Hungarian Grenadiers

Here are the first of the Austrians, the Grenadier Company of the 51st Gabriel Spleny Regiment. I picked them not just because of the silly name but because they were listed in my copy of Blandford’s Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars as having dark blue collars and cuffs that I thought would look good against the white uniforms.

I have been looking forward to painting these chaps for a long time never having painted any Austrians before – I think its something about those furry hats! Whatever the appeal these have to be some of my favourite Hinton Hunts ever. The stance and proportions of the firing figure are just right and the Officer really looks the part waving his sword about and urging the men on. The figures are all vintage ones repainted by me, they are:

AN33 Hungarian Grenadier, firing
AN30 Hungarian Grenadier Officer, charging

I’m now getting stuck into the musketeer companies of which there are three to make up the full 24-figure unit.

Cooke not Alten

Due to an identification glitch (and with help from The Hinton Hunter) I am slightly embarrassed to announce that the figure I had previously thought was General Alten is in fact General Cooke. My apologies to both parties and their descendants for any distress caused.

Major General George Cooke commanded the Guards Division at Waterloo where he was wounded. I haven’t been able to find out much of interest about his career other than he served in Flanders during the early part of the Napoleonic Wars and later, as a Major General, commanded at Cadiz from 1811 to 1813. It doesn’t look like he served directly under Wellington except at Waterloo but if anyone knows anything more please feel free to leave a comment. Cooke rose to the rank of Lieutenant General and died in 1837 at the age of 69.

For the record then, this is BN256 General Cooke mounted on BNH11 General’s Horse. The casting is vintage Hinton Hunt and is currently waiting in the queue for a re-paint.

Off Topic #4 – Celt Iberians

I thought I should confess about the misuse of my painting time for the last couple of weeks. I have not been painting Hintons at all but have regressed to an earlier project. Now, please don’t worry about blog creep as I can assure you that this blog will remain true to it’s mission – there will be no photos of the kids or dogs (well, maybe the dogs).

I started painting a Carthaginian WAB army before my Hinton Hunt project and they were unceremonially dumped after the first of the 20mm Napoleonic’s arrived. I have been feeling a little bit guilty about this unit of Celt Iberians ever since as I had only painted 3 of them before the change of direction. Being a bit anal and liking things to be neat I decided it was time to put things straight and complete them. The unit is actually going to be 24 figures strong but I feel comfortable enough with them at half strength.

The figures are 28mm Gripping Beast Celt Iberians. I had naively thought that by purchasing the Foundry paint range along with Mr Dallimores painting guide that I would magically take on his painting abilities. Unfortunately this was not to be. Interestingly the figure second from the right in the front row (looking spookily like Mr Magoo) was painted before I started wearing reading glasses. The more recent additions, produced with the aid of glasses and magnifying glass are a little more realistic. To be honest I think that the Hinton’s are more my thing painted with simple block colours.

You will be pleased to hear that I have now started work on the HH Austrian infantry.

Hinton Hunting

It’s over three years ago that I started to trawl through eBay in the hope of finding some old Hinton Hunt castings. For ages I didn’t find a single one and had just about given up on the idea of collecting a few for ‘old times sake’ when I finally stumbled upon this little group of British Riflemen which turned out to be 3 Officers and a Bugler (BN15 & BN 20). After that there seemed to be a torrent of vintage figures suddenly available and my collection grew at an alarming rate but identifying the figures has often been a bit of a problem.

During my Hinton Hunting I have come across quite a few connoisseurs and collectors of vintage wargame figures but none so prolific as The Old Metal Detector. Clive has built an impressive collection of 20mm figures from the sixties and seventies and along with it a good deal of expertise. He recently acquired an interesting batch of Hinton Hunt Figures with models covering nearly 80% of the infantry figure range. As a result The Hinton Hunter blog has been born which aims to catalogue the entire range (click on the link to take a look).

I have (almost) put the brakes on my own collection now as I have upwards of 800 castings. My intention is to re-paint the whole lot but as I only manage about 100 or so each year it’s going to take me a long time yet to turn them into proper armies. Thanks to The Old Metal Detector it will be great to be able to take a peek at those Hintons I don’t have and maybe make a wish…

Scotland Forever

Surely one of the most famous cavalry charges in history – the charge of the Scots Grey’s at the battle of Waterloo. Here my Hinton Hunt Scots Grey’s troopers are about to collide with the French 45th Infantry Regiment. Sergeant Ewart (that must be him on the horse out front) is just moments away from snatching the Eagle from the hands of the French.

The Scots Grey’s were brigaded with the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons and the 1st (Royal) Dragoons to make up the famous Union Brigade at Waterloo. There were six troops present commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton and they suffered over 200 casualties on that one day of action. Interestingly the Grey’s spent the whole of the Napoleonic Wars except the last 100 days at home in blighty. I haven’t been able to find out exactly what they did during that time but I guess they must have been employed on policing duties. No wonder they were a bit keyed up by the time they finally got to make that charge.

There was a rumour that the Grey’s were drunk at the time of their famous action although some believe it may just have been a mix up in the translation of the word grey into French. I am half Scottish myself and many years ago had the experience of being in the middle of Glasgow at closing time on a Friday night. I can confirm that the average Scot has difficulty negotiating Sauchiehall Street on foot after a wee dram so I think galloping about on a big grey horse is definitely out of the question.