First step into wargaming in the 18-19th century with Black Powder

[Clash957]

Early this week I picked up the Warlord Games’ Black Powder rule book. At the same time I also purchased Rebellion! and the Continental Army Starter.

I can’t say much about the rules of Black Powder as the way warfare was conducted during these centuries is completely alien to me. As I learn more I can give my thoughts on it especially as I get in games. Yes, that is correct, games. There is a local-ish game store that not only has a group of Napoleonics players, but there are also American War of Independence (or AWI for the cool kids). I never really gave much though to playing in this era, but given there is a player base for it and 28mm miniatures for it look great, I wanted to give it a go.

I have been on a mad rush to build my army. Which is no easy task both for Black Powder which seems to work best with a 100+ troops per side. I myself have some 160 troops to build/paint. I am nearly half way through building them and actually managed to get a bunch primed which is no easy task in the rainy season of the American Pacific Northwest (very envious of your weather Universal Head).

I did have a bit of a challenge in modeling, or more precisely, my choice in modeling. I decided to make use of the individual bases that came with the starter box. However, Black Powder appears to work best with troops mostly in groups of four. To solve this issue, I bought magnetic adhesive strips (well a sheet of it) and cut the to fit the size of the recess of the individual bases. Then it is just a matter of sticking a 40mm piece of sheet metal and now I have little movement trays for my troops. Plus I can go for magnetized carry/transport case instead of foam or other solution.

Not much of a topic, but I wanted to share.

[Universal Head]

That’s a lot o troops to paint! I’ve never really been into historical tabletop miniature gaming, but I’d be interested to read about your adventures.

[Clash957]

Progress of Week 1:

I have most of the models built and primed. I still have 27 built but not primed and around 10 not built. I have also started painting some of them. So I can get to gaming as fast as possible

I am looking to just block in the main colors to start so they look okay from a few feet away. Afterward I will go back and fill in the missing areas and details.

Above is an example of how I am basing them with the indivual plastic bases with a 17mm square of sheet magnet. Then a 40mm sheet metal base. I would have liked the magnets to be more powerful as I have to be careful to pick them up my the base. Additionally, this an example of where I want to get the rest of the force to before I am willing to put them on the table.

[Universal Head]

Very nice.

[Clash957]

Week 2:

A little earlier that a week, but I don’t think I will get a better chance to get the pictures and post then now. I have all my built models primed and a good chunk of them have the most basic of paint on them. At close inspection it is obvious of the rush job of only one coat of paint.

This next week I want to get the initial coat of paint on everything and start to the second coat to get a more solid color as well as fill in the details.

I do have a question on how I should go about shading the white of the uniforms. Should I apply a carefully wash now just on the primer then paint white leaving the shade in the creases? Or maybe paint the white base coat and apply a thinned down gray paint to the creases? Is there a better plan for shading white?

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