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".

British Lyon

To my utter shame I have failed to complete the 73rd in time to claim them for my 2018 painting total. They're nearly there, but it's going to take another day or two before they're ready to take the field.

What I have to show instead is my new commander, who is a David Clayton version of that favourite old Hinton Hunt standby: BN 107: British General (mounted), pointing (horse attached series).

General Lyon cantered onto the field to take command of the 73rd,

Hinton Hunt experts may notice his face is a little unusual. This is because he was completely missing anything resembling a nose, so I had to give him one with my soldering iron.

but no matter where he turned.....

Like my French General, Marshal Quiestil, he is to have a roaming commission. General Hoosie is to be his usual name, but when serving with Wallmoden's Army he is to be Brigadier James Frederick Lyon.

...he couldn't find them anywhere.

Lyon commanded the 97th (Queen's Own Germans) Regiment of Foot in the Peninsula until 1813, when he was sent to North Germany to help organise the new Hanoverian Army and was almost immediately given a division to command in Wallmoden's Corps. On the day of Waterloo he was in command of the 6th Hanoverian Brigade at Hal, and so missed the battle. If I ever play Waterloo, however, I'm sure I could find a place for him.

He will find his regiment, with a bit of luck, by Saturday morning, for as the pictures show, the armies are already massing for battle.

Till then

WM

Marching Socks

From my Darling Wellington Girl.

She got a 1955 NZ Army battledress blouse from me. Starts high school next year, you see.

Merry Christmas

WM

Christmas Crackers

My Chasseurs are complete.

The Emperor has despatched his finest regiment
to reconnoitre the road to Berlin.

The Chasseurs deploy onto the far bank unopposed.

But at that very moment, the enemy appears.
 It is the dreaded Leib Hussars.

Without a moment's hesitation, Prince Eugene
wheels his squadrons to face the foe.

The Leib Hussars also prepare to attack.

Essex Hussar: Chasseurs, the eyes of the Emperor are upon us.

Pamela, Sound the charge!

In the blink of an eye, the charging squadrons are upon each other,

sabres flashing in the clear morning light...

...and in an instant the Leib Hussars are overthrown.

Napoleon: That's more like it!

The figures are:

Vintage Hinton Hunt:
FN 48: French Imperial Guard Cavalry, Chasseur a Cheval charging x 9;

Der Kriegspielers Napoleoniques:
Set # 47: Guard Chasseurs a Cheval x 1;
Set # 47: Guard Chasseurs a Cheval x 1, converted into a trumpeter; and

The Essex Hussar.

Special thanks to Don W and MS Foy, without whom I could never have assembled this regiment. Please accept my apologies, chaps, for the ridiculous amount of time its taken me to complete them.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and the very best for the New Year.

WM

The Gilded Age

I've been hard at it painting Chasseurs this weekend, but they're complex wee beasties and after every few steps I have to stop to let everything to dry.

During one such episode late this afternoon I decided to dig out a regiment which has been sitting in a box at the back of a cupboard, more or less forgotten, ever since I bought it several years ago. I'm going to need some more redcoats at some point, so I thought I'd get them out to have a closer look at them. They are, I believe, Alberkens with a sprinkling of Hinton Hunt command figures, painted to represent the 42nd Highlanders.

Alberken 42nd Highlanders

I bought them because they looked so charmingly Gilderesque. When I saw them in the lead my heart almost sank a bit because the quality of the painting was so high that the only thing I could really do with them was a little gentle retouching and perhaps remounting with a few bayonet repairs. I may have a go at this over Christmas if I can get the Chasseurs and Lammings finished.

Vintage painting at it's best

Having got them out again, and with Gilder in mind, I hunted through some of my old wargaming books to see if I could spot something similar. Sure enough, on page 13 of Charles Grant's Napoleonic Wargaming (King's Langley: Argus Books, 1974), I found the following photo of Peter Gilder's collection:

The 42nd leading the right flank of Picton's Division at Waterloo in 1974.

Also featured is a very pretty regiment of Lammings on the left.

Do you know, I think it's the very same regiment.

Yours, in some amazement.

WM

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.