Project management, the British starter army, and men in green.

All figure painting projects, in my opinion, are best carried out in a series of small achievable goals. To this end, I always set out to paint enough stuff for a first game, then I paint to achieve what is needed to create the next, usually bigger, scenario. 

Getting past the goal of first game is always the hardest thing to do because it invariably involves painting a few hundred figures. I'm the first to admit I've found scoring this particular goal very difficult for this project.

In the case of my Peninsular project, my first goal involves painting a little over 500 figures plus some cannons, limbers, and horses of course. I'm pleased to report that I'm now well over half way and the British 'starter army' is almost complete - I just have the divisional command element and four skirmishers for the 'Gordons' to do (the latter are winging their way through the post, with another 100 figures from Front Rank, as I write). 

I've also done about a quarter of the French but they are easier to paint than British troops so it shouldn't take too long to do them.

Here is the British starter army. It comprises two Brigades of infantry, a cavalry Regiment and a battery of foot artillery plus command elements. Please ignore the SYW Austrians in the background, they are set up for tonight's game.

This week, apart from finishing the 14th Light Dragoons, I've managed to do some Brigade attachments. These are:

Some riflemen of the 95th for Howard's Brigade. 

The Figures are by Front Rank. 

Riflemen are always quite difficult to paint because the darkness of their uniform makes picking out the detail difficult until the final highlights go on. 

I've painted the 95th from several manufactures recently and I think these Front Rank figures were the easiest to do.

Men of 2nd Battalion KGL Light Infantry for Lowes Brigade. 

The figures are by Warlord Games.

These figures are in far more active poses than those from Front Rank figures. However, I found them much more difficult to paint. 

I was also a little surprised to find musket armed troops in a sealed pack (bought from ebay) that was described as riflemen - I seem to have received a pack of mixed rifles and muskets but, as I only need six figures for 'skirmishing', and the battalion had musket armed troops, it's not a major problem.

Next up, more French.