tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75459428371328702912024-03-13T19:19:58.761-07:00Ten Figures A WeekAfter years of procrastination I've decided to start a blog (after all, it seems like everybody is doing it these days, so why not me?). Essentially I think I need some motivation to paint my soldiers, build some terrain, and organise some games - you know, be a wargamer instead of someone who reads about wargaming and buys lead that he never does anything with.LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-51361746118802406682015-04-26T13:30:00.000-07:002015-04-26T13:30:23.477-07:00Salute LootSo I picked up a few things at Salute this year (it seemed rude not to):<br />
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<li>The new Perry Light Cavalry for the WotR / 1450-1500 - three boxes (I mean what wargamer doesn't buy the three box deal?) plus the metal freebie figure.</li>
<li>I picked up some 18mm Blue Moon British 9lbers - I'm not terribly impressed by some of their Napoleonic figures but the equipment is first rate. I've got some AB's so I'll probably do a comparative look at their measurements - because I'm anal like that. Having said BM figures are a bit iffy I also bought some 18mm AWI Militia - although I have some 15mm AWI figures to paint these BM figures will be joining the Spanish army as militia. I'll probably add in some AB Spanish infantry as a cadre of regulars. </li>
<li>A PC game "Scourge of War - Gettysburg 150th Anniversary Edition" - this is a tactical level game and includes Pipe Creek scenarios. The reason I quite fancy this is that it includes the option to have what they refer to as "Headquarters In The Saddle", or HITS (which restricts your view of the battlefield to what you would see if you were about 15 feet off the ground - so no 1000 foot general syndrome) - combined with the other options, such as courier command delays should make for a fairly interesting prospect. And anyway who can resist Gettysburg?</li>
<li>I bought some of the new Iron Duke Miniatures 28mm Indian Mutiny figures - this was one of those ridiculous impulse purchases that I'll probably regret - I'm not even sure what the figures I bought represent (I'm pretty sure it was the 1st Madras). I bought 44 - two packs of skirmishers and the balance advancing at the double - this was 11 packs and was (to someone like me who only really buys AB or 28mm plastic) an eye watering 77 pounds. But they are really pretty.</li>
<li>A pre-order from Fighting 15s - a grab bag of figures including French Dragoons, Spanish Grenadiers, and Duchy of Warsaw infantry - like I don't already have more AB than I need. Fortunately for Ian Marsh I don't have as many as I desire!</li>
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LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-51361791061804943932015-04-26T07:08:00.000-07:002015-04-26T07:08:31.388-07:00Salute 2015Apologies for the lack of output recently - illness, Windows 8 and a few other things conspired against me. So without further ado here are a bunch of photos from Salute yesterday. I walked around with Giles of Tarleton's Quarter and we agreed that seemed to be fewer stand-out games this year (or perhaps we're just getting more curmudgeonly as we get older. I'll try and put comments where I can to give credit to those responsible. But if I've mis-attributed something - or someone wants to chime in with a credit feel free to do so in the comments and I'll update this post.<br />
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First up a pretty wonderful 28mm AWI battle, Guildford Courthouse by the Newark Iregulars. This was being fought at 1:10 scale using the Black Powder supplement, Rebellion. Giles, reckoned they had this "just right"- and I agreed it looked lovely.<br />
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Next up is a small 15mm battle, Boxtel, from Caseshot Publishing (it just goes to show how ABs alter your perception of scale - I was convinced this was a 6mm - maybe 10mm game when I saw it in the flesh but the show guide says 15mm). Again using Black Powder.</div>
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I'm unsure who these 28mm Samurai belonged to but they were much nicer in the flesh than my little camera could capture.</div>
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Real Time Wargames had a 10mm game of early WWI using Pendraken figures - Giles and I were quite impressed with this one.</div>
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And this is another 10mm early WWI game using Kallistra hex terrain (every time I see this stuff I think how good it looks in the right hands). </div>
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Nottingham Games Club with a 28mm Pegasus Bridge game - everyone seemed to be having a good time. There seemed to be a lot more games for youngsters at Salute this year.</div>
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I <i>think </i>this is the Warlord Games Club 28mm Marston Moor (but then again it might be the Wargames Illustrated 28mm Battle of Evesham). Either way, jolly nice. </div>
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This was the charge of the Australian Light Horse in 28mm - irritatingly only one of my pics of this came out very well. it was a super table and figures combo.<br />
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WI also presented "Cold War Gone Hot in 20mm - lots of spectacular eye candy I'm sure you'll agree. </div>
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"Zzapp the Zepp" a 1/72 Zeppelin killing game by CTK Wargaming using their new WWI "Kaiser's Aces" wargame rules. A pretty substantial model - there is an arms fair at Excel later in the year and I'm pretty sure they could get double duty out of this as a torpedo mock-up. </div>
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Next up only two pictures of one of the best terrain work at the show. This was the Wyre Forest Gamers 6mm Fraustadt on snowy fields (this was the Great Northern War after all) that look just wonderful (it almost made me want to put my coat on again - I say "almost" because Excel was as fetidly warm as usual). </div>
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Next up impressive figures and terrain in 20mm from the "Battlefield Blitzkrieg" team and depicted Dunkirk (or at least part of it). </div>
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Please note the traditional "Top of Giles' head shot" - those of you who wish to refer back to last year's top of Giles' head picture are welcome to estimate the degree to which his hair has receded in the last 12 months... </div>
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Next up a delightful little game from the RAF Wargames Association in 28mm portraying "Sharpe's Waterloo" including camera crews, director, Sean Bean's caravan and a lot of other small details. It looked like they were having a lot of fun. </div>
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I haven't a clue what this game was except it was very nice. I got the impression the Prussians were fighting a rearguard action to hold off a rather mixed bag of French troops. </div>
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This was one of the Agincourt games - 28mm mostly using the Perry figures. They had used brown flock to represent the ploughed fields and there was reploughing after each turn with those combs people use for Afro hairstyles.<br />
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Capitan Games demo of their rules for small 10mm naval actions (which link into their rules for small 10mm land battles hence the "combined ops"). The model ships looked absolutely ace and fairly simple to put together. I resisted but only with difficulty. </div>
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Loughton Strike Force 28mm "Last Attack of the Imperial Guard at Waterloo" - lots of 28mm loveliness from Essex.</div>
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Next up is "Op Broadsword - The Cold War Went Wet" by MDK - I've no idea who MDK are but the model of a Krival class frigate being attacked by the SBS was outstanding. A bit big to play with in your bath (unless you are Ron Ringrose I imagine) with superb interiors. Very inspiring. </div>
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Next up a few pictures from the Saga demo tables - first up are the new Revenants (apparently these are Dark Age zombies of some sort - while I find modern 28mm zombies quite an appealing subject to paint I think Dark Age Zombies are a step too far out there for me. But then I feel the same way about Saga). </div>
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And these are Spanish v Arabs - including the new houses that GB are selling. I took a look at the GB plastic cavalry and they look better in real life than in the photos I've seen (where the photos look like the figures have been assembled by a chimp). I'm not sure how much compatibility there is with the other GB plastic sets but I resolved to wait until Dark Sphere in Vauxhall get them into stock before making a final decision. </div>
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I think this was the Old Guard using Age of Eagles rules in 6mm scale. Visually impressive but still with the sort of scrum you get when too many units are trying to share one piece of table (at the Waterloo end). Very nice terrain and figures though.</div>
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I think the next few pictures are of the Uxbridge Wargamers 28mm ACW battle using "Longstreet" - lovely figures and terrain. Lots of stuff to photograph on this one. </div>
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ACW and Longstreet rules again - but this time in 15mm using mostly OG figures (and theirs turned out much better then mine did when I was painting them many years ago) by GLC Gamers. this is the kind of thing I love. </div>
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And whereas the GLC Gamers were doing exactly the sort of thing I want to celebrate here is the opposite. Hawk Wargames Dropzone Commander in 10mm. This immense assembly was sat on it's own being pretty much ignored by everybody. A huge amount of figures sitting on a very dramatic table - but they weren't doing anything, there was nobody to explain what was happening and it was all rather static and uninspiring. I couldn't see why they'd built it if they weren't going to make some constructive use of it. </div>
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Another 6mm game of Ligny and Quatre Bras by (I think) the Wigmore Warriors. </div>
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The Essex Gamesters - aka Ron Ringrose and friends brought "The Fort" a 28mm AWI diorama based upon the Bernard Cornwall novel of the same name - this game was supposed to have been one of the stars of the show last year but didn't turn up for some reason. Lots of beautifully painted figures in a number of vignettes, the 1/56th scale ships and some nice terrain work - but nobody actually playing with it that I could see. </div>
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I think this may be a shot of the cellars of Castle Frotherstein, or on the other hand it could be another fantasy game entirely! I thought it was impressively built (possibly by the guys who make Carlsberg as they appeared to be sponsoring the game). </div>
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And finally a few shots of Simon Chick's Agincourt game with the Lance & Longbow Society - absolutely wonderful stuff all round. Having seen it coming together on Simon's wonderful blog i was excited to see it in the flesh. </div>
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Of course it wasn't until we had regrouped in the Fox after the show that I realised I had missed so many games I was keen to see. Salute is like that - you spend four hours wandering around it until you are dog tired and then realised you've managed to miss a lot great stuff. </div>
<br />LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-60160072738516097042014-11-10T05:20:00.002-08:002014-11-10T05:22:17.854-08:00Photos of French Napoleonic VeteransWhilst browsing the WWW I came across this - what a shame they aren't in colour!<br />
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<a href="http://mashable.com/2014/10/27/napoleonic-wars-veterans/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link" target="_blank">Photos of French Napoleonic Veterans</a><br />
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There are some super pictures there - some of them look like they could mount up and ride again for the Emporer at a moments' notice!LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-64004655375376441912014-10-12T12:55:00.001-07:002014-10-12T12:55:25.049-07:00SELWG PicturesApologies for being absent for so long - I had a loss of "painting mojo" which was fortunate as I've been suffering a recurrence of my back issues, and another course of steroids which have worked as advertised but have had the side effect that I couldn't stop my hands trembling. So, I've been prepping a few figures and undercoating ready for the return of both my mojo and my ability to hold a pint without spilling it. Both have now returned so you might see a return of more normal service over the next few weeks.<br />
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Anyway, today I went to SELWG at Crystal Palace and snapped some photos (as usual huge apologies to those people I haven't credited - I was my usual hopeless self at noting which game was which):<br />
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The above photos are of the Deal Wargames Club 15mm Vietnam game. I particularly enjoyed the patches of napalmed jungle.</div>
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This was the Batttle of Kohima 1944 and was a fine example of Kallistra Hex terrain in action. I also liked the fact it wasn't wall to wall tanks.</div>
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This was a participation game of the American raid on Schweinfurt - I got the impression some of the games played were as bloody for the Americans as the real thing.</div>
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This was a very neat foldaway terrain board for a demonstration of the new edition of Poor Bloody Infantry which is due out imminently...</div>
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The above is a WWI game with marvellous terrain. I was particularly impressed when I learnt the bandstand and park benches that I had assumed were from some O gauge railway producer, were actually one piece 3D printed plastic pieces. </div>
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Another participation game - chariot racing - obviously silly hats were compulsory!</div>
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Apologies, I'm not sure who this was by - but it was a very nice colonial game with (I think) a variety of makers figures present including Foundry.</div>
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The above are 1/1200 Langton Miniatures ships and while it was a club game all the ships were one man's work - who very kindly stopped and chatted to me. He's been building these since the 90's and is working on the Dutch so he can do Camperdown. The rules being used were Rod Langton's "Close Action" which this chap reckoned were pretty good.</div>
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This was a Russo-Prussian v French battle (Brienne 1814) using an updated version of "Esprit de Corps" - evidently the figure ratios were 1:45 or so for infantry and 1:30 for cavalry. There seemed an awful lot of charts and the units were too small for my taste though.</div>
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The above game was put on by Capitan Games - the terrain was used at Salute with 15mm Napoleonics but today they were playing with a new range of figures for the War of Spanish Succession. If I have this right, the infantry have been designed and produced for Capitan Games by Eureka in Australia (although Capitan will be producing in the UK themselves in future). They haven't done the cavalry yet so the cavalry on the table were by Minifigs. I thought they looked rather good. </div>
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And this is another game I first saw at Salute - 300 trees and who knows how many WWI 15mm soldiers.</div>
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The above are a few pictures of the Loughton Strike Force game which I think had something to do with the British in Normandy (in WWII obviously) - Mr Brown made a strenuous effort to explain why I should upgrade to the "Deluxe" Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier ruleset (I quite like the idea of WWII wargaming I just don't find any attraction in painting WWII armies - essentially I lose interest with the onset of khaki).</div>
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All of the above are random photos of Simon Miller's rather lovely ancients figures - all 28mm of course.</div>
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By the time I reached the upper area most people were packing up - I'm not sure what the above rather large game was about. There seemed to be lots of marker chits and things.</div>
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So, all in all, I had a rather happy day admiring other people's nicely painted soldiers (and of course bought some more unnecessary toys myself).</div>
<br />LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-82848283001196313012014-07-27T05:10:00.000-07:002014-07-30T04:53:51.682-07:00Paint Table...er... SundayApologies for not posting for a few weeks - I'd rather lost the painting mojo. In fact, I've clearly lost the blogging mojo too - as I started typing this post two or three weeks ago. And then when I got the urge the weather in the UK became rather hot and muggy making it very difficult to paint except first thing in the morning. I also like to have at least something completed when I post but I've been very butterfly like recently - with the result that I have lots of figures that are close to completion, but not quite there yet.<br />
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This has played hell with any hopes I had of getting caught up - this is the end of Week 30 so clearly I should have painted 300 figures. Instead, I've only completed 83.<br />
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Still, I've put in a few hours this week painting the Regimento de Linea Voluntarios de Sevilla - there were 535 men present at Ocana in November 1809. I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I wanted to add a bit more colour (so far I've been painting white jackets with red facings) - so these chaps wore brown jackets with red facings. Naturally, when I decided to paint a couple of divisions of Spanish I picked two that lacked "foreign" troops - leaving me to paint white or blue or lots of brown...<br />
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This was the 5th battalion, so I suspect they were very roughly uniformed and equipped. Unfortunately, Mr Barton's troops are very well turned out - and I added to the problem by being of a mind to paint the Spanish Royal Guard (1st Battalion, 921 men on the day) - as I was going to paint a guard unit I picked out the smarter figures from AB - but then I got cold feet - the Histoire & Collections Ocana showed them in a new uniform with shako and lace front, while the Guerreros & Batallas Ocana showed them wearing the bicornes, with plain red facings. So I changed my mind and did the Voluntarios de Sevilla.<br />
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Actually it would have been nice if Mr B had turned out a pack of figures that have ragged trousers, no boots and plain jackets. Even his "militia" figures are extremely smart. Something like the above 28mm figures from the Perries would be ideal - this would allow you to produce raggedy arse militia with a leavening of figures from the regulars for the command and as a cadre within the unit. So I've been looking around for other figures to "slot in" to my Spanish units to "roughen" them up a bit and I've come up with a couple of options.<br />
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The first is from a recently returned maker that has been something of a holy grail for 15mm AWI gamer - <a href="http://www.pollyoliver.co.uk/index.php/catalogue" target="_blank">Polly Oliver</a>. These have come back into production after a long hiatus (evidently there was a divorce, the wife got the moulds and refused to sell them except for silly money for years) and went on sale in April 2014. The Polly Oliver infantry and artillery are excellent - the cavalry were a bit dodgy - lovely riders but really poorly sculpted horses - evidently the horses are being re-worked which would turn these into an excellent buy.<br />
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However, while these were cutting edge figures in the 80's when they first came out, they are products of their time - so expect them to be about the same size as Minifigs / BH and have well detailed but very thin muskets. They are thus a bit smaller than AB's Spanish but an excellent match for his BH sculpts. The next issue is that there are not many variants in a pack. I'm planning on using what used to be described as "Minutemen" and is now <i>I think</i> the AW-A15 Militia Marching pack. I bought a shoebox full of Polly Oliver in dribs and drabs from eBay over the years with the intention of doing something AWI with them.<br />
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This pack contains troops in slouch hats marching determinedly forward (okay I admit they aren't a perfect match for Spanish Militia!) with their muskets over their right shoulders. Their jackets are very plain and I think these guys could be used quite happily in an ACW regiment too - the powder horn is a bit of anachronism but it is 15mm after all. They are sporting trousers, a knapsack and a powder horn - but no blanket roll or pack. I think they would paint up very quickly. The drummer boy has similar jacket (with turnbacks but plain front), bare feet and his drum slung over his shoulder. The officer would fit in very nicely as a company officer for a militia battalion lacking uniforms.<br />
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My second choice for variants comes from <a href="http://www.xanminiatures.com/en/22-napoleonics-15mm" target="_blank">Xan Miniatures</a> - tucked in amongst their French are a pack NF11 Fusilers Without Shako (before anyone gets any ideas that my painting and photography skills have suddenly improved I nicked this photo from the Xan website - hopefully both Xan and yourselves will overlook the theft under the circumstances!). The chap in the centre is a flank company figure so not very suitable but the chaps on to his left and right are okay. Spanish infantry wore a forage cap very similar to the one the figure on the left has - although every picture I've seen has the "floppy bit" hanging down the figure's left rather than right (as here) but I'm not going to let that bother me. The forage cap was very common headgear amongst Spanish troops and slotted in amongst other figures from BH or AB should add a "rough and ready" look to a battalion. Of course the head wound is an overdone trope in model figure design so I'd only be inclined to use one of these per battalion.<br />
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The French flanker in bare head isn't too useful for Spaniards (he could represent a sergeant as they wore silver epaulettes) - but I have plenty of French units to paint as well. I'm not too sure if the packing is standardised but I've got three forage caps, three head wounds and two flank company bare headed in my pack of eight.<br />
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The final issue with AB's Spaniards is - no casualties. Considering Spain was a major power (well, certainly in numbers of troops fielded) and their regiments got shot to buggery on a regular basis this is a fairly gross omission on Mr Barton's part (I guess when he was sculpting these figures we still rather thought of the Peninsula War as France v the Anglo-Portuguese army with the Spanish as rather incompetent bit-part players on the margins). So I'm using some of the figures from the AB Jena Prussian pack - the key problem with them is the pom-poms on the bicorne - you either need to ignore them and press on, carve them away and go with a plain bicorne, or carve them away and add a plume from another figure or greenstuff. <br />
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Archie is unimpressed by all my hard work - he's just lying around in the heat, thinking what new mischief he can cause. This week it was "digging up" the carpet by the front door which caused me to rip a hole in the said carpet when I opened the door to get in. Replacing the carpet by the front door with coconut matting cost me £140.</div>
<br />LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-1390020173988606232014-06-16T16:36:00.001-07:002014-06-16T16:36:36.844-07:00A Few Spanish PhotosJust back from our holiday in Spain, which didn't go quite according to plan - mostly because of the Spanish Royal Family. We were staying in the centre of Madrid (in the Sol area - right in the middle of things) and the first hiccup was on the Sunday when we tried to visit the Spanish Naval Museum (about 15 minutes from the hotel and well placed opposite the Prado and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum)- lots of police vans parked outside, barriers up and MPs stopping us visiting. Closed for the day as there was to be a parade - we'd seen some bandsmen in dress uniforms milling around so we found a shady spot and waited....for an hour. Saw a small motorcade go past, everyone cheered and waved the Spanish flags they had been handed by some Spanish sailors a little while before (they'd run out just before reaching us!). Heard a short speech muffled by the PA system into even more incomprehensible Spanish.<br />
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And then saw four companies (one each from the Navy, Army, Air Force and Guardia Civil) march past followed by the band. And that was the moment I realised my camera was still set up for taking pictures of model soldiers and the batteries in the camera decided to die - so lots of scrabbling around. And that was it - except for the departure of the motorcade. I have to admit, I was somewhat disappointed - I'd expected a bit more.</div>
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So the next day, we decided to visit the Royal Palace (15 minutes walk in the opposite direction to the Naval Museum) - only to find it closed for two of the next three days as the King was receiving the Mexican President. It was enough to make you want to vote Republican! So we rescheduled our plans and went to Toledo on the Wednesday rather than the Tuesday as originally intended.</div>
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And what did we find? You guessed it - the Museo del Erjercito is closed on Wednesdays. I was rather annoyed at myself for not making a note of what days it was open before travelling (of course it didn't stop me commenting to the gate guard that if any foreign powers wanted to invade Spain then Wednesday was clearly the day to choose as the Spanish Army would be taking the day off). I spent the rest of the day in Toledo behaving like a schoolboy who missed out on his treat.</div>
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On the Thursday we travelled down to Malaga for the final three days of our holiday (my wife doesn't count it a vacation unless she has at least two days at the beach) - she'd selected Malaga without any input from me, so I was rather concerned it would be like Torremelinos with a Picasso Museum planted in the middle (and modern art leaves me cold too) but I was pleasantly surprised. There were lots of tourists there but mostly not from the UK (and no "caffs" advertising "full English breakfasts" in sight) - there was a small museum from Carmen Thyssen (of the fore-mentioned Thyssen-Bornemisza Musum), the cathedral was nice and the Alcazaba / Gibralfaro dominated the Old Town and the harbour.</div>
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The Alcazaba is the lower of the two complexes and is still in pretty good order - the entrance is fairly poorly signposted (or perhaps my wife and I are simply challenged in that regard) but we eventually found it (as you are looking at the Alcazaba from the Calle Alcazabilla across the Roman Amphitheatre the entrance is up the steps on the right). Once you've hiked halfway up the hill you are rewarded with the above model in one tower - it is scaled for 20-28mm soldiers roughly.</div>
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As I said much of the Alcazaba (from the Arabic Al Qasbah meaning "citadel") is in pretty good nick considering it was built in the early 11th Century - in fact it is probably the best preserved Alcazaba in Spain (there are others, many dating from the Taifa period when Moorish Spain split into small kingdoms). Some of the materials used were taken from the Roman Amphitheatre as you can see in the picture below.</div>
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They have planted gardens (after all,this was a palace as well as a fortress) within several areas of the Alcazaba and it is very pretty - with the occasional skinny looking brown squirrel running around, fairly oblivious of the tourists.</div>
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And finally, I guess the final military use wasn't when Malaga fell to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1487 as you can see from this stone if you look carefully:</div>
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And the Gibralfaro? That was reached by a separate entrance at the very top of the hill - you can get there by walking or by bus (the No 35 from the seafront heading towards Velez-Malaga). Walking was out as my spinal problem chose this trip to re-assert itself. And the bus? On a siesta between 14.30 and 16.30...so no Gibralfaro for me.</div>
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LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-185583626397595552014-06-02T14:49:00.001-07:002014-06-02T14:50:34.249-07:00More British Casualties & WIPYou'll remember that this time last week I was planning to paint some Spanish in the hope of increasing my work rate. Well, that plan didn't survive contact with the enemy. Instead I finished some half done British casualties, and faffed around with a few bits and pieces.<br />
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And here they are - a couple of Highlanders, one chap hobbling along using his musket as a crutch, and two guys shooting the breeze (at least I think that is how I'll be using them). These were the first Highlanders I've done and I didn't find the kilt as bad as I'd expected - it wasn't fun but the worst part was actually painting those bloody socks (lots of four letter words doing those). I also rather screwed up the white lining around the collar of the hobbling chap. Still that is five figures down.<br />
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As you can see this is still a work in progress. This is the 1st Battalion of the ErbPrinz Regiment - using AB 1806 Jena Prussians. My mental gymnastics with these figures can be found <a href="http://tenfiguresaweek.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/paint-table-saturday-more-on-erb-prinz.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Once I've done the second battalion then I'll have not only the required Hessian infantry contribution to Laval's Division but, should I ever be needed to contribute some soldiers to Jena game, I'll have the required organisation!<br />
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And this is the target for this week - to make a solid start on these figures between now and Thursday night - because on Friday I'm off to Madrid for a week.<br />
<br />LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-16741480881951801162014-05-26T07:20:00.001-07:002014-05-26T07:20:28.543-07:00Totally Off Topic & Very CoolWhile wandering the web (as you do when you can't be a**ed to paint soldiers) I came across a remarkable site - this chap superimposes old photos onto pictures taken today at the same spot. He's Russian, and most of the pictures are from the Great Patriotic War (WWII to you and me in the West) - they can be very atmospheric.<br />
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Anyway I was very impressed by <a href="http://sergey-larenkov.livejournal.com/" target="_blank">Sergey Larenkov's Links To The Past</a>LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-90155964078793629812014-05-26T06:26:00.001-07:002014-05-26T06:26:19.223-07:00Week 20 Progress - British CasualtiesAt the end of Week 17 I'd completed 78 figures, and so was 92 figures behind schedule. My plan for the following week was to plough on with some AB French Legere - I'd done the Carabiniers and was pleased with how they had worked out, and thought I'd press forward with the rest of the battalion. Unfortunately, I'd run out of GW white undercoat, and in my eagerness, used the Army Painter white undercoat.<br />
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Now, the last time I used this was also the first time I used it. That was awhile ago when I pretty much ruined the BM French and British Line Infantry I had bought - the AP undercoat dried with a thick and "dusty" consistency totally unsuitable for 18mm figures (or 28mm come to that). They went straight into the Dettol - actually I need to get them out - that was over a year ago! Anyway, so this time round I followed the instructions absolutely to the letter and the result was better but still not the quality of finish I get from the GW undercoat. And so I'm blaming the AP undercoat for my general lack of enthusiasm for painting the rest of the AB Legere - there was a roughness to the AP undercoat that obscured the fine detail on the AB figures and made my cackhanded painting "style" more difficult to achieve.<br />
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Apologies for the long-winded excuse for not completing what I said I would.<br />
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Instead, I painted some AB British casualties. In this I was quite inspired by a very kind gift from Paul Alba (<a href="http://napoleonicsinminiature.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Napoleonics In Miniature</a>) of a battalion of marching AB British infantry and some late British cavalry. Clearly the casualties are way off the plan to carry on with Laval's Division and the 3rd & 4th Spanish Divisions at Ocana. However, I have it in the back of my head to do a British battalion in the midst of a heavy firefight (something similar to this <a href="http://tenfiguresaweek.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/french-ligne-taking-pounding-part-deux.html" target="_blank">French battalion </a> I did a couple of years ago) - they won't really fit in with anything else I've got as I tend to do my figures in march attack poses. My catalogue PDF from AB doesn't show much pose variation in the suitable British packs (B08 & B09) so my thinking was to add some interest with these chaps.<br />
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So there are two "deaders" (one flank, and one centre company), a "shortly to be deader" (those gutshots were fatal back then), an officer being carried on a musket by two fellow soldiers (I have visions of "gallant officer refusing to leave the Colours" for this one), one chap who has just stopped a French musket ball and is slumping forward, and a rapscallion heading off "to collect water" - he's British, surely he isn't "windy"? I'll not comment on the significance of his brown trousers... So eight in all (I'm counting the officer on the musket as three figures). So this would be 20 - 25% of the battalion - I figure add in a couple of standard bearers and a drummer and the command stand would be pretty much there. So one bag of AB B09 Flank skirmishing, and a couple of bags of B08 Centre Loading & Firing would sort me out - any vacant slots left could be filled by company officers.<br />
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And the marching figure is the one that started this off. It's fairly subtle - he's supposed to represent a chap just being shot. Before you ask I've bought several sets of British casualties folded in with AB figures bought from eBay - I could probably paint a battalion of casualties. I figure he will work as "filler" for Paul's fine gift of a line infantry battalion on the march. You may well notice a difference in stle on these figures - they were undercoated in black when I got them and I decided to go with them as they were - I'm not really happy with them but they turned out better than expected.<br />
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And here are the Spanish Militia that were almost finished three weeks ago - still almost finished as the basing needs to be done. The flag is by <a href="http://flags.adolforamos.com/?id_lang=1" target="_blank">Adolfo Ramos</a> (you can see the accompanying colonel's flag in the picture below) - being Spanish he has a very good selection of flags for the Peninsula War (and plenty of other stuff too in different scales). This pair are actually "generic" line infantry flags - provincial militia flags had the distinctive coats of arms for their province in the corners (as did line infantry).<br />
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This is the first militia battalion painted some months ago. Both battalions are wearing the standard M1805 uniform - the army that marched to Ocana was very well equipped by Spanish standards (and when I was originally researching the confusing mess that was Spanish army officialdom from 1797 to 1809 this uniform was one of the few things I could be fairly sure was "right") so I feel justified in not making them too hodge podge looking.<br />
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Having painted two units in white I quite fancy doing something like the Spanish Royal Guard (921 men from the 1st battalion served with the 3rd Division) - they had a rather spiffy dark blue uniform with with bright red facings. However, the Histoire & Collections book on Ocana shows them in a new uniform issued in 1809 (dark blue uniform, white lace buttonhole trim and shako). This is quite dull compared to the previous uniform (the Guerreros & Batallas book has the older outfit) - but I could see how a guard regiment could get new gear first. I had a look at the AB PDF (this has pictures of all the figures in the range) and the AB Spanish in shako still have the same sort of jackets as the bicorne chaps - so don't really work. So this one needs more research - I've ordered the new book on the Spanish Army by Stephen Summerfield and Ged Cronin so hopefully that will shed some light on the matter. In the meantime, as an alternative to white I'm rather thinking red facings and brown jackets - this was the uniform of the Regiment da Linea Voluntarios de Sevilla (a Cuerpo de Nueva Creacion according to Guerreros y Batallas ie formed after May 1808), and also one of the uniforms commonly worn by the provincial militia - so a possibility these guys could do double duty in the future. <br />
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And here is the painting table - as you can see very little change, although front and centre are five companies of the Hesse Darmstadt Erb Prinz awaiting their command figures to be dealt with.<br />
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So, final results for Week 20 - 88 figures painted, 112 figures behind schedule. I'm hoping a return to Spanish infantry will let me regain some ground.<br />
LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-47667146341304737792014-05-06T05:29:00.001-07:002014-05-06T11:56:54.033-07:00National Army Museum Closure / Spanish Army Museum ExhibitionThere has been a big kerfuffle on TMP over the last week or so as people realised that the National Army Museum in Chelsea is closing for two years for a complete refurbishment. I only realised a couple of weeks ago when I was looking to see what the monthly lecture programme was over the Summer (short answer - for the next two years, there isn't one) - so the closure hasn't been publicised very well at all.<br />
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Essentially, the story is that the NAM has been looking for funding to redevelop the site for years but very little cash was forthcoming. Now that the centenary of WWI is here someone thought it a good idea to finally give the NAM the dosh - so the NAM will be closed for 2014-2015 for construction work. Evidently the Museum will be lending their WWI exhibits to other museums throughout the country - but the NAM website doesn't give any real specifics, merely referring to "outreach projects" and such - it doesn't sound very ambitious.<br />
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Apart from the exhibition areas the research resources of the Museum will also be unavailable for at least the next six months which is a major pain in the bum for those researching anything to do with the British Army at all. Although I believe individual British service records are held elsewhere - my only WWI research of this sort involved a relative who had emigrated to Canada when young and joined their army. The Canadians have a really simple website that will send you a CD with copies of all the original documents. So I know my Scottish Canadian relative served as a sapper from 1916 until the end of the war (and as I know his unit I can read the unit war diary entries from the web). I know he had an undistingueshed but unpleasant career (no medals) but that he got into trouble for catching the clap - which was apparently quite a common affliction.<br />
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Anyway, back to the NAM. On TMP some people are working themselves into a high old dudgeon about the closure. I can see both sides of the argument - although closing for the centenary of the start of WWI, the bicentenary of Waterloo, and seventieth anniversary of D-Day is pretty appalling timing my feeling is that, as a nation, we're so bellicose that it would be hard to find a <i>good </i>two years to close - but at least the Imperial War Museum will manage to re-open (fingers crossed) at the end of July after their refurbishment.<br />
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Still, never fear - I was thinking about places to go for a few days break and Madrid looked like a good possibility. Lo and behold - the <a href="http://www.ejercito.mde.es/en/unidades/Madrid/ihycm/Museos/ejercito/museo/historia/" target="_blank">Spanish Army Museum</a> in Madrid looks like a good bet generally - but even better, they have a temporary exhibition with toy / model soldiers until the 2nd June 2014 <a href="http://www.ejercito.mde.es/en/unidades/Madrid/ihycm/Museos/ejercito/visitas/exposiciones/" target="_blank">Temporary Exhibition</a> - if you click on the pictures you can get large scale pop-ups of the images, and jolly nice they look too.<br />
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So, after my <a href="http://tenfiguresaweek.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/liber-museo-de-los-soldaditos-de-plomo.html" target="_blank">Valencia Toy Soldier Museum</a> visit last year, I'm thinking this could be well worth a look.<br />
<br />LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-17220405120977102632014-05-04T02:31:00.002-07:002014-05-05T14:38:49.650-07:00Paint Table Saturday 3rd May 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Three weeks on from my last Paint Table Saturday entry and my target figure is 170 figures painted. You will recall that the last time I showed anything I mentioned that I'd lost count of how many figures I'd painted in 2014, and so I was starting from scratch. Since then, of course, we've had the Easter bank holiday so I should have been steaming ahead....well I've managed another 35 figures (so I'm now 92 figures behind schedule):<br />
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8 Spanish Militia</div>
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1 Spanish Malaga Line Regiment Officer</div>
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25 Hesse Darmstadt Erb Prinz Regiment</div>
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1 French Legere officer</div>
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So, seven of the eight Spanish Militia figures will complete my second (rather well dressed) provincial militia battalion. The eighth is a rather nice figure by Polly Oliver (from a bag of their American AWI Minutemen) - I have quite a lot of these figures assembled from purchases made from eBay over the years (2.1kg after my weigh in last week which is equivalent to about 650 figures), which have sat unloved in a drawer since I bought them. He'll get fed into a scruffier militia battalion once I get started on it.</div>
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The Hesse Darmstadt guys are done but not based up or "dipped" yet. You can see them sitting on the window sill in the photo above. If you have read the last few posts you'll know that I struggled to find appropriate figures for these chaps who performed so well in the Peninsula for the Emperor. Warmodelling (Fantassin) do a set of figures suitable for the Peninsula but I'm not struck on them - this left converting something else, waiting for a good manufacturer (AB, CGM, Xan or Khurusan) to bring something out, or going slightly off-piste.</div>
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Naturally, I went off piste. AB's 1806 Prussians work perfectly for Hesse-Darmstadt figures serving in North-West Europe in 1809 - the problem is that the Erb Prinz Regiment changed uniforms on the way from Hesse to Spain. So, as I fancied painting some AB 1806 Prussians anyway, I decided to ignore the uniform change (okay - it's slightly imagi-nations, but if any button counters whinge, I'll pick up my toys and go home like the adult I am). This decision has led to some slightly mind bending questions of how I treat various aspects of their organistion etc - see <a href="http://tenfiguresaweek.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/paint-table-saturday-more-on-erb-prinz.html#comment-form" target="_blank">More On The Erb Prinz</a> here for this. They would have been mounted on their stands and be just about ready to be terrained except I decided rather at the last minute to add some NCOs and casualty figures (any figures left over as a result will be committed to the second battalion).</div>
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The Spanish Officer from the Regimento de linea de Malaga is (after slating them loudly and often) by Fantassin. He's actually a French Legere officer officer but close enough in 15mm to switch sides with a lick of paint. He's wearing the 1805 uniform of white coat, dark blue cuffs and lapels, and white collar piped dark blue. He was lying around on my table, looked easy to do, and would get my numbers up!</div>
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The Legere Carabiniers and Spanish Militia from previous weeks painting.<br />
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After being quite pleased with how the Legere Carabiniers turned out (although I'm now thinking the trim on their boots should be red as they are carabiniers) I started painting some Legere, so the officer was another easy figure to get some scores on the board. <br />
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Finally, these are my morning supervisors, Toby and Archie. Toby is an old boy, and these days he needs to go to the loo more often than he used to (I know how that feels - after the first pint or two I seem to spend half the evening in the loo), and he tends to wake up at 06.30 most mornings. My weekend therefore starts with a cold foot in the small of my back (my wife's way of saying "go and sort the dogs out") - she has unnaturally cold feet that, carefully placed, can get me out of bed in double-quick time.<br />
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Archie (the one on the right) in his normal supervisory role at my desk. I thought this came out rather well as a "selfie" - although clearly I need a shave. It's a poor show when you need to perform your ablutions before blogging! </div>
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LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-15732167969827209752014-04-26T07:40:00.002-07:002014-04-26T07:40:30.637-07:00Weighing InA relative recently brought over a sizeable box of AB figures bought from an eBay seller in America, and boy did she moan about the weight...(when she is going home loaded down with riding equipment I never hear a murmur - although she does admit her luggage is opened every time by curious airport & customs staff - as they pull out riding crops, snaffle bits and god knows what else she does get some strange looks...).<br />
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This prompted me to actually weigh my unpainted 15mm collections. So here we are:<br />
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Later French Napoleonics - 4.6 kg<br />
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Austrian Napoleonics - 1.2 kg<br />
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Russian Napoleonics - 0.75 kg<br />
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British Napoleonics - 0.75 kg<br />
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Spanish Napoleonics - 2 kg<br />
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1806 Prussians - 3 kg<br />
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1806 French - 2.75 kg<br />
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<b>Total Napoleonic Lead Weight = 15.05 kg</b><br />
The biggest component of the 15 kilogrammes are AB figures, followed by BH, with a small amount of Xan Miniatures. I used to have a fair few OG and Fantassin figures too - but they went North of the border to Paul ( <a href="http://napoleonicsinminiature.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Napoleonics In Miniature</a> ) Alba's brother, David when I decided I wasn't going to mess around with poorly sculpted and cast figures anymore (David on the other hand, <i>likes </i>OG and Fantassin).<br />
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<b>ACW = 4.6 kg</b><br />
All of this is Battle Honours - I sold off the Old Glory figures (probably the same weight again) two or three months ago.<br />
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<b>AWI = 2.1 kg</b><br />
All Polly Oliver - bought in dribs and drabs over the years. Really nice figures, but they've pretty much sat unloved since I got them. One or two figures are making it into my Spanish Militia battalions for the Peninsula.<br />
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<b>Sci-Fi = 1.2 kg</b><br />
All GZG - I think GZG were having a sale and I had the urge to do something completely out of my own imagination - but these too are rather unloved<br />
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If you add that lot up - it's just short of 23 kilogrammes (or just over 50 lbs). Now I have to admit I'm pretty surprised by this - I was pretty sure I owned at least my own body weight. On the other hand, I weighed one of my 32 figure Spanish battalions and it weighed 100 grammes (a 12 figure cavalry squadron was about 140 grammes). This would mean that 1 kilo is equivalent to roughly 320 infantry, or 86 cavalry. This means my Napoleonic lead pile contains something like 3,000 to 4,000 painting points and would thus, assuming I went at full steam ahead doing ten figures a week, take me until the early 2020's to clear. The balance of the 15mm pile (just short of 8 kg) should see me through to retirement.<br />
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And yet, I'm clearly underweight (I know) in British, and have no Portuguese at all - so obviously <i>need </i>to add some more figures to make up this deficiency at some point.<br />
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So how much does your lead pile weigh? And how many years painting at your "normal" painting speaad does this represent?LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-69892462391628292432014-04-19T08:48:00.001-07:002014-05-05T14:39:11.498-07:00Spanish Divisions at Ocana, And Some Militia MusingsHaving laid out the organisation of Leval's Division at Ocana ( <a href="http://tenfiguresaweek.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/lavals-division-at-ocana-desk-tidy-part.html" target="_blank">Leval's Division</a> ) I thought I should look at the opposition I plan to paint.<br />
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Leval faced two Spanish Divisions - the 3rd Division under General Giron, and the 4th, under Castejon - Leval had the Polish under Werle to his left, and a variety of units to his right.<br />
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<u><b>Spanish Army of the Centre, 3rd Division</b></u><br />
1st Bn, Spanish Royal Guard - 921 men<br />
2nd Bn, Rgt de Linea Cordoba - 660 men<br />
Rgt de Linea de las Alpujarras - 663 men<br />
Rgt de Linea de Bailen - 1124 men (2 battalions?)<br />
Rgt Ligero de Velez-Malaga -566 men<br />
Milicia Provincial de Jaen - 878 men<br />
Milicia Provincial de Ecija - 876 men<br />
Artillery Battery - 6 guns<br />
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Total Strength = 5688 men, 6 guns<br />
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<u><b>Spanish Army of the Centre, 4th Division</b></u><br />
Rgt de Linea de Malaga - 743 men (2 battalions?)<br />
3rd Bn, Rgt de Linea de Cordoba - 422 men<br />
5th Bn, Rgt de Linea de Voluntarios de Seville - 535 men<br />
2nd Bn, Rgt de Linea de Loja - 510 men<br />
Rgt de Linea de Velez-Malaga - 1200 men<br />
Milicia Provincial de Jerez - 650 men<br />
Milicia Provincial de Bujalance - 469 men<br />
Artillery Half Battery - 4 guns<br />
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Total Strength = 5095 men, 4 guns<br />
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OOB taken from Guerreros y Batalles No 81, "Ocana 1809" by Francisco Vela Santiago.<br />
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The Spanish Army of the Centre was probably the largest fielded by the Spanish during the Peninsular War - some 53,000 men. It was an amalgam of the Army of the Estramadura (the army that had fought alongside Wellington at Talavera) and the Army of La Mancha (which had been scattered in August 1809 by the French at Almanacid). The Junta added new levies, particularly from Andalucia. The British supplied uniforms and equipment through the port of Cadiz so the Army was relatively well equipped by Spanish standards.<br />
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However the Army was not without problems - it was a mix of troops that had "seen the elephant" a number of times, and troops who had received little training. Although it had a cavalry component, Spanish cavalry of the time was notoriously poor quality. And they suffered the normal shortage of quality commanders.<br />
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As a wargames project this has a number of things going for it from my point of view. The Spanish Army had undergone changes to their uniform regulations in 1802, and again in 1805. Some units wore the M1805 uniform and others the M1802 - and still others wore (I imagine) a bastardised version of the two. Finally there were newly raised battalions that wore something cobbled together locally, or something supplied by British contractors. For me, this means that I can paint a variety of uniforms and still be historically valid - and I think it will be fun trying to find figures that will work.<br />
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So far I've painted a couple of Milicia Provincial battalions in the M1805 uniform (white jackets and trousers, solid red facings, collar and cuffs), and they were fine to do. Nice and quick (by my standards) with no fiddly lining - undercoating white means I don't even need to paint the jacket and trousers. But I'm thinking the next battalion will either be the Royal Guards - or a line battalion in the M1802 uniform (medium blue jacket with black facings, collar and cuffs, piped red.<br />
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As for militia - I was thinking that some of the AB Portuguese figures ( <a href="http://www.fighting15sshop.co.uk/ab-pg06-fusilier-stovepipe-shako-1398-p.asp" target="_blank">AB - PG06</a> ) would work for troops supplied with British equipment - so a pale blue uniform, no lace, red collar, cuffs and turnbacks. All the gear (pack, waterbottle etc) would be painted as per a British Line Infantryman. I thought a battalion or two of these would look rather nice on the table. And the AB figures labelled "militia" (wearing top hats with a wide brim) can also be painted as line infantry. All good fun.<br />
<br />LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-64851331192494389982014-04-15T11:53:00.001-07:002014-04-15T14:55:44.289-07:00More Salute Pictures - Not The Cutting Room Floor For those of you who don't blog at all there are a number of pages "hidden" behind the main the one - I usually just go straight to the "New Post" page and sometimes look in the "Comments" section - yesterday I had a look at the "Statistics" page and the last post on Salute 2014 seems to have gone a bit viral. It is now my second most popular post ever (with about 1250 hits so far). So thanks to you all for popping by and for your very kind comments.<br />
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Anyway, here are the remaining pictures I took on the day (not so much the cutting room floor as "I can't remember what game that was from, or who did the hard work to put it on").<br />
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I think this was the "less interesting" end of the Gripping Beast Advertorial for their new "Crescent & The Cross" Saga supplement.</div>
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I think this is Whitehall Warlords "Iron Butterflies In The Killer Jungle", a 15mm Vietnam game. It was actually much bigger than this, extending out either side.</div>
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The above three shots are of the 28mm game from the Continental Wars Society's "Avanti - Capture the Villa Corsini" - a participation game set during the siege of Rome in 1849. It featured some "paint converted" Perry 28mm ACW and set Giles off on a "forgotten wars of the 19th Century" conversation with the chaps running the game - although I think the 19th Century has been having a bit of a resurgence over the last couple of years.</div>
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Next up are three pictures of "August 1914" by CTK Wargaming, a 15mm game set at Tannenberg. I've got the Solshenitsyn novel in my "to read again" pile by my bed. Really nice terrain - over three hundred trees and N-gauge buildings various model railway producers, the grass effect was hanging basket liner covered over with flock.</div>
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Another two views of the Dien Bien Phu era 28mm game put on by Chemins de Feu, demonstrating masterly use of aquarium foliage (and I mean that sincerely).</div>
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And I <i>think </i>the above pictures are of the<strike> Abbey Wood Irregulars "21 Into 6 Won't Go" - a demonstration of the Mission Command rules</strike>. <b>Correction</b>: This game was by the Jersey Privateers (I'm even more impressed now I know it survived a Channel crossing unscathed) entitled the "D-Day Dodgers". The standard of terrain was really first rate, a beautiful game.</div>
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And this is one of the "I have no idea who did this" games - I remember it was quite substantial and the chaps in the last shot were sneaking up the flank - 28mm.</div>
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I <i>think </i>this "Escape to New Victoria" by Red Planet Miniatures, a VSF game (duh!) set on Mars. 28mm and very nicely done.</div>
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I <i>think </i>this is White Hart Wargames "Allan Quartermaine & The Lost City" game - it wasn't quite this dark at Salute - it's the effect of the flash I used.</div>
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And that is it - and no photos of the Newark Irregulars 28mm "Keren 1941", Frothers "The Spice Must Flow" or a number of other super games that I should have taken a few snaps of (my camera being buried at the bottom of my carrier bag is a poor excuse). And looking at the programme trying to identify the games I did take pictures of only makes me aware of the games that we must have passed by - and where was the "diorama" that was to be put on by Ron Ringrose aka the Essex Gamester?</div>
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Overall it was a great Salute, extremely well organised by the South London Warlords as usual - I think it says something for the slick way they manage the show that my biggest whine was about something over which they have no control - the lighting. Although I did find navigating around the show challenging part of it was purely me (the map in the guide has the entrance at the bottom and in my "mental map" I entered at the top - as the hall is essentially a featureless box with a grid pattern I struggled a bit) and partly the lack of reference markers - possibly some signs for next year? </div>
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LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-3530500314983035772014-04-13T02:13:00.001-07:002014-04-13T02:13:47.704-07:00Salute 2014 & Paint Table SaturdayI went along to Salute 2014 yesterday and took a few snaps. Unlike most visitors yesterday, I didn't travel directly to Salute, but took a small detour via the Oval - I'd signed up to do a zip-line from one side to the other in aid of the Stroke Association: <br />
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For those of you familiar with the Oval I travelled in a downwards direction from the Corinthian Bar (people in my office will be commenting that this is the first time I've left a bar sober) to the pavilion. It doesn't look very high from ground level but I'm sure the regulars up there will confirm you are high enough to get a good view of London. I did note that the track of the cable didn't cross the wicket - presumably the groundsman had insisted he didn't want to fill in any Malcolm sized dents in the turf.<br />
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All the paperwork and kitting out was done in the Long Room - this is me post-plunge with the mother and daughter team who came down right after me. I did try to suggest "ladies first" but they were having none of it. Still, so far, I've raised just over £940 (including cheques and Gift Aid) for the Stroke Association. If any kind souls would like to help me breach the £1000 mark then you can contribute here: <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Malcolm-Rose1" target="_blank">Malcolm's Big Plunge Page</a></div>
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And then it was on to Salute - I arrived at just gone 11.00 and my first impression was that there were more gamers there than usual, and that the venue was darker than usual. My first task was to collect my pre-ordered purchases (some more AB Spanish infantry and cavalry, and some bases) and then wander a bit until Giles (of <a href="http://gilesallison.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Tarleton's Quarter</a> fame) arrived.</div>
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This was the Barbastro 1837 game by South London Warlords using mostly Perry figures, with some conversions (I of course fell for the little details, while Giles got excited by the whole thing).</div>
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Giles and I had gone to Salute a year or two ago and been generally unimpressed at the standard of presentation of games - nothing had floated our respective boats. This year was rather different - there were lots of games of all sizes that had knockout scenery and nice troops.</div>
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These three pics are from the Gripping Beast demo game publicising their new "Crescent and the Cross" Saga supplement. Not co-incidently they had their new box of plastic generic North African / Berber archers and Spearmen on sale - the Little Big Man shield transfers to go with them looked lovely.</div>
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I'm a bit embarrassed that I didn't make a note of the name of the game or the guys that put this WWI game on (and, worse, I only seem to have taken one picture) - I think it belongs to the South East Essex Military Society and depicts the "Race to the Sea" in 1914. Not too many troops on the table (overcrowded tables are a pet peeve of mine - I'm just as anti "wall to wall" Napoleonic infantry battalions as I am wall to wall WWII tanks), absolutely gorgeous terrain that perfectly evoked the location, time and period - with lots of lovely details like a dog peeing up against the foot of a statue). And friendly guys on hand to chat about the table, figures and game. I think I'd have probably given this game "Best In Show".</div>
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Close behind would be this game from 1953 Vietnam, "The Weapons Cache" by Chemins de Feu (a small Belian club <a href="http://cheminsdefeu.smugmug.com/" target="_blank">Chemins de Feu</a>) who were pitting French troops against Vietminh insurgents. A beautiful board that really evoked the damp and difficult conditions, beautifully painted 28mm figures (the camouflage on the French guys was absolutely excellent) and there were lots of lovely details.</div>
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This game, was (I think) Sword Beach D Day 1944 and was clearly a case of not "less is more" but of "more is more" - beautiful models on a grand scale (lets put all we've got on the table until it groans under the weight), and very good scenery. But it didn't light my fire much - I'd be surprised if it wasn't up there in the show awards though, because this is exactly the kind of the thing the organisers seem to like.</div>
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Dave Brown (author of General de Brigade and Battle Group Panzer Grenadier) pontificating, sandwich in hand, to a fellow Loughton gamer (I cut off the top of his head on purpose - I don't want to embarrass Dave by revealing the poor guy was nodding off with boredom!). In front of them, of course, is a 15mm "Attack on Ponyri" during the battle of Kursk in 1943, and this game was a high standard as we've come to expect from the talented chaps from Essex.</div>
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For those of you who like pike blocks, something a little different - Arklow 1798 - there was a distinct dearth of Napoleonic games at Salute 2014 (despite a range of 1814 battles hitting their 200th anniversary this year) and I guess 1798 is "almost" Napoleonic. It looked wonderful - but I can't help feeling that there is a distinct lack of utility with these figures (substituting French in bicornes for French in shakoes is one thing but there isn't much else you can do with these bad boys). this was put on by WI and Trent Miniatures (who make the figures).</div>
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I commented that there were very Napoleonic games at Salute - there do seem to be an increasing number of fantasy games there - I've no idea which game this was but I thought the terrain was spot on, they did a lot in a small space without overdoing it. </div>
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Every year I look at the wonderful terrain produced by Oshiro Terrain, and think 'I really might try a few Samurai' and every year fight off the urge. You can see the top of Giles' head as he snaps away in the first picture.</div>
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Finally, this is the Capitan Games / Warmodelling Battle of Talavera, played in 15mm with Napoleon's Battles rules. As I slate their figures with some frequency in this blog I was a bit embarrassed to hang around too long but I thought the terrain was absolutely superb.</div>
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My purchases were modest:</div>
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4x32 AB Spanish Infantry Battalions</div>
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3x16 AB Spanish Dragoons</div>
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2x4 AB Saxon Gun Crew (to stand in as Hesse Darmstadt gun crew for Laval's Division)</div>
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Some of the new Xan Miniatures Highlanders and Light Infantry.</div>
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Some Warbases "Premier" bases - these have smooth sides and that slightly barbecued smell from the laser cutting, and are very nice.</div>
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The Gripping Beast Arab Spearmen and Archers set - I'm collecting the figures (and bases, see above) for a late Reconquista project. </div>
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And I suppose (like a Government PR Officer slipping out the bad news on a busy day) I should announce that this week I completed no figures at all - I have a lot of half painted figures but nothing completed. So as of Week 14 (140 figure target) I have slipped back to 99 figures behind schedule. I'm thinking I should be able to catch up in Week 15 when a good number of the Hesse Darmstadt infantry should be complete - those AB Jena Prussians do look the business.</div>
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LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-84638661148300188892014-04-06T16:04:00.000-07:002014-04-06T16:04:45.620-07:00Paint Table Saturday - Week 13<div>
Apologies - a day late and a dollar short as my brother in law used to say.</div>
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So Week 13 - and a drop in output. Last week I said I'd start logging my numbers again and managed 23 figures, and as I'd lost count of how many I had painted earlier in the year, I'd start from scratch. So, 23 from 120 left me 97 figures behind schedule. This was even more embarrassing as I've bought a huge number of figures this year (even by my standards). And next Saturday is Salute when I'll be picking up some more AB Spanish.<div>
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So Week 13 and I've completed 18 more figures:</div>
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4 French Legere Carabinier</div>
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4 French Line Fusiliers in Greatcoat</div>
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10 Spanish Militia</div>
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I'm thus 89 figures behind schedule as of this week.</div>
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The French Legere chappies, along with the couple from last week gives me enough for a stand - so I'll add to the battalion as and when while tackling the Erb Prinz. I've also made a serious start on the Erb Prinz, painting their trousers, facings, hair and knapsack. I have an early finish tomorrow so I plan to put a dent in them then - before the new series of Game of Thrones begins (despite my general dislike of "dungeons and dragons / fantasy crap" I'm rather enjoying this show) - I've been catching up over the last few weeks on Sunday nights. I'm not sure if it is because the "fantasy" elements are fairly dialled back (so far at least) or because every time you see a good looking woman you can be fairly sure she'll be naked within the next five minutes.</div>
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I've also primed some more French Legere and the last few Spanish Militia to complete the battalion. As you can see, my clearing the decks plan is failing dismally. I think it is about time I had another stocktake so I can list just how many 15mm Napoleonic figures I own - I'm fairly sure I have more ABs than Ian Marsh at Fighting 15s. </div>
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This week my big moan was about Amazon - I buy a lot of books from them (at least one order a month plus what I buy elsewhere) and my moan wasn't about the pricing, or the deliveries or anything like that. My moan was about their "if you like that, then you'll like this" feature that "recommends" books for you to buy. I'm being pigeonholed by Amazon's algorithms - just because I buy one "whodunnit" doesn't mean I want to buy the entire output of the crime fiction writing community. My recommended reads include so many sword and sandals books you'd think I read nothing else (okay I enjoy the "Oathsworn" series, and the Harry Sidebottom "Warrior of Rome" books - but really, Conn Iggulden? Do me a favour.).</div>
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If they are going to do a "if you like this..." recommendation then how about working on the corollary? "If you tell us you hate this author we won't recommend X, Y and Z authors" </div>
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LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-41093958567102184542014-03-29T09:59:00.001-07:002014-05-05T14:38:01.873-07:00Paint Table Saturday & More On The Erb PrinzApologies for no posts for almost three months - I had a busy work schedule for the first few weeks of the year that has now abated and then we had a domestic disaster that stopped me painting for a week or so.<br />
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As you can see - the room was in a state of disarray. We had a major toilet problem and our hall had a small flood (our tenants in the flat below had a rather bigger flood) - this was the incentive we needed to finally replace the carpet throughout our flat (Archie and Toby had pretty much trashed this over the last seven or eight years). And so, some of the junk scattered throughout the flat made its way to my room (the carpet in here is fine, I like it and it would mean disturbing my soldiers so this room kept the carpet it has).<br />
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I'd like to say I'd been a busy bee over the past three months but it wouldn't really be true. I've done a few bits and pieces but not really done much. I lost my painting mojo - and generally had a sense of ennui. However, I finally got round to priming my first batch of AB Jena Prussians (along with a couple of other bits), which are standing in for the Hesse Darmstadt Erb-Prinz Regiment of Laval's Division in the absence of any real alternative. And they do look the business - each variant has an individual face with real character, the detail is as well defined as you'd expect from Mr B and they will look great en masse.<br />
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So my plan for the last couple of days was to sort out a few odds and ends (I've slightly undermined my "clear the paint table" resolution with these chaps but I'm planning to keep on at that) and paint my trial figure for the Erb Prinz. I took a look at the calendar and the end of Week 13 of 2014 falls tomorrow - I can't believe the first Quarter of the year has ended already (so next week more BS reports to do at work). Anyway my painting total for last week (Week 12) was as follows:<br />
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2 French Legere Grenadiers<br />
2 French Line Voltigeurs in Greatcoat<br />
4 Hesse Darmstadt Erb-Prinz<br />
15 Spanish Militia<br />
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So 23 figures. I didn't keep a proper count at the beginning of the year so forgetting those figures from January, I should have painted 120 figures by now. So I am a mere 97 behind schedule!<br />
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The Hesse Darmstadt figures for the Peninsula have been giving me a few issues (not painting - they seem quite straightforward) - you will recall that the troops were originally organised in the Prussian manner (the German states seemed to think that following the lead of Frederick the Great in all things was the route to military success) with a regiment composed of three battalions - two line and one light. The Line infantry had blue jackets, while the Lights had green - each battalion had a four company organisation.<br />
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Prior to the march across France to get to the Peninsula the three battalions were merged into two - my problem is that I've seen two conflicting descriptions of how they were organised. The first says that the Light battalion troops were simply mixed in with the Line battalions to give stronger four company battalions (which I guess would have the advantage they didn't need to learn new drills for battalion deployment). And that the un-military mix of green and blue uniforms within each company caused the French to insist on new uniforms for them - this wouldn't be a huge issue except it would mean each company would be very large in GdeB terms - which isn't ideal.<br />
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The other story is that the Erb Prinz adopted a six company organisation with the Lights being mixed in with the Line. While mixing blue and green uniforms on each stand has some attraction, I'm going to go with a variation on this - the flank companies will be dressed in green and the centre companies in blue; my rationale being that, should I ever need to field units for an 1806 game I can reorganise the battalions into three 24 figure units. Such is the kind of mental pickle you get into when adopting a slightly "alternate history" version of the Peninsula!<br />
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One thing I noticed after undercoating the AB Jena Prussians is that some figures seem to have axes hanging down at their backs - were these issued to particular companies? <br />
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Speaking of trial figures - here is my trial figure for a private from the Irlanda Regiment of the Spanish Army - by the time of the Napoleonic Wars there probably precious few Irish soldiers in the regiment but many of the officers were descendants of the Wild Geese. I'm not too sure when I'll paint his colleagues (the regiment wasn't at Ocana) but I rather like him.<br />
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Finally, I'm taking the plunge (literally) on the 12th April in aid of the Stroke Association - I'll be "zip-lining" in a generally downward direction from one side of the Oval Cricket Ground to the other. If it all goes horribly wrong I'll be hitting the pavilion face first (a prospect some of my staff are rather looking forward to I suspect): <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Malcolm-Rose1">http://www.justgiving.com/Malcolm-Rose1</a><br />
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For those of you wondering - I booked a 10.30 slot so I can still make it to Salute in time to fill my shopping bag (assuming all goes well and I don't wind up in A&E).LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-88291690018477780992014-01-09T12:24:00.000-08:002014-05-05T14:37:38.255-07:00Ocana Frankfurters...Ok, I know it is a juvenile title for this brief post. But then I'm a 52 year old who plays with toy soldiers, so what do you expect?<br />
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In my last post I looked at the order of battle for Laval's German Division at the battle of Ocana in November 1809 ( <a href="http://tenfiguresaweek.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/lavals-division-at-ocana-desk-tidy-part.html" target="_blank">Laval's OOB, November 1809</a> ) , and had a few thoughts about what troops would work for the various components. </div>
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Looking at what unpainted lead I have it looks like the Baden contingent (two battalions with 992 men) will be AB Wurttemburgers - largely because I already have some! Although as ever - not enough...But two battalions of 24 should see me through.</div>
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Which leaves Frankfurt and the Dutch. The Frankfurt 1st Prince Primate Regiment evidently can be represented by the Battle Honours Pack - BCO1 <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">LINE INFANTRY </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">(ANHALT, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">COBURG, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">HILDBURGHAUSEN, </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">SCHWARZBURG, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">FRANKFURT, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">LIPPE, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">GOTHA, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">MENIGEN, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">WALDECK </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">& WURTZBURG).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">I asked on TMP if anyone had any reviews or pictures of these models (Timecast's website lacks any illustrations of the figures) and John Baxter kindly pointed me to an old issue of Wargames Illustrated that had a Battle Honours advert. And here it is:</span></div>
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The figures at the bottom in shako are the ones in the pack evidently. Now, I imagine they are quite small compared to my ABs but as they will be serving in separate battalions I don't think I'll mind too much. As there was just one battalion with 450 men present at Ocana I'm assuming I can use just one bag (some of the BH bags are packed in what seems to me to be a random fashion!).</div>
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So, in summary, my General de Brigade Laval's Division will be made up of the following:</div>
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2nd Baden Line Infantry - 2 battalions of 24 AB Wurttemburg figures (I'll probably have a look at other OOBs to see whether it is worth painting extra figures).</div>
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1st Frankfurt Line Infantry - 1 battalion of 24 BH Confederation of the Rhine Infantry</div>
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4th Hesse Darmstadt Line Infantry - 2 battalions of 36 AB Jena Prussians.</div>
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2nd Nassau Line Infantry - 2 battalions of 30 CGM Nassau infantry (of course, should Mr Barton produce some of these as part of his Waterloo project then I'll revisit this choice)</div>
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2nd Dutch Line Infantry - 2 battalions of 24 ??????</div>
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Hesse Darmstadt Artillery - 2 guns with 8 BH Confederation of the Rhine crew.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">Clearly, the Dutch are a problem - irritatingly their uniform had changed by 1815 so the AB figures are of no use. The Dutch had their pom-poms on the left side of their shako rather than at the front.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">The above OOB (including the mystery Dutch contingent) totals about 260 figures plus a couple of guns (plus skirmishers) - at my rate of painting I'll need to definately up my production levels in 2014. So, my general plan will be to alternate a battalion of the above with a battalion of Spanish during 2014.</span></div>
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LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-48228128480996374742014-01-04T07:49:00.001-08:002014-05-05T14:37:17.399-07:00Laval's Division at Ocana & Desk Tidy Part II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Not much to report this week. As I said a couple of posts ago my December resolution was to tidy my painting desk and begin to clear up some of the half finished projects that have been languishing there for some time. Hopefully if you compare the picture above with the picture below (the fact I need to point out that the above is "before" and below "after" rather indicates how little I've achieved!) you'll see a bit of a difference.<br />
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One of the things I've resolved is to work through my paint jars a bit before painting more - I was taken aback at just how many colours I had.<br />
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Unfortunately I had to go to work over the Christmas break - Archie came with me and here is a picture of him supervising me at my desk. He was very well behaved indeed whilst on the Tube and at work - all the girls in the office were saying to me "but you said he was a little b*****d and he is adorable" (they missed him sneakily tearing open a box of chocolate biscuits that had been left on a shelf at home the following day and tucking in). I'm also willing to rent him out to any young single men seeking a girlfriend - Archie is an absolute Babe Magnet on the Tube with lots of good looking young ladies chatting to him and petting him (I was quite jealous) whilst I was on my way to and from work.<br />
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I also spent a fair bit of time on the last post about 15mm artillery. The result is that I've only finished about a dozen Spanish provincial militia, and a couple of French voltigeurs marching in greatcoat (these two will allow me to finish off another French battalion). I've done a bit of this and that to various figures but nothing is completed.<br />
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I did succumb to the urge to buy some more lead (it was one of those "well I need 4 Highlanders in march attack and 4 skirmishing to complete a unit - what else do I need while I'm buying" moments) from <a href="http://www.fighting15sshop.co.uk/napoleonic-wars-222-c.asp" target="_blank">Fighting 15s</a> - so I added some Spanish colonels (as he is one of the few figures not pictured on their website I've included a front and rear shot below - in the flesh he is a very characterful looking Spaniard). One question about the pictures below - on his hat there is a vertical band at the crown, my first thought was that this was a mould line but I don't think that is the case - any ideas on how I should paint this?<br />
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My other purchase was brought about by a mixture of lust and frustration. The lust came from my desire to own some of the AB Jena Prussian infantry - these are some of the best figures Mr Barton has sculpted in my opinion but I can't really justify starting yet another army, so I've just yearned for them for several years. The frustration comes from the paucity of figures suitable for Laval's German Division (who fought in the Peninsula as French allies) in 15mm - as far as I'm aware, the only maker that covers all the units that make up the Division is Warmodelling (or as I still think of it - Fantassin). I find this quite remarkable - ok you only need a battalion or two from each country but I'd have thought there were enough people building armies for the Peninsula to make this viable - and several of these little nations contributed troops to Napoleon's armies in other theatres as well.<br />
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<b><u>Laval's German Division at Ocana 1809</u></b><br />
2nd Baden Line Regiment (2 battalions) - 992 men (121 casualties)<br />
Frankfurt Line Infantry (1 battalion) - 450 men (40 casualties)<br />
4th Hesse-Darmstadt Line Infantry (2 battalions) - 1,432 men (75 casualties)<br />
2nd Nassau Line Regiment (2 battalions) - 1,201 men (71 casualties)<br />
2nd Dutch Line Regiment (2 battalions) - 968 men (150 casualties<br />
Hesse-Darmstadt Artillery - 4 guns<br />
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The above gives a total of nine battalions with 5,151 men - that is just over 250 men at the 1:20 ratio GdB uses.<br />
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Long time readers of this blog will know that my opinion of Fantassin is that some of their figures are really nice and some are horrible (quite frequently within the same pack), and that the metal they are made from is a b*****d to clean up. So, I'm dismissing Fantassin out of hand as a contender - probably unreasonable I know but I just won't have any more of them in my armies.<br />
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Of course this leaves a lead snob like me with a quandary. Few of these figures are available from "acceptable" producers ("acceptable" includes AB, BH, Eureka, Xan, Khurusan and CGM....and I can't really think of anyone else - I might buy my guns from Blue Moon but I wasn't wild about their infantry). And large (or small) scale conversions are beyond me, I'm afraid, so all the figures will have to be "out of the box".<br />
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Campaign Games Miniatures (CGM) specialise in the 100 Days campaign of 1815 so normally are not of much interest to me (although their French cavalry, whose uniforms didn't change much during the later Napoleonic Wars, are quite useful). But they produce some Nassau Line Infantry, and I don't think their uniform changed very much between 1809 and 1815 - so that is two battalions (60 figures) sorted.<br />
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But the rest are a problem. AB don't produce Badeners but do produce Wurtemburgers and Bavarians, both of whom have the right sort of helmet (more or less). The only other option is Battle Honours who do a pack of Baden Line Infantry advancing but I haven't seen these.<br />
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The AB Jena Prussians have pretty much the right uniform for the Hesse-Darmstadt troops if you are willing to make some (admittedly big) compromises. The unit started out their march from Germany to Spain wearing the bicorne and pack on left hip that you see on the AB Jena Prussian figures - however, whilst in France they swapped their bicornes for shakos and left hip packs (I've no idea what the right term for this item of equipment is) for French style packs. I'm sure there are probably some other more minor differences too - however, in the absence of credible alternatives, I'm going to ignore all that rubbish and paint them as they were when they left Germany.<br />
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I was very much inspired in this by the following photo from "Bryce / Greystreak" who painted a Hesse Darmstadt brigade for the big Wagram game a few years ago (before you ask the units in Germany retained their old gear and organisation until after Wagram). I saw these figures in the flesh then and would willingly have stolen them had Bryce turned his back at the right time! If mine turn out half as well as these chaps I'd be a very happy bunny indeed...<br />
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One interesting thing is that a regiment in the Hesse-Darmstadt army up to 1809 was made up of three battalions, each of four companies. There were two line battalions which wore dark blue jackets with (in the case of the Erb-Prinz) yellow facings, and a light battalion (also of four companies) wearing dark green jackets. Together these made up a regiment. On the way to Spain, as well as exchanging their equipment for French style items, the Erb-Prinz changed to a six company style battalion organisation - I'm assuming that two companies of the light battalion were subsumed into each of the line battalions as the grenadier and light company (and is probably the explanation for these two battalions each having over 700 men). I guess this means that both battalions will include both blue jackets and green.<br />
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Unfortunately, I simply bought a battalion pack from Ian at Fighting 15s without really considering the consequences of the above ie; that I should have bought two battalion packs of 32 figures, plus a bag of infantry in march attack, plus two bags of Jena Prussians skirmishing (for when they throw out the light companies as a screen) and probably a bag of casualties too (most of which will be absorbed into my Spanish army - I think at this scale you can probably get away that kind of substitution).<br />
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The Hesse-Darmstadt artillery battery will be crewed from my old Battle Honours Confederation of the Rhine figures (dark blue uniforms, faced black, trimmed in red) - above is another photo from Bryce's collection - he used AB Saxon artillery crew. Only two guns for Ocana in GdeB terms but that will use up a few figures in the lead pile at least - I have quite a lot of these figures.<br />
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Obviously, that still leaves several other nationalities to consider.<br />
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<br />LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-64877688887224783022014-01-01T13:03:00.001-08:002014-01-02T15:51:42.266-08:0015mm AB / Blue Moon / Xan French Guns<b><u>The Query</u></b><br />
So this post is (slightly) a warning to myself to do proper research <i>before </i>buying figures. Back in April when I began my (slow) Spanish project I started out by buying a Spanish Line Infantry brigade from <a href="http://www.fighting15sshop.co.uk/napoleonic-wars-222-c.asp">Fighting 15's</a> - this gave me four 32 figure battalions of Spanish Line Infantry fusiliers (the grenadiers are assumed to have been detached) but my Spanish infantry needed some artillery support. I went to the appropriate page for Spanish artillery and there were crew with a comment - <i>"</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>For suitable guns, we recommend French 6pdrs (AB-F42)".</i> I had some AB guns so just bought some Spanish gun crews at Salute (a pre-order packed by Mr Marsh at the last minute!).</span><br />
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I think AB's Spanish gunners look fine - but they needed French Gribeauval 6lb guns to crew - Spanish artillery adopted the French Gribeauval system in 1783. AB make French artillery pieces (including a 6lb Gribeauval) but there seems to be a consensus that the "track" (the distance between the wheels) is too wide. I've got to say this is a view I have some sympathy with. So when I saw some nice Blue Moon British guns on JJ's blog I thought I'd investigate further.<br />
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I had some AB French guns already, and had bought the Xan Miniatures French Artillery piece from Empress Miniatures (along with crews - packed rather oddly in sixes; there are only four crew figures - you get a couple of random doubles as far as I can tell) at Salute. So, I dragged poor Giles ( <a href="http://gilesallison.blogspot.co.uk/">Tarleton's Quarter</a> ) over to the Old Glory stand to get a set of Blue Moon French 6lbers. Obviously, what I should have done, was do some research, and then bought some guns.<br />
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On the basis that figure manufacturers cannot agree on what "15mm" actually means when it comes to their figures, it isn't surprising that scale models of artillery pieces should vary too. The situation is complicated by the fact that the French made several changes to their guns during the Napoleonic period (starting out with the Gribeauval system, introducing the An XI system from 1803, and a bastardised version incorporating elements of both shortly thereafter - where the Gribeauval didn't soldier on unaltered).<br />
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<u><b>French 6lb Gun History</b></u><br />
The Gribeauval system of field artillery essentially specified that there should only be four calibres of tube employed: 6 inch howitzers, and 4lb, 8lb and 12lb field guns. Further, the components of each gun, carriage and limber <i>within it's calibre </i>should be standardised - the first large scale instance of the use of replaceable parts. Other changes included assigning gun crew to a particular gun (previously gunners were part of a pool - so could be assigned to a six inch howitzer for one campaign and a 12lb field gun for the next) and battery.<br />
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The system was a big success and French artillery was equal to or superior to their rivals across Europe from 1780 onwards - but the system was subject to some criticism within the French army. It was said that the 4lb gun was too small for firing canister, and the 8lb gun was too heavy for mobile field artillery. In Italy, in 1800, Marmont utilised 6lb guns cast locally, and made changes to standardise fewer wheel sizes for the carriage and limbers. Upon his return, Marmont sent a report to Napoleon, who decided to appoint a commission to look at the subject.<br />
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In 1803 the Commission made a number of recommendations that were incorporated into a revised system (called the An XI, or "Year Eleven" system in English). Field artillery would have larger guns - the 6lb gun would replace the 4lb gun, and the short 12lb gun would replace the 8lb gun. Alterations were made to the gun carriage - the most visible of which was the removal of the travelling trunnion and the change of shape to the end of the trail (the "ski" kicks up more on the An XI).<br />
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There was fierce debate about the changes (not least because there were hundreds of 4lb and 8lb gun tubes cast, and literally millions of rounds of ammunition in storage). In practice, the 6lb cannon was liked but the carriage wasn't (it was alleged it had a tendency to break up on campaign).<br />
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As you can see from the above, very brief, version of events, the really anal wargamer can have a field day with French cannon (and you thought it was just shakos v bicornes and long tailed coats v Bardin jackets...). <br />
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So in summary, the anal wargamers guide to the French use of 6lb guns:<br />
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1789 - 1800: No 6lb guns in your Revolutionary War French Army (if you are intent on 6lb guns you will need to argue for the local use of captured artillery tubes).<br />
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1801 - 1803: Limited use of 6lb guns with Gribeauval or original foreign carriages.<br />
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1804 - 1808: 6lb guns with An XI carriages - according to the sources I've looked at Napoleon ordered construction of new An XI carriages suspended in 1805 after criticism of the new carriages. So there would also be 6lbers with older Gribeauval carriages serving alongside the new carriages.<br />
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1808/9 - 1810: 6lb guns with adapted Gribeauval carriages (1810 saw official re-adoption of the Gribeauval carriages).<br />
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So, this is one of those areas where the "official position" and the reality clearly differed.<br />
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<u><b>The Models</b></u><br />
Before we go any further the grid on the photographs is 5mm - also as I don't possess calipers I just used a ruler for the measurements and did them by eye.<br />
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Anthony Barton: AB-F42 - French 6lb Gun @£2.60*<br />
This is a 6lb gun on a Gribeaval carriage. So some basic measurements - the outside diameter of the wheels should be 4 feet 6inches (146cm) and is 15mm in the model (so bang on 1/100), and the iron axletree should be 6 feet 5 inches (206cm). There is a 20mm "track"in the model (from one wheel to the other) so 6 feet 6 inches - now the question arises, did the measurement of the axle include the wheel and linchpins? I'd submit that it should - on this basis the model measures 27mm at it's widest point. The wheels have a slight indent (which is wholly accurate) but the hubs are much larger than in real life with the result that the wheels look (and are) too far apart. I'd surmise this is one of those moments where the anal wargamer has to decide whether he wants a playable piece or a wholly accurate model. The strapping on the cheeks of the carriage all looks in the right place - this is a very nice model, if one can get over the overwide look of the gun.<br />
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Blue Moon: 15 FE 02 - 6 Pound Gun @£2.00 (Six models for £12.00)<br />
Looking at the carriage, it seems fairly clear that this is a 6lb gun mounted on a An XI carriage. Irritatingly, I can't find the detailed dimensions of the An XI carriage but it's size would appear to be closely related to the Gribeauval 4lb carriage. The diameter of the wheel on the Blue Moon 6lb gun is 16mm (5 feet 3 inches), the "track" is 20mm and the axle is 22mm wide including hubs (the indented spokes are more pronounced than on the AB gun so the effect of the wide hubs isn't so pronounced. So, the diameter of the wheels is possibly a tad big but on the width issue the Blue Moon carriage is much better. The carriage looks bang on in terms of shape and details - this is a nice model and is the equal to the Anthony Barton gun. Packaging six models together in one bag seems a bit odd though<br />
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Xan Miniatures NFA10 - Cannon 6 & 8lb @£3.00<br />
Back to the Gribeauval pattern carriage - although this one has a wider trail than the AB or BM. 15mm wheels, 17mm track and 22mm wide including hubs. On this model the indent of the spokes is barely there, if at all. The hubs seem much smaller with the effect that, of the three guns, this looks most like it should from the front. In terms of the carriage itself the detailing is less exaggerated than on the BM model. I'd use this gun nevertheless, it looks "right" except for the width of the trail - if an opponent were rude enough to point this out I think I'd just suggest this was one of the multiplicity of captured guns in the French arsenal, and that Spain appeared to regularly draw the short straw in supply terms for the French army. If you look closely, you can see that the trail spikes are still mounted on the carriage. One comment I'd like to make - I bought this gun eight months ago and it has been sitting on my desk unassembled for most of that time - I'm embarrassed to say, I'm unsure whether this is the 6 or 8lb barrel! <br />
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*Unusually, the price of AB has been falling over the last year as the Sterling to Aussie dollar rate has moved in our favour - AB guns were £3.00 in January 2013 (I'm slightly disturbed by this as it means my leadpile has dropped in value over the last 12 months - although as I've been supplementing my stocks that should make up for it, I've been adopting the same attitude to my pension plan over the recession).<br />
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<b><u>Spanish Use Of 6lbers</u></b><br />
This exposition has clearly drifted away from what guns I should offer my Spanish crewmen to serve - logic would indicate that they should be serving a gun with the Gribeauval pattern carriage - I'm unaware of any evidence that they switched to the An XI carriage and there weren't many instances of the Spanish capturing French guns - generally it was the other way round! Furthermore, as I actually started to research this a bit (I bought a couple of very nice books on Napoleonic artillery while searching for information), I couldn't find any evidence the Spanish actually used 6lbers - at this point I felt confident enough to email Ian Marsh and ask what sources he'd used to back his suggestion, I also posted a query on TMP.<br />
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I got a very prompt response from both. Dr Steven Summerfield who said on TMP that the Spanish didn't use 6lb guns until 1811 - and Ian Marsh also quickly replied as follows - "<span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The issue is largely that AB doesn't make 4pdrs, so to have a small looking gun you have to use the 6pdr. It's a long time since I made the suggestion on the site, and I suspect I assumed the Spanish, being somewhat prone to losing their materiel, would probably make good losses at some point with captured French guns after successful British actions and sieges.</span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1387691809739_2815">However, your email has encouraged me to read around, and I will change the advice on the website.</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1387691809739_2818">As for limbers, you are currently stuck. Ideally you'd want oxen pulling a French limber, and that isn't a possibility." </span></div>
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I'd asked what Ian what he suggested for Spanish limbers and caissons etc - logic would indicate French pattern equipment but the limber riders would be an issue. He responded as an afterthought that Eureka do oxen pulling carts, but that as he didn't have the moulds in the UK he couldn't offer the oxen separately. <br />
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This would rather disqualify the Blue Moon AnXI guns from service with my Spanish army - which is a shame as I actually liked the look of this model the most in just about every other respect. So, given the options, I could use AB guns and just have to try and overlook the overwide look of them - which will bug me, I know.<br />
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The question of guns therefore went into a hiatus for a few months - about a month ago I looked at the Blue Moon website and the French 4lb and 8lb guns both have Gribeauval carriages - I emailed BM and a very kind lady, Teresa, forwarded my question on to the designer (Gregory) who confirmed this was the case within a few hours of my asking the question (so top marks for customer service to BM). I therefore bought some 4,8 and 12lb French guns from Old Glory UK (if you have been counting, you will realise that this post has caused me to buy 25 guns of one sort or another!) which took about a week to arrive and very nice they are too.<br />
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<b><u>Blue Moon 4lb, 8ib and 12ib Guns</u></b><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--r4CmcIt6Ag/UsR0SnXpt4I/AAAAAAAAAUY/ZsMMlRRMR6A/s1600/DSC08920.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--r4CmcIt6Ag/UsR0SnXpt4I/AAAAAAAAAUY/ZsMMlRRMR6A/s320/DSC08920.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ok, so here we have the<b> BM 4lber gun (BM reference 15-FE-01)</b>. These fellows appear in several GdB OOBs being served by French Horse Artillery crews, and also by the Spanish (so the guns that I originally thought would get least use when I ordered these a few days ago will probably be used the most, initially at least). I used an Osprey, <i>Napoleon's Guns 1792-1815 (1) </i>for the measurements quoted below.<br />
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The first thing I thought when I saw this model was "gosh that looks small" - and the first thing I measured were the wheels which are 11.5mm in diameter (so, at 1/100 that is equivalent to 1.15m or a shade over 3 feet 9 inches) - this is small as the Osprey quotes 1.35m (or 4 feet 2 inches). And in 15mm scale a couple of millimetres rather stands out. The carriage is 25mm long (and the Osprey gives a "cheek length" of 235.5cm) so not too far off the original. Now the common problem with gun models is that they look too wide, so how did the BM 4lb gun do? The Osprey quotes the iron axletree length as 197.4cm (or 6 feet, 5 inches give or take a fraction of an inch) - measuring from the inside of each wheel (so including the inner hub) gave me a figure of 1.5cm so way too narrow (remember those mm stand out at this scale) - the equivalent of 19 inches. If you measured to the outer hub (so at the gun's widest point) it would be pretty much bang on.<br />
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So, overall, this gun is out in a couple of respects - height of the wheels and possibly the width of the track and length of the carriage. But if you are looking to represent the smaller guns on the table this model works well overall - one of those instances where the look of the thing is better than the sum of the parts.<br />
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Next up, the <b>BM 8lb gun (BM reference 15-FE-03)</b>. At first sight this gun and carriage is very similar to their 6lber. The most obvious difference is the "kick up" at the end of the trail of the 6lber is more pronounced (although not as pronounced in the book "<i>Napoleonic Artillery</i>" by Duncan, Duncan and Summerfield, page 71 - I'm surmising that the BM 6lb model is an M1808), and the Gribeauval 8lber carriage has two trunnion positions rather than the single position on the 6lb An XI carriage. The 8lber has the same size wheels as the 6lb carriage (so 16mm diameter, or 5 feet 3 inches), and the track is 18mm. The axle is 22mm wide including hubs. Frame length is 26mm.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-urWT4VAZBP8/UsR0k93e3LI/AAAAAAAAAUg/snuL0P7HoO8/s1600/DSC08921.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-urWT4VAZBP8/UsR0k93e3LI/AAAAAAAAAUg/snuL0P7HoO8/s320/DSC08921.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Finally, the <b>BM 12lb gun (BM reference 15-FE-04)</b>. My first thought after putting this thing together was that it is one <i>big</i> carriage (36mm long) dwarfing the other guns. Wheel height is again 16mm. Track is 20mm, and hub to hub width is again 22mm. My next thought was that the "kick up" at the end of the trail was quite pronounced making it look like an early An XI gun (the 12lb An XI retained the travelling trunnion so this isn't a point of difference like it is on the 6lber). Actually - re-reading my correspondence with the BM people, I didn't actually ask about the provenance of the 12lb gun so it may well be a An XI.<br />
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A few general comments about the BM guns: The castings were pretty clean - I didn't do any preparation to any of guns before assembling them for this review. One minor issue I noticed with all the BM barrels was that the mould looks to be poured via the righthand trunnion (as you sight down the barrel) and the casting is a little rough here which means that the barrel doesn't fit cleanly into the carriage "pulling" the barrel to the right as it sits on the carriage. But this is nothing that a few minutes with a file won't fix.<br />
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I'd also point out that all the guns came with ammunition boxes despite my neglecting to photograph them!<br />
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And here are a couple of pictures of the guns lined up together:<br />
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Ok, From left to right: Xan Miniatures, AB, BM 4lber, BM 6lber. </div>
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From left to right: BM 6lber, 8lber and 12lber.</div>
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From left to right: BM 6lber, 8lber, 12lber and a BH 4lb (?) gun I had laying around.</div>
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From left to right: Xan Miniatures (and before anyone comments I haven't stuck the barrel on this one), AB, BM4lb gun, BM 6lb gun.</div>
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In conclusion, I'm sure I've made some errors in terminology and detail - if anyone wants to comment on my ignorance feel free and I'll make the appropriate edits! Anyway, I hope this is useful. </div>
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<b><u>Addendum</u></b></div>
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I was asked on TMP to add some more manufacturers guns - to be honest I'd thought about doing this but the above post was originally started about eight months ago and I'm now pretty fed up with it! Anyway, I've looked though the Bollinger LGA (that is La Grande Annee - not La Grande Armee) box where all the unpainted French lead is stored and I found some more guns.</div>
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<b>Old Glory</b> </div>
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Now, I <i>think </i>these are OG (long time readers of this blog will be aware that several years ago - back when the US Post Service still let their citizens send goods by surface post - I bought a very big box of French, Austrians and Russians from a chap in California and these guns are from an unmarked bag from the box). Looking at the website of the current UK agents, TimeCast, just shows labels such as "Foot Artillery, Full Dress" with no mention of gun size or carriage type - so its difficult to review how close they are to the original. Both guns are cleanly cast with good levels of detail (I'm not really sure if that big barrel goes with the carriage to be honest - there were also some howitzer barrels in the bag too). So here are a couple of photos with some measurements.</div>
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Gun "A" - wheel diameter 11mm, track 16mm, hub to hub width 22mm, cheek length 25mm.</div>
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Gun "B" - wheel diameter 12.5mm, track 17mm, hub to hub width 23mm, cheek length 26mm </div>
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<b>Fantassin (Warmodelling)</b></div>
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After saying on TMP I didn't possess any Fantassin artillery I found a gun and crew. Again, I'm unaware of what calibre it is supposed to be (I bought a "division pack" from Dermot at CGM in Spain a few years ago after hearing good things about their figures from TMPers - and that was really poor advice...) as it is in an unmarked bag with some French foot artillery figures. I'll do a photo and give measurements - but frankly this was the worst casting of any of the guns with softness and flash in the area below the trail spikes on the left hand side of the carriage, more flash at the front of the carriage, and rough areas on the wheel rims (which also didn't fit neatly to the axles). The transom appeared to me to out of true giving the carriage a slightly twisted appearance. Finally all the other guns had an indent at the mouth of the barrel - not the Fantassin gun. Also the two wheels were of different thicknesses. All in all, it was a chunky mess! </div>
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Wheel diameter 15mm, track 18mm, hub to hub width 23mm, cheek length 28mm.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O-wUqw2_tbM/UsX4jjlZepI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/_G4Cud1ims8/s1600/DSC08940.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O-wUqw2_tbM/UsX4jjlZepI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/_G4Cud1ims8/s320/DSC08940.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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And just to show how awful the Fantassin gun is here are two shots - the first from the rear showing (hopefully) how the transom is out of true. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vSfd6M0bblg/UsX4jRiGGQI/AAAAAAAAAXI/XKSDU6Cjwm4/s1600/DSC08939.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vSfd6M0bblg/UsX4jRiGGQI/AAAAAAAAAXI/XKSDU6Cjwm4/s320/DSC08939.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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And secondly how the wheels vary in thickness.</div>
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<b>Battle Honours</b></div>
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Now this is from a really old pack (back when they were Kitney & Company and included a cardboard stand along with the gun and figures) labelled ART5A - I looked back through my earliest Wargames Illustrated magazines and I <i>think </i>this a French 8lb gun. It is much smaller than the 6 or 8lb offerings from BM (or AB) but then so are the crewmen - this gun is much closer to the BM 4lber in terms of the carriage size. There is a clear mould line running horizontally down the middle of each cheek which is a bit obvious but apart from that is a very clean casting. I think it is one of the nicest guns of the lot - there is detail but it isn't exaggerated. I guess if you pair it with the appropriate figures it would look fine. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iv5F8U5v5xY/UsX4g3pMDYI/AAAAAAAAAWU/oaWeJ7xGQnY/s1600/DSC08932.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iv5F8U5v5xY/UsX4g3pMDYI/AAAAAAAAAWU/oaWeJ7xGQnY/s320/DSC08932.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Wheel diameter 13mm, track 17mm, hub to hub width 23mm, cheek length 24mm.</div>
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The above are from left to right: OG Gun "A", OG Gun "B" and the Fantassin Gun.</div>
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Left to right: Battle Honours, OG Gun "A" and BM 4lber.<br />
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<br />LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-36849749686187605602013-12-29T10:24:00.000-08:002014-01-01T14:08:41.143-08:00Army Painter Undercoat & Some Spanish MilitiaSo, having resolved to empty my painting desk of half finished units (see my last post) I've made a start. This is likely to result in figures being finished in a somewhat random order - as I have a lot of random half-finished units where I ran out of steam / was enticed by some new figures before I could finish older ones.<br />
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Back in March 2011, I had the urge to splurge on eBay and was lucky enough to pick up a couple of bits and pieces including some 15mm AB French horse artillery crews. At about the same time, I came across the Army Painter dark blue undercoat. Essentially, the AP argument goes that one can paint one's army quicker by spraying your figures in the main uniform colour undercoat, blocking in the other colours and then dipping the figures. My eyes glazed over as I looked at the pile of French Legere in the big box and suddenly this seemed like a wonderful idea. So at Salute 2011, I bought a can.<br />
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On the basis that I wanted to test out the theory before plunging into battalions of Legere I thought I'd do a French Horse Artillery battery first. My first thought was that the AP Dark Blue went on a little heavily (my normal undercoat is the Evil Empire's Skull White spray (it's expensive but I've never had a problem with it). The picture below shows the figures right after they've been sprayed.<br />
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Now I'm slightly underwhelmed by their argument for reasons I'll go into - first, because the spray seemed rather thick I was loathe to to work the can like I do with the GW sprays - this meant that there were a couple of areas that didn't get great coverage and I had to go in with a paint brush (and this was prior to the Army Painter people bringing out pots of paint so I had to touch up with some mid-blue from Miniature Paints - which seemed close enough in tone to work). My next issue is probably because I'm used to working from a white undercoat - I found it quite hard to get good coverage for things like flesh over the dark blue base. My other problem was that I'm used to painting things like jackets up to the edge of the colour, and leaving things like crossbelts white - I just come back at the end and touch up where i've slopped over. Obviously, with this method I had to reverse my normal practice and maintian a steady hand whilst painting the white belts. To be honest, I'm not sure if it actually saved that much time painting these figures - possibly I need to try a battalion of Legere after all to see if it is any easier when one does a lot of figures.<br />
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Below is a picture of the gun crew after they were given a coat of AP Dark Tone (I went a bit too heavy on at least one figure and the AP pooled on the brim of his shako). Apologies for the poor picture quality. And before anyone says anything, I know they are manning an unpainted gun - it was all there was to hand (cannon are going to be the subject of my next post) and I didn't want them to be standing around an empty space. The flash has made them look a bit paler than they are in real life - they're actually a quite dark blue.<br />
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And the final pictures are of the other unit finished this week (apart from basing, and the flag being added) - a battalion of Spanish Provincial Militia (32 figures) wearing the M1805 uniform. As with my previous Spanish these were sprayed white, colours blocked in and then Army Painter Dark Tone was brushed on - they still need the flat varnish to be added. Figures are again by AB.</div>
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<br />LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-46082644892976101352013-12-24T10:25:00.000-08:002014-05-05T14:35:27.093-07:00Ocana 1809 & Desk TidySo, a couple of weeks ago I was looking at my painting desk, and for obvious reasons decided to have a bit of a tidy up (there is also a shelf you can't see that has various figures primed but not yet painted). My next thought was that I should clear up the numerous half finished projects (in 15mm alone there are Spanish ABs, AB French artillery, some AB early Austrian Chevau-Leger waiting to be painted as Spanish cavalry, AB Austrians and a few OG French). <br />
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As I returned some figures to the Bollinger box where they belonged I resolved to have a clear out. So a few figures were despatched to Paul ( <a href="http://napoleonicsinminiature.blogspot.co.uk/">Napoleonics In Miniature</a> ). And since then I've been fitting in a bit of time whenever I can painting up odds and ends. One thing that has irritated me no end is the number of Citadel Paints (particularly the new pots) that have dried solid over the last few months.</div>
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I've also been admiring one of my new acquisitions - the French Histoire et Collections volume, <i>Ocana 1809,</i> this is a very nice English language volume in the same style as Hourtelle's books on Wagram, Austerlitz and so on. It has maps, reports from French officers after the battle, and the very useful uniform plates we expect. </div>
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The other book (in Spanish) is also called <i>Ocana 1809 </i>and has better maps and some uniform plates - it also has an OOB with numbers for each battalion. It is an Osprey style of book - they have quite a selection of books on other subjects too - I picked up two of these while in Valencia in late September (<i>Medellin 1809 </i>and <i>Almonacid 1809) </i>but my Spanish isn't good enough to make much out of the text. I think if Guerreros y Battallas were to publish these books in English they would do really well - many of the subjects aren't covered elsewhere at all. </div>
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Ocana was quite an interesting battle - at the end of 1809 the Spanish, emboldened by their success at Bailen, made a dash for Madrid with an army of 53,000 men. The French, taken by surprise, managed to concentrate 40,000 men under Soult - although smaller in numbers, the French units were mostly veterans, whereas many of the Spanish were freshly raised units. The French attacked against a strong Spanish position (there was a ravine across the front of much of their position), their dragoons drove in the Spanish cavalry on the flanks and the French infantry attacked, the Spanish broke, thousands were captured and Madrid was secured for Joseph for some years. Ocana was one of the pivotal battles of the Peninsular War and, because the British weren't there, mostly ignored by English writers.<br />
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I've started working on more Spanish infantry, and have bought appropriate flags from Adolfo Ramos, and recently a couple of sets from Pete's Flags - both of these produce very nice flags. I've also been looking at 15mm artillery for a review (this little project has turned from a short post into a very long post - but hopefully I should have something up next week), and now have a glut of guns to join the excess of everything else in my leadpile!<br />
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Have a very happy Christmas everybody!<br />
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<br />LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-67292632359950679412013-11-19T15:41:00.000-08:002013-11-22T16:11:26.608-08:00Napoleon's Waterloo Campaign: An Alternate History <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://rcm-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?t=ten00-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=1401072240&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr%22%20style=%22width:120px;height:240px;%22%20scrolling=%22no%22%20marginwidth=%220%22%20marginheight=%220%22%20frameborder=%220%22%3E" target="_blank">Napoleon's Waterloo Campaign: An Alternate History</a> by Steven Marthinsen is an interesting book - I picked up the first volume back in March of this year whilst browsing Amazon (I'd been buying books on the Spanish Army and this popped up in the "other customers bought this..." section), and got the second volume soon after. The book imagines what would have happened had Grouchy marched to the sound of the guns, disrupting the Prussian march to aid Wellington and catching the English on the flank.<br />
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In some respects it reads like a Victorian military history book (the kind you see reprinted as facsimile copies), and this image is enhanced by the maps, which look are drawn in an old fashioned style. It is a slightly odd merger of quotations from individual soldiers which open each chapter, operational history and novel. Marthinsen clearly has a well developed sense of how Napoleonic armies worked and uses this knowledge to paint quite a convincing picture of several days of fighting - I say several days, as the book covers the early part of the campaign "as written" - so Quatre Bras and Wavre are handled as they really occurred - but once Grouchy determines to march to the sound of the guns things quickly take a new direction (in the most literal sense).<br />
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Now I have a few issues with the books (there are two volumes) - the first is that they are quite expensive (this is a self published book produced by exLibris which I think is the reason), and the second is that they seem to be written by Marthinsen as if they were a fantasy where Napoleon wins - lots of things go well for the French, and not so well for the Allies. I couldn't help feeling as I read the book that Marthinson would be the kind of wargamer happy to have national modifiers in the rules he played. However, I'd emphasise that this isn't too overdone and is more than made up for by Marthinson's handling of the battle scenes (which is the bulk of the book).<br />
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I'd say that if you had built armies covering the Waterloo Campaign but had grown bored with trying to take Hougomont for the umpteenth time that there is ample material for a scenario author to work through, whatever the scale of action covered by his favourite rules. There are lots of incidents and actions, both small and large that would work as a subject for a game.<br />
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In short I rather recommend the two volumes - whilst I've never been that interested in the 100 Days (although the cobbling together of the French Army in such a short space of time fascinates me) I really rather enjoyed these books.<br />
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Apologies for being rather invisible over the last few weeks - as I work in the wine trade the run up to Christmas tends to be rather hard work (no days off this month and several late nights too). On the other hand working at wine tastings is great fun and gives me the opportunity to try new wines and make new friends. This last weekend was the Decanter Fine Wine Encounter which is the highest quality wine tasting in the British calendar (and probably, on the face of it, the most expensive at £50 a ticket) - I was pouring both days which allowed me to sneak off a bit and try wines from producers I'd read about but not drank. My big "find" of the weekend was <a href="http://www.alpha-estate.com/" target="_blank">Alpha Estate</a> from Macedonia (the Greek region, not the country) - I'd read about this producer in the trade press and seeing their table was quiet (it always amazes me that even the supposedly wine-literate attendees of Decanter breeze past the winemakers from the less well known regions and countries in favour of crowding around some jerk from Bordeaux or Napa who isn't making anything near as interesting) I thought I'd take the opportunity.<br />
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And I was blown away by them - the Malagouzia was a super cool melony white wine that I just adored - perfect for seafood or meze type meal and the Xinomavro was an absolutely delicious red leathery wine with great structure and body - would be great with lamb. My new best friend, Kostas the Export Manager, took me through half a dozen of the estate wines. I wasn't quite so convinced when they went with straight classic varietals (Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc - although Jancis Robinson scored their S/B at 17 out of 20 so she likes them) but they did some blends (so Sauvignon Blanc & Malagouzia, and Syrah / Xinomavro) that were vary successful. And the RSPs were good too between £13 and £26 if I understood Kostas correctly.<br />
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So when the consumers (I work for an importer so "customers" are wine merchants and supermarkets - the people who finally buy and drink the wine are "consumers") asked whom I recommended to try Alpha Estate were the first (Bischofliche Weinguter Trier from the Mosel, and Chateau Ksara from Lebanon were also high on my list). And at the end of the weekend Kostas gave me a bottle of their top of the range red which was a lovely surprise - "enjoy with friends" he said as he headed back to his own table.<br />
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<br />LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-84511670298498453762013-10-20T13:14:00.001-07:002013-11-21T05:15:42.893-08:0015mm AB French Line Infantry And A Minor DisasterI had a minor disaster yesterday. I subscribe to Miniature Wargames / Battlegames now that Henry Hyde has taken on the editorship and the new issue arrived on Friday morning. I left it on the coffee table whilst I went and did the grocery shopping and Archie (the younger of my two dogs) decided to eat it for lunch - here are the results:<br />
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Obviously Archie is severely in the doghouse - although he doesn't seem too upset about it:<br />
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Clearly he isn't a fan of the new editorial direction at MW/BG!<br />
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I haven't done much painting over the last few weeks So, with little further ado, here are a couple of photos of the other super-duper unit I bought from eBay along with the Highlanders. I think it is a really beautiful unit - whomever painted these added patches to the trousers of some of these figures and you can actually see the stitching painted on the patches. And the faces just look wonderful - way more brush control that I have ever been able to manage.<br />
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This one is again based on four bases - this time though there are four grenadiers and four voltiguers. This means that I <i>could </i>just break it up and rebase it as a 24 figure battalion, but I have a few painted French Line that I did some time ago that I think I could possibly try and match in. I'm thinking that if I took all these great figures off their current bases they could make up the front rank of the unit, and my inferior efforts could fill out the rear rank (which would only become a concern if they were forced to retreat). I have some AB greatcoated flankers that need painting so purloining four of those would give enough figures to make up the grenadiers and voltiguers to full strength. <br />
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And today it just bucketed down this afternoon. We had a small flood in the street outside as the excess water flowing down the hill from High Barnet popped the manhole covers:<br />
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<br />LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545942837132870291.post-5946562612939948572013-10-19T01:56:00.000-07:002013-10-20T01:29:36.211-07:0028mm Perry WotR Figures Possibilities and a Flight Of FancyMy main focus is 15mm Napoleonic (although I also have rather larger 15mm ACW armies as well) but a few years ago, when the Perry plastic Bills and Bows set appeared at Salute I was smitten. Despite knowing very little about the period I pressed my money into the hands of the Perries and made off with three boxes (so about 120 figures). I then found I was a bit intimidated by these figures - people like Captain Blood and Admiral Benbow on Lead Adventures Forum were producing beautifully painted figures (and really neat conversions). And then just look at the Je Lay Emprins and Stuart's Workbench for just wonderful use of these plastic figures.<br />
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But I still loved the <i>idea </i>of doing something with these figures, so I added three boxes of the "Mercenaries" set, and a box of Mounted Men at Arms (all picked up from eBay at a bit of a discount). I've added some Swiss and European heads and a box of Unarmoured Swiss Pikemen but haven't really gone in for the metal figures - but the news of the price rise at the end of August has made me look at these figures again. It would also help if I could think what to do with them - after all, it isn't like buying a box of Perry British Line Infantry where the big decision is "stovepipe or Belgic" - these figures could be used pretty much anywhere in Western Europe at the time.<br />
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So I could build a couple of contingents for the Wars of the Roses - after all, there were foreign mercenaries, English longbowmen, nobles stabbing each other in the back at the drop of a hat - lots of things that appeal to the wargamer.<br />
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Or I could slavishly follow Je Lay Emprins (if you are going to slavishly follow pick the best, I say) and build some Burgundians and Swiss. This has lots of appeal to me.<br />
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Or there are the early Italian Wars - French, Swiss and various Italians - all very colourful and again lots of backstabbing. I have the Fornovo book by Osprey.<br />
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It did occur to me that possibly I could "do" the Reconquista in Spain - rather disappointingly that was pretty much all done bar the shouting by the mid 14th Century - there was the Conquest of Granada between 1482 and 1492 but there isn't much info that I can find for this. I think the Spanish armies could be covered by the Perry plastics (with careful choice of heads) and probably some figures from the Foundry Conquistador range but the Emirate of Granada would be more difficult (I'm thinking the Perry Bedouins from the Muslim Crusader range might work as a base to build on but other figures would be tough to find). I've picked up the relevant Osprey books since I first typed this and the campaign really has lots of appeal - I've also got some flags from eBay that are suitable for Castile, Aragon and Naples and I think a Spanish army from the late 1400's is the way to go - the Perries don't yet do Spanish heads but I'm hoping they will, after all they would be useful in both Spain and Italy.<br />
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I also had one totally mental idea sparked by one of my younger colleagues in the office saying that Columbus discovered America in 1492 - the pedant in me said "no, he discovered the Bahamas, various Caribbean islands and Venezuela, John Cabot has a better claim for North America." This lead to a brief conversation where I explained Cabot led three voyages to North America and died on the third (which in fact is evidently debatable). Thinking about this later a little light bulb went on in my head - what if Cabot hadn't died?<br />
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Cabot led an expedition in the Summer of 1496 that failed. Upon his return, he met Henry VII, and managed to gain support for a second voyage <span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">"This year, on St. John the Baptist's Day [24 June 1497], the land of America was found by the Merchants of Bristow in a shippe of Bristowe, called the Mathew; the which said the ship departed from the port of Bristowe, the second day of May, and came home again the 6th of August next following." (From Wikipedia, quoting a 1565 source).</span> Based upon this success he was given support to launch a five ship expedition (including one ship funded by Henry VII) - unfortunately he pretty much drops off the record after that and it is assumed his fleet was lost at sea (although there is now evidently a bit of debate about whether that was the case).<br />
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But what if Cabot hadn't been lost at sea? His final expedition included a number of interesting people including some monks intent upon converting natives. The voyage was backed by Bristol merchants (and the King) as a business venture. I can kind of see the meeting in my mind's eye: "Well yes your highness, the fishing off the coast is superb, there are lots of trees on the mainland, it looks like the Baltic with all the trees so I guess there will be furs available too."<br />
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Henry VII was a king who kept England out of foreign wars and aimed to build up trade. Fish was a key source of food (all those Holy Days), England needed timber for shipbuilding, and furs would be nice too. England already imported all these commodities from the Baltic countries but if he could get a source that cut out the Hansa cities that would be better. When Cabot returned from the New World Henry VII had just polished off the Perkin Welbeck revolt in Cornwall - this had gained Henry £13,000 in fines (his average annual income was £100,000 during his reign) and 6,000 prisoners. I can see Henry deciding that sending revolutionaries several hundred miles away across the ocean to live out their lives while earning a profit from them was a win all round. <br />
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So, what if John Cabot had established a colony on Newfoundland? The purpose of the settlement would be to support fisherman visiting the area to fish for cod by supplying fresh food (which would help with scurvy -although this idea hadn't been thought of yet), and repair facilities should fishermen need them. The provision of timber for spars would be a useful cargo for returning ships too. The settlement could also act as a trading post for contact with the natives - allowing the Europeans to buy furs - and also act as a base for further exploration of the New World by the English. And obviously be a dumping ground for criminals, malcontents and the poor (ie the traditional English method).<br />
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From this would follow some quite interesting ideas based upon colonisation starting a 100 years earlier than in reality and England being early to the party - the first confrontations with the natives would be rather less one sided than they historically were, so possibly a rather different dynamic would develop (of course the natives would still come down with smallpox so the Europeans are still likely to come out ahead). French Canada might not appear. Instead England would confront Spain as they tried to enforce the Treaty of Tordesilles. Of course what would happen to the nascent North American colonies once Henry VIII came to the throne is debateable (he conciliated Spain and confronted France so a few piddling colonies in North America might have been considered an impediment).<br />
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For wargaming purposes it would be the Perry figures (plus some Foundry Conquistadors) versus the native Indians - Brigade Games King Philips War Indians perhaps? This would be skirmish wargaming, I guess. I suppose success in winning skirmishes could be translated into rewards for the ongoing campaign (a bit like in Dux Britanniarum by Two Fat Lardies).<br />
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Apologies for no pictures in this post - "normal" service will be resumed shortly.<br />
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<br />LittleArmieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05633965168690644134noreply@blogger.com2