Guard Chasseurs à Cheval

These are AB figures and generally were easy to paint. I must confess that I didn't do as much detail as I would have liked, the hussar braid was covered by the blanket roll and what there was difficult to see. So I didn't bother. The orange Aurora colour goes well with the green of the saddlecloths.  Incidently, the flag is a part of the Eagle bearer figure, I was tempted to cut it off and use a GMB or Maverick one but it hasn't turned out too bad. Similar to the lancers this is a large regiment of 1,200 chasseurs and I've made it an 18 man unit to account for this.

Next will be the command base for Desnouttees...

Guard Red Lancers

These took a while to complete as there is a lot of detail here and there. The figures are AB's and the flag is by Maverick Models. Usually, my cavalry units are 12 strong but I've made the guard units 18 man since they  were large units of just under a thousand troopers. I've painted them as the 2nd regiment which were also known as the Red Lancers because..well they had red uniforms. I was tempted to paint six of them up as the Polish squadron which would fit in with the hundred days but I'm not sure if it would do for other campaigns?

Verdict? they were a joy to paint and even with only a few colours applied they started to look like a smart unit.

Slightly different style to the basing this time, I just used grey rocks and then applied the smaller ballast (all darkish brown) and just highlighted. I didn't paint the entire stand this time which is my usual practice. I'm going off this format because I'm not entirely satisfied with the look which is not so good compared with what other folk achieve. Added the flowers and the tufts.

The Chasseurs a Cheval are next to be completed, again an 18 man unit. I'm also planning a command stand with their divisional commander Desnouttes, Lallemand of the Chasseurs and Colbert-Chabanais of the Lancers.

Family Day Out - Belsay Hall

Just got back from a fun packed day at Belsay Hall and castle in Northumberland, this is an English Heritage site and is free for us since my wonderful Wife has a Gold card membership. The theme this year was all things Regency so the Hall had a few rooms filled with costumes from the TV series from that period. Think Jane Austen etc etc. The best bit for me was the reinactors of the 68th and 33rd regiments who went through their drill evolutions and fired off several volleys. There was only 17 of them between the regiments, I guess even heroes must have their August holidays! I recognized a face or two from when they appeared at Alnwick castle a few years ago.Other attractions were a camera-obscura and an elegantly dressed lady telling us about the joys of tea. As you can see further down I also got robbed by highwaymen....Anyway, enjoy the photos.

Russian Bielostock & Narva Regiments

At some point in time, (next year!) I would like to refight the France 1814 campaign. However, I don't have any Russians! So I 've made a small start with these OG 15mm battalions, I have another four to paint up. The OOB battle won't be too accurate as so far I've just selected those regiments with the pretty flags. I've gone for the 1803 style inspection with a coloured flag and a white flag pair for each unit, these are by Maverick models. I've ordered some more flags for the Grenadier battalions but for variety these will be the 1797 variations.

My first two regiments are Bielostock and Narva. The OG figures are Ok, these are supposed to be march attack but is more like road march to me (I've seen french 1809 figures in this pose called road march)  but I'll stick to Warmodelling for the grenadiers and Pavlov guards. Possibly using AB command figures.

79th Highlanders

This is the other half of the OG Highlander pack with command (50 figures so I can get two units). The 79th have these nice green facings which goes well with the rest of the uniform I think. Upon closer inspection the two bagpipers  appear to lack the 'drones' so I don't know what kind of noise they could actually make! I placed these at the back of the command stand so not to be too obvious! I think its a sculpting error rather than a casting one. The 79th (Cameron Highlanders) served in the peninsular war as well as the 100 days,during that time they were part of Kemps brigade and were present at Quatre-bras and Waterloo. This regiment was raised in 1793 and finally merged with the Seaforth Highlaners in 1961. During Dunkirk they wore the kilt which was the last time these were ever worn in battle.

Another KGL battalion

There was supposed to be four but one got painted up as a Belgian line battalion to complete Perponchers division. Well, here is the final one along with his buddies from De Plats KGL Brigade. One day soon I'll around to priming and painting the fourth.

The weather is much cooler now in the UK but that means it takes longer for the paint and PVA to dry on the bases!