28mm Napoleonic Pioneer Assault Teams

I completed these three pioneer combat stands for the 'When Things go Boom' scenario that I put on for the guys recently. Two are French and one is British with a mish-mash of figures from Foundry, Victrix, Perry and Sash and Saber.

In 'Republic to Empire' a brigade's pioneers can be commandeered together to form specialized assault teams to aid in defending or seizing built-up objectives. These hard nuts are quite the terror in close combat but the downside, of course, is that they are amongst the first to take casualties in a pitched fight. 'Lasalle' also features Engineer bases so these boys will serve for future games in that system as well. I quite like the inclusion of these elements to a game as it builds the excitement when players have to 'ante up' their forces for close combat.

As you can see I didn't have enough pioneer castings to fill all the stands so I included a selection of grenadiers to back them up. This seemed reasonable as I would think grenadiers would be a common choice for leading these kind of assaults. If I hadn't been in such a hurry to get these done for the game I would have modeled them on cobblestone bases with some of the figures carrying ladders, pickaxes, etc. - well, maybe for the next group.

These brawlers will count for 12 points in the Spring-Thaw Painting Challenge.

A Napoleonic Hypothetical Scenario: The British Retreat from Waterloo

Over in the 'Past Games' section you will find a Napoleonic scenario I cooked-up for a recent set of games. Its built around one of those crazy 'what if's' of history.  The basic premise is that after the battle of Ligny the Prussians decide to fall back on their lines of communication instead of supporting Wellington. The Duke is subsequently defeated at Waterloo. The action depicted takes place during the British mad dash to the sea (and the salvation of the Royal Navy) at a village which overlooks a pontoon bridge crossing the river Rupel. The position has to be held to allow the army to retreat on to Antwerp, but for the French this is a golden opportunity to finally rid itself of 'Perfidious Albion.'

I've put this scenario on a couple times now. Once up in Saskatoon for Tim and John as a 'Black Powder' game (see Tim's report here) and last week using 'Republic to Empire' for the lads here  at home (report to follow). Perhaps next we'll use 'Lasalle'...

I apologize in advance to the scenario's length. I definitely was not living up to my given name when I wrote it up...

JohnM again: 28mm 10e Cuirassiers (redux)

"I don't know about you, Francois, but I found the green more slimming..."

These Perry boys, originally in Dragoon Green, were sent back to 'Wardrobe' for a costume change and here they are in all their Blue glory! Well done John, they look great!

I understand that four of these were done before the Painting Challenge so we'll count the remaining eight for the scoreboard. I'll have to get going so John does not squeak in a hat-trick!

From JohnM: 28mm British Horse Artillery - Congreve Rocket Battery

Behold, another entry for the Painting Challenge! This one is from John de Terre Neuve. Here are a beautiful set of stands depicting a Congreve rocket battery about to unleash their destruction (entertainment?) on foe and friend alike! These figures are 28mm castings from Old Glory Miniatures. 

John had started the rocket models prior to the Challenge (check out his helpful review here on his blog) so they fall outside the scoring, but the nine crewmen places him at the leading position on the scoreboard! Rumour has it that there are some French Cuirassiers soon to make their appearance, so keep posted (I understand there was a slight 'wardrobe malfunction' ;) ).

Great work, John!

Excuse me as I scurry back to my painting desk in an effort to catch up...

First Painting Challenge Entry: 28mm Napoleonic French Artillery

Here is something to officially kick-off 'The Napoleonic Spring-Thaw Painting Challenge.' I thought that since Perry Miniatures has kindly offered to sponsor some of the prizes for the Challenge (Thanks very much Alan!) I would show off something from their lovely range of models. This is a Perry Miniature 6pd French artillery piece with its crew. I put on a game up Saskatoon last month and Tim pointed out that I should put some mud and turf on the wheels as I clearly show the furrows in the groundwork. I totally agree and so I decided to begin incorporating elements of this into all of my artillery models. 

I saw 'Secundus' post on his blog Iron Mitten how he did his mud effect and I decided to try a slight variation on his technique. To do the 'muck' I first brushed on some slightly watered-down white glue onto the wheel rims and then tweezered some static grass into it. Once that set up I then brushed on Liquitex gloss gel medium mixed with some brown paint. (I also brushed this into the furrows on the base to better tie it all together.) This gives a nice, wet, gloppy look and dries hard. For a bit of added depth I brushed on a bit of  thinned down Citadel Devlan Mud Wash.  

I might go in and trim down some of the mucked flock, but otherwise I'm happy with the overall look of it and will do the same to the rest of the battery.

In terms of the Painting Challenge this is worth 6 points (1pt for each crew and 2 for the gun model). Book 'em, Danno!

I'll have more stuff to post on the blog very soon PLUS I know both Stacy and Sylvain have some Prussians and Russians (respectively) about to make their debut as well so we should see the scoreboard begin to tick along. Huzzah!!