French Heavy Dragoon Cavalry Command

 For Vimiero the French need to have some dragoons, so I set about getting a regiment updated which was featured in my last post.  Today I belatedly bring you the command figures, all painted originally by Richard Tennant with a little additional work by me.

Divisional and brigade level commanders with their aide de camps.

General de Division Louis-Pierre Montbrun with a Colonel of Dragoons

Aide de Camp to General de Brigade Cavrois

General de Brigade Cavrois

Aide de Camp to General de Division Montbrun

Up next: The legion du Midi.

And the painting begins.  Der Kriegspieler miniatures customized to more closely resemble the uniform worn by the Legion du Midi.

While preparing the French Cavalry Command and Legion du Midi, I had the chance to meet with a small group of gaming buddies this Saturday and get in a couple of nice games of DBN (De Bellis Napoleonicis - a DBA variant).

1806 Prussians vs the French

Note the splendid killing field in which the French cavalry are about to enter...

Prussian baggage train element

The octogenarians leading the Prussian army

Brave Carabiniers dashing into the mouth of the Prussian guns!

The French artillery tried in vain to position.

If only the French can reach the hill - they outnumber the Prussian cavalrymen 3-2.

Meanwhile Prussian jagers and light infantry fight to delay the deadly French Legere on the opposite flank from the cavalry attack.

The weight of the Prussian guns is too much for the French Dragoons, who flee the field.

The French heavies charge up the hill to confront Blucher's Red Hussars and the Von Beeren Kuirassiers, but they were to spent by the time they reached their foe.

This scene is actually from our second battle, which followed a more traditional firefight followed by an infantry attack.

The French infantry performed admirably, but on the flanks their forces were soundly defeated, leaving the infantry attack isolated and stalled.

Across the way was a beautiful 28mm ECW game.

On the Road to Vimiero

After holding the British as long as they could, what was left of the French force from the battle of Rolica fell back to Zambugeira, and from there on to Lisbon.  At the same time the French forces at Santarem were marching west to join Delaborde and Junot at Lisbon.  Outside of Lisbon some of the survivors from Rolica have gathered to watch the troops pour in from Santarem.

Gendarmes de Espagna (Hinton Hunt FN/314 on FNH/3) clear the road for the approaching cavalry, while the brave troopers of the 15th Chasseurs-a-Cheval, heroes of the retreat from Rolica, have lined up alongside the road to cheer on their fellow cavalrymen..

The Gendarmes de Espagna were greatly feared and operated not only as a police force, but also in the battle line.  Thanks to Aly for these Hinton Hunt originals!

The 16th Dragoons are one of four Dragoon regiments in the Tennant collection, each of twenty figures.

The trumpeter in white bearskin hat had to have been a glorious sight!  Likely a conversion of Hinton Hunt FN/313.

Here we have a Major of Dragoons and guidon bearer of the 16th.  The cavalry were pretty beaten up by their treatment across the ocean, no thanks to Fedex, and truthfully an inadequate packing job, but somehow the delicate foil flag of the 16th survived.  Several of the horses had broken ankles and there was a lot of chipped paintwork to repair, but in the end they came out better than ever.

Some survivors of the decimated 39th line battalion watch the arrival along with their fine looking Colonel.

The elite company (Hinton Hunt FN/313) of the 16th Dragoons.

The troopers file by.

As they pass by, the 6th light infantry survivors have formed into line to watch the spectacle, barely sneaking into the frame are the yellow and green plumes of the elite voltigeur company.

Helping to keep order, some more Gendarmes de Espagna file by, preceding a battery of horse artillery.

The artillery a cheval was probably the most damaged in transport, and putting such a delicate and complicated model back together was challenging to say the least, but once again, I felt like the end result was spectacular and a tribute to the original work by Mr. Tennant.

The collection includes two batteries of line horse artillery, which is pretty impressive considering Marcus Hinton never offered line horse artillery!

Mounted gunners

Colonel Grouvel of the 16th dragoons has pulled off the road to discuss a matter of some importance with the Gendarmes.

Since each of the regiments of dragoons in the Tennant collection has twenty figures, I am able to pull out the Colonel and mount individually while retaining the core unit of 18.  Having one extra trooper was a good thing in this case as one of the horses was simply irreparable without significant solder work.

Colonel Grouvel and the Gendarmes clear out of the way, making room the the artillerists to unlimber across the road and shoot of a salvo to honor the efforts of Delaborde's survivors from Rolica.

Since Line horse artillery is not part of the Hinton Hunt range of figures, Mr. Tennant used a variety of figures and a 20mm Hinchliffe canon.

I would love to know if anyone can ID these figures.  I'm guessing the one on the right is an SHQ figure, but the one on the left with the rammer has a tiny base.  So though the figures look very similar, I suspect they came from different ranges.

The trumpeter has a base that is very distinctly characteristic of Alberkan figures.  I suspect an elite horse artillery figure customized by Dick to include a trumpet.  FN40?  http://lazylimey.blogspot.com/2009/01/alberkenearly-minifig-20mm-fn40-line.html

Hinton Hunt - Artillery command FN/30?

Both SHQ figures?  Please leave a comment if you think you might be able to shed any light of the origin of these figures.

Convention Gaming and Works in Progress

Last weekend we had our local miniature wargaming convention, Nashcon, after a year's hiatus due to Covid. It was great to be back with friends I had not seen in a long time!  The convention was in a new location that worked well and the organizers of the event did a masterful job.  Due to Delta, many of us were still in masks just as an extra precaution on top of vaccinations.  While most folks felt safe enough to game without the masks, there were a number of folks wearing them and everyone was very considerate of each others choices.  

Getting a a game of Triumph in with Carson Greene under the helpful gaze of Brian Caskey, who helped walk us through some of the nuances of Triumph

Here my Romano-British tried to hold the hill against Carson's horse archers, while on the opposite flank, I had lured his elephants into some bad going.

 

https://www.wgcwar.com/

Triumph is a DBA variant with the addition of a point based army system, that adds a nice layer of complexity to the 12 on 12 model of DBA.  The combat tables are a bit more easily navigated than DBA 3.0, with situational modifiers being more readily assessed.

Rod Cain with the help of William Hupp and Brian Caskey, hosted a wonderful Grand Triumph battle of Hydaspes.  I played Poros and my elephants were roundly spanked.  Clearly I still have a lot to learn!

Here you can see Poros on his elephant all alone, his elephant riding compadres having all been dispatched by the Macedonians or by a confused retreat into more elephants.  It really was ugly for the Indians!

Beautifully painted armies!

In addition to playing Triumph I have been enjoying L'art de la Guerre.  This game ramps up the complexity level by the addition of more troop types and variations among troop classes, as well as the addition of shooting and evasion on horseback.  A great set of rules once you get the hang of it, but more complex to set up and build armies for.

http://www.artdelaguerre.fr/adlg/v3/?/en/overview

My game with Chris Greene convinced me it was time to invest in the latest edition of the rulebook.

After Nashcon it was time to clear my desk of some projects that have been hanging on and to get started on the next addition to my shiny Napoleonic armies. 

The units on deck and ready to be painted are already piling up.  Chomping at the bit are the French Imperial Guard Grenadiers and Marines, a Spanish artillery battery, a Bavarian artillery battery, additional figures for the French 13th Cuirassiers, and a skirmish unit of Bavarian jagers.

I am also working on the Legion du Midi who were brigaded with the Legion Hanovrienne.  More on this unit later, but here is a quick teaser.  These illustrations were sent to me by none other than Phillip Haythornthwaite in answer to a question I had posed to him regarding the shakos worn by the legion.

When phillip Haythornthwaite tells you there is no evidence of shako cords having been worn by the rank and file, it behooves you to get out the clippers and files.  Also note the addition of epaulets, shako plates and carrot shapped pompoms.

Just a few more little tweeks and this battalion will be ready for priming and painting.

As you can see, lots of painting is in my future.  Thanks to everyone who helped with and attended Nashcon, with a special thank you to all those who ran games.  Was great to see everyone again!

Completed British Division in Review - Plus a Manly Surprise

 At long last I have completed refurbishing and remounting an entire British division.  This is just one of what is essentially four divisions in the original Tennant collection, so there is still much work yet to be done.  Below is a sobering excel sheet showing the refurbished figures in the red box, and a daunting number of regiments yet to be given the shiny treatment.  A few bits and pieces from other divisions are done as well, such as some artillery, cavalry and skirmishers, but just a smattering at present.  At least most are already expertly painted by Mr. Tennant; only the three KGL regiments will have to be painted from scratch.

The last of the division's line infantry to be finished  is the 18th Portuguese Regiment commanded by Lt. Col. Sebastião Pinto de Araújo Correia.

Just enough room inside the regimental square for the two commanders.

Attack columns in echelon.

So happy these hand painted flags survived the journey across the Atlantic!

I did add the finial and crevat just to complete the beautifully painted standard.

The Portuguese battalions were in great shape and came together very quickly.  I only hope the French battalions are in as good a condition, as they will be next up.

For those of you with a strong stomach, you can try watching my attempt at a fly by over the division.  It is kind of like Sergei Bondarchuk meets Dollywood, as the camera appears to have been mounted on the world's most rickety wooden roller coaster.  I did at least learn how to make and embed a video into the blog, so I guess there is that at least...

 

Our son the electrical engineer was in town recently and brought along his soldering iron to install an LED lighting kit into my display cabinet.  The lighting upgrade was just in time.  The British Division will need to be housed here once again while I begin construction on the battlefield terrain for Vimiero.  I do need to get a couple of extra shelves though!

 And for a completely different manly surprise, I finally finished painting Conan the Barbarian!  The figure was a gift from my daughter which has taken me far too long to get painted.  I love to balance the Napoleonic painting with little side adventures like this just to keep things fresh and fun.

Staring down some skellies.  If they weren't undead, they would know better than to attack Conan!

At first his skin was painted over in a matt finish, but in consultation with my daughter, we decided he needed to glisten with sweat.

I wanted him to have a slight forward lean as if balancing on the balls of his toes, but from this angle he is a bit like the leaning tower of Piza!

Remind me to brush off my figures really well before varnishing.  Despite my best efforts I still ended up with some static grass stuck to his butt!

This is that forward aggressive lean I was going for.  I'm looking forward to getting him into a dungeon full of monsters and evil critters!

Thanks as always for visiting and hope you have enjoyed my journey into the world of miniatures.  Comments are greatly appreciated so if you made it this far, by all means drop me a line using the comment box.  Next up will be a few projects that have been on my desk for far too long; a 28mm camp for my Napoleonic DBN armies, and a few elements for a Russian contingent at the battle of Grunwald in the 15th century.