The Wandering Eye and Forgotten Solferino

At the moment, I'm painting up some mid/late 17th century Polish for the wars of the Deluge because that was what I was working on before tackling my Spanish Civil War factions. In the near future, I anticipate some posts featuring Polish Winged hussars, axe-wielding musketeers and other fun stuff. 

While I grind through these Poles, my wandering eye looks to the next project. 

Rather than spend money on new figures, I want to pursue an abandoned project (and I have many). I was sorting through my storage and came upon this parcel below. 

It's an unopened package from Peter Berry and Baccus from August, 2021 (I removed my address on the shipping label). That was at the tail end of the Covid-19 lockdowns and I believe I placed an order for some figures for the Franco-Austrian War of 1859. 

I have a second unopened parcel of similar size, also from Baccus, that was ordered around 2023. I think that may also be French and Austrians or perhaps some Prussians. 

As I recall I had previously ordered some Austrians and painted up a few units. The plan was to use some quick-play big battle ruleset I found online if memory serves me correctly. 

Pictured above are some of the finished infantry. They are based on small 20mm squares. Looking at the paint job, they look a bit dull...I may have to touch them up a bit to make them pop a bit more. Below are the Uhlans, I think I stopped before finishing the basing because I decided I would place three sculpts to a base instead of the two you see here. 

The uhlans also look a bit dull and muted and will need some touch-up. It was around this time that I abandoned the project. There are still some battered and bruised, partially painted Austrian infantry that have been on my cluttered paint desk for years.  A few lost bayonets as they were pushed to side or another for other projects. These battered 6mm warriors are a reminder of my project failure.

My thought is that I will pursue this project in the near future. I will stick to the 20mm bases and use my preferred ruleset for the 19th century: Field of Battle 3. Of course, as I was looking at those half painted Austrians on my painting table I saw some half painted Fenians which reminded me that I likely need to finish that project first. Of course, a part of me wants to keep those two parcels intact and unopened...not sure why.