Swiss roll call

The 4th Swiss regiment was formed in 1806 and quickly proved themselves to be determined fighters. At the crossing of the Beresina they fought until their ammunition was expended and then charged home with the bayonet. They continued to play a prominent part in the French rearguard during the retreat from Moscow where they “outdid nature, and spread a radiance of heroism into the desert of snow.” What’s more they were dressed in lovely red uniforms which gives a French player the chance to field his own redcoats on the tabletop.

So how did I manage to achieve such a prodigious painting output since my last post? Well, I must tell the truth – these splendid chaps were painted for me by the very talented Matt Golding of In the Grand Manner fame. Matt has done a superb job and went to great lengths to try and emulate my painting style, which must have been quite difficult as it involved (and no offence is meant here Matt) a degree of dumbing down from his normal shading style. The figures are:

5 x FN23 Grenadier (firing)
1 x FN236 Grenadier Officer (marching)
15 x FN244 Fusilier (charging)
1 x FN1 Officer (charging)
1 x FN6 Drummer (charging)
1 x FN4 Colour Bearer (charging)

You may remember that the original owner of these French figures had also painted them as Swiss and I thought it would be nice to keep them as the same nationality. All the figures are vintage Hinton Hunt that had their old paintwork stripped and the flash removed by me – there was a lot of flash on these ones and it reminded me of carrying out this same task years ago. Back then I had just a couple of files “borrowed” from my dad’s tool kit and I would file away for hours until my fingers were almost bleeding – such dedication to my hobby.

I’m not sure how readers of this blog will take to me subcontracting my work like this. It could be taken a bit like one of those episodes of Come Dine With Me where the contestants get in a professional chef to secretly cook for them but at least I’m not trying to pass this off as my own work. The thing is its been a real boost to my morale to have Matt’s help in what is otherwise proving to be a frustrating year on the painting front.

Six Men of Gascony

This is the battle-hardened grenadier company of the 45th regiment of the line. Who knows what adventures they have had on Spanish plains, Russian steppes and Flanders fields? On the other hand they may have been nowhere much at all but they are at least guaranteed a tour of duty in my display cabinet.

I’m actually pretty pleased with them even though they have taken an extraordinarily long time to complete. The figures are all vintage Hinton Hunt ones that I stripped, de-flashed and repainted. To recap they are:

1 x FN10 Grenadier Sergeant (marching)
5 x FN2 Grenadier (charging)

I am now ridiculously behind on my painting schedule for this year due to our house move (with all the accompanying DIY) and the fact that after a couple of relatively leisurely years the world of work seems to have crept up on me again. I do however have a secret weapon that I hope to deploy shortly in an effort to get this project back on track.

Rebellion in the colonies (Off Topic #15)

To commemorate the sad loss of the American colonies in 1783 we took a trip up to the American Museum in Bath today to see some re-enactors in action. The 5th Foot were going through their musket drill on the lawn whilst sprightly riflemen pepper-potted to the fore. We were also treated to a stirring rendition of The British Grenadiers played out on the fife and drum.


Next, while Mrs S and I sipped cool ginger beer on the terrace, the artillery sprang into action. There was an interesting and informative commentary over the PA followed by a very loud bang that left my ears ringing – I remembered to insert my fingers firmly in my ears for the second bang. The whole display was very well done even though it involved no more than 30 or so re-enactors. Very cleverly though the re-enactors didn’t bring any Americans along to spoil their fun. If only it had been this way during the real war the Union flag might now be fluttering over Capitol Hill.


When we were in New York earlier this year we took a boat trip around Manhattan. I asked the very enthusiastic tour guide if he could point out the site of the Battle of New York. He not only did this but very helpfully pointed out the route that the British troops took during the build up to the battle as well. He made it pretty clear though that as an American he was pleased with the final outcome of the war. Fair enough.

The display is on again tomorrow on the 4th of July. Happy Independence Day to my American readers.

French Grenadiers

Thanks to all of you who voted or left comments in the great re-basing debate. You may be surprised to hear that, despite the overwhelming support for re-basing, I have decided to stick with my current system. I think Roy and Lee tipped the balance when they pointed out that the way I currently base my figures is the true retro style and anyway it’s also the way I had my original Hinton Hunt army based. I’ll just have to put up with them falling over when they manoeuvre up-hill.

With the basing dilemma behind me I have finally managed to move on and find a little bit of time to do some painting. You may remember that I began this batch of French Grenadiers back in December and all I need to do now is apply a finish of Humbrol Satin-Cote and they’re done – that’s a stunning average of one figure a month painted! The figures are:

5 x FN2 Grenadier (charging)
1 x FN10 Grenadier Sergeant (marching)

One of the good points about re-painting old castings rather than just collecting them is that you become aware of things you wouldn’t necessarily notice at first glance. In this case it was only as I started to apply the paint that I realised that one casting (centre front rank) had its legs and head bent in a different position to the others. I think this rogue figure is probably a DK casting rather than Hinton Hunt and I will check this out by looking under the base for any clues when I remove him from his bottle-top. It’s still possible that it is HH because, as I’ve mentioned before, there were often variations in the production moulds that Marcus Hinton produced.

To re-base or not?

Well that’s the burning question once again around these parts thanks largely to an email I received today from Paul (from down under). It turns out that Paul has some Hinton Hunt British based in exactly the same way as Mike’s WHC ones. He kindly sent me this picture of some of his own BN5’s.

Paul said his figures have been based using a material called Masonite, which is a new one to me and sounds suspiciously like something that Superman may be allergic to. A quick check on Wikipedia confirms that it is a type of fibreboard, which among other things is used to make the best wobble boards!

The problem is that I am really taken with the idea of re-basing in this style because it is in keeping with the original aim of this project and I have always admired those old pictures of Peter Gilder’s troops. It would also solve a practical problem that I am starting to have namely that it would stop the troops from falling over and make moving them less fraught with the danger of breakages. My current system is fine for the display cabinet but for playing a wargame it’s really not so clever.

Of course if I go ahead with the idea it will be a massive distraction from painting up new stuff so please let me know what you think by taking part in the poll (top left column of blog). As always please feel free to leave a comment as well. For those of you not familiar with my current basing system take a look here.

Due to some sort of Google error I had to close the polls early (no riots please!) but here are the official results: 11 of you voted with 8 saying I should rebase and 3 saying I shouldn't. It seems like a clear cut victory for the rebasing party but we shall see.

Basing Thoughts

I’ve said before that I am constantly battling the desire to re-base the figures in my various collections. Re-basing is an especially barmy diversion when I struggle to find the time to paint up new stuff but I found my mind wandering down that route for the Hinton Hunts just a couple of days ago.

Don’t worry I have resisted the urge but it was brought on in part by looking at pictures of the superb collection of vintage figures from Mike Ingham’s Wargames Holiday Centre. They reminded me of the pictures of Peter Gilder’s Waterloo terrain and figures that I first saw in Miniature Warfare magazine nearly 40 years ago. Some of these same Gilder figures have found their way into Mike’s collection and although they are a bit faded and dusty round the edges they are still an inspiring sight. I always wondered what material Gilder’s figures were based on and Mike kindly answered this rather geeky question. The bases are 45mm wide x 35-38mm deep (WHC standard size) cut from 3mm hardboard with chamfered edges.

I wish I had known that PG used hardboard when I was basing my original collection because I tried to use plywood, which was very difficult for a twelve-year old to cut with a blunt hacksaw. I soon gave that up for a bad job and discovered plasticard, which remains my material of choice to this day. The picture shows BN5 Private (charging) with BN2 Sergeant (charging) and a converted standard bearer.

Picture courtesy of Mike Ingham - to see more take a trip over to the Hinton Hunter.

It’s a dog’s life

You will be pleased to know that I have finally managed to do a little bit of painting picking up where I left off with the French Grenadiers (click here for a reminder). Not much to show for it yet but at least it’s a start.

One problem I have with my new hobby-room that I never had in our old house is that our labrador Snuff seems to think that it’s her room not mine. She likes to lay out on the floor right behind my chair so that I can hardly move and is very indignant at any suggestion that she might get out of the way.

This is a picture of my hobby-room buddy enjoying a little snooze whilst keeping half an eye on General Longstreet as he tries to get Lee to abandon the idea of ordering Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg. I’m a firm Union supporter myself but I have my suspicions that Snuff may have leanings towards the rebellion.