painted nine: a mixture of Normans and Early Saxons. No immediate plans to do any more.

Punic War
I said I had no plans to do any but did 8 Balearic slingers and 6 Carthaginian veterans. They will be a fairly high priority for this year.

Greeks and Spartans

I got none done this year but may still do the odd Spartan, as I have a few on the workbench.

The Great War
I got 30 early War Germans completed and this year will have a go at some British. I also need to finish the late war Highlanders and the tank I have started.

Zulu War

I finished one Zulu war Briton but am making good progress with a big batch of 24th foot and more Zulus. A priority for 2010.

Napoleonic
I only managed four figures, two French and two Dutch. Maybe it's never going to happen!

Others
Apart from these I did a few one-offs (Swashbuckler, Masai, Back of Beyond, Schleswig Dane) plus some periods where I painted a few (ECW, Ancient Germans, Celts and Louis XIV) but the biggest numbers were for Lord of the Rings (22) and Darkest Africa Belgians (48).

I have rearranged the workbench and at present my priorities for 2010 look like:

Zulu War, Sudan War, Darkest Africa (more Belgians and Masai), WW1 (late war Highlanders and early war British), Punic War, Schleswig Wars and Lord of the Rings. So far January is going well and I am up on my target. I am aiming not to travel so much this year and so hope to get more done.

Big distractions ahead look like the Mutineer Miniatures Indian mutiny figures and the fothcoming North Star Matabele Wars figures.

Christmas painting...

Orc Captains

Well, I haven't posted for ages but what with Christmas and trying to get a new company going with a friend (we are sick of working for other people who don't get what we are doing!) I've been a bit stressed. It doesn't mean I haven't done any painting though, just not as much as I had hoped.

Crusader Carthaginian Veterans

Part of the problem was down to my next choice of unit to paint. Having got on well with the Belgian Force Publique I thought I would do a unit of 20 Carthaginian veterans. All well and good and they are in fact finished except for one thing: shields. I ordered some LBM transfers when I bought the figures but it was only when I started to prepare the shields that I realised that Crusader had included mixed shields (perfectly justifiable for such a unit) but they had only included three of the ones I had bought transfers for. I need to order some more transfers, therefore, but I just haven't got round to it yet. Anyway, here are the ones I have done so far. Writing this may make me go and put an order in for the rest!

Other than these I have been painting odd bits again:

New Foundry Zulu

Firstly, one of the "new" Foundry Zulus based on the Mark Copplestone darkest Africa dollies. I hate to say this, as I love Empress miniatures, but they are really rather good and I have already bought some more. Anatomically, I think they are better than Empress, if not quite so good on period and historical detail (the weapons are oversized too). I will mix them up with the Empress and Wargames factory plastics and they do mix up, very well. I have an assorted group of Zulus which I should finish this weekend so will put up a comparison on my Zulu Wars site.

I also finished a pirate girl which is a figure I bought at Warfare but I can't for the life of me remember the name of the manufacturer. She was so nice to paint I have already started another one but we do at least play pirate games reasonably often at Guildford so she will see some action (probably die in the first move)!

Foundry Masai

I finished my first Foundry Masai who has been lurking on my desk for some time. A really lovely figure and I recently picked up some more on e-Bay and undercoated them today.

I didn't get much gaming stuff for Christmas this year, although my sister bought me Dan Snow's Death or Victory about Wolfe and Quebec (which I have visited quite a few times so that will make it doubly interesting) which I am looking forward to reading. My son, Guy, was worried I wasn't getting any soldiers so persuaded my wife to take him to Games Workshop and bought me a couple of Lord of the Rings Orc Captains. I started them on boxing day and finished them the next day. I have to say that I love painting these Perry LotR figures; the detail and character in them is amazing. We played another LotR Battle Companies game over the holiday and I needed to paint another couple of Orcs for Guy's force. These I did in one evening as he needed them the next day!

Quickly painted Orcs!

I had a big sort out of what was on my workbench and have put a lot of stuff away. I still have months worth on my desk but it is a little bit more focussed! I did a little bit of painting today when the sun came out briefly but on many days it has been so dark I couldn't see to paint at all.

Another thing that has ben keeping me from painting is that I am building a 1/48 Airfix Spitfire (it's all James May's fault) but I'd forgotten what a long drawn out process it is, especially when you paint before assembling as I do. It's a change of pace anyway and I'm doing it really as pratice for my big 1/48 Junkers JU 52 which I want for my Pulp forces.

Next I'll post about my plans for 2010...

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year...