From the Scrap Box - British Infantry

I have started painting some of the British castings, starting with some highlanders. Having now been through the whole contents of the box I had enough figures for 10 Westphalian battalions, two French, three Belgian, three Dutch, two highland and four British.  I currently have 11 units on the painting table at various levels of completion, plus an artillery battery.

Here are the latest - highlanders painted up as the Black Watch:

I am very pleased as to how these figures turned out.  Some of the British line are equally promising and they should be finished soon. Using the casting kits that I acquired I am experimenting with converting some French to Brunswickers.

An update

I was a little shocked to learn that I had not posted on here since May - a whole month and a bit has slipped by! I have not been idle, its just that there has been little to report as I work on several projects at once. I seem to do a few days on one, until I tire, or somethng else crops up, when I shift to another theme.

At the moment I am working on the following:

1. I continue to paint my 1/32 Britains Deetail collection. I am working on some scots soldiers, painted up as the Black Watch:

2. I am working on a Command and Colors scenario, playing on a 5 inch hex board with miniatures. I found a scenario for the battle of Bunker Hill and this led me to dig out my old Spencer Smiths. They have not been used since the 1980s and were in a bit of a state. I also had to rebase them to fit in with the game rules. Almost finished, this too is a work in progress:

Here are the Brits:

I need some 17 battalions! And here are the Americans:

I still have a couple more units to do. I am cheating slightly by using some Prussian figures, until I can muster all of my US troops.

3. I stumbled across a couple of old boxes containing a collection of 1/300 tanks and troops - these go back to the 1970s. I have had an idea to fight a Normandy 1944 action using Memoire 44 rules. Yes, that means more rebasing and scenery construction. Here are some of the troops:

British armour:

German armour:

and some other stuff:

The German artillery and 88s are on the updated bases.

4. I am slowly putting together a plan to refight the charge of the Light Brigade; when I have finished the last British cavalry unit.

There, that's what I have been doing.

42nd Highland Regiment - The Black Watch

Today I finished my second Douglas Miniatures Highland unit, The Black Watch. Easily distinguished by their blue facings and famous red hackles, the regiment formed part of the Highland Brigade, within the 1st British Division. My other Battalion is the 93rd Highlanders, of thin red line fame. The officer, standard bearers and piper are Minifigs S Range figures (available from John Cunningham)

Here are the two Highland Regiments deployed together:

Fortunately Roger Fenton was there with his camera to capture the scene!

The next unit will be the Scots Fusilier Guards, again by Douglas Miniatures, plus some Turkish cavalry.

Back in Production

After a nice long break for Christmas and New Year, the paint brushes are back in action with a unit of Russian grenadiers almost ready to take the field. In the meantime I have been having a go at painting a 42nd Highlander (Black Watch) to see what they look like. I will be working on a full unit in the coming months. After the Russian grenadiers it will be a further regiment of British Heavy Dragoons.