Patrick's Patent Guide for Painting Any Rate Ship

While the age of fighting sail has always been a staple when it comes to my earliest memories of wargaming, I knew very little about it when I started to revive that memory a couple of years ago.  

So with my lack of knowledge I took the cautious approach and... went straight to GHQ and hit BUY BUY BUY!!!!

After my fervor died down I did a lot of Google searching, hit up TMP and bought some books on the period.    Probably the best find for me was Langton Miniatures.   Not only do they sell a lot of fine miniatures, they even sell the odd ones that GHQ doesn't.  More importantly, they sell  A GUIDE TO: Assembly, Painting & Rigging of Napoleonic Naval Models in Scale 1:1200.  While that might be a mouthful, the content is immeasurable.

simply referred to as "the guide" from now on

The book covers...  well everything it says in the title.  As far as painting goes, it has diagrams to point out all the parts of the sails and hull.  Further, it goes into listing how each part could/should be painted.

Modern French Army - Part 3.5, The Vehicles (Enter the VBCI)

As mentioned before, I have scoured the internet in search of French military equipment to expand my little reaction force.  I even reached out to a number of people who produce models, but never received replies.   That was until the man of the hour, Luis Glehn, hit me up with the encouraging words "Give me a few days and I should be able to do it".   True to his word, he delivered and I can't thank him enough.  He has a Shapeways store Small Scale Shop with over 250 items.  I highly recommend his work, and it's hard to beat someone who will go out of the way to simply create the things you need.

I'm really excited, as having models of these will really allow us to wargame the forefront of French military involvements. As well as many hypothetical engagements.

VBCI:

Vehicule Blinde de Combat d'Infanterie

The French "Armored Infantry Fighting Vehicle", (such an original name), leapt the French military into the world of massive but maneuverable IFVs. Standing in about a meter taller than the VAB and well over a meter than the AMX-10P, this is a real beast.   Armed with a 25mm dual feed cannon and a co-axial 7.62mm machine gun, it's standard form also packs a little more punch than the standard AMX-10P that it is replacing.  The vehicle was designed to be fully integrated with the new integrated vehicle information system as well as the FELIN system.  The VBCI has a crew of three and can carry an additional 8 people. (7 men being the standard squad size)

Stealth fields!!!

(their original plastic form)