Lammings on the List

I was a bit too tied up with domestic duties to get my Lammings photographed yesterday, but I found a bit of time today.

I haven't quite decided who's going to command them yet (I have a Lamming French marshal, but he may be just a bit too enormous), so Marshal Quiestil is doing the honours for the time being.

The figures are all Lamming Miniatures from Bill's earliest French Napoleonic 20mm range, specifically:

FI/1: Line Voltigeur or Grenadier elite, x 5;

FI/2: Line Voltigeur officer, x1, converted into a standard bearer;;

FI/3: Imperial Guard Grenadier advancing, x 6 (albeit four different variants);

FI/5: Line Voltigeur cornet, x 1

FI/7: Voltigeur or Grenadier elite drummer, x1;

FI/8: Line fusilier, x 9; and

FI/9: Line infantry officer in bicorne hat, x1.

I really wasn't sure how all these were going to turn out, particularly as I was a bit doubtful about the fusiliers, but they've really grown on me. It was also far from clear how compatible they were going to be, which you never really know until they're all painted and based. I'm happy to say they seem to have blended in really well.

They even seem to work quite well as mixed battalions:

Next week the Neuchatel Battalion, now rebased for Muskets & Marshals, will receive their new commander....

Salutations,

WM

Tinker Bill

For the last few weeks I've been colouring in a battalion of 20mm Lamming French line infantry. I actually started these over two years ago, so I thought it might be a good idea to finally finish them.

It's been a fairly slow process so far because I've been trying to block out the entire battalion in their basic uniform colours before getting into the details. In theory this will make painting them a bit more efficient, but whether or not this really turns out to be the case remains to be seen.

Completed this evening were the two elite companies.

The voltigeurs were the trickiest, but the wonderful wee trumpeter I found for them was just too delicious to resist, so he kept me motivated.

The grenadiers were a lot simpler, but while painting them I discovered there were actually four slightly different variations, as I hope the next two pictures will illustrate. The first three have a rather Hinchliffey type quality, which makes me wonder a bit. Bill Lamming certainly seems to have tinkered about with the range quite a bit.

Next up should be the fusiliers, although I also have several personality figures in production, so we'll see how we go.

The luscious wooden surface they're all standing on is my new painting desk, which is a gorgeous old fold-up writing bureau which I've squeezed into a corner of the living room. It's a lot warmer in there and I can play my music on a proper sound system while I paint. I'm hoping this will do wonders for my productivity.

Stay safe my friends,

WM

Prussian Discussion

I have hinted now and then that I'm a bit of a fan of Lamming 20mm Napoleonics. I've tried to hide this, of course, but that regiment of Lamming British Line infantry, and my tentative experiments with some of the French part of the range, I fear, may have let the cat out of the bag.

What I've really been yearning for all along is a battalion of Lamming 20mm Prussians. I knew these existed because I already had one - a charming little drummer who I conscripted into the Prussian 10th Infantry Regiment. Here's a reminder of what he looks like:

Lamming PI/6: Prussian Line Infantry Drummer

I identified him from his looks and from the fact that he has 'PI/6' inscribed underneath his base, which is listed as a Prussian Line Infantry drummer in the Lamming 20mm range. The only other things I had to go on were a few glimpses in the wargaming literature of what I believe were Lamming Prussians in the Peter Gilder collection, and an intriguing post about the same collection by Clive over on his Hinton Hunter site.

Imagine my delight, therefore, when a number of Lamming Prussians, or what looked like them, popped up in three different lots, from three different vendors, on ebay. Pictured below is the haul. Lot 1 included the figure stripped to the metal in the second row; Lot 2 are all those painted light blue; and Lot 3 are the chaps in dark blue in the front row.

Once I'd got them altogether, however, it became clear that there were several weird things about them. The first question was: why is the officer so much larger than the rest of them? Did Bill intend him to be like this (Bill's officers do seem to be a bit bigger, on the whole), or was he part of a later, remodelled set of Lamming Prussians?

Lamming 20mm PI/6 Prussian Line infantry drummer, PI/1 Prussian line infantry advancing,

and a somewhat oversized PI/3 Line infantry officer

This is where Lot 4 comes into the picture, which I bought from a fellow living here in New Zealand. Lot 4 consists of an identical officer and half a dozen advancing infantryman who are really very different and altogether taller than the other lots. They are not, however, examples of the final range Bill Lamming produced in 1974/5. These, as shown in an earlier post, were a great deal beefier. Pictured below are two of the Lot 4s added to the line up.

An intriguing Lamming line up: a PI/6, two  PI/1s (first variant), a PI/1 (second variant) and two PI/3s (second variant?)

The next shot shows what's underneath the bases. As you can see, the two advancing infantry variants have PI/1 inscribed on them, while the officer sports a PI/3.

As if this wasn't confusing enough, two of the Lot 3 men were also noticeably different to the men in Lots 1 and 2. The next two pictures should show what I mean.

Lot 2 and Lot 3

The Lot 3s are slightly taller than the Lot 2s, and have slightly thicker and taller hats, different arms and legs, and larger, slightly misshapen bases. The torsos and blanket rolls are very similar, however.

Also different are the swords and muskets. The Lot 2s have a very simple sword moulded to the side of their left legs, while the Lot 3s have hanging swords. The packs are very similar though.

What to make of it? When I first saw them I thought the Lot 3s looked remarkably as if someone had grafted a Lamming head onto the body of a Hinton Hunt Prussian infantryman. The following, I hope, will illustrate what I mean.

Lamming PI/1, Unknown and Hinton Hunt PN 3: Prussian Infantry of the Line, charging

This initially made me think the Lot 3 chaps must be Alberkens. Peter Gilder, the Alberken designer, often appears to have used Hinton Hunts as the basis for the figures in the Alberken range. I'm not completely convinced about this, however.

The question I'm asking myself is: which came first? My feeling at the moment is that the date order is probably right to left: Hinton Hunt, Lot 3 and then Lamming.

The Lot 3 looks like a Hinton Hunt, but with a new head and a lightly modified pack, blanket roll and sword. The Lamming looks like a further modification of the Lot 3, if anything, with new arms, legs, sword and musket, but retaining the torso. This may also account for the slight shrinkage in the hat and other details, which is not an unusual result of the recasting process.

My conclusion is that the Lot 3s, which I initially thought were Alberkens, may actually be a very early iteration of the Lamming Prussian range. It looks to me that Bill may have started out by modifying a Hinton Hunt or two.

Clive and I have already had a lively email debate about all this. As can be seen on the wonderful Old Metal Detector Blog here, Clive is far from convinced, but for what it's worth, my theory about Lammings is that there were more than just two versions of the range, which is to say a 20mm range and a more or less completely resculpted 25mm range. If the evidence presented above is anything to go by, Bill seems to have tinkered quite a lot with the 20mm figures, including completely remodelling some of them, before tossing the lot in favour of 25mm figures. More than a few vintage Prussians, however, will be needed to prove this, so if anyone else has examples of these figures or any tales to tell about them, please get in touch!

Yours, as ever
WM

P.S. Evidence of 'tinkering', although of a very modest variety, can also be found in the French part of the Lamming 20mm range, which I will illustrate in a later post.

Edit:
Some really splendid early Lamming British Royal Horse Artillery can be seen on Rob Y's site here.

Troop Inspection

The Lamming castings I posted a few weeks ago seemed to go down quite well, so I decided to slap a bit of paint on them.

To recap, from left to right, the figures are:

FI/3: Imperial Guard Grenadier advancing;
FI/1: Line Voltigeur or Grenadier elite; and
FI/8: Line fusilier

They're a wee bit bigger than Hinton Hunts, but it's nothing  that can't be cured by using slightly thinner bases.

Hinton Hunt FN 254 and Lamming FI/1

Hinton Hunt FN 5 and Lamming FI/8

Lamming FI/3 and Hinton Hunt FN 234s

It'll probably come as no surprise to anyone that I also couldn't resist painting up one of the FI/1s as a Fusilier grenadier.

And the final lineup:

I think that some of these will definitely be making their way into Phase 3.

Best Regards

WM

Three Little Lammings

I promised Blasthof for this post, but I've been distracted by a burst of painting energy (of which more anon), and by these little chaps:

By the Left

The figures are all 20mm Lamming Miniatures French Foot Napoleonics of early 1970s vintage, specifically (from left to right):

FI/8: Line Fusilier;
FI/3: Imperial Guard Grenadier Advancing; and
FI/1: Line Voltigeur or Grenadier Elite.

Face Front

These are not well documented figures (although the Vintage Wargamer has a wonderful collection of FI/3s on his Old Metal Detector blog), so I'm very pleased to present them to the blogosphere. I have very many more of them than is really wise or sensible, so the first task is to paint them up as test figures.

About Turn

They won't be to everyone's taste, I fear, but I think they have the same very clean, simple and sharp qualities as the Lamming British infantry I finished earlier these year and I have high hopes for them.

Wish me luck!

Yours, as ever

WM

P.S. My special thanks to Goya, international man of mystery and all-round smashing bloke who alerted me to these and was instrumental in getting them to me.

True Brits

The 73rd were marching to join Wallmoden's Corps when they were met on the road by the famous "Uprising Dörnberg".

Dörnberg: Zank Gott, you haff come. Zere is not a moment to lose!

Wallmoden's troops were drawn up in line. As the Germans looked on, General Lyon formed his men into quarter column and began his demonstration of the "19 Manoeuvres".

Lyon: Right Lads, let's show these Jarmins how it's done!

To the beat of a single drum, the British recoats marched, wheeled and countermarched flawlessly.

Wallmoden's Germans watched in silence.

Dörnberg: Jah Jah, very pretty. But can zey fight?

With the demonstration complete, the whole Corps formed up in review.

It was not a moment to soon. The sound of gunfire could be heard echoing over the hills. The French were approaching.

Lyon: England expects, Lads!

But where were the Prussians?

WM

* As seen in "A plan of the nineteen manoeuvres by Lieut. J. English, of the 9th Foot, as published by authority in 1801".

Looking at Lammings

My painting target this week was to finish the first half of the 73rd. I managed to achieve this and  also had a bit of time do a few basing experiments.

In the picture below you can see my test company of the 73rd on a 1.5mm plasticard base lined up next to a company of Hinton Hunts on a 2mm base. They seem to work together really well like this.

I also dug out a few of the other Lammings I've picked up to show how incompatible the 20mm range is with 25mm range which replaced it in 1974-75. The height difference is not all that great in some instances, but the head and hat sizes are very different, as are the torsos, limbs and hands. They all still look like Lammings, however, which is what makes them so damned difficult to collect!

That'll be it for the Lammings for a wee while. I've told myself that I'm not allowed to do any more of them until the Chasseurs are complete. It's a desperate measure, I know, but it's the only way I could think of to force myself back to the cavalry. It should do the trick as I really want to see what a whole regiment of Lammings is going to look like.

Chasseurs next, I promise…

WM

P.S. I've just uploaded a fizzy-can flag page for those who want to know a bit more about how I make them. A horses page is also in preparation.

Colour Supplement

I've been working on my Lammings this week, and the result is a colour party.

The figures are all vintage 20mm Lamming Miniatures from the Napoleonic 1815, British Foot range:

BI/1: Line infantry advancing x 1;
BI/2: Line infantry officer with drawn sword x1;
BI/2: Line infantry officer with drawn sword x 2, converted to colour bearers; and
BI/5: Line infantry drummer x 1

The baldrics for the colours were made by flattening out a length of soldering wire, cutting it into even strips and then bending them around and gluing them to the figures. Both ensigns were also in need of a bit of arm, hands and sword repair, which I achieved with some gentle soldering and a couple of flattened pins. I tried to keep the classic Lamming machete look for the sword blades.

My sincere thanks to M S Foy for the Regimental Colour ensign - it's very pleasing indeed to have this regiment led by a full compliment of proper Lamming officers. They were in severe danger of getting a Minifig, which would not have been the done thing!

Toodle Pip.

WM

Garrison Troops

It rained buckets in Wellington yesterday, so our traditional Boxing Day hike up a lump in the landscape was postponed. What I did instead, of course, was finish my Garrison infantry. Pictured below is the result.

The figures, which are nearly all from the 1972 Garrison French Napoleonic range, are:

FN 1: Old Guard Grenadier Officer, converted into a Line Officer, x 1;
FN 2: Old Guard Grenadier advancing, x 6;
FN 4: Line Officer, converted into an eagle-bearer, x 1;
FN 7: Line Fusilier advancing, x 9; and, for the Voltigeurs,
FN 9: Line Grenadier advancing, x 6.

The only non-Garrison figure is the drummer, who was converted from a Lamming FI/6: Imperial Guard Grenadier drummer.

The last shot shows the new battalion besides my Der Kriegspielers Swiss, with Soult as the proud Brigadier. I wasn't really sure how they were going to fit in with the rest of my French army when I started them, but I think I've just about got away with it.

Seeing them together like this suggests that another pre-Bardin line battalion is needed in order to give Soult his division.

There's a bit more artillery required first, however, and another battle to fight on New Year's Day.

Happy New Year everyone.

WM

Command Conversions

Well, I'm clearly quite keen on Garrisons as the command group is almost complete. Part of the fun of doing them was that they're all conversions.

First up is a Garrison FN 1: Old Guard Grenadier Officer, who I've converted to be my line infantry chef de bataillon. The new elements are a flattened-pin sword and the head of a Garrison FN 7: Line Fusilier advancing. His plume was taken from an old Minifigs S-Range French voltigeur.

The drummer also has an FN 7 head, in this case soldered on to the body of a Lamming FI/6: Imperial Guard Grenadier drummer. The only other new elements are his plume, which came from a Hinchliffe French artillery officer; and a bit of work on his epaulettes to create the swallows' nests favoured by fusilier drummers

Last but not least is the eagle-bearer, who is an adapted Garrison FN 4: French Line Officer. He's holding yet another of my fizzy-can flags, with an eagle snipped off a Minifigs French Horse grenadier. The other changes I've made to him are another flattened-pin sword and a bit of carving on his chest to produce an 1806 pattern tunic and waistcoat. This was actually a very simple job using my rotary tool.

The last two shots are of the three of them together. I'm really pleased with how the Lamming blends in with the Garrisons.

The first three fusiliers needed to make up the command base are also complete and, if I can find a spare hour or two, the grenadiers should not be far behind. If I'm a really good boy I may even manage to get the whole battalion finished by Christmas.

Hmmmm....we'll see. There's an awful lot of office parties lined up before then.

WM

Edit: Rob's comment below reminded me that I intended another picture to show how Garrisons square up against Hinton Hunts. Pictured below is my chef de bataillon beside a vintage Hinton Hunt FN 1: French Infantry of the Line Officer, charging.

The Garrison is definitely a wee bit taller, but there's not a great deal in it. However, he is a lot broader, and the Garrison figure base seems positively enormous compared to the Hinton Hunt . However, six figures will go onto a 40mm x 30mm base right enough.