And So It Begins

 I took some time yesterday to study my new Russian flats and consider various options. One conclusion was that I needed more information so I flipped through a few of my remaining medieval books and then probed shallowly on the Net for more info and for sources for Russian plastic flats in current production. By the time I had enough of google trying to sell me every sort of vaguely Russian related toy soldier and some superficial but sufficient history, I had made some key decisions.

The first is that I don't want to collect large toy armies for a one off battle of only superficial interest to me. The second was that I didn't really want to spend the time and money or space required to build and maintain even DBA or Portable Wargame sized forces capable of doing an abstract version of a one off game: "The Battle on the Ice" and there don't seem to be a whole series of battles between those two foes although there are plenty more enemies that the Novgorod forces fought on a regular basis, if one wanted to paint them up too. 

Intentionally painting figures for no purpose other than display is something I haven't done since the 70's and don't wish to revive. Since I don't want to throw them in the back of a cupboard, that means a theoretical man-to-man skirmish game with up to 14 figures aside for now, with the possibility of an expansion to  a generic Portable Wargame or One Hour Wargame sort of setup at some point in the future.

That brought me to painting. I briefly considered leaving them in their bare plastic, as so many modern collectors do, but since each side in the bag comes in both colours, that was a nonstarter. A block toy soldier style wasn't going to do the figures justice and the shallow detail was going to rule out shading by washes and dry brushing. About the only option left was the old fashioned model soldier base coat with blended highlighting and shading by hand. Its the technique I learned in the '60's and '70's when I start making "model soldiers" (initially out of toy soldiers as per Henry Harris) before I found Featherstone and became a wargamer, but one I have't used much this century.  I don't really have the right paints, eyesight or steady hand that such an undertaking requires, but "needs must" so I did what I could with what was at hand.  

In the end, I was starting to remember and enjoy the process and I'm satisfied with the end figure despite a host of minor flaws which I'm not going to point out. Of course, painting the one figure took as long as painting the eight 40mm War of 1812 toy soldiers I did last week, but really that's a good thing: more hobby time before I have to buy something new or figure out rules!