Flags for the war room

I was looking for some life sized Napoleonic flags to provide some suitable atmosphere to the war room . After asking the collective wisdom of theminiaturespage.com at this post  - I was put on to this German Flag site https://www.universalhandel24.de . Google translate was essential to work out which is which, since my German is not real good.

Having a look through the many options I opted for a French 1st Line Flag and two British Flags from the 1st Foot Guards - a King's Colour and a Regimental Colour.

The price seemed very reasonable 70 euros each for the larger British flags and 50 euros for the French flag. Postage was a flat 3 euro to Australia! This was cheap compared to the $1000's asked by the re-enactor groups for embroided flags. And for a wall decoration, I thought it was worth a go.

Nicely folded in the package

A few weeks later, after almost forgetting about them,  a small package arrived with the flags. Opening it up I saw them neatly wrapped up - WOW! They are life sized - so the French was 80cm square and the British 180 x 190cm. You can see how a standard in battle was important., even these replica's were stirring.

They are screen printed on a synthetic material with a nice clear resolution. The same material as other flags. The material has an open weave which make it slightly transparent. The colours a bright clear and uniform, The French had a gold fringe, and able to be mounted on a pole. The British had eyelets rather than a sleeve for the pole. The edging was all hemmed and well finished with nice straight stitching. The writing was edged in black, helping it to really stand out. There is a nice bulk to the material without being too heavy.

One small disadvantage on the screen print is that there is no reverse of the flag, which is not a big issue as I am covering the wall with them.

Overall I am very impressed and will definitely order some more. Once I start my Prussian 1815 army I can see a Prussian flag joining them (after I work out which flag is which).  I'll be renovating the war room over the next few weeks and hanging these on the wall.

Highly recommended.

Vive l'Empereur

A little picture of the enclosed flag

1st Foot Guards Regimental Colours

British 1st Foot Guards Kings Colours

Detail of the French printing

Making Rivers

I cut the river shapes out of 3mm MDF, making sure the ends were about the same size - 30mm. I used a bandsaw, but a jigsaw works fine as well.

I then bevelled the sides with some sand paper, so they blend into the table. I then undercoated the MDF with some primer spray to seal the MDF.

Using some blue house paint, a sample pot I got at the local hardware store, I painted the blue middles of the pieces. Don't worry about the brush stokes, it looks like water flow. You could do more colours on top if you like.

I ran some white glue down each edge and sprinkled on the coloured ballast I use for basing figures. When that dries. I stuck on some long grass tufts for reeds, then some more white glue dabbed along the sides and put some flock on.

Lastly I stuck a bit of clump foliage for bushes.

Pretty quick to do and looks not too bad for 10mm. They will represent rivers 30mm wide in my games. I need to make up some junctions and maybe a ford or two. I will also make some narrower strips for creeks, maybe 15mm.

Painting the middle blue

Edges with coloured ballast

Some tufts for variety

Finished rivers showing flocking

Some of the different shapes

"The Battle - A New History of Waterloo" Book Review

Allessandro Barbero's "The Battle - A New History of Waterloo" describes Waterloo though the eyes of the soldiers that fought it. Drawing on many first hand accounts, Barbero carefully describes the incidents though 70 short chapters. The original book was written in Italian in 2003 and translated by John Cullen in 2005. The translation works very well, the style is easy to read and follows a logical flow through the battle. The use of the soldiers own voices if particularly effective in improving an understanding of the events.

The book has four parts. Part one - "We'll See Tomorrow" sets the scene in its 11 chapters- detailing the events leading up to the 18th June 1815, the armies involved and last minute preparations. Part two - "It will be as Easy as Having Breakfast" has 19 chapters looking at the initial deployments, orders, tactics, the opening attacks and counter attacks. Part three - "A stand up Fight Between Two Pugilists" in 20 chapeters goes through the long grind of the afternoon as both sides wear each other down. The arrival of the Prussians is treated with some good insights on the decisions made. The increasing desperation of the French attacks and the fragile nature of the Allied defences are well portrayed. This part ends with the attack and retreat of the Imperial Guard. The final part - "Victory! Victory!" has 8 chapters covering the final Allied advance, pursuit of the French, looting of the dead and wounded and aftermath of the battle. The conclusion is fairly brief allowing the reader to consider the devastation and loss of such a desperate battle.

The book moves at an interesting pace, picking up small details and vignettes of action, highlighting little know details. There was lots I  learnt through reading this book - how close the battle actually was, some of the limitations of the weaponry of the day, how close the soldiers got to each other in the firefights, the tightness of the battle, confusion of the smoke, importance of the skirmishers, casualties in the officer ranks, harshness of the conditions, difficulty of command and the horror of the aftermath.

Overall I was very impressed with the book, well worth the time to read.

There were a number of plates of pictures I had not seen before and some clear maps.

To find this at Amazon click on the book's picture - its around $7 USD - good value for that price. I have also listed it at the bottom of this page with some other of my favourite Waterloo books from Amazon.

On that day, the perspective of the human race was altered. Waterloo is the hinge of the Nineteenth Century - Victor Hugo

British Heavy Cavalry 1st and 2nd Brigades

On to Paris!

There were two British heavy cavalry Brigades at Waterloo - Somerset's Household Brigade and Ponsonby's Union Brigade. Both served with distinction on the day, repulsing the French attack in the centre.

While mounted on exceptional horses, most of these units hadn't see a battle since 1794. The 1st Dragoons had fought in Fuentes D'Onor in 1811, and the Household had been in the Peninsular (but not in any battles). They were keen for a fight.

Somerset's 1st British Cavalry Brigade

• Household Cavalry
• 1st Life Guards - "the Cheeses"
• 2nd Life Guards - "the Cheesemongers"
• Royal Horse Guards - "the Blues"
• 1st Dragoon Guards

Ponsonby's 2nd British Cavalry Brigade

• 1st Dragoons - "Royals"
• 2nd Dragoons - "Scots Grey"



1st and 2nd British Cavalry Brigades 

• 6th Dragoons - Inskilling

Lead by Lord Uxbridge, Somerset's brigade destroyed Delort's Cuirassiers on d'Erlon's left flank. Posonby scattered some of d'Erlon's infantry divisions before crashing onto the French Grand Battery. Two lancer regiments from Jacquinot's Division hit both heavy brigades after they were spent from the charge and caused heavy casualties. Both brigades lost almost have its men and horses. Many of their commanding officers were killed - one the Colonel of the 1st Dragoon Guards died after yelling "On to Paris!" before being shot by a skirmisher. Ponsonby also lost his life to a French Lancer in the muddy field of Mont St Jean.

The figures are all Redline 10mm. Fenando Enterprises painting services did the 1st Brigade and the Royal Dragoons. I did the Scot's Grey and Inskillings. This is the majority of the Allied heavy cavalry of the campaign. There is another division of Dutch Belgian heavy cavalry I am waiting for Si at Bend Sinister to release the figures for.

Scots Greys and Royal Dragoons

The Blues, followed by the Cheese and the Cheese mongers

1st Dragoon Guards

1st Brigade

The last we saw of them.

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

Roman Teddy Bear Chess Set

The Roman Civil Wars with Teddy Bears

Eureka has a line of fantastic Roman Teddy Bears - name "I Cuddlius". Sculpted by the talented Mike Broadbent, this line shows a very subtle sense of humour, from the rubber ducky and rocking chair standards, to the matchstick spears dripping with honey.

Having spotted these at CANCON, my daughter decided it would make a great present for my father's birthday - as a chess set. We quickly found enough different poses to have a Roman Civil War set - Pretorians vs Legionaries. With help from my son, the three of us painted, dipped, flocked and made our way to a very nice result. The board was made with some laser cut 40 x 40mm MDF Bases. These were spray painted red and blue, before being glued down and varnished.

Check out Eureka's other lines - Teddy Bear Zulu's, Cowboys, Pirates, Seven Years Wars all asking to be made into some very cool chess sets.  Also the Pax Limpopo, Frog wars and many other whimsical figures.

Pawns on the Red team

The Blue Pawns with their matchstick spears

The Red Queen riding a hobby horse and blowing her own trumpet

The Red King on his horse leading a charge

The Blue King

The Red Rook with rocking horse standard

The Blue Rook with rubber ducky standard and honey pot emblem

The Blue Knights

The Red Knight, with Bishop behind with the horn

Overview of the board