General de Diversion

Hinton Hunt FN 224: French General

One of the reasons why my Prussian hussars are proceeding so slowly is that I've allowed myself to be distracted by another one of Old John's very nicely produced Hinton Hunt recasts: in this case FN 224: French General. I was meant to be doing him in tandem with the hussars, but he somehow managed to take over....

FN 224 must be one of the most famous (and most commonly found) of the Hinton Hunt personality figures. The reason for this must be because he is so endlessly adaptable. Not only can he be made to represent a French brigade, division or corps commander, but by using slightly different colour schemes he can also stand in for one of the many French satellite contingent commanders. As I only have the one, however, I've decided to put him charge of my Frenchmen.

I managed to give him a nice dark coat by liberally washing him down with humbrol black. The lighter blue highlighting, however, may have been a little too subtle.

I'm not sure exactly who he's going to be just yet, but General D'Erlon, the commander of I Corps at Waterloo, is in the lead at the moment.

As for the hussars, I hope to have something to show by next week. I'm very keen to get them done so that I can get started on something altogether more spectacular...

All the best

WM

Huzzah Hussars

It's been a slow few weeks on the painting front as my hobby time has been mostly devoted to experiments in soldering bayonets onto broken muskets, of which more in later posts.

However, I couldn't put off the cavalry forever, so opted for what I hoped would be some fairly simple Prussian Leib Hussars. I also really wanted to have a go at painting the rather menacing-looking Totenkopf badges worn by the Regiment onto their shako covers. The result is positively piratical.

Pictured is the single test figure I've completed so far, painted to represent a trooper of the 2nd Leib Hussars. I chose the 2nd Regiment mostly because I liked their red shoulder straps. However, the fact that a few squadrons were also present at Waterloo had something to do with it.

The figure is a very tidy John Cunningham recast of Hinton Hunt PN 85: Prussian Hussar, Charging. He's the first of what is intended to be a 12-figure regiment. I haven't fixed on a standard squadron size yet, but am leaning towards 4-figure squadrons rather than 6 as its easier to find 4-figure multiples than 6.

More hussars should follow in the next post.

WM

Swiss Mobilisation

Waiting for Russians!

Marching through the Russian forests

The 3rd Swiss are complete and ready to take the field.

Now, I could say lots of seemingly plausible things about how collecting vintage figures makes it next to impossible to reconstruct historic orders of battle, and that armies consisting of an eclectic mix of styles, nationalities and periods are more or less inevitable in a project such as this. However, nobody forced me to paint my DK Swiss as actual Swiss, and I certainly didn't have my arms twisted to paint French chasseurs and Dutch Grenadiers as Swiss either. So let's be honest: it was the spectacle I was after!

Having said that, Napoleon's Swiss regiments provided much more than just bling battalions. Although they had a somewhat mixed record in Spain, including the surrender of a couple of battalions to the Spanish at Baylen in 1808, in Russia they fought like tigers. On several occasions single Swiss regiments more than held their own against entire Russian divisions.

Enemy in sight!

As my French have now reached close-order parity with the Prussians, the logical choice for the next unit would be a French skirmisher battalion. However, I still don't have any cavalry. Completing Ian's cavalry has given me a bit more confidence in this area so perhaps the next post should be devoted to thundering hooves and flashing sabres. I'm very tempted to try some hussars, but this may be a little too ambitious!

WM

Form Square!

The 3rd Swiss will advance!

Fancy Flankers

It will come as no surprise to anyone at all that I have completely caved in and gone for both voltigeur and grenadier companies for the 3rd Swiss. However, I have an excuse.

The figures are from two different sets: DK 4: French 1809 Légère, assaulting; and DK 220: Dutch Grenadier Battalion, defending. In both cases I've turned their heads ever so slightly to the left to make them blend in a bit more with my DK 176: Swiss Line Infantry.

The DK 4s are not particularly lovely figures, but I think they'll look OK as a company. The Dutchmen, on the other hand, are very handsome indeed in my opinion, despite being somewhat precariously balanced on their bases! I was very lucky to find a couple of battalions of these, with six left over for spares.


My excuse for this extravagance is that I've found two more Swiss fusiliers (complete with musket butts, I'm glad to say) from the small stash of unidentified figures I have in my collection.These two will provide me with just enough fusiliers to fill out the two centre companies of  a second Swiss unit. The beginnings of the Neuchâtel Battalion, perhaps?


The origin of these last two figures is a bit of  a mystery. I'm convinced they are neither Hinton Hunts nor Der Kriegspielers, but something else entirely. Inscribed under their bases is what looks like "FF", followed by something undecipherable. If anyone has come across anything like these before, please let me know!

WM

On a Swiss Roll

Swiss Fusiliers. But what to do next?

Now that Ian's cavalry are on their way back to Blighty, I've turned my attention back to the Swiss!

With only three main colours to worry about (Red, White and Black), they were very quick to paint.

The big decision now is whether to give them a fourth company of either grenadiers or voltigeurs. If I did both I'd be left with 6 DK 176's spare, which would be be a very inefficient use of the figures!

One to ponder......

Have a good one!

WM

Prussian Lancers 2

I am very pleased to present, at long last, the second squadron of the 3rd (Brandenburg) Uhlans.

The figures are Hinton Hunt PN 89: Prussian Guard Lancers, and very aggressive looking chappies they are too. I wouldn't like to have been a Frenchman standing in the way of this lot!

It remains to be seen whether or not they can make it back to blighty in time for vintage waterloo....

WM

UPDATE: They are finally on their way to the Front!