Paint Table...er... Sunday

Apologies 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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

The first is from a recently returned maker that has been something of a holy grail for 15mm AWI gamer - Polly Oliver. 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.

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 think 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.

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.

My second choice for variants comes from Xan Miniatures - 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.

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.

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.

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.

15mm AB / Blue Moon / Xan French Guns

The Query
So this post is (slightly) a warning to myself to do proper research before buying figures. Back in April when I began my (slow) Spanish project I started out by buying a Spanish Line Infantry brigade from Fighting 15's - 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 - "For suitable guns, we recommend French 6pdrs (AB-F42)". 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!).

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.

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 ( Tarleton's Quarter ) 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.

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).

French 6lb Gun History
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 within it's calibre 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.

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.

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).

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).

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...).

So in summary, the anal wargamers guide to the French use of 6lb guns:

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).

1801 - 1803: Limited use of 6lb guns with Gribeauval or original foreign carriages.

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.

1808/9 - 1810: 6lb guns with adapted Gribeauval carriages (1810 saw official re-adoption of the Gribeauval carriages).

So, this is one of those areas where the "official position" and the reality clearly differed.

The Models
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.

Anthony Barton: AB-F42 - French 6lb Gun @£2.60*
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.

Blue Moon: 15 FE 02 - 6 Pound Gun @£2.00 (Six models for £12.00)
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

Xan Miniatures NFA10 - Cannon 6 & 8lb @£3.00
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!

*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).

Spanish Use Of 6lbers
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.

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 - "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.

However, your email has encouraged me to read around, and I will change the advice on the website.

As for limbers, you are currently stuck. Ideally you'd want oxen pulling a French limber, and that isn't a possibility." 

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.

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.

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.

Blue Moon 4lb, 8ib and 12ib Guns

Ok, so here we have the BM 4lber gun (BM reference 15-FE-01). 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, Napoleon's Guns 1792-1815 (1) for the measurements quoted below.

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.

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.

Next up, the BM 8lb gun (BM reference 15-FE-03). 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 "Napoleonic Artillery" 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.

Finally, the BM 12lb gun (BM reference 15-FE-04). My first thought after putting this thing together was that it is one big 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.

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.

I'd also point out that all the guns came with ammunition boxes despite my neglecting to photograph them!

And here are a couple of pictures of the guns lined up together:

Ok, From left to right: Xan Miniatures, AB, BM 4lber, BM 6lber. 

From left to right: BM 6lber, 8lber and 12lber.

From left to right: BM 6lber, 8lber, 12lber and a BH 4lb (?) gun I had laying around.

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.

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. 

Addendum

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.

Old Glory 

Now, I think 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.

Gun "A" - wheel diameter 11mm, track 16mm, hub to hub width 22mm, cheek length 25mm.

Gun "B" - wheel diameter 12.5mm, track 17mm, hub to hub width 23mm, cheek length 26mm 

Fantassin (Warmodelling)

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! 

Wheel diameter 15mm, track 18mm, hub to hub width 23mm, cheek length 28mm.

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. 

And secondly how the wheels vary in thickness.

Battle Honours

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 think 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. 

Wheel diameter 13mm, track 17mm, hub to hub width 23mm, cheek length 24mm.

  

The above are from left to right: OG Gun "A", OG Gun "B" and the Fantassin Gun.

Left to right: Battle Honours, OG Gun "A" and BM 4lber.

15mm Xan Mimiatures & Campaign Game Miniatures British Line Infantry

Well, last week the big news for me on TMP was that Xan miniatures had produced some new British Line Infantry in stovepipe shako suitable for the Peninsula. Now, I adore the AB sculpts and painted a battalion (in a rather poor fashion) last year ( http://tenfiguresaweek.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/57th-regiment-of-foot.html ) but I'm always looking for some new figures. And these are much cheaper than the superlative ABs.

It so happens that I've been looking around at British infantry suitable for the Peninsula lately. I rejected Old Glory because of their inconsistency between ranges (or indeed bags within ranges), Fantassin (Warmodelling) were kicked into touch for the same reason. I don't like the stumpy Essex figures. Which rather left AB and BH in the quality 15mm field. Until recently that is.

Many Americans are admiring the Blue Moon 15mm range and I took a look at the British Line Infantry in Stovepipe here last year ( http://tenfiguresaweek.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/blue-moon-xan-miniatures-review.html ) - if you recall I was fairly underwhelmed by the sculpting.

CGM
While browsing the Campaign Game Miniatures (CGM) website for some cavalry (CGM specialise in the 100 days Campaign so most of their stuff isn't suitable for earlier campaigns) I discovered that they had added a few codes from other nationalities, and some British infantry in stovepipes (there were a few battalions in the old gear at Waterloo). Now CGM don't have early command groups - typically the officers wore bicorne hats up until 1811 when the order was given for officers to use the shako (initially the stovepipe and after March 1812 the Belgic pattern) - although they continued to wear the bicorne with their undress uniform.

With that in mind I only ordered the rank and file marching and advancing packs, just to have a look at. You get eight figures in each pack (four variants repeated twice) for £3.60 (they are sold in the UK by QRF). Now lets get my big issue with these figures out of the way first - I'm convinced their legs are too short! Standing them next to an AB Brit it is clear that, while the torso and head are about the same size, the legs (even allowing for the fact the CGM figures legs are bent as they walk) are one or two millimetres too short. Added to this, the heads are broader than the AB figures, and the heads appear to have been jammed down into collars that look taller and stiffer than most illustrations I've seen of the British infantry in the field. Now, I know that a millimetre or two here or there can't be seen from a couple of feet away but the impression I get whenever I look at CGM figures (with the exception of their French Line in greatcoats) is that some giant wargamer has been pressing down on their heads! Having said that, the faces are very nicely sculpted and I think they seem to go well together with the Blue Moon infantry that I have (which, regardless of their other failings, appear anatomically "correct" to me) - both ranges feature the figures leaning forward so I think, once they have been painted, they'll do.

Now having having slagged off their basic posture, these are nice figures in many other respects, generally the detail is well sculpted. The sculptor has sketched in the lace on the jacket and cuffs, there are one or two areas which are a bit weak - I think the water bottle and rolled greatcoat are a bit small on the figures and there is no sense that the greatcoat is rolled up on some figures, it just looks to be a tube strapped to the top of the pack (I refuse to believe that a soldier in the field would be able to roll their greatcoat that neatly). The Trotter pack looks to be about the right size. The faces are nicely done. Essentially, these are good, workmanlike figures and I think they will paint up very well - I just can't find it in myself to get excited about them. And if you want your British officers in bicornes you will need to look elsewhere for a command pack.

Xan Miniatures
Now, I saw the news on TMP that Xan Miniatures had released a number of British Line Infantry packs and I got very excited. While his figures are generally not a perfect match height or build wise with Mr Barton's, his French Legere have the same sense about them (I think his Legere skirmishing pack is simply excellent) - so I had high expectations with the British.

So, how are they? Well, overall, they are very good - anatomically correct with facial detail nicely suggested, the packs and blanket rolls look the right size (possibly a tad large in the context of the size of the figure but not unduly so), the water bottle looks a touch small on one or two figures to me. On a couple of figures the cross belt sculpting is a little too fine but still workable. While the figures are anatomically correct in the sense everything is in proportion a number of figures that have the legs extended also have the torso at an angle to the line of march (so left leg extended to the front, right leg trailing about to be brought forward, and the torso facing to the right at an angle) - which isn't how I walk.

The only issue with flash was that a good proportion of figures had flash between the plume and the musket but this was easily cleared with a little care and a sharp knife. Unlike AB these figures have the musket joined to the side of the head and shako - where the join occurs there is the risk of a bit of difficulty concealing this when painting the figure, but as the shako will be black I don't think it will be a problem.

My big problem with these figures (and generally with the French figures too) is that Xan have taken the OG approach to bases so, instead of the big square base you get on an AB figure, the bases vary in size and are just big enough for the feet of the figure to meet the ground. What this means is that on some figures the bases are very small - so you will need something fairly industrial to stick the figures to your stand without them coming loose again.

One figure in NB2 (like CGM, Xan packs their figures in eight figures per pack with four variants included twice) is bareheaded and has a bandage wrapped over an earlier injury. It is well done but I'd have preferred a figure in forage cap to be honest (I think the bandaged head wound is both a bit of a cliche and that, given battlefield surgery of the time, not many guys would walk away from a head injury).

I had one niggle though - the shako looks too tall to me - it certainly looks taller and thinner than AB, Blue Moon or CGM (all of which look fairly similar to one another). So I embarked on some research.

I got out my ruler and the Xan figures look to be about 16 mm from foot to eye, perhaps 17mm to the top of the head - the figure with the bandaged head is 18mm to the top of the head - but if you look at the picture he looks tall compared to the others. So, if one assumes a 1/100 scale (risky I know) these chaps are remarkably average for the British Army of the time - the bulk of recruits were between 5 feet six inches and five feet eight inches tall (five feet seven inches is 1.70m - so 17 mm at 1/100 - 1mm = 4 inches in real life).

Measuring the shako height it looks to be between 3 and 4 millimetres tall and two millimetres across at the crown - this translates at 1/100 to about 12 inches tall and eight inches across at the top. Looking at Mr Franklin's book on British Napoleonic Uniforms he says that the stovepipe shako introduced in 1800 should be "some eight inches tall and seven inches broad at the top" - he also says a couple of paragraphs further on that "the improved second version of this shako was introduced for wear by other ranks about 1806. It was a lighter pattern, made of felt and slightly shorter, being about eight or nine inches high with a top diameter of seven inches" (my emphasis in italics). I've seen other statements that suggest the shako got shorter as time went on. So something seems a little awry with Mr Franklin's suggestion about the 1800 pattern shako, I think.

I also think in reality it probably wasn't Horse Guards laying down regulations that probably decided this kind of thing but the pattern book of the tradesmen supplying the regiment that had more influence. So, I think somewhere between 8 and 12 inches is probably good enough - use these guys for early arrivals in the Peninsula with early pattern shakos. I think the issue is also partly down to the Xan figures being a bit slighter than the other makers and having smaller heads - I think this makes the Xan shako look a bit taller and thinner than it really is.

Anyway, this is by the by - the Xan figures will make a fine looking battalion. The officers are very nice indeed (I thought their French counterparts lacked elan) and will fit nicely in with AB battalions if, like me, you like to mix different makers figures a bit. The command pack, NB7 contains two standard bearers, two drummers and two officers - each figure is different. As there are two packs of centre company marching (NB1 & NB2) and one pack of flank company marching (NB3) this means that a General de Brigade player can field a typical 30 figure British line battalion with four packs (and with no figure repeated more than twice).

I really like the marching pioneer figure (although he seems a tad short to me) and he will definitely be entering the ranks of my marching AB units. The skirmishing flank company troops are workmanlike rather than inspired but they will certainly do the job. Overall, these are another very nice set of figures from Spain.

So, next the comparison photos:

First up - the command figures from NB7 plus the Pioneer (NB11) - from left to right: Xan, AB, Xan, BH, Xan, AB, Xan, OG, Xan, Blue Moon, Xan, AB, Xan Pioneer - to the right are some British AB figures (awaiting standard bearers),

Next - NB2 (the Xan Flank Comany figures) and the CGM figures, from left to right: AB, Xan, Xan, Xan, Xan, BH, CGM, AB, CGM, CGM, CGM, AB

Finally, NB1 (Centre Co) and NB3 (Flank Co), from left to right: Xan, Xan, Xan, Xan, BH, Xan NB10, AB, Xan, Xan, AB, Xan, AB, Xan.

So, there you have it. I've actually done very little painting at all over the last week. I was distracted by a night out with Giles tasting South African wines, followed the next evening by a work night pouring champagne for some very appreciative customers (and once we had got the customers out the door at 10.30, we started on some very fine Bordeaux indeed - with the result I didn't get home until 2am). It was a very special evening - and I'm still tasting the 1986 Mouton Rothschild in my head. Friday (feeling very tired) I took my wife into hospital for a small procedure and then spent most of the weekend keeping Archie the dog away from her (my wife was grumpy from the anaesthesia so Archie and I spent most of the weekend in the spare room playing Total War on the PC - Archie won't let me paint).
  

Xan Miniatures Legere

So, as a couple of people have expressed interest in these new figures I thought I'd give a brief review, along with some pictures of the Xan Miniatures next to a few of their competitors. I have to confess I've had these for some time just sitting on my desk looking at me - since I got them Empress Miniatures have become the main agent Xan Miniatures in the UK and USA ( http://www.empressminiatures.com/page13.htm ). Anyway, here we go...

So, just to re-affirm my position on 15/18mm Napoleonic figures (for anyone who doesn't already know it), I regard Anthony Barton as pretty much the Chosen One where sculpting is concerned. A few people manage to get in the same ballpark every so often - but in terms of consistency of output he is the daddy. So, my test of a figure is will it work with AB (either on the same table or, every once in a while) within the same unit? And, are the figures consistent enough to buy sight unseen?

Now, as you can expect, most figures fail one or both tests.

Old Glory have some nice packs within their 15mm Napoleonic ranges - unfortunately other packs are dire looking sculpts, so I'd never buy a pack sight unseen.

Minifigs don't really appeal (although they are cleanly cast, and more in proportion than many other makers out there) because of the lack of pose variation.

Battle Honours figures, many of which were sculpted by Mr Barton more than twenty years ago now, are showing their age a bit based on the examples I've seen, and were clearly sculpted by Mr Barton while he was still learning his craft - but these can work with the current AB range for obvious reasons.

Fantassin (now Warmodelling) are extremely variable in sculpting quality - you can get superb figures and monstrosities in the same pack - and are made of a really hard alloy that makes cleaning them up an awful task. I've rather given up on them for those reasons - which is a shame because they've tackled subjects that others haven't.

Blue Moon -the new kid on the block - I have only seen a four packs of these in the flesh (see my last review http://tenfiguresaweek.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-min=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2013-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=4 ) and was fairly underwhelmed - on the other hand some packs look like they may be very good from the photos I've seen. I'm rather tempted by their artillery.

Campaign Game Miniatures (CGM) - previously they concentrated on the 100 Days campaign so lots of nice figures but not many that interested me. I own a few packs and can say the figures are nicely sculpted and cleanly cast. In pictures their legs always look a bit odd to me but aren't so bad in real life - apart from that quibble I'd say they were very good. Over the last few months they have begun to add new ranges (1812 Russians and British Line Infantry suitable for the Peninsula to name but two) that have caused me to take a bit more notice - in fact I've ordered a few bags of each  to have a look.

So, for those of you too lazy to look at the last review, Xan Miniatures are sculpted by JAGomez Bautista. Now this chap used to be the sculptor for Fantassin so, given what I said about their figures above, why buy Xan Miniatures? Well, so far, Mr Bautista has exercised rather more quality control over his output - all the figures I've seen were as good as the best Fantassin figures but with none of the problems. So, cleanly cast, made in a softer alloy, the French infantry packs are a much better size (Fantassins were tiny), better proportioned and generally just a big step up in quality over his Fantassin work.

So, the picture above shows three rank and file from Xan Miniatures (NF21) alongside a painted AB French Line Infantry figure, and in the background are some Blue Moon British Infantry from the Peninsula. As you can see (hopefully) two of the figures are a tad shorter and more slightly built than the AB figure but not unduly so, and the third is a very good match. The sculpting is crisp and clean and there are plenty of details there to work with.

And here we have the same AB figure with the two Xan Carabiniers in bearskin (NF23), and two figures from the command pack (NF24) - I don't know why but Xan doesn't seem to do command packs with much elan.

And the AB figure with two of the three figures from the Carabiniers in shako pack (NF22) - these are really nice.

Finally, a pack which seems to appear on Xan Miniatures own site, but not on the Empress website - above are the six skirmishing voltigeur you get in NF28. These are probably my favourite figures from Xan Miniatures to date.

Overall, I suspect that once painted up alongside some AB Legere and based together Xan Miniatures would fit right in (which is about as high a compliment as I can give a 15mm figure). I'd rate these a solid 8 or 9 out of 10. Some of the Xan figures are possibly a bit shorter (and more slightly built) than their AB brethren but probably not enough to worry much about and other figures would fit right in.

Empress are selling them at £3.75 for a pack of eight figures (£3.50 for six command) so you can pick up rank and file for just under 47p each. Now with AB weighing in at £6.00 for eight figures (so 75p each) that is quite a saving (obviously it works out a bit cheaper to buy unit or brigade packs from AB). In summary I think these are nice figures at a competitive price - I think they'd paint into a very nice battalion, and the skirmishers are cracking figures.

Blue Moon / Xan Miniatures Review

So, the other Sunday I was browsing TMP (because if I did that then I wasn't painting) and came across a thread in the Napoleonic Gallery by "Rafa", a talented Spanish painter, who was showing off some French Line Infantry by a new Spanish company called Xan Miniatures. The figures looked really good (very similar indeed to AB) so in a fit of enthusiasm I bought a 36 man battalion and a bag of six skirmishing voltiguers. €15.93 (US $19.99 / £12.81) for the figures and €12.50 (US $15.68 / £10.06 for the postage). The equivalent AB figure packs from Fighting 15s in the UK would be £33.00 without postage (Ian Marsh offers free postage for orders over £50.00) so, if the quality is good then these will be very competitive.

At the same time I rashly ordered some Blue Moon figures from Old Glory UK. I'd looked at them on the web but not actually seen them when I went to Salute. I ordered a pack of French Line Infantry Centre Company and one pack of Flank Company figures (and the same again of Peninsular British Line Infantry) - in the UK these are packed and priced as follows:

Centre Company x30 figures (£11.00 / US $17.16 / €13.67)
Flank Company x12 figures (£5.00 / US $7.80 / €6.21)     

After looking at the Blue Moon command packs I thought I'd give them a miss - for one thing I have a ton of spare French Line Infantry command figures left over from the "Big Box" and for another, I just wasn't that keen on them. Postage was a very reasonable £3.50.

So, both orders were placed on  Sunday 17th June, and were promptly acknowledged via (I assume) automated emails from both companies. Tuesday morning I received a second email from Xan Miniatures telling me the order (No 13) had been despatched.

Friday afternoon I happened to be home when the postman came (at five o'clock - a huge increase in postal charges and my package arrives when I'm almost certain to be at work, no wonder I'm wearing out my shoes beating a weekly trail to my local sorting office). It was the Blue Moon parcel - evidently despatched on the Tuesday afternoon. Four small bags of figures, wrapped in brown paper and placed in a padded envelope. They were a bit squished but essentially okay.

Today lunchtime the Xan Miniatures parcel arrived - recorded delivery. Six days from Spain. Similar padded envelope but the figures were in good condition.

So, before I talk about the figures I guess I'd better get my personal prejudices out in the open. 

I regard Anthony Barton as the finest designer of 15/18mm Napoleonic figures ever. Nobody else in the industry has such a consistent body of work to their credit. Okay, I'll grant you the Perries have produced some wonderful figures - but very nice people though they are their work has all been in 28mm - and even worse they prostituted their immense talent designing fantasy figures for GW - and for twenty or more years they have ignored God's Own Scale, 15mm. I do harbour a little fantasy of my own that the Perries will one day produce boxes of 18mm plastic Napoleonics (if they just did a box of line infantry for each of the major powers that matched AB's style...) but until they do Anthony Barton is the DADDY. The more I paint his figures, the more I realise just how subtle his designs are and marvel at how the quality of his sculpting helps me paint a better figure. His horses are just wonderful, his men look like men. AB is pretty much the reason why I paint (admittedly slowly) Napoleonics.

But, my love for AB is not unreserved. Like the Perries AB appears to have designed what he felt like designing rather than completing a range - leaving his fans dreaming of late Russians in greatcoats, and French line infantry wearing bonnet de police. He deserted us for some years for the wilderness of 20mm WWII (producing some beautiful figures) and recently returned - but seems to have wasted his time on that rather boring 100 Days period, and early Austrians.

So, if I love AB so much why buy other makers? Well, I've read that nymphomaniacs always seek out new partners because they believe that the next person they have sex with will give them their best orgasm ever. And there is something of the nymphomaniac about my relationship with AB - I feel like those guys you read about in the papers, you know, the one's married to a beautiful woman who get caught having an affair with some floozy. I love my AB figures, and I know they are the best thing out there - but I see some beautifully painted figures on the Net and I've got to give them a try. Mostly, this try turns out more a one night stand than a full blown affair. I'm just looking for a bit of variety mostly - I'm not looking to replace AB but to supplement his work with the better figures from other designers. I say "better figures" because some designers come close some of the time - but nobody has yet reached the consistency of Anthony Barton. 

Blue Moon French Line Infantry 
Well, to be honest I wasn't expecting much from these figures - I'd seen some pictures on the Blue Moon site, TMP and ScoMac's Blog and where an Anthony Barton figure would be a solid 9 or 10, these were clearly not in that league. But having said that, my initial reactions were very positive. These are solid workmanlike sculpts that will fit in with AB figures - they aren't as clean or well defined sculpts as an AB but they are okay. 

I stupidly hadn't realised that the three figures you see in the pictures on the Blue Moon site are the three figure variations in the pack - so you get pose A, B, and C, each repeated 10 times (for the centre company) or 4 times (for the flank company pack). I was rather disappointed by this - I expected there to be head variants for each pose at the least. One of the pleasures of AB is that the variants are subtle enough to give variety but the unit still appears to be uniform. 

One pose in both Blue Moon packs has the guy leaning forward - he isn't going to fall over any moment (like his ancestors in the Old Glory packs tripping over a tussock of grass) but he will be standing out from the rest of your line. Where I'd score the other poses a solid 8 I'd deduct a half mark or so for this pose - if Blue Moon want to produce figures advancing at the double they should produce a different pack for that.

The figures didn't have much flash - frankly, with new castings like this I'd be fairly unimpressed if there was. One issue I found was that the metal didn't appear to flow into the pom pom on some figures - they are just vestigial in some instances.

I also realised (after I'd been looking at them for some time) was that I had ordered infantry in the Bardin uniform rather than the 1809 outfit - I suspect that this was due to my consuming most of a bottle of 2001 Roda Reserva Rioja before placing the order (absolutely wonderful wine - way too good to share with anyone else!). Fortunately, I have a unit of Campaign Game Miniatures in the Bardin uniform that I can mix these figures in with - and I'll mix the balance with late French in greatcoats.

I'll see how these figures paint up - if they don't drive me crazy I'll probably get some 1809 Blue Moon French.

Blue Moon British Infantry  
Again, these figures were rather squished by the Old Glory UK packing (or lack of it) combined with the tender mercies of the Royal Mail. The Blue Moon figures are made of a flexible metal so bent back pretty easily. My first impressions were again pretty favourable - these were good solid sculpts, allbeit with rather more flash than the French. 

Sorting out the figures (again three poses per pack) it became clear what the source of the flash problem was - the sculptor, presumably to suggest motion, had sculpted the right arm held out and back (out to avoid the cartridge box, back to suggest the motion I presume). Unfortunately this seems to have produced an undercut that the Blue Moon casting process can't handle - each figure has flash from the right arm to the cartridge box and tail of the jacket. There are three variants in this pack and each has the problem to a degree - it is clear that the further out the arm is sculpted the worse the flash. It cleans up without too much bother but, it seems to me, displays poor sculpting skill. I'd suggest this was foreseeable issue for the sculptor and the sculpts should have been returned for more work when test castings showed the issue, and possibly also poor research  - I think British Army drill said the arm not holding the musket should be held at the side. If the arm had been sculpted in this position it would have been more accurate and avoided the flash issue.

Additionally, one of the three sculpts in the centre company pack appears to have an issue with the musket. One millimetre or so below the bayonet socket and one millimetre above the point where the sling attaches to the musket is a crack - this seemed to affect seven out of nine examples of this sculpt. None have broken - but I'm now conscious of the weakness and will be thinking where I can place them in the battalion to minimise the risk of clumsy fingers (mine) breaking off the end of the musket and the bayonet.

So, I like the British figures, will paint them up and commit them to battle but I won't buy any more (I might change my mind after actually painting them) - at an average of 38p (US 59c / €0.47) per figure they are half the price of my ABs.

Xan Miniatures

This is a brand new Spanish company set up by a guy called JAGomez Bautista (but to make life easier for the rest of us he calls himself "Xan") in Leon, Spain. After seeing the figures painted by Rafa (aka Archduke Painting Service - click on the link to see much more of his wonderful work) I had high hopes for these. Rafa is a Spanish painter of great skill who does wonderful work on AB figures. The sign of a great winemaker isn't that he can make good wine in a good year from a good site - but whether he can make good wine in an awful year from a run of the mill vineyard. And in my view, it is the same with the best painters, whether they be producing works of art like Rafa, or more workmanlike (but excellent quality) miniatures meant for wargames like ScoMac. Scott MacPhee can take a unit made up of figures that I'd consign to the bin (well okay eBay) and produce something that looks good - give him AB figures and he generates something that looks wonderful.

So I was a bit concerned - was I going to open the envelope and find I'd been humbugged by Rafa's skill with the paintbrush? Well overall.....I'd say no. These are really good figures. No flash, natural proportions, and a good variety of poses. I've no idea of Mr Bautista's track record in sculpting but these figures are similar to the best efforts of Fantassin (Warmodelling) - I'd say they vary from good to excellent (whereas Fantassin varies from appalling to good in the same bag with the odd spark of genius once in a blue moon).

Blue Moon, CGM, Fantassin, Old Glory, AB, MiniFigs, Battle Honours, Xan, Xan, Xan, Blue Moon, AB.
The grid is 5mm.

AB, Blue Moon, Xan, Xan, Xan, Battle Honours, Minifigs, AB, Old Glory, Fantassin, CGM, Blue Moon

The Xan figures are cast in a metal that is harder (and a bit more brittle) than Blue Moon and I lost two muskets straightening them. This is a problem as I certainly wasn't being rough with the figures - it could easily be solved with a move to a slightly softer metal. I'd asked for figures with covered shakoes and as Xan kindly included samples of some marching figures with uncovered shako (which are just lovely) this won't be a problem - even if I didn't have hundreds of French Line waiting to be painted already.

The marching infantry are very good indeed - as a dyed in the wool AB lover what I was mostly looking for was the answer to the big question, would they fit with AB in the same battalion? For me the answer is most definately "yes". The faces are well done, the belts and turnbacks are well defined which should make it easy for me to paint them. The cuffs aren't up to AB standards but I could do a basic job with what is there.

There are several officers (in shako and bicorne) which are nice but possibly lacking in elan - the bicorne guy suits the marching battalion better. Two standard bearers, drummers and so on. All are good.

Essentially, imagine a talented sculptor sitting down with the AB French 1807-12 range in front of him and setting out to get as close to it as he could - so bayonet lengths work, figure height and general build mostly works, detail is crisp. It's all very good but not quite great (measured by AB standards - compared to other makers these are really good) - I'd still rate them a solid 8 or 9 out of 10 and will be buying more of these figures.

I ordered a Batallón de línea marchando "Lasalle" B (which has 36 figures) and a pack of skirmishing Voltigeurs. The battalion pack contained 1 officer, 1 drummer, 1 eagle bearer, 19 marching centre company soldiers, 4 marching grenadiers in bearskin, 4 marching elites in shako, and 4 elites skirmishing. Not being familiar with Lasalle I'd assumed that I'd be getting 6 grenadiers, 6 voltigeurs and 24 centre company and command. Hence ordering the voltiguers to get a bit of variety in my skirmish screen.

This means I'll need to go back to Xan and add a pack of grenadiers (and as the figures are coming all the way from Spain I'll need to add some other figures too - of course).

I'm not too sure just what Xan Miniatures has planned next - but these figures deserve some love. So why not buy some toys for yourself with the excuse that you are helping the Spanish economy?