Waterloo Farm - Airfix Style

 So I don't usually post about my purchases, but I found this one going relatively cheap and just thought it was high time I build it.  I am strangely excited about finally adding this iconic kit to my collection of scenery for the Napoleonic collection.  I'm very glad Airfix chose to model just the farm and not the entire Hougemont complex (edit - La Haye Sainte, not Hougemont - Thank you Rob.  I knew that, once upon a time...), as that would have made it enormous.  As it is, I think it will be a good size for the wargames table.  We shall see once I get it assembled...

French 76th Regiment of the Line

 I recently finished up rejuvenating some vintage 1960s or early 1970s 1/72 scale Napoleonic Alberken (early Minifig) figures, representing the French 76th line infantry regiment's 1st and 3rd battalions around 1811.

Many of these figures graced the pages of the Bruce Quarrie Airfix Guide to Napoleonic Wargaming. They were from the collection of Richard Tennant who provided many of the photos for the guide, along with Don Featherstone.

I first heard of l'ordre mixte in the Airfix guide and always had a fascination with that deployment, so here I have put my own spin on it with some good sized 36 figure battalions.

Here you can more clearly see the supposed benefit of the formation that combined the firepower of a line with the impetus of a column.

The two Grenadier companies form the center of the line.

Voltigeurs to the front - these have to be some of my all time favorite castings, which were featured prominently in the Airfix guide.

Dick Tennant's penchant for detail is shown here with a corporals rank stripe on the sleeve and shako cords and bands literally just painted on.

My contribution to these figures was a good cleaning and touch ups and then the addition of shading, highlights, a protective coat of gloss varnish and a nice bright base to stand on.

GdB Jean Chemineau is modelled using a personality figure from Hinton Hunt meant to be Marshal Ney.  I hope he will forgive me for the demotion...

For Colonels I tend to use more modern castings.  Here is an SHQ casting playing the French Chef de Bataillon Portemont, of the 3rd Battalion.  Somehow he managed to find an 1812 style uniform before the rest of his regiment.

For the 1st battalion Colonel I have used a Franznap casting.

The Eagle bearer of the 1st battalion is a grizzled veteran with only one arm, no doubt customized by Dick Tennant from an Alberken officer figure.

The 3rd battalion has turned in its Eagle and flag as required by Imperial decree, and now sports the more simple red battalion flag.  The sapeur was a complete repaint which I managed to make fit in with Dick Tennant's style rather well.

Finally I have a shot of the collection's guardian hard at work.  It's a tough life but someone has to do it. Nyra is a 4-5 year old Great Pyranees mix we adopted last year from Big Fluffy Dog Rescue in Nashville, and as you can see, she is fitting right in!.

 

Legion Irlandaise

They are a little late for their St. Patrick's Day debut, but I am happy to show of the refreshed Legion Irlandaise, originally painted by Richard Tennant.  My good friend Wellington Man has just posted his beautiful take on this regiment on his blog, The Hinton Spieler,

 https://thehintonspieler.blogspot.com/2024/04/united-irishmen.html, 

 I thought it would be fun to post these as well to compliment his work.  I am fairly certain these are made up of David Clayton castings, as they tend to be a bit smaller than original Hinton Hunt figures.  Nonetheless, they are beautifully cast and painted.  It was a pleasure to just touch these up a bit and add some shading and brighten the colors a titch.  I did add a new flag as the previous one was a bit too ordinary for such a splendid regiment.  I decided to model the 2nd battalion of the Regiment that served in Spain.  They are not quite as fancy as Wellington Man's 1st Battalion with their full plumes, but I do like their workman like simplicity.  They are lead by Lt. Colonel Jeremiah Fitzhenry, who is modelled with a lovely modern Franznap casting of a French Light Infantry Colonel.  He is the only figure I can claim as my own, but hopefully my touch ups have improved ever so slightly on the original rank and file.

Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers in 54mm Painted by Rob

Some time ago, in a somewhat brazen act of imposition, I asked if some of my fellow Hinton Hunt collectors would be interested in showing off their painting skills by painting a 54mm Hinton Hunt or Stadden figure and sending it to me as a memento of our friendship.  Aly was the first to complete the task, (https://miniatureminions.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-first-of-54s-classic-marcus-hinton.html), with Rob fast on his heals.  While I am waiting on a plinth for display, I simply could not resist going ahead and posting some pictures of this magnificent piece.  Thank you Rob!!!

I will let Rob's work on this figure speak for itself.

And y'all thought he was engrossed in a map of the battlefield...

Just a final word of thanks to Rob for his magnificent work on this classic figure.  I am truly lucky to have such friends!

Napoleon's Beautiful Daughter - All 12 Pounds of Her!

I've been slowly expanding my French Imperial Guard forces made with Der Kriegspieler 1/72 scale metal miniatures.  Sometimes the Der Kriegspielers can be challenging castings to work with but these turned out to be pretty good quality.  In particular the canon and limber set were nicely cast.  

While I normally just model a four horse limber, for the heavy twelve pounders I felt like I had to go with the full six!

The traces for the horses were made from a spool of twisted wire.  I was hoping it would give the traces a rope like look to match the work done by Dick Tennant on the line artillery limbers, but it came out looking more like leather, which is actually fine since that is what was actually used.

In the old school rules I use the gun represents two actual canons and each crew member represents a canon.  So here is an eight gun 12 pounder battery deployed for action.  As casualties are assessed, the loss of a crew member equates to the loss of a gun.

The 12 pounder French Canon is my favorite of the DK artillery.  I added the drag chains to the carriage and the fuse to the slow match of the corporal in charge of firing the canon.

I can't imagine they actually worked the guns in their bearskins, backpacks and slung rifles, but it looks cool!

The Battery commander is a fantastic casting and looks spectacular in his gold aiguilettes and cords.

Next up - The 2nd Battalion of the Irish Legion.  These were originally painted by Dick Tennant.  I am just giving the a good cleaning and sprucing them up a bit as a compliment to the 1st battalion currently under way by Wellington Man that can be seen on the Hinton Spieler blog.