While I go crazy painting straps and piping...

...they do look good when completed.

Here is a light infantry voltigeur just waiting for the last of his comrades to be varnished so that the entire company can be based.

click on image to enlarge

Not the best of photos as they were taken in poor light, and I had to wring them through some severe Photoshopping for them to come out reasonably clearly. Still, good enough for work in (eternal!) progress shots.

It's of course a Front Rank miniature wearing the 1812 habit-veste and campaign trousers. He is also festooned with various equipment making him a right royal pain in la derrière to paint. The easiest ones to paint are- rather surprisingly- the ones in the full dress Bardin 1812 uniform. Less straps to worry about, although the ones in overcoat and covered shakos are also a lot easier on both eyes and blood pressure.

In a moment of madness I decided to give him non-regulation yellow piping down the campaign trousers, based on an illustration I cam across in my copy of Elting/Knotel's Napoleonic Uniforms.

Note to self; never- ever- decide to put together a wargaming army where all the uniforms have yellow piping running down the sides of dark-coloured trousers. Therein lies the way of Madness.

*****

Painting is made much more pleasant with appropriate "mood music". There are a lot of videos on YouTube featuring that stirring French march La Victoire est a Nous, famous amongst fellow Grognards from the movie Waterloo in 1970. Here is one of the better versions out there.

Minifigs and "Pas de Charge"; Good old days?

Shameless nostalgia time. I came across these pictures on the Minifigs website. The very first metal wargaming figures I ever ordered were some of these Prussian and Russian 25mm Minifigs to supplement my buckets of Airfix figures. I remember ordering them through the mail from a company in Pennsylvania- Soldier World USA I believe it was. Long gone now, of course!

Being 25mm, they of course dwarfed my HO/OO Airfix plastics, but in those pre-Grognard carefree days, I didn't really care. My Russians held the Airfix La Haye Sainte against hordes of French cuirassiers painted (badly!) as dragoons, and no-one thought to give them a red-card for the historical faux-pas.

Forty years on since they were first released, they are really looking "long in the tooth" and are not really compatible with anything else out there. And they all seemed to be in the same pose, steadily advancing and eyes straight ahead. Yet I still think they had a charm of their own, although these days we have come to expect a lot more detail in our miniatures. But certainly there was no faulting the depth and breadth of Minifig's ranges- they covered just about everything the wargamer of the time could want!

No doubt modern miniatures represent a lot of progress on the part of the sculptor and caster, but I cannot help but to realize that I was able to paint my old Minifigs Napoleonics and Heritage/Hinchliffe medievals (I must have had hundreds of these!) a lot faster than I do my minis these days.

Make no mistake, I still love my Front Rank figures, and I'm certainly not about to go "retro".   Some consider the Front Rank poses too staid when compared to, say Elite or Foundry, but for me, perhaps, they are reminiscent of those old Minifig days, while incorporating the detail that we have come to expect with modern castings.

Nostalgia isn't all it's cracked up to be.    I used to use the old (1977!) Pas de Charge rules by the venerable George Nafziger, which seemed fine at the time with some mechanisms that I still like.

But when I dragged them out of storage years later and read them through again, I realized that not only had a lot of our notions of Napoleonic warfare changed over time, but that the rules themselves were full of omissions and "wierd goings-on". I think that some of the original charts and tables never made it into the book, as there remain references for mysterious tables that I have never found within the pages!


The rules served me well in their time, but time goes on, as it does with miniatures and just about everything else. And the choice in figures and rules out there now is stunning! These are great times to be a wargamer.

And while it is fun to look at old rules and figures again, there sure isn't any going back for me.

So when ARE Perry or Victrix going to release plastic Russians? And then there are those superb Prussians and Saxons from Calpe. Not to mention some interesting- if expensive- early Napoleonic wars ranges coming out from Foundry.

But practically I should just get on with painting what I have, first...

Nappy Musings...

After spending many months in the Dolomite mountains in WW1, and in the Low Countries and upper Rhine in the War of the Austrian Succession, I find myself coming back to Napoleonics again. This is my usual pattern in wargaming. I drift from one era to another, but almost always come back to Naps at some time or another.

And I have been painting! Here are some photos of work in progress over the last few days.

Général Victor-Eugène BOUILLON-CANTINAT and ADC
(the latter wearing a daringly conspicuous- and non-regulation- white greatcoat!)

I originally converted M. le Général from a Front Rank miniature many years ago- before they released their general officer figures- using Tamiya two-part epoxy putty, a paper clip, and my trusty hand-held modelling drill. I was never happy with the original paint job, so I stripped it off and started again.

The general is left-handed, as was the "real" (ahem!) general, due to being grievously wounded while fighting the Austrians in 1809.

I still need to work on the eyes and on touching up the horse furniture. Not sure about the white feathers on the general's hat. These should perhaps be in black, but if that is the case it should be an easy job to retouch it.

Another conversion, and one I am extremely pleased with! This is Henri-Etienne Cavignari, veteran of the Italian campaign and of Egypt, and now Chef de Bataillon of the 3/25e Regt. Legere, leading his men against the Czarist horde. About 50% done.

I have long ago come to the conclusion that I will probably have to outsource a large share of the painting to mercenary brush-smiths, which although not being cheap, will mean that I can get the bulk of my collection done, while allowing me to work on favourite units at my leisure.

I have most all the minis I need now anyway (I really only have to buy line infantry for the French, probably Perry plastics), so this may not be as expensive in the long run as it would be if I had to buy the figures as well. It is just a question of looking for a reasonable and reliable painting service that paints in a style I like.

*****

At this time, however, I'd like to just blather on for a bit about what the hobby of Napoleonic wargaming means to me. I came across this thread on TMP, where one poster (it will be clear who this is when you read the thread!) took a position regarding the hobby which I can only call extreme, and which to me embodies all that can be the worst about Napoleonic enthusiasts.

I am a strong proponent of "each to their own" in what is no more than our hobby, and feel that we are free to approach the hobby in the way that we want, regardless of what others may think.

For that reason I am really turned off by those who feel it necessary to prescribe what the "proper" approach to the hobby should be, and who adopt that attitude of superiority and moral certitude that seems to infect the worst of the grognards. Presumptuous intolerance and blanket condemnation are not pretty traits.

So, in the interest of "stand up and be counted!", here is my own, very personal take on what Napoleonic wargaming means to me! Read it, ignore it, agree with it, or damn me to St. Helena; but it does let you where I stand with the hobby, so if my approach offends anyone, they should know this blog ain't for them!

FOR ME, NAPOLEONIC WARGAMING IS ABOUT...

1) Collecting miniatures, which means eye candy! For me, 28mm minis are big enough to paint, look good in a cabinet, and are just all-around aesthetically pleasing (with a respectful nod toward AB 15mm minis, which, while gorgeous, are just that much too small for these middle-aged eyes to cope with!).

2) Remaining faithful to history, but not being enslaved by it. I reserve the right to take the occasional liberty with uniform detail when I decide aesthetics warrant it, and even to tweak around historical fact when the narrative requires it.

As I pointed out in another forum, history is my Muse, not my tyrant. This extends to stretching things like having some regiments still carrying the 1803 pattern flags ('coz they're pretty!), and having my light cavalry regiments with eagles and standards, even if in practise they may not have taken them in the field.

I remember some pretentious twaddle being posted on TMP to the effect that if a person didn't replicate exactly the colours of the uniforms worn at the time, then one was showing disrespect to the memory of the soldiers themselves. Utter balderdash as far as I am concerned. We're talking toy soldiers here, not friggin' cenotaphs. My men are in a mix of campaign uniforms and full dress, because I like the variety.

3) Miniatures first, then the rules. Rule sets tend to come in and go out of fashion over time, but the miniatures always remain. My figures are based a la Peter Gilder and the In the Grand Manner rules, the same system which is used for General de Brigade, my current rules of choice. One thing is certain- I will never re-base. Any new rule set I adopt will have to be modified to suit my basing system, not the other way around!

FOR ME, NAPOLEONIC WARGAMING IS NOT ABOUT...

1) "Understanding" Napoleonic tactics. I emphasize the "game" in wargame. I feel that miniature wargames are not the best way to formally analyze Napoleonic tactics, and that rules tend to reflect our own biases; to reflect what we expect should happen, rather than reveal any insights as to tactical methods used. In any event, ground/ figure scale throws everything off-kilter anyways, especially as I use 28mm minis.

And then there is the practical- but unavoidable- factor of how much time I have to play. I do not currently have a permanent table, so my games have to fall within the time constraints of being able to be played and to reach a conclusion within a Sunday afternoon.

Of course I want my games to play and feel like a Napoleonic battle may have unfolded, but I am willing to take shortcuts and abstractions to get to that result.

Let there be no misunderstanding; I am not ignorant of the tactics used, I have a considerable library on Napoleonic literature, and consider myself well-read on the period. However, the gaming table is another matter. I game for fun, to roll dice and the goal is to move nicely painted miniatures around on attractive terrain.

My history I save for my reading, and to be honest I am less interested in tactical minutiae anyway. I'm not a soldier, and even if I was I doubt that platoon evolutions in 1813 would have much bearing on combat in 2009 anyway.

2) Bricoles. Some of the nasty, personal spats & long-running feuds that occur between so-called professional historians, and which end up polluting various wargaming fora, do no-one any credit. On balance I feel they contribute negatively to the hobby. Such people, who are evidently incapable of showing even a modicum of civility on-line, need to stick to their own sandbox and let the rest of us enjoy our leisure activities.

3) Glorifying either war or Napoleon. Sorry for those who talk about l'Empereur extending the limits of glory and such, but the root of the matter to me is that war was, and remains a nasty and, more often than not, a futile undertaking. I'll not be blinded to that by the pretty uniforms and the charisma of any one man- I put no-one on a pedestal.

Not to say I have no respect for Napoleon, I do. But while I of course acknowledge his undoubted ability, leadership skills and just plain chutzpah, I have a healthy distrust of demagoguery and dictators, no matter how much of a military or administrative genius they may have been, and irregardless of their height (or lack thereof).

Napoleon died many years ago. His feelings are beyond being hurt if I am less than enamoured with him. And I am pretty sure he wouldn't care a jot about the opinion of someone who just plays with toy soldiers!

As an aside, I feel Napoleon was a man of his times; more interested in establishing a dynasty than any kind of democratic meritocracy, and I doubt whether promotions to positions of power based on merit would long have survived his death even if he had remained Emperor of the French. He certainly had amazing talent, and left a lasting legacy. But being human he was as capable of making mistakes and of showing poor judgement as are we all.

4) Just two weeks in June, 1815! There are lots of other fascinating campaigns in the Napoleonic Wars to hold anyone's interest.

Finally, I recognize that others might not share my views and that is fine. However, doing it differently does not make me wrong, nor does it imply that I am ignorant of history. I'm not.

But ultimately it is my hobby, with minis I paid for, so for others to whine about the way I chose to do it is to spit into the wind anyway.

1/6 of a pledge...

But at least I'm making progress again! Iannick Martin has given me a mental "jump-start" on my Napoleonics project.

Certainly it had pretty much hit a brick wall my end.

I had about a month and a half at work when there was no time for any painting or hobby stuff at all, and when I did have the time again, the motivational fires had been all but extinguished.

It doesn't help that while I have a desk for painting, it has to be shared with my wife for her studies. This means that I have to take out and put away brushes, paints, and all the related project paraphernalia after each painting session. This can be too much of a chore at times, making it tough just to sit down and get in an hour or so a day as some people seem able to do.

In any event, after a summer of shako cords, piping, and backpack straps I was frankly just getting tired of Napoleonics. So when I did eventually get back to painting it was on my 18th C. miniatures, which had also been waiting in the (very long!) queue. A change is as good as a rest.

But Iannick seems to have recovered from his similar malaise, so it is high time I did too. While neither of us reached the targets we set out- although Iannick, despite his lamentations, managed a lot more than I was able to do- I have to admit that I did learn some points that should make progress faster, as follows:

1. Don't "re-paint" errors until everything has been added. I must have gone over the same areas a half a dozen times in some instances.
2. Undercoat in black. It really DOES save a lot of time.
3. Follow what I now call Iannick's Law; i.e. don't start another unit until the one you are working on is finished. It is the last stages- the tidying up of details, those last tricky straps, cap badges and epaulets- those are the hardest, but are where the mini can really come to life. It is also the stage when procrastination can really take over if one isn't careful.

My return to les bleus started with "landscaping" and painting the base of a sample stand of grenadiers, just so I can see some kind of flickering light at the end of the tunnel.

There they are at the top of the post, along with a stand of skirmishers.

Basing technique from the article in Battlegames by Barry Hilton (mentioned in a previous post). I was looking for something bright, but not light-coloured. I was wanting to portray the soggy ground of the autumn campaigns in Saxony in 1813. Anything too dusty and sandy-looking would have been more appropriate for the Peninsula, far from where my Marie Louises would be taking on the Russians. I wanted mud.

I have never liked using flocking on the bases. I know that many painters out there have gotten excellent results using it, but I have never been satisfied with the outcome when using it myself. When I was using flocking for bases back when gaming in Canada, the colours weren't what I was looking for, and in time the foliage always seem to "shed", leaving a glossy area where it had been glued to the PVA.

So, I decided to use fine sand for texturing the "vegetation" areas and paint for effect. I like the look, because it reminds me of the bases used for the minis in the huge Peter Gilder Leipzig extravaganza back in those early issues of Miniature Wargames all those years ago.

Here is what I did- largely for my own reference when I'm ready to base the rest of the battalion!

Paints used are Delta Ceramcoat and some (economical!) tubes of Amsterdam Acrylics from my local art shop (raw & burnt umber) .

• use acrylic-based wood putty to texture the base
• using white glue, add fine sand in patches for vegetation and leave to dry out thoroughly
  
• undercoat the base in raw umber
• wet-coat earth areas with territorial beige
• wet-coat vegetation areas with medium foliage green
• give bases a wash of burnt umber around the feet of the minis
• lightly wet-brush apple green on the vegetation areas and palomino tan on the earth areas. Wash again with thinned-down medium foliage green and raw sienna respectively
• dry-brush olive yellow over the areas of grass, and highlight with imperial yellow. Dry-brush palomino tan again over the earth areas
• trim edges of base with raw umber.

Some close-up shots.

From the right flank.
(Their left flank appears to be supported by the I.J.N. Mikasa)

My photography skills and camera are not up to par, particularly for close-up shots. Natural lighting was out of the question today- dark skies with cold, heavy rain here in Tokyo (good day for painting, though).

The base effect is "dark-ish", but the yellow highlights on the "grass" makes it stand out nicely while without overpowering the minis, which after all should be the visual focal point.

The colours do not quite look like this in "real life". The brown of the base has washed out, and has picked up more of a greenish hue, as has the vegetation effect (the yellow highlight has washed out). The blue overcoat on the fellow in the back rank has come out a lot lighter than it is under natural light conditions. Blue has always been a bitch to photograph in my experience.

More to come, I hope to show the finished battalion this time next week.

*Sigh*

Perry Miniatures Plastic French Napoleonic Infantry

Words fail me...

But only for a moment! I'm really excited about trying my hand at these. I am no stranger to plastic modelling, having worked on my share of Airfix and Historex 54mm models in my time and loads of armour, ship and aircraft kits.

I really like the idea of being able to convert individual figures and to "customize" the units. I've done a lot of conversions on my metal miniatures in the past, but plastic remains a lot easier to work with.

The fact that these come in a mix of habit-vests and greatcoats mean they will blend nicely with my Front Rank minis. There is a slight size and style difference, but in separate units they should do just fine, and a consistent painting style can give a unity to the look of the whole.

And not only is the price right, but one box contains exactly enough figures for one battalion of infantry using the General de Brigade rules.

I'm impressed enough to have just pre-ordered two boxes' worth- for a start.

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering where the hell the 28e legere is, I've been experimenting with painting base textures and finishes for a while, and found some interesting ideas from Barry Hilton in the latest edition (#14) of Battlegames magazine. I've been taking my time on this, as first I need to pace down a bit after last month's marathon painting sessions, and secondly I do not want any last minute screw-ups on a whole regiment of minis through not trying out some sample finishes first. But it is looking good!

Introducing...

Victor-Eugène Sardanapalus Bouillon-Cantinat,

13th Marquis de Sangfroid (1775- 1866)
Col. 22e Regt. de ligne;
General de Brigade, 8th Div. 1813

"The great-grandson of the illustrious Louis-Baptiste Sardanapalus Bouillon-Cantinat, 10th Marquis de Sangfroid, Comte de Roue and the Prince Ecclesiastical of the Bishopric of St. Vignobles, hero of Dettingen, Fontenoy, Laffert and Dobrudsha.

The Revolution was hard on the Bouillon-Cantinat family, with several of its members destined to end their eventful lives at a fatal appointment with Mme. la Guillotine, where they died bravely in the spirit of their ancestors. Among them was the 12th Marquis de Sangfroid, thus leaving his teenaged son, Victor-Eugène, to inherit the family title.

Being quick-minded and in possession of an independent spirit, Victor-Eugène had been entered into a military career at an early age, as a subaltern in the Regt. de Touraine. He had the good fortune in being stationed in Antibes at the time of the revolution, far from the scenes of bloodletting in Paris. Given his amiable nature, considerable youth, and the fact that he was able to draw on the family fiscal assets to help secure his relative anonymity, he managed successfully to avoid the fate of his less fortunate (and less tactful) relatives during the worst excesses of la Terreur.

They say the fruit never falls far from the tree; and although perhaps not as religiously devout as his forefathers, certainly Victor-Eugène shared many of their characteristics. Letters of the time suggest that as a youth, he soon made a name for himself through his bravery, good humour, generosity and love of cards, in which he had the misfortune- and good sense- to lose when engaged in games of chance with those of influence in the new regime.

He certainly possessed a lust for adventure, for pretty girls, and above all, for the wines of the famous family vineyards of St. Vignobles. All activities that have long been the hallmark of the male line of the Bouillon-Cantinats. Nevertheless, the young Marquis was proving himself to be of a practical turn of mind, and in matters of politics and guile was considerably more phlegmatic than his heredity would have predicted.

By the time of the Consulate, he had demonstrated considerable aptitude for the military calling, and displayed professionalism and a genuine patriotic fervour. He was assisted in his career through the good offices and favour shown to him by his patron and mentor, the celebrated General Etienne-Marie-Antoine Champion de Nansouty and through his family connections with the famous Minister of State, M. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord.

And he had need of such highly-placed patrons, as being of aristocratic birth he found himself being frequently held back from the promotion he so clearly deserved. This was a result of the distrust and machinations on the part of a number of officers of humble origins who now held places of high rank in the administration of the time. Certainly, it was no great secret that some of these jealous luminaries of the Empire coveted their own share of the extensive Bouillon-Cantinat hereditary lands very much indeed...

However, Victor-Eugène's shrewd sense of political- and personal- survival ensured that he was able to retain, recover, and even expand much of the Bouillon-Cantinat estates through the days of the First Empire and beyond. This despite- and indeed, perhaps, because of- the turmoil of the years. And undoubtedly, his considerable talents on the field of battle gained him enormous political credit with the authorities of the time.

His services to the Emperor against the Austrians, Russians, and later the Spanish, earned him a fine reputation both as a competent tactician and as a brave leader of men, serving in Napoleon's Grande Armee in most of its major campaigns from 1805 to 1809. In that year at Ratisbon he received a severe cannister wound to his right arm which healed badly. When he eventually returned to active service in 1811, he was given orders to report to the army in the Iberian peninsula.

He spent some considerable length of time in Spain, first with Massena's Army of Portugal and later with Suchet in the south. In the reorganization of the Grande Armee that took place after the disastrous Russian campaign, Napoleon turned to his veterans in Spain; the Marquis was appointed Colonel of the 22e Regt. de ligne and assigned first to Mainz for refitting the regiment, and from there on to Saxony. By late 1813 and the campaign of Leipzig, he found himself given command of a brigade in General Souham's 8th Division.

In many a battle and siege, through actions big and small, the 13th Marquis de Sangfroid served his Emperor as faithfully as his forefathers did the kings of France in the ancien regime.

What remained a secret to his comrades in La Grande Armee was that throughout those tumultuous times, and despite his unflinching service to the Bonapartist regime, he retained his Royalist sympathies. After the wars he became well known for his close friendships with royalty and the scions of various noble houses throughout Europe. But as a child of his times, he knew his first duty was to La Belle France."

M. Georges du P. Debroullier; "What Higher Master than Honour? A History of the House of Bouillon-Cantinat" Pierre Declat & Cie. St. Vignobles, 1902

Litko comes through!

"I just love the smell of plywood in the morning..."

Came home to find these in the letterbox- this weekend I'll be immersing myself in white glue, putty, sand and paint. Although the resulting mess will no doubt cause a rip or two in the fabric of domestic harmony, it will be worth the effort and finally all shall be revealed. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, something of a change of pace. I've been making another try at a getting into 6mm miniatures. This time with a bit more success than in the past, as you can see with the 1809 Austrians on the Kaiserliks blog.

These call for a whole different approach than do 28mm miniatures. In honesty, they are not as satisfying to work on as are their larger 28mm brethren, but they are a lot faster to paint, and despite their rather "dwarfish" physiognomy, they do have their own charm and en masse do not look too bad at all.

While you are there, check out Braxen's excellent Waterloo collection to see just how good 6mm can be made to look.