Ears burning

One of the interesting features of the Blogger interface is the ability to see the most popular traffic sources. Recently this has led to me stumbling across three different forums discussing my humble blog!  So a big hello and thank you to the Devon Wargames group http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Devon_Wargames_Group/messages/1356?viscount=-30&l=1

the Sheffield Wargames forum
http://sheffieldandrotherhamwargames.freeforums.org/how-about-this-t1721.html

and the Warlord Games forum
http://www.warlordgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=4832

There have many kind and complimentary comments, so thank you!

What is a bit weird is finding my income, marital status, level of sanity (or lack of), etc being discussed online!
So, for the record:
a) I'm not married but I live with my partner of 10 years and she very patiently puts up with my obsession. Actually, to my immense shame and embarrasment she can now distinguish between Victrix/Perry/Foundry/Front Rank figures - that's the degree to which she has born the brunt of my tedious wittering.

b) I haven't won the lottery and I'm certainly not rich by anyone's standards! I teach English as a foreign language - one of the worst paid professions in the world. I have certainly spent more of my income on figures than I would care to calculate BUT 1) I ONLY do this - other people have collections of many periods, scales etc whereas I've put all my eggs in one basket 2) I rarely buy figures new - the great majority have come from ebay and often are about 30p per foot figure and never more than 90p for a cavalry man.
When I HAVE bought new figures I have usually made use of deals such as Caliver Books who provide a good discount.
Steve at Victrix has been really kind and sent me some extra kneeling figures that he had lying around to make up my squares - it's kneeling figures I need folks! If anyone has any leftover I'll happily buy them from you!
I haven't done any flags yet, I'm leaving them to the end as the kind of cherry on the cake and I once got a very nice email from Flags of War offering to help out when that times comes.
I was hoping the Perry's might help out a bit - I've put together some pretty large units of their British hussars - but I guess they're pretty busy and I don't want to hassle them with begging!
I've also had a very supportive email from Dave Taylor at Wargames Illustrated but I somehow managed to delete all my inbox so, if you're reading this Dave, please get in touch again! stapleton_cotton@yahoo.co.uk

c) of course I have no realistic chance of ever getting this project finished for 2015 but I'm having fun trying. Where I'm going to put them all? Well at the moment I live in a tiny flat in London (is there any other kind) and  each unit - in their varying states of completion - lives in its own cardboard box in a cupboard in the bedroom. I suppose, if I fantasise, I can imagine moving out to the country one day where perhaps a barn lies waiting for the whole force to stand on display...

32nd (Cornwall) Foot - work in progress

Thought I'd put up some pics of what I'm working on, and to reassure people that those hussars didn't finish me once and for all. This is the 32nd Foot in line - I have decided to do the whole of Kempt's brigade in line, mainly as I can't get enough kneeling figures to do any more squares! 

 

Shot up terribly at Quatre Bras the normal 10 company battalion was reduced at Waterloo to six makeshift "division", so lacking were they in officers and NCOs. This helps! It means I only have to paint about 300 men!

The left "division" consisting of the combined flank companies.

  



One of the things that has been taking up a lot of time has been  redoing all the faces of this unit.  I'd actually finished the 32nd's faces a long time ago but, over the last year, I've improved quite a bit at faces (entirely thanks to Oniria), and the old standard now looked so awful to my eyes that I had to go back and redo them all!

I just hope it's not like the Firth of Forth bridge and, by the time these are done, I'll want to go back and redo them again! Nooooooo!




still boss-eyed and won't win any prizes but, en masse, I can live with these now

   The line is too long for my table so some have had to be squeezed into a third rank.

There's still plenty to do, tidying up, washes, highlighting needed on every figure here before I can even start thinking about basing- but I'm pleased with the way they are going. Sorry pics are a bit dark - that's the weather in England for you.

Grant's Troop 18th Hussars - finished

I've been very busy for the last few months with work and had very little time for this project. Eventually put finishing touches to the 18th Hussars this weekend. Pics taken a bit hastily and I can see quite a bit of static grass which needs brushing off! In the end I was quite pleased with this lot, though I might still prefer the 10th in their red shakos.

 I tried a different method of assembly for these- painting the rider and horse separately and painting the braiding on each man before adding the pelisses and scabbards. Frankly, this seems to have been a pretty massive waste of time as 99% of the extra access which this allows (e.g being able to paint the waist sash etc) ends up being obscured anyway. In addition, and more importantly, NOT glueing the figure firmly together from the start has led to all manner of issues with parts falling off (scabbards/pellisses) as, no matter how hard you try, painted pieces will never bond well. There were also issues with some figures not fitting in saddles (because their sword arm had been glued in a position which would not wedge in under the carbine jutting up from the saddlebags). But it was a useful experiment and a lesson learnt. From now I will always glue everything together before beginning any painting - the 10th Hussars were a breeze by comparison to the 18th.

 

The 18th were an infamous band of vagabonds - their looting exploits after Vittoria had nearly seen them sent home from the Peninsula in disgrace - and I imagine they enjoyed plenty of time in Flanders to accumulate some ill-gotten gains before Waterloo. Many of the figures have therefore been fitted with various sacks, bags, extra pistols, and other paraphernalia. Here we see Serjeant Michael Donnelly, flanking troop commander Captain James Grant, with a nice French saddlebag attachment! 

Captain Grant was court martialled a year after Waterloo for using "provoking, obnoxious, and insulting language to a Department of Commissiary General".

 

At the other end of the line is Lieutenant Charles Hesse, with a pair of pistols held in a holster. Hesse was wounded in the arm at Waterloo. He was later killed in a duel, his adversary being Count Leon, an illegitate son of Napoleon.

Here is the troop with Floyd's troop of the 10th.

18th Hussars update

Haven't been able to do much recently but they're coming along slowly.

Still need to do: gloves, busby bag, swords, horses, saddle furniture, bits and reins, carbine, cuff details (arrgh), plume (white bit), pellisse braiding, red inner of pelisse, and probably tons more! In fact, after just writing that I think I'm going to go and have a little lie down...

The "Drogheda Light Horse"

 This will be No.5 Troop I think, with a nominal strength at Waterloo of 65 men, 13 of whom (20%) were casualties. They were commanded by Lieutenant James Waldie.

10th Hussars finished

Here they are at last - I actually finished the painting last year but it has taken this long to a) buy bases and b) get my internet working again!

On the plus side I'm happy with the overall effect, and I really like the outdoor pics with the real sky! To me it's almost the perspective of some unfortunate French voltigeur!

On the negative I'm not so happy with the bases, it was my first try and I'm going to go back and do some more work on them as some of the original bases of the horses are visible through the "mud" which won't do.  Anyway, it's a troop from the 18th Hussars next! Coming soon.

Front rank – Troop Serjeant Major Joseph Warren, Captain Henry Floyd, Corporal Edward Swindon, Privates John Palmer, John Taylor (k), Samuel Deacon (k), Joseph Gaunt, Samuel Stanley, John Horton, John Watmore, Thomas Rose, George Lane, Thomas Tanner, James Ashwin (k), Ambrose Maby, Thomas Mumford, John Dowling (k), Joshua Wade, Joseph Wyatt (k), John Morley, Henry Webb, Henry Lee, Corporal Jesse Lucas, Lieutenant William Slayter Smith

Second rank – Serjeant John Tritton, Privates Edward Exall, John Tate (k), John Buss, Richard Thomas, George Littler, John Rolph, Edward Rosewell (k), Charles Wheeler, Henry Mill, John Manly, John Hoole, John Roberts, Thomas Gadson (k), Charles Porter (k), Robert Swingler (k), Henry Gander (k), John Harrison, John Snell, William Elling, William Turner, William Cole, John Farman, William Shawe



Back at last! Perry Lifeguards and more hussars

It's been far too long since I wrote an update to this blog - all due to factors which were frustratingly out of my hands. I have, in the last month or so, been messed around to an infuriating degree while trying to buy some bases for the 10th Hussars. Two weeks wasted with an ebay supplier who just forgot to send them, and I had to cancel and start again. Then, when the bases eventually arrived from another seller I lost internet connection and have been without any for the last two weeks. 

Anyway, enough grumbling. My first troop of 10th Hussars are now finished and based and I will post some pics tomorrow. In the meantime here is what I've been up to whilst hors de combat:

I got myself a mighty amount of Perry figures including some Household cavalry. For some reason which I could not put my finger on, these Perry sculpts looked completely wrong to me and, try as I might, I just could not force myself to like them. I had almost decided to sell them on when it finally clicked WHY they looked "wrong" to me. So simple - no plume! I don't know on what grounds the Perrys decided that the Household cavalry rode into battle without their plumes but I have never seen an image depicting them thus, all of my sources show them with the plume attached.

 More mysteriously the trumpeter and officer do have plumes (and consequently look great). 

 

I therefore decided to have a go at adding my own plumes. I found a load of leftover French Victrix heads as these had plumes which were just the right size. A dab of glue and they started (imho) to look really good.

I'm more than pleased with the outcome for the unit. It took 10 minutes to do for the lot, I really enjoyed the creative process and they are now probably my favourite figures in my possession.  Can't wait to paint them but will have to wait a long time as I have such a mountain of other jobs to do first.

Not least of which is my next Troop of hussars. I really enjoyed doing the 10th but wanted to try another unit to give myself a break. I therefore decided to assemble and paint the next Troop as the 18th Hussars as these vagabonds were brigaded with the equally scandal-ridden 10th under Vivien. Different headgear, different colour facings etc and I also went for a differnt approach to assembling them.

The 10th I had assembled completely, including attaching them to the horses, before giving everything an undercoat. With these 18th I decided to paint some of the body first, allowing me to get at the sash and braiding etc before glueing on the pellisse, sword and then attaching to the saddle. It's not that I was particularly disasatisfied with the previous method, rather I just fancied a change!

I've come on quite a lot since these pics were taken and I'll post an update of this unit soon.

The Big Plan - 2012 the story so far

Very frustrating as the bases I ordered have not only not arrived but the order has now been cancelled, so back to square 1 after two wasted weeks.
No new painting to report but have been busy assembling units, organising, and generally tidying up. Thought I would transcribe here my BIG PLAN, an overview of how I hope to represent the British Army at Waterloo. I like to group different makes (Victrix/Perry) roughly together by brigade and in recent months I have been struggling to find a way to incorporate the large amount of Front Rank/Foundry I have accumulated into the project. In the end I decided it would be better to sell many of them - I no longer like the look of massed ranks of identical figures and the money raised will provide a far greater number of plastics. There are 8 lots for sale, you can see some of them here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130627588665?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

As I say, I like units to be similar within a regiment (I don't believe strict serjeants would have permitted the untidy appearence of some men wearing shako covers and others not).  I have also tried, where possible to group brigades by the same manufacturer. I love mixing up Perry and Victrix arms etc to provide an almost infinite number of poses but the backpacks are notably different in size, so I do not mix these and if a Perry pack is added to a Victrix body I simply trim off the canteen and ammo pouch. These are later added to Perry bodies where a Victrix pack has been attached. Er...if you see what I mean.

So here is the current stocktake and requisite numbers:

Unit Header	Formation	company size	current state	needed
Coldstream	uncovered shako, Victrix pack, skirmishing	50	flank coy & 4.5 centre coys	3 and a half centre coys
3rd Guards	covered shako, Perry pack, skirmishing	50	same as above	same as above
1st	uncovered shako, Victrix pack, in square	24	complete	-
42nd	in square	18	complete	-
44th	uncovered shako, Victrix pack, in square	18	-	all
92nd	charging	18	both flank and 7 centre coys	1 centre coy
28th	a mix of Victrix, Foundry, Elite, Front Rank - firing line	24	gren and 5 centre coys	light and 3 centre coys
32nd	covered shako, Victrix pack - in square	18	complete	-
79th	firing line	24	nearly complete	7 light coy
95th (1batt,6 coys)	a mix of many makes, some coys in firing line, some coys skirmishing	24	3 coys	1 coy
52nd	Victrix pack, Perry heads (converted) - firing line	40	6 and a half coys	3 and a half coys
71st	Victrix pack, Victrix heads (converted) - marching	32	3 and a half coys	6 and a half coys
95th (2 batt, 4 coys)	a mix of various makes - firing line	32	1 coy complete	3 coys
95th (3 batt, 2 coys)	a mix of various makes - advancing	32	complete	-
4th	covered shako, Perry pack - firing line	50	-	all
27th (7 coys)	covered shako, Perry pack - in column	50	approx 32 men in each coy	approx 18 men in each coy
40th	covered shako, Perry pack - in square	60	52 gren 3 centre complete 3 centre nearly complete	light coy 2 coys 3 half coys
30th	uncovered shako, Victrix pack - in square	18	gren & 2 centre coys complete, 6 centre coys missing kneeling rank	kneeling ranks for 6 centre coys + light coy
33rd	uncovered shako, Victrix pack - in square	18	centre coys standing ranks	flank coys, kneeling ranks for all centre coys
69th	uncovered shako, Victrix pack - in square	18	tre coys standing ranks	flank coys, kneeling ranks for all centre coys
73rd	uncovered shako, Victrix pack - in square	18	6 coys minus kneeling	flank coys, kneeling ranks for all centre coys, 4 coys
14th	covered shako, Victrix pack - in square	32	-	all
23rd	covered shako, Victrix pack - in square	32	-	all
51st	mix of makes - some coys skirmishing, others in line	32	4 coys complete	6 coys

Next job is to add up all the cavalry and artillery!