Victrix French and British Artillery - WIP

Got a box each of Victrix French and British Artillery from Hobby Bunker. The British box was missing a sprue and am awaiting it's arrival. Each kit comes with three cannon and 15 crewmen (or is supposed to). I plan to use only 4 crewmen staged around each gun. The British kit also comes with 3 limbers. These will be based separately from the cannon, and have the "extra" crewman next to it - maybe with some other stuff for a mini-diorama.

Starting with the French - these will be with two 8 pounders manned by line artillery and a 12 pounder manned by Guardsmen. I have to say the French was easier to build than the British set. Most of the details like drag chains and grab handles are molded onto the gun chassis for the French - whereas the British set are separate pieces.The British set being older than the French, Victrix appears to improves their kit design.

I'm painting the smaller details like piping and buttons first; then the main clothing areas will be painted leaving a bit of the undercoat showing for blacklining.

The "extra" French crewmen bodies have been converted to Imperial Guard Engineers using arms from the Victrix Middle Guard set and carabinier heads from the Perry heavy cavalry set. Not sure what they'll be used for, but I like their uniform.

So much for now. I have to report for jury duty tomorrow. First time in my life - hopefully I'll be kicked off the panel by the defense when they hear I was in the JAG Corps for 28 years and a firm believer in maxing out sentences --- not really, but I don't want to be stuck in court for a week. It would be harder than work for me. :)

Spanish Cuirassiers - Coraceros Españoles

Completed a unit of Spanish Cuirassiers - using Perry plastic French Cuirassiers.

Extract from a website about this unit:
"In January 1808, the French formed the 3rd Provisional Cuirassiers (3eme Régiment Provisoire de Grosse Cavalerie) in Perpignan for service in Spain. It entered Barcelona the following month and served in Catalonia until January 1810. At Mollet del Vallès on 21 January 1810 the 2nd squadron was completely defeated by the Spanish Numancia Dragoon regiment. The Spanish used the equipment taken from the casualties and the prisoners to form their own unit of cuirassiers. El Regimiento de Coraceros Españoles (The Spanish Cuirassier regiment) was formed on 24th May 1810 in Reus (near Tarragona) under the command of Coronel don Juan Malats from parts of the Húsares de Granada and the Cazadores de Olivenza.The regiment had 360 men divided into 2 squadrons each of 3 companies. One squadron was equipped with the cuirass, helmet and sword captured at Mollet del Vallès.The Coraceros Españoles took part in many different actions in Catalonia until the end of the war."

And again from the same website:
"The uniform was provided by the British. It consisted of a red coatee without lapels with green collar and cuffs, white piping and turnbacks and white metal buttons. White epaulettes were worn. White pantaloons and black high boots were worn but could be replaced by grey overalls with a red stipe when on campaign. They had a white cape."

These will be the heavy cavalry for the British until some Household Cavalry or Heavy Dragoons are acquired. Incidentally, I just ordered a box each of British Light Dragoons and French Chasseur a Cheval from Perry.

Here are some images of Spanish Cuirassiers. I wish the plastic set came with plumes.

So much for now. Thanks for stopping by best wishes to you all.

Napoleonic Cavalry Roll Call

So, with the additional figures completed, here are the 8-figure cavalry units on parade. There are 5 French units: two units of 9th Hussars; a unit each of dragoons, cuirassiers and carabiniers. Only two British 1st KGL Hussar units at the moment. A Spanish heavy cavalry unit will be added soon.

Except for the recently painted 7 figures, the rest of the figures were painted some years ago.

All of the figures are Perry plastics.

Some Spanish style buildings in the background. Except for the later-styled carabiniers, all of these cavalry units participated in the Peninsular War.

The image below includes the 7 newly painted figures - along with earlier painted ones.

I am looking forward to a game day in September to see how these cavalry units will perform using Black Powder. I plan to limit movement to 12 inches per move. Thank you again for stopping by and checking out the blog.

7 Horsemen - WIP - Horses Stained

Managed to slap some paint onto the horses; followed by a Minwax stain.

This is what they looked like prior to the staining.

After shot of Testors Dullcote, they'll get some touching up and highlighting.

After these are done, I have some Perry French Infantry and Cuirassiers to work on. I'm sort of back into Napoleonics at the moment.

7 Horsemen - Riders Completed

Still need to do the horses, but that shouldn't take too long as I will just block paint them followed by Minwax staining. So, here are one each French carabiner, dragoon officer and cuirassier. In the rear of them are the earlier completed French 9th Hussars and 1st KGL Hussars  officers and trumpeter.

Once mounted, the saddles will cover up most of the seat of the riders.

I was able to match the colors pretty closely to the existing figures in the units these will accompany. However, I couldn't get the pink facings for the dragoon right. I can't remember how I got the sort of magenta color on the earlier figures. Guess the officer used more expensive cloth or something.

Thanks again for stopping by; the next post should have all of these guys joined with their respective units.

7 Horsemen - WIP - Hussars Completed

Well, the riders anyway - still need to do the horses. But, nevertheless, here are the command figures for a unit each of French 9th Hussars and 1st KGL Hussars.

With these additional command figures, there will be two units each of these regiments - all with 8 figures.

I was glad to find that I had kept the pre-printed sabretaches which I used for the original box of French Hussars.

The sabretache images for all French regiments were kindly posted on a now dead link by TMP Aldo - this was back in 2010, so no idea if these exists in cyberspace anymore.

Thankfully, the British, including the KGL, used plain black leather sabretaches for the field. Next up will be one each: carabinier, cuirassier and dragoon.

Errata: I now see I forgot to paint the 9th Hussar officer's collar, and the dolman braiding on the KGL trumpeter.

7 Horsemen - WIP

Started work on 7 cavalry figures that will be used to round-up existing units to flesh them out to 8-figures each. These 7 consist of a trumpeter and officer each for the French 9th Hussars and 1st KGL Hussars; one each cuirassier and carabinier trooper; and finally a French dragoon officer.

With all the lacing on some of the figures (hussars), I decided to use the black undercoat technique where a bit of black is left between colors for a black lining effect. I learned of this method some years ago from NHMGS buddy Doug H (Dots of Paint blog). It's very effective and a bit counter intuitive from other painting methods - especially when I use the Minwax stain. For the stain method, I usually use a white undercoat and colors that are a shade or two lighter than what the result is expected to be. I also paint colors right up to each other with no gaps between colors.

Anyway, it's been a while since I've used this black undercoat method, but it is very suitable to Napoleonics - with all the lacing and piping.

Incidentally, the horses will be painted using the Minwax staining method.

It's ways out, but I've already volunteered to run a Black Powder game in September at the annual Fix Bayonet game day at historic Fort Steilacoom. It'll be a playtest of sorts for a larger Black Powder game I hope to host at next year's Enfilade! Thanks again for stopping by and best wishes on your hobby projects and gaming.

"Wellington's on the run! I caught him at Quatre Bras! He's retreating!"

"If Wellington is retreating, what are you doing here?!" Just a little Napoleonic teaser while I await more reinforcements from the Perry's.

As you may know, these are figures that I painted some years ago, but only gamed a few time in the past. I started out with Sharp Practice, but ended up with enough figures for Black Powder games. The Highlanders are Victrix and the French heavy cavalry are Perry's. In the background is a metal Perry RHA gun and crew - they took too long to get into the square.

The mat was a gift from Chris Hughes of Cigar Box Battle Mats. He played in two of my WotR Lion Rampant games a couple of months ago. Anyway, I'll be pulling the rest of the Napoleonics out of the cabinet to see how they fit on the gaming table in their newly "downsized" unit configuration. I hope to have enough manuever space for 6 players with about 5-6 units each on an 8X5' table.

Perry British Napoleonic Infantry - Coldstream Guards - Completed

Here are the completed Perry British infantry representing the Coldstream Guards as they may have appeared in the Peninsula with the earlier "stovepipe" shako. The colors were downloaded from the excellent War Flag website.

This is actually the second time I've painted up the Coldstream Guards using the same Perry set. The earlier set was painted up using the later "Belgic" shako - some from left over Victrix figures. I sold them to a buddy a couple of years ago. Here's a link to how that previously painted unit looked.

Above image shows them broken down into the two 16-figure units. Elements of this regiment served extensively in the Peninsular War, as well as at Waterloo - specifically the defense of Hougoumont.

I spent a fair amount of time and effort on the front of the figures - particularly the lacing and trousers. I left the rear untouched after the staining, save for a little dry-brushing over the trousers. I'm getting lazy in my "old age" and looking for shortcuts when I can.

There are now 8 16-figure line infantry units for the British. Along with these units, there are several Rifles and Spanish Guerrilla units - as well as 1st KGL Hussars and RHA batteries. I plan to build 8-figure cavalry units as well. In fact, I just ordered a few "accessory" sprues from Perry to flesh out the 14 figure sets I already have. Yes, it appears I am smitten with the Napoleonic flu - which may develop into a Spanish Ulcer! Thank you very much for visiting and well wishes to all!

Happy 4th of July, And The British Are Coming...

Along pretty nicely - Perry British Napoleonic Line Infantry, that is. After taking a bit of a break after finishing up the Victrix French Middle Guard, finally got back to this Perry set. We had family visiting us last week and we did the normal hosting routine - checking out Puget Sound and Mount Rainier, among other things. Anyway, here are 32 of the plastic Perry's with a fresh coat of Minwax Tudor Satin stain - they'll be broken down into two units of 16 figures each representing the Coldstream Guards.

After allowing them to dry a day or two, they'll be given a shot of Testors Dullcote. Then some touching up and highlighting prior to basing.

These required a little bit more effort to put together than the Victrix Middle Guard set. Mainly due to the more varied arm options. Painting also was a bit more intensive as they aren't in greatcoats, and details like lacing and buttons had to be addressed.

Here they are prior to the staining, block painted.

Again, Happy 4th of July to all - even our brothers in arms across the great wine dark sea.