Wednesday, June 29, 2011

New French Commanders

To give a bit more depth in the French command structure I've painted up some additional Redline figures to represent Brigade and Divisional Commanders, as well as some ADC's to use as messengers. The Emperor himself has also made an appearance.

Now they need to find some troops and an opponent.






The Emperor explaining the next move

General de Divisions and their ADC's

General De Brigade looking for some troops to lead

ADC's ready to fill the position of a fallen commander

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Chasseurs a Cheval of the line

The French line Chasseurs a Cheval were the less glamorous cousins of the Hussars. They did much of the work for the light calvary, and had a good record both on and off the battlefield.

Below are two regiments - the 3rd and the 6th, 48 figures in total representing 960 men. The 3rd had red facings and the 6th yellow. The figures are from Redine, well cast with good detail for 10mm. There were five different poses for the troops as well as a standard bearer, trumpeter and captain, giving a good variety of poses and movement in the rank and file. A little touch up needed on some of the flags.

One lancer regiment (the 5th) still to paint then I'll have enough for a light brigade. The horse artillery is already done and waiting for them.







Sunday, June 12, 2011

Cardigan and Clockwork - a small diversion

In a break from painting 10mm, I've been working on the Cardigan and Clockwork parlour game from Eureka Miniatures as a gift for my brother. This 28mm parlour game recreates the historic Charge of the Light Brigade with lancers on unicycles, mechanical pigs and disgruntled horses.

The figures are beautifully made, with lovely crisp details. And they are huge compared to 10mm. Luck there was only 18 of them to paint as my productivity is much lower for 28mm.

The back story from Eureka's site :
On a fateful night in 1854 the Commander of the Light Brigade, Lord Cardigan, lost the Brigade’s entire compliment of horses to the Turkish Commissariat on a particularly unlucky hand of cards.  Bereft of their mounts, the Light Brigade anticipated complete disgrace on the battlefield the following day. Lord Lucan, Divisional Commander and hated brother-in-law of Cardigan, on hearing the news, offered the Light Brigade six hundred unicycles captured by his own Heavy Brigade from a Prussian convoy en route to the Russians. At this moment Cardigan showed his brilliance as a leader. Brazening out the intended insult, he mounted a cycle with the cry of “Follow me lads, we’ll show them how an Englishman rides!” and with great alacrity rode away, to the jeers from Lucan’s Heavy Brigade.

The following morning as the British army formed up on the plain of Balaclava, Lord Lucan was amazed to see Cardigan’s Light Brigade performing parade-ground drills on their shiny metal steeds with greater precision than any mounted formation in the British army! “You surely don’t intend charging the length of the valley on those machines?” said an incredulous Lucan to Cardigan. “Indeed”, replied Cardigan, and then uttered the immortal line - “And we won’t have to stop to water them!”

When the fateful order came: “There is your enemy! There are your guns!” the brave six hundred wheeled towards the Russian batteries, expecting a devastating hail of shot. But the guns were strangely silent. Instead, a mechanical ticking and clanking filled the air as the Russians unleashed a fresh terror – a new weapon designed to disrupt cavalry charges – the Clockwork Pig!

But the iron porkers had no effect on steeds made of rubber and steel, and the skilled unicyclists merely wheeled around the pigs, giving them a good poking with their lances before plunging onwards into the Russian lines to win the day!
The set comes with six lancers, six pigs and six horses as well as a playing board. You need to supply a couple of six sided dice. Rules can be downloaded from here at the Eureka Site. They are well written and easy to pick up. Perfect for that evening casual game with some friends with a good sense of humour.

I also bought a set for myself to paint at some stage.

More photos after the break.