I got distracted.

 

I have a bit of a thing for the older Games Workshop stuff...

Recently was inspired to go and scrounge up some of the old RTB01 plastic Space Marines and paint them in the heraldry of the Lamenters chapter.

Just remember. White base coat and two thin coats of yellow...

Prussian Pottering

 

Not much time spent at the painting Desk on the Prussians because I got distracted by another project. 

Still, I have made a little progress as you can see.

I'm aiming to finish them off over the weekend.

Wish me luck!

Back on the Tools

Or back on the Prussians at least. After a remarkably long wait, a small parcel of figures arrived in the mailbox last week, all the way from Sweden. Hurrah, I thought, my Stadden Prussians have arrived! I have myself a couple of days to psych myself up, then turned with due heroism to the task of removing flash. Done and now primed, I started painting.

The proud Fahnenjunker bears before him the Leibfahne of IR#5

For my next trick... the Regimentsfahne.

Tweaking Mameluke basing.

 

Chaaaaaaarge!

I think this might do the trick. Not every horse-man will get his base so liberally garnished with followers, but ... enough will. Then there might also be a subsequent rank to reinforce the illusion.

I need to get my hands on some more 40x75mm Renedra bases to see how an entire unit looks.

What do you think?

Building Little Boats

 or...

Dhow are you?

The bits.

Still painting Frenchmen in Egypt, be reassured.

However, I was reading the excellent 'Napoleon in Egypt' by Paul Strathern and is starting to become clear to me that I would benefit from some watercraft, so wat could be more appropriate or more multi-use than an Arabian Dhow.

I well remember the templates available on the Major-Generals' marvellous website, so off I flew via the Wayback Machine (http://web.archive.org/web/20060614041903/http://zeitcom.com/majgen/index.html) and downloaded them.

The lead ship in her class.

In the photo above you can see the deck united with the hull. The smaller pieces are the fore and aft decks that will be raised a little higher then the level of the main deck by means of some shims underneath them.

The decks are heavy card with the planking drawn in black biro and then with the odd plank picked out with a wash of one colour or another. It's surprisingly colourful and effective. I'm kind of regretting using such strongly coloured paper for the hull - a manila folder seems a better option in retrospect.

Next comes the mast, yard, sail and some rudimentary rigging.

I am thinking three or four might be a good number for this flotilla?

Some Mamelukes

 Can I call them mamluks please?

Anyway. this is the start of the Mamluk cavalry horde.

The whole collection

I'm thinking this is the ranty army commander Angry Bey

The leader of the light cavalry. Murat Bey?

Breaking up the look of the cavalry with varied weapons &c

I’ve been looking at these figures and thinking a bit.

How does this seem – mount each horseman on a 50mmx50mm base and allow him two ‘followers’ on 25mmx25mm bases that can be placed behind him. They’d be the people picking up his discarded muskets and pistols for him. They might also be used (or re-used) as infantry in other contexts.

One or two might be equipped with banners to add to the spectacle.

Thoughts?

Napoleon in Egypt

 Well, now. What to do when you are a little weary of painting tartan and your Prussians are yet to put in an appearance?

Why, you pick up the threads of an old project, of course.

Trudge, trudge, trudge. le desert mauvais... le cafard... les mirages

I painted three of these over the weekend - the thirds' base is still a bit of a WiP so he's not made the cut photographically.

They really are quite enjoyable figures to paint and I can get one done in about an hour without too much of an effort.

They will be joining the 9eme de Ligne in short order.

Using the Charge! organisation is something of a cliché with me, but, you know you pays your money and takes your choises.

The ultimate plan here is three Charge!-style units of three line and one Grenadier company, another unit of light infantry and two units (12 figures each) of cavalry - one of hussars and one of dragoon.

I have 3/4 of the first unit of infantry done and scraps of cavalry units and half the Light infantry.

Then there are the Mamelukes.

Filing in time

 

The 42nd

So, that was a fairly productive long weekend. I dipped into my new stash of Willie Highlanders and pushed out another half-dozen figures including the Grenadier you see in the right of the photo.

Despite the tartan and the separate swords and muskets, these are less of a chore to paint than the Arquebisiers de Grassin and I expect (hope for?) fairly decent progress on these.

I think they are quite a useful regiment to have as they can be used at both Carillion/Ticonderoga and Fontenoy with some companies also being used at Prestonpans of all places.