18mm Napoleonic French Guard Horse Artillery

My Napoleonic French army is surprisingly light on Imperial Guard.  I have five stands of infantry and three of cavalry, which was what I needed for my Borodino scenario fifteen years ago.

My heart is always with the line infantry soldier.  If I don't need an Imperial Guard figure for a scenario, I don't paint it!

I do have a scenario, however, that includes a substantial guard presence.  General de Brigade's "Glory Years" scenario book has three linked Austerlitz scenarios.  My group played the first of those back in December.  The third scenario has the French player field 20 Guard Chasseurs a Cheval, 32 Grenadiers a Cheval, and 3 stands of horse artillery.

I painted these figures up in a day.  Because I only had one stand of line horse artillery in my lead pile, I painted it up at the same time as the guard.

I'm enjoying painting French Napoleonics for myself, but I may take a little break in a bit. 

18mm Napoleonic French Aides de Camp

Aides de camp are always a challenge to paint correctly.  Was there a standard uniform?  Yes, but it was so often tinkered with that a French aide de camp in regulation dress must have been an unusual sight.  I had to really dig into my sources to find information on actual dress of these colorful fellows.

These 16 figures come from a few different AB codes, but most are from the new "ADCs in Action" pack.

More French Napoleonic Generals

Here are 25 more French command figures, including corps command stands for Ney, Davout, and Lannes.

The division / brigade command stands also have a few character figures: Ney (again!), Lasalle, Nansouty, and Hautpol.

Yes, that makes three Ney figures in my command staff, but in my defense, I somehow keep collecting that one sculpt! I got one as a sample from Eureka 10-15 years ago, got another when I bought a collection on TMP, and got the third when my friend Austin gave me HIS collection a year ago.

I am working on a group of 18 staff officers right now.  I am nearing the end of this mini project, and I have enjoyed painting Napoleonic figures for myself!

Napoleon and Staff, 18mm

Here is an army command stand for my Napoleonic French collection.  I finished painting this yesterday and polished off the basing this morning.

I liked the stand I painted for Glenn's army so much that I decided to do one for myself as well. 

All the figures are from AB Miniatures' incomparable line.  They come from a variety of different codes.

I will probably enter this stand as a vignette in my local modeling competition.  I am very pleased with how everything turned out.

I continue adding to my Napoleonic French high command.  I have already painted up seven corps command stands.  Now I am adding brigade and division commanders.  Look for pictures as I finish smaller groups.

6mm British Light Dragoons

Continuing my exploration of all things tiny, here are some Baccus light dragoons in Tarleton helmets.

Looking at the pictures now, I wish that I had shaded the coats rather than just block painting them.  Apart from that, I am very happy with how these turned out.

I'm not sure that these will ever see the table, as I have a sizable order of 3mm Napoleonics on the way.

1:1200 USS Tyler

This timberclad gunboat is just a one-off piece for a Shiloh game.  The ship comes from Thoroughbred Miniatures, and I liked it well enough that I am considering building some Civil War navies.  The 1:1200 scale vessels have a small enough footprint that you could play naval games in scale!  At 4.4 feet to the mile, most engagements would be doable on a standard table.

More 3mm Napoleonics

As I continue to experiment with smaller scales, I have settled on 60mm by 30mm bases.  Whether I land on 3mm or 6mm, this base size seems just right.

Today we have another infantry unit, this time of 79 figures.  We also have here a cavalry brigade made up of the 1st and 2nd hussars.  There are 30 horse on this base with plenty of empty space.

I was able to streamline my painting a bit on these figures without sacrificing detail.  I am VERY pleased with how everything turned out.  This set of figures used up my remaining stock of 3mm castings, so I will have to place an order if I want to take this project any further.  I still do not have a specific rules set in mind for these.  I suppose either Blucher or Snappy Nappy would work, but I may want to try my own hand at rules design.

These figures really are tiny.  Here they are next to an AB Miniatures French hussar.  I hope this gives you an idea just how they compare to 15mm figures!

To the Strongest! Chaeronea Refight

The fellas came over today to show off new toys and play a couple of games!

Kevin is making his own game to refight Culloden.  Since he and I both had ancestors there, we have an interest in the battle!  Here he shows me some of the labelled troop blocks he has made.

John and I thought they looked spiffy!  Kevin hired a graphic designer and really has the makings of a cool game.

We played some "Table Battles" from Hollandspiele, a game that Kevin and I enjoy.  This was Jon's first time with the game, and he wasn't sold on it.  After a break for lunch, we headed into my gaming room to play To the Strongest!

Jon had to get some pictures of the troops right away. I think he was impressed! The Old Glory 15mm ancients paint up very nicely, and this was the first time my group has gamed with these figures.

To the Strongest uses playing cards for activation and combat resolution.  Units can activate multiple times, but once one fails an activation, the whole command stops.

The Greeks (right) were able to move forward while keeping their line in good order.

The Macedonians advanced too.  Kevin led with his left, Alexander and the companion cavalry.

Once the Macedonian heavy horse got into contact, the combat became fast and furious!  Alexander's ability to reroll failures kept the companions chipping away at the Theban hoplites.

Jon pushed the Greek left forward and came to grips with the Macedonian pikemen.  Both hoplites and pike phalanxes are tough to kill!

Eventually the Macedonian horse swept around the Greek right and won the day.

After this first match, Kevin and I played again, with me taking the Greeks.  Again Kevin was victorious!  The fellows enjoyed the rules, and I think we will get To the Strongest on the table again.  We all agreed that the use of squares really speeds up gameplay.  We were able to finish two full games in two and a half hours.

18mm AB Miniatures French Generals

While tinkering with smaller scales, I have also been plugging away at around 100 AB Miniatures mounted French officers.  My Napoleonic French army was one of the first I painted, way back before the turn of the century, and I find it in need of a face lift!

With the first few stands I am trying out some more ornate scatter on the bases.  What do you think?  Is it too much?  Usually I save the grass tufts for 28mm figures.

Here we have a corps command stand with Nansouty in full cuirassier rig.  On his right is a senior officer of the 2nd Hussars.  On his left is an aide de camp to a divisional commander.  I wanted this base to work for when Nansouty commanded the I Cavalry Corps in 1812.

The three singly mounted officers are colonels of the 5th Hussars, 7th Hussars, and Guard Horse Artillery.

Today I am working on an army command stand.  I finished painting Napoleon, Roustam Raza, two Chasseurs a Cheval of the Guard, and a couple of aides de camp today.

20mm WWII American Infantry

After spending much of the past three years painting AB's Napoleonics range, I thought I would give their WWII range a try.  Do I need more WWII troops?  No, probably not.  But I do like the proportions of these!