New Figures and Big News!

Hello everyone!

Today the mixed lot of 15mm figures came in the mail and I had a little time to sort through them and figure out what all I got. Sometimes buying lots like this yield some things you both expected due to the item description, as well as a surprise at times. While everything I expected was there, there were a few surprises as well.

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

Russian Pavlovsk Grenadiers. These are of two different manufacturers, one wearing greatcoats, the other (mainly command figures) are not. I will probably base these up as is, as the painting is pretty good.

Initial Impressions

The package arrived with all of the figures crammed in together in a blister pack. The vast majority were painted to a decent standard, but some were just primed; only one was bare metal. Six of the figures had broken completely off their bases at the ankles, but there were only three broken bases, leading me to believe that the seller threw them in to get rid of them not that I mind. This belief was reenforced with the addition of a stand of three 6mm figures of unknown type or origin, though they look viking-esque.

AWI infantry that will be used as Spanish infantry. The three to the upper left (in while and light blue) are actual honest-to-goodness Napoleonic Spanish. Two of them don't have feet, but they have the bottoms of their bases.

Scaleability

All of these figures, though they are a mix of manufacturers, are all true 15mm figures. They are bigger than Heritage figures, about on par with Essex, and quite a bit smaller than AB and Fantassin.

French infantry. The four on the left are wearing overcoats, which will doom them to one of my second battalions, while the four on the right don't have feet.

Quality

There are five "groups" that I could break these figures down into: Russian Pavlovsk Grenadiers, Revolutionary War Americans (which I use as Napoloenic Spanish; there were actually three honest-to-goodness Spanish Napoloenic Infantry in there with them), French infantry, French artillery, and two "other" figures. Other than the French artillery, which are Minifigs, I cannot readily identify the makers of the other figures, though I can see at least three distinct sculpting styles among the rest. With such a disparity of manufacturers, quality is still pretty good. The painting on the Pavlovsk grenadiers is actually pretty good, with not a lot of chipping and such; I may keep them as is without stripping them and using them as is. I can't say the same for the Revolutionary War figures. There was one mounted figure, what looks like a Russian or Austrian Heavy Cavalry bugler, which did not come with a horse, but I have spare horses.

French artillerymen, all by Minifigs. These guys are wearing bicornes, which would indicate pre-1809 troops.

Price

There were 48 figures in total, not including the 6mm vikings for which I have no use. The eBay lot description only mentioned 40 figs, so I got an 8 figure bonus. At $9.00 shipped, it averaged $0.19 a figure. This is a lot cheaper than I've bought metal figures for in the past, so I think I got a pretty good deal over all.

The "others." The first is either a Russian or Austrian Cuirassier bugler, with the distinct helmet and crest, while the second is a man with a hunting jacket and a top hat. Since I don't have Austrians the first will be a Russian, while I'll use the second as an American volunteer.

I also managed to strip most of the paint from the 15mm French cannon that arrived last week. They were a pain to strip, as they had been painted with a really thick, rubbery paint that I had to scrape off with a knife blade to get in the nooks and crannies, but they're clean as they're going to be now.

The guns: two twelve pounders, an eight pounder, and a howitzer.

And finally, the big news!

I'm joining the Navy! Being unemployed sucks, especially now that I'm well out of school and have nothing to do. I ship out in February, and I'm really excited to get started in a career in the Navy. As such, There probably won't be much in the way of blogging happening while I'm in boot camp and getting settled next year, but I'll be back. In the meantime, I have a month and a half to paint.

Coming soon: I'll probably base up the already-painted Pavlovsk Grenadiers. I'll have enough for a line stand as well as the command stand; I'll just have to make some flags and base them up. Then I need to finish up those Portuguese lads, then on to the 1/88th.

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

-Chuck

Huzzah!

Hello everyone!

Huzzah, the 3e Regiment de Hussards is done at last! Thank goodness! Here they are in all of their glory.

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

The three stands I most recently completed. All of them are rank and file troopers.

The entire Regiment lined up to charge. At almost a foot in total length (30cm), in line I could barely get them all in the same shot together!

The 3e Regiment de Hussards.

The regiment is made up of predominantly Heritage figures, with some Essex and an AB colonel. The colonel is actually the British Stapleton-Cotton figure painted up in the uniform of the French 3e; thankfully the major aspects of Hussar dress was pretty uniform, even across the armies of enemy nations.

The 3e's uniforms were grey with red and white piping, silver buttons, with grey pelisses edged with black fur. The pom-poms on the shakos are red, and the "elite" company is wearing colpacks (also called busbys) instead of shakos, in keeping with the tradition of elite formations wearing bearskins. The bugler (to the right of the colonel in the above pictures) is wearing reversed colors, with a red jacket and pelisse.

Since its formation as the 3e Hussars in 1791 until the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the regiment fought in a large number of battles all across Europe. From 1805 to 1815, the 3e participated in the following battles:

1805: Elchingen and Ulm; 1806: Jena, Magdebourg, and Gollup; 1807: Bartenstein, Langenheim, Hoff, and Guttstadt; 1808: Tudela; 1809: Calcabellos, Tanoris, Banos, Tamanies and Alba de Tormes; 1810: Ciudad-Rodrigo, Almeida, Leria and Alcoluto; 1811: Redhina and Fuentes-de-Onoro; 1812: Arapiles; 1813: Vittoria, Leipzig; 1814: Brienne, Montereau, and Sevenans; 1815: Belfort;

And the 3e earned battle honors at: Arlon 1793, Jena 1806, Friedland 1807, and Montereau 1814.

A big chunk of the 3e's time was spent in the Peninsula; that, as well as the fact that the 3e is Keith Carradine's character's regiment in The Duellists, is why I chose to paint up the 3e in the first place. And thank goodness they're done! I hate painting horses...

Also, today one of the ebay purchases I made arrived: four 15mm cannons!

Is it obvious that I like painting artillery almost as much as I dislike painting horses?

These were marketed as either British or American cannons from the American War of Independance, but as they are fairly standard Gribeauval carriages I'm happy to use them for another French Foot battery. The lot came with three guns (two eight pounders and a six pounder I'd say) as well as a howitzer, which is the same gun:howitzer ratio that I use anyway, so it worked out great. I've currently got these guns popped off their bases and soaking in a bath of Simple Green cleaner to strip the paint.

Coming soon: I've got a stand of Portuguese infantry started, then it's on to the 1/88th Regiment of Foot.

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

-Chuck

La Batterie d'Artillerie a Pied est Complete

Hello everyone!

The French Artillerie a Pied battery is now complete!

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

The two guns I finished up tonight, a pair of 8 pounders. The guns are AB, while the crews are all Heritage.

The battery deployed,

The entire battery, with limber.

Uniforms and guns are painted as I've described in the past couple of posts. The battery conforms to my own peculiar basing system: the number of guns in my units represent half of those that made up the actual battery in real life. In this case, there are four guns in my French battery because an actual Napoleonic French battery had eight guns. Also, each battery has a sepatately based battery commander and a limber that represents the battery on the move. Even though I plan on using Black Powder as my rules set, it calls for a single gun and limber to represent a full battery, which I find to be inadequate both visually and in terms of more accurately representing the width of a deployed battery in real life as well as its' firepower: thus my system.

Coming soon: the 3e Hussars! Finally! I'm sick of looking at them, and dang it I'm going to finish them this week. In fact here they are, along with a stand of Portuguese infantrymen that have been cluttering my workbench for a year now:

After them I have the rest of the British 1/88th Regiment of Foot on painting stands, eady to be primed.

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

-Chuck

French Artillery Limber

Hello everyone!

Tonight I finished up the limber for my Artillierie a Pied battery (remember to click on the pictures for bigger versions).

The gun, limber, horses and outrider are all from the Italeri #6018 French Line/Guard Artillery and are thus 1/72 scale. This is a lot bigger than the figures that make up the rest of the battery (save for the commander), but it's the only French artillery limber that I have. Unfortunately, that Italeri set is of Horse Artillery (Artillerie a Cheval) not Foot Artillery, so the limber is not really correct for this battery; in fact, from my research the limber shown wasn't even used by the Horse Artillery all that much. But it was what I had and that's that.

The equipment is standard olive green with black hardware, and the horses are harnessed just like the baggage wagon I painted earlier. The outrider is wearing the uniform of the Train d'Artillerie--slate gray jacket and trousers faced in dark blue, with silver buttons and white cross belts. Since these Italeri figures are supposed to be Imperial Guard, the driver has epauelettes, tall shako plume and cord, which I've painted red like the uniform of the Guard, even though this is a line battery. A bit of artistic liscense on my part. Please forgive me, button-counters. :)

Coming Soon: Well, this was the biggest thing for my French battery, and now that it's knocked out it won't take me long to finish the other two guns and see this unit completed. I'll finish up the guns tonight and see if I can knock the crews out tomorrow after church.

Also, I did a little ebay cruising yesterday and found a mixed lot of painted and unpainted 15mm figures that I bought for cheap and I'll review when they arrive. I've also got a bid on a lot of 15mm Gribeauval cannons that will end tomorrow, and hopefully I can snag those as well. I'm cannon poor, and this is enough for another full battery.

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

-Chuck

Artillerie a Pied 12 Pounder

Hello everyone!

Well, I got a gun done today after all. Here is a French 12 pounder gun of the Artillerie a Pied.

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

These are the same Heritage 15mm miniatures that I used in the howitzer I painted 2+ years ago. The gun is a slightly modified Russian gun from the Hat #8010 Napoleonic Russian Artillery set; namely, the gun's long trail was cut short to match the overall length of the AB gun carriages that make up the rest of the battery. (When I put together my Spanish artillery limber, I used a "spare" AB French gun and carriage; unfortunately for me, that gun should have been saved for this French battery. Oh well. Live and learn.) The "coffer" (the small box that holds ready ammunition and sits between the cheeks of the gun's trail) comes from the Italeri #6018 French Line/Guard Artillery, the same set that this battery's limber is from. The gun and coffer sort of dwarf the already-tiny Heritage minis, but I had to work with what I have to hand. So all in all this stand is a bit of a hodge-podge; the other two guns will return to being AB guns crewed by Heritage crew.

Painting is in conformation to Napoleon's regulations: olive green carriage and coffer, with black hardware and brass tube. The gunner's uniforms are regulation as well: dark blue trousers and jackets piped red, with red turnbacks, epaulettes, cuffs and shako plumes. Buttons and shako plates are brass, and leather is whitened.

Coming soon: More French artillery.

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

-Chuck

French Foot Artillery Battery Commander

Hello everyone!

A bit of a cheat today, but a completed stand is a completed stand. Here is a French Capitan d'Artillerie a Pied (Remember to click on the pictures for bigger versions).

This is a 1/72 officer taken from the ever-useful Italeri #6016 French Imperial General Staff. This is the standing aide-de-camp figure third from the left in the first row, with a few minor modifications, notably the removal of spurs, boot tassels and aide-de-camp armband. He is glued to a standard 3cm x 3cm base that I use for battery commanders. Even though the crews for all of the guns are 15mm figures (and short ones at that, being old Heritage minis), this 1/72 figure got shanghai-ed because I don't have any 15mm officers to spare, as well as the fact that I needed to bridge the gap between the short gun crews and guns and the massive 1/72 limber that represents them. When the whole unit is done, there'll be a weird mix of scales going on.

As the commander of a Foot Artillery battery, this captain is not mounted. Foot Artillery officers were expected to march with their men alongside their guns; only artillery officers over the age of 50 were entitled to horses. So no need for spurs!

The captain is wearing the standard uniform of the Artillerie a Pied, dark blue trousers and jacket, piped in red, with red cuffs and gold buttons. As an officer he has a sword, telescope and is holding orders in his hand, and he wears tall boots and gold accents on his shako.

Print of a Artillerie a Pied officer that inspired my battery commander.

I also painted on a tiny Légion d'honneur on his chest, making him a seasoned and highly decorated officer. An old artilleryman himself, Napoleon was fond of his gunners, and revolutionized the use of artillery on the battlefield in the course of the Napoleonic wars.

Légion d'honneur

Coming soon: More French Foot Artillery. I may be able to get a gun and crew painted up today, but I may not. I'll try though.

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

-Chuck

19e Regiment d'Infanterie de Ligne

Hello everyone!

Well, I can't say that being unemployed doesn't have its perks. Sitting around the house with nothing to do as you wait for prospective employers to call you back gives you quite a bit of time to do other things... namely, paint! Today I was able to pull my thumb out and finish up the last three stands for a unit that has long been languishing away half done. Here in their completely-painted, white-uniformed French magesty is the 19e Regiment d'Infanterie de Ligne.

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

First up, the three stands I finished today. From l to r: Grenadier Company, Fusilier Company, Fusilier Company. 

The whole of the 19e, drawn up into line.

The 19e in march attack column.

The 19e in square. The kneeling front rank really sells the "in square" look.

 

The 19e in column of march.

As I explained when I first started painting the 19e a long time ago (has it really been over a year? Wow... time sure flies), these figures are a mix of old Heritage 15mm French (the standing figures) and RISK game pieces (the kneeling figures). They are all painted to represent the quickly-discontinued white uniforms that Napoleon re-introduced to the French Army in 1806. The 19e had red cuffs, facings, collars and turnbacks. They also got an 1804 pattern Eagle; a bit more on that here.

So, that's one more French unit done! Enough for a small brigade now; I'm hoping that with a little elbow grease I'll be able to play a game utilizing nothing but my own figures within the next month or so. That's probably wishful thinking, but I can dream, can't I?

Coming soon: Not the 3e Hussars (damn them!) nor Sergeant Masterson. Tonight I went through my lead pile and pulled out the all the figures I needed to finish up my battery of French Foot Artillery, including guns, battery captain and limber. I've already stuck them to their painting bases, so I'll prime them up tonight and get started on them soon.

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

-Chuck