Some 15mm Modern and Command Colors Napoleonics Work in Progress

All,

Despite my very busy playing schedule with the Cuba Libre campaign, I've also had some other stuff going on.  First, I bought the "Command and Colors: Napoleonics" boardgame, as well as the Austrian expansion.  I intend on playing the game with miniatures, and what I'm using are "10mm," which in this case is actually little plastic Risk game pieces.  Several years ago I bought quite a bit painted from Gunner of "La Petite Armee," but I need quite a bit more.  I'd bought a bunch of the Risk pieces off of E-bay a year or so ago, and now I finally have something to do with them.  The other issue is that, for the third time in my short wargaming career, I've gone big into 15mm.  The first two times I bought a slew of 15mm WWII stuff for company/battalion-level games, painted it up (or mostly so), then gave it away.  Now I'm looking at 15mm modern skirmish gaming, and so I've ordered up quite a bit and been working on it.  With more on the way, and more in the purchase queue.

Let's get to it.

First up, Brian (AKA, "Irishserb," a purveyor of fine 15mm gear), sent me two AAVs for my modern Marines, and they are fantastic!  Both have the dual turret (M2 .50 caliber HMG and Mk19 automatic grenade launcher) and the add-on side armor.  The vehicles are crisp, no flash, four pieces (hull, turret, and both tracks), and they went together like a champ.

They look great, I can't wait to get them on the table.  Guess I need to prime and paint'em.  So much work to do...

On to the men.  I ordered some Peter Pig troops from their Vietnam range.  On the left are the US LRRPS, which I'll use as LRRPs, Rangers, Green Berets, and SEALs for the Vietnam era, and I was also thinking about using them as modern-ish SEALs for some "Tears of the Sun" action in Africa.

On the right are Peter Pig Vietcong.

 The reverse, VC on left and US on right.  The VC are just in black pajamas with different colored bush hats, while the Americans are wearing cammies.

A close up of said cammies.  The Peter Pig figures are great; for all the talk about "Jay Leno" chins/faces, it's crap.  At 15mm it's irrelevant, and they look great.  The only thing I don't like about them, and it's purely personal preference, is the fact the boots come up so damn high.  If you look at the legs closely, you can see where the trousers are bloused and the boots begin, just below the knees.  I wanted the boots un-bloused, or a least lower; I painted them as un-bloused.

Then I got a bunch of figures from Rebel Minis.  These are Americans and insurgents for the desert; they are painted, washed, based, and sanded, but I still need to paint and wash the bases, so not quite finished...

I also bought Rebel Minis' "Bongolesia Battle Pack," so I still have African regulars and militia that have only been primed, as well as a VIP and a hostage (black primer, far left).

Oh, and then I bought some Rebel Minis modern Chinese (not sure why, khaki primer), as well as some Peter Pig casualty figures (top) and modern Warsaw Pact (bottom, green primer), which I'm going to paint up and use as modern Middle Eastern regulars.

I bought the Rebel Minis' SWAT team, and I love them.  Of course, I have no desire to do police stuff, I bought them purely for modern military Special Operations "Direct Action" types.  I painted them up as MARSOC guys, but I'll use them for whatever Special Forces guys I need.  This is the 'green' team.

Another look.  I painted them up like they're wearing flight suits, light gear with flak vests (coyote brown), and MICH helmets that were spray-painted camo by the operator.  They have a mix of MP5s and M-4s; the M-4s have big flashlights, but I painted them like their 203s.  My only aggravation is that a couple of the figs aren't wearing packs, but it's okay.

Another look.  The poses are absolutely fantastic, and the detail is amazing.  These are far and away my favorite guys so far.

A close up.

Here is the desert version (please forgive the unfinished bases) of the Direct Action team.  Same poses, same gear, done up the same way except wearing khaki flightsuits and helmet colors are reversed.  Oh, and the weapons are painted desert camo.

Next up is some more Rebel Minis modern Americans.  I have a few of the SWAT guys thrown in, but the vast majority are from the US Special Forces range.  I thought they looked perfect for it, so I painted them up as Somalia-era, "Blackhawk Down," Delta Force guys with hockey helmets and black vests and gear.  I did up an expressionistic 'tri-color' desert cammie (only used two colors and a wash)...

I think they turned out alright.  I also painted the helmets a dark green to have a little color, as well as contrast with the goggles strap.

Ewww, next up are some bad guys.  These are Rebel Minis' "Fedayeen," which I will use as Saddam Fedayeen in early Iraq, ISIS/ISIL for later stuff, and maybe even Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.  They are magically uniform, but so much the easier to mass produce.  Black uniforms with yellow boots and webbing.

The whole mess of them.

Yay, back to some good guys.  These are Rebel Minis' modern US infantry.  I painted them all in desert tri-colors, actually used three colors this time.  It turned out okay, not great, but good enough for me.  The M-16s all have ACOGs, so really only appropriate for 2003 and later, but I'm not afraid to tell you that I'll happily use them for Somalia as well.  They have Interceptor vests on; sticking with the 'early' theme, I painted the vests woodland camo, and gave the desert goggles black straps.

A close up of a couple SAW gunners.  I like'em.

Back to bad guys: these are Rebel Minis insurgents.  They are also great, and I'll probably get the most use out of these bad guys.  They are suitably suitable (yes, suitably suitable) for pretty much anywhere with desert basing.  I will be using these for Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, whatever, they're good to go.

A close up.  I did spend more time on these making them look less uniform.  I worked in different colors for trousers, shirts, and keffiyehs.

Then I fell upon Crescent Studios 15mm pre-painted Middle Eastern buildings with hungry eyes and open pocket book...

This is one set; most of them have lift-off roofs.

This is the second set.

And this is the third set, as well as some separate fruit stands I purchased.

I've got to tell you, these are the lazy man's dream: you pays your money, then all you do is lift them out of their precious little boxes.

Another look at set number 3.

Being pre-constructed and pre-painted is not to take anything away from Gamecraft Miniatures, whom I also paid a visit to.

First up is the watchtower, which I  bought on special, and it came assembled.

Then I bought a load of the outside stairwells so popular in the Middle East.  At top center you can see one in use with a building.

I purchased a couple metal dumpsters, as well as some plastic fruit stands.  They've been primed khaki.

And then I bought a gas station from them!  I must admit, when I opened the box and shook out all the pieces, I almost passed out.  Then I went nuts when I didn't find any instructions!

Then I calmed down and actually took a look at it; I grabbed some Elmer's Glue (PVA, to you Brits) and slapped it together in five minutes, no sweat.  It was actually super easy, I just need to get around to painting it!

And now to the Napoleonics.  Here's a look at a bunch of the little Risk pieces I had bought, still glued to popsicle sticks.

Here is a look at a professionally done stand.  This is a unit of British Line Infantry I purchased painted.

And then, along the bottom, are all the little British infantrymen I recently finished.

Starting with two units of Rifles.

I think about five units of regular Line Infantry.

Then a couple units of Guard Infantry and one of Lights.  Obviously they all need to be based, and then I need to come up with flags for them, but then I will be completely finished with all the British infantry (when combined with the stuff I already had) I need for Command and Colors.

I needed another set of Heavy Cav for the Brits, so I took some Russian Cuirassiers and painted them as "The Blues."

 Reverse.  Not too bad, I'm getting better at this painting stuff.'

Top: all the Dutch infantry I still need to finish (they've been primed, then painted trousers and coats only so far), and (bottom left) some Brit artillery I need to finish.

Well, that's what I've been working on the past month or so, when not gaming.  There will be additional pictures and separate posts once the various elements are finished.

V/R,
Jack