Starting a WG Epic Napoleonic Prussian force

[Norm]

I collect quite a lot of Epic, but my Prussian box has sat on the shelf, a little neglected. Anyway, for July’s painting goals I set about painting up an infantry regiment, which has two musketeer battalions and a fusilier battalion.

When I am starting out with Epic armies, I drop to to two bases per unit so that I can get some games in as early as possible and motivate more painting, but here I was able go straight to three bases, plus a jäger company of 1 base, 2 commanders and a gun battery with two models.

In the very front of the photo (they are a bit blurry) I also did a couple of French cannon and a couple of mounted colonels.

Wanting to get a game to the table quickly, I looked for a situation that only needed a very small Prussian force ….. I fell upon the couple of days before the Battle of Ligny 1815, when the French army was entering Belgium and pushing back the Prussian outposts. From the info gathered, i have put together a small themed scenario, which I hope to get to over the next few days.

[Ray Rivers]

Well...

That is a proper start to a great looking army! 

[Kelly_]

Those look really good ranked up!

But I what I see what you are trying to do, and I will not be tricked into starting another Epic project!    I still have Hail Caesar, ACW, and Revolution to finish working through.

[Norm]

Thanks Ray

I still have Hail Caesar, ACW, and Revolution to finish working through.

Thanks, I am in the same boat and I have decided that I will just treat each box as an opportunity for starter armies for now. I quite like playing small games anyway. So I am looking for initial armies of say 6 - 8 infantry, 1 - 2 cavalry and 1 gun battery. I think looking at these battle boxes in their entirety and feeling you have to paint it all as a single project just becomes too overwhelming when you have several sets and of course there is more to come in the Epic line-up :-)

I have just clipped 15 Landwehr cavalry from their frames for 3 bases and will be working on them next. I will then likely give my French their first cavalry unit, another three bases and then move onto another Epic box to keep up the ‘Pocket Army’ idea.

When I started my ACW, I used 2 base units while I got going and now have enough bases to run small battles with 3 bases per unit. I had a lovely 5 regiments Vs 5 regiments game the other day.

I have nailed down a scenario for the above Prussian force (minus the artillery) and will play that over the next few days and will post that game at LAF, just because I think promoting some small actions will help those Epic owners who are looking for a place to start.

I don’t do Facebook so cannot get involved in the Epic forum, which I suspect is quite strong, so for me, it is a shame that Epic is not more widely discussed here. Maybe actually starting an ongoing Epic thread might be a good way to start bringing some visibility.

[Ray Rivers]

I don’t do Facebook so cannot get involved in the Epic forum, which I suspect is quite strong, so for me, it is a shame that Epic is not more widely discussed here. Maybe actually starting an ongoing Epic thread might be a good way to start bringing some visibility.

I think that is an excellent idea. No reason that each era needs its own thread. Just pile all your stuff into one thread.

I would find that quite enjoyable.

[Norm]

Done :-)

I have opened a similar thread in Musket & Pike forum for the Pike & Shotte module and in the Empire forum for the Hannibal set.

[Chillyray]

Hi again Norm. I have painted up a good few of these. The hussars wearing their pelisse paint up very well. They work perfectly well for Russians too. I converted some of the Prussian lancers as cossacks! and used French carabiniers as Russian heavies. Painted with green jackets, the infantry look very nice.

[Norm]

Hi Ray, Hussars scare me :-) I still don’t seem to be able to let go of painting the detail and so things are taking a little longer than I think they should. I did try a bit of contrast paint on these Landwehr to get them going and then moved over to normal acrylic.

I set this photo up before basing because I want to do a sketch and maybe do something in watercolour or oil paint - a stretching challenge, but I fancy a go.

I think a base looking like this would look good, but you would need a lot of figures to have a unit looking like a line ….. something to think about.

[aphillathehun]

Prussian blue has its own ... elegance.

[Norm]

For the little fellows, I tend to go a tone lighter. Even here, the black cross belt pretty much disappears.

[Ray Rivers]

The lancers look superb!