French Fusiliers

Over on the Hinton Spieler blog Matt has been showcasing his new Battalion, of rather nice French Infantry, using Garrison miniatures.

The Garrison figure pose is a classic used by many of the figure makers of the time. In all I have 4 different Fusiliers in a similar pose in my lead pile.

From left to right they are Garrison (FN7), Alberken/Minifig (FN30), Les Higgins (NF11) and finally Hinton Hunt (FN5)

The Alberken  and Hinton figure are stylistically similar. The Alberken was I understand designed by Peter Gilder and does appear rather similar to the HH one.

I think they are close enough that I may even mix Alberken elites with HH Fusiliers in the same unit. Is this sacrilege ?

Of the 4 figures the Les Higgins figure has the crisper detail but, as is common with this range, has a rather wooden demeanour.  I have enough Higgins figures to make a couple of French units in the lead pile.

The Garrison figure has one difference in that he his advancing with his weight on the left leg. His body is moving forwards whilst the other figures seem to be in a more defencive posture.

Does this make the Garrison figure more Gallic?

I  am currently painting a French Alberken unit and hope to have the first figures finished for the New Year.

UPDATE.

Following the comment by LG I have added a few more photos of the FN5 figure.  The underside of the base has the HH code.

I have compared the figure with another FN5. They look similar but.

The pose is different with the head position and shako size shown up below.

So its the figure in white a Hinton Hunt ?

As I intend to mix them with Alberken/minifigs in a unit the answer to that question is perhaps not important.

French General

Musket and Marshals needs quiet a few officer figures to lead the troops to victory.

I have finished a generic French officer using a JC recast one piece figure (FN224)

This is a very nice casting and had very little flash to clean.

I have not yet given him a name but no doubt something will come to mind.

I have also finished my 16 British Fusiliers to make up a 2nd Fusilier unit - the 23rd Fusiliers

The cast on flags were tricky to paint but seem to have come out ok.

I have tried to match these newly painted  figures (on the left) with the renovated ones I picked up at Oxfam on the right.

British Fusilier - progress

Just in case you were worried that I had lost my Hinton mojo the latest troops are nearing completion. I have 14 British Fusiliers almost finished. I do however wonder if these are100% pukka Hintons though. I will do a comparison photo with my Oxfam Fusiliers,once I get them finished, to show the subtle differences.

Update: It is possible that these 14 Fusilier figures may be original from later production moulds. The figures are slightly smaller and fatter with the head at a slight angle

I need to complete the metalwork on the musket and the red on the wings before retouching, glossing and basing.

To finish my 2 battalion brigade I have s couple of British standard bearers in belgIc shakos to finish my 2 battalion fusilier brigade.

AWI Paper Soldiers

At the Battleground show last Saturday I picked up a copy of Peter Dennis AWI paper soldier book. The book contains pages of paper soldiers and covers all the forces involved.  You can copy and print as many as you like.

As a change from doing Hinton Hunt classics I have had a go and knocked up a unit of rebel militia.

I only had cheap 75 gsm paper but the result looks ok.  I based them on some 40 by 30mm bases I had and did a very simple bit of work on the bases.

Not bad from the front.

And alright from the back. Which is how must games are played.

They will however get a saving through for a flank shot.

Certainly a cheap and cheerful way to create armies and with Hessian and French Infantry European warfare is possible although paper head transplants may be required to create tricorne cavalry from the Light Dragoons included in the book.

Battleground Show

Today I travelled a few miles up North to go to the Battleground show. Its been a couple years since I visited this show. I had a good day out and my son Max was able to play a couple of 'boutigue' participation games.

He particularly enjoyed playing something called Wild West Exodus. He bought a box a figures and has stuck one together. He wants to paint it tomorrow.

We arrived at opening time and within a few minutes I had bought a nice selection of classic Napoleonic books as well a copy of Dettingen from a bookseller for £3 each.

At the table top sale I had hoped to find an Airfix La Haye Sainte and whilst I did not find one I did get these 3 Airfix kits for £7.

I explained to the sellar I was going to use them with my Hinton Hunts.  He replied that there were a couple in his group who also collected Hintons.

I wondered over to the Lancaster Cellarman game to find out more.  Their game was in classic style using Spencer Smith figures.

I had a good chat with the group who meet up every so often in Lancaster and it transpires that one member has 2000 original Hintons and another has 1000  figures.  I hope to be able to join in one of thier games in the future.

A good day out.

French Fancies

Over on the Hinton Spieler blog Matt has posted on his  old Alberken/ Minfig Austrian figures.

http://thehintonspieler.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/amateur-austronomy.html?m=1

Well I have thought I would share my collection of old French Alberken/Minifigs. 

I recently received a nice selection of figures from Bob as part of a trade. These include Voltigeurs, Fusiliers , Young Guard as well as a few different Officer codes.

These Fusiliers do look rather familiar.

A Minifig (FN30) and Hinton Hunt (FN5) side by side. These figures could easily be used in the same unit.

In addition I also have my old cleaned up Voltigeurs.

Interestingly I have 2 figures which are identical. The figure on the left is a FN16 French Voltigeur with boots. The figure on the right is the same but without the boots and I have been unable to to find this variant in any lists.

In all I have enough figures to make 3 units for my French forces.

Napoleonic Invasion of Britain

I was flicking through my old copies of Miniature Warfare magazine and came across an interesting 2 part article by the Bletchley Wargames Group covering a what if Napoleons Invasion of Britain.

I enjoyed re reading the article and I thought I would share. Apologies that I loaned the mag out and page 1 has been written on.

Austrian Artillery completed

Well all except the mdf bases and finishing the grass green.

I have finished my Austrian Artillery. The artillery figures and Hinchcliffe guns were all gifted to me by 3 fellow gamers and I hope you like how they ended up.

I painted the guns in a clean yellow rather looking scruffy as I would have done with 28mm figures.  It took quiet a few coats if yellow to get the finish I wanted.

I painted the barrels black after pictures I saw on the First Legion site as I liked better than bronze.  Not sure if this is strictly accurate though.

Next up I am going to renovate 14 British Fusiliers I got from Matt (WM) and 2 Ensigns I got from Bob to make up my 2nd Fusilier Battalion if my Fusilier Brigade.

I also have French Marshall from JCs range undercoated.

Figures with maps

Hill: Gentlemen I suggest we synchronise maps. I have my trusted map if Portugal.

Mack: I have a good map of Ulm and its environs.

Artilleryman: My map is blank I fill it in as I go along. Look over there that Frenchmen has a red book.

Hill: Damm those Frenchies and their Michelin guides.

General Hill

As part of my Oxfam haul I picked up an old Alberken/Minifig General Hill.

I have been rennovating/painting this figure off and on over the last 6 weeks. More off than on if truth be told.

Anyway finished him today.

And this is what he looked like.

Austrian Artillery - WIP

Making slow progress. Hopefully get these chaps finished over the weekend. The eagle eyed among you will have noticed that there are now 8 gunners. Thanks to Stryker for the extra 2 figures.

Next up I am going to refurbish a unit  of Les Higgins French Light Infantry. I have started by blocking in the blue using Humbrol 104 - Oxford Blue.

One thing I have noticed is that there are slight differences in the figures snd some have malformed bases. Could these be copies? The detail looks fine.

Rose and Scruby 20mm Napoleonics

Fellow blogger Bob Kett recently sent me a parcel of classic 20mm figures as part of a figure swap.

Included in the parcel were some Alberken, Les Higgins, Garrison as well as some other interesting figures.

Firstly some Rose figures which included a few painted examples. The figures are all of normal human proportions.

There were two bags of  unpainted British Infantry and French Grenadiers. I had 4 of the Grenadier figures in my armies in the 70s which I bought from a private house in Charlton whilst on London Red Rover ticket.

The British is a good match height wise with Hinton Hunt although slightly slimmer.

I am thinking of painting these as a Prussian Reserve unit even though they have the belgic rather than stovepipe shako. I have been influenced by Matt's rather nice unit here
http://thehintonspieler.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/prussian-special-reserve-3.html?m=1

I have added a couple of Hinton Hunt British and Prussian command to bring the unit up to strength for Marshal and Muskets.

Secondly there were 12 Scruby British Light Dragoons. I don't know if these are original figures or more recent castings.

These figures are of human proportions. Interesting the horse has no reigns which will need adding. There is also very little definition of the saddle cloth which will need adding or painting on

Size wise they are slightly smaller than a Hinton Hunt Prussian Dragoon.

Austrian Artillery

I have moved on to artillery for my next Hinton Hunt unit.  So on my painting table are 6 Austrian artillerymen and a couple of old Hinchcliffe French guns.

I started with an old model which may well have been painted as an Austrian gun by the previous owner.

After a quick bleach dip and a bit of cleaning the model is ready for a black  undercoat. (I use Halfords Matt black primer)

Its a rather nice model and the barrel even elevates.

The other artillery piece started disassembled in bits.

And after the dip.

I need to cut a pin to make the axle.

I have 6 original Austrian gun crew and these are now undercoated and the leather brown applied.  I will need a further 2 figures to make up the gun crew to full strength.

To do like this chap pointing with a map.

I am planning on having a small game of Muskets and Marshals soon. As my collection is embryonic I will use 16 figures for Infantry units but let each 4 figure base represent 6 so they will fight as 24 figures. For cavalry each figure will represent 2 so a 6 figure unit will fight as 12. 

It will be a hodge pooch sort if game with British, French, Poles, Nassauers, Prussian, Portuguese and Austrian on the table.  Reminds me of my games as youngster.