Happy December!

Hello everyone!

 

Happy December! I hope everyone out there had an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday--I know I did, complete with visiting family and the consumption of far too much food.

 

This long and photo-heavy post is kind of a mixed bag as I post up all of the work that I did over the holiday as well as a review of some new figures that arrived on Friday. First up is the Elite Company of the 3e Hussars that I've been promising to complete now for the past, what? Two weeks now? Anyways, here they are in all of their glory. (Remember to click on the pictures for bigger versions.)

 

All of these chaps are Essex miniatures. These hussars, being the elite company, are wearing the colpack (or busby): I figured it made them stand out from the rest of the regiment who are all wearing the shako. With this stand complete I now have half of the regiment completed, the most cavalry that I've ever been able to do!

Only three more stands and nine more horses to go...

Up next we have the final stand of the 5th Battalion of the 60th Regiment of Foot.

 

 

These four figures, like the others I've painted up as members of this battalion, are all the fabulous AB scuplts that I praise so fervently. With these last four figures done the three rifle companies from the 5/60th that were attached to Mackinnon's brigade of the British 3rd Division are complete! Here's a group photo of all twelve figures skirmishing:

Finally for today, a small review of some figures that I scored on eBay last week. These guys were a mixed lot of American War of Independence miniatures that I placed a bid on on a whim, seeing as the pictures of the figs themselves were blurry and they were cheap, as I was able to win the auction for very little; in fact, I paid more for shipping. "Now Chuck," I can hear y'all saying, "here you go again: why on Earth would you get AWI figures when you game Napoleonics?" Well, my intention is to use these minis as Napoleonic Spanish in 1806 uniforms (i.e white uniforms with different colored facings for different regiments and bicornes). At 15mm scale one would need to be looking closely to spot them for what they truly are. Anyways, on with the review!

 

Initial Impressions:

 

Because the pictures on eBay were blurry, I had little idea as to what I was getting in this lot. I knew that there were some flagbearers with plain cast flags (my favorite!) as well as some artillery in the lot, but I was pleasantly surprised to see just how many figures came in this lot and how varied they were.

Infantry: I'm unsure of the manufacturer... some of them seem to be Essex figures.

 

Scaleability:

 

These figures are your average sized "15mm" figures, scaling well with Essex and Minifigs whilst being a hair bigger than Heritage and Old Glory and smaller than AB.

Artillery and Crew: Uncertain manufacturer. The guns seem to be de Valliere 6 pounders.

Quality:

Casting quality seems to be decent. Most of the sulpts are rather basic, with little in the way of equipment as was common of the 18th Century armies that the figures are meant to represent, and, consequentially, common within Spain's armies during the Napoleonic Wars. The guns are especially nice, with the barrels including both a cipher near the touchhole and cast dolphins over the trunnions,  which, though indicative of guns of the French de Valliere System commonly used in the AWI, for me reflects the somewhat arcahic feel of Spain's armies in this time period.

Command: Three flag-bearers, three drummers, five foot and two mounted officers.

Price:

In total there were 18 infantrymen, four artillerymen, three drummers, three flagbearers, five foot officers, two mounted officers (without horses) and two artillery pieces: 35 figures and two guns. I paid $9.05 for them, which divided by 37 comes out to $0.24 per figure/gun. A pretty good value for metal figures.

Overall Impression:

Overall I like them and I think they will work well as Spaniards despite the grab-bag of manufacturers. I'm disappointed that the two mounted officers do not have horses to go with them, but that's ok. I'm pretty sure one of them is supposed to be George Washington wrapped in a cape, so I won't be able to use that figure as a Spanisard anyway. I will not be able to have enough figures for a full 36 man standard-sized battalion of these guys, but as Spanish infantry regiments at the time were realtively small given the state of the War in Spain post-1808 I don't think this will be a problem. Combined with two stands of artillery and I think I came out ahead with this lot.

As I paint these guys I'll give more details on their equipment and whatnot.

Coming up: On painting bases right now are another stand of 3e Hussars, a stand of Portuguese infantry and the brigade command stand for the Vistula Legion. I probably won't be able to get much of anything done until next weekend as I have a very busy week at school as the semester winds down.

Questions, comments and criticisms are always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for looking!

-Chuck