Saturday 10 March 2018

Guns Fever

I managed to get my second gun battery finished today.



The figures are:

from the Der Kriegspielers set # 70: Russian Line Artillery 1812: Gunner with rammer and Gunner with port fire;

Hinton Hunt:
RN 73: Gunner holding cannon ball;
RN 74: Gunner holding hand spike for traversing; and
A 6: Russian Field Gun

The DKs were very kindly donated by Mark S, who also supplied the RGL infantry. The HHs came as part of a small mixed lot of HH odds and ends that I bought a couple of years ago without any real idea what I was going to do with them. I think I just wanted to know what they looked like up close.




They're painted to represent a foot battery of the Russo-German Legion. They really ought to be horse gunners, but Hinton Hunt never produced Russian horse artillery and I have the excuse that there really was a very short-lived RGL foot battery. It was armed with very poor quality British iron guns, apparently, which was why it didn't last very long. My battery, I'm very glad to say, has a splendid Hinton Hunt Russian gun, which was given to me ages ago by Roy B. I hope you approve of what I've done with it, Roy.

The completion of this battery is a bit of a milestone as it means I've finally reached the half-way point in Wallmoden's army. To celebrate, here's a picture of them:



My thanks, as always, to everyone who helped me to put all this together and encouraged me to keep painting.

Have a great weekend,
WM

22 comments :

  1. Those gunners are very smart and nice to see a HH gun that actually looks in scale with the figures!

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    1. It's a bit of a monster, isn't it Ian. Still, Wallmoden's men need all the help they can get.

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  2. Another delightful something for weekend - the gun crews seem to capture the old-school look really well. Also a very sensible bite-sized chunk - I always try to do too much in one go and get disheartened by the lack of finished product after a lot of effort - also makes my work-bench cum dinning-table very cluttered leading to innumerable accidents (embarrassing photo to follow by email).

    So half way eh? That means Wallmoden will have 6 battalions, 2 cavalry regiments and 2 batteries when finished? If the Prussians arrive in time (let alone the odd unit of Austrians we've had glimpses of) the French will get pasted. Serve 'em right as they started it - but they really do need some reinforcements how about a nice brigade of cuirassiers?

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    1. The gunners were painted at the same time as the French ones posted last week, Rob. I was a bit slow with the guns, however.

      This lot brings my grand total for the year to exactly 11 figures, which is lamentable. I'm trying to up the tempo a bit now.

      Certainly something with at least a ghost of a chance of defeating those Prussian hussars would be handy.

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  3. Beautiful, especially the group shot.

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    1. Cheers, Lee. Wallmoden's army seemed a good idea for a number of reasons - not the least of which was that it would make a dent in the obscenely huge pile of DK's I've got sitting in a cupboard. It's only partially succeeded in that regard as...er...I had to obtain all those Lutzowers too. Part 2, I hope, should get me back on track.

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  4. 11 Figs isn´t lamentable..Quality over quantity.
    I´ll give the PVA glue basing trick a go with some planned ACW..thanks :-)

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    1. I have this awful fear that I'm going to have to rebase everything eventually, Paul. PVA is the way to go.

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  5. I'm really enjoying Wallmoden's corps. Always something a little different. And more of those fab WM newspaper delivery bags....

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    1. Their war cry is "read all about it", Archduke, as they let fly.

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  6. Another lovely shiny unit...
    Very inspiring.
    I am hoping to start my own retro/vintage project in a couple of months time and one of the things I am looking forward to is painting the artillery.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. I love gunners too, Aly - hence all the incredibly slow attention I lavish on them.

      You cannot get your recruits soon enough, as far as I'm concerned. I can't wait to see what you're going to make of them.

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  7. I have a friend who has modeled Wallmoden's Corp for the DBN rule set we play and he consistently kicks my rear end with them. I second the motion that you may need to bolster the French forces! Every time you post I get another much needed nudge to work on my cossacks, so keep it up!

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    1. Well, the RGL were a crack corps apparently, David, and they got some pretty gnarly KGL hussars to back them up eventually too. The rest of this year, however, as you say, should perhaps be devoted to Frenchmen. I'm working on it, I promise.

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  8. I find that if I try to paint to a schedule I always fail.

    What other units are you planning to do to complete Wallmodens force

    Do you have plans to add to your French forces to balance your armies.

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    1. It's all in the secret plans, Mark - they're so secret that even I don't know what's in them. Put it this way - if I could get my mits on some Russian hussars they'd be in there like a shot.

      Before any of that happens, however, a LOT more French are on the way....

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  9. More brilliance. Lovely looking units. Well done.

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  10. Lovely work on the gun and crew WM. The HH guns were dumpy little things, I think that Marcus Hinton was happiest at 'plastic' sculpting and not as in love with miniature model engineering. Your work elevates this little model.

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    1. Thank you LG. HH guns, as you say, are idiosyncratic, but all the better for it, I think.

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  11. Lovely. I have been eyeing the my old 1812 Blandford book after watching War & Peace once more.

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    1. You've rumbled me, Matt! I didn't quite stick to the book, though - hence the green trousers.

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