Snooty Nansouty

Étienne-Marie-Antoine Champion, comte de Nansouty and darling of the French heavy cavalry, seems to be a popular chap with Napoleonic military history buffs, if his Wikipedia entry is anything to go by. Even this extraordinary hagiography, however, makes it plain that he wasn't everyone's cup of tea.

The scion of minor Burgundian nobility, Nansouty was an outstanding cavalry commander with a particular knack for training his beloved cuirassiers, a superb eye for ground and an acute sense of timing. Almost uniquely amongst Napoleon's senior commanders, he also appears to have been honest - not for him the amassing of a vast ill-gotten fortune, or so it seems. What made him really insufferable as far as his fellow generals were concerned, however, was his absolute refusal to accept any kind of advice or criticism. In 1809 even the Emperor got a bit of a serve when Nansouty famously responded to criticism after the Battle of Wagram by saying: "It is not Your Majesty, at any rate, who can teach me how to handle cavalry." It was arrogance and withering sarcasm such as this which was probably responsible for his sudden departure from the army during the Campagne de France in 1814, although whether he resigned in a huff or was dismissed is not entirely clear.

One senses he was never really a Bonapartist and that he looked down a bit on his upstart Emperor and his rogues gallery of marshals. He was certainly near the front of the queue when it came to swearing allegiance to Louis XVIII. Whether he would have rallied to Napoleon during the 100 days, however, will never been known because he died in early 1815. The strain of ten years of ceaseless campaigning, during which he had been wounded on numerous occasions, had finally caught up with him.

Nansouty is reproduced here in the form of a really lovely vintage example of a Hinton Hunt FN 361: General Nansouty in Cuirassier General's uniform with cocked hat, painted faithfully according to Marcus Hinton's painting instructions. He looked a bit daunting at first, but in the end came together really nicely I think.

More cuirassiers, or at least a progress report about them, will be posted next week. I'm making good progress on these, having been greatly inspired by a battle I've been fighting via email with David C. David has produced the most extraordinary vintage spectacle, so if you haven't seen it yet hurry over to David's blog at http://miniatureminions.blogspot.com/ and have a butcher's. Things are really starting to heat up....

Yours

WM

Six Eighths Make a Half

 The first half of 8th Cuirassiers is complete (or at least they will be when the varnish dries).

A cavalcade of cuirassiers

Nansouty is just a little too sticky to mount on his horse, so he'll be appearing next week.

So, what do you think? Should I press on with the second squadron, or take a break and have a crack at some gunners?

Yours, as always

WM

Even Heavier Going

I've been very busy with other things again this week, but a bit of progress was made on the cuirassiers.

They don't look like much yet, but I'm pleased to say that most of the particularly tricky bits have been done. It's really only the metallic parts, plus a few other odds and ends, that need to be completed now. To keep my spirits up I'm also trying not to remember that there's another whole squadron to go when these are finished.

My friend Rob G, who challenged me to a horserace, notwithstanding my massive head start, is already way ahead of me. Pictured below are his wonderful takes on General Nansouty and the Brunswick Hussars.

Nansouty Reports for Duty

The Pride of Brunswick, with added Ponsonby

I think they're absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to see what the second squadron is going to look like, which will be light dragoons by all accounts.

Have a good one,

WM

Lemon Squeezer

By Jings, what a busy weekend. I've been shopping, repairing, transporting, cleaning, cooking and fighting a battle, but by some miracle I somehow managed to squeeze in a trumpeter.

He is, of course, a Hinton Hunt FN 102: Cuirassier Trooper, charging (One Piece Casting), converted by yours truly into a trumpeter.

He's almost finished. My brushes are all hopelessly blunt and in dire need of replacement, so there are numerous wee areas that need tidying up. I really must do something about it as the rest of the squadron is not going to go well otherwise.

I can't help feeling a bit guilty about this one as he's the first completely intact, pristine and vintage Hinton Hunt I've ever dared to chop up.

Nansouty is well underway, so there's a reasonable chance that he'll be appearing next week.

I am, etc.,

WM

Heavy Going

Yes folks, it's an actual post, although not a very good one.

My failure to paint anything over the last few months has been one of a variety of set backs and frustrations, but I'm pleased to announce that I'm finally back in the groove. This is now urgent, as the collection has continued to grow in leaps and bounds, despite my slightly desperate attempts to offload some of it. There are, as a result, all sorts of wondrous and spectacular things waiting in the painting queue, so there was nothing for it but to knuckle down and crack on with the cuirassiers.

Below is a shot of the progress to date. As you can see, the horses are basically all done, and a decent start has been made on the troopers.

I've promised myself to post something every week until these accursed cavalry are complete. This may make for some rather uninteresting posts, but I'm at my wit's end and it's the only motivational device I can come up with at the moment.

What do you reckon - should I aim for a completed Nansouty or the trumpter for next weekend's installment?

Wish me luck, whichever it is.

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.