From BurkhardS: 28mm Napoleonic Austrians, Prussians & French (100 points)

From Burkhard:

These minis were painted over the last two weekends. Essentially these are meant to fill some of the gaps I still have for my Völkerschlacht von Leipzig project.

Up first were a couple of Östereichische (Austrian) Jäger. Now while my Allied force for the scenario is Prussian, it also includes four Austrians. These represent a company worth of Jäger that got lost earlier in the day and attached themselves to the Prussians. The minis are Front Rank. They should fit in well with my Calpe Prussians since they are roughly the same size and heft. They are marvelous sculpts to paints. The only slight reservation I had with these was that they were a bit boring in their colour choice with their Hechtgraue uniforms and mainly balck equipment... wish Front Rank had sculpted a few Haversacks on for a little colour!

Up next are a few Prussian officers. In a recent game we played I had to use some British officers as stand-ins which resulted in some jokes that I needed more Prussian officers to prevent the Brits from stealing the glory. One is a pair of artillery officers representing Oberstleutnant Schmidt who commanded von Yorcke´s artillery reserve that day. Both minis and their Horses are from Calpe. I really enjoyed their businesslike simplicity. While it might not show on the photos, I enjoyed painting the reflection of the sky into the telescope lense. I  felt this gave a great counterpoint to that simplicity and serves as a good eyecatcher.

The other one is a Prussian officer (Perry) meant to represent the officer who commanded the second detachment of the avant garde. Unfortunately his name is unknown, but this also gave me the opportunity to choose his facing colours. I went for silesian yellow, since there a lot of units from Silesia in the force and since it gave a nice contrast with the blue of the uniform and the red of the turnbacks. Also on the base are a French artillery casualty and broken gun from Offensive Miniatures. I feel that piece has lots of character and they both serve to distract from one another therefore creating lots of action on the base. The only mood point is that I arranged them in a way that it looks like the Prussian officer is shouting to get that dead Frenchmen moving again.

Up next are the French officers. I also had some gaps there. Not that I do not have enough French command stands, but a lot of those are very high ranked and it looks strange to have Napoleon lead a brigade. ;-)

First is a French colonel from Victrix. And I have to say... for me this is one of the top five Napoleonic minis around if not the best. There is so much character in that minis especially if combined with the prancing horse from the set, you just have to love that mini! It just screams smug aristocratic officer. And I love it. It is meant to represent a French General de Brigade for my Möckern project. Yes, I know this is a colonels uniform, but I simply had to realise I I did not have enough minis with the right uniform around so this will have to do. I also added a Grenadier Porte Fannion (Perry) to the base to make sure he does not look too alone.

The other base is a French General de Division and his aide. His is meant to represent Général de division Count Joseph Lagrange who commanded the French 21st Division at Leipzig. The minis is actually a Marechal painted up to represent a GdD. Both he and his aide are Perry Miniatures.

I really enjoyed painting these Frenchmen. One thing I really love to do is paint NMM gold. Now over the past few months I only painted French Légère and Prussians and while those have a lot of silver in their clothing... no gold. But about no one sports more gold than French officers so this was a great remedy! 

Last up is another French artillery casualty from Offensive Miniatures. I have not really decided ow to use him, But I wanted to paint him in one go while painting his mate so he is here as well!

Up next on the table is a battery of Prussian horse artillery. The four guns are already painted, but I have not started on the crew yet and next weekend is filled with social functions... it will be a a though challenge to get these done before the deadline.

Wow, beautiful work Burkhard! I have to admit have a great soft spot for Napoleonics so I love seeing submissions such as this. I really like your non-metalic metal effect - I've been trying much the same thing lately and am sorely missing the loss of GW's Bubonic Brown as it gave a great base shade. Anyway, again, lovely stuff.

These Austrian, Prussians and French will give Burkhard 100 points (and I see you are just one foot figure short of your target...). 

From Burkhard: 28mm Napoleonic Prussian Infantry (180 points)

From Burkhard:

Here is my next entry for the painting challenge. The Prussian Westpreussisches Grenadierbattalion for my Möckern (Völkerschlacht of Leipzig) project. All minis are Calpe in 28mm (with the exception of the French casualty on the skirmisher base, which is a Perry plastic). 

I have to admit, that while this is not the largest Napoleonic unit I ever painted, this is the largest I painted in one go (as opposed to small batches) and this was a huge mistake. When painting every single colour takes at least an hour, you start to loose interest somewhere along the route. Anyway... they are now finished and I am happy with the results. But as a result the next things on my table are smaller batches. Already finished four Austrian Jäger (they are awaiting their varnish and basing) and next on my table are Prussian and French officers.

I have been painting units from von Yorck´s advance guard at Leipzig for some time now, but this is the first regular unit with a flag for me. All the others have either been Landwehr and Reserves with non-regulation flags, or Schützen and Fuisiliere without any. It is strange what a change something like a different type of flag can be, but it really was for me when done. Together with the posh (at least for Prussian standards) grenadier uniforms, it was a real joy to see them done. I hope they will do me proud on the table.

Cripes, that is a lovely unit of Naps Burkhard. I do feel your pain about slowly chewing through a huge unit of figures. For me I find large cavalry units to be my bane as they seem to take forever to get them done. Often small bites work the best. Nonetheless, you can now enjoy the fruits of your labour. These Prussian lads can now bravely go meet their fate on the game table.

This battalion with its screen of skirmishers will give Burkhard 180 points. Well done!

From JohnM: 28mm Napoleonic Prussian Fusiliers, Artillery Officers & Caissons (140 points)

John sends in his final entry to the Challenge with these fine Prussian Napoleonic fusiliers, artillery officers and a caisson.

Fusilier battalion of the IR21, 4th Pomeranians in their British supplied riflemen uniforms.

From John:

'I was aiming for an even 1000, but sometimes the gods conspire against you.' (I won't provide you John's full expletive as its wonderfully blistering and foul. - ed) 

For my Prussian Fusilier battalions I have decided to go with 4 figures to a base rather then 6 to allow more dynamic basing.

'I knew that the French command stand would bring me up to 860 points. Yesterday morning I got up and said, I am going to paint 140 pts of Napoleonics in 24 hours. There was some technical difficulties as my terrain style requires 24 hours for the first coat to dry, but things like hairdryers exist (I live with 2 women), so I said soldier on. I painted the 3/21st 4th Pomeranian Regiment yesterday, but woke up this morning with still 60 points needed and the terraining on the Pomeranians left to do. OK I said a Prussian caisson (10 pts), 4 horses and 2 riders (30 pts) and 2 mounted Artillery officers (20 pts)=60 pts=1000 pts= goal achieved.' 

Next up are some Prussian Artillery figures. Still drying I am afraid, but they are finished.

We have 2 mounted officers, a artillery colonel on the right and his ADC to the left. They are from the Artillery command set.

Well all good….by 2pm done aside from a bit of terraining, and then the inconceivable happened, I had painted a horse and a caisson driver that did not match, I just could not get him to fit on any of the horses. Should of checked before I started. C'est la vie! 

Here we have a horse artillery caisson sans one driver. I am using only 4 horses for each artillery support unit, so have 4 in reserve for Schrumpkopf's medic wagon.

Who's a silly boy! Can't find his horse.

Beautiful work as usual, John. But I'm afraid I can't see the problem. Obviously this last figure is a dismounted rider who is particularly bowlegged (or has some rare form of Prussian Rickets). So I've added the 5 points for him to make your total 140 for this entry. Oh my, look, you've broken the 1K barrier! Congratulations my friend, well done!

From JohnM: 28mm Prussian Napoleonic Infantry (120 points)

John sends in this great Prussian Napoleonic unit depicting the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment of Landwehr of the Elbe.

These 28mm figures are from the excellent Calpe range. Flag is by Flag Dude.

I've always liked the soft caps that many of the Landwehr units wore. I think they look very smart with the large Maltese cross and piping on the crown.

I've always liked the soft caps that many of the Landwehr units wore. I think they look very smart with the large Maltese cross and piping.

This unit will give John 120 points. Very well done!

From JohnM: Napoleonic Prussian Command Stands (100 points)

John sends us these very fine Prussian command vignettes from his enviable Napoleonic collection.

These 28mm castings are from the excellent Calpe range.

John is using these large-based vignettes for his Army and Prussian Divisional commands. They are very impressive indeed.

I really like the layout and photography - well done!

A few of the models were done before the Challenge so they can't be scored but this group, with  its excellent composition and basework will give John 100 points to add to his tallycard.

From JohnM: Napoleonic Prussian 1st Lieb Hussars (80 points)

From John we have a great unit of Prussian 'Death's Head' Hussars. Two squadrons from this regiment were present at Waterloo with the First Corps.

These are 28mm Calpe castings. John really liked the Seven Years War version of their flag and so included it with this unit (I believe it is by 'Flag Dude'). The standard is being held by a converted trooper. I think John did a really nice job on the black uniforms, which can be a bit tricky.

These lads will give John 80 points - pulling him ahead of Fran. ;)  Lovely unit, John. 

From JuanM: 28mm Napoleonic Prussians (85 points)

As a total change of pace from his previous entries, Juan sends in this very smart battalion of Prussian Napoleonic infantry. I've always liked those soft caps they often wore, with the yellow piping and the huge maltese cross crest.

These castings are from the excellent 28mm Calpe range.

These fellows depict the first battalion of a Silesian Landwehr regiment. Juan is committed to painting the complete regiment so we should be seeing them rolling off his painting desk in the coming months. Juan and his group are using these with the 'Black Powder' set of rules.

This fine unit will give Juan 85 points to add to his total. Well done!

From JohnM: Napoleonic Prussian Artillery (135 points)

John sends in this beautiful submission of Napoleonic late-period Prussian Artillery.

These castings are from the excellent 28mm Calpe miniature range. 

This first group (with the howitzer and shoulder rolls) depict the 3rd Silesian Heavy Foot Battery.

The second battery, below, is the 11th Silesian Horse Battery. One of the stands predates the Challenge.

 Both were part of the Prussian IV Corps under von Dennewitz that saw action at Waterloo.

A mounted artillery officer overseeing the chaos.

I really like the ammunition caisson in the background as well and I must say a really nice photo composition.

This group of five artillery bases along with the commander will give John a tidy 135 points. Great work John!