We Apologise For This Break in Transmission...

...normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Life at Chez Rosbif is way too busy at the moment for much painting or wargaming. I hope to have something to report soon, but when that will be, I'm not too sure.

My Neapolitan project is ongoing and I hope to have another battalion finished soon. I've also received in the mail a box of the new British Dragoons by Waterloo 1815 and lovely they are too!

Image from the Waterloo 1815 Facebook page.

These will be the first British heavy cavalry I own which aren't conversions. I'm looking forward to putting some paint on these, but I'm not sure when that'll be.

Anyway, watch this space!

Peninsular War British Heavy Dragoons

These have been a while coming!

 We've finally had some really heavy rain, the first in about 3 months, and it hasn't been good weather for varnishing, I tell you. I had the first week of the school holidays off while my wife worked, and she's had this week off work while I went back for the 4 days before Easter. Anyway, the first few days of the holidays it rained for something  like 4 days straight. The air was extremely humid and affected the sparay varnish dramatically; all the figures I tried to varnish in that period got the Retreat from Moscow look, covered in white snow!

As a result I had to resort to FMB's and Panzer Kaput's patented olive oil repair trick to recover the damage, but was a little heavy handed in the application of the oil. Despite acouple of coats of matt varnish, they remain slightly glossier than I like.

So, below are the 4th Queen's Own Dragoons ready for service!

And because it's Good Friday, here's a picture of a Hot Cross Bunny (Oh, I'm a sinner, I know!)

Getting Back on the Horse that Threw Me

I can finally look at the dragoons again and have sorted out the recoverable figures. One rider out of 8 damaged beyond repair and three out of 8 horses salvageable. That's not too bad, and as I have plenty of horses left over I'll get cracking on them soon, especially as the latest essay's out of the way (Huzzah!).

One benefit of the dragoon debacle is that I've solved the niggling problem of the bugler with the physically impossible helmet crest; I've replace his head with one of the custom-conversion heads as if he's lost his helmet mid-charge!

As I now have a few French dragoons without heads and more custom-conversion heads in bicornes, I've decided to combine them to create (wait for it...) Spanish cavalry! Yes, I know I cursed my Spaniards in my last AAR, but I do have a soft spot for them and their peacock plumage. I've had a hankering for some canary-yellow clad cavalry, if only to give the opposition something to laugh at!

Bare-headed bugler boy of company B!
(undercoated head - he hasn't been looking down the cannon's mouth  á lá Wile E. Coyote)

Putative Spanish cavalryman

A la carga!

I will start on some more British and Portuguese infantry soon, I swear! As well as Royal Marines, Wurttembergers, Westphalians etc. etc......... ;-)

Completed - Procrastination Project #2: 1st (Royal) Dragoons

Here they are; all ready to deal with their French counterparts if they are so foolish to take them on!

Procrastination Project #2 - 1st (Royal) Dragoons : Basing

No great progress in the wargaming front, except for the basing of my dragoons. After letting the artists' texture gel dry, the next step will be the painting,  flocking and addition of some ballast and clumps of foliage.

I'm planning to get to the club Friday week, after my latest assignment is finished (squeezing more blood from the stone!), so these bad boys should get their baptism of fire then!

Procrastination Project #2- - 1st (Royal) Dragoons

Horses all painted up, riders mounted and both shaded/varnished using the Aldi dark varnish. Next job, basing.

I've been reading about ancient Rome recently (review coming), and find that I've got a hankering to paint Romans and Goths. Probably more for my own indulgence than gaming, but you never know.

If I do go down that path should the blog be called Monsieur le Rosbif, Johnny Frog and Bigus Dickus?! Maybe I'll just make a separate page for Bigus Dickus and his wife Maxima.....Buttocks (pfffff..ahhahahahaha!!)

Aldi Quickshade

This is the result of the Aldi-bought shading experiment on the British Dragoon conversion figure from a couple of posts ago. 

The dark wood stain comes out roughly equivalent to AP Quickshade Strong. It is a warmer, less harsh contrast compared to my home-grown mix; useful for flesh and lighter colours, I'd reckon.

Latest Procrastination Project - 1st (Royal) Dragoons

After converting and painting the riders last year, I have started painting the horses.

The riders are Italeri Scots Greys with head replacements using decapitated bonces from the Italeri French Dragoons, while the horses are the originals from the Scots Greys set.

This is the first horse/rider combo ready for basing and shading/varnishing.

British dragoons WIP - and Soviet LMG crews

Now that my academic pursuits are done and dusted for the year, I can devote my spare time to more personally satisfying activities!

Here's what's on the table at the moment; my 1st (Royal) Dragoons conversion project is coming along. I'm not overly happy with the results so far, although until they're mounted on their steeds and varnished, I can't really judge. I can't put my finger on it, but the results aren't totally satisfactory. I'm sure it'll work out in the end, though. Maybe I'm being overly critical; I should just enact Rafa's 3' rule and not sweat the detail too much!

The trooper firing the carbine has had his crest doctored, because I didn't think a flying mane of horsehair was appropriate for a rider on a stationary horse! I shaved off the crest and replaced it with good old Milliput, scored the surface to resemble hair and let it dry. It didn't turn out too bad, I think! I'm leaving the trumpeter's crest as is, though, even if it is highly unlikely that his crest would be flying out at 90 degrees to the direction he's traveling in! Maybe he has encountered a VERY localised cross-wind!

This is the latest mini-diorama for Jim's Soviets; one of the light machine-gun crews in action and movement poses

1st (Royal) Dragoons

It's funny how my painting output increases when I have an assignment deadline approaching!

Below are the first two of the dragoon conversions painted last night; the officer and a trooper. The neck join of the officer figure is not the best and is a little lumpy with excess glue. On the table-top, though, I'm sure it'll be fine

Officer

Trooper

Chasseurs progress & starting ANOTHER project!

I'm a butterfly with my projects; I haven't finished my Royal Marines, my British 2nd Division or Jim's Soviets and here I am starting on another! I spend too much time thinking about what to do next before I've even finished my last project.

Courtesy of John R., I've had a bunch of Italeri Scots Greys knocking around that I didn't really know what to do with. I'm more interested in the Peninsular War than Waterloo, so the Scots Greys have been languishing untouched. I had been trying to find a way of getting some British dragoons in bicornes for my collection, but the only ones I found were too big. Since I'm painting the 2nd Division circa 1813, I've decided to ditch the bicorne wearing dragoon idea and do a little head converting with the Scots Greys. Using heads from some Italeri French dragoons, I've turned the Scots Greys into ordinary dragoons, which I'll paint as the 1st (Royal) Dragoon regiment. The decapitated French dragoons will be given some bicorne heads and painted as Spanish line cavalry.

Below are 4 of the chasseurs mounted and ready for varnishing and basing. The horses are form the Italeri French Hussar set as they are much better sculpts than the horses supplied with the chasseurs. The other 4 will be mounted on their horses once I've finished painting them. (I've finally worked out how to do extreme close ups with the camera, 3 years after getting it!)