The March Accounting

Everybody needs one. Gringo 40’s Viet Cong “sniper in a tree.” Seems to be shooting at quail Or maybe a helicopter.

Let me just say March was a great month for getting stuff done, especially if you were a Spaniard serving in America between 1797-1810, or if you happened to find yourself fighting in Vietnam in 1968.

I made a couple of orders to Gringo 40’s and the Hue buildings arrived, but not many new purchases, which was a good thing.

Oh, and I played in one of my few miniatures games since December. David Sullivan and I got together, hauled out our Vietnam figures and played a game of Ganesha’ Flying Lead. It was much fun–even if we did it wrong. You can read David’s account here.

But, as with most Covid months, March was about painting. I don’t know what it was, but I did my best to dedicate myself to getting stuff done. One thing at the top of my priorities is finishing a project, and that is my America Rampant stuff. I finished the Americans before Christmas. I started working on my leftover Woodland Indians and wrapped up the last of them this month. I’m nearing the end with my Spanish infantry.

The five completed companies of the Luisisana Battalion. Hibernians are still under construction but close to done. Gotta lower that flag a little bit so it fits in the box.

I had painted a bunch of the Spanish infantry but was kind of scatter-shot with their organization. First of all, I did these before the adoption of Rebels and Patriots as the rules of choice for the period. My units were ten figures to the company and R & P demands 12. So there were figures ordered and stands reorganized and it was kind of a mess. Previously I had two battalions organized into myriad companies. (For me a unit is a company.) Now it is two battalions, the Luisiana Battalion, and The Hibernia Battalion. Each has a grenadier company and four fusilier companies. This feels a lot better.

The figures are old RSM figures I order from Dayton Painting Company. Don’t tell anybody but there was some re-painting involved so everything more or less matches. Pretty basic block painting too, because that’s how the originals were painted.

I also painted my quota of Vietnam figures. There were 13 Marine figures, six Viet Cong, and five NVA figures. My painted collection of ‘Nam figures is now 47, and I received another order ten or so days ago. Finishing these will be a priority in April.

The Smyth Shipyard shows the Thorneycroft destroyer (in black) and the Elcano to be complete. The Yale (middle) is about half done. The Princesa de Asturias (left) is nearly finished. I’m running out of ships to paint in this scale.

Anyway, on to the monthly totals

1/300 airplanes: 6/150. No changes. Nothing new here. I’m starting to feel embarrassed.

1/1250 scale ships: 21/50. I’m claiming five adds for the month. First, I completed the three coastal fortifications on March 1, just to get thing started right. I’ve been working on the ships I received in my wayward WTJ order. I hoped to have them finished, but they aren’t all quite done. I finished the little Spanish gunboat Elcano, and the generic Thorneycroft type destroyer that seemed to serve in everyone’s navy. Nearly complete is the armored cruiser Princesa de Asturias, which will be the final add to the Spanish navy. About 50% complete is the American auxiliary cruiser USS Yale. Yes, I know, I already did that ship, but I’m painting a second version in its livery in the American Line. The Yale hadn’t adopted wartime gray when it steamed into San Juan harbor and shot it out with some small ships. I think I need this, don’t you? Another excuse to do a cool ship miniature.

As the Spanish-American war naval miniatures wrap up I’m considering another 1/1250 project and I’m considering the Japanese to go with John Gee’s Russian Pacific squadron. Because you just can’t have too much fun.

28mm figures: 166/400. No lie, this was a big month for 28mm figures. There were 12 woodland Indians and 47 Spanish fusiliers for the America Rampant project. There were 24 Vietnam figures. I got a lot done and enjoyed every minute of it. I doubled the number of painted 28mm figure in one month.

Lots on the plate for April in the 28mm department. I’m painting some Spanish-American war figures for John complete with rayadillo. The big goal, however is to wrap up the America Rampant guys and finish the Gringo 40’s figures I have left to paint which is about 18. That should keep me pretty busy.

Finally, no more 54mm figures to report, because the Hue building order came in and that will suck up any extra time I have. To date I’ve completed one building and there are about ten more to do, including some big pieces and then there are all the walls too. It’s a priority to move this rapidly forward, but the 28’s will take priority.

So the month of March ends strong

1/1250 ships 5

28mm figures 83

28mm buildings 1

March totals: 89 figures.