28mm Swiss Line Infantry for the Neapolitian Army 1848

This is the second unit that I've painted for my Neapolitan  (Kingdom of the two Sicilies) army for my Risorgimento project. The Swiss line infantry was some of the highest quality infantry in the Neapolitan army until they finally abandoned the cause. Those that remained loyal were incorporated into their own Neapolitan line units bolstered with local recruits and remained dependable and highly performing. There are enough battles where they fought, and with uniforms this glorious, I had to have at least one unit for my Neapolitan army.

The figures I've used are from Gringo40s Piedmonte Infantry line. Yes, I could have used their Neapolitan figures, but I wanted a slightly different look for these from the bulk of the rest of the army's line infantry, so I opted for the covered, more modern, shakos.

I don't really enjoy painting white straps over red uniforms. I seem to make a mess of it normally. I took a different approach on these. I first primed the figures in a Zenethal white scheme, very heavy on the white. I then painted in the red uniforms using Vallejo Xpress Color 'Plasma Red'. This is a 'contrast' style paint. By doing this there was just a small amount of touch-up of white over red. I then was able to go over the rest of the white straps much more quickly and effortlessly in white. The only other 'contrast' paint used here was my favorite 'Dwarf Flesh' Xpress color on the flesh. The remainder of the figures were painted with a traditional acrylic basecoat, wash and highlight method.

Other than the officer, all of the red was left as a single coat of the 'Plasma Red'. For the officer's coat I went over the recesses with an additional coat of the same paint as a pseudo-glaze / wash.  I'm still getting more experience with highlighting large areas. I feel on the pants on these guys I've done a better job than on previous units. Every unit you paint is a chance for learning and improvement, even after 30+ years doing this. These represent six more figures on this year's tally. Next up on the painting table, a group of three units of line infantry for my Piedmont army.

28mm Royal Naval Guard "Real Marina" of the Kingdom of the two Sicilies 1848

This is the first unit for my Kingdom of the two Sicilies for my Risorgimento project. I hope that this is the start of the last major army for the project. I will admit, my initial figure purchases were all over the place as I compared figure lines and explored options. This is one such exploration.

The naval infantry "Real Marina" unit was an elite unit and comprised half of the Royal guard. That said they were far from ceremonial, participating in several campaigns including the  Battle of Volturnus in 1860. I'll include an image of the Peter Dennis painting of this battle which shows the unit fighting in their campaign hats. I've tried to model this unit after that painting. To do so, I've re-purposed Perry Miniatures ISA33 Infantry marching, flank co, greatcoats and 'Isabellino' caps from their Carlist War line. The backpacks aren't an exact match, but they're close enough for me!

The core of the line infantry for the Neapolitan army will be from the Gringo40 Neapolitan Infantry line, but I wanted something 'different' for the guard unit and this unit and these figures seemed to fit the bill. Not all guard wear bearskins!

Here is a good look at their packs. They are missing the characteristic blanket rolls. I considered adding them with green stuff, but they would have been positioned comically high. Also who's to say that on campaign, the luxury of carrying some non-regulation gear wouldn't be allowed to such an elite unit? Either way, this is how they're going into battle, like it or not!

 

 

These will count for another six figures in this year's painting totals. Next up a unit of Swiss line infantry for the Neapolitans. To the left, the Peter Dennis painting that I mentioned above. I've opted for flank company figures with their more adorned shoulder scales, hoping to set the 'guard' unit off a bit more on the tabletop. Call it creative license.

28mm Battaglione di Faenza, Papal army 1848

28mm Battaglione di Faenza, Papal army 1848. Volunteers of the national guardsmen from the city of Faenza.  These are Perry figures from their American Civil War line: pack ACW61 - Early Confederate infantry in Sicilian Hats.  Unfortunately this pack only contains three figures with these hats. This requires a two-pack purchase for the six figures needed with six left over figures wearing head scarves. The latter I'll use as generic Garibaldists in my Garibaldi forces. I do wish that Perry would make a pack of six of these figures, possibly with additional poses. I have at least two other units that this particular figure would be a great fit for. When doing the Risorgimento, one has to be particularly resourceful to find appropriate figures for some of the lesser known units. Repurposing and converting is the name of the game here. Chocolate Box Wars small figure count makes both much more tolerable allowing exploration into periods with less figure support. 

This unit wore an a simple light blue uniform. With light blue being a challenging color to paint and shade I looked outside my normal process for this unit. I primed the figures in light blue and made a medium blue wash from contrast paints thinned highly. After coating the entire figures with the wash I was very disappointed with the tide marks from the wash.

 

I pressed on wit the rest of the blocking in, and after a light wash on the weapons and faces I repaired all of the light blue uniform irregularities with a thorough highlight pass. Now I'm much happier with the result. If I had to do it over again, I might de saturate the blue a bit, but for a first try, they're good enough for the girls I go out with. I suppose if it ever bothers me enough I could hit the entire unit with another wash of some sort. I'm likely to just leave them as-is.

These figures even look the part from the back with their simple haversack and canteen. Perfect for quickly raised and trained national guard!

Hopefully Osprey will forgive my use of their image here showing the simple all light blue uniform. I can highly recommend both of the Armies of the Italian Wars of Unification books from Gabriele Esposito published by Osprey. These with Espisito's more thorough book, Armies of the Italian Risorgimento published by MMP Books make for nearly everything you need in terms of Uniform research for the period.

These comprise another six 28mm figures for this year's painting totals. Next up my first unit for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the elite Royal Guard naval infantry regiment 'Real Marina'

28mm Legione Polacca (Polish Legion)

These figures represent the Legione Polacca (Polish Legion). In addition to fighting in the Hungarian Revolt and the Crimean War, the legion was first hired by Piedmont to reinforce the Northeast of Italy, but it didn't arrive there in time before Piedmont sued for peace. They then were in the service of Tuscany for a few months, finally ending up in Garibaldi's Army of the Central Italian League, aka the Army of the Roman Republic serving in 1849 and 1850.

These are the last figures from my recent order from Keelmen Miniatures. They are lovely sculpts that were quite fun to paint, although the white hat piping was very challenging. I will not hesitate to order more Keelmen miniatures should I ever choose to paint up a Hungarian army for the Hungarian revolt. I highly recommend the line.

This unit is a 'Swiss Army Knife' able to be slotted into several armies of the period, but it will likely be used mostly in it's primary role as a line or 'foreign volunteer' unit or a for the Central Italian League army.

This adds six more 28mm figures to this year's painting totals. To be honest, I'm finding these small six-figure units quite motivating to paint. Each is like a 'snack' on the painting table providing lots of variety. Even when you hit a challenging part of the unit, you're through it relatively quickly.  We'll see how I feel about that when I paint up four units of Piedmont line infantry at once at 24 figures.  Before that, I have two more two stand units on the table that I'll reveal here when they are finished.

28mm Volunteers of the Italian Legion - Second War of Italian Unification

This is the first unit in my Italian Roman Republic / Central Italian League / Garibaldi army. This unit represents the 'Italian Legion' or 'Legione Nationale'. I've depicted them in the second uniform, as it also makes them eligible to be used as generic Garibaldists if I wish. 

These are lovely Keelmen miniatures from their Volunteer Legions - Hungary 1848-49 range. I've filed off the "death's head" emblems from the hats to convert them for use as the Italian Volunteers. 

This line has just enough poses to allow each of these three-figure stands to be a small diorama. This one the NCO is giving some orders to the troops and....

 

 

 

in this one, the men are standing at the ready, drinking and reloading.

I've used a mix of traditional acrylic and Vallejo Xpress color 'contrast' paints on these. Contrast for the bedrolls, packs, hat feathers and flesh, traditional paints, washes and highlighting on the rest. I'm starting to get 'in the zone' as far as deciding when to and when not to use 'contrast' style paints. 

This adds six more 28mm figures to this year's painting totals. Next up, volunteers of the Legione Polacca (Polish Legion).

28mm St. Patrick's Volunteers

When I decided to attempt to do all of the major armies for the Risorgimento for Chocolate Box Wars this particular Papal unit was high on the list of reasons why. These are the St. Patrick's Volunteers. Irish Catholics who fought for the Papal army during the Italian Unification Wars. These uniforms define all this is desirable about the Chocolate Box Wars historical period. Other than possibly the uniforms of the Wars of the Triple Alliance, I can't think of a unit with a more colorful uniform.

 

These are Gringo40s figures. They are in fact the only figures that Gringo40s makes specifically for the Papal army. I will likely be using some Perry British Intervention figures for some of the line units and filling out the rest of the Papal army with various volunteer units. The Papal army is an eclectic bunch. That's part of the appeal of it!

The yellow piping on these figures was a very large challenge for my aging eyes and hands. I took over an hour PER FIGURE to lay down and tidy up just the yellow piping. Suffice to say, I'm happy that six figures is all that is required for a unit in Chocolate Box Wars. I wouldn't be up to the task of painting this unit for rules with larger figure counts.

 

Next up on the painting table are some Polish legion figures and some German legion figures. The latter will be re-purposed to represent one of the many volunteer units of the era.  Following this, likely a return to the Papal forces with a unit of Papal Zouaves. Another wonderfully colorful unit for the Papal army.

28mm Piedmont First Bersaglieri

The next unit for my Chocolate Box Wars Risorgimento project, a unit of figures for the Piedmont 1st Bersaglieri in their summer uniforms. These are Gringo40 figures from their 28mm Garibaldis War 1860 range.

These are wonderfully well sculpted figures although I was surprised to see they came with flat-topped hats. Looking across my various resources, I have found more references for Bersaglieri in round-topped hats, but there are enough references with the flat-topped hat to justify its use here. Considering how well the rest of the line is for accuracy, I'm going to give Gringo40 the benefit of the doubt here. 

All of my references show this unit as having shoulder pauldrons in blue, piped in red. Sources vary from the blue being the same color as the tunic or lighter. The former seems more plausible to me so I went with that. Note the reference to the left shows the unit in its winter blue pants. I've depicted them in their summer white pants.

The figures really don't have any visible piping, so I did my best by painting the whole pauldron in red, then 'filling in' the majority of it with blue leaving a thin section of red behind. Honestly they looked FANTASTIC in all red, but I opted for historical accuracy over beauty. I still regret the decision. Still I'm very happy with this unit and happy to have another army started while I wait for more lead to arrive in the post.

Next up on the painting table is the papal St. Patrick's volunteers in their amazing Green uniforms piped in yellow.
 

 

 

 

 

28mm Austrian Grenzers

This is another unit for my Austrian army for the Italian Risorgimento project. These are Keelmen miniatures. My friend Ed gave me the tip that if I painted these up in pink facings they could also represent one of the few Grenzer units that fought for the Hungarians during the Hungarian revolution. Not wanting to pass up the extra utility I took Ed's excellent suggestion. There's also the bonus that you don't get to use pink facings and piping often when painting figures. You can read more about Ed's Grenzer shuffle on his blog.

I'm happy that Chocolate Box Wars allows you to paint units with only six figures. Any more and the piping on these might have been too much for me to handle. Even at 28mm scale, it's quite fiddly to paint accurately. I am happy with the final result, although there was some profanity involved in the process. For the pink I used a base of Pro Acryl bold titanium white with Vallejo red added to taste. The coverage of this mix was fantastic. Even over the medium brown I got full coverage in a single coat. I continue to be impressed with the Pro Acryl bold titanium white. 

 

Next up on the painting table some Piedmont Bersaglieri from Gringo40 miniatures.

28mm Austrian 1849 Grenadiers

Here are the first figures that I've painted up for my Risorgimento project. These are 1849 Austrian Grenadiers with their awesome bearskin hats. Similar to Ed's Austrian Grenadiers, I'll not hesitate to also use these for the Hungarian revolt if I choose to do that conflict with this army. As Ed says, "Everything is OK in Chocolate Box Wars!"

These are Keelmen Miniatures from their Hungarian revolt line. They're a touch larger than Perry and Foundry, but not enough to bother with. They seem quite compatible with the Gringo40 and Pirans Warriors figures that I'm using with the rest of this army. In any case, with a less popular period like this, it's catch-as-catch-can for figures. When someone makes the exact figure you need, it's a lot easier to use it than to go the figure conversion route. I'll be doing plenty of that for this project though, I'm sure.

I've used a mix of 'contrast' and traditional paints on these figures. The fur packs just cried out for some 'Gore Grunta Fur' contrast paint and the white uniforms I used Vallejo Xpress Color 'Templar White'. After that it's mostly standard acrylics including highlighting the leather belts with some Monument Hobbies Pro Acyl 'Bold Titanium White'. This was my first job for this highly acclaimed white paint and it did not disappoint with great coverage in one coat. Granted, that was applying it over an already off-white surface. 

Next up on the painting table are, some 1949 Grenzers for the Austrians.

Update: Thanks to my friend Ed seeing these in person, he noticed that I inadvertently forgot to paint the badges on the front of the bearskins on these. This has now been corrected as seen to the left.  Thanks Ed!

28mm German WWII Gebirgsjäger

These are mostly Warlord figures with a smattering of other figures from my dead lead box. With my recent completion of my Finnish army, I'm looking to play more historical games representing fighting during the Lapland war. The German army in northern Finland contained a large number of Gebirgsjäger. They likely were sent there due to their cold weather training and ability to ski. 

These figures are the second installment for me to augment my German army for the Lapland war. The first being my captured French H-35 tank. Many of which were used in Finland right through the end of the Lapland war. 

The only complaint I have with the Warlord figures are with the MG-34 gunner. His arm blocks the ammo belt feed orifice. This makes a realistic positioning of the ammo belt impossible. I've done my best to make it look as good as possible.  Other than this minor gripe, these figures are fabulous. They're properly equipped, unique and well sculpted.

 

I leveraged the strength of Vallejo's new wave of Xpress color 'contrast' style paints. The canvas jackets use Khaki Drill. The German field grey pants, caps and jackets are two parts grey, one part green Xpress color with a touch of model color field grey for opaqueness. 

Xpress colors were also used on the packs, ropes gaiters and my favorite 'Dwarf Flesh' for the faces and hands. I may paint more Gebirgsjäger in the future, but as of now I haven't acquired any additional figures for them yet.

Beginning work for the Italian Risorgimento (Italian Wars of Independence) - 1849-1860 Austrian Line Infantry

For a while my friend Ed from Ed M's Wargame Meanderings has been working on a post-Napoleonic 19th century wargame rule set called Chocolate Box Wars. The premise is for armies to be made with a smaller figure count, so an army can fit inside a 'chocolate box'. Each army consists of 12-16 stands of troops and an officer or two. 

I've always been enthralled with the Italian Wars of Independence, or as they call it the Risorgimento. The story of the daring Garibaldi and his thousand men kicking off a revolution in their red shirts, French-backed forces, Austrians, Papal forces and all in a myriad of uniforms. This period is beyond approachable in any large figure count rule set, but in Chocolate Box Wars, it's a much more approachable task to attempt to amass armies for each of the combatant forces. I had suggested to Ed, should he get the rule set off the ground, I'd start making armies for the Risorgimento based on his rules. 

I had intended to start with Garibaldi's rebel army as my first force, but these 1849-1860 Austrian Line infantry somehow appeared on Ebay and called out to me. To say painted figures for this period listed on Ebay is a rarity is an understatement. In fact, these were in the USA, originally purchased from a figure reseller in the United Kingdom. So I snatched them up, re-painted some facings and touched up some wear-and-tear and re-based them for Chocolate Box Wars. Four line infantry units done. This is the Core of my Austrian army!

 

I contacted the original seller from Ebay and inquired as to if he painted the figures and he told me the history of the figures. I looked into the original figure manufacturer, Pirans Warriors, and I noticed that the painting style looked quite similar to the sample photos on their site. Pirans also does commission painting, and after some back-and-forth emails, the owner confirmed that yes, he did paint these figures and yes, he was willing to accept a commission from me to paint more! I ordered up some additional units for the army that I hope to receive sometime late summer, early fall.

In the meantime, I've ordered up a few more units that I will be painting up myself. Look for more of those coming soon!

Note: Previously I posted that I was abandoning this blog in favor for Instagram. Although I will likely be posting more content on Instagram than I do here, I find this blog a fantastic diary of my wargaming projects and once I started this one I realized that I value that highly. So, I will continue to post here, particularly for this project, but also for other projects.