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Monday, 1 January 2018

Old Guard for a New Year

Work on the Young Guard continues while a host of foot
Chasseurs wait patiently in the background.
Spurred on by the arrival of the foot Chasseurs I have decided to make 2018 the year of the Old (and Young) Guard. My rather ambitious plan is to paint all my remaining Imperial Guard foot figures so that at the end of the year I will have 2 x units Old Guard Grenadiers, 2 x units Old Guard Chasseurs, 1 x unit Young Guard and 1 x unit Marines of the Guard.

It’s a great plan but to make it happen I will have to paint 113 figures which although it may not seem a lot is a tall order for me when you consider that last year I only managed to paint 49 Hinton Hunt’s. Even when you allow for the fact that 7 of those were mounted figures (let’s count those as 2 foot figures) and if you add in the 27 figures painted for my Boer War project and 14 figures painted for my WWII western desert project (not anywhere near as time consuming as Napoleonics so let's count those as half a Hinton Hunt) it still only comes to the equivalent of 76 figures.

This means I will have to resort to some production line painting methods (not a favourite of mine) and also stay focused (so no tanks but maybe a few Boers) if I’m going to achieve my aim. To get things moving I have cleaned up and primed the rest of the Young Guard unit and lined up my new paint brushes ready for action.
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16 comments:

  1. Rob1 January 2018 at 13:53

    That's a lot of Guard - is anyone going to be able to resist that on the table? Good luck with the painting plan - perhaps if you arrange a game with your adversaries for late 2018 that might keep you focused, it's got to be worth it if only to seem them carve up the opposition, although you'd better just make sure they're not wearing red coats.
    May your 2018 be as productive as you wish.

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  2. Stryker1 January 2018 at 13:57

    Thanks Rob, it does help that my rules give the Old Guard a distinct advantage on the table!

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  3. Lee1 January 2018 at 15:29

    Good luck with your painting plans for the coming year Ian.

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  4. Stryker1 January 2018 at 15:34

    Cheers Lee, given my track record I'll need some luck!

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  5. lewisgunner1 January 2018 at 17:29

    Welcome to the Dark Side Ian. Sometimes the compromise of perfection is necessary to achieve sufficient volume. I am sure that all of your units will still be of very high standard. Just looking at the paintwork on those chasseurs that you have acquired and must surely strip down shows us the huge distance between the standard of figures you paint and the monstrosities that have been committed by lesser painters.
    So pump up the volume.

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  6. Stryker1 January 2018 at 17:43

    Thanks Roy, most the inspiration for this comes from your own legions of Old Guard. hard to forget the splendid sight of them advancing towards the allied line at Vintage Waterloo!

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  7. Mark Dudley1 January 2018 at 17:48

    It sounds like a plan. I am going to sit down this week and come up with my 2018 plan. But if its anything like last years it will not last long before I move onto plan B.

    But was is this about a Western Desert Project ?

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  8. Wellington Man1 January 2018 at 18:23

    I think you should dump the deadline, Ian, and just take your time. Your magnificent guardsmen deserve nothing less - and neither do you. Besides, you may want to sneak in the odd the Prussian.

    All the very best for 2018,
    WM

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  9. Stryker1 January 2018 at 18:42

    Mark - always good to have a plan B and even C!

    The western desert project is a very low key thing using Airfix plastics, not worthy of blogging...

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  10. Stryker1 January 2018 at 18:46

    WM - the deadline is born out of frustration at how long it is taking to chip away at the lead pile (in fact I seem to have more vintage figures now than I did at the start of last year!). It's just an aim really and I'm not intending to let standards slip!

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  11. MSFoy1 January 2018 at 22:09

    Ian - that is a lot of guardsmen, no doubt, but I'm confident you will manage - no problem. I'm not so confident about the 1,864 extra French line troops that you will need to get your armies back in balance again. Bear in mind that you will probably not be moving house again this year, so last year's grand total should be an easier target!

    Remember to do bending and stretching exercises before you start painting.

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  12. Stryker2 January 2018 at 00:35

    Tony - surely a 40:60 ratio of guard to line is correct? Well, it is now anyway!

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  13. the Archduke4 January 2018 at 09:57

    Come on, Ian, repeat after me, "Old Guards have no piping. Simple cuff flaps. Chasseurs don't even have bearskin patches. Ready by Christmas!" Happy painting, monsieur.

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  14. Stryker4 January 2018 at 11:04

    Nigel - you're right, not painting 48 bearskin patches means this will all be over by mid-summer!

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  15. Samizdat16 January 2018 at 09:21

    I thoroughly enjoyed your piece on Marcus Hinton, his were the first metal figures I ever posessed, aged 11yrs my pocket money didn't stretch to many. I remember being smitten by his stunningly beautiful wife, is she also deceased ? I recall she would sometimes model as his opponent, always beautifully attired in period costume, quite magnificent.

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  16. Captain Nolan30 May 2018 at 16:59

    Are you nearing the halfway mark? June is almost here. Good luck with your goal.

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