Oh it's been a while!! (But there are photos of painted miniatures)

I haven't posted anything on here for almost a year, primarily because I have been painting thousands of Adler Napoleonic figures. If you've seen some of the older posts on here you'll know that they are aprox 8mm in height.

While I have been painting them and putting them on plywood bases, I have not done any 'basing' with them as I could not make up my mind what looked best. Bit stupid really when you consider that they are bloody small.

So I did not feel that there was any point in putting up images of (very small) based but unfinished units.

Along the way, one thing that I firmly landed on was that the basing material / ground cover needed to be relatively light in colour as I think that makes a big difference to the unit's visibility on the table top as well as allowing the paint job to be more visible.

At Cancon this year, I saw a basing paste that I thought might wok - and bought a pot to test. I had also seen a great post from a guy on Facebook by the name of Ricky Bell who gave a 'recipe' for a mixture of Javis flocks that looked pretty good to me. So a few weeks ago I painted up a few units and tried it out. I am very pleased with the outcome. The real test will come when I do some artillery bases and limbers this week.

So, with that decision made, expect to see many many more posts about the Napoleonic project over the coming 18 months because ......

I have been collecting these Napoleonic figures from Adler since 1994. While I have approximately half of my figures painted - there are also another half unpainted and they were intended to be a project that I would work on for years and years.

So to my horror, a few weeks ago I received a message from Leon who owns Adler saying that he is planning to shut down production of the 6mm lines. However, very generously he is allowing existing customers to continue to purchase through to June 2025 so as to be able to finish collections off.

After some hand wringing, I decided I'd better make a concerted effort to get as much completed as possible so that I could identify any gaps that needed to be filled.

Taking photos presents a slight quandery - they need to be close to see the little buggers - but get too close and you see all the shortcuts taken to paint a 6mm figure.

These Wurttemburgers supported Napoleon in the 1809, 1812, 1813 and 1814 campaigns. In most cases I have used the 1809 uniforms.

Firstly a group shot.

First up are the Wurttemburg Jäger zu Pferd Regiments - two regiments each of 24 figures in four squadrons.

Next are two Chevauxleger Regiments, again each regiment consists of four squadrons of six figures.

Then we have the Wurttemburg Light Battalions with their snazzy red plumes and blue lapels and turnbacks.

These took some work. The stock figures do not have a plume - but I wanted the dress uniform because (especially at 6mm) it looks good on the table. So, into each shako I drilled a small hole, glued a piece of brass wire and dipped that into the neck of a bottle of Vallejo Plasttic Putty to give some volume to the plumes. In addition, while not really visible on the photos (and certainly not on the table) each shako has a green fabric trim around it at the midpoint. While these are moulded onto the figures, they are meant to be piped in white on the edges. While it would have looked good, my sanity is worth more - so they just have the green fabric painted.

And finally we have the Milan Battalion which served with the French. I wanted this as I thought the light blue jacket looked good.

Christmas big bash at Cumberland

The annual Christmas Napoleonic Big Bash at the Cumberland club took place in mid December.  It is basically an excuse to get as much lead on the table as possible and advance.   I had a Corp of Bavarians and faced off against John with his Russian Corp and a s***load of Russian guns.  The Age of Eagles rules were used

The other tradition is a wonderful lunch put on by Joey - I thought I had photos but alas they do not appear to have been on the phone.  

But to summarise as glazed ham, roast lamb, chicken, mango salsa for the ham and baked veggies washed down with a Crown Lager or two.  Excellent.

The table from the French and Allied right flank

Our left flank with the Bavarians in the middle to the right of the fields

Bavarian gun line

Inspired by the Russians

Bavarians advancing to hold the village

Considering whether we want to advance on those Russians brigades

A Russian Brigade snuck through up the side of the village

But was quickly seen off 

The end for the Russians with the Bavarians in the clear

Quick photo of the ongoing 6mm Napoleonics for 1813

Work continued through the year on my 6mm Napoleonic project for 1813.   The last post I put up was Saxons for 1813

Two simple shots taken before basing material has been applied - Guard Chasseurs - Old and Young Squadrons

And the rest of their cousins

Over the course of the year I have done approximately 200 French and Allied battalions of infantry and 20 cavalry regiments.  Work started on the Prussians about a month ago.  

But .... I still haven't decided on the basing material I will use so all are simply on painted Litko plywood. 

Fuentes de Onoro with Blucher

 As is obvious from the lack of posts, I have been derelict again this year in maintining this blog.

Now that I have some time off work over the Christmas holidays I will make a few posts mainly showing the few games that we have gotten in over the period since March.

First up is a great game of Blucher that Ralph put on for us at the club in July.  It was the Battle of Fuentes De Onoro.  John and I were the Spanish / British.  A few photos with captions.

British Division advancing to protect the right flank

We're defending the river and advancing to Fuentes

Just in the time as French cavalry appear on my right flank

British Guards are in Fuentes and would be very hard to evict

After many attempts and wasted French brigades they get into part of Fuentes

But not for long - we took it back on the next turn

We had a great day's gaming and as to be expected :) the British / Spanish forces won the day.  The victory came down to the covering action on the right flank and the steadfastness of the British in the town.

A little progress on the 1813 Project

 I have been making slow progress on the 1813 project using my Adler miniatures.  

When I say I have 'completed' these - that is up to the stage of flocking the bases.  I've tried various basing styles none of which I have been overly happy with in the past.  I am awaiting some new supplies to try a new option or two and once decided I'll have hundreds of bases to catch up on.  

Over the past four or so months I've finished painting my Saxons except commanders and the guns.  They have come out as:

• Liebgrenadiergarde - 2 battalions
• Converged Grenadiers - 4 battalions
• Line Infantry - 16 battalions
• Light Infantry - 4 battalions
• Garde du Corps
• Von Zastrow Cuirassiers
• Liebcuirassiergarde
• Prinz Klemens Uhlans
• Von Polenz CheveauxLeger
• Hussars
• Horse teams

And for the French I've done 17 battalions of the Marine Artillery that were converted to Line regiments.

 

 

Borodino Big Game

Last weekend a group of us met at John's house to re-fight Borodino.  John had painted the entire Russian Army and also made the purpose built terrain for the game.

The figures are 15mm - many brands but certainly many many Minifigs - including some strip Minifigs.  Rules used were Age of Eagles.

An overview of the table.  Russians on left, French on right

My command - lots of cavalry including the Russian Guard cavalry

The lay of the land prior to the first shots

The Russian cavalry advance

An infantry fight in the centre

The redoubt is lost - hardly surprising when you see what was coming onto them

Russian cavalry starting to get going

The Russians aligning in anticipation of a French infantry assault

Any general will tell you that logistics are the key to success - a restock of the troops overnight.

Russian supplies on the left and French on the right

Hard pounding

Broken through the French Cavalry and getting ready for the second line

Lots of Russians pushing forward on their right flank and the French were in some trouble (at this time)

This is the status late on Sunday.  The Russian left flank (top of picture) has been pushed back uncovering a Grand Battery.  The Russian middle is just holding but is quite brittle and on the Russian right flank (bottom of photo we have pushed the French back and were getting quite excited by the chance of getting into the French left flank, then into their rear  ..... until the sound of drums, Vive L'Emporer and bearskins became visible on the horizon (middle right in column coming on)

Status late on Sunday

The Russian Grand Battery and the Russian line forming again after having fallen back.

Grand Battery after having cleaned out a few Poles

Russian spies report bearskins on the march

It took quite a while for the French Guard to get going, but when they did they were rushed to their left flank against my advancing Russian cavalry.  If they weren't needed there - or after having dealt enough damage to the Russian cavalry, they could have turned right and punched through the Russian centre.

The Guard advances