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!

30th Foot

Work on the Hussars has been put on hold while I wait for the bases. I ordered them online and am looking forward to getting down to basing. In the meantime I've been messing about - between mince pies - with a bit of battlefield debris to add to the bases.

Need to do the pompom but quite pleased with these - my first and possibly last two Frenchmen. If any buffs out there notice any glaring errors (not my field) please let me know!

For Christmas I got this excellent book on Quatre Bras. I have only dipped into it so far but it seems very well written and even includes a few British accounts which I was hitherto unaware of.

Just flicking through, one of the most interesting details which I came across was reference to the confusion the 30th Foot caused by their wearing of white trews - being mistaken for the some Guards battalions (who were also wearing white instead of grey).

 Glad I read this before painting hundreds of them wrong! Also means I'll be able to identify the 30th at a glance and distinguish them from the 44th (who had the same facings). According to my master plan I shall be doing both regiments using mostly Victrix so it's nice to avoid having two identical units, keeps me from getting so bored when painting!

Decided to do a quick company of the 30th (much reduced after Quatre Bras) to see what they would look like.

I want to add a light grey wash to the trousers and then muddy them up quite a bit but for the moment I'm quite pleased.

Here is Serjeant Thomas Kettlin, killed at Waterloo. He's a hybrid of Victrix and Perry parts.

 The next posting will hopefully be the completed and based 10th Hussar troop.  Happy New Year!

British Hussars Floyd's Troop - Week 3

This week has been spent doing dozens of little bits and pieces - red trim on saddle cloth, ink wash for saddle cloth, sword (unfinished here), reins etc, bit more work on horses, shako plate, brass end to carbine, yellow trim on pellisse (and so on!)

 I also spent quite a while on the brass chin straps - some I just painted gold and others I tried a non-metal technique of brown and yellow. Can't decide which I prefer, perhaps a combination of both would be best.

 I also did the stirrups but these need touching up, and the metal barrell of the carbine, and the oilskin holders.

I'd never done horses before and while some of them have turned out reasonably well others need a lot more work. I find it hard to put in the same level of care and effort on them, my eagerness to get on with the rider (which I enjoy) causing a pretty slapdash approach.

Also need to finish the sash and cords worn around the waist. This is tricky as there is so much equipment in the way of the brush now, on the other hand because it is almost entirely obscured only a hint of red and yellow in the vague area will suffice. Would have been a real pity if I'd spent ages painting the sashes to perfection before assembling, only for them to be 95% hidden from view. I might still try the other method for the next batch which I hope to be a troop of the 18th Hussars.

"Are you sure about charging this square?"

The final steps will be the finishing touches - highlighting and tidying, and then basing. Not sure how I will base them, perhaps on quite large blocks of 8 or 12. I don't wargame but maybe the hobby will be around when I pop my clogs - hopefully in the distant future - and I'm sure nobody will want to buy a base of 50 horses! It's something I think about. I'd be interested to hear advice from the wargaming fraternity r.e. basing and numbers.

I'm going to paint up a few French and Belgian casuaulty figs and have fun sticking them on the bases (I believe it is a myth that horses won't trample on a man on the ground!) as well as various bits of battlefield detritus - drums, hats, muskets etc. If my memory serves - yes, I suppose I could look it up and check - the 10th only really got going towards the end of the day, so the ground would certainly be plenty of such items.