It's that man again.

The return of Napoleon to the blog  especially for Kawe at Westfalia Miniatures & Grossbeeren 1813..  I have had these guys kicking around for a while mostly painted with just final highlights and the table details to do . Oh the maps and the orders were fun to do , thank heaven for reading glasses (happens to us all !). They are a mix of 4 Perry metal sets. Now traditionally i have not been a great fan , and I do think they could still improve the casting quality a little sometimes, they were a devil to clean up all the bits of flash. They are however once you have done lovely to paint - very taken with the various facial details. Of course they took an age as every figure is an individual 

 Marshal Ney decidng where to charge next  my favourite figure of the lot (probably because he's my favourite Marshal)

 

 The staff write out the orders - just check what time it is.

Meanwhile the Emperors personal staff await his commands

   

Napoleon as First Consul

Well enough of musing , more painting required. So here we have Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul, Reviewing his Troops after the Battle of Marengo. From the painting by  Jean-Antoine Gros.

I found this Trent Miniatures figure I had aquired at York earlier this year and it was already undercoated , so while doing prep work on the first lot of Salute purchases decided to finish him off. Nice and colourful with the red coat. A very nice figure to paint.I used the Andrea Red set for for the coat.

 

 

Also been working on the first of the Old West building - check out the "One man and his trowel" tab

A new Napoleon

I have had some new figures arrive last week. The revolutionary wars generals set from CP Models. So time for a new Napoleon. A really nice figure to paint. I also took delivery of some new paints. Acrylic paint sets by "Andrea"  - Blues, Reds, Greens. They give a base shade and complimentary range of differing lighter and dark shades you can use straight from the bottle. They are strongly pigmented and cover really well. Not a cheap item but I can highly recommend them. I sourced mine from Historex Agents in Dover , one of my long time suppliers. They arrived promptly as usual.

I also decided to crack on with the French Light Infantry unit that has been undercoated and blocked for a while. I used the Andrea blues set again here too.

They are on bigger bases than usual to represent a more open order formation. They are an "Elite Miniatures" unit in campaign dress.

 

In addition I have been working on the Vistula legion lancers castings. I have been to see the master of the soldering iron Doug Mason (NEW BLOG SPOT!) for a bit of a refresher masterclass.A true artistic genius. I felt like Luke to his Yoda. Here is one of them - horse completely repositioned tail and mane reworked,wire reins added, rider arm repositioned, lance added, pennant from brass sheet.

Looking forward to painting these guys. I have about 18 more castings to prepare yet though.

Oh and the Colonial stuff has turned up! choices choices...

Adieux de Napoléon à la Garde Impériale

These have been in the lead pile for so long I had no idea who made them (now reliably informed it is Redoubt Enterprises set apart from the Perry  Marshall one which I added to them). I have had a few days off work so have been doing these guys just as an interesting project. The sculpts of the figures have some individuality, with I am sure some of them having facial expressions of shock , and one of them even looks like he is crying. Great stuff

Next up Brunswickers - or how make to black look interesting!

Vive l'empereur!

Almost, more accurately "First Consul" , in "Crossing the Alps" in 1800. I have had this figure in bare form for at least 10 years. If I remember correctly this was a limited edition low number release from Wargames Foundary for a charity support appeal.

It is a two part casting with the top half of Napoleon with cape as one part and bottom part and the horse as another. These two I decided to drill and pin together for security. The horse had its two front feet cut free as it is fairly sturdy so should should be OK unless handled carelessly.


Very few of the colours used here are straight out of the pot as I wanted to really work on it. so lots of little shades and highlights. For the cape colour I went for a more utilitarian brown shade rather than the variety of reds, and oranges etc which reference research seem to show.

The only really fiddly bit was the wild staring eyes on the horse, created by making the whole eyeball white and ensuring that when the black centre was added white was left showing . It seemed to work effectively.