Please support this great cause by donating and follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/555132547876509/. Join the event whether you can attend or if you'll join in from home, and please share.

We're running a 24-hour painting marathon for Save the Children. Please check out this great charity's work - http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do. Our target is for a group of us to paint 48 British WWII soldiers (28mm) and sell them off to raise some cash, plus individuals will be painting their own miniature figures for sponsorship pledges. If we can raise £500 GBP, we can really help. I have set it up through JustGiving so that there is no need to handle money, and so that Save the Children can gain through GiftAid (U.K. taxpayers), meaning that an extra 25% on top of what you donate will go to the charity.

So, get over to the forum and get yourself down to the event. If you cannot make it, pledge to get your own project completed at home, and send your donation in via the JustGiving page: http://www.justgiving.com/ironmanII.

Thanks to Firestorm Games for providing the venue, and to Great Escape Games for donating the figures. 
And for those of you that find your hobby time squeezed by a significant other, what better excuse to spend a whole day painting than to raise money for a good cause! 

So please dig deep and donate now!

Général de division finished

Did my first youtube video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtbZxWlRxtI - about doing the groundwork for a 2' x 2' gaming board for Dead Man's Hand.

Général de division

I've been pre-occupied with cowboys for a while, but the Napoleonic project continues.

I have become enamoured and inquisitive about the uses for weathering pigments for my wargaming work. The Napoleonic army is being based using ProPigments. I use Vallejo's basing paste, washed with Vallejo Earth and drybrushed a bit. Then I build up the pigments as shown below:

A mix of Raw and Burnt Umber was slapped on.

Next, just Raw Umber.

 Raw Umber and Raw Sienna.

For a bit of green, I mixed Chromium Green and Raw Umber.

I added a bit of Light Green Earth to the above blend.

Next, white spirit was dabbed on. This flows really nicely and helps to blend the pigments.

Now dry, the base is ready for decoration.

23ÈME RÉGIMENT DE LIGNE

40 man regiment representing two battalions of the 23rd Line Regiment, based for Wine, Mud & Dumplings, a most excellent ruleset by Tony Carasco. This is my big project for the year, likely to extend well into 2014. At the moment the plan is to paint 72 Light Infantry, 40 Cuirassiers, 16 Dragoons, 6 Guns and various command types. Next in the plan is 20 Cuirassiers which should take me until the end of June.

This is a view from the enemy end.

And this is our main attack force:

We played a huge game of RoE on Saturday, and these were our orders:

"...capture with the haste the village of Cairon on the main road D22 to Caen. Upon successful completion of your primary objective, you must clear the village of all enemy forces and hold the road open. Establish your headquarters in the hotel and send out scouts towards Buron. Hold the roads and village against counter-attack until we can reinforce.

Elements of the 12th SS Panzer Division have fortified the village so you can expect stiff resistance. On your left flank is the North Nova Scotia Highlanders who will be taking an alternative route towards Buron. I cannot stress how important it has now become to open the roads to Caen and beyond. 

We cannot rely upon naval support due to the number of civilians reported to remain within the village and neighbouring farms. We are promised armoured support from a regiment of the British 5th RTR, though I have heard that they are making slow progress towards our location."