How does one say thank you? You know, properly, in a sincere and manly way, without sounding like a gushing nitwit?
In New Zealand, the land of stunning understatement, the approved method is to stare at your feet, take a deep breath, and then very rapidly mutter "aaaawww, cheers mate" in a deep, gravelly and barely audible manner, followed by coughing.
It's a massive problem for me. I'm continually being humbled by the industrial-strength generosity of complete strangers who read my blog and then send me treasures beyond all imagining. The torture is refined when they absolutely refuse to take anything in return.
The latest Wellington Man-humbler is Rob. Rob doesn't collect Hinton Hunts, so when he acquired some when he was really after something else, he sent his unwanted surplus to me. Here's a picture of them.
The figures are Hinton Hunt:
FN 36: French Artillery Driver x 9
H 3: French (nearside) Gun Horse x 9
H4: French (offside) Gun Horse x 9
There's enough there for four gun teams, with a pair to spare. Rob also threw in spare muskets sufficient to equip a battalion and a couple of SHQ French 12 pdrs (not pictured) for good measure.
Not only did Rob fill a gap, but he also solved a problem, which was how to finish off the Phase One French. I was dithering about this something terrible the whole time I was painting the 7th Lancers.
Once I was able to get up close and personal with the FN 36s, I could see that they are actually guard artillery drivers! Their tall plumes, fancy waistcoats and dainty little hussar boots leave no room for doubt. Now, it just so happen that I have a Hinton Hunt Foot Artillery of the Guard set to go with them, and some infantry that I've been dying to paint up as guardsmen for ages.
My guard infantry are Der Kriegslpielers 220: Dutch Grenadier Battalion, Defending. As soon as I saw these I knew they'd do very well as Old Guard Chasseurs à Pied. All they needed was a little paint conversion on the cuffs. Readers may remember that I also used a few of these for my Swiss battalion.
Progress to date is pictured below, with the Swiss grenadier versions included by way of comparison.
Commanding them will be three really splendid examples from the Der Kriegspielers set number 20: French Guard Infantry Command. This set included both Chasseur and Grenadier variants. Pictured below are the Chasseur marching officer, standard bearer and drummer. Their bases are marked: "CHASS 20", which is rather helpful.
Yes, I know, it's not exactly "painting them as intended", which I've been a bit pious about in the past. However, I have another battalion, and they really are going to be Dutch Grenadiers!
The last three shots were supplied by Rob. They show his breathtakingly magnificent Spencer Smiths, complete with his superb hand-made buildings and terrain. Rob even supplied some of the plans. The bridges explode, and the buildings lift up to reveal ruins beneath! Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
Aaaww, cheers mate. *cough*
WM
EDIT: As LewisGunner reveals in his comments below, the Artillery Drivers are actually Hinton Hunt FN 188 rather than FN 36 as I originally assumed.
In New Zealand, the land of stunning understatement, the approved method is to stare at your feet, take a deep breath, and then very rapidly mutter "aaaawww, cheers mate" in a deep, gravelly and barely audible manner, followed by coughing.
It's a massive problem for me. I'm continually being humbled by the industrial-strength generosity of complete strangers who read my blog and then send me treasures beyond all imagining. The torture is refined when they absolutely refuse to take anything in return.
The latest Wellington Man-humbler is Rob. Rob doesn't collect Hinton Hunts, so when he acquired some when he was really after something else, he sent his unwanted surplus to me. Here's a picture of them.
The figures are Hinton Hunt:
FN 36: French Artillery Driver x 9
H 3: French (nearside) Gun Horse x 9
H4: French (offside) Gun Horse x 9
There's enough there for four gun teams, with a pair to spare. Rob also threw in spare muskets sufficient to equip a battalion and a couple of SHQ French 12 pdrs (not pictured) for good measure.
Not only did Rob fill a gap, but he also solved a problem, which was how to finish off the Phase One French. I was dithering about this something terrible the whole time I was painting the 7th Lancers.
Once I was able to get up close and personal with the FN 36s, I could see that they are actually guard artillery drivers! Their tall plumes, fancy waistcoats and dainty little hussar boots leave no room for doubt. Now, it just so happen that I have a Hinton Hunt Foot Artillery of the Guard set to go with them, and some infantry that I've been dying to paint up as guardsmen for ages.
My guard infantry are Der Kriegslpielers 220: Dutch Grenadier Battalion, Defending. As soon as I saw these I knew they'd do very well as Old Guard Chasseurs à Pied. All they needed was a little paint conversion on the cuffs. Readers may remember that I also used a few of these for my Swiss battalion.
Progress to date is pictured below, with the Swiss grenadier versions included by way of comparison.
Commanding them will be three really splendid examples from the Der Kriegspielers set number 20: French Guard Infantry Command. This set included both Chasseur and Grenadier variants. Pictured below are the Chasseur marching officer, standard bearer and drummer. Their bases are marked: "CHASS 20", which is rather helpful.
Yes, I know, it's not exactly "painting them as intended", which I've been a bit pious about in the past. However, I have another battalion, and they really are going to be Dutch Grenadiers!
The last three shots were supplied by Rob. They show his breathtakingly magnificent Spencer Smiths, complete with his superb hand-made buildings and terrain. Rob even supplied some of the plans. The bridges explode, and the buildings lift up to reveal ruins beneath! Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
Aaaww, cheers mate. *cough*
WM
EDIT: As LewisGunner reveals in his comments below, the Artillery Drivers are actually Hinton Hunt FN 188 rather than FN 36 as I originally assumed.
Those guard figures look good - sufficiently different from HH for some nice variation. Also nice to see some limber teams and I'll be interested to see what you do with them!
ReplyDeleteI really like the 220s, Ian. They look really warlike en masse! In the next post I'll stand a few of them up next to some HH guardsmen for contrast.
DeleteI have a DK limber for one of these teams, so I'm tempted to use that. Attatching it to the horses looks just about technically feasible.....
Excellent news. I think I have the odd Hinton Hunt figure I am trying to identify so if I post the image as a comment can people help me out ? Thanks
ReplyDeleteJacko, I don't think it's possible to paste images into a comment, so if you email them to me (details in my complete profile, top right) I'll post them up for you.
DeleteThanks
ReplyDeleteThat will have us all rushing to the Hinton Hunter site!
ReplyDeleteLove the Spencer Smiths, truly retro !
I must have spent about three years looking at wargame sites trying to make up my mind about which figures and period I wanted to have a go at, and Spencer Smiths were going to be it right up until the moment I saw those HH Prussians. I think they are glorious!
DeleteExcellent Guard figures, look forward to seeing the completed unit, how many French will you have in total? The spencer smith pictures show an interesting battle.
ReplyDeletePaul
The Phase One French will end up around the 160-figure mark, I think. I'm now only one battery, one cavalry regiment and half an infantry battalion off the mark. I was aiming to get them done by Christmas, but this is still a bit of a mini mountain!
DeleteAnd for some reason there are vastly more of the guard artillery drivers around than line. Perhaps they were the first to be made? You can cut off the queue of hair and a knife thick paint will deal with the boots and the shako plate.
ReplyDeleteRoy, I didn't realise that there were both Line and Guard Artillery Driver castings. They are, of course, FN 188 Guard Artillery Drivers, and not FN 36s!
DeleteMatt, You were very generous to me about a year ago when I asked your advice on getting started collecting vintage HH, I guess what goes round comes round and you are well in credit in the karma stakes.
DeleteBTW Rob's pics are brilliant, Grant's Wargame to the max!
I hope your collection is well underway, Dave!
DeleteRob's wee men and terrain are just superb.
Could be the same Rob who posted an absolutely superb write up of Blasthof Bridge on the Spencer Smith site. On of the best picture write ups I have ever seen.
ReplyDeletebest regards from Germany
Adrian
I believe he may be the very same, Adrian. He's a legend!
Delete