Life Goes On

My mother-in-law, Rosemary, died suddenly a week and a half ago due to complications with the surgery she decided in the end to have. Either way, she was faced with a terrible choice; a slow deterioration which could rob her of a meaningful life, or a risky operation which offered her a chance of total recovery or catastrophic failure. After a week in which her symptoms only got worse, she opted to take the surgery with the proviso that if anything went wrong, she would be allowed to die without intervention. The surgeries themselves went without a hitch; it was just her body's reaction to them that was the risk factor, and unfortunately the worst happened. She died after a very rapid deterioration in her condition a week and a half ago. 

We said goodbye to her yesterday in a moving ceremony where my stepfather-in-law read out not only his own eulogy, but a letter Rosemary had written to her grandchildren. Each of the four grandkids was presented with a little enamel box and instructed to fill it with things that bring them happiness and that they'll only find these things if they go out and live their lives to the fullest.. If they aren't filled it's a sign that they are not trying hard enough. There was not a dry eye in the house. I'm typing through a mist of tears just thinking about it now!

We were expecting around forty people to turn up on the day, but were staggered to find nearly double turned up to farewell Rosemary. A true indication of a life well lived, even if it was cut short. She was only 69.

On to more happy things, as life does go on; my latest units off the workbench; An Italian Light Infantry battalion (the 1° Reggimento Fanteria Leggera) using HaT's light infantry figures and a couple head swaps on the officer and kneeling voltiggiatore. The link takes you to the Napitalia site for the regiment, but the details on that site don't mention plumes, so I used a little artistic license. My Italians have lacked a light infantry arm for a while now, so that hole has finally been filled!

The other finished unit is a white faced British infantry unit, either the 32nd or 59th Foot. They are not from the order of battle the rest of my British infantry are from, just an addition using the available flags I still have knocking around!

I decided on this colour scheme before I started research on what I needed to recreate the Albuera order of battle (a long-standing goal for my allied forces). I found out, too late, that there were no regiments with white facings present at Albuera! Oh, well....

I used a mix of figures, but gave them a touch of uniformity by giving them all heads from the HaT Peninsular War British Infantry set. I think it worked out well seeing there a figures from 3 different manufacturers; Strelets, HaT and Waterloo 1815. The command figures (except for one of the colour bearers) and grenadiers are all Strelets, the advancing figure in the forage cap and the figure ramming a cartridge down the barrel are Waterloo 1815, while the rest are HaT figures with their own heads! Apart from the chunky Strelets muskets, I think they match up quite well with the same heads. I'm pleased with the results anyway!

Neapolitan Reinforcements

The next battalion off the workbench is the 1st battalion of the 7th Line Regiment of the Neapolitan Army. This was the famous black regiment recruited from Caribbean exiles from Saint-Domingue which was foisted onto Napoleon's brother Joseph when he was King of Naples. An anecdote I read somewhere claimed that this regiment went from being the worst in the French army to the best in the Neapolitan without any change in their abilities! I'm not sure how many, if any, of the black troops were left by the Battle of Tolentino in 1815, but I decided to paint them up that way to lend a little exoticness to the brigade. More info on the history of this regiment can be found here

Speaking of Tolentino, I realise now I've completely cocked up the OB; So far I've painted the 1st and 10th Line regiments and the 1st Light. Only the 7th and the 1st Light are from the same brigade! I should have painted the first two as the 4th and 8th Line, which have amaranth and pink facings, respectively. It looks like I'll either have to repaint the facings (groan!) or just keep adding to my Neapolitan collection!

I've also added some command stands to the collection using Franznap's brilliantly characterful figures. First off is a dismounted stand featuring a general and his AdC viewing the battlefield before them with an Italeri horse contentedly munching the grass in the background.

Second is the mounted general receiving some news from his AdC, who rides up, touching his hat in greeting.

I'm shortly going to paint up an army command stand featuring the Dandy King, Joachim Murat himself! Stay tuned!

Refurbishment of 2nd Divison #1 - 92nd Foot (Gordon Highlanders)

"Can yer mammy sew? Well, get her to stitch that!"

After finding out I'd shortchanged myself with the size of my British infantry battalions, I've started expanding or replacing my Peninsular War forces. First unit off the desk is the 92nd Foot, or Gordon Highlanders. My existing battalion was only 12 figures strong, when I could have had a 15 figure-strong battalion!

The new Strelets set of marching highlanders seemed to fit the bill, though I found out too late that they were all elite figures, all sporting shoulder wings. I shaved off the wings on the figures used for the centre companies, swapped a couple of heads for variety and stuck a couple of highland bonnet-wearing heads on a couple of HaT flag bearers. That worked quite well, despite them having their sashes around their waists instead of over their shoulders. There is a flag bearer in the Strelets set, but the figure has a moulded flag, and there is only one.

I varied the appearance of the figures with some head swaps; a wounded head from Lancier Bleu, and a Tam o' Shanter wearing one from the HaT command set. The wounded head conversion worked well, but the other on didn't so much; the collar looks much too thick and messy. I'm not sure why, because they were the same figure.

The full battalion in comlumn

Wounded head conversion.

HaT flag bearers with Strelets heads. Officer in full dress, including sporran!

Drummer and piper

Light company troops including (not so successful) head conversion.

I also have been working on a line battalion using the wonderful Hagen Peninsular Infantry set in their battered, hard-marching campaign best, so I thought I'd have a go at creating a couple of ensigns carrying furled and covered colours using HaT command figures. I'd finally managed to make two after much fiddling about with Milliput and thick piano wire and was ready to start painting. I hadn't reckoned on our newest family member, though, had I? We recently got a Jack Russell/Fox Terrier cross puppy, and she understands that anything that drops on the floor is hers....to chew. Obviously I hadn't caught up on the news!

Sigh!

Portuguese Artillery and Spanish Command

"Pronto!... Fogo!"

I am terrible at resisting the "ooh, shiny!" impulse, especially when it's for a unique set in my chosen scale and can add to my already existing collection. With that declaration made, let me introduce you to my new Portuguese artillery battery!

These are from the expanding range of metal Napoleonic figures offered by Hagen Miniatures. The figures are great, the gun very detailed, and there's quite a range of paraphernalia that comes with the set. In fact, I found that I could only use 4 of the 6 figures provided, otherwise the base would have been very crowded!

I've added my patent tuft of cotton wool to the portfire and blackened the muzzle to show that it's been in heavy use.

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"Yo espio con mi ojo pequeño...."

This is the second of my recent Spanish command figures. He'll act as an infantry brigadier or cavalry divisional general. Again, he's from the Italeri French command set with a head modification using a Lancier Bleu head. He's had his epaulets removed and his collar built up with Milliput after decapitation of his original head took off more than I intended!

First Figures for 2017

While I get Austerlitz Part 2 sorted out, I will reward your patience with some photos of the first units to come off the production line for 2017.

The first is the 2nd battalion of the Neapolitan 4th Regiment of the Line. This has been a long time in coming as it's been on the go since October last year! Again, the figures are from Italeri set 6066 with one of the voltiguers sporting a Lancier Bleu pokalem-wearing head. The next unit in this project will be the yellow faced 2nd Regiment of the Line which was an exclusively Afro-Caribbean regiment, reputedly the worst in the French army until it was transferred to Neapolitan command during Joseph's reign when it became the best without any change in performance!

The next unit off the painting desk is the Spanish cavalry regiment, the Lanceros de la Legión Extremeña. I have found quite a few pictorial references, some of which are featured below from my Pinterest archive, though not much seems to be known of their battle record. It seems to be one of those hastily organised regiments which popped up and then disappeared soon afterwards in the period before 1812.

As their uniform is so similar to a French uniform, they cried out for a conversion project using the Waterloo 1815 French Line Lancers, similar to the one I did to create the Neapolitan Chevau-Leger regiment. This time, as well as using shako-wearing heads from the old Italeri French infantry set, I also used horses from the Italeri French Dragoon set. The colour-bearer has a head from Lancier Bleu and one of the lancers has a bear, bandaged head from Franznap.

The Waterloo 1815 set has a drawback in that there aren't enough lances for every figure with an empty hand. I had to use piano wire to create lances for the two figures with outstretched arms, and the lance pennants out of paper. I think the pennants are a little large and may require replacing, if I can be bothered. Likewise, the colour requires some sort of finial, but I'm not sure when I'll get around to it! Maybe I should just paint the tip gold and be done with it.

The colour and the bugler's uniform are entirely speculative, so if anyone has any has any further info on this unit, I'd be happy to hear from you.

With the increase of Spanish cavalry in my collection, it's time I had a cavalry commander to try and prevent them routing off the field when they inevitably break! Below is my version of a senior Spanish officer based on images of a brigadier from Napoleon's War in Spain by Lachouque & Tranie using a figure from Italeri set 6016 with the epaulets and aiguilettes removed and a Lancier Bleu head added.