2nd Battalion, 2nd Regiment Swiss

I started my Napoleonic project for Black Powder almost 8 years ago.  I had really high hopes for this project and I had several friends that had expressed interest in participating.  As time has progressed most of my friends (all but one in fact) have moved on and are not longer interested.  I have persisted, although halfheartedly at best.  With the completion of the 2/2 Swiss Regiment for my French army I now have 8 battalions completed along with 2 guns and one commander.  That is not very good considering that is only one battalion per year.  This has really made me rethink this project.  It is time for me to either put some real effort into getting a usable collection painted or just admit to myself that it is time to let it go.  One of the real problems I have is that I HATE painting Napoleonic figures.  Right up until the unit is based I can't help feeling that they look like crap and it took way to much effort for them to look that way.  Then I base them and I fall in love but not enough to inspire me to paint more.

1st and 2nd Battalions of the 2nd Swiss Regiment

Anyway, enough whining.  These guys are done and are the first completed project for Finish it February.  It feels good to get these out of the WIP pile and into the collection.  The figures are Warlord plastic French and are very functional figures.

Swiss 1st Battalion, 2nd Regiment

I really needed a break from all the ACW painting so I decided to paint a unit of Warlord plastic French line infantry as Swiss.  This is the 1st Battalion, 2nd Regiment Suisse.  There seem to be some different interpretations of the uniform for this regiment.  For this project I went with the more popular which is red and blue with yellow piping.  For the the 2nd Battalion I will go with the red and blue with red piping - a simpler and cleaner look.  I really like the ease and simplicity of these figures.

My only complaint with the Warlord French set is they only give you enough figures for 7 elite company figures.  With the way most people build units you end up short one elite company figure. Since I build my units as 24 figures I end up with 8 extra fusiliers.  The root of the trouble is doing one sprue with three fusiliers and one elite.  This is just bad and wasteful design.  I acquired a bunch of these boxes in a trade and I pretty sure I will never buy any more.

March Work in Progress #1

I am working on my first unit of Napoleonic Swiss.  I am using the Warlord plastic set.  This time I not only white primed but I am painting before assembly.  I really hoped this would speed up the process.  I have actually found it to be less motivational or inspirational.  Next batch I think I will just leave the back packs off.