Xmas greeting

It's here again. How quickly time flies. It's all gone a bit mental here again as the Xmas orders have rolled in and we are once again having to paint like devils to get orders out while attending kids nativity plays and Xmas shopping. For those of you that have used our little Painting service this year thank you for your business and to those of you still waiting for figures thanks for your patience. We sincerely hope you find our figures worth waiting for. In the meantime may we wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

28mm Napoleonic Spanish

A commision of 28mm spanish painted and based. The figures are from Eagle miniatures. From front to back :Spanish militia,Principe Infantry Regiment and Regiment Irlanda

28m British Artillery (more pics)

Perry Prussians

Napoleonic Prussian Line Infantry and Jagers in plastic waiting to be based and and flaged.  The perry figures produce a very nice solid battalion and each set (British, French and Prussian) comes with associated skirmishers. All are now available on the website.  

More British Artillery pics

15mm French infantry

Occasionally we get a request for some 15mm figures. These are Napoleonic French Guard based by the customer. These are part of an ongoing project and I think look pretty effective. A number of figure suppliers are now doing some very nice 15mm figures. Its a nice scale for quickly building up those armies while still retaining some of the detail that you may loose in smaller scales.

British Artillery + British Cavalry

Just some of the latest figures coming offf the paint table.

Spanish Regiment Irlanda.

The Irlanda were raised from Jacobites who travelled from Ireland to Spain after the Williamite Wars in the late 17th century.At the time of the Napoleonic Wars there were still three Irish infantry regiments in the Spanish army: Irlanda (raised 1698); Hibernia (1709); and Ultonia (1709) formed the Irish Brigade. The Irlanda fought at the  Battle of Albuera. However in the later years of the existence of these units only the officers were Irish or of Irish descent, the men being predominantly Spanish or other foreigners. All three regiments were finally disbanded in 1815.

Price Changes

After two years of business we are finally having to raise our painting prices. Unfortunatley the rising cost of figures,paint,basing materials and postage means that we have to do so in order to make it worthwhile painting somebody elses figures.   For those of you who have already sent us figures or have recieved quotes for commisions we will honour those prices that you have been given. All future orders from the website and commisions will be charged at the new rates. These are shown below:

The table below gives a cost per figure for painting and varnishing .Add the amount below to the cost of the unpainted figures.

                                   6mm          10mm       15mm      20mm           25/28mm

Infantry/Gunners         £0.40          £0.60        £1.00        £1.60          £2.50 

Cavalry                      £0.65          £1.00        £1.60        £2.40          £3.50

Guns/Limbers             £0.30          £0.45        £1.00        £2.00          £3.00

Unmounted horse       £0.25          £0.40        £0.60        £0.80          £1.00

Tanks/Trucks             £1.00         £1.50         £2.00        £4.50          £7.00

Too have figures Based add 5% to cost.

Postage  is now charged at a flat rate of 5% with a minimum of £2 and a maximum of £30

28mm French: The Jerome Napoleon Hussars

Just marched (or trotted) off the paint table.

Perry Vs Victrix vs Metals

This week we have finished two sets of French Infantry. One is a Victrix Early French regiment consisting of a half box of the figures. The other is the Perry French Infantry Regiment consisting of 42 figures including some multi part skirmishers a nice drummer figure,officer and eagle bearer.
The pics are below. The Perry's are not based since the customer in this case likes to base his own. Whilst painting these the above question kept cropping up.

You probably already now the difference. The perry figures are much more uniform in their stances looking like an advancing regiment with a skirmish screen. They are also a lot easier to base on a regimental stand since the ranks behind are not in danger of bayoneting the rank in front. They come as complete moulded figures, for the most part anyway so once cut from the sprue they are ready for undercoating. The backpacks are separate which means that you can get into those nooks and crannies before sticking them on. And with the selection of greatcoats they also look like they are on campaign. The victrix figures on  the other hand if you have ever seen them are like an airfix kit. It take us ages as painters to put them together adding a day to the production of a regiment but therein also lies their advantage. We paint the bodies before any heads arms, rifles or backpacks go on. Then touch up the areas where they are attached during the highlight process. The fact that the heads aren't attached make it so easy to create individual figures (we sneak the odd perry spare head onto victrix bodies) as well as using bandaged heads from other units and eras to produce a little talking point within  a regiment. The figures are also in some great bayonet poses. Some ask what is the point of the kneeling soldiers. Having painted hundreds, perhaps thousands of these figures now I have come to a simple conclusion. If you want a solid infantry regiment block for a large scale game go perry. If you want to play a small scale skirmish game with individual figures (hands up you sharp fans) then go Victrix, you'll get more what I call useable figures from a set. Which leads me onto metals. We frequently paint metals for people. In all eras and as you will probably know quality of casting and cost varies considerably. We have received figures that are covered in flash, missing parts of limbs and with unidentifiable lumps that may be a water bottle or a bread sack. If you have been on the brush too far web site you will have noticed the price difference between a painted metal and a painted plastic unit. It can be quite significant particularly if you are trying to build a large force. So why is it that some gamers I have met turn their noses up at plastics. I can put up a picture of a painted metal nap figure up against a painted plastic nap figure and dare you to take the Pepsi challenge and in my acw units i regularly mix plastic and metal regiments very successfully. Well I might have an answer. My son is nine. Recently whilst I was painting the french above he walked over as he usually does staring wistfully at the figures in the vain hope hope that i might suddenly say 'Hey kid these are for you' and after a moment he said 'Dad those look like my toy soldiers'. And there it is. That awful demon that lurks in the back of every gamers mind and that rears its ugly head whenever said gamer hears his wife tell her mother that Jon is playing with his friends and their toy soldiers. And that is the answer to the question plastics versus metals, for on every pack of metal miniatures are written the words "NOT A TOY"

More Romans

Latest Set of romans off the production line

Roman Command Figures. Metal Foundry figures. painted with acrylics and matt varnished.

 Roman Imperial Pretorians. Foundry figures again.

Get your own on the website.