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!

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.

1° Chevau Leger Lancier

Can this really be the first unit I have painted in 2016?! Unfortunately the answer is yes! Where has the time gone?

I signalled that these were going to be on the drawing board way back in January. 3 months later, here is the finished product: The Neapolitan 1st Chevau-Leger Lanciers, using the new Waterloo 1815 set of French lancers and providing new heads by a little judicious head swapping. All troopers have shakos while the officer gets a rather dandy busby.

I still haven't worked out a good place to set up a photo studio in the new house, so bear with my lighting fails.

The figures are very hard plastic, more akin to Zvezda than Italeri in consistency. The lances are very delicate and require extreme caution when cutting them off the sprue. I'm wondering how long they'll last on the actual figures The figures carrying their lances in an upright pose are particularly vulnerable; I've already clumsily knocked one and bent the lance at a precarious angle!

The sculpting is very delicate and in proportion with dynamic poses, but one gripe is the shabraques which have a curious 'tail' on both sides, reminiscent of a British light dragoons shabraque:

Exhibit A

Besides that minor gripe, they are very nice figures and will grace a tabletop in the not too distant future, I hope. They may well end up going the wrong way, but they will still be on the tabletop!