Now in Full Glory - the Completed Spanish Artillery Battery - 1812-1813

Life got in the way again, but the last few elements of the Spanish artillery battery are finally done.

The new elements include gunners servicing the canon as well as in march order, and a supply cart being drawn by oxen.

As with the theme of this project, the gunners wear a variety of uniforms, all painted to a semblance of what may have been worn in 1812-1813.  The uniforms were largely patterned on the French style, so in this case the pre-1812 French uniform included the lace and flounders on the shako which the Spanish may have worn.

These have the more simplified 1812 French style uniform with some painted on modifications, but the key difference is the lack of shako lace.

I am unsure of the make of the oxen, adding yet another manufacturer to this mish mash of makers.

Dick Tennant started the madness of including the artillerymen in march order in all of his batteries, so here I go carrying on the tradition.

The officer illustration I had for reference had only a carrot shaped pompom, but I opted to leave this officer's glorious plume.  I figure there was likely some variation, especially among the officers.

For the soldier's sake I hope these are some well trained oxen!

I added a little bit of custom impedimenta to the standard Hinton Hunt cart load.

There always seem to be more detail on the rear of Napoleonic uniforms than the front!

Lastly, a little tweak to the French 1st Hussar's command stand.  I had originally mounted the Franznap officer in the middle of the command stand, but the style is just too different from the Hinton Hunt sculpting to look quite right.  I hated to hide the jaguar skin saddle cover of the officer in the middle of the command stand, but he just looks too good with his Hinton Hunt compatriots to not put him back amongst them.

Till next time - be good out there and kind to others.

The Spanish Army Receives Artillery Support - Well, Kinda

The Spanish artillery train is done.  If only there were some gunners to fire the cannons!

I decided to break up the Spanish artillery set into the train, and the gunners, as the whole unit just looked a little daunting.  So finally, step 1 is complete, and on to the gunners.

As noted in a previous post, the train is a mish mash of manufacturers with some conversions and custom builds.

The traces fit beautifully into the eyelets on the singletrees attached to the limber making for one of the most securely constructed teams I have built.

When the gunners are painted, they will work the spare cannon.  I'm painting the base for the cannon at present, which is a challenge given my painting desk is in an unheated garage! 

Der Kriegspieler horses with converted riders.

The riders are in French style uniforms with British helmets, so some lopping off of heads was required.

Here is a close up of the singletrees.  In this case they were cast Franzknap traces with the singletree attached which were leftover from another project.  The crossbar on the limber yoke and the eyelets into which the singletrees are attached were custom made. 

A side view showing how well the two pieces fit together.

The back traces were made from twisted wire which was bent and inserted into tiny holes drilled into the singletrees of the SHQ manufactured limber.

Recently I've actually been getting in a few wargames for a change thanks to a good bud in Nashville as well as an overseas game via ZOOM.

In no particular order, here are some shots of a game I hosted using a Napoleonic variant of DBA called DBN.

The French hopes were pinned on the success of their massive column.

A blimp's view of the column about to crash home.

The first assault was repulsed by the British line but the French are far from done.

The final assault, but it was not to be, the French were repulsed again and losses on other parts of the field compelled them to retreat.

Some oldies but goodies; Minifig highlanders.

This column of British infantry actually decided the day.  They broke off from the main defensive line and were able to decisively defeat a brigade of light infantry approaching on the French Right.

In addition to DBN, I have also been very fortunate enough to learn and get in a few games of Never Mind the Billhooks.  This is a fantastic easy to learn game and when your friend provides all of the beautiful troops and terrain, it's hard not to have a great time!  These photos are blatantly stolen from one of his facebook posts.

My Lancastrian line approaches his Yorkists (Booo) menacingly.

My favorite shot of the game - My cavalry smash into the rear of a routing Yorkist unit of billmen.

The ultimate decision of the game was down to young Prince Edward who defeated the King, who was already sporting a wound from his combat with the retainers of Lord Percy.

The fun continued across the pond with a hex-based Command and Colours type game, but with a little more interest and complexity along with beautifully painted soldiers and terrain.  I shamelessly stole this image from Tony's blog, so for a full write up, head on over to: https://prometheusinaspic.blogspot.com/2026/01/wss-action-at-la-jongleuse-wallonia-1703.html

We are due for a good snowfall and there is a threat of ice which can knock out the power lines.  I have a goodly stash of firewood just in case, but am hoping either the weather won't be too bad, or that the power lines survive the storm.  In the meantime, this morning at a balmy 19 degrees Fahrenheit, will likely be the warmest we will have for a full week or more, so got out while we could in a light snow with Nyra or sweet old pooch.

Loving the snow!

The long walk back up the hill to home.  At least we weren't having to dodge traffic!

Next up, French light infantry Grenadiers in colpacks.  The first twelve are on the cusp of being complete!

The Poles Get some New Leadership and a little DBN

 Just a quick post this morning to round out 2025.  The Spanish artillery is coming along, and just in time for the new year, the Polish lancers have some new fancified leadership; Jan Konopka of the Vistula lancers in his newly received regalia from his promotion to General de Brigade after the heroic action at Albuera, and Pierre d'Autencourt, acting Colonel of the Imperial Guard Polish first Lancers.

With the exception of Colonel Stokowski, these are all Art Miniaturen sculpts.

Jan Konopka, Hero of Albuera

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Konopka

Pierre d'Autencourt, Colonel-Major of the Imperial Guard

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_d%27Autancourt

With the Polish leadership now complete, I actually got a chance to get in a couple of games.  I enjoyed another excellent game of Never Mind the Billhooks, which I won, and a game of DBN in which I lead the French to an ignominious defeat at the hands of the Austrians.

Here the French assault has drawn the Austrians off the hill to what will certainly be there doom...

Unfortunately, the French were soundly beaten by the stubborn Austrian infantry and cavalry, in what was a thorough defeat on all sides!

At least I got to take comfort in a good warm fire after the rigors of an afternoon of strategy gaming!

Christmas Arrives Early and Unwraps a Hinchliffe Artillery Mystery

 Just in time for Christmas, a care package arrived in the mailbox all the way from across the pond.  The gift was due to the generosity of others, willing to pass on these little treasures to a good home.  Thanks to all those who helped facilitate the gift of the figures to our group of collectors, and the donation to the Military Charity for Limbless Veterans in the UK.  Y'all know who you are and I just want to express my gratitude.

These are all lovely examples of Hinton Hunt originals and they are all part of the planned expansion of the Tenant/Crenshaw collection.  There are figures for both the gunners of a French Old Guard foot and horse artillery battery, along with some marching Old Guard Grenadiers who will be converted with the addition of a little paint to Old Guard artillerists on the march.  Prince Eugene is there to lead an eventual Italian contingent, as well as some light infantry that will make a skirmish unit and help complete a combined battalion of light infantry Carabiniers, and finally, the pièce de résistance, some Duchy of Warsaw Voltigeurs!  In addition was the fun artillery piece below:

This is a Hinchliffe 20mm equipment line 10" British Howitzer.  The top one was purchased in an unopened pack, but I believe it was packed with the incorrect wheels, as the standard artillery carriage wheels would be too fragile for this beast.  In addition, the piece was likely a later Hinchliffe effort, erroneously packaged as a 25mm range piece (though clearly mislabeled in the context of the other known 20mm equipment pieces that were labelled similarly - Did the 20mm equipment line end up getting incorporated into the 25mm line?  They were packaged with red labels stapled to a small ziplock baggie, not the iconic Hinchliffe box, and clearly stated 25mm.  I purchased a half dozen different pieces on eBay from the 20mm line packaged this way.). The painted one that came with the collection above, has the more appropriate thicker and taller wheels.  

Here is how the French 12 pdr came packaged.  My guess is the code distinguished the 20mm equipment line.

These pieces are identical except for the wheels.  This angle really accentuates how anemic the standard carriage wheels look in this context.  I have some 25mm scale wheels that I can use to replace them, which is my current plan.  While it is hard to tell from this photo, I had mounted the two rear wheels on the outside of the carriage, but realized my mistake when I received the painted piece on the left.  The back carriage wheels were designed to go on the inside of the carriage, which I was able to confirm from and illustration in the book on British Artillery by James Gooding.

Additional background about the 10" Howitzer can be found in the wonderful blogpost  here: https://prometheusinaspic.blogspot.com/2014/02/napoleonic-heavy-hardware-british-10.html  The photo and link are included with the permission of the author, though he tells me he has come to doubt whether the howitzers were ever actually at the siege of Badajoz in May of 1811.

All this talk of artillery had me looking at some other pieces I have that I planned to refurbish.  I believe these are Hinchliffe French 4 pdrs from the 25mm range, but would love it if some grognard could confirm.  I hope to trim the back of the carriage just a tad so it doesn't flair, and replace with smaller wheels (I may repurpose those on the British Howitzer above).  I think doing so would make it a reasonably sized 4 pdr for the Hinton Hunt collection.  Does anyone know if the barrel shape would be typical of a 4pd Gribeauval system barrel?  It is quite different from the longer thinner barrel below.

Here is a 20mm equipment French Howitzer, 4 or 6 pdr from the 20mm equipment line, and the 25mm scale 4 pdr from the photo above. Edit - Just realized the French Howitzer on the left was also packed with the wrong wheels.  If you look closely at the pattern of the iron rims, the bolts are in the British stye.  The hub caps are also British in style, but hard to tell from this picture.  Someone must have been having a bad day!

The canon on the left is a 4 or 6 pdr 20mm Hinchliffe equipment line French canon, but according to the manufacturers list, they didn't make one.  Does anyone know if the 20mm French equipment was provided with an alternative barrel to approximate the smaller ordinance?

Here is an overhead shot where the reduced size of the barrel is more clearly visible in comparison to the 8 pdr on the right.  The Hinchliffe barrels are very distinctive since they are not cast with a trunnion, so I have little doubt that both of these are original Hinchliffe 20mm scale barrels.

Note the absence of a French 4 or 6 pdr.

Lastly, I have discovered a wonderfully fun new game  called Never Mind the Billhooks, thanks to a fellow wargamer.  It was nice to try a new period and gaming system, so now I am busily looking into whether or not my miniatures for the battle of Grunwald would be a good fit, despite the slightly earlier time period.  Yet another costly delay on the way to Mesas de Ibor...

Beautiful troops and terrain all courtesy of my friend