Friday, January 22, 2021

(Painting) Deseret Nauvoo Legion for Gnome Wars

I have been working on the Nauvoo Legion for the better part of eternity.  Finally, the unit is done!  
What's more depressing is that the reason for their entire existence, an appropriate opponent for the California Imperial Guard, has been around for over six years.  

Brigade Games Gnome Wars Southern Americans Standard Bearer

The Nauvoo Legion is one of the proud former militias turned full-time defenders of the Theocracy of Deseret.  Inspiration came from this picture of the actual Nauvoo Legion of Illinois.  


The history of the actual Nauvoo Legion can be found here.
Brigade Games Gnome Wars Southern Americans Bugler

If there are future additions to the Nauvoo, it would be artillery and the much-missing Doctor.  They are in a bin of unpainted gnomes, but absolutely no ETA on those even hitting the painting bench queue.
The officer and NCO were painted earlier and can be found here and here

To create the Nauvoo Legion, I used the following paints (All Americana unless noted otherwise).
Uniform- Base: Butterscotch. Hat: Neutral Gray.   Wash: Citadel Seraphim Sepia.
Highlights - True Red, Lamp Black, Lt Cinnamon.
Skin - Howard Hues Ruddy Flesh.

What's Next?   After sealing all the figures, I earned myself a moment of calm reflection, and a quick game of "What's the next project that will take forever?" A quick clean-up and inventory of everything revealed the backlog I've accumulated thanks to purchases over the last year.  
(Edit: After writing this up, one of the kittens knocked over/drank the left over paint water.  Joy)
Part of my project management to keep my scattered brain organized was to set up monthly goals on a Google Doc.  Thus far, it's been a great tool for pacing myself (even if three of the five remaining projects for January are overdue projects from December).  

A keen eye can see a company of the Forge Fathers half-tracks from Mantic.  Got a good deal on them and I only want to try to finish one in the new few weeks.  Outside of that, February and March have me painting one unit/squad/pack of Gnomish Space Marines (the boxes on the far right are all PACKED with Space Dwarves), paint up at least one non-GSM figure, and touch-up/fix/repaint at least one figure that needs it (those are lined up under the center of the paint rack, opposite the Armory mug.  

If that's not enough, the boxes next to Space Dwarves are all the other projects, many in plastic,  Zulus for Season 4 of the Pulp Game,  Frostgrave Women Warriors, because, why not,  sixty zombies, and that ramen box is chock full of Legions of Steel figures that need to be stripped.

And I completely forgot about the Fantasian Quad Unit for Legions of Steel that is hiding under that dollar store tank, much less the terrain projects I want to do, or the shoeboxes chock full of unpainted lead on my shelves.  

I also owe the blog a Gnome Wars History of Deseret, although I doubt it will be as much fun as Imperial Republic of California.  There's also a few "Gnome Life" sidebars I need to write-up.  

Project 350:  In a topic known as "Stuff only ViscountEric cares about," the blog is at 508 (333 drafts /175 scheduled posts), down from 510 (339/171) last week.  I'm finishing up last week's Star War Actual Play, while trying not to set up placeholder drafts for the new story arc they just started. That's the whole reason the Campaign Notes are an unpublished page, so I can add notes, pics, and miscellany there and add to the working posts when needed.  

With just over a week remaining in the month my project management has been ho-hum for January. Out of 15 "projects" I laid out on my Google Doc, 5 are completed, 3 are in process, 2 have not been started, and I effectively cancelled 5 of them in error.  This month I focused on compiling, and possibly completing the final Actual Play for my World of Georic campaigns: The Burning Trogs Redux.  It should be six simple episodes, but the thumb drive I had the information on was missing from the office.  Not finding it, I decided to mark the work-to-be-done cancelled and plug it into a future.  Of course, the family had a dash of cleaning and in my scrubbing of the office, discovered it... and realized I already pulled the raw story and write-ups onto the blog drafts.  

7 comments:

  1. I never expected to see the Nauvoo Legion represented on the tabletop.

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  2. There's enough people who know how many scratches were on a particular Sherman in WW2 or the exact shade of mud on Napoleonic soldiers marching through one particular village. There's so much more interesting "obscure" history to enjoy, even if the figures don't exactly match up.

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    1. I agree. I am a history teacher and I get led off into all sorts of tangents as I expand my knowledge even further in the subjects I happen to teach.

      As to the wargaming side of things, I no longer collect historical armies or play historical scenarios/battles. I use historical troops in my Imagi-nation armies and am creating a campaign world within which to play games using fictional armies.

      As I've gotten older, it became apparent to me that many in the hobby are too focused on "refighting" certain actions, when they are doing no such thing, and their relative success is largely based on how one has designed the scenario played.

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    2. Ha! I just realized you are also in Daisy!

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    3. While I'm happy to slug it out with anyone across the battlefield, I've started working with HMGS with their Wargaming in Education program. Most of it has involved getting educators involved in the early stages of wargaming, what to buy, some basic games, and such as a Medieval siege or a joust.

      I've been able to run an educational game representing the Battle of Yellowstone, covering the entire US Cavalry occupation of the park. Some sections are self-contained, to keep the 10+ players interested, but certain events (or legislation from Washington DC) are going to happen, regardless of player action, dice rolls. It's long for a classroom piece, but it is a good excuse to make some fun terrain. Since the big education HMGS con is Fall-IN! this November, I'm hoping to dust it off, revise some rules for enlisted drunkenness, and possibly convert it from a Gnome game to "legit" 25mm fun.

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    4. I live a couple hours from the Little Bighorn battlefield, but I have yet to visit. My home is currently amongst the descendants of those who defeated Custer.

      It is STILL a big deal here.

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  3. A righteous and just group of scallywags that we are!

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