Over the Hump

The 18th Infantry are sent to guard the river crossing.

Having been banished from the office with a heavy cold, there was nothing else for it but to finish the 18th Infantry Regiment, aka "Wellington Man's Own". An extra incentive was also provided by the arrival by super-extra-speedy post of a pair of superb resin bridges, courtesy of Mr Hind. I've no idea who manufactured them, but they fit my old Napoleonics perfectly.

Herr Major:  "Zey shall not pass!" 

My sincere thanks to everyone for encouraging me to get them done. I'm not sure why my enthusiasm for these chaps began to wane, as they've turned out so much better than I dared hope. I think it must be a combination of the outbreak of good weather (it really has been lovely these last couple of weeks) and a lull in my work stress. I've been floating on a cloud of contentment ever since I came back from Oz. This was not good for productivity, evidently.

However, there was nothing doing so they went back home again.

Christmas, on the other hand, is shaping up to be rather stressful....there have been mutterings about "going to see my sisters" and some sort of vast inter-clan gathering in the South Island. I may have to paint an awful lot of Frenchmen to get over this.

WM

Pretty in Pink

The Command Group for my Prussian 18th Infantry Regiment is finally complete. I'd have done more, but after returning from my travels (to Australia, this time) I was kidnapped by a deckchair on a sunny porch that refused to release me. I put my captivity to good use by reading up a bit more on the Prussian army.

The command figures are:

Hinton Hunt (David Clayton) PN 20: Prussian Landwehr Officer, marching;
Hinton Hunt PN 5: Prussian Infantry of the Line 1810-15, Private advancing (Separate Musket); and
Der Kriegspielers Napoleoniques # 120: Prussian Infantry 1813-15 Command, Drummer.

They were all donated by Don in the US a little over two years ago (sorry, Don).

The officer has had his rather chunky Clayton base cut down and reshaped a bit to reduce his height and help him fit in a little better with his men (the original version can be seen here). The drummer, believe it or not, is the first proper Prussian line infantry drummer I've painted.

The pink colour on the facings is my own creation as the pot of Humbrol pink I had in hand was an absolutely ghastly colour that was also so watery that it was almost impossible to paint with.

Spring in Wellington tends to be a rather wet and miserable season, so the chances are that next weekend I'll be able to get stuck into the rest of the battalion without too many other temptations.

WM

New Model Army

Much to my surprise I was able to crack on with the first nine of my Der Kriegspielers conversion HSC PN 91: Prussian Reserve Infantry, charging, although only at the cost of shamefully neglecting the command group I was supposed to be painting at the same time.

As you can see, I opted for a regiment with yellow facings, which could represent any number of the Prussian reserve battalions between 1813 and 1815. Leading the pack at the moment, however, is the 2nd Battalion of the 18th Infantry Regiment (formerly the 6th Reserve Infantry Regiment), which was part of Bülow's IV Corps at Waterloo. If I stick with this the command group will get pink facings, which would be nice!

I'm really pleased with how they've turned out. Surprisingly they required quite a few colours - four different greys and the same number of browns on each figure.

This is very likely to be my last post for at least another fortnight. With luck I'll have a complete battalion to show not long after that.

Regards to all,

WM