28mm Napoleonic British Infantry, late Napoleonic

Continuing with my Napoleonic project, the idea was to limit myself to buying and painting one unit per month, either a regiment of cavalry or battalion of infantry or battery of guns, so that I'd keep my interest in the period. The plan being to finish painting and basing a unit, then order another unit from Perry miniatures which usually arrive within 3-4 days. BUT I'm moving North so this will be the last post on my blog for a while until I get established again possibly after Christmas.

The British Infantry - The 3rd Battalion 1st Regiment of Foot Guards 1815.

Continuing to restock my Napoleonics I've managed to complete 1 battalion of Foot Guards.

Each battalion of infantry will be made up of 16 infantry. Flags from GMB

These miniatures were to represent the 1815 campaign that gives me a relatively limited scope for battles such as Quatre Bras, Waterloo.

GMB flags as they come

there are crop lines to help you cut the flag accurately

PVA glue was used to stick the flag together.

The flags wrinkled as in a breeze

Notes on using GMB flags:
Carefully cut out around the flag using a scalpel trying to avoid making to neat an outline, glued with PVA and folded around a prepainted flag pole. Whilst the glue was still wet it was folded and wrinkled to give the appearance of fluttering in a breeze. Once the glue was dry,  the fringe was carefully cut here and there to improve the effect and painted in the original colours to cover any of the white paper showing through, then gold added to the studs on the flag pole and liberally on the fringe. I've never used GMB flags before but they can come up a real treat with a bit of care.

Perry minis on their painting strips.

The command base.

The backpack has the regimental Badge on it

waterproof shako covers in black

The drum should have the Regimental badge on it, I'll add this detail at a later date.

notes on paint.
Humbrol Scarlet red enamel paint (No.60)- to represent the red regulation uniforms. The scarlet paint was mixed with different quantities of enamel black to provide shading, then used raw out of the tin for the final colour.
Gold enamel from Revell No.94 painted onto the flag giving it a bit more impact, this is the best gold paint I have found so far.

notes on basing:
Polyfilla, rocks and stones brushed in many shades of burnt umber oils mixed with Humbrol No.62 leather, highlights on the stones etc. Humbrol No.62 leather mixed with No.154 yellow and No.34 white.
Static grass self-adhesive tufts manufactured by me under the eBay pseudonym Lord_Jaggard

Anyhow Cheerio for Christmas and have a Great New Year :)
Peter.

28mm Napoleonic French Old Guard Grenadiers

Onwards with my Napoleonic project, the idea was to limit myself to buying and painting one unit per month, either a regiment of cavalry or battalion of infantry or battery of guns, so that I'd keep my interest in the period. The plan being to finish painting and basing a unit, then order another unit from Perry miniatures which usually arrive within 3-4 days. This keeps everything fresh...there's nothing worse than having a draw full of unpainted lead, a veritable lead mountain to dishearten even the boldest painter, so none of that here.

The French Infantry - The 1st Battalion 1st Regiment Grenadiers a Pied of Napoleon's Imperial Guard.
Just restocking my Napoleonics I've continued with Napoleons Old Guard:

Each battalion of infantry will be made up of 16 infantry. Flags from GMB

Initially these miniatures were to represent the 1815 campaign but a rethink was in order;
The French will represent 1812-1815 period that gives me a greater scope for battles such as Lutzen, Leipzig etc. Although the French changed their flags in the 1815 campaign I decided to go for the 1812-14 flags.

 

Backpacks made out of animal fur.

The greatcoats make a smart impression.

I really dig painting these figures, must get another battalion some time.

GMB flags as they come.

Notes on using GMB flags:
Carefully cut out around the flag using a scalpel trying to avoid making too neat an outline, glue with PVA and fold around a prepainted flag pole. Whilst the glue was still wet it was folded and wrinkled to give the appearance of fluttering in a breeze. Once the glue was dry,  the fringe was carefully cut here and there to improve the effect and painted in the original colours to cover any of the white paper showing through, then gold added to the studs on the flag pole and liberally on the fringe. I've never used GMB flags before but they can come up a real treat with a bit of care.

Flag on right cut out and folded once.

The inside coated with PVA glue allows it to be folded. 

The flag as issued to the 1st Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard.

1st Grenadiers a pied ready for battle!

notes on paint.
Indigo blue oil paint (Rowney Artisits quality)- to represent the indigo blue regulation uniforms. The oil paint was mixed with enamel white to provide highlights and aid drying time.
Gold enamel from Revell No.94 painted onto the flag giving it a bit more impact, this is the best gold paint I have found so far.

notes on basing:
Polyfilla, rocks and stones brushed in many shades of burnt umber oils mixed with Humbrol No.62 leather, highlights on the stones etc. Humbrol No.62 leather mixed with No.154 yellow and No.34 white.
Static grass self-adhesive tufts manufactured by me under the eBay pseudonym Lord_Jaggard

Next a battalion of British infantry, the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards.

Cheers, Peter.

28mm Napoleonic British Heavy Cavalry 1814-1815

My computer's gone screwy....adapter problems...Anyhow onwards with my Napoleonic project, the idea was to limit myself to buying and painting one unit per month, either a regiment of cavalry or battalion of infantry or battery of guns, so that I'd keep my interest in the period. The plan being to finish painting and basing a unit, then order another unit from Perry miniatures which usually arrive within 3-4 days. This keeps everything fresh...there's nothing worse than having a draw full of unpainted lead, a veritable lead mountain to dishearten even the boldest painter, so none of that here.

The British Cavalry - The 1st Regiment King's Dragoon Guards (1st KDG).

Restocking my Napoleonics I've continued with the British Regiment of King's Dragoon Guards:

Each regiment of cavalry will be made up of 12 riders with horses.

pack BH21 Dragoon command (1 pack of these)

pack BH22 Dragoon troopers (3 packs of these)

The riders were mounted on corks and painted separately from the horses, it makes it much less fiddly to do it this way. A black enamel undercoat was applied all over each figure.Then first colours were blocked in.

I must admit after reading the rules I'm going to play with namely 'March Attack' I've realised I need cavalry in squadrons of 6 figures and battalions on infantry of 16 figures. Ho hum so it'll be another order to Perry minis in the near future making each cavalry regiment 12 figures strong (i.e. 2 squadrons per regiment).

The tiny KDG on the blanket role will be added at a later date when I acquire some straw yellow acrylic paint and a very tiny brush.

1796 Regulations General Orders stipulated that this regiment (1st KDG) were to be mounted on black nag-tailed horses, horses of other colours would make up any shortfall on campaign e.g. dark bays, browns etc. The trumpeters horse was of no exception to this.

The Black horses were painted in 2 coats of black enamel paint giving a good flat colour,  various tones of greys were brushed over being careful to leave a lot of black untouched - it takes time to get the best effect, errors can be easily painted over. Lighter greys were used for the highlights. A couple of bays and a dark brown were added as though the regiment had added horses requisitioned on campaign.

Basing was achieved using 2mm thick plasticard 25mm x 50mm for each single figures 50mm x 50mm for doubles and 75mm x 50mm for threes. Basing effects were created using polyfilla stones (ballast) tea leaves and grass tufts (available from ebay seller Lord_Jaggard) and the odd bush etc.

1st King's Dragoon Guards heading back home to camp for Tiffin.

Next in the pipeline will be the infantry namely the 1st Battalion of 1st Regiment Granadiers a Pied of  Napoleons Imperial Guard and a battalion of the 1st Regiment British Foot Guards.

Cheers for now,
Peter.

28mm Napoleonic French Cavalry 1814-1815

A nostalgic twinge over the last couple of weeks saw me going back to one of the classic wargaming periods: The Napoleonic Wars, so I thought I'd take advantage of the very best Napoleonic figure ranges available, namely 'Perry Miniatures'. I have a habit of selling off all of a collection from time to time and always regret it, even though I could expect to restock there are always a plethora of military wargaming periods which seem to get in the way.  So at last I bought some French Imperial Guard Empress Dragoons and some British 1st Regiment King's Dragoon Guards to start with.

The French Cavalry - Imperial Guard Empress Dragoons.

Of course restocking my depleted Napoleonics I'd have to start with the French so onwards with some Imperial Guard Empress Dragoons:

Each regiment of cavalry will be made up of 9 riders with horses, perry sell cavalry in boxes of three so there is some logic used here.

pack FN143 Empress Dragoon Troopers (2 packs of these)

pack FN142 Empress Dragoon Command (1 pack of these)

the riders were mounted on corks and painted separately from the horses, it makes it much less fiddly to do it this way.

A black enamel undercoat was applied all over each figure.

The first colours were blocked in.

I must admit I finished 3 troopers first to see how the colour scheme panned out.

This particular regiment had mostly chestnut coloured horses with a few bays thrown in and of course the trumpeters horse was the usual grey colour.

The Chestnut horses were painted in tan enamel paint washed over in burnt sienna oil paint - you must use artists quality paint for the oils! to get the best effect. The burnt sienna oil was mixed with tan and yellow colours for the highlights.

Basing achieved using 2mm plasticard 25mm x 50mm for each single figures 50mm x 50mm for doubles and 75mm x 50mm for threes. Basing effects created using polyfilla stones (ballast) tea leaves and grass tufts (available through this blog) and the odd bush etc.

Finally 'Testors Dullcote' matt varnished sealed the whole job.

I'm going to experiment with a number of Napoleonic rule sets, 'March Attack' by Crusader publishing will be the first rules I will have tried for some time.

Next in the pipeline will be a Regiment of British Dragoon Guards.

Cheers for now,
Peter.

The First English Civil War in 28mm miniatures.

The English Civil War in 28mm -  The Red Regiment of The London Trained Bands.
The First Regiment of Parliamentarian Foot has been completed over the weekend,  I chose this regiment to start the ball rolling because of the colour scheme red uniforms with black armour looking quite smart. They were present early on in the war and formed part of the Earl of Essex's army.

28mm Bicorne Miniatures ECW range provided almost all of the figures, with the odd redoubt mini thrown in for luck.

 The Banners are in tin foil for durability, folded around wire shafts, the flags finials and cords are provided by Front Rank miniatures.

 I thought 4 banners per regiment would be a good compromise between too few and too many banners.

The odd Redoubt miniatures figure makes an appearance namely the banner bearer with a bicorne miniatures head from their spares range.

Based on 3mm plasticard for durability.

Basing effects use my 2mm and 4mm grass tufts available through this blog or on Ebay.

Finally matt varnish testors dullcote was sprayed on to even out the colours and for protection.

Uniform.

The Red Regiment of the London Trained Bands I assume would be well equipped and sponsored by the City of London. The officers, drummer and sergeants all wear red tunics and breeches the other ranks wear red tunics and grey breeches. The Red regiment was the first regiment in order of precedence, the other regiments being the white, yellow, blue, green and orange. Its flags were red with notable white wavy 'piles' or rays and was recruited from the wards of Aldgate, Tower and Billingsgate.

Formation.

The London Trained Bands were the City of London's militia, composed of householders who fulfilled thier statutory obligation to maintain arms and serve in the defence of their city. They were under the juristiction of the Lord Mayor of London and were commanded by officers appointed by him and the Aldermen. Members of the Trained Bands met regularly at the Artillery Garden in Bishopsgate and the Military Garden in St Martins'-in-the-Field to practice weapon handling, drilling and other military activities under the guidance of officers from the Honourable Artillery Company. These officers made the Trained Bands an effective fighting force, providing professional training for its part-time members. 

Active Service

They were part of the Eastern Association commanded by the Earl of Essex and were present at the relief of Gloucester and a number of battles including 1st battle of Newbury 1643, the London Trained Band Brigade seems to have been equipped with 11 cannon and 3 drakes (light guns) at this time.

Anyhow the next Regiment on the painting board are Charles I Lifeguard of Foote.