Scenario Scenery #3 - Ox Wagon

Finished varnishing and basing the wagon tonight. 

It's still a little on the damp side, but I thought it looked good enough to post!

Scenario Scenery #2 - Ox & Wagon

This is the latest WIP in my non-combatant figure collection; an ox cart and driver. I intend to use it in scenarios as an objective marker for scenarios. I also have a couple of barrels that fit nicely in the wagon on their sides or upright.

All that remains is a coat of varnish and basing and it'll be ready to join the mules and sheep!

Vieux Macdonald avait une ferme

Here's my critters painted and based ready for a scenario I'm planning:

A French foraging party with a strong escort is returning to a town on a vital river crossing  held by an infantry regiment and artillery battery. 

A British reconnaissance force of light cavalry and light infantry observing the crossing sees the foraging party returning. A Spanish force is also lurking in the area. 

Can the French get the mutton on the hoof and the mule train back to the garrison before they are intercepted?

Scenario Scenery

When it rains, it pours!

Yesterday my Romans and Goths arrived and today my animals from Irregular Miniatures. Ordered in March and only just arrived, though I did have it sent by surface mail to reduce the cost.

I'll use these in scenarios where one side has to protect a supply column, or use scouting to find where the locals drive their herds over fords, for example.

16th Light Dragoons WIP

This is the latest unit to come off the (very slow) production line. I've finally finished painting the last 3 troopers of the 16th LD and have based them. I may have stuffed up the horse blankets as I've painted the trimming yellow, but I had the horrible thought that it might be white to conform with lace, buttons etc. which in this unit were white. The other 2 units of light dragoons had yellow trimmings, so they're OK, but I'm not so sure about this lot. All my reference material focuses on the men's uniforms, not the horse furniture, so I'm a bit in the dark here. If anyone knows, leave a comment, or I'll ask on TMP where I know I'll get an answer, although I'm reluctant to as it'll probably start another huge row ;-)

The complete unit awaiting shading/varnishing and texture on the base.

At the back you can see the heavies which still haven't been christened as I couldn't make it to the last club meeting. Hopefully, this Friday I'll be able to christen both units!

This seems to have answered my query, although not conclusively, as the rider is in post 1812 uniform. The saddle blanket is clearly trimmed in white, conforming with epaulettes, shako cords and shako band. It looks like I'll have to make some changes *sigh!*

November WIP

This is my latest British project; the 16th Light Dragoons.

I've painted 5 so far but not yet based, shaded or varnished any. I have 3 still in the process of being painted, so it won't be long now.

After this I might get cracking on my Spanish, although I do have a British rocket battery still to paint that might be fun to use. I'm not sure if we have rules for rockets, but it'd certainly add another level of uncertainty to the game; will it circle back and blow up over British lines?!

Trooper in a very 17th century pose; King Billy or Marlborough, anyone?

Bugler

the 5 in line

I decided to add the Hungarian knots in freehand

Capt. Fotherington-Thomas and his amazing muttonchops!

I've started the Aspern-Essling dike with the template supplied by Tim and Quinny. I am firstly making the skeleton from strips of balsa wood and then numbering them from the Essling end. I've since started the messy process of applying the putty and will shortly have some photos of the results so far.

The template

Numbering the cut balsa pieces

Laid out on the template awaiting putty

British Heavies

Here are pictures of my heavies painted as the 3rd Dragoons. The first attempt at converting them with milliput was the best IMO, but of course it's slightly out of focus, so you can't really see the detail.

I'll be using them for the first time tonight, so I'll see how they go; hopefully, I'll put a Salamanca style charge in on the French, but more likely they'll get ganged up on and trounced as usually happens when christening new figures!

In column

In line, ready for the charge!

Command stand. Bugler has plain, unadulterated bicorne.

First use of milliput. Good compromise between detail and thickness.

One of two troopers with chinstraps tied over the top of bicorne

Dragoon progress

Here's an update on my Irregular British heavy dragoons. Five down, 3 to go; 1 more trooper, the bugler and officer. You can see the re-modeled bicornes including the chinstraps over the top. They look a bit like they're aping Asterix the Gaul's headwear! For a first time using milliput, though, I think they didn't turn out too badly. Anyway, It's not like I've totally buggered up some elegant sculptures, as they weren't the most attractive to begin with!

October WIP

This post shows what I'm up to at the moment. The first couple of pictures show the first of my British dragoons to be painted (but not based or shaded/varnished) in comparison to the HaT light dragoon and a curiassier from Warrior (which I included because it's also a metal 25mm). Looking at these figures side by side, the main difference seems to be the size of the dragoon's head; compared to the other figures, it's disproportionately large. On the plus side, the sculpting of the horse is a lot more lifelike than Warrior's sculpting. I'm still not so sure if the milliput conversions are an improvement or not.




I also tried my hand at creating hedgerows/earth banks after seeing an example on David Dormvik's blog the Sole Member of the Napoleonic Connoisseur's Society. I think they worked quite well; thanks David! I might try making another half dozen and adding a bit more eg. twigs to represent fallen logs, trees etc. to make it really look like bocage-style hedgerows.

Strips of balsa wood covered in wood putty and dry brushed with raw sienna artist's acrylic. Stones inserted into drying putty; glued where necessary.

Light flocking.

Addition of bushy foliage using generous application of PVA

Above and below; finished product being modelled by the 92nd's colour party on hill section.

Adventures in milliput

Here's my first go at doing some conversions with Milliput. The Irregular heavy dragoons didn't come scuplted with any details on their bicornes, which I found disappointing. I've tried to replicate at least some of the features I'd have expected, like national cockades, chin straps, a plume for the officer, and the tassles at the front and rear of the hat. I'll see how they paint up and if they work I'll kit the rest of them out with coackades and chinstraps.


The photos of the officer didn't come out too well, so I didn't bother uploading them . I've since done the rest of the troopers, some with chinstraps as above and a couple with the chinstraps done up over the top of the bicorne. I've painted one up and it looks quite good in profile, but front on he looks like he's got a bad case of the mumps! I'll have to try to work out how to make them thinner without the putty falling to pieces. I'll have more pictures of the results soon.

Irregular 25mm vs. Italeri 1/72

My Irregular British cavalry has arrived and after the last order's disappointment, these ones are a lot more serviceable. They are true 25mm figures, and while slightly larger than the 1/72 plastics, the difference won't be that noticeable on the table top. Most of my plastics are around the 22-23mm mark anyway, and I already have some 25mm metal French cuirassiers that don't stand out too much from the rest of my collection. The main difference is that they are more chunky than the finer plastic sculpting. I'm planning to field both lead units together anyway, so it won't make that much difference.

Irregular Light Dragoon in tarelton vs. Italeri Light Dragoon

Italeri Light Dragoon vs. Irregular Dragoon

Irregular Light Dragoon horse vs. Italeri Light Dragoon horse

Irregular Heavy Dragoon horse vs. Italeri Light Dragoon horse

Scale variation

My order from Irregular Miniatures arrived yesterday and while the figures themselves are well sculpted and made with virtually no flash, they are too small to appear next to my Italeri plastic light dragoons. I'll see how they go next to the Italeri/ESCI Scots Greys, which are also smaller than the light dragoons, but light and heavy cavalry are not compatible, unfortunately.

I know scale creep is a problem and that Italeri and Zvezda are the main culprits, but on the boot to eye level of measuring, the Irregular figures are more like large 15mm figures. Not happy, Jan!

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz

First week of spring and it's been bloody cold and wet! Maybe a good omen for a mild summer, but also means that the undergrowth will grow too. We don't want anymore fires like happened a couple of years ago.

Anyway, I've finally flocked both sets of interlocking rubber floor mats and after shelling out a bit more than I expected in flocking and spray-on glue I've spent around AUD $150 (is there any way to make this unreadable to the female of the species? I think my wife won't be too impressed when she reads this!) Still, it's about $100 cheaper than the custom made one from The Terrain Guy. It still could do with a bit more flocking around the edges and along a couple of the joins, which I'll add to later, but I'll give it a run on the next Friday meeting to see how it goes in action.

I've also found some 20mm British heavy dragoons in bicornes made by Irregular Miniatures (sounds like they should eat more fibre) of which I've put an order in for 16 (see far left figure, from their website). My previous plan was to stick French infantry bicornes on the bodies of the Scots Grey plastic figures, of which I've inherited a squillion. They seemed a little small, wielding butterknives, alongside the Light Dragoons I've painted. I just hope that the heavies I've ordered are better looking than my original conversion option.

I've also put in an order for Zvezda's latest brilliant offering of French cuirassiers. I still have their Polish lancers unpainted, but it's more of a Gollum scenario; I just need to possess the 'Precious' figures. After I finish with my British and Allied forces, I'll go back and add to my French and Allied armies