28mm National Guard of Milan 1848 - Piedmont Army

These are the first of two Chocolate Box Wars units I'll be making of the National Guard of Milan. When I saw this uniform in the Osprey book with it's fantastically ridiculous hat, I knew I had to have them as part of my Piedmont Chocolate Box Wars army. Unfortunately for me, because they saw little action until their incorporation into the Central Italian League, nobody makes a figure for this unit. Time went by and I mostly had given up. Then I decided to learn more about AI 3D model generation. After playing around with some online 2D to 3D AI tools I got some nearly usable figures. Good enough to encourage me to learn the requisite tools to complete the project. Those tools being the 3D modeling software Blender, Meshmixer and Windows 3D Builder, as well as some Autodesk Fusion 360 until I got more comfortable with Blender.  

Investing over 100 hours in learning these tools, I'm finally competent enough to make my own 3D models and this unit is the first one I've completed using my own 3D model STL files from my own models. To say I'm quite excited about learning this new skill is an understatement. Now there are no longer ANY units or uniforms that are out of reach. I learned a lot doing this unit. Primarily something that looks 'correct' close up, isn't what you want on a figure. Our figures have over-exaggerated details like belts, ammo pouches and the like. Getting a feel for how oversized is still part of the learning curve for sure. 

Something as simple as a musket, the length, width and breath of which is well known and easy to scale properly, looks TERRIBLE when scaled to the proper scale. They need to be shortened and fattened in thickness while not in height from trigger to hammer. Building a library of these 'scaled for miniatures' features is definitely needed, just the same as traditional sculptors use existing features on their 3-up 'greenies'.  All said, these are more than passable and I'm quite happy to have them and the skills I've learned in making them.

 

Below, a sneak peek at the complete ten figures I made in total. The next two-stand unit will feature all of the new standing and firing poses I've created, four more in total, plus the two firing poses from above. After that, some other small 3D modeling projects that have come too fast for me to document here, but will be as I catch up.  

 When the STL files for these eventually become available for sale, they'll be listed on my store at Wargaming3D - https://www.wargaming3d.com/brands/ajswargaming

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 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.
 

 

 

 

 

3D Printed 28mm Small Italian Farmhouse

Quick 3D print and paint of this small Italian house. I intend to use it as a small farmhouse. I purchased the STL files for this as part of a larger set and I'm very happy with the purchase. More from this set to come.

One terrain/misc added to the annual painting totals.

 

28mm Roman Velites

Twelve Roman velites based individually for either Saga age of Hannibal or Clash of Spears. Truthfully the latter was the primary motivation to paint up these figures. I likely have plenty of Velites for Saga having already painted up one unit of twelve figures previously. 

These are more Old Glory figures pulled from my 'dead lead' collection. Previously purchased for my Roman Hannibal at the Gates army, I had purchased way more than I needed. Luckily for me I held on to them as now I'm happy to have been able to pull them from the pile of shame and get them painted up!

 Where the previous unit was painted using traditional methods, other than the metallic paints, these were painted exclusively with 'contrast' paints - primarily Army Painter SpeedPaints (version 1). I have to say, I'm happy with how they came out and the speed at which I was able to paint them up. Twelve more 28mm figures for this year's painting totals.

28mm Samnite 'Colorful Legion' Mercenaries for Saga Age of Hannibal

Eight Samnite 'Colorful Legion' warriors. These will be a mercenary unit for Saga Age of Hannibal. 

Old Glory figures. I'm still experimenting with contrast paints on tunics and larger areas with mixed results. 

Eight figures to add to the 2021 totals. Next up on the painting table are twelve 28mm Gaul Archers to start my Carthaginian force for Saga Age of Hannibal.

 

28mm Campanian Hoplites (2)

Nine more Campanian / Oscan hoplites. I painted these up to bring my previously painted unit up to a full four-stand phalanx. The existing figures have been through a re-basing to bring them up to Hanibal at the Gates 2.0 standards, but the 2.0 re-org required an additional stand in a two-point phalanx wing. These bring the unit up to full muster. Photos below include the full unit.

This adds nine figures for this year's painting totals. The figures are Old Glory and the shield transfers are homemade.

Salerno 'Tobacco Factory' - Part 5 - Weathering and Collapsed Buildings

More progress on the Salerno Tobacco Factory terrain. Here you can see the collapsed building sections. Also a big 'thank you' to my uncle who stopped by today and helped me put some weathering and wear paint effects on the buildings and also helped do the detail painting on the collapsed buildings. I still have another evening of detail painting and weathering, including adding some bullet holes and damaging the roofs, but we're getting closer!

One detail was where to put damaged sections on the rear of the buildings to allow players to access them. I decided to let the players choose their entrance points. A quick blast with a panzershrek or bazooka will open up a hole in the building at the location of their choosing. I made these nifty breech markers that can be placed wherever the player's troops make a hole.