Friends for the 45th ligne

I have been putting it off, but the time really has come to address the imbalance in the French OOB and add some more line units. To that end I’ve painted a test figure of FN/5 Fusilier (charging) for what will become the 25th ligne who were brigaded with the 45th at Waterloo.

***EDIT*** I've taken another picture as the last one was too dark - FN/5 Fusilier (charging)

I painted my own version of the 45th back in 2008 and they have certainly seen some action since then having carelessly mislaid their Eagle on at least three occasions. Back then I struggled to scrape together the required 24 figures, but I have been gradually adding to my stock whenever I see any at a decent price. Although I have a reasonable number now, I find it odd that in all that time I have never come across any of the marching figure (FN/7A) which would have provided a bit of variation.

It was frustrating painting up the test figure because I had just opened a new pot of Foundry Red which turned out to be no better than coloured water. After five coats it still wasn’t covering so I ditched it and bought some Vallejo Flat Red which did the trick. I’ve had most of my Foundry paints since 2006 so I dare say they have reformulated them but I still think it would be a good idea to include some pigment.

Another cabinet re-shuffle (that joke is wearing thin) to squeeze Semphill's Foot onto the bottom shelf where I can admire them from my painting desk.

Finally, just to say I have resolved the issue with Semphill’s Foot not fitting into my display cabinet through the very technical process of bending the paper flags slightly.

Semphill’s Foot Finished (Off Topic #32)

You may remember that about a year ago I started work on a unit of British 28mm Crann Tara infantry for the Jacobite Rebellion. I don’t like to leave units part done but I was finding it hard to fit these in with my Hinton Hunt production schedule, so my New Year’s resolution was to crack on and get them finished.

The Crann Tara range has some lovely sculpts, the flags are by Flags of War.

I’m very pleased with how they turned out and it was great fun sticking the foliage to the bases, which is something I don’t get to do with the Hintons. I decided to use a gloss finish on the figures because I find it helps to hide the painting imperfections and anyway it’s hard for me to change old habits.

I used a bit of artistic licence with my basing for Culloden Moor as there probably wasn't any heather growing on it at the time of the battle but it just seemed right!  

This was never supposed to be a proper wargame project, so these lads were destined for the display cabinet however, as it turns out, the flags make them too big to fit on the shelves! I have really enjoyed painting them so there may be another battalion in the future and in the meantime, I do have a unit of Jacobite Highlanders to take care of when I can get up the courage to tackle the tartan.