200th Anniversary of Waterloo

This weekend marked the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.  I have not been painting much in the right genre to post any miniatures for the period, nor have I been able to game much in that tie either recently, but it would be remiss of me to let this historic even pass without comment. A friend of mine posted this quote on facebook, that I liked, and thought I would share with you all.

From a memoir of Brussels just before Waterloo, by an English military officer on furlough from his regiment in Ceylon (source):

"This city is filled with British and Hanoverian troops. Their conduct is exemplary, nor is any complaint made against them. The Highland regiments are however the favourites of the Bruxellois, and the inhabitants give them the preference as lodgers. They are extremely well behaved (they say, when speaking of the Highlanders) and they cheerfully assist the different families on whom they are quartered in their household labour. This reflects a good deal of credit on the gallant sons of Caledonia. Their superior morality to those of the same class either in England or in Ireland must strike every observer, and must, in spite of all that the Obscuranten or Chevaliers de l'Eteignoir and others who wish to check the progress of the human mind may urge to the contrary, be mainly attributed to the general prevalence of education a la portée de tout le monde. Wherever the people are enlightened there is less crime; ignorance was never yet the safeguard of virtue. As for myself I honour and esteem the Scottish nation and I must say that I have found more liberal ideas and more sound philosophy among individuals of that nation than among those of any other, and it is a tribute I owe to them loudly to proclaim my sentiments; for though personal gratitude may seem to influence me a little on this subject, yet I should never think of putting forth my opinion in public, were it not founded on an impartial observation of the character of this enterprising and persevering people. A woman who had some Highlanders quartered in her house told me in speaking of them: "Monsieur, ce sont de si bonnes gens; ils sont doux comme des agneaux." "Ils n'en seront pas moins des lions an jour du combat," was my reply."

In other Waterloo related news, I thought this article was fun. I want one of those 2,5 euro coins now! 

Trip back to the old Country, Part II

Earlier this month, I had a second trip back to the UK in almost as many months, this time for a happier occasion (more weddings, less funerals, but you'll have to look elsewhere for the pics of all the kilts).

I will however use this picture from my visit. It will of course be clear to you all why this Glaswegian relic of a former age has geek cred.

This time, a much shorter time spent in my parents attic, but with more space in my suitcase. Fortunately I had put things in order on the previous visit, so only had to pick up a couple of boxes and stash them. I also found out that there's a new games cafe opened in Edinburgh, right next door to the flat I sold there not a year ago! Why couldn't that have been there at the same time as me? Anyway, on with the haul.

First off, the things I picked up from storage:

Urban War rules (in magazine form). These were too heavy for the last trip, but with all the UW minis I have brought over, I figured it was time to have the rules to hand. Of course, I have access to pdfs (downloads here), but I do prefer paper versions, despite the space they take up.

Void TAV MKIII resin kit. This is more for Void than for UW, but I do so love the mini, and I intend to use it in some fashion for UW even though I don't think vehicle rules for the game exist (I'm sure it won't be too hard to house rule something). The kit i have differs slightly from the one pictured in the link.

Empire Army. Lastly I picked up 2 boxes of old school WFB minis, mostly metal, with a few plastic pikemen in there for good measure. These will be used for my Bretonnians, and/or Empire, in the case of any local WFB gaming. I say army, but really it's all infantry, as I left my few knights and artillery pieces. There will surely be more pictures of these in the near future, especially as there are some nice oldhammer minis amongst them.

Whilst there, on a quick visit to Static, I also bought:

MacBeth. I have had one eye on SAGA for a while, even going so far as to painting up some Vikings, but the release of a Scots faction, with a leader as infamous as MacBeth at the fore could not be passed up. Of course the real MacBeth and the Shakespearean version are not to be confused, as it seems the original version was actually quite good at the king thing.

Napoleonic British Peninsular war Officers. There's always room for more Napoleonics. I'm sure these can be used to back up various of the rank and file figures I already have, be they riflemen or highlanders. Planned for use in Drums and Shakoes or Sharp Practice.

Highlander Missile Troops (bow and musket). From Warlord, these are kind of multi use,

I also bought and had posted to my parents house, some Prussians from the war of 1866, when North Star were selling off their old stock to make way for new sculpts I think. I'm sure I can put them to good use in something Victoriana, for example, as troops for IHMN. The Jaegers from this batch are already prepped and primed and in the process of being painted, so more on them soon.

A visit to WH Smith's meant I picked up the trio of magazines (Wargames Illustrated, WSS and Miniature Wargames). The first two I can get here, eventually, but the third is not an option. I was less impressed with Minature Wargames this issue (I have only read two issues), as it held less of direct interest to me.

To round out the wargaming related purchases, I picked up another book on Churchill at a discount book store (there's not enough of those over here), this time more on his political career than his military career, but it fit with my other current reading. Be on the lookout for a review of Young Titan soon.

My my, the summer just got a whole lot busier with all this stuff to work through!

Colore Ton Monde: July

June's challenge was to paint something unfinished. They don't get any more unfinished than the Napoleon Vignette I've been moving around my painting bench for over a year now. I mean, he was all but done.  Well, now he is finished. I may go back and do some touch ups here and there as I'm not 100% happy with him as I didn't do too much on the lacing for Roustam, but he'll do for now.

On to this month's challenge:

Fierté nationnale

Pour le mois de juillet, nous vous invitons à démontrer votre fierté nationale en peignant un modèle aux couleurs de la nation, ou en peignant un étendard. Par contre, pour varier un peu, c'est le côté fédéraliste que nous soulignons cette fois-ci, alors la couleur thème en question est le rouge !

National Pride

For the month of July, we invite you to demonstrate your pational pride by painting a model in the national colours, or by painting a standard. However, for a little variation, we're underlining the federal side this time, so, the colour-scheme this time is red!

Just for Canada Day!

Red and White it is. I think there may be something I can do for Dystopian Legions that will easily fall into this category. As an added bonus, KoB models not only need red and white, but they count towards my own nationality (in a way). Double win!

Prizes!

More on this guy soon.

I received a package in the post today. I was not expecting anything, as it's nowhere near Christmas, or my birthday. Parcels arriving for the kids at random from relatives abroad is not unknown, but not for me.

It had a German return address, which made me wonder even more.  When I got home and  opened it, I was more that pleasantly surprised by its contents. A book, and a little bag of minis. What a wonderful way to end the day!

A few days ago, I popped a comment onto Großbeeren 1813's post on reaching 25K hits. Looking at the archive of posts does not take long, but it is no wonder that he has had so many hits, the miniatures he sculpts are truly amazing, and even in the flooded market of Napoleonics, he makes interesting, fun and characterful sculpts. I will be sure to pick up copies of the rude highlanders minis once they are finally released (I'm on the waiting list).

As to the gifts (I cannot with any clear conscious call them prizes, as I did nothing to win them). First off was this rather nifty book. This will surely fill a hole in my small but growing Napoleonic Library, which has so far concentrated on the British side of the Alliance, and on the French, to the neglect of the other countries involved.

The second item in the parcel (as if the book was not enough of a give-away prize) was a little bag of 4 miniatures. But not just any old minis, these minis. I was pretty gobsmacked.

Go to the link above for better pictures.

As miniatures go, they are wonderfully detailed and flash free. If ever you get a chance to get your hands on these minis (or any others that these guys produce) don't hesitate. I think I may also now have the start of my Napoleonic vignette.

I had received an email asking for my address for this, but had suggested that Kawe wait till I had purchased the Highlanders, at least then I would be contributing to the postage, but no, it was not to be, and I must admit I'm grateful he didn't wait.

Do you think that's enough links back to Großbeeren 1813? Well, one last one won't hurt!

Another challenge, another vignette

Over on La Bricole, a painting challenge has been launched. At first I read it was to paint a vignette, and I got all excited, as I could post the viking vignette I'm currently making, but then I read further, and, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Battle of Salamanca, they are looking for Napoleonic vignettes. The fact that I need to post a 'nude' picture at the start means I can't sneak in Ol Boney that is languishing half finished in my cupboard (Ok, so more than half finished really, there's no excuse for him not to be done in 1 sitting). Shame shame shame. 2 strikes, but not out.

So, where to go with this? I have a few nude Napoleonics kicking around, mostly French, with a smattering of 95th Riflemen in there too. I could go with a command base for my French column, that might work.

I am also tempted to go over to the other side of the Atlantic, for the other war in 1812, but that means a shopping spree on the internet for minis.

Family commitments mean I'll be unlikely to get much done on either vignette in the next 3 weeks, but I do have time to plan this one, as it's not due till September. Time to go reading up on the burning of Washington, there's sure to be something there that will make an interesting little stand.

Battlefield detritus

My laptop finally gave up the ghost, so I have a) a little more time to paint (less distractions), and b) no way to post what I have painted. I have snuck onto my good lady's PC this afternoon and so am posting these few pictures of the painted cannon wreck markers/scenery/space filler/objective tokens, or whatever you think they're good for.

From what I have seen, green was a good colour to paint the cannon wrecks to make them French. I will likely use the rest to make a few more bases and paint them blue to represent British artillery wreckage.

Modelling

This evening has been rather bitty in terms of what I got done. My previous post shows I was inspired to get on with some Napoleonic French. However, I found out to my dismay that the French Line Infantry i have are for the period 1812-1815, so don't cover the Peninsular War, which was where the Légion Hanoverienne and Légion du Midi served (both were disbanded before the 1812 campaign). A mild setback, as I'm sure no-one would notice the difference if I painted them up as I wanted anyway. Still, it got me round to putting a few more of these minis together, and on different bases from my usual pennies. maybe I can just add a quarter underneath (25cents). A possible, if not more expensive, option.

Also, I picked up some movement trays from GW, for their Lord of the Rings game War of the Ring (in the picture above). These allow me to fit my minis based for skirmish into formation for larger games without needing to rebase them, although I will have to figure something out for the 95th, as they're all stuck to pennies. Maybe I'll just stick them on top of other bases as they are. I also wanted to make use of terrain, placed on the same bases as the miniatures. I have seen this method around, and it works really well for 2 things. It allows you to make mini dioramas within the units, adding to the character of the figs, and also, it fills out the unit whilst saving on minis. To this end, I wandered into my FLGS, and bought some bits, mostly GW cannons and the like, for a couple of dollars. I brought them home and chopped them up, and this is the result.

I'm sure they could also be used as objective markers, or even casualty markers at a push. I want to get on and give them a coat of PVA, and get them painted, but I'd best wait at least 24 hours to let the Polyfilla dry.

Lastly, I put a little more paint on my Napoleon Diorama. The drum may be finished, but Raza has a ways to go.

Inspiration

Légion du Midi

I have a box of Perry French Line infantry, that I bought to go up against the rifles in Songs of Drums and Shakoes. Some are based, but not all, and none have even a lick of paint on them. They have been languishing in the back of the cupboard, waiting patiently to be painted. Finally, I have been inspired to do so, by an article in the latest issue of Wargames Soldiers and Strategy. There is a short article on the Légion Hanovrienne, with a one shot picture of a miniature painted as a trooper from the Légion du Midi. I know next to nothing about either of these units, except for what is written in the article (Légion du Midi doesn't even have am English language wikipedia site), but the article thinks about moving away from a field of blue Frenchmen and red Brits. I like this, and what's more, both units were active in the Peninsular, and both sets of conversions in the article take the base Victrix French infantry as a base, meaning there should be little or no conversion work required to use the Perry minis I have from the same era.

Other commitments that currently stop me from painting as much as I would like will be finishing in a week or so, so  here's hoping I'll be able to move on this in a timely fashion


Links after the cut, as much for my own reference.

95th Rifles

1993. I had just started university. I had been into role-playing for a very long time, and had done my share of wargaming, mostly fantasy/sci-fi, but I hadn't touched on the historical stuff. I had yet to try fencing, but to be sure, the swashbuckling gene was there. I had a very faint Idea who Wellington and Napoleon were, but my interest in the Napoleonic era was faint to non-existant.

Me and my Brother sat down to flick through the channels on the TV one evening, to see what we could find to hold our interest, not holding our breath. Then we saw Sean Bean swagger on screen, and were totally fixated for the next 2 hours (2 hours!).

The historical drama series 'Sharpe' was likely a gateway to many of my generation of historical gamers, and as such, you'll be hard pushed to find a painting blog that doesn't contain at least a few minis from the 95th rifles hidden in their galleries. Why shoudl this one be any different?

As I previously mentioned, I picked up a couple of Perry riflemen free with a magazine, then went online to buy a few more. Of course I had to find a range that would supply a version of the man himself. I though Front rank's range was consistently of good quality, and although their Rilfeman Captain with Rifle (not standard issue, for swashbuckers only) may not be in the most dynamic pose (and not carrying a heavy cavalry sabre), he fits the bill.

I went on to find myself a skirmish rules set, and settled on Ganesha Games 'Songs of Drums and Shakoes'. This seemed to have the right mix of RPG elemets and Skirmishing rules, that can easily be adapted for a more swashbuckling feel. To act as the dastardly French in my scenarios, I picked up a box of Perry Miniatures French Line infantry. As is par for the course, I have yet to play a game.

Onwards to the pictures.

Napoleon WIP

As part of my recent painting stint, I chose a bunch of Napoleonic minis I had kicking around in the old pile of metal for quite some time. I've mostly been doing my riflemen for use in a skirmishing game, but to give me a break from the green, I picked up a little vignette of Napoleon. This mini was released as part of the Wargames Illustrated 'Moments in History' vingettes, but my FLGS had one of each in stock. I figured this one was one that fitted an era I was likely to play, and even if I never used him in a big battle as a commander, I could always use him as an objective marker in a smaller game.

Furthermore, as it's the 200th anniversary of the battle of Borodino, a painting by Vasily Vershchagin's of which the little big man's pose is taken from (see above). I figured it was a timely mini to paint. As always, click for bigger pictures.

Sneak Peak: 95th Rifles

I've been getting down to some proper painting over the last few weeks, at least an hour or two every week! Yes, I am fully aware this is not very much, but I've been trying to speed up my painting by going for what is essentially a dip style. Base coat - Devlan Mud - Highlight. I'm actually quite impressed with the results. A teaser of which is posted here. I'll for sure be going back to many of my uncompleted units for various games to get them completed much faster than I previously would have.

The models I chose to go with are the ubiquitous 95th. A couple of years back, Wargames Illustrated gave away a free pair of perry Riflemen with the magazine, which in turn prompted me to go online and get them some company. I chose Fronk Rank Miniatures, partly because of the figure in the centre of this picture, but more on him later.

I don't have access to all the pics I took, but I think this one's a good start to show them off. I'm particularly proud of the numbering on the back of the pack. I'll update with the rest shortly.