Red Lancer progress and revising the plan

The Red Lancers are finished and fully glossed up but not yet based. I’ve really enjoyed painting these so here is a sneak preview.

I have recently been taking a long hard look at the lead pile and considering it against what I’m ever likely to paint for this project. At best I manage 120 or so Hinton Hunts per year so unless I’m going to live a very long time (and retain reasonable eyesight throughout) it’s probably time to set some sensible limits.

With that in mind I have gone delete happy on my master-plan spreadsheet to bring the total ‘to do’ list down to around 500 figures. In doing this I have thought about likely scenarios in relation to what I can fit on my maximum 8’ x 4’ table. Waterloo is top of my list, and it looks like I only need 4 more units for a scaled-down representation of that battle, so the immediate plan is to fill in those gaps.

Beyond that I need to balance out the various army OOB’s and make sure that I paint all the favourites in the pile making sure the vintage figures take priority.

Red Lancer Command

I’ve just completed this officer and trumpeter for the Guard Red Lancers. These figures are unique across all the Hinton Hunt ranges being the only cavalry command figures that Marcus Hinton produced. It’s a bit odd that no others were made but perhaps it was assumed that wargamers enjoyed the challenge of making their own conversions.

Left: FN/40 Officer, Right: FN/41 Trumpeter. The trumpeter is painted to the Hinton Hunt painting instructions whilst the officer is (mostly) from Funken.

Those of you who follow the blog will realise that by expanding the Eclaireurs to a full unit I have been left with a single troop of six Guard Polish Lancers. My initial thought was to expand the Poles to a full twelve figures, but I wanted to try my hand at the Red Lancers so have settled on a combined unit of six figures of each. This does of course have an historical justification in that the Polish Lancers and Red Lancers did fight together at Waterloo.  

A Dozen Eclaireurs

This unit has been a long time coming. Originally I only had 9 riders which is why they began service as a 6-figure squadron combined with the Polish Guard Lancers. It was only when I finally obtained the missing riders that I realised I was also short on horses – doh!

Thankfully Nigel stepped into the breach and kindly provided the extra mounts I required to bring the regiment up to full 12-figure strength.

The figures I used are:

*12 x FN/308 Eclaireur Lancer of the Guard (horse FNH/3)

*One figure has been converted to a trumpeter

I’m pretty pleased with the way these turned out and they’re certainly a colourful addition to the French OOB.

More Yummy Eclaireurs

Well, that was a pun waiting to happen. You may remember that I have been gradually expanding my composite cavalry regiments to full 12-figure units of a single type. The last remaining unit to sort out are my combined Guard Lancers and Eclaireurs, so I have made a start on the extra six Eclaireur figures required.

FN308 Eclaireur Lancers of the Guard - WIP.

The trumpet player is a conversion from the basic figure using my tried and tested brass rod and Magic Sculp method. The horses are complete and another couple of painting sessions on the riders should do it.

Chosen Men

How about that? A unit painted and completed in less than a month and in temperatures never exceeding 7C in the Hut. Gentlemen, I give you the 60th Rifles.

Here's forty shillings on the drum
For those who volunteer to come

To 'list and fight the foe today

Over the hills and far away

The figures used were mostly vintage castings with two or three Clayton’s for good measure. They are:

1 x BN15 Rifles Officer

1 x BN16 Rifleman (kneeling)

4 x BN17 Rifleman (running)

17 x BN19 Rifleman (firing)

1 x BN20 Rifles Bugler.

Thanks to Tony for furnishing me with some superb castings to make up the numbers on this unit.

The whole Rifle Brigade parading under the watchful eye of Sir Thomas Moore.

In other news, Goya and I managed to play out the CCN basic Waterloo scenario this week. I played the French and was completely trounced 8 to 1 by that cunning fox Wellington, what a drubbing!

The initial dispositions. In this scenario the game ends at 3.00pm just before the Prussians arrive.

My men attack Hougoumont (that might be Foy on that horse!).

That didn't work out too well. Having been used to playing Tony's Ramekin rule version it was quite brutal to play the original rules!

Cavalry Charge - when you have that card you just can't resist can you?

The French army is melting away. The Guard Grenadiers are attempting to attack La Haye Saint (in the mid distance) while just beyond them the Scots Greys are ploughing into my line.

Final positions - it's back to Paris for a re-think.

Where was Grouchy?

Rifles Update

The Rifles are finished and fully glossed up with three coats of varnish which should make them virtually bullet proof. I just need to cut out their plasticard bases and get them glued on and ready for action.

Mrs S did ask me if I’d blogged about my wargame related Christmas presents which I haven’t so I thought I’d better. Now, normally (as I’m sure you will agree) it’s best to buy your own such gifts to make sure you get what you want. This year though I did actually get several complete surprises so hats off to Mrs S with an A+ for effort.

I didn't see this one coming - this stylised print of Waterloo now adorns the cabin wall. She said she bought it because it shows Hougoumont where we stayed in 2017.

I'd never seen this book before and am really enjoying it. There's loads of interesting stuff about Nelson's battles. Apparently Mrs S thought she was buying a book about Napoleon's battles(!).

This was a stocking filler - bases! Bought because she is always laughing at my habit of rebasing things but the last laugh is on her as these are really useful for my WW2 stuff.

All I can say is roll on my Birthday!

When will the madness end?

I must confess that I seem to have developed a bit of an FN5 Fusilier habit. I bought some last year but couldn’t believe when I checked after Christmas, that so many of the ex-Neville Dickinson figures were still on sale via Ian Hinds. I decided it was my duty to rescue them (as clearly none of you lot were going to) and as you see I now have quite a few.

My justification is that they really are superb first-generation castings with an excellent provenance and actually, the cost was only about the same per figure as a modern 28mm casting so obviously it was a never to be repeated bargain (that’s what I told Mrs S!).

There are over 80 figures here - enough is ENOUGH!

Goya and I had another stab at C&C Medieval this week and played through the battle of Solachon scenario. More great fun with his 15mm Sassanids and Byzantines and this time it was a much closer run thing although I still lost. I won’t attempt a narrative but here are some pictures.

The initial set-up, I was commanding the Sassanids (nearest the camera). We both had lots of cavalry.

My lads move forward!

His lads stand firm!

Finally a use for my pot of mini dice.

Back in the box - Goya's painting detail on these is a joy to behold.

I was so inspired by the look of the 15mm Ancients on the CCM board that I broke out my own copy of CCN and tried out a set-up of the basic Waterloo scenario using my 15mm Napoleonics.

The view from the French side of the board. The figures and trees give much more of a table-top battle look to the game.

The British side. Most of the British figures are first issue Minifigs painted by none other than 'Dry Stonewall' back in the 80s.

This idea definitely has legs and with the greater visual appeal using miniatures I am much more likely to play a game.

Baker’s Dozen

I’m just over halfway through my next unit which you must admit is a pretty impressive start to the New Year by my standards. These are more British Riflemen, but this time painted to represent the 60th regiment.

Two units of Rifles may seem a bit excessive however I had a few castings left over from the 95th and then Tony generously offered me some spare figures he had. What’s good about this setup is that it gives me the option to field a unit of rifles in close order and still have some for skirmishing or to double as KGL Light Infantry for defending La Haye Sainte etc.

When I started painting these, I had decided to make them a second battalion for the 95th but part way in changed my mind and repainted them as the 60th. The red collars and cuffs adds a bit of variation and means they will be easily distinguishable from their more famous brothers helping to prevent them from suffering the indignity of ending up in the wrong storage box after a game.