10th Legere - completed

One of the advantages of working from home is that you can find some time here and there for the hobby.

This lunchtime I finished and based the remaining 6 figures needed for the 10th Legere.

The drummer and standard bearer are HH recast figures and once painted tmix OK with the more statuesque Higgins figures.

The standard bearer has the battle honours and regimental details engraved into the flag. To paint this I painted the basic red, white and blue of the flag and then applied 2 washes of diluted gold paint . Allowing time to dry between the washes I then touched up the red, white and blue around the now filled in lettering. It is probably of no surprise that the engraving on the flag is for the 45th Regiment de Ligne.

The finished unit advances in column.

Holiday Reinforcements

I have just got back from a mini break in to the Llyn Penninsula in North Wales. Whilst on holiday I normally keep a look out for second hand bookshops and normally  manage to find something of interest.

This holiday however I did not find anything that piqued my interest.  It was therefore fortuitous that I had arranged to drop in and visit JC on the journey home.

After a good hour chatting away John asked if I needed any figures. He then got out various bags and boxes of Hinton Hunt recasts.

I spent a very pleasant time open bags to discover the figures inside. This was reminiscent of my memory of visiting the Hinton Hunt shop in Camden Passage  in the early 70s.

So this is what I came away with.

A battalion of French Voltigeurs in Busbys. I also got an NCO. I will have to make the rest if the command by doing some head swaps.

I will base these so they can skirmish in 6 figure companies.

A British battalion firing. I have some original Command and Standard bearers to finish this unit.

A battalion of Prussian Landwehr. I will probably do these as the 5th Westphalian with Green facings. I have some recast Command for this unit

I also got a few British riflemen so I can make a couple of 6 figure skirmish units. John did not have any command so I will need to add these to my ebay search list.

I got a few French Engineers and Elite NCOs.

There were a couple of French limbers wand 3 British Limber Horse teams which will come in useful.  I can perhaps use these as Prussians. Of course it means I will have to get some figures for the limber and riders. Collecting these classic Napoleonics is truly a never ending search but one that is both enjoyable and satisfying.

So what did I read on holiday.

A battered classic paperback on the ACW which I was given as a youngster some 50 years ago. The ACW was my first period I did with Airfix figures. I still have a  28mm collection seen here in action some years ago.

Perhaps its time I got these out for a game.

As a footnote. I am working on adapting Charles Grants the War Game for my classic Napoleonics. With a little extra work these could be extended to the ACW. More on this in future posts.

10th Legere

As part of a trade last year I got a bunch of Les Higgins figures. They consisted of both original and copied figures. The bases of original figures are very distinctive and include Les Higgins signature where as the copys had malformed bases

I was originally not going to use the figures however I decided I needed to get more units finished if I wanted to have enough painted figures for a game. 

So I have undertaken a relatively quick painting refurb of the figures to form the 10th Legere. The first 18 figures are done with just a second coat of Humbrol green needed on the mdf bases.

The Officer is in the classic Les Higgins pose pointing to where he wants the unit to advance.

I used this picture and my trusty old Funken (in French) for the uniform.

The last 6 figures are underway with 4 original Les Higgins elites and a Hinton Hunt recast standard bearer and drummer to complete the unit.

The final pictures are close ups of an original Les Higgins figure. Beautiful detail but a little wooden when compared to Hinton Hunt or Alberken figures however are welcome in the ranks of my classic Napoleonic armies.

The underside of the base shows the distinctive manufacturers makings.

British Rifles or Prussian Reserves

On my last post Rob made a point about the British rifleman figure perhaps holding a musket as it was too long for a Baker rifle.

This has got me thinking about my plan to use these figures and some other minifigs 20mm I have.

The figures all have Stove Pipe shakos and I have mussed about using them as Prussian Reserves.

Here is how a battalion would look.

I would perhaps need to add bayonets, at least to the front rank figures, as Prussians always had them attached.

As these figures have shoulder wings they could be used as the 1st battalion 9th Reserve Infantry , 21st Infantry Regiment in 1815.

The picture is from Knotel however they would look rather good with white belts rather than black.  Artistic licence perhaps

If I go down this route then I will wait to see if I can get some HH Riflemen on ebay. In the Interim my British skirmishers will be provided by the 51st (2nd Yorkshire West Riding) Regiment using these, rather odd looking Garrison Figures.

As I live in West Yorkshire it seems appropriate to do this unit. I have also realised the regimental museum is located in Doncaster.

http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/culture-leisure-tourism/king-s-own-yorkshire-light-infantry-museum

British Rifles

Having finished the French Carabiniers I have moved on to my next unit  - the 95th Rifles.

I have 10 Riflemen and 2 Officers to paint that I picked over the last year. Back in the day I had 6 of the very same figures. I understood they were Alberken/early Minifigs but on closer examination they look rather like Douglas figures. Perhaps another case of Peter Gilder 'borrowing' someone elses design.

Here are the figures before the dip.

And afterwards.

As this closer view shows there is a bit of flash that needs cleaning off the figures.

The final picture is of Peter Gilders Waterloo game from the front cover of Miniature Warfare from September 1970.

On closer examination you can see one of these chaps almost single handed defending La Haye Sainte from the French masses.

French Carabiniers - Finished

It took me a little longer than planned to complete my Carabiniers than planned.

Well here they are trooping off the painting table. 

These are all JC recasts and are rather nice

The Trumpeter was converted from a single casting Carabinier with a plastic trumpet and hand glued on from a Zvezda SYW Prussian Hussar. I used my dremel to remove the carbine and other equipment.