When Irish Eyes are Smiling

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Everyone should grow up with an Irish Grandmother. Happy St. Patrick's Day and here are some of my Irish troops:

 Manus O'Cahan's Regiment of Foot - English Civil War (28mm Warlord)

Colonel Alexander MacDonnell's Regiment of Foot - English Civil War (28mm Warlord)

Army of the Potomac Irish Brigade - American Civil War (15mm Old Glory)

164th New York Volunteer Infantry - American Civil War (15mm Essex Miniatures)

1st Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers - WW II (15mm Battlefront)

Dillon's Regiment of Foot in French Service - War of Spanish Succession (15mm Dixon) 
 

FitzJames Regiment Regiment of Horse in French Service - War of Spanish Succession                  (15 mm Dixon Miniatures) 
 

 88th Regiment of Foot (Connaught Rangers) - Napoleonic Wars (28mm Wargames Foundry and Front Rank)

28mm British Airborne Squad from Artizan Design

I was a bit concerned at doing the Denison smocks in this scale but I must admit to myself (okay . . . I'm giving myself a pat on the back, they turned out pretty good!).  When I paint I have to remind myself that I am going for the look at gaming distance - not magnifying glass distance.  I might have to give Bolt Action or one of the other WW II skirmish scale games a try.

Keep a Journal!

Me painting the second battalion of a regiment.

I was recently asked on a recent posting what color palette I used for a unit I painted. Without hesitation, I pranced up to my war room, blew off some dust, and grabbed my Ancient Tome of Knowledge and replied with which colors I had used.

The Ancient Tome of Knowledge

I don't remember exactly when I starting keeping a journal of hobby information, but it was in the mid 2000's and I was working on the 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 15mm for Flames of War. I usually do not work straight through a project so I had painted one unit, did something else and then came back to the Highlanders. Hmmm . . . how did I paint them? Thus the journal. I highly recommend keeping a journal, it's not hard, and it can be a real memory jogger! It's also useful for interesting information, even if you are not working that particular part of history or fantasy. Here are some examples of my notes and the figures they produced.

What started it all.

15mm British Infantry from Battle Honours (Flames of War).

My painting guide using hard plastic Perry Miniatures French Infantry.

I like to add color to my tabletop whenever possible, so half of our Soviet Infantry was Soviet Naval Infantry.

A variety of 15mm figures and tanks for my Soviet Naval Infantry from Battle Honours.

I think there more Highlanders in a British Peninsular Army than Wellington could have wished for and more German Fallschirmjagers (paratroopers) in table top armies than there were in real life. Why? Because they look cool.

28mm Metal Farschirmjagers from Warlord Games. Their plastic Farschirmjagers, in my opinion, are too difficult to put together. (But I'm not great a models!)

The English Civil Wars, or if you prefer The War of Three Kingdoms is one of my favorite periods. Figures are 28mm from Warlord Games and Perry Miniatures. Yes, I know I need to fix some of the Infantry flags by trimming off the white.

I love Colonials especially the British Raj and the British Indian Army. Figures in 28mm by Artizan Designs and Copplestone Castings.

The latest entry. Figures are 28mm from Copplestone Castings and the correspondent is from Artizan Designs.

Havildar Abdul Qadir orders you to start that journal!