Napoleonic Wargames project

My new Napoleonic blog for 2012.

2011-12-28T01:02:00.001-08:00

As this old blog still gets lots of hits I thought I would place a link to my new project here for anybody who might care to follow it's development. It's French and Austrians in 28mm and this time it has a slight twist to the theme as it is also a means of therapy for me as I begin my recovery from a serious bout of mental illness that has overshadowed my life (and my hobby) in recent times. But its still mostly about painting soldiers so I hope that those who enjoyed this blog will find it interesting.

Cheers,

Lee.

Napoleonic therapy project 2012.

More re-basing shots!

2011-01-28T06:28:00.000-08:00

Had a bit of a photo session with some of the troops. I think of this as a bit of a watershed as I have now reached the end of my planned 'phase 1'. Plan was to build 2 balanced forces to play with, then build terrain etc and then return to add fresh units. I now also have to work in some time to develop the ACW project in 15mm! So what I have is:

British.

8 battalions each of 16 figures.

2 Cavalry regiments of 8 figures each.

4 Foot artillery guns with 16 crew.

+ Command figures.

French.

8 battalions each of 16 figures.

3 Cavalry regiments of 8 figures each.

3 Foot artillery guns with 12 crew.

+ Command figures.

That's enough for a lively little game I think on a 6 x 4 table. I decided to keep the infantry units in 16's as to do otherwise would have left me with a lot of leftover figures and repainting.

I'm going to take a short rest from figure painting now while I build up some terrain features. I buildings, trees etc. I might fit in a couple of the ACW units though.

Heres the pics, sorry if its overkill but I wanted to show some of each type on the new bases. Infantry bases are 60mm x 20mm.

French artillery & command stands.

2011-01-27T06:32:00.000-08:00

Well, I think I finally managed to get closer to the correct colour for French artillery pieces. A few days ago I posted a question on the TMP forum asking about the Gribeauval artillery system. I wanted to know if the carriages were all standard sizes with interchangeable barrels. In the course of many detailed and useful replies (plus a few sarcastic ones, why do they do that?) I discovered that my shade of green was completely wrong! Actually I learned a fair bit about French artillery of the period generally. Here are the repainted guns plus crews complete with new basing style.

I have just completed re-basing all 350 figures in this new style and I really like it. I think it represents the Waterloo muddy ground far better than the old basing style. Hopefully tomorrow I'll post some pics of the infantry and cavalry. I have closed up the infantry (now 15mm frontage) and based them in fours WRG style. I think they look much better this way.

I also made 2 little command bases using leftover infantry figures, again I think the new bases work well.

3 batteries of artillery, 1 guard foot with 6 pounder (non Gribeauval carriage I'm told!) plus 2 foot line manning 8 pounders.

Gribeauval system question.

2011-01-21T06:29:00.000-08:00

I'm painting a couple more French artillery bases, and using Front Rank guns for the first time. The carriage is entirely different from the Perry version, really chunky and shorter. My question is was the carriage standardised or were they built in different sizes depending on weight of the barrel? There is just such a big difference between the manufacturers, but I'll use them whatever is correct as I like the big FR models. I'm planning to replace all my other 5 guns with FR guns anyway so its an academic question.

I have painted the other 8 FR 95th Rifles so that unit are now all FR metal.

Picture of the 2 carriages for comparison, and a shot of what I'm working on, including a lovely General of heavy cavalry in bicorne who will take command of my cavalry brigade.

Forward march!

2011-01-16T03:29:00.000-08:00

I have to admit to feeling rather sheepish about writing this post. It's been a funny few weeks and in that time I have 'sold' my collection of figures and then managed to hold on to them, thanks to John, who has showed great understanding of my unpredictable behaviour, of which I am more than a bit embarrassed!

So, I have tried to understand what is the main issue that has caused my enthusiasm for the period to wane to suddenly and what I can do to get going again. As I said to John I think there are two main problems:

1. I have struggled with finding a set of rules that really works for me.

2. My knowledge of the period is basic beyond the uniforms and equipment etc.

I am going to carry on with this project for the coming year. I have selected some books on the Waterloo campaign and Napoleonic warfare in general. I'm starting with 'The Art of Warfare in The Age of Napoleon' by Gunther Rothenberg, an excellent read so far. I know that I want to hold on to the 'nostalgia' element of this project and to be able top play the type of games that I used to enjoy so much and to that extent I want simple fast play rules.

Having painstakingly removed 330 odd figures from their bases for packing (and broken Foys Fourth Law in the process: 'Basing' ), I now face the task of re-basing them and will take the opportunity to close them up somewhat and change/improve the basing style. I have also ordered more French artillery from Front Rank and have decided that I will stick with FR for the future.

A last 'thank you' to John, and hopefully normal service will soon be resumed.

Biting the bullet!

2010-12-16T03:31:00.000-08:00

12th Jan 2011. edit.

I have edited this post and removed a couple of subsequent posts in order to bring my blog situation up to date.

Having come very close to giving up and selling the collection John has kindly agreed that I keep the figures and the sale has been cancelled. I am not entirely sure what direction things will take but if I do move on with the blog it will be focused very much more on the gaming aspect as the New Year progresses. In the meantime I am searching for inspiration by reading a few good books on the period. As the figure were all de based for packing I will begin again by rebasing on narrower frontages as this had bugged me for some time. This will mean a lot of time spent re texturing bases etc in a slightly different style. I have some Front Rank French artillery to paint to get me back in the swing again. A big thank you to John for being understanding, as I said to him, I feel a bit of an idiot!

Some thoughts and New Year plans.

2010-12-08T02:15:00.000-08:00

Rules and periods.

Well I played through 7 bounds of 'Paul's Rules' (thanks for all your help Paul). I then decided to reset up the game and play through a few turns of 'Napoleonic Fury' for comparison. I'll try to quickly explain why I did this.

I have never really been 'into' Napoleonics as a gaming period if I'm totally honest, although I'm beginning to learn more as I go. My first love was always the American Civil War and probably at heart it still is. I played so many ACW games with so many rule sets before I discovered 'Johnny Reb' and absolutely loved them. Previously we had used a variation of the old Airfix rules, Newbury (which I could never quite get my head round) and then Circa 1863 rules. But JR was a revelation, at last I thought a set of rules that truly captures the essence of ACW combat. I played many games with them. Then along came Fire and Fury of course and everybody started to shout about how simple and playable they were so I bought a copy, not long after the came out. Games became very simple to set up and play, fast and furious games with a result in 2 to 3 hours, perfect for those mid week/ after work evening games. But I continued to play and love JRII and I will argue that they remain the finest set of ACW rules ever written. I still have my old boxed set of JRII and still enjoy reading through it occasionally, not many rule sets you can say that about?

The Napoleonic variation of F&F is very similar and plays fast with rapid results. I only got through 3 turns but it all came flooding straight back to me and the units seemed to fly around the table! I took a few pics as you can see. I had to reorganise into bigger units and again this did look much more impressive on the table, the Highlanders for example being of 7 stand of 4 for a total of 28 figures. So, I'm going to take a couple of weeks off to think about where I go from here in the New Year. I would need to reorganise my units for Napoleonic Fury and this would mean a bit more painting etc but NO rebasing at least.

Here's a link to 'Napoleonic Fury' . I have now tidied them up a fair bit and have them in Word format, and have removed all Nations except British/French/Prussian. If anybody should like a copy of the tidies up version sent to them please email lgramson@aol.com

Finally.

Some might wonder WHY I stopped wargaming the ACW? Well, I spent a few years re enacting the period as a member of the 42nd Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers, the 'Bucktails'. During this time I became a serious student of the period and some of the early battle field photographs taken by the likes of Gardner left me feeling extremely uneasy. The shots of rows of bloated corpses lying where they fell disturbed me deeply and I became uncomfortable with both playing toy soldiers and re enactment of the period. I think I'm largely over this now but I wonder how many of you can understand this? One day I will once again paint the Blue and the Gray though, I just know it !

42nd Pennsylvania 'Bucktails' web page, I must be in some of those older pics!

20,000 page views.

I reset the counter in March and since then have recieved 20,000 page views. I'd like to say a big thank to those who follow my ramblings here and hopefully more battles will follow after Christmas.

Some pics of the Napoleonic Fury test game.

Move 5. Test Game.

2010-12-05T10:41:00.000-08:00

Move 5. (Or, "I didn’t spend all that time painting those bloody Light Dragoons for them to rout so quickly!")

Things are hotting up now. Once again the French have seized the initiative and move first. Grouchy rolls a poor 2 for CP’s and adds +2 as he’s rated average. He must decide priorities.

The battery of 8lb guns is ordered to open fire (1CP) They hit the Light Dragoons in the field and cause 1 casualty. The LD’s test morale and become SHAKEN they must test again during the morale phase to attempt to rally.

Brigade B are ordered to advance further through the village and to skirmish with the British Light infantry brigade. (1CP).

Brigade C continue to support them and advance behind them (1CP).

Brigade D also advance.(1CP)

No further CP’s available this move.

The skirmish action results in the French Brigade B suffering 1 casualty. (The British have superior skirmish rating and the French are disordered (BUA). No loss to the British Rifles. The French brigade make morale test Ok.

British move. Picton rolls 4 +2 for 6 CP’s. At this moment a rather dashing ADC in Hussar uniform popularly known as ‘Stryker’ gallops up and hands him a despatch reminding him to watch the British left flank brigades and to form square. A glance through his glass and he orders both units to do so immediately (3 CP’s as one moves half move AND changes formation). But first the foot battery opens fire on the French Hussars, falling short and causing no casualties on the stationary cavalry target. (1CP).

The rifles are in a tricky situation. Having beaten back the French skirmishers they are unable to engage in a firefight as the French are within the shelter of the BUA and they cannot charge into combat as they are still on ‘Engage’ orders and would need to be on ‘Attack’ orders to do so.(Paul, please come in and correct me if I am wrong here? I wanted to order a firefight but “only against troops in the open”. Could I initiate a second round of ‘skirmish’ combat at this point? I’m not sure there would be much point?) Picton decides to let the Rifles rest with the intention of ordering them to storm into the village next move once he’s taken more time to read the rules!!) It’s a test game after all.

Morale test time:

The Light Dragoons test to rally from ‘SHAKEN’ and fail the test! Picton has left them unsupported and isolated. They turn and run from the French artillery fire in ROUT. Luckily the two British brigades that they pass within 4” make morale and stand (phew!).

End of move 5. Photos show this stage of the battle.

(Gawd, I’ve had to sit and have a can of Ruddles as I contemplate the fate of my lovely Dragoons! I do like the unpredictability and hopefully they will rally next move as Picton gallops across to them. I have decided to place a second full Corps on the table edge now to be fed into the battle on move 6 (see pics). I threw a dice to see which move they would become active and both came up move 6. This will open things up somewhat. I will allocate them all Fire/skirmish/class values before next move. I plan to play move 6 tomorrow and will leave the small table set up until Thursday so lets see how things go. I’ll spend another hour reading through the rules again this evening to get a grip of the firefight/combat rules.). Great fun, don’t know what I’ve been doing for the last 10 years.

Test game - Move 4.

2010-12-04T06:07:00.000-08:00

MOVE 4

(Note: Move 3 ended with no firing or morale tests required. All artillery fire takes place at the opening of each move not after movement so this will be the opening of move 4)

French again win first move and Grouchy throws a 5 +2 to give him 7 Command points. He is confident that he can now press forward the attack this move.

The 8lb foot battery is within long range (medium gun 8 to 16”) and opens fire upon the Light Dragoons stationary in the field to their front. A score of 8+ on 2D6 is required to hit, no additions or subtractions apply (B class gunners). Score is 7 so no casualties. (Long range artillery fire is quite ineffective under these rules but a hit forces a morale check and 1 casualty). (1CP used to fire)

Grouchy now initiates his brigade orders:
Brigade B are in the village (marked disordered as in BUA) and move towards the far edge. (Note: is movement halved in BUA? I think yes so they get a half speed move) They are not yet classed as a ‘garrison’ as they have not yet reached the far side of the village and then spent 1 move preparing defences. However, next move will see some combat if the British reach the outskirts of the village. (1CP).
Brigade C move to edge of village in support of the above brigade and will enter next move. (1CP).
(Note: brigades can be ‘swapped’ or replaced at a cost of 3CP’s if in support within 4” – useful to replace a shaken unit for example with fresh troops in a combat situation. However, any second line brigades within 4” could also be vulnerable to artillery fire ‘bounce through’)

Brigade D who have not yet been able to advance, finally get orders to move and with a loud cheer they begin to advance towards the village (1CP).
Brigade A (largely Legere units) remain in square but shuffle forward 2” max move. (1CP).
The battery having fired are manhandled 2” forward having already fired (2CP’s).
Finally, the Hussar brigade advance and will be within range of the British battery next move. (1CP)
A total of 7 CP’s used.

British move. Picton throws 4 +2 for 6 command points. The Light infantry brigade C (represented by the 95th rifles) advance to the edge of the village and prepare to skirmish forward next move. (1CP).
Brigade A advance to edge of the field to their front and halt. They can see the French light cavalry brigade advancing in the distance. (1CP)
Brigade B who had been moving in support behind them are ordered to move to the left flank by forming into march column for speed. They are ordered to march and form on the flank of brigade A. (2 CP’s to change formation and half move).
The battery are manhandled forward 2” on the road and prepare to open fire next move. (1CP)
The cavalry are ordered to advance (½ move over rough ground) through the field.(1CP). They may be able to charge next move if French infantry move closer.
All 6 Command points have been used so the Highlander brigade D are unable to move this turn.

The 2 photos show the situation at this point, end of movement, move 4.

(Notes: I have added the ‘Fire values’ of the brigades to the OOB below as I omitted this to begin with. Basically values are A, B or C and adds or subtracts to/from firefight values, see Rule 12).

No further combat or morale so end of move 4.

Next turn should see the first combat as the British Light infantry brigade move in to contest the village under Rule 11 – infantry skirmish. Both sides cavalry are just within charge reach now too of an enemy formation. Move 5 should prove lively.

Battle -Moves 2 & 3.

2010-12-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

MOVE 2. French card is drawn for first move. Commander in Chief is in base contact with Grouchy the Corps commander. He throws a 4 on an average dice and adds 2 as I have designated all commanders as ‘Average’ for simplicity in this test game. He elects to change the Corps orders to ‘Engage’. The Corps commander Grouchy now throws for his CP’s. But he only throws a poor 2 and adds 2 for 4 CP’s total. This will impact upon his ability to carry out his new ‘Engage’ orders effectively. He decides to focus on his left flank and the main thrust towards the village. He orders the battery to move to the left, off the road and to unlimber (to move and unlimber costs 2 CP’s but the battery cannot fire this move). The remaining 2 CP’s are used to advance his 2 left flank brigades (A&B) towards the village. Brigade’s C&D are unable to advance as Grouchy has no CP’s left to issue orders to them at this stage. The Hussars are also left awaiting orders to advance. Very frustrating for Grouchy!

Now it’s the British move phase. Commander in Chief throws 4 and adds +2 for a total of 6 CP’s. he changes orders and issues ‘Attack’ orders to Picton, the corps commander. Picton now throws a 3 and adds 2 for a total of 5 CP’s. His brigades are in line and thus can move only 4” (8”if in column). He orders brigades A, C ( the light infantry) and D to make a full move towards the village (3CP’s). The battery are ordered to move and unlimber (2 CP’s) Brigade B are left awaiting orders as no CP’s are left to activate this unit.

No firing or morale checks required this stage.

MOVE 3.

French again draw first move. Grouchy throws a 3 +2 for his total of 5 CP’s this move. He orders his battery to open fire (1CP). Brigades B&C move towards the village to attack as per new orders (2CP’s). Brigade A, the Legere brigade, are ordered to make a half move and form square (2 CP’s) in support of the battery as the British cavalry are formed up in line in the field to their front. Brigade B actually break into the village in column. Brigade D are still left behind halted and awaiting orders. The commander is not happy and is cursing Grouchy!

(Note: I like this unpredictability. Most old style rules I used always allowed every unit to follow orders, this reminds me of Fire and Fury and its activation system).

British move now. Picton throws 5 and adds 2 for 7 CP’s. He knows he can issue orders to all of his units. He orders his cavalry to remain halted as to advance would move them into closer artillery range (No CP’s required for this?) But they are close enough to keep the French Legere brigade pinned in square. (The French battery is however within long range and will no doubt open fire this move).

Brigades C &D are ordered to advance and attack the village (2 CP’s) but they cannot move fast enough in line to enter the village this move. As the French have beaten them to it they will have to contest entry next move possibly.

Brigade A are ordered to advance in support of the battery (1CP) which are now unlimbered on the road. They battery is ordered to open fire (1CP). Brigade B are ordered to advance in support of brigade A (rear) (1 CP). Picton has 2 unused CP’s this move.

That’s it so far! Photos show end of move 2 (top pic) and end of movement phase of move 3(middle and bottom pics) . Remainder of move 3 will follow. Both sides artillery are unlimbered within range and firing will follow.

Battle! - First move.

2010-12-03T04:41:00.000-08:00

I have set up this test run through on a small bare table. I will be working on my terrain probably in the New Year now as our eldest daughter is getting married next Saturday and then its Christmas so all resources are currently required elsewhere! I wanted to get a test run under my belt though so bare table it is. I should explain that the 'wargames room' I mentioned earlier in the blog last December/Jan was tunred over as an 'art room' for our kids and its been well used, including 4 paint splattered walls and the ceiling! we try to encourage creativity so let it go. Its our spare 4th bedroom and measures just 9' x 7' so is very tight for a full sized wargame table anyway. Come the New year I may well think about using either the dining table in the kitchen (but its always busy in there!) or the back room where I do my painting for my wargaming. The latter is nice as it overlooks the garden and has patio doors for the summer. Anyway, enough of the domestics, lets get down to some fighting AT LAST.

Note: I will improve the lighting for future pictures!

TEST GAME 1.

There are 2 Corps on the table for this first run through. Both Corps commanders are designated as ‘Average’. Each corps consists of the following:

4 x infantry brigades. 1 x Light cavalry brigade and 1 artillery battery.

BRITISH.
Brigade A: skirmish= B - morale class B Fire value C
Brigade B: skirmish =C - morale class B Fire value B
Brigade C: (light infantry) skirmish=A -morale class A Fire value A
Brigade D: skirmish= C. - morale class C Fire value B

Light cavalry brigade. (Light dragoons) morale class B

Battery of medium foot artillery. B class gunners.

FRENCH.
Brigade A: (Light infantry) skirmish = A morale class B Fire value B
Brigade B: skirmish = C – morale class C Fire value B
Brigade C: skirmish = C – morale class C Fire value C
Brigade D: skirmish = C – morale class D Fire value C

Light cavalry brigade (Hussars) morale class B.

Battery of medium foot artillery, class B gunners.

SET UP.

A simple (and very basic at this stage!) bare table with a central village BUA base 30cm square, surrounded by fields that reduce movement. Roads lead in to the village (no buildings yet) from both sides of the table. The objective of both sides is to take control of the village and hold it and if possible to drive back the enemy.

MOVE 1.

Both sides are under initial ‘MOVE’ orders, these must be changed by CinC as required. Cards are drawn to determine who moves first and British draw first move. The British Corps commander is average and throws a 4 on an average dice for 4 command points (CP’s) and adds +2 ‘average’ (plus 3 for ‘gifted C/O or +1 for ‘Poor’ C/O). A total of 6 command points available to him.

He chooses to make a ‘brigade move’ as all infantry are within his command radius (8”) and within 2” of each other. All 4 infantry brigades make a full move forward together for 1 CP. The cavalry move half move and deploy into line for 1CP and the artillery move forward a full move for 1 CP.

French move next: The Corps commander (my beloved ‘grouchy’ figure) is average and rolls a 3 on an average dice. So adds + 2 to give him 5 CP’s. He elects to use 1 CP to make a ‘brigade move’ by his infantry (all within 2” of each other) and 1CP to advance his artillery battery along the road. A further 1 CP sees the Hussars move slightly to the right and deploy into line.

(Note: rules state that a Corps commander “must use all of his CP’s to achieve the corps orders”. Not clear on this? Both have CP’s left over and no need to use them? Paul, could you offer any help here please?).

No firing so end of move 1. Picture shows the battle at this stage. (Note: I must now place a figure representing the overall Commander in Chief on the table as a Corps commander is unable to change Corps orders, this must be done by the Commander in Chief who must be in base to base contact with his Corps commander in order to do this. He must also roll for CP’s in order to do this. I will place each C in C figure in base contact with the Corps commanders to begin move 2 as I missed this initially).

MOVE 2. French card is drawn for first move. french Commander in Chief will now roll for CP's and then attempt to change the corps orders to 'Engage'.

Gratuitous figure/terrain shots!

2010-12-01T09:25:00.000-08:00

Quick mid-week post. I have been working on some more terrain features. I have made some fields and this 30x30cm 'Built up area' base. This will probably be a village base and I plan to stand 2 or 3 'Hovels' buildings on it. In accordance with the rules I will be using, the base clearly defines the extent of any BUA and buildings can be removed to resolve combat. I will make more but I wanted to trial one first. I added a road running through for effect and a small pond. The base colour is just what I wanted and my main tabletop will now be finished in this same shade and texture. Its textured just enough to enable easy movement of bases and has a light scattering of Citadel static grass to match the figure bases. The main board will be flat and all terrain features will be laid on for flexibility. I enjoy making terrain as much as I enjoy painting figures. Thanks to Rafa for the link to his main website with its terrain tutorial. Rivers/hills etc will follow.

First battle!

It's clearly now time to have a small trial run through of the rules, so with a free day on Friday I am going to play a run through with just one corps per side on a basic table. Under 'Paul's Rules' as he calls them (I did suggest he come up with a name but he's happy with that!), a Corps consists of 4 Brigades of infantry, a brigade of Cavalry and a battery of artillery. Please bear in mind that I am very much 'old school' in my approach to the gaming aspect and I am quite happy to consider my 16 figure units as brigades, Paul's units are actually half the size of mine! I have been following many of his campaign battles and am convinced that they flow very well and give a lively and realistic game. I will of course write up the game move by move and will refer to Paul if any clarification is required as he kindly offered help. However, I feel that I have a good grasp of them.

Couldn't resist placing a few figures on the BUA board for some shots in my new light box. As you can see the slight white dry brush on the stones really brightens up the bases.

> Link to the rules I will be using.

Perry, Front Rank & Victrix infantry comparison.

2010-11-28T01:23:00.000-08:00

Some may recall that I recently asked how compatible the Perry plastic riflemen were with Front Rank metal riflemen. Compatibility between manufacturers is a frequently asked question on blogs and forums. John, over at the excellent 'Wargaming in 28mm' blog put up some photos showing artillery and cavalry of various makes (see here), so I thought I would post a shot of some infantry side by side for information.

Left to right: Victrix Highlander, Perry Plastic riflemen (note the figure on left is set back slightly so appears slightly smaller), Front Rank riflemen and a Perry British Line Infantry figure. I think actually of the 3 that the Victrix is the slightly chunkier possibly, but all blend in pretty well? I guess that I could have mixed the FR & Perry rifles but as I have bought the full 16 figure battalion I will complete them and use the odd 8 Perry rifles for something else later, possibly something Hanoverian maybe?

The figure at right (Perry) is one of the 4 test figures I did with the Hanoverian cap conversion(here). I'm afraid I could not get the image of a large crusty loaf out of my head so I decided to replace the heads with Stovepipes, repaint the facings yellow and these will in due course become a full battalion of the 28th Foot, possibly the only British line regiment to wear the old style shako during the 100 days campaign.

Hope some of you will find the comparisons useful. The pic was taken in my new light box with a mix of 'daylight' and standard bulbs, the result is much better I think than recent shoddy efforts!!

Back on Friday.

Roadworks & Rifles!

2010-11-26T02:46:00.000-08:00

Friday again already. This week I have completed the 16 road sections which form the first part of my terrain building plans. Each section is 30cm long and I made a couple of junctions, a couple of curves and a crossroads as well as many straight sections. They dried out nice and flat but by using a lot of PVA glue in the filler they are slightly flexible. Edges were made from stone and static grass to match the figure bases. Overall I'm happy with them. Next up will be stream sections and a couple of fields edged with fence/hedges.

Also completed the first 8 of the Front Rank rifles. A real joy to paint. The unit should be completed by next Friday. I gave the officer blonde hair in homage to Major Sharpe of course, and my wife said that FR had given the figure a 'peachy little backside' just like Sean Bean :-) I noted that only those members of the 95th designated 'sharpshooters' and who had passed the test could wear the green cockade, the rest wearing white.

I feel I'm getting closer to that first game now, but I want to get everything just right. I still need more French artillery so that will follow the rifles.

Again apologies for the poor quality of the pics, I will sharpen them up for next weeks completed rifles shots.

Drybrush & terrain.

2010-11-21T07:14:00.000-08:00

Drybrush.

Thanks to those who responded to my 'drybrush' question. I thought long and hard about it, tried a lighter colour as suggested and then made my mind up. I have decided to stick with a fairly stark white but done as lightly as I can. I have done a few more units, including the other two French cavalry units and I have to say it does seem to make a big difference overall. I'm now working through all of the bases!

Terrain.

I cut out twenty 30cm road sections yesterday including straights, curves, T junctions and a cross roads. A jig-saw made light work of it. The sections are 60mm wide and I intend to edge the sections with a 5mm strip of stone/grass to match the figure bases, leaving the roads 50mm wide to accommodate my 45mm wide bases. The surfaces will then be textured with a PVA glue/filler mix and painted. Next I will cut the stream sections. I have decided that I will also cut bases for the woodland areas to enable me to stand individual trees on. In 'WRG' style I want to standardise the sizes of woods, fields, BUA's, hills, etc. I should have some pics of the completed roads ready for my Friday update together with the first 8 painted 95th rifles.

To drybrush or not?

2010-11-19T05:14:00.000-08:00

That's another week flown by. I have finished the French 6th Hussars and I'm very happy with them. I did have an issue with 2 of the horses as I used an old Coat D'Arms horse colour I had here 'Dun' and it came out a bit flat and 'buff' looking, but some extensive re working eventually produced 2 quite nice horses. The Coat D'Arms ' Chestnut' is an excellent horse colour and I use that a lot. The trumpeters sheepskin should in fact be black not white as the rest of the troopers, so I may correct that!

I'm left with 6 more Hussars from the box so I will do the 7th at some point in the near future as I like the green uniforms and they were also present at Waterloo. I will need to add 2 more command figures to complete the unit though and I have a choice of adding 2 Front Rank Hussars OR the plastic command sprue from Perry, but at £6 for the sprue of just 2 plastic figures I may well go for metal!

OK now the question I would like your opinions on please. My bases are basically brown painted model railway ballast with added Citadel static grass. The stone is painted with watered down brown leather. However, as you can see I did a test paint of white drybrush over the stones to see if it improved them. My gut feeling is yes it does, I would like your thoughts on this before I go ahead and drybrush the bases of over 320 figures now! I'm sorry my photos are poor but hopefully you can see the contrast in the picture.

Next up is the 16 Front Rank riflemen, excellent figures, should be a joy to paint. After that I hope to add the 3 guns and crews to make up some French artillery. These I think will be Perry as the 1 gun I have is Perry and I'd like to keep them all the same. I'm also itching to do a Nassau battalion and the Scots Greys.

I'm also working on some road sections too now, cut from hardboard and edged with the stone/grass as the figures. I'm doing 12" sections and then some stream sections the same method. Surfaces will be painted filler with some texture. I'm getting eager to play that first game.

6th Hussars - figures completed.

2010-11-13T04:37:00.001-08:00

It's Saturday morning and I have just completed the 8 hussar figures. Family have all gone shopping so in between sorting the dishwasher, hoovering and generally tidying up I have managed to get a solid couple of hours painting in! When I feel enthusiastic about painting figures I could sit for hours and lose myself in the hobby, but of course Life must come first so there are always other things that have to done. I do feel lucky that I currently only work part time . Might change in the future so I make the most of it while I can. I'm approaching one year of painting these 28mm Napoleonics and I reckon I will hit the 340 mark for that first 12 months. I have had to budget my purchases, which is why I have not yet got round to terrain, buildings etc but after Christmas I will be in a position to get started on it and get down to some wargames. I envisage my games will be 'Old School' style, simple fast rules and probably not the accurate re-fights I enjoy reading on other blogs. For me its more about pushing my collection around on the table and having a bit of fun.

Really enjoyed painting these and I'm happy with the overall look. The sabretache with its green laurel leaf and tiny no.6 was a challenge, not perfect but good enough for me. Looking at the pics here I can see a couple of bits I need to touch up later. One thing I wanted to avoid was the lace being a solid blob and a bit of careful drybrushing seems to have done the trick. I used Foundry 'Shiny' metallic and mixed in Foundry 'yellow' for this. The coats are Foundry 'Bright Red' highlighted with 'bright red - light'.

Right, Hussars horses up next and the unit will be finished and based by Friday as planned. I have put a small order into Games Workshop for more static grass and a few other supplies.

French 6th Hussars -progress.

2010-11-12T07:45:00.000-08:00

Well the Hussars finally arrived and I could not help myself starting on them! This is a fantastic box of figures, the sprues are packed with parts to enable you to produce almost any French Hussar regiment from different stages of the Napoleonic wars. I like the red and blue contrast of the 6th regiment (present at Waterloo) and the later style post 1812 headgear. Not got too far yet, just the basic colours blocked in and a bit of work on the faces. Like all the perry plastics the figures go together like a dream leaving no gaps. My Hussars are in campaign dress of overalls but I was very tempted by the 'booted' legs. This 8 figure unit should be completed and based by next Friday. I will be left with 6 more Hussars so by adding another command sprue (available directly from Perry, as are all the plastic command sprues now), I will be able to field a second unit at a later date. But next up after the 6th will be the 95th Rifles.

Gurkha Rifles.

I'm also pleased to report that our local Gurkha Rifles have this week returned home from Afghanistan. The Gurkhas are based at Shorncliffe Barracks near Folkestone, which is where the Light Infantry were based and trained during the Napoleonic wars, including the 95th Rifles. A more respectful and peaceful community you could not wish for and the Gurkhas are very highly thought of in the local community. Sadly this tour has cost them 4 lives, and Sunday's remembrance parade down here will be particularly poignant.

Twiddling my thumbs!

2010-11-05T05:14:00.000-07:00

Well, it's 10 days now since I ordered a box of Perry French Hussars from Leisure Games and still no sign of them! I've emailed them but no reply so not sure what's happening. No charge is made until the figures are despatched so can't complain there, I assume they are waiting on stock, maybe I should have ordered them direct from Perry, but that's Life. Hopefully they will show up shortly. Meantime I have ordered more Front Rank infantry including the 95th Rifles battalion and some British Light Infantry and can confidently predict they will arrive in the next couple of days, so efficient is the service from this company. The next FR order will be for French artillery, 4 guns and crews.

So, meantime I have tackled an issue that has been bugging me for some time, infact ever since I painted up my box of Victrix artillery some months ago. Under my rules 2 guns represent a battery. I had 3 guns from the Victrix and added a 4th from Perry metal but this has not looked right. The Victrix are in full dress and the Perry's in campaign dress, and as you might recall I had issues about the size of the wheels being slightly smaller than the Victrix model. So I have removed the metal wheels and barrel from the Perry gun and added plastic Victrix replacements. I have also managed to put together another plastic crew by using the remaining 3 Victrix figures and making an officer from the body of a leftover Highland officer and adding a Perry head and left arm and Victrix right arm. The result is 4 crews and guns to make up 2 batteries of field artillery. I am much happier with the result and just need to base the 4th gun and crew. As you can see, the quality of the victrix plastics is every bit as good as the Perry metals once painted up. The battery commander has flouted regulations and is wearing a lovely bicorne. I intend to add another 2 gun battery of Royal Horse Artillery once Victrix release them next year.

So, change of plan now, I'll do the 16 x 95th Rifles next and maybe the French Hussars if and when they turn up!

Finally, I was browsing through the SELWG site recently and came across some wonderful old pictures of club nights taken in the seventies when I was a member. Can't see myself in any of them but they brought back so many memories of Friday nights spent playing/watching great games in the old Grove Park Youth Club. I just had to post the link here for you:-

South East London Wargames Group, club night archive.

Pics: The pic seems to exaggerate the highlights on the trousers, it is more sublte.

Test paint - Hanoverian Landwehr.

2010-10-30T02:14:00.000-07:00

While I'm waiting for my French Hussars to arrive I thought I would try a simple conversion that I saw on the 'KippersMinis' blog (link at right, see March 2010 for the Hanoverian unit and a Dutch unit conversion)). Lots of good stuff on there and some nice conversions to Dutch & Belgian troops plus a unit of Hanoverian Landwehr, of which there were several at Waterloo in Halkett's 3rd Hanoverian Brigade. Perry plastics of course with the shako cut down, cleaned up and the cap top added from blue-tac. I'm not sure that mine have not turned out a little 'loaf' like, although they look much better in 28mm scale than blown up in the photograph I have to say! Anyway, I'm very pleased with them and will do a full battalion in the future no doubt.

12th Light Dragoons.

2010-10-26T02:46:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the delay in posting these. Things have slowed down here on the painting front as the Gramson household is caught up in wedding fever! With our eldest daughter getting married in five weeks time things seem to be a blur of dresses, (we have 3 daughters), and food planning and other arrangements, all being organised with military precision by Mrs G. and her friends. I of course simply panic about everything, and generally interfere where I'm not needed.

So, in order to relax as ordered I will try to keep up a bit of painting. I have decided that as I'm in cavalry painting mode I will do a unit of French Hussars next using Perry plastics, before moving onto the planned French artillery and British Rifles. I was looking at some of the Hussars on other blogs and just could not resist. I will use just 8 of the figures but by adding 3 metal command figures at a later date I will be able to field a second unit. I'm going through the Osprey book in order to choose which regiment I want to field.

I need to catch up on a few blogs so I'll do that now why I have some quiet time.

Apologies for the slightly poor photo quality.

Grouchy!

2010-10-13T02:24:00.001-07:00

Managed to finish the 8 Light Dragoons & the beautiful little figure of Marshal Grouchy, all Front Rank of course. A joy to paint. I decided to paint him wearing a blue coat under a green cloak as I will probably just use him as a generic French Marshal in my armies.

The Light Dragoons were challenging to paint with lots of shako cords and dangly bits etc! The stripe down the side of the trousers had to be lined to look right but I think it was worth the effort. Whilst I had painted heavy dragoons and Household cavalry before in 15mm this is the first unit of Light Dragoons I have painted in any scale and I think they should look nice once mounted and based.

Got the 8 horses next up plus Picton's horse. He has been patiently waiting in that rather undignified position for too long now for his mount to arrive.

I make no apology for posting images of semi painted figures etc here, I enjoy looking at work in progress on other blogs and it helps to keep my motivation up. This lot should all be finished and based by Friday -ish, when I will post more pics!

12th Light Dragoons just started.

2010-10-11T04:03:00.000-07:00

Had a bit of a rest from painting over the weekend, but as I like to set myself targets I now plan to have this unit completed by Friday! Decided to go for the 12th (present at Waterloo) with nice yellow facings etc. I'm still drybrushing white over the black undercoat so that I can more clearly see the highlight details as I go. Also got the face on Grouchy and spent a bit of time trying to get that leopard skin effect on the horse, quite fiddly. Hopefully back Friday with pics of the completed figures/horses. Must crack on.

Oh, and the follow order will now be with Perry as I have decided to add 8 more rifles from their metal range including command to complete my 95th battalion. Also 2 more French guns/crews to match the one I already have painted.

'Teddy Bear Fur' terrain !!

2010-10-02T05:29:00.001-07:00

This morning I have spent some time thinking about and planning terrain. I looked at the standard boards and the possibility of building my own from scratch. Then I searched for examples of the 'lay on' terrain mats, including felt and other materials that could be painted for a realistic effect. I like the idea of being able to model realistic rolling hills as opposed to contours. A few searches gave me a lot of ideas for this and then I clicked upon the following link to Earlswood Wargamers and BANG! there it was, the Teddy Bear Fur terrain mat in all its glory. I had been considering working with an old blanket to achieve the same effect but the texture of the fur is so realistic and can be painted and highlighted to choice. It was a Eureka moment! I went upstairs to inspect a few examples from my daughters room and decided that this could well be the one for me. Its quite cheap too direct from the mill. As you can see from the picture in the link its very effective. Funny though :-)

Teddy Bear fur terrain in action.

On parade!

2010-10-01T04:20:00.000-07:00

The British Heavy Dragoons are finished and that makes a grand total of 301 painted figures. I'm really pleased to have hit this milestone so I decided to have them all out together for the first time to pose for a few pics. I have almost enough figures now for that first game but I just want to add a couple more units to balance things up, a British Light Dragoon unit and 2 more French artillery pieces/crews. I also need to add 8 more figures to those perry 95th rifles to make them up to a full 16 figure unit. I'm going to try using Front rank for this, but to select the kneeling/ crouching poses so they match the perry plastics, do you think this will work or will the FR's be too chunky? Any comments?

I'm pleased with the way the Heavy Dragoons turned out, the Light dragoons will also be Front rank and I'm just making up my mind which regiment to paint, I like the contrast of the facing colours on the Plastron front of the jackets.

I hope this isnt getting too boring for those who follow my blog, I assure you that hostilities WILL commence in the not too distant future, but I have to say I'm pleased that I have recorded every single unit as it has been completed and the collection has grown. I hope to have some terrain shots coming shortly, initially it will probably be quite 'Old School' but at least it will allow me to do a first write up under my chosen rules.

Back next week with the Light Dragoons :-)

'Orses' and Sir Thomas Picton!

2010-09-28T02:43:00.000-07:00

I like to keep the posts regular here, even if it means posting pics of semi completed units. This week I'm working on some British Heavy Dragoons. I have switched back to a black undercoat on the horses as I was not totally happy working over white for some reason. I find it easier blending colours over the black and it speeds things up. The 8 Dragoons are painted and just waiting for their mounts. All figures are by Front Rank and as soon as I saw them I decided that FR is the way to go for all future figures. They match the Perrys very well overall for scale. I made a mistake in ordering the wrong horse for Picton, so he will have to wait until next week when I re order before I can finish him. The figures were undercoated black, but then lightly dry brushed white to pick up the highlights and I'm very comfortable now doing this and will stick to it.

I recall being quite moved as a teenager at the sight of Pictons top hat, torn open by a musket ball, in the National Army Museum in London, among many other Waterloo relics. Wellington of course discouraged the use of umbrellas by his staff but Picton, being the character that he was, continued to carry his! This little figure was a joy to paint.

Dragoons should be finished and based by Friday so I'll post a pic then. Next is another British cavalry unit, Light Dragoons.

Technology.

2010-09-22T02:25:00.000-07:00

Like many wargamers of a certain age I remember when the monthly publication of a glossy magazine was eagerly awaited as this was the only way to keep up to date with what was happening on the wargaming 'scene', and the figure manufacturers would advertise latest releases etc. If you wanted to sell some figures you placed a small advertisement and waited about 6 weeks for it to appear! How things have changed. Digital photography and the internet now enables us to spend hours perusing other peoples collections and one thing that I still enjoy as much as I did in the magazine days is reading battle reports with stage by stage pictures. I often read blogs etc on my IPod, sometimes as bed time reading, the device being light and small yet having the ability to display text and images at full screen size which I find quite easy on the eyes. However, at the other extreme I also like to hook the laptop up to our large screen TV and look at battle reports etc on that. Its great seeing those images blown up like that, and just as in the old 'magazine days' I can drool over the lovely figures and terrain etc! Last up was John's latest offering from his excellent 'Wargaming in 28mm' blog, I sat and read the write up on the TV and the images were just stunning. Might all seem a bit 'geeky' I know but I see it as simply using the available technology to its full. Rafa's battles (Project Leipzig) also look great on the big screen.

On the painting front nothing to report so far this week but I hope to be starting some Front Rank Dragoon Guards today. Excellent service, so fast. Been looking through the FR site and planning future orders. More cavalry and more French artillery, then some British Light infantry.

2 more units completed.

2010-09-17T02:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been waiting for over a week now for my latest Perry metal order to arrive and not a word! Last order I waited 2 weeks before contacting them to be told they were waiting on stock. I really feel that these days customer service is important and of course its such an easy thing to run shopping cart software that tells you when an item is out of stock so that you can maybe order an alternative. This has made up my mind to place all future orders with Front Rank. All future figures will be metal as I had planned to do anyway. Hopefully the British cavalry will show up shortly as I'm now out of figures to paint.

Have managed to finish 2 more units this week, the 92nd Highlanders and a unit of Legere. The latter was made up from the 12 skirmishers I mentioned below plus 4 new figures. As I said I was one figure short so decided to use one of the Perry plastic casualty figures to make the number up and I'm pleased with how it looks on the base. Thank you to Tod for offering that odd skirmisher but I had already painted up the casualty. The legere unit are in mixed campaign dress, I re painted some of the trousers but wanted to leave some white with patches etc, overall this unit has a good feeling of movement. I spent a long time fiddling around with the placement of these figures, and finally decided to place the firing figures at the rear, firing through and over the front rank. I'm happy with the composition.

Total figures painted now = 292.

I need to work on my photography next! I built a couple of 6500k 'daylight' bulbs into my little cupboard for taking pics but I think I need more light in there.

What's next?

Well that depends on what arrives first, I'm going to order some FR figures today but I also plan to start working on terrain. I'm going to make up some road and river sections and see how they look. Over the next couple of weeks I have the following to do:-

Make a final decision on varnish - matt or satin. have now decided against Army painter.
Order flags for all units.
Order a few Hovels buildings and paint.
Look into trees! I'm wondering if I can also make these myself to look more realistic than K&M.
Have a run through of the rules using just a few units per side.

This should keep me busy. Any comments/suggestion on terrain etc or anything else always welcome.

More Scots and a request.

2010-09-10T01:35:00.000-07:00

I seem to be settling into a comfortable 8 figures painted per week now and here's the last 8 painted. I have some British heavy cavalry due any day now so decided to get the 2nd Scots unit completed before I start the cavalry. These are the 92nd with lovely yellow facings and a bold yellow 'overstripe' to the tartan. Kilts were painted just as for the 42nd but with the yellow then added. Again, I'll add the final image of the unit once completed and based in a few days time.

I've been looking at the collection so far and thinking about organisation for the rules I will be using. As the rules don't actually use skirmishers as such (units are assigned a SK or skirmish value dependent upon type), I have now decided to rebase the 2 units I have currently on skirmish bases and make them up to 16 figure standard units. I have 8 of the Perry plastic 95th Rifles painted and will add to them a pack of Perry metal 95th plus a metal command pack. But I also have 12 Perry plastic French light infantry (see pic below) that I now plan to make into a 16 figure Legere unit with a bit of subtle repainting. I have a suitable perry metal command set for them but that will still leave me just 1 figure short of the 16 I need! So my request is.... does anybody happen to have a spare Perry plastic voltiguer skirmishing figure they cant use? Otherwise I'll buy a pack of metals to make them up but I only really need the 1 figure! On the subject, I have a few spare perry Brits, plus 28 figures left from a Victrix Highlander box if anybody needs spares to make up units etc.

Rules.

Once the 2 units are made up and re based this will give me 16 infantry units of 16 figures, 8 per side so enough for a first game. I have included a link to the rules I will be using before but I just thought I'd explain why I chose them finally. The rules were written by Paul Leniston who I first encountered in the old 'Battle' magazine in the Eighties when a series of articles appeared concerning his house move and the setting up of a new wargames room in his double garage. I remember drooling over the photos at that time of his huge collection of French and Austrian units. I believe the series was called 'I did it my way'! Anyway, fast forward to 2010 and we find Paul and his wife Jan living in Spain having retired there in 2005, still as enthusiastic as ever about wargaming. I've been 'chatting' to Paul via his blogs for a good while now and followed many of campaigns and battles. I came to enjoy the style of game his own rules produced and thought they would suit me. I'm not a purist, I just enjoy painting units and want a game that allows me push them round the table top and is above all else fun to play and plays fast. Paul has said that he was inspired by the Two Fat Lardies rules and this is reflected in the mechanisms. While Paul uses units of just 8 infantry or 4 cavalry I decided to double the basic unit size, this makes no difference to the way the rules play. The basic unit is a brigade. I have no problem with small units representing large formations as I tend to regard the figures as playing pieces and try to think in terms of ground scale/base size. For me the advantage is that I can build up armies fast and include all of the types I want to paint, Brunswickers, Dutch Belgians, Nassua etc as I intend to. Thus, when I deploy my Scots units they simply represent a brigade of infantry containing a couple of Highlander battalions for the purposes of the game.

If anyone wants to read through a move by move account of one of Paul's battles then here is the battle of Busaco, with some lovely photos of the game.

Cheers all, and I'll be back soon with the completed 92nd.

More French line infantry completed.

2010-09-03T05:24:00.000-07:00

Painted the last 4 figures to complete French infantry unit number 8. All based and just awaiting colours. Got a clear desk now so I have the choice of the other Highland unit next or some british cavalry (finally!).

Wont be too much longer before I'm ready for my first game.

More Highlander pics!

2010-08-31T08:33:00.000-07:00

Managed to base the 42nd today and add the Victrix supplied flags. Took them out in the sun for some pics. Overall I'm very happy to add them to my collection and I have to say this box set is a superb set with excellent detail.

42nd Foot finished.

2010-08-30T03:22:00.000-07:00

I like to try and update this blog once per week so heres the latest news! I have just completed the 16 figures of the 42nd foot, still need to add the flags and base them. I've run out of the Perry plastic bases so will order more this week. They're £1 a sprue and save a lot of time in my opinion so I'll wait until they arrive before basing the Highlanders.

Total figures painted so far is now 268. As you can see I now have those 4 figures needed to complte French infantry battalion number 8 (cheers Bob) so I'll do those next and get them based and finished.

An order is going in to Perry for the first of my British cavalry, a unit of 8 heavy dragoons and 8 Light Dragoons as they dont do Hussars yet, in addition to a supply of plastic bases as said above.

I still have another 16 figure battalion of Highlanders to paint yet, the 92nd, so I may just paint those before moving onto the cavalry, I'll see how quickly the cavalry order arrives.

As I've been sitting finishing the 42nd this morning I could hear the drums of members of the Napoleonic Association marching through the village high street from their camp site, I had to go have a look! A stirring site to see the colours fluttering at the head of the column of infantry and artillery and very inspirational too.

I'm hoping to sort out a game in the near future using the rules I mentioned previously, just a run through to get a feel for them so I'm now thinking about terrain/buildings etc. I need to start from scratch here as everything I owned was long ago sold off, but hopefully it wont be too long before I can get a battle report on this blog.

I'll add better quality pictures once the figures below are all based and finished.

Phew, first 8 Highlanders completed!

2010-08-23T03:06:00.000-07:00

Finally, I managed to complete the first 8 figures of the 42nd Highlanders and I have to admit to finding them challenging. The kilts were harder than I thought and after 2 attempts to accurately paint the dark tartan I went for this 'wet in wet' impression as being the best I could do. I was going to add the red over-stripe but it would seem that this may not have been present by 1815 due to tartan supply problems, although it was present up to 1812. Overall though and as a wargames unit I am happy with them. Now I have the next 8 figures including the drummer and piper to finish the 42nd, After that its straight onto the 92nd with their lighter tartan.

I don't think they stand close scrutiny when enlarged like this, but at normal size they don't look too bad I think!

Undercoat issues!

2010-08-16T04:48:00.000-07:00

Well, having decided to try a black undercoat on the Highlanders I quickly realised that it was going to be a struggle to get that red coverage, the reason I changed to white in the first place. I just could not get the Foundry red to cover well and found it frustrating. So what to do? I walked away from for a couple of days before deciding to drybrush the black u/coat with white to highlight them, leaving some black shadow in shadow areas. I don't know how this is going to turn out but I reckon it will be Ok and certainly the red has covered well in one go. If this does work out I'll use it on the rest of the highlanders. Just wanted to post this picture here for comparison when finished. You never know, it might turn out to be a useful method :-)

Back in a few days with the finished figures hopefully.

Highlanders!

2010-08-13T07:22:00.000-07:00

Not done much painting this last week but now my Victrix Highlanders are here and I'm itching to get started on them. I have to say that inspite of my earlier moans and groans about the Victrix plastics these are a superb box of figures! They go together very well but do require patience and a steady hand. As I learned from the artillery box its important not to just strip the sprues before assembly as the arms really do need to be paired up and are numbered on the sprues for this reason. Its a huge box too with 8 full sprues packed with limbs, bodies, heads, packs, swords etc, a real assembly job unlike the Perry's. The heads/faces are brilliant and on a par with any metal figure I have seen, and I have to say far better than Perry's in my opinion. So a big thumbs up from me, the first 8 are ready for undercoating and I hope to get a few colours on them tomorrow as I have a free morning.

If you buy from Total Wargamer (link below) the Victrix boxes are just £15.96 each and a very friendly service.

Final note, I have been offered 6 more Perry plastic French to complete the unit shown in previous post and I'm sending him the rest of my Old Guard box in return as I had no plans to use any more. Cheers Bill!

250 'not out!'

2010-08-07T09:21:00.000-07:00

I have completed the last 12 Perry French infantry that I managed to put together whilst waiting for my Victrix Highland Infantry order to arrive (see below) and that brings up my total painted figures now to 250. I need to add another 4 figures to complete this unit but I don't plan to use any more Perry plastic French infantry so I'll need to add 4 more fusiliers from the metal range later. I have decided to stick with the black undercoat for the 2 Highland units when I do them.

Unfortunately my Highlander box looks like its gone astray in the post. Its been 5 days since it was dispatched by (link) 'Total Wargamer' who I mentioned a few posts back. Having given it a few days I emailed TW this morning and received a reply within a couple of hours from Paul, who has kindly offered to resend my order if it still has not shown up in a couple more days time. Can't say fairer than that and I wanted to give them a mention for quality customer service. Hopefully the box will show up early next week to avoid this. Best prices I have found for Victrix figures and much more.

Just need to add backpacks etc and a flagpole to these in the meantime. If anyone happens to have 4 plastic Perry fusiliers laying around that they cant use I'd be happy to use them to finish off this unit :-)

Black undercoat.

2010-08-02T04:45:00.000-07:00

While I'm waiting for my Victrix Highlander order to arrive I found 12 more French infantry including 3 metal command figures so I decided to give them a go over a black undercoat. I've painted the first 8 and found them fast to do but I'm not sure about the end result. Overall though I can see the deeper shades look quite nice. I'll finish this 16 figure battalion in this method by adding 4 Perry metals later, all with the black undercoat. I'm wondering if I should trial the black undercoat with the Scots when they arrive? I'm well out of practice with this method but maybe a bit more work and I could get a good result.

The 8 figures below were painted in 2 shortish sessions, no black was used except the undercoat. I had to try to tone down the shade on the trousers to match my existing figures and maybe I could have worked them a little more. I'll undercoat the 4 flank company figures I have left with the black undercoat and see what I can do.

Highlanders should be here any day now so just time to finish the next 4 and catch up with some backpacks!

Plans for August.

2010-07-30T07:02:00.000-07:00

Things are going to slow a bit over the holiday period but I have made up my mind what's coming up next. As you can see the second battalion of Old Guard grenadiers is complete (well I just need to stick on the backpacks) and I'm quite pleased with them overall.

I was considering trying to do a British Hussar unit next using the Perry French box, but a bit of research means that it wont really work as the British Hussars seem to have used large saddle covers with dogs teeth decoration and the French used smaller sheepskins. So I have now decided to do 2 battalions of Highlanders using the Victrix box set. I'm afraid the images on the Victrix site meant I just could not resist them! I last painted Highlanders back in 2007 (see here) when I started this blog with 15mm Essex figures before changing to 28mm, and I was really pleased with the result. The larger scale means more care and detail on the kilts etc but I will take my time with them. I have chosen 2 units from the Waterloo campaign of course, the 42nd 'Black watch' and the 92nd, two fine and distinguished regiments. I will be using just the 'centre company' box set and adding a few wings from spare parts etc as needed.

The follow up to the Highlanders will then be a unit of British Heavy Dragoons and a unit of British 10th Hussars, all metal.

Total now painted is: 238 figures.

2nd Old Guard Battalion underway.

2010-07-20T04:44:00.000-07:00

Been a quiet week on the painting front. I have completed the 4 metal command figures for the KGL battalion (just need to finish the basing) and now I'm starting on the 2nd Old Guard Battalion, just the first washes on so far. I will only paint the 2 x 16 figure battalions for the Guard but I hope to be able to put together a few skirmisher stands for them from my bits and pieces box later.

I'm still thinking about what I want to paint next! I'm torn between an 8 figure metal British heavy dragoon unit OR a British /KGL Hussar unit using that incredible Perry plastic box set! I know they are French but the vast choice of parts would make it easy to do such a unit. I know that I was moaning about plastic figures recently but in my opinion the Perry plastics are way superior to the Victrix in terms of fine detail and moulding and I have long wanted to paint a Hussar unit! I'll make up my mind as I paint the rest of the Old Guard Grenadiers.

Total figures now painted is 222 since the beginning of the year.

Review part 2 - more pics!

2010-07-14T05:27:00.000-07:00

Further to the post below, more pics taken 7 months since starting this project.

Review - 7 months on.

2010-07-14T05:10:00.000-07:00

Thought it was time to take a look at how the projects going so far. Its 7 months now since I started this in 28mm and I have broken through the 200 figure mark. Overall I'm pleased with my new collection and I'm looking forward to being able to have a game with them once I have some British cavalry and more artillery.

I have posted a series of photos taken under a few CFL bulbs including some 'daylight' bulbs. They show everything painted so far and that includes the Victrix artillery set that I have rebased and tried to 'improve'. Its funny how those scale discrepancies seem to disappear one you stand back a couple of feet!

My target was for 400 painted figures by December so I'm not doing too badly.

I hope you enjoy these photos. I may have add them over 2 or 3 posts!

A terrible accident !

2010-07-10T05:46:00.000-07:00

Well its not that bad but I managed to knock over a glass of red wine all over my favourite old book! had it for more years than I care to remember and its a 1971 first edition of Rene North's lovely and very accurate 'Regiments at Waterloo'. It has been falling to pieces despite being re bound twice by myself during my years in the printing trade. Nothing I can do and at least the pictures are OK, mainly the edges got soaked but the cover is ruined. I got it out to look at the British heavy dragoon uniforms along with the osprey title 'Wellington's heavy cavalry' but that escaped unscathed at least. I'm planning an order for a unit of these figures next. I think I'll go with Front Rank for these as I want big horses to match the Perry plastic French I have. I find the perry metal 'heavy' horses rather slimmer in the hindquarters.

You can also see some French line artillery crew I have just finished painting, I'll post these once the gun is painted. These are perry metal and very good figures. I'm having problems pinning down the cuff detail of these, can anyone help please? Were they lined with white as in the infantry or just plain red?

British artillery - take 2.

2010-07-07T01:42:00.000-07:00

Here is the first completed Royal Artillery gun and crew in metal. I'm far happier with these than with the plastic Victrix set painted a few posts back. Just one small niggle now ....... I cant help noticing how much smaller in stature these Perry crew are than the Victrix figures! Not much I can do about that now, but its noticeable that even the Perry French line artillery crew I have undercoated seem larger overall. Its a shame as the figures were a joy to paint and the detail is so much more defined. The plastic artillery have now been removed from the collection.

I have a few more Perry metal figures left to paint plus another 16 figure Victrix Guard battalion and after that it will over to Front Rank so hopefully these annoying inconsistencies will end.

Heavy Metal!

2010-07-02T02:40:00.000-07:00

Having completed the first battalion of Old Guard with just the backpacks to be glued on I have decided to paint a Perry Miniatures metal British artillery crew before painting the second battalion. Its immediately apparent just how much better in terms of detail and definition the Perry's are so I have now decided that I am going to ditch the 3 gun plastic battery completely. Something about them left me feeling unhappy with them and I think was the cause of the 'wobble' that I experienced in my recent post! As its only 12 figures I think its better to remove them now from the collection and replace them with metal. The crew are excellent, stripped for action as indeed they would be, and lacking those full dress belts and cords etc as portrayed on the rather stiff and formal Victrix. The gun is also much 'meatier' looking all round with improved barrel detail. I know that I will be far happier with these.

If anyone can use a plastic Victrix British battery they are most welcome to have them free of charge together with the rest of the contents of the box. Just let me know: lgramson@aol.com

I still plan to use Army Painter shade over all of my collection so far, as soon as I can grab some, and I hope this will tone down some of the brightness of the figures a little.

Inspiration! - blog link.

2010-06-29T05:48:00.000-07:00

I'm sure many of you will know this blog already but I have only just discovered it, so for those who have not seen it here's a link to 'Lord Ashrams House of War'. I wont add the blog to my main list as it covers too many eras and is currently concerned with Vikings, but there is much in there of interest to the Napoleonic gamer/collector. I love this guys table set up, its truly inspirational. I have copied the link dealing with play testing of his own rules (can be downloaded). Its full of lovely pictures of beautifully painted Napoleonics so its well worth a look. I like the way the raised board edges of his table give a kind of 3d effect to the terrain. Great stuff.

25mm Napoleonic playtest - part 1.

First Old Guard Grenadiers.

2010-06-27T04:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to those who commented on my last post, its great to be able to get such encouragement when enthusiasm for a project just begins to waver slightly. I have made two positive decisions regarding the future:

1. I keep going but any future figures will be Front Rank only, that's once I have finished the 2 x 16 figure Guard battalions I'm working on.

2. I'm going to experiment with 'Army painter' shade/varnish. If you look at the pic of the first 8 Guard figures below I think you can see the areas that could be dramatically improved with AP. I've been thinking about it for weeks now. Every before/after pic I have seen using AP shows more depth and shading that also emphasises the highlights too.

Here's those 8 figures. I reckon the greatcoats would be improved with AP? Also the cross belts would take a subtle touch of shading and AP does that too!

Added the excellent 'iron Mitten' blog to my list at right. Its well worth following and browsing the archives. The Napoleonic's are wonderful and he has a great basing style. Take a look at the 'Waterloo wheels' for example. Also uses AP method.

A touch of the wobbles!

2010-06-24T04:20:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not talking about the England football team I'm talking about my hobby! I know many wargamers/painters experience this and I'm no exception. Having almost hit the 200 figures painted mark I'm just beginning to find myself browsing other ranges and periods and thinking to myself that I could do much better. I was looking back at the pics I took in 2007 (here - scroll down for close ups!) when I began this blog using 15mm Essex figures and I cant help thinking that the standard of painting and finish was better than these 28mm plastics. The standard black undercoat seemed to deliver deeper shade and crisper lines, it was actually the lack of animation in the figures that caused me to stop and sell those off with the intention of starting again with a different range. Somehow when I look at this collection so far I don't quite feel that sense of achievement that I think I should. I would also add that Napoleonics was never my 'speciality' period, as much as I love those uniforms I have to admit to being pretty ignorant of the period generally. But its funny because despite being an ardent ACW enthusiast since school days I just cant get into wargaming that period, and I put that down to my years spent re enacting the period and of seeing those gruesome photos of bloated bodies lying where they fell on those bloody fields. I suppose I spent most time in the past wargaming and collecting the English Civil War to Forlorn Hope rules with a nice bunch of local friends who also happened to be 'Sealed Knot' members and had a real passion for the period.

Good thing is that I'm addicted to painting again and I wont stop now. I'm fortunate now to have plenty of spare time on my hands after 30 years of working long hours and I'm going to make the most of it, but doubts are beginning to creep in around what I have painted so far in this project. I'll take a few days to weigh things up and browse the metal ranges online in both 15 and 28mm, then I'll make my decision. It may be that I'll just continue this project with metal figures, possibly Front Rank and switch back to the old black undercoat, but I'll have to see how the muse takes me.

Battery completed.

2010-06-23T04:33:00.000-07:00

Have finished the remaining two British artillery crews. Overall I'm happy with the results and if I have one gripe about the set its the fact that the cross belts are poorly defined, with for some reason a raised centre strap, (not the canteen strap) that really spoils the lines of the cross belts. This is where metal figures score of course with much more raised definition and deeper undercuts. But for the price I'd say its good value and a cheap way to amass artillery.

I have put just 2 washes on the first 8 Old Guard Grenadiers, the blue is a mix of GW Midnight blue and Ultramarine blue and I washed this over much of the figures as you can see. Then a wash of GW brown ink over hands faces and muskets to give shading. Again the figures are good with excellent faces but some of the detail such as the sword and scabbard are poorly defined in my opinion but again I guess for cheap plastic figures one cant complain.

Having thought about all of this I am now considering moving over to metal figures for the rest of this project. I feel that I have made a good start but I'm beginning to miss the quality and detail of 28mm metal figures. I'm torn between Front Rank and Elite. I'm not yet sure which will most match my existing plastics? Any opinions on this welcomed.

Right then, time to go and pull on the lucky England shorts for the big game in a couple of hours time...... so here's hoping they do what we know they are capable of doing and win convincingly.

*EDIT* - having looked at a few pics of Royal Artillery uniforms I now see that the raised 'strap' over the crossbelt is actually a red cord, (possibly representing match cord from a previous era?) and so once again Victrix have got it spot on! I'll need to correct that. I looked at some pics of metal RA crew yesterday too and its so much more obvious what it is.

British Artillery - Test crew.

2010-06-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

I painted the first British artillery crew yesterday and finished basing this morning. I keep the basing style consistent but its very fast and simple, just my big box of grit and a couple of bags of Games Workshop's synthetic grass. The 'stone' areas are finally given a coat of 'leather brown'. I don't bother to highlight this as it gives a nice 'muddy' effect and contrasts with the grass areas.

Overall I'm pleased with the crew although I still find the officer figures a bit 'wooden' in pose. I've started the other 8 crew figures and have taken the liberty of giving the battery commander a bicorne. One thing I miss from earlier campaigns are those wonderful bicornes! But I'm sure a few officers would have held on to them, even though they would have looked a soggy misshapen mess on the morning of Waterloo.

I keep opening up the box of Victrix Old Guard and peeping in at those wonderful figures; they really do look nice figures and the faces are quite amazing, full of expression, so they should be a joy to paint. of the 60 figures in the box I'll only be using 32 of them for 2 battalions of 16 both in 'march attack' pose.

Victrix artillery - first impressions.

2010-06-17T06:03:00.000-07:00

I now have a box each of Victrix British artillery and Old Guard Grenadiers. I have to say that upon opening the artillery box I was not immediately impressed with the guns on the sprues. The first thing that struck me was how thin the wheels seemed, the rims looked to be somewhat too thin for scale to me. The poses of the crews also looked a bit wooden at first sight I felt. I'm still waiting for some metal artillery to arrive from Perry who are awaiting new stock but I have a feeling that there will be a considerable difference. I initially thought I might put the artillery box aside but then decided that I may as well at least put the set together and see how they looked when assembled. I also did a bit of research on the British carriages of the period and surprisingly on the diagrams I found the wheels do indeed look thinner than I'd imagined. So I went ahead and gave them an initial paint job, the result of which is I think they look OK! They need highlighting as there is no wood texture on the carriage at all, but the pics show my results so far. (The barrels also need more work). It will be interesting to compare with the Perry metal guns once they arrive. I still think the wheels look a little 'thin' but I think they will now be usable at least. I have a test crew undercoated ready for painting, 4 crew per piece. I think in future though I'll stick with metal artillery.

The Old Guard Grenadiers box is good, maybe more mould lines than Perry plastics but they should clean up OK. Heads and faces are excellent and I look forward to painting 2 battalions of these. campaign dress is correct for Waterloo I think given the appalling weather overnight and the descriptions of the bedraggled look of even the finest units on the day.

Any comments on the Victrix artillery welcome, do those wheels look a little thin to you?

(The 95th Rifles in the top pic have just been re-based onto skirmisher bases to match the French.)

Light infantry.

2010-06-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

I have finished basing the 12 skirmisher figures. 6 are newly painted and the other 6 have been re-based and touched up slightly. All in all I'm pleased with these, I think they make a neat little unit. I'm not sure how they will be used with the rules yet, either as replacements for flankers when deployed or as an independent composite skirmisher unit. Maybe I could add a 12 figure skirmisher screen per brigade or something along those lines. I decided from the outset that I wanted to base my units a certain way so any rule-set that I use will have to accommodate my basing style.... I refuse to re base these figures at any stage!

I also completed the 16 figure Legere battalion over the weekend and they make a nice colourful little unit too I think. By the time of the Hundred Days campaign the Legere were operating very much in the role as normal line infantry, although they held on to their former elite status.

The World Cup will slow my painting a little for a while, but I am close to breaking through the 200 figure milestone. Its been quite a number of years since I painted 200 figures, but my enthusiasm for this project remains very high and there are just so many units that I want to paint. I should have my Victrix order within the next couple of days as 'Total wargamer' have already confirmed despatch, great service and reduced prices on many items. Following that its some Heavy Metal ........ 2 regiments of British cavalry.

Victrix on order.

2010-06-11T04:12:00.000-07:00

I now have a couple of boxes of Victrix figures on order, Old Guard Grenadiers plus the British foot artillery. Found them online at just £15.96 per box, great value! I'll paint 2 x 16 figure battalions of Old Guard Grenadiers and then the 3 gun battery.

Total so far is:

French:

4 x 16 figure battalions (3 line and 1 light)

12 x skirmishers (I'm basing these in 2's now)

2 x 8 figure cavalry regiments

3 Mtd generals.

British.

5 x 16 figure line battalions.

8 x 95th rifles (based in 2's)

3 Mtd generals.

So things are moving along nicely. What I need now is for Victrix or Perry to release some British cavalry, heavy dragoons would do nicely! But as there is no word of any such plans I'll make the next order for some British metal cavalry to balance the forces.

No more pictures yet as its the same old units, but I'll post the 12 French figure skirmisher unit once its based and finished, its amazing how much variation you can get from the same two basic bodies with head and arm swaps etc.

French infantry.

2010-06-05T06:09:00.001-07:00

Completed the half a battalion of light infantry and as its a bright day took the French outdoors for a few pics. This is all of my French infantry so far minus the 6 skirmishers that I'm not sure what to do with. Still no flags added yet, I'll have a sort of 'topping out' ceremony when I hit a dozen or so painted battalions and add flags to the whole collection. I did re work the coat colour on all of the figures as some of the earlier ones were a little patchy I felt, so now its more matched and I'm finally happy with the shade of blue!!

Just waiting for the order from perry to arrive to complete the Legere battalion, then some artillery to follow.

Gilder mania!

2010-06-03T02:04:00.000-07:00

Well, lets face it the figures from Peter Gilder's amazing collections got many of us into this hobby in the first place and its been great to see so many of those old figures popping up on the blogs that I follow. I spent a relaxing hour last night browsing through all of the images posted on 'Unfashionably Shiny' 'The Hinton Hunter' and 'The Old Metal Detector' of figures from the original Gilder Napoleonic collections. To be honest I had always assumed that Gilders collection started with Hinchliffe and it was a surprise to me to learn that the original figures had in fact been Hinton Hunt. But what an amazing job he did with them! I had not realised just how good those old HH figures were until I began to follow 'strykers' excellent blog 'Hinton Hunt Vintage Wargame Figures'. By comparison with my Perry miniatures those old figures are slim and elegant and every bit as well detailed. I should say that it was seeing a colour picture of Gilders Waterloo game in a Sunday glossy mag as a schoolboy that fired my imagination, I cut the pages out and kept them for years! So hats off to all you gents for keeping it going, and if anyone has not already looked at the blogs mentioned above then you should do.

Update on my painting quickly: I have completed French line infantry unit number 3 and undercoated the first 8 of what will be a light infantry unit. Did a few head swaps this time to add some Pokelem caps, they add a bit of variety. The command for this unit will be metal. sadly by 1815 the Legere had lost much of its individuality in dress, looking much like their line counterparts except the Bardin regulation habit-veste had blue lapels and they wore blue trousers. Cuff detail was also slightly different. The Chasseur companies had also shed their sabres and belts. Still its enough to give a slight distinction so I'll enjoy painting them.

Total so far now is 160 figures painted.

Contemplating paint shades etc.

2010-05-31T04:35:00.000-07:00

Having returned to painting more French infantry I decided to try to pin down the actual shade of the coat worn during the period. I see so many variations on the French coat colour, and there is no doubt that wear and tear and fading would have produced such variation in the original uniforms. But I wanted to find a reliable match for the colour as a guideline. Back in my re enacting days we used a company called 'The Sutlers Stores' to provide accurate ACW uniform items as the guy who ran it was most meticulous in his research, ordering cloths from the states that matched precisely the originals, he would accept nothing less. His Napoleonic uniforms are also incredibly accurate and based upon surviving museum items for the cut as well as original patterns and cloths. I thought some might enjoy browsing through the companies catalogue at the amazing quality uniforms they produce. I found a French coat c 1810 (below) and decided that my GW 'Midnight Blue' is the closest match I have for it. The whole site is a wonderful mix of uniforms and accessories that I'm sure any military enthusiast will love.

'The Sutlers Stores' - Napoleonic range. (Link).

On the subject of colours I am also thinking of going back to Games Workshop paints as some of my old Foundry paints begin to run down. I've tried most makes and have come to the conclusion that I like the GW range the best. They cover very well and are quite thick, but I can thin them down and they still hold the shade well. I find with Foundry that I'm wasting money as I only tend to use the 'mid' colour of the three, plus maybe a little of the 'light' shade. I'd also say the Foundry paints are also not as thick as GW. I did at one stage seriously consider using the old enamels over white as in the brilliant 'Unfashionably Shiny' blog, but I just did not feel confident that I could match that high standard and style, much as I love it. I have also tried other makes of acrylics such as Coat d Arms but again I found they just did not cover quite as well as GW.

Next I need to research the shade of the legere uniform coats as I believe that it was a lighter blue than the line? I hope my Osprey books will give me the correct shade for the later period.

Pics show my paints plus the 8 figures currently being painted. You can see how I like to put a thin (and rather messy) wash of black over the unpainted areas of undercoat that will be painted white, as I find it gives more definition. I need to try this with a black ink as I'm sure it would work better.

British Generals completed.

2010-05-27T05:17:00.000-07:00

Here are the 3 Mtd Generals from the Perry set BH3. Tried different lighting this time and the pics are somewhat dark. I have enjoyed painting the officers as a distraction from line infantry.

Next small fortnightly order going in to Perry is:

BH5. British/KGL command advancing. (To complete the 12 figures already painted)

BH11. British foot artillery firing 9pounder.

FN17. French foot artillery firing 6pounder.

FN72 Light infantry battalion command. (For the Legere unit planned next).

As you can see I have another 8 French line white undercoated which will complete French unit number 3, before I begin the Legere unit. That will still leave me another full 16 figure plastic line unit from the last box to paint.

Total figures painted so far is 152. Once I reach the 200 mark I hope to get a test game set up using THESE rules that I have been getting to grips with.

After the above I'm deciding between a box of the Victrix Old guard OR some Perry metal British cavalry.

Completed French Generals.

2010-05-24T05:27:00.000-07:00

Got some time off so decided to complete the 3 generals of Division this morning. Again the blue coats appear far lighter in the pics for some reason but that maybe the strong sunlight outdoors where I took the pictures or my very old camera! I wanted them to match the retro style of the rest of the collection so resisted the temptation to overwork them but I'm very happy with the results. If I'm honest I'm struggling more with the horses over white undercoat but they're not too bad but maybe not up the standard I could achieve over black, however I'll persevere with it.

I also finished basing the 12 KGL infantry this morning. Next week I will add the command stand to complete British infantry unit number 5.

The 3 British generals are undercoated, I'll probably make a start later today if I get time.

Next up: 8 French line to complete unit number 3 then a Legere unit.

I'm still a fair way off being able to have a test game but I'm getting a good feel for the Division/Corps level rules I intend to use by following the battles at Paul Leniston's site HERE.

A hot days painting! French Generals.

2010-05-23T05:08:00.000-07:00

Phew, its a scorcher today and my little painting corner in the back room has become a welcome sunny place to sit and escape the crowds who have arrived in the village to spend the day on the beach. My Perry order did indeed turn up yesterday and some were undercoated within an hour! I chose to start with the 3 French generals of Division, beautiful little castings. I dont know why the blue always appears lighter in the pics than it actually is but here's some shots of them at about midway. Also a shot of the KGL battalion just awaiting a command stand.

I'll do both the French and British generals packs first, then bang into loads more French line infantry. Next weeks order will be for some metal guns and crews.

Just started reading Napoleons Marshals, I've had this book for several years at least but never got round to reading it before, a very good read so far.

Perry v Victrix question?

2010-05-22T02:20:00.000-07:00

I have been looking around to find examples of some of the Victrix Old Guard figure set painted up. You can't deny the superb quality of this set and for the 2 x 16 figure battalions that I will want (in march attack pose) for £20.00 these will be hard to beat I think. Found some superb examples HERE at 'saxondog's' blog, well worth a look!

Any comments regarding the match of Perry and Victrix? I did read that the Victrix were slightly larger but I could get away with that for the Guard. Any comments on this please? I just want to keep a consistent scale within my collection but those figures look SO damn good.

One comment I have re Victrix..... why do they produce a separate box set for flank companies? why not do as Perry do and include them in the set. This puts me off buying the Highlanders as I would need to buy 2 boxes to complete the units and be left with a pile of unusable figures which is a shame I think.

Still awaiting the arrival of my last Perry order, have completed the 12 figures of the first KGL battalion and will add the metal 4 figure command group from my next order.

4 British battalions completed!

2010-05-19T04:47:00.000-07:00

The first 4 British units are finished and I'm now working through 12 more figures towards unit number 5, a KGL battalion with blue facings. Will just need to add another metal command group to complete them. Took them outdoors for a few pics in the sun. Put some French cavalry in too.

Awaiting delivery of my next Perry order, another box of French infantry and the following command packs:

BH3 British Major generals & FN14, French generals of Division.

It feels good to have now passed the point that I got to in 15mm when I started this blog back in 2007! I'm far happier with these figures. I was going to order the Victrix british artillery set next but when I checked on the Perry site I found that a gun with 4 crew in metal is only £8.00 so there would be little difference in price for 3 guns and crews, plus I wanted to keep this project perry as far as possible so I think I'll now just stick with the Perry metal range in future.

BH3 and FN14 (below) from the perry website. Lovely castings.

Dymchurch 'Day of Syn' 2010.

2010-05-16T02:02:00.000-07:00

Our village 'Day of Syn' is a held every other year over the August Bank Holiday. It celebrates the novel of Russell Thorndike who's central character is the Vicar of Dymchurch 'Dr. Syn', who is also a notorious smuggler known as the 'Scarecrow' and feared leader of the 'Marsh Men'. Set at the turn of the 18th century, the vicar lives a secret double life until the Kings men suddenly arrive in the village and his secret is discovered.

We celebrate this by holding what is probably one of the best FREE days out in Kent, featuring Napoleonic re-enactment on the sandy beach, as the Kings men battle against the local smugglers led by the Scarecrow himself! The Napoleonic Association members give an impressive display over the weekend and English heritage open up our village 'martello' defensive tower to the public. Part of an extensive Napoleonic line of defence, these towers sit right on the seafront and this is one of the best preserved and is well worth a visit. The revolving cannon can still be seen on the top of the tower and inside you get a real feel for what it must have been like for those soldiers who had to man the place day and night. Even the circular musket racks remain intact. What it lacks are displays of any kind so I am going to contact EH and suggest that I set up some sort of display or wargame in the tower over the weekend, this will give real impetus to my project over the coming months. I have long felt that much more could be done to bring the tower 'to life' and I intend to get fully involved in attempting to do just that this year.

Meantime heres a link for anybody interested in spending the weekend here in August. This area is rich in Napoleonic history, from the remains of the old school of musketry in Hythe, the Royal Military Canal and the Martello defensive system of towers and forts. The events are FREE (thats pretty rare in itself these days!) and there are plenty of B&B's and places to stay. The village itself is decorated to reflect the theme with many locals dressing the part. The battle is held on the bank Holiday Monday with infantry, artillery and mounted officers etc taking on the musket armed 'Marsh Men' as they attempt to escape with the contraband. We have 3 nice pubs in the village, morris dancers and other free displays, all in all a great family weekend.

Dymchurch online is full of useful information:

Back soon with more pics of the figures!

British infantry progress.

2010-05-13T03:31:00.000-07:00

Well, been working away at more British line as I want to complete the first 4 battalions as quick as possible. 3 are now complete and the 4th has just another 8 figures to finish them plus painting and sticking on the knapsacks etc which I do on the sprue for ease. I also painted the 4 extra 95th Rifles included in the box. Took a few pics of the assembly stage of the Perry plastics, they really do go together very well, the fiddly bit I suppose was the officers coat tails (you have a choice of long or short tails depending on campaign), but they all go together in minutes if you use the correct glue. The 8 figures just assembled will give me a total of 70 British painted so far so things are moving along nicely now.

I'm placing the next Perry order now: Another box of French line, a French generals pack and a British generals pack. I'm plodding through making fortnightly small orders so I don't get a mountain of figures sitting waiting to be painted!

Plan is now to complete the 4 French units of 16 figures, 3 line and one legere. They wont have those nice pre 1812 uniforms with fancy boots but at least they will still stand out from the line battalions. Once those are done and the mounted generals are painted (I'm looking forward to doing those) I will do either some British cavalry (metal) or foot artillery (Victrix) followed by the Victrix Old Guard box.

I wont add flags until I reach this phase 1 stage of a small balanced force for both sides. At that stage I'm thinking about investing in some TSS terrain blocks, hills etc.

Nostalgia part 2!

2010-05-07T01:12:00.000-07:00

Well, the order from Perry has arrived and the next batch of British line are undercoated. To recap on the Brits so far I have 2 x 16 figure line battalions plus another 8 figures completed as well as the 4 x 95th rifles. The sergeant painted in the last post has also now been given a spontoon so just 7 figures are needed to complete battalion number 3. After that its another 4 of the 95th rifles then one more full British line battalion, all plastic. So I have just another 27 figures to paint which will give me 4 x 16 figure battalions plus 8 x 95th Rifles. I plan to add a metal command to the rifles later to make them up to 12 figures. After that its back to more French.

NOSTALGIA.

I was thinking back to when I used to be able to visit wargaming shops in the South London area where I lived. With everything so readily available online now days it seems odd to think that there were quite a number of wargaming businesses around back then! All are now gone which is a bit of a shame really I think. Thought I'd share my memories of a few with you.

John Tunstills ' Soldiers' was in Lambeth and I met him several times over a number of years. His shop was my first experience of seeing metal figures when on a school trip to the Imperial war museum the teacher took as across to the shop as he was also a wargamer and ran the after school wargaming club! I remember being astonished at what I saw there. He had a table in the centre of the shop and a game was in progress. In the display shelves were hundreds of painted figures, the full minifigs range on display. John himself was always polite and friendly even to a coach full of snotty school kids! This would have been around 1973 -ish!

A few years later I was introduced to a shop in Lewisham SE London that also carried the full range of Minifigs although I only went there a couple of times as I subsequently saw an ad in Military Modelling for the 'Rye Stamp and Hobby shop' in Peckam. By then I was working and driving so one saturday morning I set off to find the shop run by Bill Brewer. I recall getting lost but eventually managing to find a car park behind Peckham High Street, a bustling multi cultural place, very noisy and colourful. After much searching I came across the shop right at the top of the High Street... it was TINY. I hesitated before going in as I could see little sign of toy soldiers from the outside but knew it had to be the right place. Once inside it was very narrow but covered in display cases of some of the most beautifully painted figures I had seen. I'd say Bill was years ahead in his painting style and basing methods, they were staggeringly good. Over the years I made regular trips to Bill's shop and must have bought hundreds of figures there. My one issue was that he didnt stock Hinchliffe figures which I had come to like.

Another ad in military Modelling bought me to another tiny shop behind Charing Cross station in Villiers Street, London. I often would stop in there while waiting for my train home and always ended up spending some money. My biggest single purchase there was 45 ECW cavalry from Hinchliffe, a mountain of lead. (I later sold off my large early ECW collection to John Tunstill who offered me a very good price for them, far more than I had anticipated, although they later went up for resale in his shop at a staggering price).

A more local shop 'Eltham Models' began to stock the Hinchliffe range later and so I had a local source for my figures. Something about those neat blue boxes always got me excited and the castings seemed just incredible. I began to build my first 25mm Napoleonic collection.

Fast forward a few more years and yet another shop opened up in Dulwich, not too far from Bills shop in Peckham but a very different kind of area. This was 'Battle Honours' who sold, well the complete 15mm Battle Honours range as it was then. A lovely old Victorian double fronted shop with the windows full of painted units. That started my 15mm ACW collection. The shop sold only 15mm figures and lasted for a couple of years only sadly before closing down, I believe due to legal issues over the production of the figures which were cast and packed behind the shop.

Of course the explosion of the internet and online shopping later killed off the small high street hobby shop, and it was good to be able to choose from many manufacturers; but it was sad to see them go. John Tunstil of course moved into 54mm traditional toy soldiers and still sells them today from his home home in Italy. Today I'm told 'Hamleys' the huge toy shop in Oxford Street still has wargames figures on display in its store but I've not been there for many years.

With so many 'retro/vintage' dedicated blogs a round today I hope some followers will find the above of interest, I have to admit that it was something I always thought I would have liked to do as a means of making a living! if anyone can add to the list or visited any of the shops I mentioned please leave a comment and share your experience.

Back soon with more Brits! Meantime here's 'Bump' the cat refusing to budge from my painting chair!

Interlude! - paint method illustrated.

2010-05-03T09:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics that I hope will illustrate my white undercoat/retro paint job! I had these 3 figures left so thought they would make good subjects; the pioneer and the sergeant will be added to the next British line battalion and the casualty may find its way onto a command base later.

You can see how well the thin washes work over that undercoat. I started with Foundry red shade ( 15A ) thinned down so it ran just where I wanted it and left no visible white. After that a quick touch of red middle shade ( 15B) to highlight. Then take GW brown ink and let it flow around the faces, necks hair and hands. Thin it slightly over the face. The again a quick touch of 'flesh/light' ( 5C) to highlight and done! I now use the same brown ink for muskets at this stage, this takes seconds per figure to do and gives a great wood effect. After that I thin pure black (34A) and wash over shakos, packs, boots, cartridge boxes etc, again then pick up some stronger thicker black and work those areas. The grey trousers were also washed lightly at that stage with thin black then highlighted with grey ( 33A) this colour also highlights the rolled blanket. Then its white, I thin it just very slightly so it flows well and quickly work over belts, straps, lace etc. I DONT line the white! I decided from the start not to do this as I prefer them this way, I think it can give an exaggerated look but that's just my opinion. The pioneers apron was washed with the brown ink then worked in with foundry leather brown ( 7b ) and highlighted by adding a touch of white. Finally I add metallics using foundry 'metal' (35B) and 'shiny ' (36C).

Finally I ALWAYS go back over and touch up where I need to. usually the paints on the palette are still good to use for this so I don't need to reopen pots etc. I do try to be economical with my paints and use toothpicks to put only what I need onto the palette.... I hate waste! I touched up the pioneer ( oh err missus!) around the beard and face to finish him.

You can see in the finished shot (top) that I had to give the sergeant a musket as I couldnt find his spontoon! In the heat of battle his spontoon has broken so he has picked up a musket :-)

What I enjoy is being able to keep the paints open so that any mistakes can be quickly corrected, but I'm not looking for perfection, just a good overall standard that will look good as part of a larger unit. I have always believed that good basing makes the biggest difference to this effect.

Back soon with more British line infantry. I have an order due soon and I'm now going to order my first box of victrix.... the French Guard Grenadiers. I hope to get just 2 x 16 figure battalions both in 'march attack' pose and I think this can be done. I'm also going to order the British Foot Artillery set from them.

Cuirassiers completed.

2010-04-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

Not great pictures I know and I apologise ( I am going to work on improving my photography skills, I think I need to light them better) ...... but here are the finished 8 cuirassiers. Again a standard that I am happy with overall, and standing back a little the effect is already reminding me of why I loved Napoleonics so much. I know that they don't have the depth maybe of 'darker' styles over black undercoats but this is a 'retro' project so its a retro style..... that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! I am seriously considering a gloss varnish effect, any thoughts on this?

I have run out of figures to paint now until my Perry order arrives. What I do have left are 2 metal British line, a sergeant and a pioneer so I'll use these 2 figures to show how fast this wash method over white undercoat works. Both can form part of my next line battalion when I get the figures. Colour by colour guide coming up, with paint codes etc.

Improved quality pictures next post!

Cuirassier horses - progress.

2010-04-27T08:01:00.000-07:00

The cuirassiers are finished and I'm now painting the 8 horses. Just the harness etc to go now, then I stick the riders on before going over with a final finishing touch up! Just need to add the separate scabbards/musketoons etc once they are stuck in position. These will be fully completed and based before the weekend.

Going to order another box of British line infantry plus another metal command set (6 figures). So far I have 2 x16 figure units completed plus an additional 8 figures painted towards unit number 3, so plan is to build them up to 4 completed units before moving on to more French infantry.

Having crossed the 100 painted figures barrier I'm looking forward to hitting 200 now!

Pictures show the horses with several colours left to paint, more pics once unit is completed and based.

Cuirassiers!

2010-04-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

Was planning to do a step by step account of how I painted these but my camera batteries died on me! I'll do it next time when I return to painting the British line infantry. Here's where I am so far with the 8 cuirassiers. I love the officer with folded arms and a 'fed up' expression on his face! (Perry metal range). The metal and plastic figures match well, I have no problem at all with that.

Again quick washes of colour of various strengths. I am using the Foundry system paints but not I had anticipated! I'm generally thinning down the shade colours then using the mid colour to highlight. I don't bother with the actual Foundry highlight shade, I add white if I need to. These cuirassiers seemed to take no time to get to this stage, and that includes some quick touching up over colours that may run or stray slightly.

Put the carabiniers on the table for a photo parade!

Back soon with the completed cuirassiers and the horses ready primed. Going to experiment more with these ones, want to try the brown ink for example.

Cheers.

Cuirassiers next up!

2010-04-23T02:21:00.000-07:00

Couple more shots of the Carabiniers, all completed except basing which will be done today.

Next up are 8 cuirassiers and I will do a 'blow by blow' account of the paint job on these. Took 10 days to do the carabiniers in total and I will aim for the same with these. After that its down to 2 more British line battalions, although I already have 8 figures painted towards these.

Carabiniers.

Almost there!

2010-04-22T01:51:00.000-07:00

Two shots of the (almost) finished carabinier unit. Need to just add silver to the harnesses etc and touch up around the sword belts and carbines. I'm not 100% happy with the fit of the latter to be honest, but I couldn't seem to get them to fit snugly any further back! I know that they hung via a sliding brass fitting on the rear of the piece but the Perry instructions says they attach via the saddle holsters which is fiddly to do. I MAY have another go at this or I may just notch it down to experience and let it go this time. Need to darken the carbine woodwork slightly too. The separate sword belts went on quite easily but I would have preferred those to be moulded on. Overall though I'm happy.

I'll add the next update of the completely finished and based unit shortly.

Next up are cuirassiers as I said. I just need to research the situation regarding carbines? Almost all of the illustrations of charging cuirassiers in the Osprey title show them not wearing carbines but they were issued with them. I would imagine the carbine could be a nuisance in action given the weight of them. Having had experience of handling and firing black powder weapons I know the weight of such a piece so maybe they were removed and stored for mounted action? Any thoughts on this?

Back soon.

'Make ready'

2010-04-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

Making the most of my free time this week I took a break from painting figures to get the baseboard up in the newly painted wargame room. I managed to get a 6 x 5 table in there with enough room to move around on 3 sides and get a couple of chairs in there. Its not as cramped as I thought it might be, a good 24" on each side with just enough room to get past on the bottom end, and I'm not the slimmest of wargamers myself! I still have a long way to go yet of course and next week things will slow down but at least its there and it gives further motivation to the project.

I couldn't resist putting the figures painted so far on the table and took this shot of the first British unit that I painted for this project, from the rear. Still no flags yet but that will soon be taken care of.

Trumpeters horse.

2010-04-20T04:08:00.000-07:00

Here is the trumpeters grey horse, just the basic (very) thin black wash applied this time then white mixed into the paint to quickly highlight. Again very quick to do. Once the horse furniture etc is painted it should look OK. As the troopers saddles were covered with a white sheepskin I have decided to wash the whole lot with thin black again and then come back and dry brush pure white over it. 'Dogs teeth' have now also been done with Foundry 'sky blue shade' (21A) again thinned down, then highlghited with sky blue 'light' (21C). main thing for me is that standing back a foot or so the effect works well I think. Again its about speed of brushwork, controlling the thinned washes and being prepared to tidy up a little here and there if I need to.

Trumpeters horse. Next update will show the completed unit I hope. Trumpeters sheepskin cover will be black.

Slightly changing subject I see that Victrix now have the British foot artillery set out! 3 guns with choice of barrels, 15 crew plus various bits and pieces of equipment all for £19.99. Much as I wanted to stick with Perry I cant resist a set like this one so this will go on my order list. Any comments on how compatible they are?

Victrix Foot Artillery set.

Carabiniers part 3 - Test horse.

2010-04-19T06:57:00.001-07:00

Decided to try a 'test horse' to see how the black would look. Carabiniers of course rode all black horses except for the grey of the trumpeter. I have found black horses hard to get to look right in the past. I think this will be OK. First I washed thin Foundry black 34A over the white u/coat. Then I used strong black to shade beneath the body and in the legs, neck etc. A quick touch of white on some legs and the blaze and done! Placed a carabinier on to view the overall effect and I'm quite happy. Its not solid black, there are lighter tones and I think it works. photos show 2 stages plus one with the rider. All detail, saddle, reins etc have not yet been painted, I just wanted to test the wash effect.

Should have this unit all completed by Friday, then straight onto the Cuirassier unit before returning to paint more British Line infantry...... I'm planning ahead. When I paint the Cuirassier unit I'll do a blow by blow account of how I build up the colours over the white undercoat..... its fast and furious!!

Back soon, I want to keep this blog lively and regularly updated.

Carabiniers (part 2)

2010-04-18T01:49:00.000-07:00

Here are the completed 8 figures! Seemed to take no time at all, simple washes of colour then in with a bit of detailing/shading. Gloves for example are brown ink wash then white. I did the 'ochre belts edged in white' by quickly painting them white then painting the 'ochre' stripe along the centre...easy! So today I should get the horses undercoated then have a break until tomorrow .

Sword belts/straps and carbines are s till on the sprues for painting and will be glued on to the figures, again it makes the job much faster and easier.

I have made a measuring device (in the great tradition of vintage wargames!) to allow me to use the WRG rules with my basing system. It simply shows the number of 45mm frontage bases that I use and how many figures each base frontage represents under WRG, for example a 4 figure 'element' for foot a 3 figure 'element' for cavalry, 2 for skirmishers etc. Probably harder to describe than to illustrate with the device so I'll upload a pic later. Essentially my bases frontages are what counts NOT the number of figures on my bases, which are purely representative of the 'type', hope that makes sense? For example while my cavalry units are of 8 actual figures the 4 'element' frontages actually represent 12 fighting figures under the rules as regular cavalry are 3 per element under WRG. ....... simples!!!!

The finished carabinier riders.

Carabiniers underway.

2010-04-17T02:06:00.000-07:00

I have started painting the 8 figure carabinier unit and so thought I would post some pics as they progress. Decided to go with the correct 1815 blue coats, the officer retaining his earlier white coat as is also correct. Trumpeter in Imperial Livery with troopers helmet (some did aspire to a white plume but officially it was standard troopers helmet with red crest). Pics show initial colours. I gave the breastplates a wash of brown ink over the base colour which really picked out the detail. I then mixed a touch of Foundry 'shiny' in to highlight the helmet etc. The plate and scales just need a touch of silver to finish them. The lining or padding that shows a round the shoulders,waist and neck was a challenge to get right!! After a glass or two of cider last nightI managed to add the white line over the blue so that it looks OK -ish I think? So far so good. I should get a few more colours done today s the family are all out for the day. I can't wait to see this unit completed.

The blue of the coats need highlighting and the breeches 'grey is just an initial wash but pics show progress so far.

Also been thinking a lot about my aims for this project. Its clear to me that I'm out to reproduce the sort of games that I used to enjoy when I was a member of SELWG back in the late seventies and in some respects it a very 'retro' project. We always played WRG on 6 x 4 tables with a couple of brigades a side, 2 or 3 hours and then down the pub! Whilst I really admire those who reproduce the big battles on the table top and love reading your blogs and write ups, for myself my emphasis is on getting the look of everything to blend in, figures, terrain etc and that's what I enjoy, painting figures, landscaping, building terrain . The actual 'gaming' aspect is secondary for me which explains why I want to stick with WRG rules. All terrain items will be 'lay on' and hand built when I reach that stage.

Couple more days and I should be into the horses for the carabiniers, black horses of course, a grey for the trumpeter.

Games room is ready for a coat of paint, got our old pine dining table in there as a base for the heavy ply baseboards which will be landscaped to match the bases. Put a British line battalion in column on the table to see how the 5' width works and that extra foot makes a big difference I think.

back again soon.

Heavy cavalry & French line infantry.

2010-04-14T05:49:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd post a couple of pics of the French line I began in the last post as it illustrates my simple painting method for this project. Images show the figures about midway and completed save for backpacks etc to be glued on. Its so fast this method and I think the results will be good enough en mass, for me at least. Of course I could go further and work in extra shading or lining etc but I'm not going to!

Have now had the Perry heavy cavalry out of the box and compared the metal command figures, again I'm happy with them, can't really see much difference at all in scale/size etc.... all just as it should be. (The command figures in the above infantry shot are also metal Perry and blend in perfectly with the plastics).

I'm itching to get painting on the first 8 figure Carabinier unit but need to do a bit of prep first. I was not aware that by Waterloo the Carabiniers had swapped their splendid white coats for light blue :-( I'm having a bit of a think about what to do as I REALLY wanted to paint those white coats. The metal command figure shown is of course the cuirassier command to enable me to also complete an 8 figure cuirassier unit and I may paint these 'at rest' with shouldered swords, there are enough spare arms in the box to choose either 'charging or 'rest'. This box gets 10 out of 10 from me, incredibly good plastic figures.

Back soon.

The wargames room progress.

2010-04-12T06:57:00.000-07:00

Been busy tidying up the walls ready for painting but I hope to have it finished by the weekend and the 5' x 5' 6" table top up and ready for landscaping. I've figured this is the best I can do in there and I'm happy with it. With my small units and slow movement rates etc (WRG rules) it gives enough scope for the small games I plan to play in there. The 5' width has meant sacrificing length but overall it will be fine and the rules will work well. Few pics of the scale plan (rough). Leaves me enough room to get a chair either side plus a monitor as I intend to transfer the tatty old rule set onto the PC (more of that later).

Just finishing the final 8 French figures I have left then its straight onto the 8 figure Carabinier unit followed by the 8 figure Cuirassier unit. Its all coming together in my head at least! Then need to order another box of British line and French line to complete the 2x 'half' battalions I will have painted to make up 3x 16 figure battalions per side.

Image shows the white undercoated French with just 3 colours painted..... GW Midnight Blue, thinned wash, then GW 'brown ink' wash over the faces hands and muskets, then flesh light (Foundry) over the ink wash on faces and hands. Next I paint all the black in a fairly thin wash before strengthening where I need to. This method is so fast and flowing I really enjoy doing it, I cant see myself ever going back to a black undercoat again.

Next update should show the carabiniers underway. I'll paint all 8 figures together with the riders glues to their mounts. The command for the carabiniers will be plastic and the command for the cuirassiers will be FN59 Command charging from Perry. Pics of these to follow.

Apologies for the short break!

2010-04-08T07:03:00.000-07:00

Been busy with work and family recently so have had a short break from painting and the blog. The Perry heavy cavalry are on order now so painting will resume as soon as they arrive. The spare room has been finally cleared out so I'm redecorating it ready to move the table top into. I'm still undecided if I should go for a 5 wide x 5' 6" long tabletop or a more traditional 6 x4 table. Small units on a small table are OK I think and much of my wargames over the years have been on a 6 x 4 table so I may well go with that now. As the room is just 7' 6" x 9' 6" I can't really go much bigger.

Have been reading through a 'new' set of rules, those of Paul and Jan Lenniston from the wargames blog 'Napoleonic wargaming' Designed for Corps level games with small units I like the way they emphasise command and control. As I'm currently reading through myself together with the associated game reports I'll post the direct link to the rules here for others interesting in seeing what they think of them. I have to say that I really like them.

Back soon with more painted figures!!

Latest pics .....at last!

2010-03-26T07:27:00.000-07:00

Here's a few random pics of what I have painted so far in this project, 82 figures to date. Next 8 are undercoated and ready. I'm happy with the pace so far using this method and the result is OK I think, seeing them here at 'wargame' distance. The un-based French battalion still have a few backpacks etc to stick on, I find it much easier this way.

Other news: I should be starting on the wargame room any day now, need to tidy up and add a coat of paint etc but I'm excited at the prospect of having a dedicated room for the first time. Got the table measured out and the ply boards are in the garage ready to cut to size.

Leave you with a few pics, back next week.

Nostalgia - 'Waterloo' film 1970.

2010-03-25T07:45:00.000-07:00

I know there are many inaccuracies in the film and it has its share of 'corny' moments but when it came out it inspired me with a love of the Napoleonic period and its colourful uniforms. Hard to believe its 40 years old now, some of the latter scenes using ariel shots panning across the landscape are still amazing to watch. This is the pre battle sequence, you can see more clips at YouTube.

2 French battalions completed.

2010-03-25T07:23:00.000-07:00

Have now completed the first 2 French line battalions. Just need to base the second unit and I'll add the pictures. My goal is to also paint 4 additional skirmishers per battalion so that when deployed I can remove the 4 'marching' flank co figures and replace them with skirmisher poses, bit of extra painting but worth it in my opinion for a realistic look on the table top.

I have 8 figures left to paint towards French battalion number 3 including 3 metal command figs from Perry. I'm ordering a box of heavy cavalry plus a metal command pack FN63 for cuirassiers next . I have now decided to go with 8 figure cavalry units because this will fit in with my tweaking of the bases for WRG rules, each 2 figure base will represent a 3 figure WRG frontage base! This will give me an 8 figure Carabinier unit plus an 8 figure cuirassier unit, not bad for just £22.50! After that its back to more British line and a French Legere unit. Enthusiasm remains very high.

Back soon with those pics.

Some thoughts on rules and painting method.

2010-03-15T04:56:00.000-07:00

Can't believe another week has passed since my last update! So far the count of painted figures is:

British: 40 line infantry plus 4 95th Rifles. This represents the 2 x 16 figure battalions completed plus another 8 towards unit number 3, the 59 th foot. Need another box of Perry infantry to complete.

French: 24 x line infantry plus 6 skirmishers. So one battalion complete plus 8 towards number 2 and I have the final 8 undercoated ready to start.

Total painted figures so far = 74, I'm well pleased with myself! Pics next update when they all based etc.

Now a few thoughts about rules; as I mentioned before its WRG for me. I rarely find a set of rules that can play fast yet still give a good overall period fee, and I know the set quite well so see no reason not to stick with them. basing has been an issue but I have found a way round that. By thinking in terms of base frontage rather than the way figures are based WRG can still be made to work. For example, my infantry are based 4 on a 45mm frontage base, 2 deep and my cavalry will be based 2 to a 45mm wide base. The rules would state that the frontage of an 'element' should consist of 4 figures abreast BUT by simply taking the frontage of one my 'elements' and counting it as '4 figures' in firing/combat etc there is no difference! Again with cavalry, the 45mm 'element' of 2 figure frontage simply counts as 3 cavalry for any calculations. Artillery will also be on a 45mm frontage element. I have made myself an 'aid' in the great tradition of vintage wargames (I'm a big fan of the old 'bounce sticks' etc), which has marked upon it the 45mm element frontages and the number of figures it represents for infantry and cavalry. In essence the figures become 'markers' and what counts is the number of figures represented by the element frontage.... simples :-) Of course depth is an issue but I'm happy to ignore that so long as fighting/firing on flanks etc can be worked out which they can. My tatty old copy of the WRG rules from 1979 has stood the test of time and many enjoyable games and I hope they will do so for many more in the future.

Some thoughts on Perry miniatures plastics so far:

Easy to assemble and good tight fit on heads/limbs/packs etc. being able to paint them without the knapsack/cartridge box/canteen in place is a real boon and really speeds things up. I paint them separately then stick them on last thing. Every single figure in a box is usable, and while some detail ( lace etc) is not a high relief as the metals they still paint well.

Speed: I'm finding it takes no longer to paint a 28mm figure than a 15mm figure using this white undercoat method, I just love the way the paint flows just where I want it and covers in a single coat. I'm introducing a few inks too now, the GW 'brown ink' makes a perfect base colour wash for flesh (then quickly highlighted with Foundry flesh 'light') and also is great for muskets, gives real shade and definition in a wash that takes just seconds to achieve! I hope the photos will show this (to follow shortly), also a thin wash of the brown ink over a white u/coated knapsack (french) gives depth and shading hard to otherwise achieve without time consuming shading/highlighting. A BIG thank you to 'jam' of 'Wargaming in 28mm' blog for introducing me to this method some time before I decided to take the plunge again after 20+ years of painting over black, I honestly believe that had I not gone with the white base coat I would have become bogged down in lengthy and laborious painting again, and the British in particular are much brighter and 'cleaner' looking for it.

Back soon with more pics.

Progress report!

2010-03-08T06:05:00.000-08:00

I'm still painting away and enjoying it. Currently working on half a battalion of British line, 8 figures ( 59th Foot with white facings), plus 8 x French line including the command figures. I will need to order

another box of British line to complete what will be the 3rd British line battalion. I have enough French to complete the 2nd French battalion. Once these are complete I plan to have a break from infantry by painting the regt of French Carabiniers. I have ALWAYS wanted to paint a unit of these resplendent heavy cavalry which, with the 2 planned units of cuirrasiers, will form my heavy cavalry brigade (see OOB in previous post). After that its back to a couple more line infantry units then another diversion into more cavalry, this time some British Heavy Dragoons (Perry metals).

Been pondering rules and table size, I still want to use the WRG rules as I know them well and remember many enjoyable games under the rules. I think I may have found a means of making this work with my basing style. More on this later. The ground scale also means they work well with a smaller table, 6 x4 or in my case 5'/6" long x 5' wide. This gives me good access round 3 sides of the table, any longer and an opponent of, how shall I put it, more ample girth may have problems getting round! As it is I will have 18" spare at the end of the table and 24" on each side of the table in what will become my wargame room, just about managable? I may now simply texture and paint the basic boards to match the bases and then build road sections, hills and other terrain so that they can be laid onto the table in different layouts, terrain building is something I also enjoy and I learned much from assisting with a model railway layout many years ago. There is much to do. I am also due to re decorate the kitchen so I'm going to be a busy man over the next few weeks!

Couple of photos of the painting table today.

Voltigeurs.

2010-03-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

6x Voltigeurs in skirmish order. Approx 3 hrs painting time on these total, back packs just need to be glued on to complete. No varnish yet. perry plastics of course.

French organisation and other matters.

2010-03-03T02:23:00.000-08:00

Here is my planned 'phase 1' organisation chart for the French. It matches the British force pretty well, and again is based upon the Waterloo OOB as published in the book 'Regiments at Waterloo' by Rene North, 1971 Almark Publications. I wanted to be able to include some Imperial Guard (of course!). Long term plan is to expand upon this first phase, but in the meantime I hope this will give me 2 nicely balanced forces with which to game.

Painting update: I have completed the 6 French skirmisher figures (voltigeurs), just need to finish basing before pics. I now have the next 8 French line infantry ready for undercoating, this will start line battalion number 2. I plan to add a small skirmisher unit of 6 figures for each brigade of 2 battalions/regiments as I feel skirmish screens enhance the table top and are vital to accurately portray the tactics.

Other news; after negotiations with the Mrs I now have a room in which to build a permanent wargames table. Our eldest daughter having left home to live with her fiance and our 2 other daughters having 'shifted up' a room each (as they do) the spare 4th bedroom has been full of stock from my wifes clothing business which sadly was forced to close towards the end of last year (bloody recession!). Its not big though, I had a measure up last night and its 9' x 7' in old money! having clambered through the clothes rails I have worked out that I could fit a table 5' wide x 5'6" long with enough room to move around 3 sides comfortably. I think that should be big enough for my small battalions to deploy on. Once we get shot of all the ex stock I'll get started on repainting the room and building the table. Luckily in the garage I have a solid heavy pine table ( also from the old shop!) and 2 x 3/4" Ply boards that just happen to be each 2' 6"'x 6', so I only need to cut them down slightly and that's my table top. This will be the first time I have had a dedicated wargames room in which to leave games set up. I'll add photos as things develop.

Now all I need do is to paint those battalions!!

Back soon with more pics.

******************************************************************

French.

Imperial Guard – Lt Gen. Count Drout.

Old Guard

1^st Grenadiers , 2^nd Grenadiers, and 1^st Chasseurs

Light cavalry, Old Guard (Lt Gen. Count Lefebvre Desnoettes)

Lancers & Chasseurs a Cheval.

Artillery (Col. Baron Duchard)

Horse Artillery of the Guard.- 1 battery.

1^st Infantry Division, 1^st Corps. (Lt Gen. Allix de Vaux)

1^st Brigade – (Brig. Gen. Quiot)

54^th & 55^th Line

2^nd Brigade – (Brig. Gen. Bourgeois)

28th & 105^th Line.

2^nd Division (Lt Gen. Baron Donzelot)

1^st Brigade – Brig. Gen. Schmitz)

13^th Light regt & 17^th Line.

2^nd Brigade – (Brig Gen. Baron Aulard)

19^th & 51^st line.

Foot batteries x 2.

2^nd Cavalry Corps (Lt Gen kellerman)

1^st Brigade – 1^st Carabiniers, 2^nd & 3^rd Cuirassiers.

This makes a total of 11 infantry battalions inc 3 guard. Plus 5 cavalry regiments and 3 batteries of artillery.

Battalions are 16 figures, cavalry units 10 figures each.

All French line inf will be Perry plastics, the Legere battalion will be Perry metal, the heavy cavalry will be Perry plastics, the guard cavalry will be Perry metals. All artillery also metal.

Off topic - nostalgia!

2010-02-28T04:10:00.000-08:00

Here are a few scans of old photos taken in the late eighties (I think). They show my old 15mm ECW collection, mostly Minifigs, and my old ACW collection, again mostly Minifigs. All long since sold off sadly. It was about the time I moved from a simple cloth table to a purpose built terrain system of 6 2x2 ply boards. I remember being extremely pleased with it after a weekend spent up to my neck in filler, polystyrene, paint etc. I recall leaving it overnight to dry and waking up next day to pristine 'snowscape'! before painting.

Not sure how good these are, but I hope you can make them out, would seem I was taking 'fuzzy' pictures even back then!

I have also scanned the 'national characteristics' charts from the old Bruce Quarrie (Airfix) rules, I really liked these although I never actually got to use them. (Permission sought of Patrick Stephens Ltd, publishers, copyright 1974). I'd like to incorporate something like this into my future games.

The ECW collection was later replaced by 'Matchlock Miniatures' 15mm, many hundreds of them. About that time I met my old friend Ian, a mountain of a man who was the pike sergeant of the Blew Regiment, London Trained Bands, Sealed Knot. I spent many happy hours gaming at his home and mine and his enthusiasm drew me into re-enactment as a pikeman in his regiment where I recall driving home from my first event covered in bruises and aching all over after being flattened in a 'push of pike', literally trodden under foot! Great times though. I played so many games with Ian and we later moved into ACW together. I last saw him a few years ago helping out on the caliver books stall as he often did, anyone recall the big guy?

Enjoy the scans.

French battalion.

2010-02-27T03:26:00.000-08:00

More or less completed, just the bases and flag to finish off. Quite pleased with them overall. I have assembled the 6 skirmishers from the Perry box next, I want to be able to deploy skirmisher screens on the table, maybe 6 per 2 units.

Does anybody recall a set of rules called 'Playable Napoleonic Wargames' by Barry Edwards (I think!) from back in the eighties? I used them and enjoyed them, fast and fun, I'd love to find an old copy again. Meantime I'm trying to figure how I could use my figures with WGR rules. From the rule point of view I know this is going to be a retro project!

I have found some old photos of my set up back in the eighties :-) I hope to scan a few to upload here. I recall the hours spent making the heavy ply boards and covering with filler etc before I eventually changed over to those lovely TSS boards, so lightweight. But I'm surprised how good the pictures actually look today.

Couple of pics, one a bit fuzzy!! of the French battalion, Back soon.

British organisation

2010-02-25T06:58:00.000-08:00

Finally, after a long period of searching the web and a couple of ‘false starts’ I am well and truly hooked once again on painting figures, and it feels great! What I did not want to do was begin a project that I could not finish, so I have set myself a realistic goal in terms of numbers of figures I need to paint. I plan to wargame at Divisional level only, but I want my armies to include all of the troop types that I like! After some thought I have decided to build my armies initially at least to the following tables. They are based on the Waterloo OOB, with some liberties taken in terms of eliminating the odd unit! I will work to this plan in future rather than painting ad hoc units.

French table will follow shortly :-)

BRITISH/HANOVERIAN.- 4^th Division (Lt.Gen. Sir Colin Colville) General Lord Hill’s II corps.

4 th Brigade.(Col. Mitchel)14^th Foot (Buff facings), 23 rd Foot (blue facings) 51st Foot (Light inf. Blue facings )

6^th Brigade. – (Maj gen Johnson):35^th Foot ( ? ) 54^th Foot ( Green facings ) 59^th Foot ( White facings. ) 91st Foot (Yellow facings)

6^thHanoverian Brigade (Maj. Gen. Sir James Lyon)3 x Hanoverian Battalions.

British & Hanoverian Field batteries. (one of each?)

2^nd Cavalry Brigade (Maj Gen Sir W.Ponsonby).Royal Dragoons, Scots Greys,

5^th Cavalry Brigade (Maj. Gen. Grant):7^th & 15^th Hussars.

________________________________________________________

A nicely balanced little force consisting of : 7 x British battalions, 3 x Hanoverian battalions ( will include some Landwehr). 2 Regts. of heavy cavalry & 2 of Hussars. Plus artillery.

All battalions are 16 figures, cavalry regts. will be 10 figures each.

Composition: All British line/Light will be Perry Plastics, the Hanoverians will be Perry metals (2 x Line plus 1 x landwehr….. I love those caps!)

British heavy cavalry will be Perry metals

British Light cavalry (Hussars), will be Perry Plastics… hussars due shortly.

Artillery, all Perry metal.

____________________________________________________________

French line battalion #1 almost completed, pics shortly.

Improved pictures!

2010-02-23T05:07:00.000-08:00

Still not great I admit, the flash is exagerating the shading still, but these are better at least! Its an overall look I'm happy to continue with, hopefully the varnish will further enhance them.

Thanks for the replies re flags, I'll take a look at GMB.

A couple of questions.

2010-02-22T06:54:00.000-08:00

Managed to complete the first 8 French figures over the weekend. I also worked on the basing by slightly darkening the stonework and edges, I think its an improvement. The method is fast and non messy so I'm going to stick wih this shade now. I'm going to change camera next post as I'm struggling to get a good close up with my old thing!.... meantime here you see my progress so far. The next 8 French are already undercoated, the flank companies plus 3 metal command figures. I reckon I can paint around 10 per week, how does that compare with you guys? I do have a fair bit more time on my hands thesedays, I could probably push that up a little.

Questions:

1. Whats the best make of flags on the market these days? or do you all use the free 'Warflag' colours? Are Revo still as good as I remember them?

2 Varnish. Any suggestions ? I used to use the Humbrol spray years ago, had a nice finish, not totally matt but I liked that look. My Foundry paint system varnish pack went solid before I even opened them !! but I prefer to spray them anyway.

Back at the end of the week with improved quality pics and close ups. Cheers for any input.

Lee.

Contemplating French colours!

2010-02-19T05:34:00.000-08:00

Hi,

Quick update. Made a few changes to the blog as you can see and I have also been playing with initial colours on the French infantry. I have decided that I want it to keep it to 2 main shades max for the greatcoats, plus the blue of the habit-veste. The pics look brighter than in reality, the shading is more subtle but I'm trying to improve my photography skills! This is about the half way stage of painting so they will improve but on the whole I'm happy with the colours I have. Any comments/suggestions are most welcome, might as well get it right from the start. I have been studying the images on the 'Wargaming in 28mm' blog for an idea of shades, and I really like the subtle wash effect used on those figures.

Other pic shows the 4 metal British command figures that completed the 2nd British batttalion.

I'm also now re thinking basing method, the 'stone' is not working for me (although it was fine for 15mm figures), so I'm going to re do that in a browner shade. The grass is from Games Workshop basing system, expensive but good I think.

Just need flags now, used to use Revo but Warflag look good, again any recommendations welcome please.

Progress report.

2010-02-17T11:41:00.000-08:00

The 4 metal British Line command are finished, so that completes 2 x 16 figure battalions plus 4 riflemen. Obviously there is slightly finer detail in the metal figures, slightly deeper undercuts etc, but on the whole they are an excellent match for the plastics. No doubting now that the white u/coat methed is MUCH faster than the black method and produces much brighter finished figures, very much in a retro style...... I like it a lot. Its odd, after 20 years of painting over black matt u/coats its a bit like having to re-learn the art of white again! Might take a few battalions to get fully dialed in again I reckon, but so far I'm happy-ish.

First 8 French line fusiliers are u/coated and ready to start on tomorrow.

I need to start working on organisation now and planning ahead, initially at brigade level, then as it progresses at Division level. I'm basically out to recreate in 28mm the collection I once had in 15mm many years ago, even down to the TSS terrain boards and the lovely Hovels buildings etc. I anticipate a good 2 year project ahead.

Main thing for me though is that I'm loving every minute of the painting again, and that feeling of achievement after a painting session is a real buzz.

.

Better late than never!

2010-02-14T04:34:00.000-08:00

Well, my order actually turned up on Saturday! I'd given up up on it but that the PO for you these days I guess.

I have the 4 metal Brit command figures u/coated already to go. The metal figures are a good match for the plastics, maybe a little more detailed facially but I'm nit picking there. I also have enough figures for the next 2 French line battalions...... so on we go.

I'm going to order some cavalry next.

Now a Question about rules. it is clear that my goal is to collect nice figures/units rather than play accurate table top games, but that said I do want to be able to play some fast and simple games with them down the line. I want a set of rules that are 'retro' in mechanism, fast and quickly memorable, the emphasis being on the 'fun' aspect. I'm trawling through the 'freewargamesrules' site looking for something to suit but will throw this open for suggestions? I really like the WRG rules but my basing style wont work now and I want to keep my 2 deep basing style, I have never liked a single rank of figures in line even though I know it is accurate in terms of width and depth! The old 'Quarrie' rules are proving somewhat complex in reading, and will clearly play very slowly ( as you said Ian:-) ).

'Stryker' what rules do you intend to use for your HH project? Are you going 1970's rules too? Anyone else knows of a good playable but fun set of Napoleonic rules please post them here for me, I'd appreciate that. Cheers.

More pics to follow shortly.

Reinforcements delayed!

2010-02-05T02:16:00.000-08:00

Just when it was all going so well I have an email from Alan Perry telling me that my order failed to arrive! I happened to have been given a postal order as a gift s0 decided to use it to order the figures, first time I have used 'snail mail' to order anything for years. Not much I can do but write it off I guess, luckily it was only £30+ odd, but its annoying. So I'll re order ONLINE this time and in the meantime I decided to paint the last 8 figures from the box to keep going. Bloody PO.

When I re started this blog it was my intention to build around the old 'Airfix' Bruce Quarrie rules. I then looked at WRG but didnt like the basing style required. So I'm back to the BQ rules. The organsiation suggested for the 1815 campaign in the book is:

British Line battalion = 20 figures in 10 companies. Inc 1 grenadier and 1 light co.

French line battalion = 24 figures in 6 companies of 4, inc 1 light and 1 grenadier co.

This is very managable and gives an accurate representation I feel?

I will try to scan some of the pages from this lovely old book, its my first edition from 1974 and is full of lovely old photos in b/w. The other book is from 1971, and again is a first edition now falling to bits!

Meantime I'm adding 4 more figures to each battalion to make them up to 20 each.

Quick update!

2010-02-01T03:41:00.000-08:00

No new photos yet. Been working on the basing and improvements while waiting for my order from Perry to arrive. Next post should show the completed line command for my second battalion. I'm itching to get into the French, the Perry Plastics look brilliant.

I'm already planning the next order! I HAVE to do a unit of Carabiniers AND a unit of Cuirassiers after the 4 infantry battalions. They will be of 10 figures each. I'm amazed at the quality of these plastics so far and with cavalry figures working at at just £1.00 each for both horse and rider how can I resist?

Perry should be releasing the Dragoons and Hussars in due course, both look excellent. For the British cavalry it will have to metal and Perry produce Household cavalry, plus Dragoons so they will follow the French cavalry in my project.

Meantime here's a shot from the Perry twins website, the French cavalry plastics....... pretty hard to fault them in my book.

(Image from Perry miniatures website)

Room for improvement!

2010-01-21T06:03:00.000-08:00

Well, managed to complete the 4 line infantry plus the 4 95th Rifles. I'm just waiting for my order from Perry to arrive then I will add the final 4 figures (metal command) to finish Battalion number 2. Then straight into 2 x 16 figure French line battalions.

I'm still not 100% happy with my results so far. While I'm waiting for the order I intend to work back through all of the figures so far and 'improve' them as best I can. I want to work onthe faces and shading, the jackets are in need of some shading and the strapping will benefit from careful and subtle lining I think.

Heres some pics as they stand and I'll update again after working on them.

I have also been researching the 95th Rifles as they have a local connection down here having trained at the School of musketry in Hythe just a few miles along the coast, and were based at Shorncliffe barracks (where the Gurka's are now based). The remains of the powder store and other buildings from Napoleonic period can still be seen in Hythe by the Royal Military canal, dug to defend against the expected invasion. I feel like I am surrounded by napoleonic history, I can just about see the top of 'Martello Tower' number 25 (ariel view below) built in 1805, from my garden, the swivel cannon on the roof still points out across the expanse of sandy beach, ideal for landing troops, towards the Channel. We have 3 of them within a 2 mile stretch of coastline! I will add more pictures as the project progresses.

Progress

2010-01-19T02:53:00.000-08:00

Slowed down a bit last few days but they almost there. The Rifle green is a difficult colour as it was actually very dark almost apprearing black in the field with wear. I'll see how they look once completed.

Also a shot of one of the excellent colour plates from my Brassey's book, I have both the British and French volumes, I'll add a couple more here later, accuracy is very good.

2nd battalion underway.

2010-01-14T02:31:00.000-08:00

Have painted the first 8 figures of battalion number 2 and I'm currently doing 4 more plus the 4 riflemen from the Perry box. I need to order the (metal) command for the 2 nd unit. PLacing an order with Perry for:

1 box of French line inf (plastic)

BH5 British/KGL command advancing (6)

BH4 British/KGL Mtd colonels

FN6 French inf battalion command

This will allow me to complete 2 British battalions, mtd brigade command stand, + 4 riflemen.

then 2 x French line battalions of 16 figures.

After that I will paint a 10 figure cavalry unit for each side before returning to complete a full infantry brigade for each side! I'm planning well ahead now and am researching the Waterloo OOB for organisation details.

I'll get more close ups shortly but you can see how far I have got so far in the pic. The 2nd unit are better I think, better faces, variation in trousers plus a few patches. I'm getting the hang of this again!

More pics!

2010-01-08T09:55:00.000-08:00

I'm well into unit number 2 and just finished basing unit 1. After much thought I decided to go with the basing system you see in the pics, the rules will have to conform to my basing system! The battalion looks 'balanced' to my eye, with the command in the centre. I will base all of my units like this, French as well.

Been doing a lot of reading about the Perry range, looking at lots of images etc. I can't really fault these Brits, they fit together very well and in no time at all. I'm just beginning to realise how many variants within the same basic pose you can achieve from a box. The metal figures look excellent too, I'll be ordering some next week together with the first box of French infantry.

Battalion number 2 has buff facings and cross belts etc. Back soon.

Pictures!

2010-01-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

This is the first 16 figure British battalion, ready for basing. I'm still not 100% happy but for a first unit they're OK I think. I need to clarify some details about officers lace etc, and also I believe that drummers would not have been wearing reversed colours by the time of the waterloo campaign? However, from reading Brasey's 'Wellingtons Army' it is clear that campaign dress meant that not everything was according to regulation and that many regiments still continued to wear pre 1812 issue items. Next unit I will add a few patches to uniform.

The plan is now to paint the second British battalion then do 2 x French line battalions. These will then be built up to a full brigade for each side with command, then some cavalry! Thats my initial goal.

I'm now set on basing for WRG rules, having been inspired by a couple of other excellent Napoleonic blogs using smaller units. I'll be adding them to my links list.

First battalion completed!

2010-01-03T03:00:00.000-08:00

Going to spend some time later today working on this blog, its looking a bit tired. Will add pics of the first completed 16 figure battalion. I'm moving straight on to the next battalion, will need to add metal command pack from Perry for this one. I'm going to be placing an order for more figures so this project is well and truly underway for 2010.

I have been inspired by several other Napoleonic blogs so I'll also update the links section to include all of these.

Back very soon with the latest pics. Wishing you a very Happy New Year.