French Horse Artillery

I always think what really makes a wargames table is the little extra equipment and details that people add like caissons and limbers

  

My brother David took the notion this year to get some of our old Minifigs eye candy finished up to accompany his horse artillery batteries.

  

This is my personal favourite, the caisson all based up ready and waiting that double 1 to be rolled.

  

I really like the limbers too. We have a soft spot for the old Minifigs range as you could get almost everything for the Napoleonic period. When they are done well, they really look the part on the table. David has based this limber on a hardwood base he cut himself and has magnetic strip underneath for storage.

Davids Cuirassiers

So I was getting used to fighting small Minifigs cavalry units with my British and Prussians and although David and I had discussed our need for more cavalry it still came as a big surprise when David rattled through a 24 man Battle Honours cuirassier regiment! And you can imagine how devastated I was when a 2nd appeared within a week!!

As you would guess they have been taking a heavy tole on our Allied cavalry over the past year but they are really nice to look at.





They did however fall under the wargamers unwritten rule of "newly painted figures tend to get duffed over 1st time out". With some really lucky rolling by myself my Prussian artillery whittled away at them before they were minced by a Prussian Dragoon regiment.

Ahh those were good times!!!

Davids Chasseurs

These were the 1st Battle Honours cavalry that my brother David added to his French collection and really nice they turned out too.

We managed to get a whole load of Battle honours from our friend Robert at a good price as they were surplus to his requirements so a big stroke of luck there.

As we are using the General de Brigade rules the French casualties are on 6 side bases.

Prussian Minifigs

At last a full regiment finished!!!

Well there has to be some sort of record for the length of time someone takes from buying figures to actually completing them and these guys must be in with a shout for that record?

(I bought these guys when I was 17 years of age and just finishing high school and I completed them this week, I am now 36!!!)


To give you a little bit of background my brother started collecting French Minifigs when I was a lad so as soon as I was able to paint half decent I decided that I would collect the Allies. We painted a good amount but after trying out some rules we got fed up and decided to knock it on the head (I think I managed 24 Prussians in total?)

So the figures sat up in my brothers loft with the occasional dusting off for a look until last year when we got introduced to Napoleonics again through some guys at the Motherwell Wargames Club and out they came again. We have been using the General de Brigade rules so I had to do some searching to make the figures up to 32 man battalions but I got there in the end.

I still have a stack of cavalry to work through but they are in smaller batches of 15-20 and since I have loads of Old Glory cavalry to paint I will just be making do with the numbers I have. This little force will be getting handed over to my nephew Ian when he is old enough to look after them (and hoping he still has an interest in wargaming!)

So that's my 11th/2nd Silesian infantry regiment finished. I had to do some head swaps and some conversion work but I am glad the way they turned out. I have to say I enjoyed doing these guys much more than any AB or Old Glory units I have painted and now that I have them finished I actually feel that I have achieved something! Must just be the nostalgia I guess? Thanks to Robert for helping get this little force together.

Dutch Minifigs

Well I must admit that I never thought these figures would ever see the light of day again so I am really glad to get them underway. I only have a couple of battalions (one just needs varnishing), artillery and cavalry to complete them.

You will have guessed the Waterloo battles were what we were building our armies towards. To be honest my brother isn't keen on the lesser allies so it was down to me to get them painted. For the command bases I converted some French and Dutch troops. I also took some inspiration from a really nice 28mm battle: http://generaldebrigade.13.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=3416

I have always liked the Nassau uniform and took a lot of enjoyment out of painting these wee guys. The only thing I didn't like was the light troops in advancing positions while the rest are in march attack it just doesn't look right to me? If I had spare march attack I would have converted them into the lights, unfortunately I didn't.





As with the rest of our Minifigs units I had to do a far bit of searching to make up the numbers. I filled the ranks out with officers and drummers with a couple of head swaps and even a newer range Minifigs drummer added in. The grenadiers are my personal favourite.
A big thanks to David C for somehow finding spares of this unit and again to Chris for the flag it really finishes the unit off.

British Minifigs

I had managed to paint up quite a few British all those years ago but again not as many as is required for the General de Brigade rules so I had to go scrounging around again.

For the officers I managed to raid our spares box and converted some Belgians and to finish them off I added some Revo flags.

The Scots Greys were all finished off if not low in numbers so it was just a case of getting them based up.

The 95th rifles here are a mix of Minifigs and also Lancashire Games (I think?)

The Highland Light Infantry was a unit I really enjoyed painting as a boy and it was nice to get it based up and onto the wargames table again. (I have the 2 flag poles being carried in the unit but I don't believe the HLI carried their flags into battle during the Napoleonic war. Unfortunately it is too late to change them now). Thanks again to Chris, David C and Robert for help fill out the ranks of our units.

French Guard Minifigs

The advancing French guard were the first Napoleonic troops my brother bought. I couldn't tell you exactly when that was but I was knee high to a grasshopper.

A couple of years later I bought 24 of the march attack ones, painted and based them up on beer mats (which was the basing material of choice back then!) then once we lost interest just like the rest of our Minifigs collection they were banished to my brothers loft for far to many years.

My brother and I maintained a soft spot for the old Minifigs range so when we started the Napoleonics again I felt I really had to do them justice and get them based up. Again with the General de Brigade rules we needed more figures so I had to go searching. Thanks to David C, Robert and Stephen for helping me get a hold of those missing figures, the mounted officers came from that stock I picked up at Macs Models all those years ago! Thanks again to Chris for the flags.

I have to say there is one downside to getting these guys finished, my Prussians will have to fight them!!!

Prussian Workbench 1

Just thought I would post a few of the units I have almost finished but have neglected so as to get more figures under way.

Recently I've picked up a habit of getting a unit all based up and ready to finish then jumping to the next one.
There are 2 reasons for this:
1) The unit is already usable so to my eye can be fielded.
2) That bugger JP who seems to be able to paint 15 battalions in 2 months along with accompanying cavalry, artillery and command, and they look good! So there is always pressure to keep up a steady flow of troops to the field (which is not a bad thing).

On my work bench or my "on ice" bench at the moment I have a Prussian horse battery that really only needs it's guns done and grass applied as well as a couple of Prussian infantry battalions.

Also I am working on 2 command bases that have taken me a lot longer than expected. I will post more pic's when they are finished.

Casualty Markers

The casualty markers are just a little eye candy for the gaming table to save using dice. I got the initial idea from a 28mm wargames site http://befreiungskriege.wordpress.com/

These Minifigs casualties were a little bit of a brain wave that just goes to show that the little thoughts us wargamers have of "I am sure I will find a use for those some day" actually can come true! Even after around 20 years, so keep a hold of that lead pile! A big thanks to my friend Chris for putting the idea of what to do with these guys in my head!


So here is the back story: When I was still at high school my friends and I discovered a little oasis on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh called Macs Models. We spent many a Saturday afternoon (and many a pound) in this wonderful little shop. It really was a great place filled wall to wall with little gems.

So it was a sad time when Mac told us he was selling off his stock and was going to fill the shop with swords and the like (not a total loss then!). Shocked by the news I made an offer for the rest of the 15mm Minifigs in stock and ended up with a load of mostly useless lead that sat about in my parents loft for a very long time.

Anyway a few months back I had been searching through the many packs of different artillery riders I had picked up in the stock sale wondering again what possessed me to buy them and a day or 2 later at our Tuesday night Chris happened to mention he was having problems finding casualty figures for his Bavarians and PING an idea was born! I had Bavarians, Prussians, British in belgic and stove pipe, Austrians and many, many more in stock. A little bending of the legs, arms and heads and shazam . . . perfect casualties and they look great!! I even think the Minifigs casualty figures are better for the job than the Old Glory ones above!

West Prussian Dragoons

This is my 1st cavalry regiment finished for my little Prussian army and they are produced by Old Glory.

I really like these figures as they have loads of different poses and with a few arm moves and head twists you have a very unique looking unit.

Here you have them with their flag finished. I'm pretty pleased with the way these guys turned out and they have been holding their own in battle so far taking the eagle of the Guard Dragoons in their second combat (against JP).

Prussian 6pdr Foot Battery

This is my 1st artillery battery that I have finished for my Prussian army that I'm building and the figures and guns are from old glory.

The detail on these figures is pretty nice and the metal used is strong enough that they should withstand the rigors of the gaming table.

I like the Old Glory guns but they did need a fair bit of cleaning around the barrels to make them rounded and also I filed and drilled out the muzzle.

Blucher Command Minifigs

A big thanks to Robert for passing these figures onto me. I was without a command for my little Minifigs Prussian force and these guys do the trick just fine.

Blucher and the figure in green (feldjager) are from the later Minifigs range but I am nor sure of the ADC? I believe Blucher should have a blue cap so I might alter that in the future.

1st West Prussian Jager

These volunteer jager are from Old Glory and I am pretty happy with them.

A funny thing with these figures is that their bayonets were fixed in place? I know there was one instance when the Silesian Schutzen charged cavalry and the figures were maybe sculpted with that in mind? I clipped mine off

One error I have made is that the cuffs should be in the Brandenburg style with the flap so I will have to fix that at a later date. For now they are fine for the gaming table!

Prussian Command Base 1

I have been working on a 15mm Prussian army mostly of Old Glory but also with the odd AB and Battle Honours figure thrown in.

 These guys are done as a infantry command and are from Old Glory they are not bad but the hats leave a lot to be desired. I had considered clipping them off and repositioning them with some plastic card and milliput but I needed to get them done pretty quick for a game we were having so decided to leave them as is.

  

 

The base is from warbases and is 40mm by 3mm deep. I filled the area around the base with milliput and added some fine sand in different sizes with white glue painted graveyard earth then given a brown wash before dry brushing with earth mixed progressively with bleached bone. To finish it off I added a few little clumps of dark tall grass and some summer mix static grass again secured with white glue again.