Friday 10 March 2023

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.  

14 comments:

Rob said...

Red Lancers are a must as way the most iconic Guard cavalry unit for Waterloo. The mix is a good idea but the Poles were probably less than an eighth of the unit being massively outnumbered by the Red Lancers - I guess the rest have been sent off somewhere to charge a British square - good luck with that.
I'm curious about the pale markings on the officers mount - on the rump and legs?

Stryker said...

Rob, those marks are strange indeed but I checked and there’s nothing there must be a trick of the light!

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Marvelous figures and painting! Somewhere, I have an unfinished unit of combined Red and Polish Lancers. 88 or so (true) 15mm MiniFigs from the mid-1980s. Nice miniatures, but I never could quite manage the craftsmanship you demonstrate here. Maybe one day I'll dig 'em out and have a crack at finishing them?

Kind Painterly Regards,

Stokes

Stryker said...

Stokes, I'd love to see what you can make of them!

Wellington Man said...

Very nicely done. The full regiment will be spectacular and I expect everyone will want to do their guard lancers like that after you publish them!
All the best
WM

Stryker said...

Thanks Matthew although I can’t claim to be the first person to come up with this idea!

mojoworking said...

Nice rare figures there, and a great treatment with the paintbrush. I also did a 50/50 unit of Polish and Dutch lancers, it seems to be the way to go!

Stryker said...

The lancer figures seem quite common but I agree the command figures are pretty rare so I was glad to get these!

David said...

Wow, but those are a shiny treat! The black lined gold on the officer is in beautiful contrast to the white jacket of the trumpeter. Really a lovely pair to lead their compadres into battle. Keep the goodness coming. You seem to be on a painting tear these days!

Stryker said...

Thanks David, yes I have been on a bit of a roll trying to focus on reducing the lead pile instead of adding to it but we’ll see how long that lasts!

the Archduke said...

It was always going to be a treat when you got round to the Red Lancers, Ian, and these are glorious: a fitting tribute to two of Marcus' prettiest figures. Was there ever a time when these were going to be the second rank of the Polish regiment?

Stryker said...

Nigel, I did actually start to paint the trumpeter as a Polish one but in the end just had to change him!

Aly Morrison said...

Splendid stuff indeed…
I look forward to seeing the finished unit.

All the best. Aly

Stryker said...

Thanks Aly, the final coat of varnish is drying as I type!