Lt Oratorio Porngrower RN (left) leads ashore a party of sailors and marines. Keeping up with my return to painting ‘Big Men’ to lead my troops in skirmish games using the Too Fat Lardies’ Sharp Practice rules, I’ve just completed this 28mm naval officer by Brigade Games. Though I’ve just realised I haven’t finished his basing!
Beside Porngrower is Lt Ffothering-Ffanshaw from the ship’s marine detachment. He is a Foundry figure that I painted several years ago, but who has yet to see a fight on the tabletop. This figure has to be one of my favourite ever Napoleonic figures – there is something about his demeanour and posing that I love, and the marine uniform worn with blue trousers just looks so cool.
Here’s the whole party of sailors and marines wading ashore, all Foundry figures. Click on the picture to see more detail. As with all my figures, the basing is not designed with any specific set of rules in mind. But it should work fine for Sharp Practice, especially now I have some Big Men on their own separate bases.
A naval detachment obviously will need some waterborne transport, which is supplied by this Britannia Miniatures longboat and crew, also painted some years ago (again, click on the picture to get a lovely big view). This model has also never seen the tabletop in anger, so will have to be somehow incorporated into my next Sharp Practice scenario game.
By the way, the background in the above photos is my actual back yard, and the water is clingfilm over a sheet of glass.
Next Big Man … er, Big Woman … to be painted will be the Warlord Games French cantiniere.
DRESSING THE LINES 
Roly,
I’m thinking Scott’s pirate town would make a great location for an attack from your Royal Navy landing party if it was garrisoned by some French. Your pirate ship could easily stand in for a Royal navy brigantine or a small frigate…..Could a ‘Frogs and Lobsters’ game be on the cards?
Nice work Roly – looks a lots of fun!
I love the characterful names 🙂
‘Sharp Practice’ wouldn’t be ‘Sharp Practice’ without colourful names. And my Lt Oratorio Porngrower is nowhere as colourful as TFL’s own Lt Fellatio Lawnmower in their scenario book.
Hi Roly, with reference to your falling painting standards, I know what you mean. There are two things that spring to mind, one is the falling standard of figure production, they just don’t seem to be as precise and clean as they were, I paint AB figures for a living and they require anything up to thirty minutes of cleaning, removal of mould lines, drilling and re-sculpting around arms, legs and bayonets, drilling down the musket and re-applying detail with fimo, before a light dusting of white spray paint. The other is eyesight failure and I now paint with a times two magnifier on my head, I have also just sorted out a pair of glasses with a focal length of 6-8 inches which will be used specifically for painting, I have also ordered a pair with a focal length of 12-16 inches for use without magnification and for use for broad brush blocking. It’s worth getting magnifiers that jewellers use, jewellery websites are also great for tools for detail work. Hope that is of some use to you, excellent account of your visit to Waterloo, I’m a tad nearer and will be going this year for the 200th anniversary, it should be a fantastic spectacle.
Steve Walsh