Celer et Audax (Swift and Bold)

The 5th Battalion/60th Royal American Regiment of Foot

It has been a busy couple of weeks and getting painting time in has been a challenge. I got home on Monday night thinking I would get some brush time in only to find water flowing from numerous locations in my ceiling! My place has just about dried out now but the delay meant that my riflemen took a little longer than expected.

Anyway, here they are all finished and based.

 Research suggested that the 5/60th wore blue trousers with their green jackets. These would have eventually been replaced with whatever trousers they could find when on campaign (often from the same material as the monks used for their habits apparently) and so the majority of my rifles wear a hotchpotch of trousers. Other than this the 5/60th wore a very similar uniform to the 95th with the exception of scarlet cuffs and collars.

Officers were in charge of supplying their own uniforms. this one has opted for green trousers to match his jacket.

The majority of the 5/60th were German and the battalion was in fact three years older than its more famous cousin the 95th. Unlike the 95th, the 5/60th were split up and spread out between the Wellington's divisions thus ensuring that each division could call upon the skills of the deadly sharp shooters.

Three companies of the 5/60th were attached to the British Third Division including their HQ Company under the command of Major William Gabriel Davy. 

Two stands of 5/60th alongside a stand of the 88th Regiment of Foot.

I painted all of these riflemen at the same time and I think that a batch of 12 is about right. Anymore than this and I can imagine that it would become a little tedious. As it was I enjoyed painting these and am happy with the results. I have bought a few 40mm models that I will be looking at doing to a display standard at some point.  Next up for this army however is a foot artillery piece.

Progress is a little slow at the moment as I am moving countries in four weeks time. I do have a long summer holiday coming up soon (the joys of being a teacher) so I am sure that progress will pick up in pace soon!

 "La Garde meurt, elle ne se rend pas!"  ("The Guard dies, it does not surrender!").

Attributed to General Count Etienne Cambronne

1er Regiment de Hussards

Hmm, well, progressing rather well lately.

Finished these up pretty quick actually.

Was debating on what regiment I should paint them in, but a superior at work excitely said "FIRST HUSSARS!", and so I figured what the hell, why not?

I wasn't originally planning on painting them as the first hussars because I felt that the color scheme was too much the same for it to be interesting, but..... I think they turned out okay. What do you think?

Finished! 10mm scale French Napoleonic Light Infantry Battalion

Huzzah!

I have finished my most recent project, which truth be told I was borderline tempted to give up, pack it up, and go paint some WWII Germans.

I'm happy I didn't.

The thing that I've noticed with napoleonics so far, is that there are a lot of colors. Unlike WWII where the palette is rather limited, the napoleonic stuff is so varied, that even the slightest hint of a color thats a little too light, it sticks out like a sore thumb and steals the light from the model. Furthermore, unlike the 28mm model I painted earlier, 10mm scale is really quite small. Obviously not as small as 6mm, granted, but in terms of details, its hard to really make each individual trooper look as good as how a 15mm or a 28mm does.

Suffice to say though, that Pendraken 10mm scale nappies are quite amazing. The amount of detail is quite surprising, and some things can be "faked" with some clever painting techniques, like the shako cordes for example, which are not quite modeled, but painted in a way to make them look like they do indeed exist.

I've decided to base them in the manner of the LaSalle ruleset, which means 4 stands per normal-size infantry battalion so that they can be made into squares or lines depending on your tactic.

Considering I've decided to use  some 20mm x 30mm bases, as opposed to the Warmaster-scale 20mm x 40mm because it allowed for the models to be more densely packed, and thus hoping to give it a more battalion formation look, it ended out working that I could fit them on my previous 6mm battalion square.

And thus, presto, a wild movement tray appears!

Sure, its not quite adapted for columns or squares or line formation, it's perfect for the "default" French attack-column formation.

These have been painted as Light Infantry using Pendraken's 1809 model set, but yes, the flag is a little more "1812" feel. But that's okay though.

I have 3 Line infantry battalions, 1 combined grenadier battalion, 2 hussards regiments and 1 dragoon regiment to paint in 10mm.... and so I think my next would be the hussar regiment. Can't wait to see what cavalry looks like when painted up in 10mm :D

 

Forward the Light Company!

I've been working on my beloved Napoleonics this week and thought I'd give you a little WIP shot of what's on my desk right now and an overview of the grand plan for this project.

My old man got me playing my first wargames when I was younger. He owned two Napoleonic armies, one British and one French. My dad painted some of the figures but time was always an issue and so the vast majority of the 15mm collection were commissioned. Looking at them now the standard is poor and basically made up of a black undercoat with some very basic base coats slapped over the top.

My Napoleonic project is really for my dad. I picked 28mm as this is my favourite scale to paint at. The only other consideration was that the entire collection had to be metal. I love the feel of a metal model and the reassuring weight of them as you move them around. My dad hates the feel of plastic models and so although there are many quality plastic models out there this was going to be an all metal project.

I plan on painting up two small armies to start with set at the height of the Peninsular War. Part of the fun of Historical Wargaming is the research into uniforms and unit strengths. The British Army will eventually comprise of the entire Third Division under Sir Thomas Picton (selected in part due to my Welsh heritage). I haven't got around to the French yet but the photo below shows the bulk of the First Brigade under Major General Thomas Brisbane.

As you can see, lots to do!

I have been working on the attached riflemen of the 5th Battalion, 60th Royal American Regiment of Foot. They may not be as famous as their cousins in the 95th but they were just as deadly!

 

WIP - base coats only.

There is much work still to do but these models are an absolute joy to paint! They all come from Perry Miniatures and the sculpts are great with very little cleaning up required. They have enough detail to look good without causing the painter a headache! More photos to follow once they are completed...

"Ours (our army) is composed of the scum of the earth - the mere scum of the earth."

The Duke of Wellington