My pandemic painting

 A number of gamers were locked in their homes for 15+ months. They painted up swarms of figures and posted the impressive results. My puny output is detailed below. I have 24 French light infantry Voltigeurs in 15mm scale, wearing the 1807-1813 uniforms. I also have a 15mm scale model of Captain Lienard de Beaujeu, who figured in the first large battle of the French and Indian War.

 

He led the 900+ French and Native warriors against Braddock’s 1400 British regulars and colonials at the battle of the Monongahela, July 9, 1755. Beaujeu, gone native, was dressed and painted like an Indian warrior. The only parts of his French uniform he wore were his cocked hat and his gorget, a small piece of ornamental armor hanging from his neck. He was instrumental in getting the battle started but was killed early on. The British and colonials were utterly defeated. Braddock was killed. His colonial aide, one young George Washington, escaped with some bullet holes in his uniform. I’ve been looking for a figure of Beaujeu for years.

 

I ordered a number of packs from Minifigs in England, but the parcel went astray during the early pandemic foul-ups of the US postal service, between workers falling ill and sorting machines taken offline. I told Minifigs that the pack I most missed was the one of Indian leaders, which included Beaujeu. They generously sent another of that pack and here he is. The sculpting on the figure is excellent.

 

                                            

I also ordered a couple packs of Voltigeurs from Khurusan Miniatures. Many rules for the black powder period say to space skirmishing units at double the frontage of close order units. I find this has two issues. First, they don’t look that good. Second, they inevitably end up packed almost as closely together as close order units, gaining the advantage of being a more dispersed target while not really being dispersed. My solution is to put skirmishers on a base twice as wide as close order units. It looks better and prevents the magical bunching of skirmishers. I assumed the impending lockdown would last some weeks. Once the French/Indian officer was painted, I began working on the light infantry. Partway into this, the magnitude of the pestilence sweeping the city became apparent. I live in a large high rise building that has some 400+ apartments. I decided it was not the ideal place to sit out the plague. My wife and I fled to her family’s cottage on the coast of Maine. Tin soldiers and paint stayed behind

 

We returned for the summer of 2020. The infection rate had abated a good deal, but my mind was not on the hobby. The little tin lads languished. We returned to Maine for the winter.

 

In the spring we came back twice to get our vaccinations. During the second trip, my spirits rose and the painting was finished. We came back to town in June and I managed to base the figures, hit the bases with some Golden modeling gel and sand, and then paint the bases. The results are below. I am responsible for the semi focused photos. 

Newton was quarantined for two years. He produced his theory of gravity. In 15 months, I painted the small number of figures you see here. I also did a number of drawings and cartoons, but those do not relate to the hobby. The blog did get some posts over that time, including a couple matrix games of Alexander Hamilton at Yorktown. The second game did become a tad silly at times.

 

As we return to something resembling normal, there will be more posts on this blog. We had a face-to-face game a couple weeks ago. I may get around to posting a report of that.

 

Stay safe, people. It ain’t over till it’s over.

PS And here a couple photos of my vivandiere, painted well before the pandemic, just because.