It Was All Yellow

 Coldplay aside, I decided I needed a break from the 18th Century, and after dithering around a little (a 1914 Poilou, a bit of this and a pinch of that) I pulled out my old, old, old Rogue Trader Eldar space Pirates.

I had a go at a Fire Dragon. my first attempt at painting a gradient on a miniature using paints thinned down to glazes. Lots of back and forth and I'm pretty pleased with the result.

Some yellow eldar. I've not painted with inks before, so this has been an interesting learning experience.

More to come as I have about 20 minis I would like to knock off before I get back to the French and Indian War.

Building the Gardes Francaises

 So, here's the thing.

I know I am building a French Army for the French and Indian War. Set in stone. No chance of deviating from that; I have finished building the three line regiments that were my goal, so it's done and dusted. I am actively looking at the British castings that I have and so far there are enough for most of the first unit and parts of a second**. So, it's going to happen.

But... I found my old Willie*** Arquebusiers de Grassin in a box a few weeks ago and counted them back and forth and I seem to have half a units' worth of them. Then a Drummer from the Gardes Francaises mysteriously appeared on my painting table and I was compelled to paint him in the Grand Livery Lace.

So much lace...

Which in a round about way brings me to my topic. If one was to have a middling diversion in the direction of building the Gardes (I am sure the exchequer could spring for a birthday present), how would I do it? The current establishment for my line regiments is in the nature of about 50 figures and each represents a battalion. The Gardes were a brigade-sized unit of six battalions. Now, I may be silly, but even I am not going to spring for 300 figures. So the question is "What to do?".

Currently I am mulling two solutions. The first is just to make a single battalion and leave it at that. And there is merit in that. In the case of bath-tubbing a battle like Fontenoy*, it seems quite reasonable to have a battalion stand in for a brigade on the wargame table.

The other thought that crosses my mind is that my battalions all break down into two Grand Divisions, so, why not simply add a third? The unit has a fair bit more heft, it won't break the bank and it'll look good on the table.

What would you do?

*Fontenoy? Well, I'll have a pile of French infantry and artillery already. Will it kill me to add some cavalry? And I will already also have a number of British infantry units including the 42nd Highlanders out of the FIW project. And, dash it all, I have castings for half the Arequebusiers de Grassin already.

**It will be rebasing time for my RSM British. There are enough already-painted castings to create a full regiment.

***And lets face it, the Willie French and British are based off Fontenoy, Culloden, Carillion and Quebec.

Great War Figures

 Once upon a time I found a UK company called The Honourable Lead Boiler Suit. They had a magnificent range of Great War figures. 28-30mm scale, the anatomy that was just so, the research behind the figures was exemplary.

I bought a few samples (about 15 or so) and admired them greatly before partially painting them and then putting them aside.

I mean, seriously, what's not to love? The bugler? The officer with his coat draped over his shoulders?

Well, the inevitable happened and I decided I wanted more and of course they had gone out of production.

Let this be a lesson to all who read. Strike while the iron is hot!

I suppose the Plan B is Raventhorpe.

I already have this Rapid Fire! battalion I made for a planned Safi game as part of operation Torch which are useable as they are.

And wouldn't these fellows look dapper in Horizon Bleu?

Moo, baa, oink

 Or, the Grimdark Ages.

In between painting various Frenchmen, I have had a few other things potter across my painting desk over the past month or so.

Some dead hard early Saxons by Gripping Beast. I think these minis are a prime bit of early 1990s design. Solid, and a bit chunky. I like them, although they are crude by todays' standards.

In the back row, if you look closely enough there is a Eureka Hiberno-Norse warrior which is a surprisingly nice figure that I painted (like all of these) up from a black undercoat.

In so many of the magazines that treated us with pictures to delight the eye in years gone past, I always was taken by the small side narratives that were possible when there was enough fluff and clutter on the table to allow it. Toy soldiers on their own can be boring*. Painting 200 of BN1, "Advancing at the Slope" can be a dull exercise both visually and as a matter of preparation. So, perhaps I ought to start a small series - on the side -  of "clutter"? 

I have a small number of various farm animals that have collected in various drawer over the past few years. I and am now finally getting around to painting them. They are variously Pegasus and Wargames Atlantic and very good fun to paint. I note on a sprue a couple of cats who our own will be modelling for.

I suppose I shall be on the lookout for suitable civilians next. And trees. One never seems to have enough trees.

*Is this the proverbial wargaming "elephant in the room"?

Grand Parade

Everyone likes a parade and I thought this was a good moment to take a breath and see how my FIW French army is looking. So, and without further ado, the infantry:

Here we have the "Bearn" and "La Sarre" Regiments. I have had various figures of these in my collection for years and they have represented all sorts. They are now settling down into their proper identities, although you mau still note the occasional inconsistency in their uniforms!

Here we can see progress on my version of the "La Reine" Regiment. It's currently at about the 60% mark, however I expect a delivery of figurs in the near future which will allow me to get to the end of the unit in pretty short order. I am choosing the same castings as I used in the "La Sarre" - kneeling at the ready in the front rank and giving fire in the second. Not really according to the drill book, but they do give the impression of a firing line. I will be using Davids' flags.

What's an army without it's brains? Successful? Perhaps? Who can tell! Nonetheless, this is my small collection of staff and hangers on that no 18th Century army should be without.

Le Corps Royale de la Artillerie. Heavy metal indeed.  I probably should supplement their numbers with more gunners in infantry uniforms to do the grunt work. 

I have another 20 or so resin Gabions that I need to paint up.

And finally, the Noble Savages who live in man's natural state, uncorrupted by civilisations' influence and ready to set the frontier ablaze... if it suits their own purposes. Ah, Rousseau.

Les Sauvages aux Bois

 

Willie Iroquois

Masters of the petite guerre, mostly allies of the French in the first half of the war and the terror of new British recruits and settler militia alike the warriors of the First Nations were the masters of light infantry warfare. The French learned a great deal from them of bush warfare over their long and close acquaintance and at times their militia and even their Compagnies Franches de la Marine troops would have been hard to distinguish from them to the inexperienced eye.

The warriors in the image above are the first of my Willie "Indians". While the castings are no longer top notch, the research that underlies them certainly is. This is one of the things I have always admired about Suren's figures and one of the reasons I continue to paint them.

The next four are painted and merely require varnish and basing.

Un feu de joie for the new year

 

The 46th Foot salute the New Year

The latest addition to the French and Indian war collection is the first Grand Division of the 46th Foot. This was a hard-working regiment which saw action in many of the more important actions of the War including the assault on the French lines at the Battle of Carillion, the Siege of Fort Niagara and the repulse of the attempted French relief at the Battle of La Belle Famille as well as the campaign against Montreal in 1760.

The Etat-Major

 

I want a fort here. And another here and a battery there.

A gruff old Mestre de Camp lays it all out for a young colonial engineer.

Do you think anyone is watching?

At least it's shady under the trees.

The Kings' Artillery

 I've been quietly pecking away at a few more gunners and just about have enough to crew my guns.

About to open fire on my monitor-and-keyboard. The gabions are resin from a local manufacturer.

So, here's the question, taken in the context of Field artillery, nothing much was doing in the French and Indian War and so these are probably more suited to be siege pieces. That of Fort William Henry comes to mind. This raises the question of whether I need to make up a permanent battery position I can drop the guns into?

The question pretty well answers itself, does it not?

Splashing Some Paint Around

 I managed a little painting over the weekend. 

You may recall the pair of guns I was refurbishing. They had been hanging around forever. One had started to fall apart from neglect. So, it was out with the paints and superglue and we were good. I got some gunners either painted or, in a coupe of cases, merely based. Simple stuff, and lo and behold I had my first gun crew. The officer in the background is meant to be an engineer officer, but I have another casting who will get a red coat in the fullness of time.

One of the remodelled range of Willies ( an ADC, I believe) reports to my very old Soubise. In my wilder youth he wore a pink coat, turned up in yellow. Since those days he has changed his ways for a more sober - yet not unmilitary - garb. He may well do duty as my Montcalm. I believe I have a dismounted version from the remodelled range who may yet stand in the entrenchments on the heights of Carillon.

The Bearn Regiment

 

The colours are a little washed out by the photography, but these are the flags of the Bearn Regiment from David's website.

The rest of the regiment is based up, but I am short about 9 minis to get it over the line. Here's hoping they are here by Christmas.

It took a little more than the weekend...

 ...but the basing of the La Sarre regiment is finally done.

The bases are Renedra and the flags were David's: https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2011/08/colours-of-french-la-sarre-infantry.html

There is acrylic gel modelling on the bases and numerous tufts and flocking galore.

Willie French Guns

I have been enjoying refurbishing these. Using one of the GW "Technical" paints for the verdigris on the gun barrels.

Not too far off the mark for la Valliere 8 pounders.

Pretty good effort by Mr Suren from the late 1970s.

And kudos to GW for the "Niklakh Oxide" paint.

I think I will be spending the weekend....

 .. basing miniatures.

La Sarre - more or less complete

The Drums are Beating

 They speak of war on  the Mohawk.

And, as we gently move away for now from the Boer War, another old favorite heaves into view. I speak of the French and Indian War. I shan't go into the whys and wherefores, I think the back pages of this blog will do that well enough.

Refs by Blandford

So, references to hand (Blandford, Osprey et al) and with some miniatures in the lead pile, others painted, others resurrected from a grim corner of the painting table and others ordered as a Christmas present, I think we're ready to go.

No Willie jokes this time, please

I am building units for Bill Protz's entirely charming ruleset, "Drums of War Along the Mohawk" - surely due for a reprint with a new layout, pretty pictures &c, &c...

You will already know that the figures will be organised in a modified "Charge!" standard. The French in two grand divisions of 16 privates with a drummer, NCO and Officer. Companies of Grenadiers and Piquets of five privates and an Officer with a battalion staff of the Colonel, two Ensigns, a drummer, ADC and a Regimental Sergeant Major.

The British are similar although with the addition of a 3rd Grand Division and larger Grenadier companies (8 Privates and an Officer), smaller Light Infantry Company (only four and a Sergeant). Highlanders benefit from a fourth Grand Division and extra Grenadier and Light Companies.

I am currently building my first pair of French Units - La Sarre and Berry, each of which is quite a long way along due to past efforts; then it will be on to the first British units, probably the 44th, 46th and 48th Foot, each of which had a very busy time in North America in the 1750s.

And a prettier picture than that above...

Some of the brave lads of the La Sarre Regiment

Prototyping Terrain for the Boer War

So, I've painted 33 Boers and a dozen British in a rush and it's time to do something else for a bit. 

I have comparatively little terrain for the Boer War. This weekend, I tried an experiment to see what I could do with what I had. What you are looking at is a kind of layout I might use if the garrison of Ladyking or Himberley might have sallied out one moonless night to see what mischief they might wreak on a Boer gun position.

You're looking at one of my two 90 by 150 centimetre tables. The ridge-line or kop is made from layers of 30cm square cork tile. I faced them with grass matt paper on one side and left them in their natural state on the other.

In the foreground are my imagined denizens of the bushveldt - anthills and acacia trees. The table itself is green on one side and au naturel on the other for a more arid look. I am making a few more anthills as I read so much about British troops taking cover behind them in the big battles of the war.

A Boer sentry stands guard while his fellows sleep in the farmhouse to the rear of the Kop. He will spot the English if he rolls a six and fire his rifle to wake his mates.

La belle Alliance standing in for a Dutchman's farmhouse; and not too badly either if the images of various Boer houses I have seen are anything like right.

An attempt at an entrenchment with a 25mm scale resin wall and a couple of old resin Gabions. The wall lengths are about 15cm.

Another shot of my Long Tom in it's emplacement with a sentry by it for scale. There are improvements that could be made - the addition of the artillerists impedimenta, a firing platform and perhaps a small tent for the ammunition.

Any feedback and suggestions are more than welcome.

This particular layout I imagine as one that I would use in a mooted rule set. I see this as being a stand alone skirmish scenario to be played in the context of a larger seige. A raid is planned. Two small parties go out each with a co and with a captain in charge of the whiole show. Move by move the creep forward, dreading the moment that the Boer sentry (rolling a 6) spots them. S small squad of his comrades tumble out of their tent and start firing wildly at the Khakis in the dim, pre-dawn light. Hit chances and movement all are reduced because of the darkness. The British scramble into the Boer Sangar, desperate to set of the gun cotton charges they have brought before the rest of the Boers scramble up the Kop from the farmhouse below...

Mounted Boers

 

A Few Mounted Types

I have been rather questioning the utility of mounted figures for my Boer forces. My reading leads me to believe that they virtually never fought from horseback. Rather they were mounted infantry, relying on their horses for strategic and operational mobility. Sooo, just one unit?

Oh, what a Boer

 A random sampling of the weekends' painting.

A few Willie Boers and a British cavalryman mounting up. Another splendidly useless figure, but too good not to paint.

Mr Long Tom

 

From TVAG..? Maybe..?

I forget where I got my Le Creusot "Long Tom". I bought it originally because I wanted some 19th Century "Siege Artillery" for my FPW collection, but with that on a long hiatus, I thought that my Boers might have a better use for it.

I have no idea whether the colour of the carriage is right, but I think it will do.

Rampaging around the 'net the other day, I note that Askari Miniatures do a very suitable Krupp 75mm gun and limber that I must pick up three of each to make up a Boer Staatsartillerie battery for TSatF. I note also Mr Askari has some Krupp mountain guns that wil do nicely for my Willie British.

What did You Do in the Lockdown?

 I carried on and painted Toy Soldiers my boy.

Alzheims' latest Chevaux-Legere

Names, names, names. Hmmm.

Hard-riding brigade staff

And again, a name for the hard-riding fellow in the red coat. Colloredo? Jones?

The whole shebang.

Take that Charles Grant. :^)