"Bugs, Sir; Millions of 'em!" (Entomalian Fleet Part 7)

The Entiomalian Starlet has long been the weakest of my four fleets of starsgips. As they ought top outnumber everyone else, this situation could not be allowed to continue... and with this large group of smaller ships completed today, it will not! Added to the Fleet today were:

Two more Stellar Destroyer Leaders (underside seen here).

Entomalian SDL's seen on a 2" hex grid.

That will make 4 Entomalian SDL:'s altogether.

2 more Entomalian Cruisers.

Entomalioan SC"s

The detailed undersides typical of the range.

5 new Starbombers.

Entomalian SB's

Added to the three I had already had makes 8 total!

Undersides of the Entomalian SB's. 

Five new Entomalian Destroyers./

Entomalian SD's.

Added to the three existing ships of this class, there will be 8 of these as well. 

Underside of the SD's.

Six new Entomalian Star Armored Pursuit Ships. 

Entomalian SAPS.

SAPS typically have fighter defense as their primary role.

Undersides of the SAPS.

I also added another 16 Entomalian fighters.

These are the "Heavy Fighter" flavor. 

Plus another 10 Entomalian missiles.

Incoming!

2nd Regiment, Grenadiers a Pied de la Garde Imperiale

 Unlike the 1st Regiment, the history of the 2nd regiment of Imperial Guard Grenadiers is somewhat convoluted! A second regiment of Grenadiers of the Guard was initially raised on April 15, 1806, but it was absorbed back into the first regiment in 1809. A new 2nd Regiment was raised from the Dutch Royal Guard  on September 13, 1810 as a consequence of the amalgamation of  the Kingdom of Holland with France. On May 11, 1811, however, the Dutch Grenadiers were re-numbered as the 3rd Regiment, and a new (French) 2nd Grenadier regiment was again raised. Disbanded after Napoleon's first abdication in 1814, the 2nd regiment was raised again for the last time on May 9, 1815. It was dissolved for the third and final time on September 24, 1815.

This picture shows the officer's distinctions well - gold cords on the bearskins, gold epaulets, gold buttons. Note also the red and gold bandoleer for supporting the Eagle. Like the 2nd Chasseurs posted last month, these are 28mm Essex figures.

This shot shows the gold piping on the collar, cuffs, lapels and turnbacks of the drummer, and the red mixed with gold cords and epaulets of the NCO.

I used a wash of  CC Wedgewood to bring out the details in the breeches and the lapels; also dry brushing of the red plumes and epaulet with CC Adobe Red, and the bearskins with CC Hippo Grey to bring out some of the details there as well. 

This rear view shows the white grenade emblems on the "patch" of the Grenadier's bearskins well, and also the "aurore" grenade ornaments on the red turnbacks. The Grenadiers are reaching into their cartridge boxes, and preparing to load their muskets. "What has it got in its nasty, little pocket-etses?" A rather unusual pose, but I think the unit came out looking well. 

This 2nd Regiment of Grenadiers a Pied of the Imperial Guard completes the last of the new units I need for my Montmirail games at Historicon in 2 weeks. Now if I can just get my workhorse Epson CX6600 Printer/Scanner/Copier/Card Reader to work with Windows 8.1, I can print out their flags and the Grognards will be ready to appear upon the field of honor. If not, I may have to hook it up to my old Windows XP machine again!

La Marche Des Bonnets À Poils

*The* March of the Old Guard!

Merchant Ships - Brigade Models

I needed some commercial shipping to run some of my Galactic Knights scenarios at Historicon next month, so I decided to get the "Merchant Convoy" fleet pack  from Brigade Models in the UK.  It includes 12 ships in seven different variations.

Here's the finished "Convoy", on a 2" hex grid.  It consists of...

2 x Medium Container Ship. seen here in the bare metal,

2 x Heavy Freighter, and 1 x Heavy Merchant Cruiser

2 x Light Container Ship

2 x Light Freighter

2 x Modular Container Ship, and 1 x Modular Armed Merchant Cruiser

These could have been assembled with any mix of gun and container modules

Here's top down view of the Convy after priming them white.

Another view of the primed Convoy. 

I then spay painted them a relatively bright Fluorescent orange color.

In part, this color isn't associated with any of the five fleets in Galactic Knights, 

plus it reminds me of the color of industrial steel drums of chemicals, etc. 

I then sprayed them with acrylic matt fixative, and then brushed on Magic Wash.

The Magic Wash has brought out the details in the models, as well as giving the ships a bit of a grimy, "used", look. They then got another coat of acrylic Matt varnish. 

Here's the spray paint I used on the ships. 

Close up of the finished ships.

Once again I have used "facing colors" to differentiate the ships; nothing too fancy for these workhorse craft!

White and light grey for most ships, black for the more heavily armed ones.

Silver for the gun mounts, few as they are. 

"Oily Steel" for the thrusters.

The Magic Wash  has worked especially well on these ships, I think. 

The smaller ships.

Light blue for the engine flares. 

The whole, finished Convoy!

The Convoy comes with six black plastic flight stands. I have mixed feeling about flight stands in general. Certainly, ships are much easier to store and transport without them.  Unlike aircraft, space is largely empty and without perspective, so I'm not sure that flight stands really add much to the look, although in some games they are part of the mechanics. They aren't necessary in Galactic Knights, and I am inclined to skip them for these merchantmen.

Artillerie a Pied de la Garde Imperiale

Rolling off the painting table with a few weeks to spare before their appearance at Historicon is this battery of French Imperial Guard Foot Artillery. An earlier post covered the organization of the Guard Artillery, so we can skip right to the pictures!

These are 28mm Essex figures, once again purchased recently from Wargames, Inc, as part of their ongoing sale as they clear out their inventory of this line. Napoleon was thrifty, and so am, I! :-)

The front figure with a slung musket is painted as a drummer - solid red lapels, gold trim on the lapels, cuffs, and turnbacks. 

You can barely see it, but the gunner at the lower left has the chevron of an NCO on his sleeve. 

Napoleon nicknamed these 12lbers his "beautiful daughters". Overall, I think I prefer brunettes, but they are handsome!

Group photo with my 1st battery of Guard Foot Artillery, also Essex, painted approximately 10 years ago. 

The first battery has the white gaiters worn for full dress; red cords were also worn on the bearskins for such formal occasions! The new, second battery will make its debut at Montmirail in less than 3 weeks.

La batterie d'Austerlitz

A bit of a play on (French) words, as the term "batterie" can apply not only to an artillery battery, but also to a piece of music, usually intended for military maneuvers, typically played on drums, sometimes accompanied by fifes. This particular drum piece is a famous one from the Empire, and it is interesting to see all the tricks the drummers use to execute it - using far more than just the drumhead!