Leave your baggage behind

Long road to war.

In the Napoleonic wars there was a considerable logistical effort when moving hundreds of thousands of men. Even the French, who "lived off the land" and foraged as they went, had a considerable collection of wagons and stock following behind. Generally baggage trains were out of the way of the battle, but can play a interesting role in scenarios or campaigns. In the 1815 campaign, the wet Belgian tracks were gridlocked between battles. Part of the delay in British and Allied troops arriving at Quatre Bras were due to a baggage train jam.

In the larger scales (15mm and 28mm) baggage trains can be expensive to collect. In 10mm they are far more affordable. There are a few different options available. Old Glory, Pendraken and Irregular Miniatures.

These figures are Irregular Miniatures from Eureka, beautifully detailed. A loaded wagon and pack horse. They were undercoated brown, colours blocked in then magic washed. Only an hour or so after dinner one night. The marching soldiers were left over from previous units. They will join the Old Glory wagons I painted 18 months ago. I'll use them as fillers in the Artillery parks.

Imperial Guard Horse Artillery

The Imperial Guard Horse Artillery had four batteries in 1815. Each with 4 6lb guns and 2 howitzers. Two batteries (3rd and 4th Companies) were attached to the Imperial Guard Heavy Brigade and two (1st and 2nd Companies) with the Light Brigade.

The 1st and 2nd were present at Quatre Bras and shelled the Allied troops in between cavalry attacks.

At Waterloo the 1st and 2nd Companies were on the eastern flank, the 3rd an 4th on the west near Hougoumont. Neither saw much action during the day.

I have painted the 1st and 2nd, that were involved in Quatre Bras. The figures and guns are Redline's. Great to paint as usual. The blue and red uniforms are quick to do.

Unfortunately I haven't had an opportunity to paint much else lately, so productivity has dropped.

I have been prepping a large amount of artillery for French, Dutch and British batteries. The focus is to finish most of the Artillery for the 1815 OOB's as well as number of cassions and limbers. 10mm is a great scale to have developed artillery parks.

Belgian Militia and Jaegers

Belgian Militia and 27th Jaegers

The last part of Bylandt's Brigade infantry is done - three battalions of Belgian Militia - 5th, 7th  and 8th as well as the 27th Jaegers. They now join the 7th Belgian line. I also painted up some Skirmishers for the 2nd Brigade.

I used greatcoated British in Stovepipes from Redline for the Militia. There were some minor conversions in some figures for the field caps to give a more Militia look. I cut the shako off above the brim and flattened a small ball of greenstuff to make the cap. Painted them blue with an orange band. Works for a few in the battalion, wouldn't want to do a few hundred of them. I also used the Nassau officer for the command.

The skirmishers were using French skirmishers from the Redline range, with the badges cut off and painted in the green uniforms.

I only have some Dutch and Belgian Artillery and Van Merlen's Light Cavalry to complete the Brigade.

Militia command with MG Bylandt

Detail of command with converted drummer

Skirmishers for Saxe-Weimar's Brigade

Skirmish command

Dutch Jaegers made from French line skirmishers 

Saxe-Weimar's Brigade

Bylandt's Brigade 

Perponcher's 2nd Netherlands Division

Review of Fernando Enterprises Painting Service

Moustaches on 10mm Cuirassiers

I met Sanarth the owner of Fernanado Enterprises at Cancon, displaying his company's work in a number of impressive displays. While he had no 10mm on display, he assured me that the wargamer standard would be more than enough for the results I was seeking. So I brought back some of my backlog to see what he could do with them.

I had detailed instructions with uniform guides from http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/ for each of the units. I think this is important to make it easier for the painters and less chance of disappointment.

I was really impressed with the communication during the process. They sent through pictures of a sample of each unit for approval before continuing to paint the rest. Overall it took just on 8 weeks to paint and freight them back. The return freight service was very quick and I tracked it online to see its progress.

The packaging was impressive. Each 10mm figure was wrapped in a strip of bubble wrap, then in an individual plastic bag, then grouped and labeled in a larger bag. There was no missing figures.

The units I had painted were from Bend Sinister's Redline range :

• 36 Household Cavalry
• 24 1st Dragoon Guards
• 24 6th Dragoons
• 4 x 30 KGL Battalions
• 24 Cuirassiers
• 24 Empress Dragoons
• 48 Carabiniers
• 32 Guard Lancers
• 3 x 36 French Line

212 Cavalry ready for flocking

The price was very reasonable - $1 USD per cavalry, and 50c USD per infantry. Sanarth also offers a service to order directly from the manufacturer. This would mean a unit of 24 painted cavalry would cost about $36USD sent to me.

The results were great, better than I could do. Nice clean edge lines, moustaches on the Cuirassiers (in 10mm!) clean bridles with silver buckles, socks on the horses. Really fine work for such small figures. To blend them into the rest of my collection I glued them on bases, did a quick magic wash, then flocked them.

I am very happy with the service from Sanarth and his friendly team, and will definitely be using them again. Their professional communication, fast turn around and great work is to be commended. Waterloo in 2015 looks very achievable from here.

The box was very well packed, nothing damaged

Each unit was in a separate bag and labeled

Each figure was it ints own bag, most were bubble wrapped

Before magic washing

See the detail on the saddle edging

Very clean work, especially on cuffs and collars

Where is Bo-peep?

I saw a great 6mm battle of Borodino at CANCON that featured some sheep as part of the terrain. There were from Irregular miniatures, who also made them in 10mm. I ordered a bunch of miscellaneous 10mm livestock from Nic at Eureka Miniatures, who very kindly included a couple of surprise additions.

So far I have only painted the sheep and cattle and a couple of wolves (the surprise). Still to go are some horses, oxen and some pack horses. They painted up very quickly and are a nice little addition on the table.

Lets get the flock out of here

Big bad wolf and his brother

Lets get moooooving

Nice collection of livestock

10mm sheep on 30mm discs

Undercoated

Some more Allied leaders arrive

A bit like the rush around of mid June 1815, some more leaders have just arrived to join their waiting troops. Maybe they were at the Duchess' Ball.

On the British team we have Picton with his top hat and umbrella, ably supported by an aide trying to find out where they are on the map. Also the Majors General Kempt and Pack, completing their already painted Brigades.

On the Dutch/Belgian Nassau team, we have Major General Perponcher leader of the 2nd Netherland Division, along with another aide desperately looking at the map to find some French. And Prince Bernhard Saxe-Weimar (newly promoted after a horse kicked the previous commander) and Major General Byland.

Nice little figures from Old Glory. Needed a bit of greenstuff under the saddle so that they sat well on the horses.

Division leaders are two on a base and Brigade leaders are based singly 

Casualty Markers

Infantry casualty marker - Redline figures

One of the challenges in 10mm is accounting for casualties. Because they are based in larger numbers, individual removal is problematic. Because I have lots of units on the table, a paper based one would be confusing, and a computer based one. So a marker is necessary.

In the "Republic to Empire" rules casualties are only removed after half the unit is gone. This represents the "thinning" of the line while losing effectiveness. Regrouping after heavy losses would result in smaller frontages. So I need to make a counter up to around 12 which represents two stands of infantry or 3 of cavalry.

There are a number of commercially available dials and counters. Litko make a nice laser cut one in coloured plastic. They were a bit expensive ($5.99 for 2) and the nice plastic would stand out on the table too much. They were also a bit thick.

Home made dial sheet and Jim's goodies

The Dial Dude had some funky looking ones with flags, a bit cheaper. But he seems to be not making them at the moment and not answering emails.

So I thought I'd make some. I wanted them to blend into the table, but still be noticeable on what they were recording.

I talked to Jim at Litko about his flexible steel and flexible magnetic bases. They were not rigid enough by themselves so I needed to get a .8mm plywood top on them. I thought I could have the plywood and flexible steel on the top and the magnet on the bottom. Unfortunately the magnet sticks on one side, the side without the adhesive, so I have had to glue the paper dial on the magnetic side. I ordered 100 30mm circles in the plywood, flexible steel and flexible magnet ($46 plus shipping - much better).

Parts waiting to come together. The magnetic sheet is already stuck to the plywood

For the dials I made up a sheet using Inkscape, a free vector drawing program. I wanted to use a vector program as the numbers would render better as I bent them round the circle. And I needed an accurate way of printing 30mm circles easily.


If anyone wants the files you can download an .svg vector file or a .pdf version. The dials go from 1 to 12. Feel free to modify them as you need. They are a clone tiled, so by changing the top left one, the others should all change.


I then cut a wedge out of the plywood/steel combination with a chisel. Be careful of which way the grain goes as it may split if you cut along the grain. It is assembled from top to bottom -

plywood

paper dial

magnetic sheet

steel sheet

The flexible steel base keeps is together. The wedge needed to be big enough to only show one number, including the 10 11 and 12, without showing any others.

Assembled dial

Redlines outstanding little casualty vignette. 

Now for the scenic treatment. Not a lot of options in the 10mm casualty range. Which is a shame, it is these little details which really appeal to the wargamer, especially when it helps with the game play and atmosphere.


Redline has some fantastic little two person scenes of a soldier holding his dying mate. The figures are "generic" in that they are bare headed (I managed to get one with a stovepipe shako somehow?) and have a simple uniform with crossed belts. I undercoated them red and blue, then painted the up as British and French Line. Maybe I should have done one with one of each showing a little compassion across the field. They are exquisite little figures that really come up well when painted. Hopefully the photo is clear enough to see them. They are not listed in Bend Sinister's shop. Si normally pops a couple in when you have a decent order. I've collected 9 so far. I'll have to ask him to put them in the shop.

Pendraken's dead horse marker from the Napoleonic range.

Pendraken have a dead horse in their Napoleonic range. Unfortunately there are no pictures. I know it is a hassle putting pictures in online shops, but it makes a big difference to customers when they can see what they are ordering. They come in packets of 5 for a a few dollars. Good value really. Nice figure, lying down with I think a British type saddle. It would be nice to have a couple of saddle variants, but I imagine they aren't a big seller.

A bit of flock, tufts and rocks and all done.  The dials just stick together with the magnet and can easily be moved around. I plan on making one per regiment, so they can be discreetly placed on the table.

I am thinking of maybe making some with morale status on them, or little artillery ones with ammunition counters.

If any 10mm manufacturers are reading this please make some more casualty figures and maybe even some ambulances or wagons for wounded. They are so affordable in 10mm to have them on the field. They really add to the game.

Dials glued to the magnetic bases - steel and plywood circles on the left

A morning's work

Celebrations and a Parade

9 months work (with a break in the middle)

Wow, 10,000 visitors in 9 months. I am amazed by the interest in my little project. I really appreciate the comments that people leave. Its a great encouragement when the pile of lead is so high (even with figures only 10mm high)

This calls for a celebratory parade.

All the troops I have painted this year have been set up on the board. 653 Infantry, 204 Cavalry, 32 guns with 96 crew, 16 limbers and 28 leaders. Not a bad start. I'll need to work harder to get closer to 2015.

Brunswick Corps

British Division

French Cavalry Division and Line Division

Click below for more pictures