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.