Nova Hungaria: The Iron Road

I think these images were made at the end of November, but I've never quite got to post them. After reading Winstons Churchill's 'The River War', I've had the desire for some colonial action. 

As the Nova Hungaria railroad expands towards the southern outposts, the hill tribes become very agitated by its prospects, and 'agitated' usually means ready to fight in hill tribe language.

The activation sequence was borrowed from 'Easy tricorne', a less sophisticated but faster resolution, and we've used the combat rules from VEW. 

Nova Hungaria - Siege!

Warning, this is a lengthy post with lots of pictures. I may have gone over the top.

Deep in the jungle, a forward base had been built for the Vladislaus V Penal Battalion. Men from the penitentiary platoon under the watchful eye of 1st Sergeant Kővári were building redoubts around the walled camp. They had found an ancient, most likely Agytpian cannon as well, and set it in the center of the camp to examine it. Under a second lieutenant, a handful of men from the 1st and 3rd companies were also present. The camp was well entrenched already, and had an open killing ground stretching in all directions: any approach by the ever hostile natives or the Ruslander could have been perceived and met with musket fire.

Nova Hungaria - the Ruslanders arrive

The first Ruslander reinforcements to land in Nova Hungaria are the Blackguards of Countess Svetlana Ivanovna and a company of the Naval Brigade.

The figures are of the mixed bunch I received last December, painted up to be substitutes for Yanks if I ever want to game the ACW. 

Nova Hungaria - river shore skirmish

Song of Drums and Shakos was used to play this game with a slightly altered rule for the lieutenant's revolver.

A group of the Light Infantry company of the Vladislaus V is sent upriver on a reconnaisance mission. They are steaming aboard the freshly restored Weissland when a group of Agytpian warriors open fire on them. 

Nova Hungaria - SMS Weissland

The naval support unit for the penal battalion has two ships, the gunboat Maria Theresa and the paddle steamer Weissland. The MT was built long ago, but in the world of Nova Hungaria, the Weissland is the older ship. 

Evil Agytpians

The remaining 31 figures from the Esci Muslims set. They are a various lot, some have Mosins but we'll just pretend they have muzzleloaders. 

I promoted one to a commander (given a larger base), the rest is an even 15-15 shooters and melee fighters.

The white undercoat - white clothes - quickshade combo worked on the previous batch, and they're not bad this time either.

Nova Hungaria - Civilians

After the military men here are some various figures - mostly conversions - for the dark island.

Left to right:

Alexander Petrof - a mysterious man in the service of the Americans. Gossip tells about him escaping a Siberian camp and sailing to Japan on a row boat. Italeri ACW officer without a sword.

Lord John Flipperton - HM Queen Victoria's officer on leave. ID'd from Plastic Soldier Review as a part of the IMEX ACW infantry set. Had his forage cap removed and a pith helmet added.

Herr Balthasar von Flügernhoffen - a Prussian naval officer. Same set, same treatment.

Lady Margaret - Lord John's wife. Also has a revolver. Caesar Fantasy Adventurers figure with more cloth covering + hat made from green stuff.

Svetlana Ivanova - a Ruslander antagonist, from the Italeri Medieval Tournament lady figure, hat from the Napoleonic French staff, the rest is GS again. Modelled after a certain Prussian princess.

Nova Hungaria - Cavalry support

Finally, the Vladislaus V battalion has a supporting cavalry squadron as well, of two troops, both 11 men strong. 

Most figures are Italeri again, with a bunch of Imex dudes in the second troop below (rear rank). I painted them using only blocking colors in + quickshade. 

These days I paint the riders and horses together as with multiple layers of paint fitting them after being painted separately could damage the coat on the horse or the rider.

3rd (Light) Company, Vladislaus V Penal Battalion

The 2nd company is still not ready, but the 3rd was needed on the battlefield. Italeri figures with two metal dudes (maker unknown) and an Imex officer.

The company has a crew of two officers and 22 troopers, divided to three platoons, one of 8 and two of 7 men. Each platoon is led by a sergeant.

The Italeri officer is the company commander and the guy with the pistol is his second.

I ran out of Stonewall Grey, which I used for the line infantry, but a little difference in the uniforms' color will not bother anyone.

Nova Hungaria - Artillery company

I have brought these fellows and their equipment to the dorm as my laptop was being repaired to complete them there. I had an old HP with Windows XP, but I wanted to paint something after a week of studies.

They are part of the gift pack János gave me on Games Day. I stripped most of the figures and selected them to batches - I have a great surplus of infantry, twenty-something cavalry, a lot of surplus staff and these guys who build up the artillery contingent of the Vladislaus V Penal Battalion.

More Shades of Quick

Knocking small scale figures off the painting queue in a quick pace is not a considerable achievement. Doing so with larger ones is, to some extent.
I have, at the moment, about 7-800 unpainted (stripped, glued together and some even on sprues) 1/72 plastic figures and this calls for alternative solutions. Many people are looking for the optimal thing and some find it in Army Painter/etc. products. I have, during my various painting exploits, used many types of shade, including homemade oil/enamel washes, enamel varnish mixed with black/brown/grey, commercial Vallejo washes and glazes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. I generally use a great deal of slumpy highlights (see my TYW figures, for example) and everything is done improbably fast. The relevant working hours put into some figures would seem really strange to some people (minus drying time, it's not more than 3-4 hours for a group of 30-40 figures that includes every process from priming to basing) and what I really care about is character/command figures, where my brushes become more careful.

Nova Hungaria - Adversaries

Two platoons of 1st company and a squad of the Penal platoon of the Vladislaus V battalion moved through the thick swamps between the rivers Pfongov and Vaga of Nova Hungaria. With the use of an old map, Lt. Vajdafy was navigating through the mud to find a passage to connect the two rivers with a canal. The experts in the Hofkriegsrat argued that connecting the two rivers would offer a route to establish trade with further parts of the island plus, as proven by previous encounters, the SMS Maria Theresa can disperse any foe that comes near the riverbanks, which means extended control without straining the supply lines. 

To achieve this, they only needed to drain a large portion of the swampland with months of hard work, then dig the channel without any industrial equipment and no available explosives, while keeping the natives from killing them to the last man during the process.

Anyway, not much was to be seen in the jungle ahead of them, but the freshly appointed commander  of the battalion, [name censored by the Imperial Secret Service] opted for caution, something very lacking of other members of the princely [censored] family.

Painting diary XXXI.

I've done some work on the previous weekend but had not the time to complete the bases, so here's some stuff that marched off the painting desk:

Trouble in Nova Hungaria - Sharp Practice AAR

The Vladislaus V Penal Battalion's forces had arrived at Nova Hungaria's north-eastern port. The Governor had sent out a small squad to cut a channel between the two main rivers, through the swamp east of the great volcano in the centre of the island.

Soon the local natives started moving up against the group of convicts - they did not know that the gunboat Maria Theresa was on her way to the camp, carrying more men and supplies.

This was a rules test only and the natives never had any chance against the ship's firepower - now let's see how it went.

Finished Maria Theresa + HäT sailors

The finished product, without crew. I'm going to sand the smokestack's hole on the upper deck as it's a narrow fit with all the layers of paint.

SMS Maria Theresa WIP#3

The painting is a very standard blue-buff combination over a white undercoat, plus the odd details here and there.

SMS Maria Theresa WIP #2

So this is how the gunboat looks like after one more day's work. I could not be bothered to use card for the upper plating so I did it with plasticard and decor rubber. Quite an improvement on the overall look I believe.

WIP - River gunboat Maria Theresa

Work has begun on the river steamer for Nova Hungaria. I found a large piece of thick cardboard for the main hull and various scratch pieces for the structures on deck. It is at a very early stage: I covered the edge of the cardboard with glue-soaked paper strips so the following plates would adhere better; added the smokestack and the traversable gun turret (that can hold a repeater gun or a naval cannon).