Thursday, December 15, 2011

The Year in Review: British and French Napoleonics


I was glancing at my blog calendar just the other day and realized that December 19th will mark a year since I started 'Analogue Hobbies'. Wow. It feels both so long ago and yet it  seems like only yesterday. I must say that at the time, when I started this whole blogging thing, I was a bit leery about it, thinking my interest would quickly peter-out or I'd simply have nothing to say. Well, while I doubt that what I have to say is of any real value I have found that the blog has become very valuable to me for a variety of reasons. First and foremost is that I've met some really fabulous people through blogging - people who have a similar passion for the hobby and whose words of encouragement have been both gracious and helpful. 

A bird's eye view of the two forces.
In addition making new friends, this whole exercise has really helped me focus my efforts at the hobby table. I dunno, but it seems the mixture of getting jazzed in seeing others' great projects and knowing that there are others out there anticipating my own work has really fanned the fires of productivity.

The white-uniformed 16th advancing towards the British position.
To underline this new 'renaissance' I've had for the hobby I thought it would be fun if I spent the next few days pulling out all the stuff I've done over the past year or so, set it up on the table and take some shots - sort of a 'Year in Review'. So, first up is the largest representative of my efforts this year, figures for 'The Beautiful Game': Napoleonics.


Rifles sending out a skirmish screen to meet the French.
The pictures here show the majority of my French and British collection. To be clear, about five of these units had their beginnings many years ago, and a few were started about 14 months ago, but for the most part what you see is around a year's worth of work. I think there is around 550 models in total of which I probably painted approximately 400 in the past year. I'm usually a fairly plodding painter so this is a notable achievement for me especially when this does not include the oddball forays like my Dystopian Wars diversion and things like the recent Russian 'campaign'.

Marshal Ney leading regiments of Carabiniers and Dragoons.



Portion of a British Rocket battery getting ready to engage.
Imperial Guard 12 pounders doing hot work.
A view down the French line.


Anyway, like the picture of Ney above, I thank all the visitors of Analogue Hobbies in spurring me on - you've been a great encouragement to me in both getting stuff done and enjoying the stuff that I do. Its been a great year and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the new one will bring. 

Season's Greetings and a Happy New Year!

Curt

26 comments:

  1. Congrats on your blogs 1st birthday! If you have managed that much in a year, I am glad you are not scoring as part of the Challenge! I feel seriously up against it! ;-) Beautiful work too, and I like the patchwork effect of your terrain board.

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  2. Impressive forces you have in battle! This year has been quite refreshing for Napoleonics - not that I've gamed it much in the past; but always had a keen interest in the period. With the recent releases from Perry, Victrix and Warlord - as well as Black Powder - it has been a great year for Napoleonics! Best, Dean

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  3. Happy blog birthday Curt!!
    That's certainly a beautiful collection you have there!!

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  4. Congratulations for the anniversary. I'm just 8 months older than you in the blogosphere and I'm having a lot of fun and creating many new realtions. You have a wonderful Napo collection, no doubt; for any wargamer engaged in the period your collection should set the bar in terms of quantity and quality.

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  5. Congratulations, Curt; your Blog is impressive, ando your Napoleonic Collection, wonderful.

    Best Regards,

    Juan

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  6. That is truly an impressive collection you've put together, Curt!

    You have also very succinctly and eloquently summed up my own feelings about blogging.

    Many Happy Returns!

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  7. Congratulation, for the anniversary and for the table, really impressive.

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  8. Congrat's on a successful first year. Really like the photos.

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  9. Congrats, very impressive collection my friend.

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  10. Very impressive work - over 400 figures in a year with such an exceptional level of quality - that's a great accomplishment

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  11. Very nice Curt on multiple levels. You are certainly correct in describing how we all encourage each other. Your terrain patch work looks great. I especially like your basing (I wish I did something more like it myself). It was neat to remind myself of all your innovations over the year, I have to do some of the dice bases myself. And your figures look great!

    Congratulations

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  12. Well done on building up that collection, looks great. Here's to year 2..

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  13. Happy Blogday,
    Napoléon himself would be very pleased with your endeavour.
    Cheers,

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  14. Thanks so much, guys, for all your comments and support - it really is very much appreciated.

    From time-to-time 'Technology' really does get it right and the advent of the blog in social media is a perfect example, certainly from my experience with the hobby. This first year of blogging conjoins a year of making great new friends and a record level of productivity - and all of this from a free tool! Really what more can you ask?

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  15. Curt, a couple of fantastic looking armies! A great acheivement in one year. Cool blog, too.

    Cheers, Simon

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  16. great looking armies awesome blog life just keeps on getting better, what are your plans for next year what direction is your painting heading

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  17. @BigRedBat: Thanks Simon, much appreciated. BTW I'm prepping to do some Dark Age shields with transfers next week and your tip on using blu tac and cellophane is brilliant - thanks!

    @Galpy: Thanks for the kudos. Good question re: upcoming projects. Well, for sure there'll be more Napoleonics (Russians, Portuguese and perhaps some Austrians), but I'm also planning to get four Dark Age forces done for SAGA by late January so that will call for a Big Push. I'd really like to create a scenario so I can use the beautiful Aspern church that Sylvain made for me - that will take a bit of planning as the scale is huge.

    Those are the biggies but I'm sure I'll entertain myself with some other silly diversions along the way to keep things interesting.

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  18. Curt,

    A beautiful collection of figures, very much an inspiration to us all! All the more impressive that you knocked most of them out in only a year.

    Thanks for sharing, I've enjoyed your blog and hadn'trealised you were so new to it. Here's to another successful hobby year (for the both of us!)

    Phil
    Http://infrequentwargamer.blogspot.com/

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  19. That's a very impressive achievement and looks just fantastic!! Really enjoyed following your blog this year and looking forward to more years!

    Christopher

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  20. Very impressive year and congrats on your blog. Top results produced all year, looking forward to following your blog throughout 2012.
    Cheers, guido.

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  21. Hi Curt, first of all thanks for posting and sharing your work. It's inspiring stuff and you managed do get a lot done in a year. Enjoyed following and look forward to many more posts...
    4 Saga armies in January? You should be in the competition. I start Tuesday and I hope to get one done :-) Cheers, Michael

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  22. Amazing stuff, great work really impressive. Keep it up.

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  23. @ Phil: Thank you and yes, its only been a year. We'll see if I can keep up the steam and keep things fresh and relevant.

    @ Michael: Thanks for your support! Oh, and I AM in the competition - its just that my score does not count. So I'll be thrashing along with the rest of you!

    @ Guidowg and Simon: Thanks for visiting and for your kind words.

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  24. Congrats! Excellent mini collection and wonderful blog. Plenty of inspiration across the blogosphere, and this site is no exception! Thanks for sharing.

    I'm hoping to get my Naps (or maybe SYW) collection rolling in the new year. Then maybe I'll have something for you worth "following" over at Der Feldmarschall. ;-)

    Cheers,
    Jason

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  25. Forgot to mention the 19th was my 6 month anniversary. :-)

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Thanks for your comment! As long as you're not a spam droid I'll have it up on the blog soon. :)