New Figures and Some Updates

Hello everyone!

It's been a long while since my last post, and even longer since my last proper wargaming post. Shame on me! In my defense, I've been rather busy at work lately, and since I still haven't been able to move off the ship (hopefully this will be accomplished before summer's end) there hasn't been much for me to post about.

I did end up purchasing every book in the Hornblower saga, as well as another Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin book and "The Letters of Captain Coignet," a first-person account of the Napoleonic Wars from the perspective of a solider in Napoleon's Old Guard. There might be a few other books I've bought too, but I can't remember right now.

Also, the article on the Ancient Irish Regiment of Fencible Infantry that I mentioned I was working on in my last post has ballooned considerably, and is now entitled "The History, Organization, Uniforms, Colours and Awards of the Irish Fencible Regiments, 1794-1802" and is currently over 50 pages in length. It's quite close to being done, and I'll post a link to it in a new tab at the top of the page when it's complete.

Enough dithering, and on to the minis!

I picked up a mixed lot of 15mm figures off of eBay the other day for relatively cheap. They were marked as being Russians, though when I received my parcel I found that it wasn't just Russians, but quite literally a mixed bag of troops. To be fair, though, they're mainly Russians.

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

The Russians

The majority of the lot consisted of these chaps, 26 Russian infantry in soft caps. As you can see, the vast majority of these have already been primed by their previous owner. The 24 lads at the bottom of the photo are musketeers, while at top are a standard bearer and a drummer.

The lot also contained 8 Russian infantry in kiwer, 4 of them already painted! The other 4 consist of a pair of officers and a pair of standard bearers.

Finally, we have 14 mounted and dismounted Russian officers. The 5 at top left have had their coat and hat colors blocked in; 2 wear kiwers, the rest wear bicornes, and there was only one horse for them. At top right are three Russian mounted officers with their mounts, two wearing bicornes, the third wearing a soft cap. I'm fairly certain these are old Minifigs. Finally at the bottom are two sprues of three Russian dismounted officers, all wearing bicornes. I believe these are old Minifigs as well.

The French

Also included was 11 Frenchmen. At top left we have three French officers, possibly generals or Marshals. At top right we have Napoleon himself, along with Roustan and a dismounted Chasseur a Cheval. In the middle of the picture are four dismounted French infantry officers, as well as a Frenchman in a bearskin, making him either an Old guard officer or a member of the Grenadiers a Cheval.

The Hussars

Four Hussars were in the bag. Due to the Hussar uniform being nearly identical in every warring nation (at least in 15mm, that is), these guys could work for any nation. At left is a Heritage figure, with the two at the right (with separate horses) I'm pretty sure are from Essex. The little one in the center I have no clue as to the origins.

The Prussians?

I'm pretty sure the dude at the far left is a Prussian artilleryman, but he'll probably be pressed into service in another army, along with the heavy cavalryman and the lancer in the center. The lancer at the far right might be a Prussian, but then again he could be a Cossack. I'm not sure.

The Broken/Not-In-My-Wheelhouse Figures

Up top is a self-propelled artillery piece: maybe 6mm? Something small, anyway. At top right is a 28mm radio set sitting on a stump, while along th bottom are 4 invalids: Two Russian standard-bearers with their flagpoles clipped off, a Russian mounted officer without a right hand, and a French infantryman without any feet.

All told I ended up with 71 figures, not including the stump radio and the self propelled gun. I paid less than $25 for the lot, so it wasn't a bad deal at all.

Coming soon: a new "Articles" tab at the top of the page with my completed article, and hopefully soon I'll be able to sit down and get some painting done; I still have my Nassauers to work on...

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

-Chuck