Freebie with a twist

A few weeks ago they asked on the Hat forum if anyone would be interested in painting some test figures of their soon-to-be-released late Russian infantry. I was keen but, knowing that I am a slow painter, wondered whether I'd be able to keep my end of the bargain. Then I thought "I have more time to dedicate to hobby stuff than previously, plus a bit of pressure to paint some specific figs would not hurt," so I put my hand up.

To my joyful surprise, I received an email almost immediately, asking for my address. I pointed out that I live in Oz, so would understand if they did not want to post them that far. No problem with that.

On Friday I had a card in our PO box telling me that there was a package to be collected and it was them.

The package included a sprue each of Russian infantry marching and 'in action', plus one each of the also soon-to-be released American War of Independence (AWI) British cavalry and artillery.

I washed the sprues on Friday evening, then prep'd the figures yesterday, gluing on the back packs, removing tiny bits of flash, before sticking them onto bases and undercoating them.

I'm gonna paint the AWI figures as troops of the (French) revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, so a bit of modification was required and some exchange of horses and cannon from amongst my spares. More on these once they are completed.

Painting will begin this afternoon. The 'twist'—the moral obligation that I feel to get on and paint them—is a good 'problem' to have and part of the joy of it all.

December plans

Further excitement yesterday. I am planning to catch up with the fellas from the Serpentine Group in mid December, a combined trip to see the speedway in Albany and then we'll have a two-day game at John's. He and Steve have been having some ripper sessions, which Steve has reported on the group's blog.

The added excitement came c/- a text from John out of the blue yesterday arvo':

"How would you go mustering this contingent for the forthcoming engagement?"

It sent me into a bit of a spin, to be frank. I wasn't expecting that! This took me through a few emotions: can I, can't I, how long until 13th December, what do I have?

I (metaphorically) dived into one of my cupboards to have a look at my Poles. I have the necessary figures, easily, except for the 20 'christmas crackers' (Krakus); I have 18. I could use two figures of the Polish-Italian Legion uhlans to make up the numbers. I'd check with John. Trouble is most of the figures need finishing touches—the 'dreaded' last 10%. Why not use this as a great reason/impetus do that last 10% and bring 'em, finally, to completion?

Can I 'trust' myself to come through? My past failures concern me, but 'don't let past failures be a guide to future performance', hey? I have more time to dedicate than ever before, so why not accept the challenge? Last week I completed a good sub-set of the 1/700 Japanese ships for Pearl Harbor, so my plan was already to stop building and to paint said ships and the figs that I have on the go. 

'Cept I already have the added 'pressure' to paint the figures from the test sprues from Hat. This is an important caveat. C'mon you wuss. There are 36 figures in all in this lot. Surely I can finish them in two weeks? That'd give me three weeks to do the finishing touches to the Poles.

Challenge accepted (and accepted that it is mainly in my head)!

Two of my trays of Polish (Duchy of Warsaw) cavalry, all 'good enough' and clear what  they represent, but all needing some finishing touches.

The third tray, plus some of the artillery at right.

The full tray of artillery, with undercoated 2nd infantry, plus the last tray containing limbers, Polish-Italian Legion uhlans and generals.

John, as ever, the great, encouraging friend said,

"Plenty. Bring the caisson and limber team... I'm hoping to do the beautiful 20:1 figure ratio and that "In the Grand Manner" look. 18 Chrissy crackers will do nicely! Add finishing touches as you please!"

Later he added,

"You wouldn't by any chance have 16 Berg lancers, would you?"

Oh my goodness. I have 12 and could make up the numbers with Westphalian chevau-legers or, more likely, ‘chocolate eclairs’ (1e éclaireurs, the Young Guard ones with the lance).

"I have 12."

We'd gone past the usefulness of texts. Time to talk.

That conversation took my excitement up a notch or two. How good is this gonna be? A section of Leipzig, I did not ask him which specific bit, but we will be somewhere in the south of that huge battlefield. The 'Grand Manner' style involves battalions as regiments, cavalry regiment(s) as brigades, so in reality his usual kinda figure scale, but with the smoke and mirrors of BIG units at 1:20 scale for the specific unit that they are painted to represent. Hence the 16 Berg lancers.

I did some more delving into my figures after our chat. I can do better than 12. Another four, unpainted Zvezda lancer figs won't be too much of a stretch.

So, in the course of three days I have gone from Plan A of finish off the figures that I have been painting and paint the 1/700 ships that I have built, to Plan B of paint the Hat test figures as well as, to Plan C of finish off the Polish cavalry, generals and artillery as well as, to Plan D of finish off the Berg lancers as well as.

If only everyone could have such wonderful 'problems', contentment would abound!