Napoleonic Generals and Aides de Camp

 Finished up a group of French ADC's and Russian Generals and ADC's

Russian ADC's

General Bagration

General Kutuzov

General Platov

A group of three "typical" French ADC's

And some more fashionable French ADC's

Russian Artillery Batteries

 A Russian heavy artillery battery with 12blr cannon and heavy licorne

and a Russian light artillery battery with 6lbr and light licorne

Russian Infantry Units

 Two Russian infantry units ready to fight.  Still need to add flags but these are the Odessa and Simbirsk regiments from the 27th Division.  The 27th fought at the Fleches at Borodino.  Normally not a problem with AB miniatures, but the advancing pose figures have fragile bayonets, so a drop of glue was added to the bayonet to hopefully help hold them on.

Second Volume in Ian Toll's Pacific War Trilogy

Another excellent read in the Pacific War Trilogy.  Toll describes the actions of the US and Japanese commands from Guadalcanal to the Marianas Islands.  At 500 pages, he covers a lot of ground, well mostly sea, without skipping much detail.  He also includes extensive coverage of the Japanese Homefront and politics which is critical in understanding the Japanese way of war. Though by 1944 there is little the Japanese commanders can do to stave off the impending catastrophe.  Pushed by ideology, unable to escape by political means, and limited by a collapsing industry and economy, the Japanese struggle on. 

Toll also writes about the American service rivalry (MacArthur vs. Nimitz), the two-prong strategy and Admiral King's pushing for Central Pacific thrust.  Working for 33 years for the Navy, I particularly enjoyed Toll's inclusion of the intra-service rivalry between black shoes (ship drivers) and brown shoes (aviators) and how they fought (personal rivalry to constructive arguments)  to shape the carrier war doctrine.   This rivalry still exists today in the Navy.

Alien Extermination

 The ship's damage control party was armed as they advanced into the caustic fog left by the invading alien creatures . . . 

Book Recommendations on WWII Pacific Campaign

H.P. Willmott's "Empires in Balance" (1982) is an excellent book, easy to read and includes detail of both the early war Allied and Japanese strategies and operational moves.  It focuses on pre-war Japan, conflict with China, political strategies vis a vis the West, and a quick study on resources of the Japanese Empire.  It begins military operation in detail starting from the 7/8 December Japanese strikes, campaigns in Indonesia and Philippines and continues to April 1942.  Pretty much a season of disaster for Allied forces.

Empires in the Balance

The other recommendation is Ian W. Toll's "Pacific Crucible" (2011).  A very engrossing read, the author keeps the reader in the story.  This is book 1 in his Pacific War trilogy but each volume can stand by itself.  Similar in scope to "Empires in Balance", the volume does provide more focus on Japanese politics, inter-service rivalry, and social contexts leading up and during WWII by using numerous Japanese sources, a rare thing in western writings.  Unlike Willmott's book, "Pacific Crucible"  takes the reader through the early US strikes and the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway.  For me at least, the volume also provided new perspectives on Admiral King, the powerful figure at the head of the US wartime navy. 

Pacific Crucible

BattleBus 2020

 Let's go kiddo's.  Getting to School in the Zombie Apocalypse.  

Here we are now going to the South side
I pick up my friends and we hope we won't die
Ride at night, ride through Heaven and Hell 

 and here are some in-progress.  Bus is large and heavy (solid resin) so I worked on using a lazy susan thingy.

Base coat,

Metal coat,

Detailing,

Drive Carefully During the Zombie Apocalypse

 More wrecked vehicles from Antenocitis Workshop.  

Keep your eyes on the road and not the zombies strolling on the sidewalks . . . 

And always wear your seat belt . . . 

Be cautious of locals offering to help and remember your cardio . . .

Rusty Burned Out Vehicles

 Ready for the Zombie Apocalype.  Minis are 28mm sized from Antenocitis Workshop.  The rust was accomplished with weathering powders.  Only paint used was black prime and blue on truck.

I did snap some pictures of the work in progress also.  Took a picture after adding each layer of "rust."  You can see the powder used in each photo. 

Grimy black was applied to the dark windows and along the surfaces around the windows to show soot.

Circa 1812 French Infantry in Greatcoats

 French Infantry unit decked out in greatcoats.

1st Infantry Regiment of Vistula Legion

 

Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard Cavary

 Here are a few squadrons of the Chasseurs a Cheval of the Imperial Guard.  Nice christmas colors just in time for the holidays!  These are AB figs.

Mech Walker Thingy

 Another item painted up recently.  This is a Mech/Walker of some sort.  Actually was a toy rather than a wargaming mini but I guess all in all very little difference between the two designation.  I filled in some open gaps, cut-off a trigger-shootey-mechanism but other than those two minor items, the rest was just painting.   28mm figure included in shots for size reference.  This guy was too big for my macro lens so had to use 35/50mm lens!

"Tremors" Movie Worms

 Painted up some worms from the "Tremors" movie.  28mm Size figure included in shot for size reference.   Manufacturer of these resin models is unknown to me but they were pretty good sculpts.  Poses include bursting through the surface,  out of ground, and dead (not pictured).

ACW Artillery & Crews

 Finished some CSA and USA artillery and crew.  the artillery is just sitting on the crew base so I can switch out 12lbr, 3", 6lbr, and Howitzer pieces.  These are Sash and Saber 28mm figs, nice figs as usual.

Russian Dragoons

 Next up are the Harkiv Dragoons.  This unit was part of the 4th Cavalry Division backing up the Russian center at Borodino.

 

Russian Cuirassiers

 Latest additions to the Napoleonic Russian Order of Battle.  

Military Order Cuirassiers

Ekaterinoslav Cuirassiers

 

The two regiments were part of the 2nd Cuirassier Division backing up the Fleches at Borodino.  

French Chasseurs a Cheval

 French 1st and 2nd Chasseur Regiments.  Both regiments has scarlet regimental color, 2nd had green collars instead of scarlet.  So I've either got two small regiments or they can be put together to form a larger 1st or 2nd Regiment.  These are Battle Honor/OG15 figs.  I haven't used to many of them in my collection as I feel the AB figs are nicer but the OG15 figs are generally more "dynamic" and good in their own right so I mix in a few OG15 units for the tabletop.

Not sure why I posted such a dark image before.  I tend to do that . . . I shouldn't be afraid of the light!

French Line with Artillery

 Finished up some French Line troops and guns.  This time with Battle Honor figs to get some more variety amongst all the Eureka figures.  Here's a sample.

And Union Cav All Mounted Up!

 Again, Sash and Saber minis.