Re-evaluating 'Miniature Wargaming the Movie'; plus progress

I did not think that I'd be interested in seeing the film Miniature Wargaming—the Movie, but I have gone from 'likely never' to a 'definitely want to see it'. This change came about firstly due to Keith Flint and secondly to LittleWarsTV, Greg Wagman in particular. Thanks Keith and Greg.

A recent post by Keith about the film on his blog led me to look at the review by Greg on LittleWarsTV (from January this year) and then on to the extended interview with Joseph Piddington, the director and producer of the film, in the LittleWarsTV (free) subscriber section.

Greg's frank, detailed and considered review had me interested. He described the quality of the production, the section on the history of wargaming (a recently piqued interest of mine!), which made me think that there would be enough there to interest me. He ended up suggesting to have a look at it, even though he had some reservations about it and felt that it presented a negative image of the hobby as the three/four stories used were not particularly up-beat (to paraphrase). The interview with Joseph, particularly the full-length one, sealed it for me. Here is a genuine and thoughtful person an aspiring young producer-director (no, of course, he is a producer-director) and a passionate wargamer who has produced a thoughtful and interesting film. The target audience is the 'general public' or perhaps, in Joe's words, that friend or relative who wants to know why we do this (seemingly) strange hobby. I reckon that I'll find it interesting too, even if there will be sections that I will not relate to and/or annoy me.

I am sure that the insights from 'industry insiders' about the nature of the business, especially the cottage-industry nature of it, will have much that will be new/news to me. Further to this I look forward to Joseph's next project which will be aimed more at wargaming enthusiasts and which I, as one who generally avoids kickstarter and the like, can see myself chucking in a few dollars to help get off the ground (and paying to view it once it does). I'll keep my eyes out for further news about it.

In the meantime, I'll have to find out how I can see the film. Part of Keith's post was about his annoyance at not being able to view it yet in the UK. Sadly, there was no mention in Greg's interview with Joe about a release in Australia—nor Europe for that matter. Hopefully it will be a matter of time.

Ah time. That limited 'resource' that seems to evaporate when we are doing things hobby.

The two videos mentioned above were really interesting, but were great from another perspective. The videos being chiefly about the words, as opposed to the visual, and those words being in English, meant that I was able to get some basing of my early Austrians done while 'watching' them! Here are a few photos.

No, not Brunswickers in kasketts, but early Austrians by Italeri. Undercoated some time ago, now most of the fiddly bits done and basing material added. Ready for a few more details and then white.

When I first got a box of these "Austrian Infantry 1798-1805" by Italeri, I thought that they were far to big. They are more like true 25 mm figs than 1/72. I then hit on the idea of basing them on really thin plastic card (the sort that comes as a base in those re-useable, material shopping bags). This is sufficiently thin to make them about the same height as 1/72 figures when the latter are based on my usual 1 mm ABS sheet.
As I have painted them I have liked the figures more and more. The detail is excellent, poses are good to excellent and flags and drummers are plentiful. They are fine from 1792–1798 and I'll be using them for the Austro-Turkish War of 1788–1791 too. I have also recently found out that many units still wore kasketts in the Marengo campaign, so I'll  be using a lot of them for that too.
All this is just as well since I sought them out from several suppliers when I thought that they were difficult to get and have ended up with twelve boxes so far and another eight to come! Of the fifty figures per box, thirty-five are in kaskett, nine in helmets (including the officers above) and six grenadiers (seen at the back of the photo above this one).

My basing material (green): PVA glue, acrylic paint, sand, old, dried coffee grounds and old tea leaves. Needs to be stirred often as the heavier materials sink to the bottom.
The latter are two materials that come from a beaut idea of Iain Dickie's in his "Wargaming on a Budget".
I like using this mixture as it is easy to mix, reasonably easy to apply and adds weight to the plastic figures without making them too heavy, plus aids binding them to the base.

Below are some more photos of my recent hobby 'travail'. It will not look much compared to posts of past progress, but there are some changes: adding 'fiddly bits' like facing colours, and metal for muskets, but also in converting figures to use for Grenz hussars, early uhlans and Polish-Italian legion uhlans.

Austrian Grenz hussars with Mézáros uhlans behind. In process of having more 'red bits' done. Also need some colour on the horses, of course!

As above, but with 'red bits' done, plus some artillery—the gunners in greatcoats are the only figures that I have at present. Nothing else is produced in plastic so I intend, later, to supplement these with some from Irregular and Newline.

Polish-Italian legion uhlans. Blue and crimson needed to make these look like something, plus some colour on the horses too.

French infantry, also with some of 'fiddly bits' done. A splash of red added to some of the grenadiers when I have had some 'decanted' paint to use up. Plenty of blue and white, plus some more red needed. Strelets "French Line Infantry in Egypt" with a few head swaps.

More French infantry, plus Napoleon at Marengo as one of my vignt-et-un Napoleons.

More French infantry, Strelets "French Line Infantry in Egypt" again, with some converted to flag-bearers using flags made from tin foil from Milo lids or from around wine bottles. The flags will be shaped once painted.

Consular guard (for 1800), three more of my vignt-et-un Napoleons and Napoleon's guides for 1796 (and I'll use the same figs for Egypt). A mix of many figures and conversions there.

Austrian grenz. I started these some time ago, then put them to the back while other figures (those above and my First World War figures) took precedence. The grenz units in Italy in 1796 (and in 1809) had white coats. I'd like to get all the Austrians to the stage of the white-coated grenz here by the 4th. Figures are Hat grenz and I'll use as is for 1796, despite the backpacks and blanket rolls being worn over each shoulder rather than slung. I considered some 'cutting and trusting' to convert them, but decided against it!

Most of the 2 mm Austrians. I'm doing them as circa 1809 (much as you can tell) and they have had yellow added, hence that colour standing out!

Julian and I are catching up for a session on the 4th. I want to have a go at the Battle of Voltri using a my first pass/adaptation of Kriegsspiel. It has been twice delayed due to 'other things' cropping up. I have been happy about that as it has given me more prep. time. I'd like to have the above figures looking a good deal like they are meant to, so at least have the base-coat done. Some more of the 'fiddly bits', some more basing and then I'll be applying white, white and more white;