From Curt: 28mm Perry 1er Regiment de Dragons

Some might remember that some of these boys were featured in a previous post last autumn back when they were a unit of 16 figures. Well, I've added another eight to bring them up to a stronger 24-man regiment in order to face-up to Greg's Austrian Dragoons.

The 1st Dragoons had a long and distinguished career that extended through the Revolutionary period, the Republic and the Empire - right up to Waterloo (where, oddly, they were converted to lancers). One of their more notable feats was during the early part of the 1805 campaign where at Wertingen they cut up the Austrian Kuer Albert Regiment Nr. 3, took 6 guns and forced a Hungarian grenadier battalion to surrender. A good day to be a French Dragoon apparently...

These are Perry plastics which are some of the best figures I've ever built and painted. Lack of weight aside I really can't recommend them enough.

Dragoon green is bit of a fiddly colour as its quite distinct from other greens, and either you have the right shade or it looks completely wrong. After trying to mix my own (epic fail) I finally threw in the towel and bought the Foundry set of Dragoon Green (70A-C).  Foundry's 'paint system' has each colour spread over three shades: a dark-tone, a mid-tone and a highlight. For the most part their paints work quite well, give good coverage and have a rich tone which I quite like. I find that they have a bit of a satin finish but this can be managed with a good matt spray.

There you have it, a regiment done and another 16 points tucked away for the Challenge. With these lads I've managed to slip by JohnM to take the lead - but for how long can I hold before someone catches up?

In Progress: 28mm Foundry 1er Regiment de Carabiniers (early uniform)

I've always admired the early uniform of the French Carabiniers with their plumed bearskins, buff trousers and long-tailed coats. Except for a few details, their uniform was very similar to the Grenadiers a Cheval of the Imperial Guard. Personally, I think these were some of the most elegant uniforms of the period.

Close to ten years ago I painted a unit of ten figures from Foundry but I thought I'd at least double it up so it would better conform to the big-battalion rules we're now using. I'm finding it interesting revisiting these figures, seeing how aspects of my painting style has changed over the years. I certainly had a steadier hand back then! Nonetheless the 'Old Warhorse' has learned a few tricks and I've noticed a few areas where I would now do it differently. So I'm touching up the original castings and slowly grinding out another group.

I'm also redoing the bases and groundwork to better blend in with the rest of the collection.

I did a slight conversion of a Foundry cavalry casualty, cut off a carabinier bearskin and drilled it out. I'll make a vignette in the second rank of a downed trooper with his horse (in the front rank) faithfully continuing on with the charge. 

   

I'll post an update when I get the unit completed (update: visit here to see the new full unit). 

From PaulP: 15mm AB Prussian Cuirassier Regiment

Paul sends us a few photos of a beautiful new addition to his 1813 Prussian force: a regiment of cuirassiers mustered out of East Prussia. 

I think the reason that these guys were such hard nuts was because they were always angry for being cheated out of getting a proper cuirass. Yep, a classic case of cuirass envy. Really, can you blame them? C'mon, talk about using the old bait-and-switch trick. 'Hey lads, come join the Cuirassiers! They are the elite of the Fatherland's cavalry. We'll make sure your custom embossed breastplate is delivered to your address at the front. No, really.'

These AB castings are just amazing - its difficult not to think of them as being 28mm.

'Quit your whining, Dieter! Cuirasses are for sissies...'

The flag, and a nice one it is, was sourced from Signifer. 

So, Paul adds another 24 points to his total. Nicely done! I wonder what can we expect from him as we go into the last few weeks of the Challenge?

28mm Perry French Command, Foundry Young Guard Skirmishers and Plowed Field from Architects of War

 

Its been sort of hectic lately, but I managed to get some stuff off the hobby-table this week. I actually started this French command stand at the beginning of the Painting Challenge back in early February. I dunno why, but I found I just wasn't inspired by it, so its been waiting in the wings ever since. Nonetheless this weekend I resolved to put my head down and get it done so here it is.

These are 28mm Perry sculpts from their Waterloo range. The abandoned drum is a plastic extra from a Victrix box. Its funny - I've discovered that most of my command stands are composed of officers who are basically yelling at one another. I guess I always assume that tempers run high during battle so having these guys barking at each other seems sensible.

'Mon Dieu, vous êtes un imbécile! Louis! Did you leave your bloody bicorne back in your tent again?'

I used Army Painter Quickshade 'Strong Tone' on the mounted figures, matte sprayed them and then went over them again to pick up the highlights. I was concerned that the gray horse would end up being too 'muddy'  but it seemed to turn out alright once the highlight was applied. I'm pretty happy with how the Quickshade works on the whole. It suits my painting method which I liken to Kabuki theater makeup - it looks good at a distance, but as you get closer it becomes increasingly  blocky and frankly kinda ugly (Hmm, reminds me of a few pub experiences I've had...). That being said I find it works well for my purposes as I reason most wargaming stuff is seen at an arm's length away.

Next up is a group of 8 Young Guard skirmishers. These are from Foundry but the sculpts, of course, are Perry. I remember years ago seeing these castings in a colour advertisement in 'Wargames Illustrated'. I've always liked the prone and seated figures. These are on the smallish side of 25mm but they seem in the right spirit for Young Guard.

And finally here is another piece of terrain from my winter Architects of War purchase, a large plowed field with a low stone wall on the edge. Like the Vegetable Garden I pretty much painted this stock from the box and overall I'm pleased with the results.

Again, I just added some scenic tufts and groundwork to give it some extra texture.

The command stand and skirmishers will nudge me twelve points closer to John's score as we go into the final three weeks of the challenge.

From PaulP: Two 15mm Old Glory Prussian Battalions from the 6th Reserve Regt.

'Ok, the last one to Paris cleans Napoleon's bidet!'

Here we have some lovely new entries from PaulP in the form of two battalions of 1813 era Prussian infantry from the 6th Reserve Regiment.

The boys with crimson indicate those troops who were recruited out of West Prussia, while the yellow striped fellows are from Silesia (Y'know, 'Silesia' is a great sounding word. No really, say it out loud: S-I-L-E-S-I-A. Its just too bad it also sounds like a name Paris Hilton would give her shih tzu...).

Anyway, these guys are the business. I quite like these man-sized units... Hmm, strike that and let me rephrase: I like that there are a lot of figures making up each battalion. Yeah, that's what I meant. 

All of these are 15mm Old Glory castings. I really like the animation amongst the various poses.

Yes, very nice stuff indeed. Bravo Paul!

This will give Paul a tidy 32 points for the Challenge.  Yikes, I'm going to have to pull up my socks and get some stuff ready or I'm going to get dropped off the back of the peloton (paintoton? minioton? whatever.).