Friday 27 December 2013

Centre Company, 32nd Regiment

The latest addition to the Waterloo 200 project. A single Centre company of the 32nd Regiment of Foot
The figures are Perry Plastic Miniatures. 

Monday 23 December 2013

Colonel Barnards Flank Battalion

Colonel Barnards flank battalion at Barrosa is all finished. The astute amongst you will notice that the Portuguese are missing. They are boxed up elsewhere for now (Christmas drinks in Cadiz?!). They will reappear in the new year!
 
The Light and Grenadier Companies of the 47th Regiment of Foot
Light and Grenadier Company of 47th Regiment of Foot
  

Sunday 22 December 2013

Flank Battalion WIP

Highlighting and shading wash done on the battalion. All that is left to do now is the straps and pipeclay in white (black for the rifles) and maybe some different coloured hair..
The light is getting poor now so I'll finish them off tomorrow.

Flank Battalion WIP

As you can see, the bulk of the uniform colour is added. Will be adding a shade of "skeleton bone" for the drummers coat and the redcoats white facings, plus silver for gun barrels and blades, before giving them all a once over with some army painter "strong tone". Next stage will be to highlight the existing colours.

Thursday 19 December 2013

Colonel Barnards Flank Battalion WIP

I've finally made a start on Colonel Bernards Flank battalion for the Barrosa project,  this will be mainly made up of "spares" from my boxes of Perry infantry
 
 
The battalion consisted of
- 4 Companies of 95th Rifles
- 2 Companies 47th Regiment of Foot
- 2 Companies 20th Portuguese Infantry Regt
 
To utilise what I've got,  there'll be a bit of artistic licence, and there'll be two stands (8 figures) from each Battalion
 
The Portuguese are already painted (part of an existing battalion) and so are not pictured here.

Tuesday 17 December 2013

The offending article

Well here they are,  the offending French infantry involved in Varnishgate.
5 companies in addition to the 2 painted previously. The intention is to use these to bulk out other battalions (24 to 28 man battalions etc) and also to operate independently (I have a lot of random command figures which I'll use to make command stands later)
Figures are from Warlord Games
As you can see they are suffering the effects of varnish but you'd probably not notice that much in the middle of a battle...
I hope..

Monday 16 December 2013

Salvaged

I recieved a tip from a user on TMP, suggesting I re-spray the figures with the same varnish, and the solvent should sort out the cloudiness.
I tried it on the figures and they are now at a standard where I can still use them. They are not perfect, but I guess they don't need to be. I should try to be less critical!

Varnish disaster

So looks like the rest of my French Battalion won't be completed today.

I went to spray the whole battalion with matt varnish (and wait for it...) and it came out frosty like a snow storm

So that's six companies ruined in 15 seconds.

Angry doesn't even come close....

Flank Battalions at Barrosa

I'm mid-way through my French infantry battalion, and they should be finished today

The next task will be the flank battalions from Barrosa, Colonel Bernard and Colonel Brown's battalions.

Colonel Bernard

4 Companies 95th Rifles
2 Companies 47th Regiment of Foot
2 Companies 20th Regiment of Foot

Colonel Brown

2 Companies 9th Regiment of Foot
2 Companies 28th Regiment of Foot
2 Companies 82nd Regiment of Foot

I will be using mainly Perry Plastics to complete these two battalions

Friday 13 December 2013

Today's contribution

I finished these French Line infantry centre companies today, all from Warlord Games. I had intended to finish more, but unfortunately I appear to be suffering the on-set of the dreaded man-flu, and concentrating was a struggle. Also, after spraying Volspar Clear Plastic Sealant into my eye yesterday, I've been feeling a tad unmotivated. 

Thursday 12 December 2013

Neapolitan Skirmishers

These are plastic Perry Voltigeurs which I have painted as Neapolitan skirmishers. I wanted to practice painting white as I'm expecting some Peninsular Spanish for Christmas!

British Foot Artillery

A battery of British foot artillery here, all from Front Rank and painted by Gary Bullock

French Line Infantry

Here are a few battalions of French line infantry, which are a mix of Perry and Warlord Games figures. Flags are a mixture of Victrix and GMB. These are some of my older units

Wednesday 11 December 2013

Isembourg Infantry Regiment

One of my earlier battalions, these figures are from Hät and painted as the Isembourg Regiment.

Highland Infantry Battalion

A battalion of Highlanders, seen here with General Picton. Figures are from Front Rank and painted by Gareth Beamish from ADC Painting. The flags are by GMB Flags

Barrosa Re-fight Orders of Battle

I will be following the orders of battle as listed here for my Barrosa re-fight in Autumn 2014

Peninsular Resource

French Combined Grenadier Battalion

Part of the French forces for Barrosa. A Combined Grenadier Battalion



The battalion is a mixture of figures, including Front Rank and Warlord Games.

Light Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Foot Guards (WIP)

The first figures completed as part of my contribution to the Waterloo 200 project.

This is the first half of the Light Company of 3rd Battalion, 1st Foot Guards - the light company will eventually number 24 figures.


 
My full contribution is intended to be as follows
 
1) Light Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Foot Guards (24 Figures)
2) Light Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Foot Guards (24 Figures)
3) Light Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Foot Guards (24 Figures)
4) x2 Centre Companies, 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards (48 Figures)
5) Centre Company, 32nd Regiment of Foot (18 Figures)
 
It should be an exciting project. An overview of the project and other updates can also be seen here
 
 

Prussian Reserve Infantry

Three battalions of Prussian Reserve Infantry, which I have painted and sold on eBay recently

 
Battalion 1

 
Battalion 2

 
Battalion 3



All of the Reserve Infantry figures are from Calpe and painted by me

Prussian Landwehr Infantry

Two battalion's of Prussian Landwehr infantry which I have painted and sold on ebay.

Figures are a mixture of Warlord Games and Foundry

 
Battalion 1

 
Battalion 2

Prussian Line Infantry

These are some of my Prussian Line Infantry units which I have painted in order to sell on Ebay (all are now sold)


 


87th Regiment of Foot

My first British Battalion for Barossa are finished.

These are Front Rank figures painted as the 87th Regiment of Foot. The flags have not been added yet, as I have been reliably informed that "Santa" has put some in my Christmas Cracker.


Map for Barrosa re-fight

I have spent the past few weeks researching the battle and deciding on how I am going to organise the re-fight.

This map shows the historical position of the opposing forces during the Battle of Barrosa in 1811.


 
I have taken to Paint to focus the map on a much smaller area of the battlefield, in order to help me design my layout for my table.



As you can see, I have put General La Pena's Spanish immediately behind the two British Brigades. This is a bit of artistic licence, as in reality they were located elsewhere. However, I want to give the Allied commander a fighting chance, and allow the possibility of La Pena's Spanish fighting in the battle.

I have also set victory points, in order to fool the less astute commander. In reality, as you can see - a total victory is only possible by controlling Barrosa Hill

Re-fight of the Battle of Barrosa 1811

For those of you unfamiliar with the Peninsular War, you can read more about the Battle of Barrosa here

Battle of Barrosa

I will be looking to re-fight the main part of the battle, focusing around the Barrosa hill. I am intending to have General Dilkes and General Wheatley's brigades represented on the allied side, along with a small group of Spanish and Cavalry under Colonel Whittingham. I will also have the option of General La Pena and his Spanish taking part in the battle, to be decided after a set number of turns by a random D6.

For the French, both General Ruffin and General Leval will have their Brigades represented.

There will be no set figure ratio, rather the size of the units will be decided as "bases".

For instance, the 87th Regiment of Foot had a whole battalion at the battle, and so they will be represented by a full "battalion" of 6 bases and 24 figures, whereas another regiment/battalion of perhaps 5 companies, will only have 3 bases, or 12 figures.

Back to the grind stone

Truth be told, I had forgotten about starting this blog and decided to myself that I wanted to blog the development of my Napoleonic wargaming armies, and re-discovered this blog.

Next year (2014) I am planning on re-fighting the Battle of Barrosa which took place in 1811, using my own wargame figures.

In 2015, I have got myself involved in a large re-fight of the Battle of Waterloo, on a 1 to 3 figure scale. There will be a particular focus on the fighting around Hougoumont.

In line with this aspiration, I have begun to re-vamp my existing forces, particuarly my British Line infantry, and I have started to replace my plastic Victrix and Perry units with Front Rank units. My decision for this is mainly because my painting has improved considerably and I would like better quality units.

Also, I have started to paint and sell other wargame units on eBay in order to fund these two ambitious projects.