12th (Prince of Wales's) Light Dragoons

 

My last game of General d'Armee revealed that I needed more French infantry and more Anglo-allied cavalry, and I've been working to redress that. 

I've already added another battalion of French foot this month and today have finished the 12th (Prince of Wales's) Light Dragoons to boost the Anglo-allied cavalry contingent.

The 12th (Prince of Wales's) Light Dragoons that were part of the 4th British Cavalry Brigade taking part in the Battle of Waterloo but were not present at Quatre Bras.

All the figures are plastic Perry Miniatures from the Napoleonic British Light Dragoons 1808-15 set.

Once you know how to assemble them correctly (the instructions are not good on carbine placement) they are a splendid set of figures that can be made as either the earlier uniform worn up to 1812 or the later uniform that you see here.

Being plastics they are very easy to play around with too, as I had modelled this unit with their swords at the charge and I wanted to give some movement to the unit, so the Roan horse on this base was modelled overhanging it quite a bit.

Major Michael Hogan

 

Today's post features Major Michael Hogan, an Irish exploring officer from the Bernard Cornwell Sharpe series.

The figure is another one of the rather gorgeous Paul Hicks sculpts done for Brigade Games. Paul has really captured actor Brian Cox playing the role of Major Hogan in the TV adaptations.

Maj. Michael Hogan: "It ain't justice, Richard, but politics, and like all politics it ain't pretty, but well done it can work wonders."

Major Michael Hogan is a little early for my Hundred Days forces, Bernard Cornwell had killed him off with a fever during the Peninsular Wars.

I thought Wellingtons trusted Exploring Office would be a great addition to the Napoleonic collection, either as a character in our Sharp Practice games or as an ADC in my General d'Armee games.

The blue is done off a basecoat of VMC Dark Prussian Blue, washed with AP Strong Tone then with the Dark Prussian Blue re-applied. Highlights with successively more Royal Blue were applied and then finished off with a wash of AP Blue Tone.

Also working towards my Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge I added a pair of stocks for the Hall of Traps bonus round.

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XI begins

 

Seasons Greetings from Scrivsland.

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XI has now been running a few days so I thought I ought to update Scrivsland with the progress so far.

My first entry was a small group of Napoleonic French officers and ADC's

All three figures are from Perry Miniatures, the two on foot from the Line Infantry Officers advancing set and the one on horseback from the Mounted ADC’s pack.

Day two of the Challenge saw me venture into the Chambers of Challenge for some bonus points with my entry for The Aquifier with a duckpond of all things!

The base is a 80x60mm MDF, also from Warbases the banks around the pond were built up using Polyfiller and a few loose rocks added, one of which in the pond.

For the water effect I painted the bottom of the pond a very dark muddy brown and added a couple of glazes of dark green, once that was dry the pond was filled with heavy acrylic gel and allowed to dry overnight before the reeds and ducks were stuck in place.

The ducks were also from Warbases, I'm really happy how the whole thing came out.

Day three saw me earning more bonus points in the Chambers of Challenge with my tenuously linked entry for The Golem’s Haunt.

I planned to use some left over pieces to make another Brigade commander for the Napoleonic collection so this gave me a good opportunity.

Each of the figures is made up of components from at least two of the Perry plastic sets, both the Hussars and Chasseurs a Cheval and they are painted as from the 7th Hussars.

The standard is from GMB Designs.

The final entry before my break for the Holidays is another Chambers of Challenge entry, with Hugh Jarse in The Chamber of Darkness.

The figure was a give-away by Too Fat Lardies and I already have one painted up in my Burma collection.

This figure is straight out of the Commando comics of my youth with his gangster Thompson SMG with drum magazine, perfect for being captured in greyscale.

The figure is done from a base of VMC Basalt Grey, Black Gray and Pale Gray (sorry no Neutral Grey) followed by a glaze of Black Grey then worked back up with basecoat and highlights. I was not too happy how the flesh came out so that was gone over again with a thin wash of Tamiya Smoke so he looked less like a zombie.

I really struggled with the photos, I think it took about 20 minutes to paint but 40 minutes messing around with the camera settings. I eventually settled on my usual green background as more monotone backgrounds came out terrible.

On deck at the moment are many more Napoleonic figures and I hope to have at least a unit of light dragoons finished before the end of the year.

Exploring the Chambers of Challenge XI

 

Challenge XI is almost upon us and I've not picked up a paint brush since the weekend, instead concentrating on getting figures cleaned up and primed in preparation.

Looking at the bonus's available in the Chambers of Challenge XI I've made a small order on Eureka Miniatures to help me grab a few bonus points in the dungeon while maintaining the Napoleonic theme that I plan to have run strongly through my efforts over the next three months.

I've got a whole load of stuff already prepped and primed, including a unit of British Light Dragoons and a French Infantry battalion already stuck on bottle caps ready to paint, there are a few commanders already to go, and for when I fancy a break from Napoleonics, a Gambrel Barn, Han Solo and a Renault R-35. Yes that Southern Comfort mug really does contain two battalions of Hanoverians!

Yesterday evening was spent building a battery of Victrix Artillery ready for priming today, the anticipation is palpable.

There are also some figures I prepared for last years challenge that were never done, so it looks like I'll keep busy these next three months.

More Pierre Ducos

 

Last week I painted up the mounted Pierre Ducos that Victoria bought for me, this week I painted up the foot version.

When I painted the mounted version, I really thought that Paul Hicks (the sculptor) had really captured Féodor Atkine in the Ducos role, but the foot figure is even better and I'd say a dead ringer for the chap.

To maintain continuity I've painted in the same bottle-green coat and dark grey breeches - although I do note that he changed into brown boots when he got off his horse ;)

This figure marks quite a milestone as the 700th 28mm foot figure I painted this year. If the pandemic has been good for something it has been staying at home and painting (mainly) 28mm Napoleonic figures!

2e Bataillon, 51er Régiment de Ligne

 

It was August when I last painted any French line infantry but the game I played a couple of weeks ago showed a pressing need for more French foot.

Fortunately, I've been clearing the decks in preparation for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and had three figures already painted, some at various stages of base-coating and enough figures still on the frames to add two new battalions if I pulled in some waifs and strays to make up the numbers.

As only figures painted during the challenge count I thought I should use up these I had done /started to complete a unit. The other figures in the box are assembled and primed ready for the challenge to start.

Almost all of the figures are from the French Napoleonic Infantry 1812-1815 set with a few metals thrown in to make up the numbers.

The mounted commander is from the Mounted Infantry Colonels set, I had planned to make a Brigade Command Stand, but the need for more foot Regiments was more pressing!

Accompanying the Colonel is a Sergeant with a Company marker flag from the Line Infantry NCO's set.

I did not have enough drummers or standard bearers for both units, but I still think they look OK without one and I can always add another command pack to a later order to complete the unit if needed.

I took a few close up's but the camera really seems to have messed up the colours on these.

I thought that the mounted commander worked better on a slightly deeper base, so I used a 45x40 instead and rounded off the front corners.

The additional officer is from the Line Infantry Officers advancing set, by the time I took this photo I had straightened his sword out (if you look in the earlier shots I had bend it at a jaunty angle).

Despite the scramble to get figures to make two battalions up I did have a couple of spares over.

The first fellow is a Voltigeur sergeant again from the from the Line Infantry NCO's set.

While the greatcoated enthusiastic officer is from the Line Infantry Officers advancing set

These pair will make good leaders for our Sharpe Practice games or markers to use in our General d'Armee games.