Saturday, February 14, 2015

'Bring up the Guns. The British are Landing' - Egypt, 1801


In the early spring of 1801 General Friant, commanding approximately 2000 French along with 10 guns, obstructed the British amphibious landing at Abukir, near the Nile Delta, causing serious casualties amongst the Redcoats assembling on the beach. 



Under the hot Mediterranean sun, enduring a fierce bombardment, the British managed to gather enough men, send them forward with the bayonet and force the French away from the heights commanding the landing area. This campaign ultimately led to the French surrender at Alexandria on September 2nd and their ejection from Egypt (and, as part of the spoils, securing the Rosetta Stone for the British). 




This small 28mm vignette is from Brigade Games. The palm tree is home-made: wire wrapped with medical gauze, painted and then topped with hot-glued artificial leaves (my thanks to Brian H for the recipe for this).


The group  images show some mounted troopers from the French Dromedary Corps which I painted last year. The obelisks are from Scotia Grendel the desert mat is from the good folks over at Barrage Miniatures.

 

19 comments:

  1. Fantastic I need to kick start this project again.
    Cheers
    Stu

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    1. Thanks Stuart - I hope you start yours again as it's always good to get inspiration from others.

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  2. That is rather inspiring :)
    Definitely taking me to places and ideas not normally travelled...!

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  3. These are wonderful Curt. A great little side distraction

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    1. Thanks Dave! Yes, it's a sideshow of a sideshow but so very characterful.

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  4. Replies
    1. Thank you Pierre, I'm delighted you enjoy them.

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  5. Very nice, I really like the sculpts and the intensity of the colours.

    John

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    1. Thanks John! Yes, I decided to go quite punchy with the colours which I'm happy I did as it makes them stand out from the rather bland desert basing.

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  6. Very nice vignette/grouping. The figures are great, the palm and the obelisks are all wonderful to behold.

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  7. Excellent work Mr. Curt! Nothing beats some proper camels, eh?

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  8. Beautiful painting Curt, and I just love the palm tree, I need a full recipe for them please???

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    1. Thanks Ray. The palms are pretty simple. They are made from twisted florist wire which is fanned out at the top and bottom. Then the twisted middle section of the wire is wrapped in medical gauze in a tight spiral fashion up the 'trunk' and given a couple more circuits at the top for the 'bulb'. Then I apply a white glue and water mixture to bind it together. Once that is set then the hot glue gun comes out to put on the artificial leaves (I get these from a craft/hobby shop that has a section for artificial plants). The bottom 'fan' of wires will provide a meeting point for whatever basing material you choose. I usually use hot glue to affix it to my bases. Hmm, this sounds more complicated than what it is but it really is pretty simple. I suggest trying one out as a field test until you get the right effect and then do them in batches.

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