Gallian Canadien Militia Unit #1

After a lengthy period of dabbling, I finally finished the first 20-figure unit of my Gallian Canadien militia for the Gallian (French) and Indian War period.  Except for the officer, these are Old Glory Courier de Bouis figures.  The officer in a spare Dayton Painting Consortium (ex-London Warroom) Spanish officer.  I've glued an extra musket into his hand.

Composed of 1 officer (center), 1 sergeant, and 18 militia.

I also painted the militia commander, Senior Captain Padraig Pelham (named after my late brother, Patrick).  He is also a Dayton Painting Consortium Spanish officer.

Waving his hat, Senior Captain Padraig Pelham urges his men forward against the "Rosbifs"

My grand painting scheme - to have all my imagi-nation 18th Century figures painted by May of 2012 - has been derailed by life.  When I developed this scheme and reported on it back in November 2010 (link and link), I didn't expect that my wife's second broken leg in five months (first was back in June 2010) would have a significant impact on our family dynamic.  Evidently I had forgotten already the trials and tribulations from her first broken leg.  I found that my painting time and energy was severely curtailed as I cared for her and shouldered her share of the food preparation and house keeping, as well as continued with my own share.  That has only slightly decreased as she has progressed in her recovery.  So, to make a long story short, my grand scheme has been completely discombobulated (that's a Southern expression meaning really truly all messed up).  I'll continue to follow the order that I established, but the goal of painting 24 infantry or 12 cavalry or their equivalent per week has been blown.

The Project - Figures to be Painted

Ed of Hesse Fedora asked in the last post how many figures I'll be painting in my project towards a Big Battalions game at the 2012 Bayou Wars convention.  I've made up a painting schema so I can track my progress.  From that schema I have the following troops and equipment to paint.  These figures include some of the figures I'll be painting for the French & Indian Wars game I'll be running at the 2011 Bayou Wars convention.

Britanno-Germanian
          2 mounted officers
     476 infantry
     119 cavalry
       52 gunners, 10 guns, and 8 limbers (each with 1 or 2 horses plus a drover)

Gallo-Imperium
         4 mounted officers
    528 infantry
    120 cavalry
      51 gunners, 6 guns, and 6 limbers ( each with 1 or 2 horses plus a drover)

If I can acquire the appropriate Miniature Figurines Seven Years War figures at not too high a price, I'll paint the following additional forces:

Britanno-Germanian
         2 mounted officers
      24 infantry
      48 cavalry

Gallo-Imperium
      36 cavalry

The Imagi-Nation Project

In November 2008, I attended the MilleniumCon convention in Round Rock, TX (north of Austin) and participated in the Big Battalions in Texas Seven Years War battle using Bill Protz's Batailles de l'Ancien Regime (BAR) rules.  It was a lot of fun.  I got to bring some of my imagi-nation troops and commanded part of them in battle against the rules author.  Ever since I've wanted to participate in another "big battle" but wasn't able to fit any of them into my schedule even though I ran a couple of small games for my wargames group last year.  But after inventorying all my various boxes of unpainted SYW lead I've come to the conclusion that I might have enough infantry and artillery to form a core of an order of battle for a "big battalions" game at our regional convention, Bayou Wars.  Now I don't have enough painted for the convention this summer, but might have enough for 2012.

So that's my project -- paint enough of my own troops to form a core around which other gamers can contribute their own forces to conduct an imagi-nation game in Germania (AK Germany) that would pit a Britanno-Germanian army against a Gallo-Imperium army using a scenario based on the 24 June 1762 Battle of Wilhelmsthal.  The "official" announcement will be after the 2011 Bayou Wars convention when I'll be able to measure tables and get approval from the Bayou Wars Board of Directors for the game.

And the challenge will be to hold to a schedule of 24 infantry or 12 cavalry or their equivalent per week. Can I do it?  Or will I get painter's burn-out?  Only time will tell, stay tuned to periodic reports.

The schedule begins with completing my French and Indian War figures first (thankfully some will be used for the 2012 battle), which will occupy me through the end of January 2011.  I'll begin the main drive the first of February 2011 with completion aimed at the end of March 2012.  An audacious plan but one that I believe I can accomplish.

Now back to the paintbrush.