French Cuirassier With Captured British Standard. SOLD

 I have not posted here for half a year now as I was unsure if I wanted to continue with the blog given my lack of wargaming and for some time it had been posting mostly just another painted unit similar to the one before and the one before that etc. However now I am actually painting up quite a few other items just for pleasure I think the blog still has some life in it. I will still do the occasional unit but for the most part it will be showcasing either my busts or diorama's. I will do some backward posts but mostly I will be posting new finishes. Not having loads of spare space I will be offering my work for sale. 

The bust is supplied by CGS Military Figures as a high quality and detailed bust. They also do the option as full figure mounted on his horse, a very impressive looking model. It comes in just under 20 pieces that mostly have to painted before assembly.

The standard was captured from the 2nd Battalion 69th Regiment (South Lincolnshire) of Foot at the battle of Quatre Bras. It was quite a challenge painting the Union that was just attached to the arm and was difficult to hold without rubbing the paint off. Good job I have a good supply of rubber gloves!

Keeping with the flag I exchanged the wire that comes with the kit for embroidery thread, painted it gold and soaked in glue adding the resin tassels once it was dry. I think it actually is a better finish.

I used mostly Andrea Color paints but also a fair few Vallejo. I have started to build up a fair collection of Andrea paints with nine sets of six complimenting sets and their higher pigment concentration and the system of using them has really improved my standard of finish. I also used oils on the carbine to get a good woodgrain finish.

Next bust will be Napoleonic French cavalry again, this time a Hussar officer making use of a very generous present from Dave D, Scale 75 Green Colour set. Before that though I hope to finish my first 1/35 scale dio based around a bren carrier. 

Adler French ADC's

I actually finished these with the Prussians but I had started them about 3-4 years ago so way too long in the finishing.

The main reason for the slow pace has been the lack of real need for these guys. I simply have so many I have as many as I would require in any game we have played so far but if we ever get round to playing a really big battle I may still need more so I may need them one day.

All told this gives me another four command bases for Division or lower commands using our rules. Of course if I use another rule set I may need even more command bases or need messenger stands. 

As you would expect from Adler these have so much detail that you feel you need to keep going. Better detail than some 10mm castings. It really has taken too long to finish these and the fact I still have so many more unpainted makes me smile. Many of my extra command will find their way onto infantry bases whilst I will continue to add to me command bases as well.

I actually have a sizeable amount of Adler French castings I bought via Dave D at the first Blog Con and far more Baccus that still need to be painted. My plan is to paint up some of the French Baccus infantry and get them sold on as I can't see me needing THAT much more French infantry given the quantity Lee also owns not that it will stop me painting up some for myself at the same time.

CGS Miniatures Polish Lancer WIP

I started this bust about two weeks ago, still got a fair bit left to do but happy with the progress so far. The bust is by CGS Military Figures and depicts a Polish Lancer at Waterloo. The detail is very crisp, casting very good and dimension's feel right. This is one of many Napoleonic busts they do and you will be seeing more of them as time goes on as I plan to do quite a few. Cost wise it's actually very cheap in comparison with many out there not that I am in any way qualified to judge one from another having painted just a couple of busts so far.

I still have the actual lance to build and paint as well as attach the right arm. Also plenty of touching up to get it looking right. It's possibly a bit light blue but it will contrast well with the cuirassier I plan to do at some point this year.

Just for fun, I have added a 6mm Prussian command base for scale. This and others will probably be my next post as I have finished these just before starting the bust. Once this bust is finished it's on with a couple of Macedonian Companion units from Magister Militum that I believe I bought either at the last trip to York or old Worlds Championships I attended. Not made a show in a few years now.

Santa Clause 2016 Outgoing

Obviously I will not be doing a Secret Santa Outgoing post LOL but this one I can. Last year my target got a really good present so I knew I had to put in some effort but that's cool.

I did the usual reading of my targets blog until I found something I thought I could do. Gary is working on a Napoleonic French army using AB Miniatures so a look on their site brought up a set of six ADC figures and I thought that would make a good choice.

I now know that AB produce some rather fine highly detailed figures and the ADC's certanly are no exception. 

They were not too difficult to clean up though the mould lines were rather prominent. Still prep time was not too long and I primed them in black.

I used a file of ADC images to paint these up so they are reasonably accurate. I have also left the bases plain brown so Gary can base them up as he see's fit. I don't know if he will use them with command figures or as just table furniture.

I was trying to paint these up to match Gary's style though in the end they were mostly how I would do them so was rather unsuccessful in that.

They were a challenge to paint as my Napoleonic painting has all been 6mm except a few 10mm and 20mm figures a few years ago. 

You will have to forgive the photo's as I only had the one shot at them as I needed to get them into the post and the winters sun was making it interesting.

I'm just glad I don't have a whole army to paint as they rival many a 28 for detail and it seems a chime not to paint it in. 

This ones one of my favourite  and was one of the first I painted. I painted them one at a time and mostly did not repeat colours to try and keep them looking that bit different from each other.

Typically they were a lot of fun to paint, though towards the end I was starting to clock watch as the days ticked by as I wanted then to arrive before the real Christmas rush set in.

Fortunately I managed to get them done in time and had just enough spare time to really enjoy the finish.

So another fun Santa Clause for me and I am already looking forward to next years event were not even out of 2015 yet.

Talking of which, I hope you all have a great New Year which brings you just the right amount of painting and gaming.

French Line Infantry by Commission Figurines from MDF

I actually painted this Commission Figurines Battalion before The Joy of Six but never quite got round to posting them. The BIG difference between these figures and other 6mm producers is that they are made of MDF. Yes MDF and they are rather nice.

I had this battalion on the table all game and only one person spotted them all day! Not that they actually look the same when closely looked at but at game distance they work perfectly well. They are sold as a cheap option to metal figures 96 figures set you back £2.00 opposed to just over three times for the same from Adler or Baccus. However that is not the best selling point, it's the speed you can paint these figures up in. I painted the 48 figures above in about 2/3rds the time it would take me to do the 28 figures I would of a Baccus battalion. So they win on both speed and cost but how well do they measure up across the board?

Well they obviously do not have the detail of the metal figures and the limitations of working with MDF and cutting via laser means it would be a big ask to get them to be more detailed than have been done so far. That said you can also get drummers and skirmishers now which would make these fit in with my other battalions much better.

It's also something of a learning curve, next time I will take a scalpel to the plumes and pompoms which I missed on this lot. I also need to put them slightly offset and weather them a little to get away from the chocolate box look. I sprayed them Army Painter Ultramarine Blue and was surprised with the amount of detail that showed through post spraying. Indeed I lost no detail what's so ever. At this point it just needed a dry brush of a lighter blue to give a little depth and help create the illusion of cloth rather than a straight forward painting (i.e. less old school look).

They do get backpacks, blanket rolls and ammo pouches though. As stand alone they work well and I would be happy to make a whole army out of these wooden wonders. The range remains fairly limited with many generic types of units though 21 codes is not a bad start at all and these include extra codes released since Joy of Six so is expanding.

They do sit reasonably well with Baccus and as they are slightly larger than Baccus sit well with Adler from a scale point of view. I still yet have to paint up the cavalry and artillery but will be doing this sometime in the near(ish) future as well as painting up the rest of this pack.

So I think you can start with one supplier be that metal or MDF and add in the other at a later date. Indeed the ones I have been given to paint up will find their way into my armies and I will be picking up a few more bits at Donnington in October. However I remain a big fan of both Adler and Baccus so they will remain my main go to guys for my Napoleonic needs but I can see Commission Miniatures getting a growing following and look forward to seeing more display games that use these figures in the future.

I have a game tonight and hopefully tomorrow night as well and with another already booked for next week I am finally getting back to the swing of gaming, can you tell the Holiday season has finally come to an end?

Prussians Get an Outing AAR

On Friday night I got the chance to run the Prussians out in a game against Matt. Matt having never played the rules before meant I would also get another view point on the rules not an opportunity to be missed I hear you say, too right I answer.

I gave Matt some fairly standard French, twelve battalions of infantry including three Ligne, three batteries including horse, one each of Lancer's, Hussars, Dragoons and Cuirassier regiments. I as the Prussians also had twelve battalions though six were Landwehr, three Reserve and three line battalions. The Landwehr though was defending the town on the left flank. They also had a battery of guns and two Landwehr cavalry regiments. I also had two Dragoon and two Hussar regiments and a total of two batteries so I had the slightly larger force.

The town, this has to be held to win the game. I put three battalions in the town with the other three Landwehr behind the town to the left of the picture. On reflection I should have had these in the town as well.

I expected the centre to be attacked and had the reserve regiment in between the two hills, when this did not happen I was slow to get the troops into the action, this would mean extra pressure on the town.

I had put the two Landwehr cavalry regiments on the hill and when one was charged I had to counter charge off the hill (I should have added the uphill bonus though it would not have helped as I was facing three French regiments and was routed after just one round of combat though I did get the Dragoons to drop one level of cohesion.

Chasing after the routing Landwehr the Lancers crashed into my second regiment of Landwehr cavalry but being unsupported failed to drive these ahead of them. A swirling melee was to last a number of rounds before I was finally driven back in retreat.

Meanwhile I was trying to catch up with three battalions of French infantry that composed the French left flank with my centre. I had already dropped one of the Battalions two levels of cohesion and a morale level so I had a chance of driving these off if only I could keep pushing.

Matt at this point was attacking the town with a relatively light force but whilst he lost one battalion to rout he was driving back the Landwehr from the town. My decision not to put two regiments into the town was starting to tell on me. My support was in the town and to the left but it allowed the better class of French to get a hold on the town, I would need help from the dice now.

I allowed Matt to hold me near the town that and I was not winning the majority of the initiative rolls meaning one formation was missing out whilst I found I needed to use the one in the town every turn so either the infantry top right or the cavalry bottom right did not get to move. If I did I could possibly have had the troops on the hill crushed between the two forces.

All this could do was play into Matt's hands and sure enough he not only got the town fully under his control but wrecked the Landwehr division. I rallied the retreating cavalry (not the routing one) but I still had two battalions under forced retreat and two routing. Enough to signal forced retreat on the Division and whilst I could get this to halt I would be lucky to get them in order to attack again and even so they would be very fragile.

Two battalions about to withdraw from the town Matt would have most of his troops in good order from the attack. A better defence would have seen his force reasonably spent but these guys enjoyed a bit of a cake walk.

The Landwehr cavalry failed to regain cohesion meaning I would have to leave them close to a forced retreat to go and try and start rallying one of the infantry battalions. This formation is finished for the day.

The three Reserve battalions on the right never so much as fired a shot, the line also never got into the action. At this point I decided the best option would be to retreat under cover of the cavalry that was still in good order and able to take the fight to the French if needed.

Not that the French needed to attack, they had captured the town and was content to sit on the hill, no doubt happy to see the Prussians retreat at great haste, would the Prussians put up a bigger fight next time.

So ended the first outing of the Prussians and down to a few mistakes by me they suffered. Well they will be out again sometime soon to try again. I made the Landwehr fairly weak as this was supposed to be when they were untested in battle and to be honest felt they performed as could be expected. Better support would have given them a better showing. Whilst Matt was not flushed with love of the rules he wants another game with them and I think he could get to like them a fair bit. Not to replace the rules he uses but as a different flavour to what he plays on a regular basis.

New Baccus French Artillery Review

First up sorry about the odd image my camera is in desperate need of replacement and in these shots it shows but given that I can use what I have now or wait till Saturday I have gone for today. Fortunately not all the shots are a bit rubbish. These are of course the new Baccus French Napoleonic Artillery. 

Here we have all of them together to give you an idea of the size differences. As you can see the difference is very easy to spot with the bigger guns really being BIGGER. As every girl will tell you, size does matter, especially when it comes to your cannon's.

Bless him, the 4lb is a tiny gun that is more suited to the earlier period as Battalion guns and as such could be included on the infantry bases without much trouble.

I do have a soft spot for the howitzer, and whilst I did rather like the original this one is just that bit (well a fair bit) better and the one cast piece of all the guns makes it even better.

So onto the 6ld gun and now were talking. This will see a lot of service in many a French army and it's big enough to command respect whilst remaining a lovely detailed model.

Now we have the 8ld gun and again the size increase is obvious when sat next to it's 6lb buddy. Though it's fairly easy to tell the difference with a few Battalions between then.

The 12lb gun though is not a similar jump as it's more breadth of barrel than length but along side each other it's clear. When separated though the 12pr still has a presence of it's own. It looks mean and I love it, which is a good job as I have a number of these on order.

So it's all good right? Well almost and like other reviews before I feel a bit like nip picking but having spent some time thinking about this I am not sure I am in this case.

The biggest issue I have is that the original Baccus guns are larger than even the mighty 12pdr though it looks far less mean. This means for the artillery heavy (yes me) well I have to decide if I want to replace the old guns with new (not sure if Peter will allow the purchase of guns without crews but I think he may have said so ages ago when I was talking about it) this is a bit of a pain as it's yet more painting of guns which is not my favourite past time, though if bought with crews E-Bay will cover the cost I am sure.

The other point is the crews. Yes the new crews are much nicer cast figures and another French upgrade but I liked a few of the poses in the old crews and it's a shame these poses did not make it through to the new batch but if they had you would have difficulty seeing the differences.

Neither reason is a spoiler as such and won't stop me has not stopped me buying the new castings and whilst the older larger guns is a bit of a downer I am glad Peter was brave enough to replace with a better scaled set of guns so I forgive him. As for the other crews, well I still have the old ones to play with.

Summing up, these are a very welcome addition to the range and have come at a good point in the process of replacing the whole French force. Not enough can be made out of the single casting technique, the guns, limbers and caissons will all eventually be single cast items. Just a glance at the guns shows the benefits of a single cast item as they look RIGHT. No wonky wheels or poor joints to be seen. I will go as far as saying it's probably the biggest advance in metal figures in the last twenty years, yes I am serious.

Anyway enough grovelling to Sir Berry as I like to call him ;-) 

Couple of final points, I have received some of the Generals and ADC's which I will get painted up soon. I also have received the correct figures for the Hussars and will get them painted up and on the blog as soon as I can. I still have to finish off the Currassiers sometime soon, oh the trials of a figure painter.

Project Waterloo, French Under Review.

I've been concentrating on the Prussian side of the project but the French will need a fair bit of attention. Both Lee and myself will be supplying the troops for this but I believe I will have the lions share given I have  a heads start on Lee, though he will be doing all the Guard.  The French are a mammoth task all on their own and even sharing with Lee and the fact I already have quite a few units based up I am expecting to have to paint up more French than Prussian. I am thinking Peter at Baccus will be very happy he is releasing his new French next month. 

The photo above is of all the French and allies I have at the moment, problem is that a big chunk of the infantry are for Spain and not the 100 days campaign and so should not be used in the big game. I will plan the number of units to paint per month based on not using these bases in expectation of keeping up with the required output.

With the boost from my Secret Santa I have been able to make up a commanding artillery park. A total of twenty guns and eight limbers gives me a good start in this field and whilst I will need more these are not a worry. A total of four wagons is not exactly a lot and yes I will get more but they are not a priority. Just behind the guns are eight bases of Italian's great for Spain but sure to miss Waterloo if I have my way.

At the front we have the cavalry, most of these will be seen on the fields of Waterloo, probably being broken up on British squares. Again I will need more but a manageable amount given the time frame I am working too.

Command bases, under my rules we will need quite a few so these six will need a lot of help, and that goes beyond the one I have ready for basing. Again though I believe one a month would be more than enough and should help to break up the constant line after line of infantry.

Opps just nine bases of Line infantry, that's not big or clever. I had convinced myself I had a much bigger stock of these guys but so many of them had been painted up as foreign help instead. Taking these pictures was a real wake up call. I really need to get the basic line units up, way up and as such need to start on them very soon, but first I need to buy the figures but that task hopefully is just a few weeks away.

The Neapolitan infantry to the front and twelve Light Infantry to the rear. This has a lot to do with the five Light Battalions painted up for the painting Challenge when I thought I was far behind on the Lights. In fact this sparked a frenzied search of my boxes for more Line before I accepted the sad truth that I am somewhat lacking in infantry. Still it's only right and proper that projects like this supply many challengers.

Side aspect, I have to admit I thought it would look like a lot more, still it's rather bigger than a army pack, especially as the cavalry also includes a couple of boosters. Though come the time to lay out the troops for the big battle it will look a little more impressive. 

So not only will you see an endless line of Prussians coming off my table but also a lot of French. Still to be finalised is just how many and the breakdown of who will be doing what. Lee is fortunate that most of the Brits are already painted and based though the allies still need to be added. I suspect these will be done for Lee, rather than by Lee. The French he plans to paint himself but of course sometime in the distant future Lee will have to swap over to making the terrain boards though it may be me painting the buildings to slot into place. 

Whilst I am confident that the Prussians will be finished on time I am a little concerned about the French. I just can't do all the French and I know Lee has a lot of work on for the next six months. At least he is home most of the time during this period but as to painting as well who knows. After that he will be away a lot so fitting in painting is a big ask. I know he will get a lot done but will we be able to do them all? Well time will tell.

The Adler Prussians are coming along nice, may not get them all the way finished but will base them up early next month and move onto the first of the Reserve Regiments. I also have two bases of Cavalry primed ready for painting and these should be quite quick. So overall I am still fairly happy with where we are at this stage but need to sit down with Lee over a cuppa and thrash out what, when and how of the French and then see if it can be done.