Figures for this? I was tempted to look at Baccus 6mm and I will likely use Baccus for other forces. However, for the project I decided to do the Prussians in Heroics and Ros figures and the Confederation of the Rhine in Adler Miniatures. I believe, however, that Adler and Baccus will mix so some Baccus may slip into the Confederation of the Rhine.

The orders went out tonight – enough Prussians from Heroics and Ros to provide a brigade from around 1813 of 3 battalions of Regulars, 3 reserve battalions, 3 Landwehr battalions, a battery or two of foot artillery and two regiments of cavalry.

For the Confederation of the Rhine side there is enough to provide 6 battalions of infantry, 2 regiments of Chasseurs and a couple of batteries.

Now, back to painting 1/6000 ships and World War 2 6mm Italians whilst I wait for the postman to knock!

The Confederation of the Rhine in 1812 - map is from from Wikipedia Source Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rheinbund_1812.png

I’m painting ships for an acquaintance in the US and Armoured Fight Vehicles and Infantry for me (for Cold War, Future War and Blitzkrieg Commander from Specialist Military Publishing). I have the modern Danes finished and the modern Norwegians or Greeks planned. I’ve painted and used the futuristic PacFed and have half planned some European opposition (or futuristic Brits) for them. I am only at the point of starting the preparation of the World War 2 Italians for paint – I’ll have them prepped when I finish the 1/6000 Italian World War 1 ships. I’m also planning some World War 2 Russians (both early and late) to allow me to wargame parts of the Winter War as well as Khalkin-gol so I will need to add some early Japanese and Finns. The late war Russians are just because they are interesting.

Why then am I talking about the Confederation of the Rhine? I was looking at Doug’s English Civil War figures that he had painted in 6mm and was tempted. I still am tempted with the English Civil War. I was also looking around for wargame rules to read for inspiration and picked up a copy of Napoleon. The pictures in there were inspiring. A copy of Black Powder followed (OMG – what can I say about the pictures in there – there are not enough superlatives available in English to adequately describe them). I had sorted of decided then to do a 15mm Napoleonic army at some point in the future – possible two – and commenced some research to determine how to base, what armies, organisations etc.

I then came across some pictures of 6mm figures painted and based for Baccus’ Polemos wargame rules. Initially they were American Civil War figures but I just so liked the look of them that I was hooked. 6mm Napoleonic it would be.

What army to work on was the next question. Instead of considering the British or Austrians or French or Russians I thought German. My initial thought was Prussians, which tied in nicely with an article on the organisation of the later Prussian Army in Napoleonic times in Wargames Illustrated issue 268. Simple really. I then had visions of ranks of Prussian soldiers, all uniform in their uniforms and thought “all uniform in their uniforms … hmmm!”

I needed variety. Everything I have been painting lately is uniform and short of painting a horde of rampaging Celts from ancient times, I could not see any irregularity popping up. I was reading the Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars and a reference pooped up to the lancers of Cleve-Berg and a distant memory of the colour of their uniform popped up. The next reference was to the Westphalia’s troops and the words “Confederation of the Rhine” popped into mind.

The Confederation of the Rhine was a collection of German states supporting Napoleon in the early and middle stages of the Napoleonic Wars. It was formed in 1806 when 16 of the minor German states to support Napoleon Bonaparte and ally themselves with France. A further 19 states joined later.

What I liked so much about this as an army was the fact that there were many states contributing only a battalion or two and the uniforms were quite varied across all the states. They would also provide an interesting opponent to the Prussians if I decide to do those later.

So, the decision has been made. Next project after the Italians are painted will be some 6mm Confederation of the Rhine. The research begins and I will, of course, update Thomo’s Hole on progress in the future.

Firstly the map. If you click on the image to the left a larger size map will be seen which will allow you to see more clearly the location of the visitors. I note that I have had visitors from almost everywhere, including the far north of Alaska (Nuiqsut perhaps), the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Ocean Islands as well as the usual places.

Even though I am Australian, most of the visitors to the Hole come from the US and the UK. In fact, I have had visitors from 161 countries around the world – I have not had visitors from some of the African and Caribbean countries as well as North Korea.

In the year from 1 March 2009 and 2 March 2010 there have been 36,402 visits to Thomo’s Hole. If I add in the three months from January 2009, the total is 41,248 visitors.

I have other statistics from Google Analytics amongst other places but these are the easiest to see and to share. I am quite pleased with the regular visitors that arrive here, read, comment and enjoy the Hole.

You’ll see a new map in the sidebar in a day or so with the map reset to empty so we can see where folks visit from in the coming year.

That’s terrible.

It also means that they are way overcharging for their product too!

The models are all from Brigade Models and are painted with the colours inspired by the Australian Twenty-20 team. I really enjoyed painting these and are very happy with the way they look. Have a look at them.