1er Régiment de Chevau-Légers Lancier de la Garde impériale (Polonais)

 At long last I give you the... 

1er Régiment de Chevau-Légers Lancier de la Garde Impériale (Polonais).

The official start date for the painting on these was May 14th 2024, so a mere 4 months and 29 days from start to finish for the painting.  Of course, if you include the time prepping the figures (they were a bear to prep), you might as well round up to 6 months!

The figures are Hinton Hunt for the most part.  I had to sneak in one Der Kriegspieler trooper, and Count Krasinski is an Art Miniaturen sculpt.

I love this dynamic pose, but the weight of the figure was too much for the back ankles of the horse to be steady, so I put in a support post and disguised it as a bush over which the horse is jumping.  The Art Miniaturen castings are somewhat rough, but sizewise they fit very nicely with the Hinton Hunts.

15 troopers, a major, trumpeter and eagle bearer complete the regiment.

Prepping the figures was a real challenge as the molds had clearly deteriorated by the time these were cast, and there was a lot of flash and undercuts that had to be cleared.  Facial detail was also quite rough.

Probably the worst casting flaws were in the belts holding the ammunition pouch and carbine hook.  I did my best, but what is there is almost all paint, as the detail was either gone or so rough to not be helpful.

The eagle bearer is a converted trooper whose lance had broken.  His carbine was removed and arm repositioned to hold the guidon.

The white kurtka of the trumpeter was probably never worn in the field, but I couldn't resist the temptation to paint him in full dress!

The guidon is a hand painted paper flag, stiffened with white glue and then varnished.  They end up being quite robust and it allows me to paint the flag initially on a flat surface and then just fold it around the pole.

The troopers!  I tried to accomplish most of the shading with a black-brown ink wash ala Alastair Morrison.  The horses, being brown to start with had a black was for shading.

So much fiddly detail on these lancers!

General de Brigade as well as Colonel of the regiment, Count Wincenty Krasinski.  I'll be painting Major d'Autancourt as well, who will be the acting Colonel, allowing Count Krasinski to fulfil his roll as GdB.  Hopefully the Regiment of Dutch lancers will join them in a year or two to complete the Brigade.

Quite a fancy lad!

The troopers view of their Colonel leading from the front!

Up Next - British Light Dragoons and a few odds and ends including more riflemen, and a Bavarian ammunition wagon with team.

In closing I will leave you with some work in progress pictures of the backdrop for the wargames table.  Still lots of work to do, but the basic design and colors are there.

An Austro-Hungarian Fusilier Tour de Force!

My good friend Terry Webb did me the honor of painting one of the 54mm Hinton Hunt figures I recently acquired.  I am still amazed at the generosity of friends who were willing to paint these for me and add to the Hinton Hunt collection started by Richard Tennant.  In any event and without further ado, I give to you Hinton Hunt S. 11 Hungarian Infantry in 54mm.  All of the basing and fencing is handcrafted by Terry as of course is the paintwork.

The level of detail in this display is beyond anything I could have imagined, and speaks to the joy Terry feels in creation.  This piece, as indeed all of the painted gifts I have received, are truly the treasure of the collection.  Thanks to you all!

Nashcon and Few New Additions to the Collection

 Well, Nashcon has come and gone and what a wonderful long weekend it was.  I spent most of Friday and Saturday evening connecting with friends, playing a few games, and spying the occasional bargain.

Firstly, thanks for to the two Scotts - Primus and Secundus, for a fantastic game of Ancient Britons versus Romans over the fords of the Medway river.

https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Medway

Blimp view of the Medway with only three available fords

The center passage was narrow and too heavily guarded for the Romans to make any significant progress.

My command on the right was able to carve out a toehold, but just barely.  It was on the larger ford at the left of our line that the Romans secured their victory, if only barely!

The 10mm printed figures were immaculately painted and presented.  Genuinely a beautiful game presentation.

Love the checkerboard formation of the Romans to represent their professional drill.

It wouldn't be a convention if I didn't bring something home from the flea market or Vendors!

This one was a real surprise and a bargain!  A whole unit of nicely painted 25mm Scruby Wurtemburgers for $24!

I really do think the Scruby line is underappreciated.  These are some lovely figures.

Three DK artillery teams on the cheap!

Anybody know these?  I don't think they are DKs.

Was this a real trail design for howitzers?  Any clue on the nationality if so and the figure make?

I needed these like a hole in the head, but may be able to use them or pawn them off on some other willing victim...

I Haven't been entirely idle during all this and have made some progress on my Polish Lancers of the Guard.

Taking my time on these, but enjoying the process.

All the sword and carbine details took awhile!

Count Krazinski coming along.

His uniform will have lots of silver lace eventually that may induce blindness in the painter...

Back to the old grind tomorrow, but I do have a milestone birthday coming up next month.  I think I may need to treat myself...

Scenic Backdrop, La Haye Sainte, Plinths, Polish Lancers of the French Imperial Guard and more!

 I have been having one of those weeks when I just feel like I am making no progress in my goal of updating the Tennant Collection of Hinton Hunt miniatures.  Richard Tennant painted 2800 of these tiny fellows and I have updated perhaps a third, but that still leaves a lot to go.  Every time I start another project it just pushes the completion of the collection's refresh back even further.  That being said, the additions I have made add a nice variety to the collection which I hope  will be a coherent whole in a few years.  In any event, below are some of my current distractions:

Eventually I'd like this cabinet to be full of beautifully refreshed miniatures, all consistently painted and based - there's a long way to go!  Note my guard dog protecting the collection...

One of two shelves that are essentially completed, representing one British and one French Division.

Among the current distractions is a scenic backdrop.  I got it in my mind that it would be fun to recreate a picture from the Airfix guide to Napoleonic Wargaming that featured these miniatures.  Dick Tennant and Don Featherstone worked to photograph them and provided the shots to Bruce Quarrie for publication.  No pressure there to do it right!

The first step was to enlist the services of a friend with a woodworking shop to create the 1.5'x6' wooden frame, on which I stretched some muslin (from another good friend who works in a fabric shop).

The backdrop is secured to the table with metal L brackets and a clamp so that it is mobile.

Primed with lots of leftover spray paints that I was never going to use.

At six feet long it should provide ample coverage for panoramic shots of the battlefield.

Hopefully I can turn cheap craft paints into some that resembles a landscape in Portugal or Spain.

Yet another distraction is this Airfix kit of LaHaye Sainte

Assembled and with a few farm animals begging to be painted.

One of my woodworking friends had this lovely piece of 1/8" ply with a mahogany veneer as scrap, which I will use as the base.

Chief among the distractions is the regiment of the Polish Lancers of the French Imperial Guard!

They are coming along, but there is so much detail to paint on these handsome lads and their horses.

And yet another ongoing effort, I wanted to get some nice plinths for some larger scale miniatures that friends across the pond and locally have painted.  

I found these maple blocks from an online craft wood distributor that were dirt cheap.  My buddy with the woodworking shop helped bevel the base piece, which I then glued to the pedestal and secured with a countersunk screw. 

Not bad for about a buck a piece if even that much.

Rob's rendition of Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers now nicely elevated on a stained plinth.  I was terrified drilling into the base and legs to insert some pins that help secure the piece to the plinth, but all turned out well.

This view just cracks me up!

Here is my own poor attempt at painting a larger scale figure.  While not bad, it is a far cry from the tour de force of Rob's work, though it must be said, the Stadden figures are far superior to the Hinton Hunt sculpts.

This one came as part of the Tennant collection and needs  little repair, but will make a nice addition.  It is a Stadden sculpt I believe.

My understanding is that this is a Dick Higgs sculpt that was never put into production.  His compadres are featured on the cover of Don Featherstone's "Military Modelling".

The final distraction was a lovely trip to see our son in California, and just get away for a bit!

 

Point Reyes National Seashore

Cypress lined Avenue

The trail out to the westernmost point in California - no whales this time though.

Cindy tests out the hammock at our B&B.

Muir Woods

Hike out to the coast at Point Reyes

More Redwoods at Muir Woods

Cindy and Carter being swallowed by the "trail" out to the coast.

Thanks for following my journey.  I'll post again as each of these projects near completion.

Wishing you joy and the peace of mind to recognize it.