Le Garde de Paris - A lesson in Planning Ahead - Or Lack Thereof....

Ooops!

My rendition of the Paris Municipal Guard, which served in the Iberian Peninsula has been a rather humbling one.  I typically prime my figure and then undercoat with a thinned brown wash to accentuate detail and naturally deepen the color of recessed areas.  This is all well and good for typical French or British uniforms, and my intention was to paint these in the early war green coats with red facings, but in the end I decided to go with the later war white uniforms.  So now I am painting white over brown, which is a pain, as I like to use thinned paint.

Here they are ready for painting.  Many thanks to Nigel who provided the Hinton Hunt Fusiliers making up the rank and file! 

Old Guard Grenadiers will serve as the elite companies, as both Grenadiers and Voltigeurs wore the bearskin!

I played around with trying a one coat vs a two-coat application of the white, but in the end went with a  one coat application that will need to be augmented in raised areas.

Here is the battalion in progress with a Grenadier NCO accompanying the eagle bearer as well as a drummer and a Lieutenant from the Grenadier company leading the command section.

I've also been playing around with some Grenadiers for a combined regimental Grenadiers force of a light infantry regiment.  Here is an unusual uniform but one that is quite plausible, as many grenadier companies did use the colpack, and in this case have replaced their trousers with local Spanish cloth.

Here is a French 6 inch howitzer by Hinchliffe from their 20mm equipment line, that I was lucky enough to procure.  It is destined to serve in a horse artillery battery.

Road Trip!

Cindy and I were lucky enough to hit the road last week and go to the Ozarks for a few days.  It was a lovely break in the routine!

Up on the balcony of the Crescent hotel after enjoying a simple pizza dinner.

The pizza was meh, but the view was stunning!

Spillway creek from Leatherwood Lake.  We saw a whole family of river otters here!  You can barely make out a Great Blue Heron in the distance.

This was a wacky find.  Just beyond the damn is an old Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) stone quarry.  Someone had taken the time to make a meditation spiral with the loose stones!

The path above the damn.  The damn itself was a beautiful affair made from quarried stone.

A lovely dinner on the back porch of our B&B with deer grazing below us.

Elkhorn Tavern at the Pea Ridge National Battlefield.  I knew nothing about this battle and we just stumbled upon the battlefield.  The park is huge and was the sight of a large civil war battle that by and large decided the contest west of the Mississippi for the Union.  The tavern served as a hospital for both sides.  The current building is a reproduction, as the original was burned by the confederate army.

Cindy enjoyed the impromptu tour of the battlefield, and honestly, the park had some of the most beautiful vistas we were to see during the whole trip!

OK, Enough Distractions - Back to Painting!

Hotdogging in Spain: The Frankfurt Battalion of the German Division

Oberstleutenant Fritsch takes command of the Frankfurt Battalion in 1811 while on duty in the Iberian Peninsula.  Along the way they drill to reinforce their company organization along French lines.  This is the last battalion of the German Division painted by Dick Tennant.  I will be adding the Guard de Paris Battalion which was initially brigaded with the Frankfurters, as well as a Battalion from Hesse-Darmstadt.  Once those are complete the German division will be finished!

Oberstleutenant Fritsch doesn't have his nameplate yet, but it's coming soon.  He is a modern Franznap figure, whereas the rank and file are all Hinton Hunt figures.

As usual with Dick Tennant's brushwork, just a little touchup and some shading and highlighting was all that was required to bring them into top notch shape.

Showing off their nimble formation changes given their smaller 24 figure battalion.

Squares never look quite right with the smaller battalions, but it gets the point across.

Here they have wisely decided to return to Germany...

Oberstleutenant Fritsch

All of the silver bullion sets off the deep blue and red of his uniform quite well.

Addressing the troops.

Up next: The Guard de Paris in their 1811 white uniforms faced green.

You'll have to trust me that the facing color is Green.  I stole this image from the interwebs and they look awfully blue!

Oberstleutenant Henning and Carl von Lassolaye and Co. - Baden Command

 

The two battalions of the Baden contingent, as well as the artillerists, are finally under good command.  They have been up to no end of mischief, drinking and carousing all night in the display cabinet.  Hopefully Oberstleutenant Henning and Major Lassolaye can rein them in and curtail such rowdy behavior!

These are lovely modern sculpts of Baden Commanders from Franznap Miniatures

Franznap horses are so well sculpted.

And the uniforms so finely detailed.

Two slightly different variants of the battalion commander figure that comes with three options for the sword arm.

It's fun to have a chance to paint a finely detailed miniature from scratch.  I appreciate all the love Dick Tennant put into the rank and file of the Baden battalions, but it is really nice to be able to put my stamp on a few of the figures as well.

I never could find the name of the commander of the 2nd battalion of Baden, so I have given him the fictional name of Von Seiner, after the most effective German leader in the Squad Leader game - an old favorite of mine.

Next up on the painting desk is the battalion from Frankfurt.  This is just a single battalion that will be brigaded with two entirely new battalions for the collection; the Guard de Paris and the Regiment Gross- und Erbprinz from Hesse-Darmstadt.  

And a final Parting shot:

I lucked out and saw all of these listed for an extremely reasonable, low even, "Buy it Now" price, so I did.  It is unusual to see a collection of Hinton Hunt figures like this in the states so I jumped at the chance.  I have been working with Wellington Man to determine their provenance.  I'm pretty sure the cavalry are all Hinton Hunt originals.  The infantry and artillery may be as well, but the bases have been ground flat which makes it more difficult to tell.  Certainly they are all nice useable figures.  The big question is will I strip and repaint them, or just try and tidy up the paint that is already there.  In any event the French Old Guard just got a real boost with a big battalion of Old Guard Grenadiers, a medium sized battalion of Tirailleurs (from converted Voltigeurs), a battery of 12 pounder artillery, and the Regiment of Chasseurs a Cheval of the Guard, as well as a line regiment of cavalry representing the Carabiniers in their shiny brass breastplates.  All in all a very lucky find! If you have a few Hinton Hunt Young Guard Voltigeurs FN75 lying around unloved, let me know, as I need a handful more to bring the Tirailleur battalion up to strength.

Baden Artillery - I'll Take the Works Please

Richard Tennant provided the core unit here and it certainly is fully loaded!  I have made extensive repairs on this one as the limber traces and double trees (?) fared poorly on their journey across the Atlantic.  Even the wheels got a bit smooshed.  I also added an 8" Howitzer from the Hinchliffe 20mm equipment line which I was fortunate enough to find on eBay still in the original packaging.  When the guns are limbered it includes the crew in marching order, and when unlimbered the crew serving the guns has the ammunition case near by for prompt action.  There is something about the batteries that I just love!

The whole grouping makes for an impressive display.

I believe the addition of the bar for aligning the gun was a Dick Tennant customization.  It sure is nice to have a different pose for an artillery crewman servicing the gun.

Dick had mounted some of the artillerists facing different directions, which is a nice touch.  Of course they would not all be looking forward.

You can see the base of the battery has a platform for the gun, so that it is lifted to the same level as the crew on their bases.  This helps the gun to feel like it is in the correct scale.  The Hinchliffe 20mm equipment is one of the more accurate in this regard, so I didn't want it sitting lower than the crew.

I really liked the ammunition case mounted with the crew on the ground instead of on the carriage.  I'll have to do that with the rest of my batteries that are unlimbered for firing.

I particularly like this tight grouping of the officer and the crewman with the slow match.

Getting this limber reassembled was a bear!

But it worked out in the end.

I really like being able to include the howitzer in this grouping.  Dick painted the original 8 pdr canon with a dark gray carriage, so I painted the howitzer to match.  In truth they were issued with new guns when entering Spain, so they would likely have been mounted on French olive green carriages.

I've never known anyone to model the crew in marching order other than DT, which is a dead giveaway that Mr. Tennant painted the original.

Next up - Baden Infantry and Artillery Command with Modern Franznap Figures.

Another Weekend of DBA Fun and a Magnificent Bonus!

 This weekend my dear wife of 35 years was off enjoying a girl's weekend to celebrate birthdays, so I had a built in excuse to get in some gaming.  While the troops looked good, as usual, my handling of them left something to be desired.

Aslan at the Stone Table with Susan and Lucy.  How could I lose with this mighty lion looking over the battlefield along with the fated queens of Narnia?

King Peter sounds the mighty war horn of Narnia.

But Jadis, the Ice Queen, has other plans.

Beasts of all sorts clash in the middle...

And the Narnians pull out a crushing victory over the center of the wicked Queens army! 

But in the end, the magic of Jadis was too strong and the good people of Narnia will have to wait for another day to feel the return of Spring - Kinda reminds me of US politics come to think of it...

To make up for his treatment of my Narnian army, Terry presented me with an extraordinary gift.  A beautifully based and customized, painted figure of a 54mm Charles Stadden original, here altered to depict a Fusilier in Spanish service of the Cordoba regiment 1810-1812.

Here is how he started life.

Modifications to the front and back in preparation for  converting to a Spanish Fusilier, and also some general improvements to the casting of the figure.

The list of modifications was extensive: Removed the chinscales, cords and shako plate, and reduced the pom pom to a cockade. Made a new shako plate in the shape of the city seal for Cordoba. Added mutton chop style sideburns and a thin pointed moustache typical of the Spanish at the time. Distressed the coat, trousers and shako with patches and tears (saber cut in the shako). Added a new flap cover for the cartouche, and removed the fatigue cap below it. Did some undercutting and refinement to the casting.

Finally, I present the Completed Figure for your Enjoyment

The old campaigner

Even the pot was hand carved and researched for authentic Spanish motifs!

He looks like he stepped right out of the Peninsular war after much hardship!

Even the back is detailed!

My sincerest thanks to Terry for this extraordinary gift which he approached with skill, dedication and an occasional bit of humor at my expense!