Book Review: Napoleon's Elite Cavalry, Rousselot/Ryan.

This slightly larger than A-4 sized hardback is really beautiful. I picked up my copy at Partizan, 2019, from (?), for £15. 91 colour plates by Lucien Rousselot are beautifully reproduced, each accompanied by a short text by Edward Ryan. Sourced from the famous Anne S. K. Brown collection, in the U.S, plate one depicts Napoleon, after which there come four groups: the Guard Chausseurs a Cheval (27 plates), Guard Grenadiers a Cheval (13), Guard Empress Dragoons (25), and Guard Lancers (25).

Polish Lancers looking very dandy.

More dourly attired in bivouac. Still looking great!

So, whilst there's wealth of fabulous artwork, and immense amounts of uniform info' to be gleaned, this is not a comprehensive look at either Rousselot's work, nor even the cavalry of the Imperial Guard (never mind the French cavalry as a whole). As such, this is quite a specialist book. But for Napoleonic uniform addicts like me, particularly those who dig the French the most (me again!), this sort of thing is, well... essential!

The day I bought this, I took it to bed with me - that's how much I love this sort of stuff! - and it gave me several hours of intense pleasure. And all I was doing was perusing the illustrations, with a little bit of reference to the text, where particular images prompted curiosity. The multitude of images makes one doubly or trebly aware of what an enormous and complex, as well as endlessly fascinating, subject Napoleonic uniformology is.

Old Guard Chasseurs a Cheval.

Young Guard Chasseurs a Cheval.

On that first night of bliss, I only studied the first segment of images; the twenty-seven given over to the Guard Chausseurs a Cheval. Looking at the incredible paintings made me realise that, ideally, I'd like to have several versions of any given regiment, in my miniatures collections. For example, one iteration might have their pelisse worn 'properly', i.e. not in the dandy over the shoulder manner of the hussar, whilst another set might be wearing their two-tiered capes, with covers on their sabretache and busbys unadorned. 

I imagine some of these options may be covered in certain scales, most probably more so in larger scales. But they're certainly not options, at least that I'm aware of, in the scales in which I'm building forces, which are 6mm and 10mm. This prompts me to consider something I've long toyed with: sculpting and casting my own figures! I'd sooo love to do this. It's been an ambition since fairly early childhood. Perhaps this book will be the catalyst that galvanises me into action?

Trumpeters of the Empress' Dragoons, looking incredibly natty!

Or perhaps not? Witness the piles of unpainted French and Russian hordes. I struggle to get anything done half the time. Never mind ambitious stuff. It's so easy to think of great plans on the sofa. Getting up and putting them into action? Well, that's a whole 'nother ball game!

Any road, the book itself ends with this beautiful sabretache, on the back cover. Like the thing it depicts, this book is, to me at least, a precious and wonderful thing.

The End!

Kit Build/Review: 54mm Napoleonics, Pt III - MB French Hussar

I originally purchased this kit some years ago, at Salute, 2016 (my first post on it can be read here). I built it some time later, and then later still I started painting it. It's only been thanks to the advent of the Airfix 54mm Napoleonic kits that Sean gave me recently, that I've gotten round to finishing it (near enough).

An image from slightly earlier in the whole painting process.

The above photo was one of the only ones I took of the earlier stages of blocking in colour. And even then by that point I'd started working on highlights and shading, as on his breeches. In this image you can see his face a bit better than in the latter pics. It didn't come out quite as nicely as the recent Airfix Old Guard Grenadier, I don't think. But it's good enough for me for now. I also think the general darkness around his eyes works quite well under the visor of his shako.

Converting the sabretache.

In the image above I'm converting the sabretache, which was a lovely floridly ornate thing. First I had to scrape of the textural detail and flatten it. Then I had to carve/sculpt the new and correct detail from the very thin plastic-card that's supplied for straps, etc. The image on the left of the above picture shows the shield and crown apple to the flattened 'tache, with the tiny eagle on the work mat, next to the cork. The central background image is the whole lot glued in situ. And the image on the right has had a lick of paint. The tiny eagle was still a bit too big. Or was the shield too small? Either way, I could've done a better job. But it was sufficiently had work to leave me not wanting to repeat the process from scratch! And I figured paint would help me out later anyway.

At this juncture I've finally mounted the figure on his trusty steed. Neither are 100% finished, but they're near enough for me to make a post on my progress, methinks. Working on the lace on his dolman and pelisse was another of the very painstaking processes, with much to-ing and fro-ing, painting and retouching.

In these images you can see how the sabretache came out once painted. I'm simultaneously pleased and still a little disappointed. I think the shield should've been a tad larger, and the whole array a title higher/more central on the overall leathern pouch. Still, he does at least now have what I believe to be the correct sabretache, according to my researches in such sources as the Funckens, Vernet, Rousselot, et al.

Nearing completion...

The colours are described in Funcken as Sky Blue and Chestnut Brown. I actually used Vallejo Mahogany Brown for the chestnut colour, and my own custom mix for the blue, using approx' 50/50 (?) and Ivory. The highlights and shading were achieved using Vallejo Black to darken the colours, and Ivory to lighten, with a drop of (?) in the chestnut, to keep it nutty and warm. The colure in the pictures in this post are rather more vivd than normal, as they're taken on my wife's Samsung Galaxy tablet, as opposed to my usual iPad pics. The latter not working (battery won't charge!). For some reason the Galaxy takes much more vividly coloured and rather higher contrast photos.

I'm pleased with how the browns and blues came out.

It still remains to do a few things, such as straps for the stirrups, reins, and one or two other minor bits and bobs. Oh, and of course none of these 1/32 or 54mm models have bases as yet either. But I need to take a breather, as I've been getting real into these. Hunched up over them, painting tiny details... my back/shoulders and eyes need some respite!

Show Report: Partizan, 2019.

I went to this year's Partizan with my pal Paul. As usual books are a primary draw. This year I knew I didn't really want to buy any model kits, as I've already accumulated so many. Nor any (or perhaps many is better?) wargames figures, as I have my fairly vast Napoleonic armies already. They just need painting and basing. Just!? Such a small word, such a large task...

I did think about buying scenery and basing stuff. But I still don't know how I'll be going about all that. So nothing doing there either. Most of the traders are in larger scales than those I'm currently into, and there weren't as many selling WWII 20mm stuff as there sometimes are. But it was in this latter category that I did wind up making a few small purchases.

One thing I ought to note is that I didn't take any means of photographing anything, so I can't, as I normally would, illustrate this with the eye-candy of the better looking games (compare this with my previous visit/report, to Partizan, 2017). As ever, it was fun to wander around marvelling at all the creativity and work people have put into some pretty stunning tables. That said, I wasn't quite as blown away as I have been on some other occasions. Indeed, I'd say - and no offence intended - that this year most of the games were simply at the better end of 'run of the mill'.

WWII German Panzer crew purchases.

I'm a bit old fashioned as well, when it comes to what interests me most, which is WWII (quite well represented, mostly in larger scales), and Napoleonics (less well represented than I'd like). My favourite Napoleonics game, in terms of beautiful figures and well realised scenery, depicted action in my least favourite of Napoleonic theatres, in what appeared to be North Africa, so probably Egypt (I didn't check what the battle was; could've been the 'Holy Land'!?).

Perhaps one of the best looking games was a WWI trench warfare jobbie. That looked amazing. There was a pretty steaming verdant tropical game as well. I'm less keen on the myriad obscurer eras, and even less so the fantasy or sci-fi stuff, including steampunk, which seems to merge those two previously separate genres. I can admire the creativity and imagination involved, but it just doesn't connect to the 'real history' buzz that is possibly the chief dynamo of my interest in all things mini-military.

Starting the clean-up prep at home, inc. removing bases from Orions.

In the end I did buy a few 20mm figures, pictured above, as I need crews for various vehicles. The Caesar German Panzer crews I bought (dark grey) are wearing winter gear, but many of them might well pass in other theatres/climates, once painted. They're made from a nice harder plastic, very much like that used for a set of Preiser figures I acquired some while ago. The Orions (in an unusual brick red!) - which I first saw as expensive resin products - are made from that horrible soft bendy plastic that so many 1/72 figures are available as. Hard to clean up, and tricky to paint.

What I love about the Caesar and Orion figures is the realism of pose and uniform rendering. Many of the standard 'for kids' style plastic toy soldiers I grew up wth, from makers like Airfix and Revell, etc, favoured 'action' poses that are both unrealistic in themselves, and then doubly so in how they are constrained by the moulding processes. These more recent makers seem to take the trouble to create figures in naturalistic poses such as you see in wartime photographs, making them infinitely better and more usable.

Some of Adler's 20mm Jeep crew, from Adler's own publicity images.

Also very well posed and sculpted, I bought my first Adler 20mm WWII figures; German tankers and US Jeep drivers/passengers. I'm looking forward to painting all of these figures and populating some of my vehicles. The Adler German tankers are actually DAK. But I'll be using them for Europe, from Italy and Russia, where their apparel should fit anyway, to the Western Front, where I'll be using a little licence.

Chausseurs a Cheval of the Guard, by Rousselot.

Book wise, I bought a large and very nice hardback called Napoleon's Elite Cavalry, which celebrates the Cavalry of the Imperial Guard, 1804-1815, as depicted in the paintings of Lucien Rousselot, with an accompanying text in English by Edward Ryan. I also got Military Uniforms in Colour, an old Blandford title written and illustrated by Preben Kannik, which is a book I used to get out of my village library as a kid. A real hit of nostalgia!

Ah, the memories this evokes!

Although I'm not currently reading as much as I once was on the subject, I'm still deeply into the Russia 1812 campaign, and hoping to start making inroads into painting my mountains of 6mm and 10mm figures for these campaigns. And in relation to this I still seek out books on the subject. On this occasion I bought With Napoleon In Russia, 1812, by Lt. Vossler, a Würtemberger. (I have so many books on Russia 1812 I'm a little worried I might already have it!)

As mentioned above, usually I'd have my iPhone or iPad on me, and take a bunch of pics. But this time I had neither, as both are suffering with recharging issues. On the one hand I wasn't as impressed with the games this year as in some previous years, but on the other, a show report with no pictures of the many games seems like a failure on my part! Never mind. I enjoyed the show and came home with some fab swag.

Chausseurs a Cheval of the Guard...

the kind of stuff that got me so excited about this era...

I mean, come on... talk about martial splendour epitomised!

Perusing the Rousselot paintings once home in the evening - and I only managed the Chausseurs a Cheval before exhaustion did for me - I realised that this purchase alone made the whole trip worthwhile!