I promised something really special a couple of weeks ago and so here it is. It's the absolutely stunning Neuchatel Battalion painted by Alastair Morrison. The figures are all from the iconic 25mm Napoleonic range produced by Jack Scruby in the early 1960s.
When Aly published these on his
Aly's Toy Soldiers blog a wee while ago, he mentioned that he'd decided to replace them. As I've been hankering after some Scrubys for ages, I asked him if I could have them, and he gave them to me.
These particular figures are the remastered 25mm Scrubys available from
Historifigs in the United States. They are the most beautifully hard, clear and crisp castings, unlike the very soft and 'leady' figures originally sold by Jack. You can spot vintage Scubys a mile away in wargaming blogs because of all the excessively bent muskets!
Jack's 25mm range was designed to be compatible with Hinton Hunts, which these last two pictures demonstrate very well. The Neuchatels and the 3rd Swiss will make a spectacularly attractive brigade, I think. I'll also need to paint a commander for them, of course, and I've got just the fellow, as it happens. He'll be making an appearance in a week or two, with a bit of luck.
As the last photo shows, however, to make them fully compatible with my army I'll need to rebase them, so right after these photos were taken. off they went into a shallow warm bath to soak them off their bases.
Judging from the Historifigs 'Classic 25mm Armies' of the Napoleonic Wars' catalogue, the figures are:
3053: French Fusilier, advancing to the attack, x 10;
3054: French Voltigeur, advancing to the attack, x 12; and
3064: French Officer, shako, leading, x 2, with one converted by Aly into a standard bearer.
Thank you Aly. They're like a gloriously golden ray of sunshine, and I will treasure them.
WM