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.

Italian Infantry Redux

"Per l'Italia e Napoleone!"

It's been a while since I started my Italian project (4 years in fact!), so I felt it was high time to get it going again. Especially as my Italian collection consists mainly of guard infantry, painted for Aspern-Essling and Borodino; it is decidedly top-heavy!

After seeing how good the HaT Young Guard figures look with head mods, I decided to get a set myself and use them with the left-over figures from the HaT French Line Infantry in Greatcoats. To round them out and add some variation, I also used figures from a couple of other sets, namely HaT 1805 Infantry, HaT French Guard Chasseurs for some of the elite figures, and figures from Hat Light Infantry Carabiniers and Hat Light Infantry Command for the command stand of the 1st/3rd.

All figures have had head modifications (except for the officer of the 1st/3rd who has had an arm replaced instead!) using the wonderful heads from the otherwise useless Italeri French Infantry set, or metal conversion heads from Franznap and Lancier Bleu.

I realised I made a mistake with the metal work of these figures: Italian infantry should have silver buttons, chin-scales, epaulets etc. and I've painted these gold! I only realised once I was basing them, so I decided that it was a mistake I could live with (otherwise called being too lazy to be arsed fixing the problem!)

I'll probably paint up some more of my Neapolitans next, or else the Hagen metal figures I bought earlier in the year. I'll be on leave for a month soon, so I'm hoping to be able to get through the backlog of figures I've been planning on painting and just haven't found the time to get to. It's been such a busy year that I seem to have had less time for the important things like painting, blogging and gaming. I hope 2017 will be kinder!

2nd battalion 1st Line Regiment

2nd battalion 2nd Regiment

1/3rd Regiment

1/3rd command stand.
Colour party have head conversions, and officer has sword arm conversion.
The edge of the flag looks a lot worse in the photo than it does in real life, though I might end up touching it up with a felt tip pen.

All head conversions. Two outer figures HaT 8034, middle figure HaT 8146. Left hand figure has Franznap head.

Elites with head mods; Grenadier was HaT 8170, the voltiguers HaT 8146

Outer figures from HaT 8062. Middle figure HaT 8146

Outer figures HaT 8146. Middle figure HaT 8062 with Lancier Bleu head.

Grenadier and middle voltiguer both HaT 8170. Right voltiguer HaT 8146 with Lancier Bleu head.

Napoleon's Neapolitans (Say that 3 times fast!)

Here's the first line battalion in my Neapolitan project. I initially intended for them to be the 1st battalion of the 1st Regiment, but realised I'd used too dark a shade of blue on their facings. So instead of the 1st, they are the 10th Regiment, which was part of the 4th Division at Tolentino. 

I seem to have made a couple of mistakes; that is the poms-poms should follow the French pattern, ie. green, blue, orange and violet, and the elites' epaulets should have white or yellow crescents respectively. The drummers uniform and the voltiguer's pokalem are entirely speculative. I don't think these faults are going to make me go back and start again and will probably continue them on in subsequent battalions just for consistency's sake.

The prancing horse finial caused a bit of a headache. My sculpting skills aren't up to it; the results look more like a sitting bear than a prancing horse!

These are, of course, from Italeri set 6066. I have a love/hate feeling towards this set. I don't like their lack of chins, the way the backpacks, greatcoats and some cartridge cases seem to grow out of their backs and the drunken sway the NCO displays. However, I do love the details like the creases of the fabric especially around the knees and elbows. The buttons and piping details are rather exaggerated and therefore easy to pick out with the brush. I gave one of the voltiguers a head swap using the Lancier Bleu pokalem-wearing heads I still have in the pile, just for a bit of variety.

These figures turned out better in these photos than the Velites did, as I took them during the daytime. The light is a lot softer than the harsh flash-light on the Velites and therefore the contrast is not as pronounced. I also tried dry-brushing the lower legs with the terrain base gel to make them look even more campaign-grimy. I quite like the result!

So it's on with the other 2 battalions of the 10th and then the rest of the army. Francesco of Franznap has some Chevau-leger on the drawing board, so I'm waiting with bated breath for those to reach the production stage. I may even suggest that he produce the Neapolitan finial and cravat as a separate conversion piece. It would certainly be preferable to my lumpy attempt!

Franznap's Neapolitan Chevau-Leger in pre-production phase.
Image from Franznap Miniature Shop
(https://www.facebook.com/pages/Franznap-Miniatures-Shop/282818975224146)

Speaking of Franznap, Francesco got in touch with me recently with another extremely generous proposition; he's willing to send me whatever I want for the cost of postage in return for painting his figures and giving an honest review! He's also featured my work on the Facebook page, which is jolly nice of him. Anyway, this is by way of a declaration that although I'll be receiving the odd package from Franznap, I am in no way receiving payment for positive reviews. The quality speaks for itself!

2 ° Cacciatori a Cavallo

Here's my completed regiment of the Italian 2nd Chasseurs for IV Corps using 3 separate kits; the riders' bodies from Italeri set 6080, heads from HaT 8095 and 8167, and horses from Italeri set 6008. The horses from the original set are butt-ugly and also have the wrong saddle furniture, so I used the lovely horses from the hussars set. The officer rides a horse from Italeri 6018, which has the correct shabraque, but isn't quite so animated as the rest of them!

The full regiment in line

Avanti!

Elite company

NCO and colour bearer

Another view of same

Colonel and bugler.
See? He's fine, Phil! Just a little headache ;-)

I love the figure with the bouncing carbine!

Elite trooper