The French Commander, Junot, for the battle of Vimeiro in the fall of 1808, combined the Grenadier companies of his various battalions to form a reserve. General Francois Kellermann commanded the reserve and was to go on to be a famed cavalry commander at the battle of Waterloo. Junot eventually threw his reserve at the British regiments defending Vimeiro in a desperate last ditch attempt, without success.
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| The battalion is made from Garrison Grenadiers with a Lamming drummer (cast with the drum upside down!) and a Hinton Hunt Colonel of Grenadiers. Many thanks to Wellington Man for the gift of the Garrison and Lamming figures! |
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| The company fanion was a little custom addition just to add something unique to the unit. The Grenadiers were my addition to the collection, while the Colonel was originally painted by Dick Tennant. |
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| Have to love all of those moustaches! |
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| To the left! |
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| Drilling out the musket barrel to house the company fanion was a challenge. Fortunately I had some uber tiny drill bits left over from my model railroading days. |
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| I was worried the Garrison bases were going to be too big for my movement stands, but they fit beautifully. The stands themselves are a bit thinner than usual to help disguise the increased height of the Garrison figures. Of course, the Grenadier companies were made from the tallest men, so they are supposed to be bigger! |
For something completely different, and painted in a different style, I was finally able to finish the painting of some Smolensk Cavalry for the battle of Grunwald. They are dirty grimy medieval Russians charging into battle against what will be even dirtier Teutonic Knights for use with DBA or its variants, Triumph and L'Art de la Guerre.
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| These are lovely Testudo figures which are unfortunately no longer produced by their amazing sculptor. |
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| This unit will play as medium cavalry horse archers. |
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| The heavy cavalry horse archers |
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| I just love the style of Russian armor that changed very little in the early to late medieval period. |
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| The bases will get textured once the army is done for the sake of consistency, as it may take years at the pace I am moving. |
Next up on the painting desk: Bavarian Jagers and the Polish Vistula Lancers
A gorgeous mix of Old Skool figures! And it’s fantastic to see a whole battalion of Magnum Moustaches.
ReplyDeleteI had to smile when I noticed the sculptor connected the mutton chops to the moustaches for the Magnum Moustache as you put it. It is definitely distinctive!
DeleteJust fabby work, David. I’m in awe of the company fanion. Needless to say, you’re also getting high marks for doing Garrisons and Lammings. Them’s proper vintage marks!
ReplyDeleteAll the best
WM
Thanks Wellington Man! Drilling out the barrel turned out to be more challenging than I thought. I had to use a two-stage process and get a pilot hole drilled with the tiniest of bits, before going up a size to make room for the wire rod. I think it adds a nice little touch to the unit though. Definitely something unusual. After the Vistula Legion Lancers addition I may start in on a similar Lamming battalion. I need two battalions of combined grenadiers for Vimeiro. I'll make another two from the line battalions that were present at the battle.
DeleteSuperb painting on those Garrisons David and I note your very skilful button work! I had some Garrisons among my ECW's and they really are nice sculpts and castings with plenty of character. A wonderful addition to your collection.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you saying that Lee. I always compare my work to some others in our "Old School" group and am always left feeling as though my skill is lacking despite my best efforts. I'm pretty sure there is a life lesson in there somewhere about expectations and comparisons...
DeleteI think Kellerman would argue he was already a famous cavalry general following his performance at Marengo - he certainly thought he should've been better rewarded for it.
ReplyDeleteLove the Testudo Russians - it's those great horse sculpts that I really like. Also, according to TMP Testudo is coming back, see: https://www.testudo-miniatures.com/
Oh wow, thanks for that update Rob. I hope he is able to bring back his 15/18mm Roman and Celtic lines as well as the bigger Tannenberg/Grunwald line. The Romans and Celts are superb! I was able to get a few from a local dealer, only to find out later they were pirated copies sold by a disreputable distributor in the UK.
Deletehttps://miniatureminions.blogspot.com/2010/04/marian-roman-army-completed.html
https://miniatureminions.blogspot.com/2017/05/dba-marian-romans-and-spanish.html
I might also pinch your fanion idea for my combined grenadier battalion.
DeleteThat is the highest of praise. Pinch away!
DeleteAbsolutely splendid Grenadiers David…
ReplyDeleteI have a bag of dismounted Garrison French Dragoons which I really must get around to painting…
The Russians are rather tasty as well…
All the best. Aly
Thanks Aly. Dismounted Dragoons are a favorite and I would love to see your treatment of them!
DeleteCracking grenadiers and very old garde like. These sculpts have way more character when compared to newer more 'modern' ones. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much. There definitely is something appealing about these old figure lines. Maybe that just means I'm old too!
DeleteSuch a shame that Garrison figures are now retired.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! They really do rank up quite well.
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