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Monday, June 21, 2021

A Miscellany of Colonels, a New Mom, and the 6th Cacadores

 Anticipating a need for some more Colonels to lead the Portuguese Brigade, and another battalion of Dutch Grenadiers, I decided to knock out their Colonels so they could busy themselves recruiting the rank and file while I work on other projects.

 

From left to right are:  Colonel Ralph Dundas Tindall of the 3rd Dutch Grenadiers of the Imperial Old Guard, a Vivandiere who follows him to battle, Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Pamplona and his subordinate, a British Lt. Colonel for the 18th Portuguese 2nd battalion.


Colonel Pampolona - possibly to be renamed as Lt. Col. Sebastião Pinto de Araújo Correia (both commanded the 18th so it is just a matter of who commanded at the most appropriate time), started life as an SHQ British Colonel.  A head swap and a little tinkering with the position of the arm and viola - a Portuguese Lieutenant Colonel.  I'm hoping the head came from a Dave Clayton recast, otherwise the gods of all thing Hinton Hunt may never forgive me.


Colonel Tindal started life as a Franznap Old Guard Colonel in campaign uniform.  Another head swap with an SHQ Old Guard Grenadier gave him some more formal attire for his sandy locks, and some judicious trimming with an x-acto knife got rid of the greatcoat over his shoulder.

He turned out to be a suitably haughty regal fellow.

Another Franznap sculpt to keep Colonol Tindal Company is this rather lovely Vivandiere with a newborn.


And here we have a rather heretical addition for a supposedly Old School collection.  This rather smashing looking chap is actually a soft plastic command figure from the Waterloo 1815 toy soldier company.  I wanted to add a little variety to the British Lieutenant Colonels so I decided to branch out a bit.

I quite like the figure and once all glossed up he still could pass muster as a good old school toy soldier.

Here we have the 6th Cacadores painted by Richard Tennant.   I have done minimal work to these, just a little highlighting on the browns, yellows and greens to brighten them up a wee bit, as well as a bit of shading for the faces and hands.  These were still in great condition, so other than one replacement plume, they required very little work to touch up.


The battalion is lead by Major Tiago Pedro Martins.  The figures are Hinton Hunt PTN 14 Portuguese Cacadore charging, PTN 6 Portuguese officer marching, BN 96 British light infantry at trail, and BN 20 Rifleman Bugler.


I decided to base these with the reserve and headquarter companies on one 6 figure base, which leaves two 9 figure skirmish companies to throw out in front of the Portuguese Brigade.  As the British army in the Tennant Collection is a bit light infantry heavy, I will not mourn the loss of a few potential skirmishers, besides, I just received a few more riflemen so I can now model a few companies of the 2nd/95th.

As a teaser here is what is on deck:  an absolutely stunning Franznap 6 horse Bavarian limber and 6 lb gun with all of the associated gunners and command, a battalion of Les Higgins Old Guard Grenadiers with command all primed and ready, and finally a battalion of French Marines of the Old Guard, the last twelve of which are on the painting table getting a final trim before priming.  The Bavarian Chevau-Leger are on the painting table, and now that all of these figures are almost prepped, I can forge ahead getting some paint on them!

 

24 comments:

  1. No fair! Not only does this johnny-come-lately oust the much loved colonel en second but he gets his own personal vivandiere! I expect to see him justify this extraordinary favouritism on a wargames table some time soon. She of course is a delightful figure and is forgiven all.
    As for what’s on deck, those grenadiers look pretty familiar to me, and gren/chass fusilier unit in front of them. The artillery has me stumped as I can’t zoom in enough to recognise them, but they look are rather refined set compared to HH so guessing they’re from Franznap?

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    1. Rob, I have been re-watching the Sharpe series while painting and it hammers home the point that the perks of command are hardly distributed fairly! I'm sure Tindal has some cousin in the Imperial Headquarters.

      As for the Grenadiers, you of course should recognize them since many came from you (thank you very much!). Franznap Bavarian artillery indeed and Der Kriegspieler Marines of the Imperial Guard. Lots of fun yet to be had!

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  2. Some very handsomely painted figures there! Where are are the Fraznap chaps produced?

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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    1. The Sculptor lives in Italy I believe, but the miniatures themselves are produced and distributed by Hagen in Germany if I recall correctly. Really beautiful, but somewhat delicate figures.

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    1. Thanks Tragardmastre. The character of the figures is one of the strong appeals of the Old School look!

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  4. Beautiful work David. Tbis is also the first time I've seen really good close ups of HH Portuguese Cacadores, which are just stunning!

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    1. Glad you like them WM. They were pretty one dimensional to start with, being all one shade of brown and black. The highlighting really helped. DT has one battalion of Cacadores in green jackets as an homage to their roots as the Lusitanian Legion. While conceivable, I doubt the whole battalion ever had the green jackets, but I plan on keeping them that way as a nod to Mr. Tennant.

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  5. Really nice figures there David, so full of character and great painting.

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  6. Beautiful as always. I am in awe of your efficiency and skill. As a rather slow painter, I struggle to turn out small numbers of painted troops. Well done!

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    1. Remember David, that a lot of these came to me pre-painted and I am just touching them up, so my production may seem greater than it really is. My speed goes way down whenever I am painting a unit from the bare metal!

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  7. Having a second look, I particularly like the cacadore command base balanced on the shoulders of their advanced skirmish line. They should get together with WM’s Napoleon and his equine acrobatics to form a circus.

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    1. Aren't you the funny one Rob. I have to admit I giggled at this one as well. The command stand does appear to be floating. I guess that means the light box is very effective at spreading out the light in an even pattern!

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  8. You have a lot on the go at once. The command figures are beautiful and the interloper does not look out of place.

    I might try painting a Italeri figure from the French Command set. I have also toyed with the idea of using a plastic horse and a metal figure.

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    1. I appreciate that Mark as I was a little hesitant to incorporate a plastic figure. He really doesn't seem out of place to me, at least until you pick him up...

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  9. Splendid looking toys as ever David…
    The Vivandiere is delightful.

    All the. Best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly. I really enjoyed having something to paint that wasn't a typical soldier, and the Franznap sculpts are just so beautifully done.

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  10. Wonderful figures, those cacadores look the part, look forward to seeing the Bavarians completed. I collect Kennington @ Art miniaturen, wonder how Franznap compare in size?

    Paul

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  11. Thanks Paul. I enjoy Art Miniaturen as well but unfortunately they are not shipping to the US these days as far as I can tell. Franznap are still 1/72, but tend to be more refined than the Art Miniaturen and Kennington sculpts, as well as slightly smaller or more realistically proportioned depending on how you want to spin it.

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  12. These look superb. I love your gloss finish.
    Regards, James

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    1. Thanks James. I have grown to really love that finish as well!

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