New Brigade Painted

After the first experimental unit I started painting a new one, this time in blue uniform. It went a lot faster and the result was also better, so I am quite happy with them. To play Edgehill I need 11 of these units, 6 for Parliament and 5 for the Royalists. For the next brigade I´m considering removing the two drummers from the first line and replace them with pikemen. Here´s a photo:

First painted figs

(This and previous posts are backlogged history, the project has moved forward since. I want to document my steps for my own benefit. Soon my posts will catch up with my actual progress and the blog will see more "live updates". I also want to take this opportunity to apologize for bad language, English is not my native language)

After I had settled on a map solution I went ahead with the actual painting of the miniatures. Apart from Epic 10 or 15 years ago I have never painted any 6mm at all. Here is the result of my first experimental brigade.



I made many mistakes, I painted slow and quite clumsily. Lessons learned:
1) Glue figures to wooden sticks
2) Paint a whole brigade at one time. (In my case 8 Musketeer stands, 3 Pikemen stands and 1 command stand).
3) Use bright colors and paint adjacent fields in contrasting colors (these I also picked up on forums, but their wisdom only became apparent to me when I started to paint myself).

The Map

The first issue was the map, so that I had something to put my new 6mm figures on and play. This is how the Edgehill map looks like in TACW (picture above from Vassal-module) with the opposing forces setup. Click the picture for a larger version.

My initial plan was to simply scan and print out the regular game map at 200 percent and play on that. But this felt a bit silly and I do want some terrain so some other way had to be found. I then turned my attention to terrain maker systems such as GHQ:s. But their hexes are too big, 10 cm across. I would need hundreds of them to play even small battles such as Edgehill above. Too costly.

Then I found, through a forum, Hotz Mats. They produce felt game mats with preprinted hexes. Perfect for my needs. I quickly ordered a mat with 1,5 inch hexes. After a while I realized that 2 inch hexes would be better and changed my order to a mat with 1,5 inch hexes on side and 2 inch hexes on the other.

As you can see on the picture above, the heavy infantry is formed into double hex counters. These big formations are my favorites. Here´s a closer look at them (picture from BGG):
















My project will be centered around the requirements of these big units. The space these occupy will determine how everything else will look.

Beginnings

Introduction

Welcome to my blog!

Here I will post pictures and write a little about my new project: playing my favorite game Musket and Pike: This Accursed Civil War by GMT Games, using 6mm figures instead of counters and real terrain instead of an abstract map.

I´ve been playing Musket & Pike for almost two years and like the games a lot. They are well made, historically correct and very fun to play. I have successfully introduced the series to my gaming buddies. These friends however (and myself secretly) tend to favor playing with miniatures.

So I found Baccus! One order has already arrived and has been painted. Another with rest of the infantry is on the way and should be here any day now. Cavalry will be the next order. This is how my figures looked when they first arrived:



Initial Goals

For once, I´m trying to be organized and goalminded. I´m starting out small, always a wise thing (but something I never remember to do).

My first goal is to be able to play the battle of Edgehill (from TACW, link above). This tells me exactly how many units of figures and what terrain I need. I also know exactly when I need to be finished with this first step: the 26th of November. Why? In the weekend following this date there is a gaming convention in the town of Helsingborg. I have contacted the organizer of the event and told him that I´m willing to arrange a game of Edgehill on the convention.

So it begins.