Harps and Lions Update

This Saturday has been all about prepping figures and fighting a battle, but I haven't got any pictures ready yet, so to be going on with I have an update on the Royal Standard of Charles I that I painted for my friend Rob about 15 months ago.

Rob has finally completed the command base that he had planned for it, which is pictured below. I'm absolutely delighted by this - not least because it shows that I'm not the only one who takes absolutely ages to get round to things!

Wrong but Romantic

I'm guessing that the King is the chap on the left. I recognise the horse-holder, however - he's a Hinchliffe gunner, if I'm not mistaken. I still have one somewhere up in the attic. Whatever they are, they have been beautifully painted.

I've pleaded with Rob to let me show off more pictures of his other wonderful ECW flags and figures, but he won't let me.

Have a great weekend

WM

Edit:

Rob tells me that the figures are:

• for King Charles, a Warrior Miniature’s CWC7 on horse ??? (answers in a blog comment, please-possibly Essex?);
• for the bare-headed officer, a Hinchliffe personality General Fairfax (PF23) on LH3 Light Horse Standing Arched Neck;
• a Hinchliffe Colour Bearer In Helmet ECW11; and
• a Hinchliffe Gunner Porte Fire ECW18 – less porte fire and powder flask changed with green stuff to a satchel.

Edit 2:

Here's another shot of them with a bit of artistic lighting!

Mind the GàP

I'm off to Auckland on a work gig this weekend, so this week's post is a little earlier than usual.

Officier: Bataillion!

The Grenadiers à Pied have arrived hot foot from the Interior

The Emperor Arrives for the Review

The Guard goes through its evolutions

La Garde réunie. Napoleon: Je suis content!

To recap, the figures are:

Hinton Hunt:
FN 29: Grenadiers of the Old Guard, marching x 20
FN 28: Grenadiers of the Old Guard, Sergeant, marching x 1
FN 27: Grenadiers of the Old Guard, Officer, marching x 1
FN 25: Grenadiers of the Old Guard, Drummer, charging x 1 (a David Clayton casting); and

Der Kriegspielers Napoleoniques set #20: Infantry of the Old Guard Command Group, Grenadier Eagle bearer x 1

They're going into battle next week.
Have a great weekend

WM

Edit:

What with all the talk of being shot to pieces and running away in the Comments, I thought I should post this quick test shot of the Guard getting ready for their grand photo session. Muskets & Marshals make guards units almost impossible to beat. That big red splodge, it occurred to me, is probably all that's left of  the last lot to tackle with them.

Guard update

Even after twenty battalions I still remain absurdly optimistic when estimating the time things are going to take. When I woke up this morning my woman had left me and the dog was dead (she's only away for the weekend, and the dog died several decades ago, but it's still true) , but aside from that I thought my remaining eight guardsmen would take, oh, no more than an hour and half to finish off, easily.

The Hateful Eight

Eight hours later (with only a very short break for lunch) they have just received their varnish and will need at least another 8-10 hours to dry, which is why I haven't been able to mount them and show them off properly in time for this week's post.

Next week should be good though.
TTFN

WM

Sweet Child of Victory

We have a long weekend here in Wellington and as tradition demands the weather has been completely awful, so I've been hard at it again on the Grenadiers. They're not quite ready for their photoshoot, however, so as promised I have a new Marshal to show off instead.

Sharp-eyed readers of this blog will have noted, I'm sure, that my fusiliers were lacking a regular commander. At Dappol they had to make do with a hastily recruited Alberken Marshal Ney, still in his 1960s factory paintjob, which may account for their strange reluctance to become engaged. Moreover, a persistent rumour, despite furious denials by Imperial Headquarters, that they ran away from the Lützowers has left the Emperor with no choice but to find another marshal to command them. He is none other than André Masséna, Duke of Rivoli and Prince of Essling.

The terror of the Austrians in his prime, Masséna was well passed his "best before" date in 1813/14, which is the period around which I've rather loosely based my armies, but I couldn't leave such a splendid figure out of the order of battle. He's a really lovely David Clayton version of Hinton Hunt FN 356: Marshal Massena, in marshal's uniform. He's basically the same figure as FN 355: Marshal Davout, but with his hat on.

We'll see what the fusiliers make of him....

Next post: Grenadiers, I promise.

WM

On Guard

I've been hard at it on the Grenadiers à Pied this weekend, and have a command group to show for it:

They're a bit of a mixed bag of figures, being (from left to right):

Hinton Hunt FN 28: Grenadiers of the Old Guard 1804-15, Sergeant, marching;
Der Kriegspielers Set # 20: Guard Infantry 1809-1815, Infantry of the Guard command group, Eagle bearer;
Hinton Hunt FN 27: Grenadiers of the Old Guard 1804-15, Officer, marching; and
a David Clayton casting of a Hinton Hunt FN 25: Grenadiers of the Old Guard 1804-15,, Drummer, charging.

I'm particularly chuffed by the sergeant, who is an absolutely glorious little casting.

Only eight more grenadiers to go!

Yours,
WM

Cuirassier and Curiouser

As you know, while working on the Grenadiers, I've also been experimenting with a few test figures. Below is my first ever attempt at a French cuirassier. No French army would be complete without at least a regiment of these.

He is a vintage Hinton Hunt FN 102: Cuirassier Trooper (mounted) charging, painted to represent a trooper of the 8th Cuirassiers.

I had a number of false starts with this one as it was really difficult to work out exactly what it was that Marcus intended in some areas, so it took a bit of guesswork.

I'm reasonably satisfied with the results.  I'll get cracking on the rest of them as soon the Grenadiers à pied are finished, which shouldn't be toooo far off now.

Yours, as always

WM