Happy New Year! (Featuring 'The Dandy King')

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope everyone has been having a good start to their 2015s... I know that I have. Things have been pretty productive for me too, at least in the last few days. The 1/88th Regiment of Foot is well underway, as is a stand of the 5th West Indian Regiment. I've purchased some more 1/72 figures, and, lastly, I've finished a command stand: Marechal de France Joachim-Napoleon Murat, Roi de Naples.

(Remember to click on the pictures for bigger versions.)

 

 

 

 

Here are all of the figures mocked up on their oval base. The figures come from three different sets: Murat is from Strelets #0003, the officer standing with the telescope and the mounted officer are both from Italeri set #6018, and the two horses standing in the back are from Italeri # 6016.

This stand is supposed to represent Murat as he would have been during the Russian Campaign of 1812, though because he fought for many years in the Peninsula I'll probably use this stand for both theaters when I game. Murat was called "The First Horseman of Europe" by his brother-in-law Napoleon Bonaparte, and he was known for being both a flamboyant dresser and a dashing and able cavalry commander. He was the King of Naples from 1808 until his death in 1815. This, combined with his elan, earned him the sobriquet "the Dandy King." A very interesting character, and one of those men that makes the Napoleonic Wars such an interesting period of history to study.

I painted Murat based on a number of different pictures that I found from various sources around the Internet, wearing a green undress coat, low czapka style hat with feathers, white trousers piped red and riding boots. His horse has been saddled with a tiger pelt; I cut this out of a piece of paper and stiffened it in place over the saddle with super glue. I am really pleased with my painting on the tiger pelt; it turned out really good. I couldn't resist giving Murat a tiger pelt once I saw a picture of Murat riding a horse with one.

The two officers Murat is with are from two different hussar regiments. At Borodino Murat had in his cavalry corps the 5th through 9th Hussar Regiments, and here I've depicted officers of the 6th (red and blue) and the 8th (red and green). Their horses are saddled appropriately for their regiments as well.

1/72 Review" Italeri #6001: Scots Greys

Initial Impressions

I picked these up on eBay because they were cheap and I won the auction. I was excited because according to Plastic Soldier Review this set came with 18 figures, which is a full unit of cavalry per box. So before they arrived I had been planning on using them for the 1st and 4th Dragoons, wearing watering caps for the Peninsula. I was a bit peeved when they arrived and one of the boxes was missing a whole sprue.

The two boxes of Scots Greys. One of them was still sealed, while the other was opened. The opened box only contained one of the two sprues in this set.

These guys are in the 1815 uniform of the Scots Greys as they rode at Waterloo, wearing beasrskins with oilskin covers and post-1812 uniforms. To convert them to Peninsular Dragoons in watering caps I'll neet to trim their hats a little, turn the officer's hat into a bicorne with green stuff, and then paint them to look like the older uniforms. The sculpts are very clean, with no flash, and anatomically correct.

Scaleability

These chaps are closer in size to Revel or hat than they are to the honking great Italeri Imperial Staff and Line/Guard artillery. The horses are much smaller and the figures are noticably smaller as well compared to other Italeri mounted figures that I've worked with.

Sprue #3

 Quality

Though they are smaller, these guys are of the same quality that I'm used to with Italeri. There are no prominent mold lines, no flash to speak of, and the scupting is top notch. These guys will be a pleasure to convert and paint.

Sprue #2

Price

Like I said, the only reason I bought these guys in the first place was because they were really cheap. I got 27 horses and riders for $9 and some change, which averages about $0.33 per figure. This is a bit more expensive than I've bought 1/72 figures for in the past, but I was also expecting to get 9 more horses and riders.

Overall I like these guys, and they'll be painted up as one of the Dragoon regiments that served in the Peninsular War, like the 1st or the 4th.

Coming Soon: I've got the 1/88th and a stand of the 5th West Indian Regiments halfway done on the workbench right now, and hopefully I'll be able to finish these guys by the end of the week. Some of you may notice the "2015 Totals" box at the top of the blog tracking my painted vs purchased figures; all of these figures will put me back in the positive again, for the time being anyway. I've also ordered a new rule set to look over; I'll discuss it when it arrives in the mail.

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

-Chuck