Up, up and away. 28mm French Rev balloon.

 This French Revolutionary collection has been ongoing for twenty five years or so, no Eureka, Warlord or as they are now Skytrex figures when I began, only 1800 -1807 bicorn Old Glory and some Foundry. Not perfect but you had to make do. As you can see from the link to the other posts of the French Revolutionary collection Here it consists of many figures from different manufacturers but from day one I wanted a balloon. The paintings of these battles sometimes showed these fantastic, colourful observation platforms lording it over the battlefield and I wanted one. Twenty five years later I got my act together and scratch built the thing.

At first I thought there must be someone out there who produces and sells a balloon from this period but nothing seemed to match what I wanted. Given that most people who peruse this blog know fine well that I ain't no great shakes at modelling it wasn't looking good but I am I have to say quite pleased with the result.

The balloon itself is a polystyrene craft ball sealed and painted, my wife suggested the black hair net! The basket is made from card with garden string weaved in between the upright struts and the various ropes are wires for support. Figures and flags added and there you go.

It's going to take some very careful packing to allow me to transport it to the club when I get round to putting a game on though!

Dave.

Napoleonic/French Rev naval longboat 28mm

 Always fancied a couple of these naval long boats to enable a shore or river landing, probably with Sharp Practice but any French Revolution or Napoleonic game using a river will do so I bought two (though I have only photographed one) British Longboats and crew from Britannia Miniatures. It is a great set and though they both took a lot of cleaning to remove substantial amounts of flash it was worth it.

Now of course I have to buy a sailor and Marine landing party, it never ends!

Having looked at the pictures a little touching up is required after painting in the river.

Dave.

The Dualists 28mm SharpPractice.

 Maybe not quite Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel but nice figures picked up from eBay. A bit cartoonish but for me just right for Sharp Practice which doesn't take itself too seriously. If anyone knows the sculpture please let me know, he should get credit.

Just ready for when your chaps are losing the fire fight and you then challenge the other fellow to a duel!

Dave.

Bits and bobs

 It ain't that I haven't been doing anything guys, honest but really little to post on here for a while. I have completed a full brigade of 10mm French infantry for 1812 but as I have posted photographs of similar brigades of these chaps on here in the past I didn't think it worth putting them on again. Still more of these and their Russian counterparts to paint up but getting on towards thirty battalions per side now so pleased with the progress on that front.

Just to break things up though I wanted to begin adding a bit of 'street furniture' as it were for Sharp Practice games in particular but other larger scale games as well so after trawling through eBay I was pleased to find a number of suitable items to purchase. We are incredibly fortunate to be able to access so much great stuff on line when years ago it would all have had to be DIY'd ourselves.

Also bought a 28mm figure of prince Fredrick duke of York for the French Revolution collection. I would normally have based him up before photographing him but as a C in C he needs to be on a base with at least two other figures which I haven't got yet so that will have to wait.

Next up, more 10mm Naps I think, I may put them up here just to prove I haven't been sitting on my arse, well I have of course, not many of us paint standing up!

Dave.

British 59th battalion 1793-6

 Here is the final (ye right!) unit to finish off the émigré brigade fighting in Flanders cir 1793, in this case the British 59th to give those royalists a bit of backbone. In truth many émigré units fought very well and the British were not yet the troops of the Peninsular campaign but I'll address those issues when they get onto the table.

Really enjoyed painting up these Emperors Toad figures Here, they have a large and expanding range and are well worth looking into if your getting into the period, do support them there nice guys.

With white facings I went with a white cover painted backpack and the 59 painted on, conjectural I know but who's to say really. If anyone knows different please let me know but I wont be changing them. No flank companies of course, the grenadiers were combined while the lights were sent to the West Indies to die of fever, very nice!

Dave.

(Somewhat resembling) York Rangers (Ramsay's)1793-97

Continuing with the ongoing assembly of a Emigre brigade for the allied side in the French Revolution a raid into the odds and sods box pulled out a bag of 28mm AWI Old Glory Queens Rangers. So a grub through my reasonable collection of uniform info in all its varying forms found the nearest emigre unit to be the York Rangers, a light infantry unit raised in 1793 by Cpt G Ramsay comprised mainly of Germans with French/Irish emigre officers and deployed in Flanders for that campaign.

Now I will of course admit that I have taken some liberties with the figures in order to represent the unit. The head piece is ok other than the front plate which should be a star and the leggings need to be longer, stretching down to the boots. The water canteen is not shown in illustrations but I figured they have picked some up from the brits. The flags are completely made up! But here's the fantasy bit, the pack of Queens Rangers contained four grenadier and four lads in kilts and I'm afraid I couldn't resist painting them. Let me state quite categorically that there is no evidence whatsoever for grenadiers and highland dressed chaps in this unit.

The pictures aren't great, I was having a bad camera day:

The fantasy bit.

I think there's one more set of figures in their to paint up but back to 10mm Naps for now.

Dave.

You could drive a coach and horses through this!

I have had this coach made for a couple of months but have been waiting for the two figures from Black Hussar Miniatures Here to finish it off. The idea was that rather than the usual horse riding general for the Austrians/Emigre etc I would have a more nonchalant gent dispensing commands from the comfort of his coach.

Rob Anderson kindly gave me the coach without having the foggiest as to where he got it from years back so I'm afraid I can't shed any light on it from that aspect but I do think it may well be 30mm rather that 28, which may suggest Redoubt, the coachman looks somewhat vertically challenged compared to the model but what the heck, everyone deserves a job right! Horses are Reiver Casting Here

A nice addition I think. Well back at work now so I'm afraid wargame productivity will drop off quite a bit. Had a good run though!

Dave.

Broglies Rgt, 1794-5

Another addition to the Emigre brigade for the French Revolutionary troops, this time Briglie's regiment. This short lived formation fought in Flanders, was raised in 94 and after retreating with the British was disbanded in 95. Their were only 230 men raised so I'm stretching it a bit here but as I had spare Old Glory 1812 American figures to paint up I thought they'd fit in here.

Dave.

Emigre Legion de Damas 1793.

This weeks work consists of the Emigre Legion de Damas from the early French revolutionary period to add to the coalition side. For a bit of info see Wikipedia here.
As per my ongoing attempt to wade through the pile of lead these fellow are a bit of a hotch potch of previously used/unused figures from any old background cobbled together to make something useful and may by some to be considered a bit of fantasy. For example the infantry are mainly Front Rank French AWI figures with two Old Glory Americans thrown in and a Font Rank Seven years war leader on horse back. The Hussars which I suspect didn't appear until later in the wars (maybe yes, maybe no) are again Front Rank with the shako peak filed off and the artillery is frankly completely made up with no evidence whatsoever to say they even exist! So there you go, I have no shame.
The uniforms themselves, other than the artillery and command figure are reasonably accurate.
The units are done for Gen de Armee and are all small units or half battery in the rules.

What next, mucking about with FPW rules adaptations for General de Armee.
Take care,
Dave.