Gunners on the Go

It was my birthday this weekend, so I celebrated by finally putting the varnish on to my new French line artillery gunners.

The figures are sufficient for two batteries. They are vintage Hinton Hunt French Artillery of the Line 1807-12, being:

FN 30: Officer, pointing, x1
FN 31: Gunner firing the gun, x2
FN 32: Gunner holding cannonball,x2
FN 33: Gunner ramming home, x2
FN 35: Gunner, ammunition carrier, running, x1

It's taken me a full ten years to get round to actually painting any of these. I think the officer is my new favourite figure.

There's the guns to finish and all the basing up to do, but a line up of the all the Phase 1 and 2 French artillery (6 batteries, no less) shouldn't be too far off now.

I hope you all had a good one too,

WM

Albert and Ken again

When I was a lad growing up in the 70s, the wargaming books of that era were full of wonderful photographs of little soldiers that I didn't have a clue how to identify.

Depicted below are some I found to be particuarly mysterious. They were clearly British light infantry of some description, seen here guarding Hougoumont in the amazing Waterloo layout created by Peter Gilder for David Chandler's The Art of Warfare on Land (London: Hamlyn, 1974), but I had no idea who made them or where I could find any of them.

Fast forward to 2023, and a parcel of these wee treasures arrived in the post, courtesy of Aly Morrison:

And in 2024 arrived a few more, courtesy of Mark Dudley:

Mark identifies them as Alberken/early Minifigs British Riflemen, and I haven't the slightest doubt that he is correct.

In my view, however, it is to be Hanoverian riflemen, and the 2nd Light Battalion of the King's German Legion in particular, that is their true destiny. I had a bit of time off this week, so I thought I'd test this hypothesis by painting a few of them.

First up is an Alberken BN 3: Rifleman on Guard:

He's been cleaned up a bit and has had some some buttons added and the belt plate removed, but is otherwise unchanged.

Next up is my conversion of an Alberken BN 4: Rifleman Officer to make him look a wee bit more Hanoverian:

The head was donated by a Hinton Hunt BN 15 British Rifles Officer, which I'm fairly certain was a pirate, so no harm done. He's also got some new buttons and a new bandolier made with flattened soldering wire. This was bent round his chest and soldered at the back, with the resulting blob of solder carved into the shape of a cartidge box.

Although 2nd KGL LI officers are usually depicted in light grey trousers, credible sources suggest that they may very well have worn black, so I decided to go with that. I reckoned he'd look a bit gnarlier that way.

A Hinton Hunt BN 20 British Rifles bugler completes the command group:

Definitely meant to be KGL, I'd say.

Only 21 more to go, although a farmhouse might also be in order.

Cheers,

WM

United Irishmen

It is the Spring of 1813 and the Irish Legion are marching to join a newly forming division in Southern Germany.

As they're a bit early for their rendezvous, Colonel Lawless decides to put them through their paces.

The Emperor and the rest of the division arrive. 

The figures are:

Der Kreigspielers Napoleoniques:

Set #19: Young Guard Voltigeurs, engaging, x 21;
Set #20: Young Guard Command, marching officer x 1, and eagle bearer x 1; and

Hinton Hunt:

FN 6: (French Infantry of the Line, 1812-15) Drummer (Recast and Converted), x 1

I think I'm going to have to call this the Traffic Light Division.

Have a great weekend everyone

WM

A Lawless Man

The Irish Legion are slowly taking shape, so to hurry them on a bit I decided to press on and paint their commander, Colonel William Lawless.

Lawless was a professor of anatomy in Dublin and prominent Untited Irishmen. Forced to flee to France following the failure of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, he quickly came to the notice of Napoleon and gained a captaincy in the newly forming Irish Legion. He was a brave and capable officer and was appointed to command the regiment in 1813. After serving with credit at the Battle of Bautzen, poor Lawless lost a leg during the action at Lowenberg. The whole regiment was effectively destroyed just a few days later after it was trapped and cut to pieces by artillery fire. Lawless survived the wars but he died in Paris in 1824 at the comparatively young age of 52.

How it started.

My Lawless started out as a recast Hinton Hunt WN 15: Grand Duchy of Warsaw Fusilier Officer marching. I wanted to have a go at converting him because I really fancied a mounted colonel with a bicorne.

He needed a fair amount of leg surgery and whatnot to make him sit nicely on a horse, but he managed it in the end. I find these sorts of conversions a lot easier these days as I finally invested in a decent, variable-power soldering iron. I run this at about 30W, which heats the figure metal up quite quickly, ensuring rapid results and a good bond for the solder. Lawless got a new left leg, an epaulette on his right shoulder and a good straight scabbard for his sword using this method.

How it finished.

He towers a bit over his tiny wee DK soldiers, but I'm quite chuffed with him nonetheless.

Have a great weekend everyone

WM

Irish Update

The Irish Legion are going to be a fairly heavy-duty painting job, I fear, so to spur myself on I've completed most of the command group. I also have a mounted officer for them on the go but he's not quite ready for his photo shoot.

The Irish Legion seems to have had several flag designs over the course of its existence, but I think that this was the best one:

The officer and eagle bearer are Der Kriegspielers, with the officer being the DK version of a Hinton Hunt FN 74: Young Guard Officer, marching.

The drummer is a conversion of recast Hinton Hunt FN 6: (French Infantry of the Line, 1812-15) Drummer, charging. To convert him I soldered on a replacement DK 19 head and filed down his trouser bottoms to make it look like he's wearing gaters. I think he looks quite nifty.

Next up ought to be the rest of the Chasseurs. I thought I'd tackle them first as they're just a wee bit trickier than the carabiniers and voltigeurs.

Yours, as ever.

WM

Dragoner-Regiment Nr. 2 (1. Westpreußisches Dragoner-Regiment)

The Soon Dragoons are ready to make their entrance, so without further ado, here they are:

And here they are again brigaded with the Garde du Corps. You can see why I thought they'd need a flag.

The figures are Hinton Hunt PN81: Dragoon, charging, x12. Nine of them are vintage castings (of which one, whose sword had broken off entirely, is now the trumpeter), and three (the officer, standard bearer and one of the troopers) are recasts.

I think I'm going to need at least one more Prussian heavy cavalry regiment to round off Phase 2. The question is: should they be line cuirassiers, or more dragoons? I think either would look rather dashing

I have a wee backlog of generals and whatnot to work through first, however, so I'll have plenty of time to think about it.

Regards

WM

The Fifty Seconds

As promised, I present the 52nd, led here by Sir John Colborne, later to become the 1st Baron Seaton. He's Seaton on his horse now.

A couple of vintage Hinton Hunts, I'm pained to admit, were harmed in the making of this regiment. One of these was a BN 20: British Rifles Bugler, to whom I added some shoulder wings to turn him into a light infantryman

The second was Sir John Colborne's horse, which started out as an FNH 10: French General's horse, converted into a British Infantry Officer's horse.

And to finish up, here's what they look like with my other two Anglo-Hanoverian regiments. Some British artillery to go with them is looking a bit overdue.

The figures used for the 52nd were:

Hinton Hunt:

BN 93: British Light Infantry charging x 20

BN 90: British Light Infantry Officer charging x 1

BN 20: British Rifles Bugler, converted into a British Light Infantry Bugler, x1

FNH 10: French general officer's horse, converted into a British infantry officer's horse

Der Kriegspielers Napoleonique:

#154: British Light Infantry Command Group regimental colour bearers x 2, with a few modifications

Alberken:

BN 35: British light infantry officer, converted into a British Light Infantry colonel x 1

For those who haven't spotted it yet, Colborne is my new avatar. He was a Wellington Man, after all.

Happy New Year everyone!

WM

Regimental Sir John

It's Christmas Eve and I've been hard at it for the last few days working on the 52nd (Christmas chores allowing, that is).

Progress on the 52nd has been a rather glacial business, I'm sorry to say, but at long last they're finally coming together.  I've even managed to finish painting a commander for them. He is none other than Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Colborne, who commanded the 52nd at Waterloo.

The figure chosen for this gig was an Alberken BN 35: British light infantry officer, pictured here next to a Hinton Hunt FNH 10: French general officer's horse.

Cutting him off his base, fixing his sword and bending his legs, etc., so that he could sit on the horse were all quite easy. Less simple, however, was the major leg surgery he needed to shorten his unreasonably lengthy calves. Other changes were a new left arm, courtesy of a Lamming Scots Gray trooper, and some epaulettes suitable for a field officer.

The horse still needs a bit of work, but there's a fair prospect of getting Colborne and the rest of the 52nd finished this week.

In other news, I was very chuffed to see that my flag design for the Russo-German Legion has caught on a bit. You can see it here: The Hinton Spieler.: Green Jarmins

Pictured below is the absolutely exquisite version painted by Aly Morrison:

And not be outdone is the very pretty version made by the mysterious Count Goya, which he somehow managed to create directly from one of my photographs:

Seeing these flying above such beautifully painted regiments has been a really lovely way to round off the year.

Merry Christmas everyone!
WM

Flag Packet

As promised in my last post, herewith is my slightly wobbly rendition of the colours the 1st Battalion  52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot, Light Infantry.

Leeke and Nettles Group

Unusually for a British light infantry battalion, the 1st/52nd famously carried their colours at Waterloo, with Ensign William Nettles carrying the King's Colour and Ensign William Leeke carrying the Regimental Colour. Poor Nettles was killed by a French round shot shortly before the battalion launched it's celebrated assault against the Imperial Guard. His body, along with the King's Colour pinned beneath it, wasn't recovered until the following day.

To command my version of the 52nd I have a very fine Hinton Hunt BN 90: British Light Infantry Officer charging; and two somewhat less than brilliant Der Kriegspielers Napoleoniques standard bearers from Set 154: British Light Infantry Command Group.

Both the standard bearers needed soldering as the flags were on the verge of breaking off, and I had to inscribe the King's Colour as Der Kriegspielers only produced Regimental Colours! The overall effect is...well...it is what it is, shall we say. They were fun to do though, which is the main thing.

Only 20 more to go.....

WM

A little light work

My new regiment is starting to take shape, although I've only finished one of them so far as a test figure.

He's a Hinton Hunt BN 93: British Light Infantryman charging, as are most of his comrades. I can't absolutely vouch for his vintigosity, but he seems OK. It's taken me five years to amass all the BN 93s I need for this  regiment, so I'm not complaining.

With a bit of luck I may have a colour party to show off by next week.

Huzzah the 52nd!
WM

An Austro-Russo-Hanoverian

It's a dark and stormy night here in Wellington, but the fire is roaring in the hearth and there's a wee dram of very fine single malt parked up beside me, so all is well with the world.

As promised, I have a new general to show off. He's a beauriful old vintage Hinton Hunt RN 85: Russian General Staff General with spy glass, who had a rather adventurous journey before he finally came to me, but he got here in the end. He's painted almost exactly as specified in  Marcus Hinton's painting instructions (thank you Clive!). He is to be Ludwig Georg Thedel Graf von Wallmoden, aka Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn, the commander of my Anglo-Russian-Hanoverian corps (which I really must get round to finishing some day).

Wallmoden was an extremely capable and very highly decorated Austrian soldier who also happened to be a grandson of George II. He was a specialist in leading light troops, so in 1813 he was just the chap, or so it seemed, to  keep Davout's Corps safely locked up in Hamburg while the rest of the allied armies marched against Napoleon. He succeeded in this task very well, although he could never quite manage to corner Davout or his Danish allies. Nevertheless, in doing so he kept the Prussians out of Hanover, which was all that his British paymasters really cared about.

Wallmoden was in Russian service in 1813, so this is probably what he would have been dressed like during that year. His Chief of Staff was none other than the famous Carl von Clausewitz, who was also serving the Tsar at this point, so I'll probably need to paint him too.

The RN 85 was the only Russian General produced by Hinton Hunt so until I can get another one I thought he'd also do very well as a temporary commander for the Leib Grenadiers.

Auf Wiedersehen and Do svidaniya

WM

Lance Heads

Greetings from the 'other side', as they say in these parts.

I was supposed to be painting gunners this weekend but somehow got distracted and ended up doing French line lancer conversions instead.

The officer is a conversion of a Der Kriegspieler Napoleoniques #49: French Guard lancer, with a Hinton Hunt French line lancer's head, a new sword to replace his lance, some new epaulettes and various other minor changes. It was nearly all done with solder apart from the sword, which started life as a Minifigs bayonet.

The trumpeter is a somewhat simpler recrafting of a broken Hinton Hunt FN 118: Light Horse Lancer in crested helmet, charging. Both are for my friend Rob G., by way of a swap and as a thank you for all sorts of vintage 20mm assistance over the last few years years. I may do a couple more like them for myself eventually....

We have a long weekend here in Welly, so there's still another day left to work on the gunners, but as the weather is rather glorious I don't rate their chances too highly.

Yours

WM

Update:

Rob reminded me that the trumpeter really ought to have fringed epaulettes of his own, so I popped some on this afternoon. The gunners never did get a look in.