This week sees the completion of a number of 1812 French items.
The first are a pair of cuirassier regiments, the 8th and 10th. These two regiments round out the heavy cavalry component of the 2nd Cuirassier Division from the Borodino order of battle.
The 8th Regiment
The 10th Regiment
There are two of such divisions, the 2nd and the 4th, that will be a part of my 1812 French army.
Since I have a bit of time today, I felt a parade was in order so here are all six regiments, two carabinier and four cuirassiers. The divisional horse artillery (two batteries each) and the lancer squadrons (one per division) are yet to be completed.
Also finished this week are the dismounted versions of the two dragoon regiments I have done. I had posted an image of the dismounted unit of the 7th Dragoons, without its officer. Here is the completed unit.
...and here is the completed 23rd regiment.
The completion of the cuirassiers and dismounted dragoons has seen a number surplus figures that are destined to be couriers or ADCs for the French 1812 generals that will be ordered in a few months time.
First two are cuirassiers. The trumpeter was blowing the trumpet to the side, which didn't seem right for a general's escort, so I cut the arm off and substituted a dragoon trumpeter's arm and added an epaulette made from green stuff. The trooper was a much simpler conversion. I simply cut the gauntles and sword of one if the cuirassier sword arms and glued on the gauntlet and carbine from one of the spare dismounted dragoon arms.
Second are two carabiniers. On the standard bearer I simply used a spare standard pole from a dragoon command sprue and added an epaulette. The trooper was a little more complex. For him I used a spare bare head from the infantry set then took a spare carabinier head and cut the helmet free before gluing in place on the pommel. For the arm I cut off the hand and sword from a standard cuirassier arm then glued on an open hand from one of the left over arms from the Victrix artillery set.
Finally there are two elite squadron dragoons. The only conversion work here was the addition of coat tails with some green stuff.
Since these fellows won't be given partners yet, they will be in storage for a while and before this project is ended there will be at least another eight such cavalry figures available.
The French in 1812 will take a back seat for a while now, since two good sized parcels for the British in Egypt project arrived on Tuesday afternoon.
YOU are a painting machine!
ReplyDeleteLove the work you've done on your French cavalry; especially enjoyed seeing the dismounted dragons.
Not all of this was painted in the week, mind you, some of it was spread in bits across several weeks. I too like the dismounted dragoons. I will have two more units of these before I am finished.
DeleteBut this weekend has seen me busy with another painting though - all the window sills and surrounds have to be done before the new window coverings arrive on the 23rd. Her indoors is away in Melbourne for the weekend, so I took yesterday off and have finished about 60% of them now. That makes it a lot easier for next weekend and means that I will be able to get away to next Sunday's scheduled game.
That’s a rather splendid display of cavalry sir...
ReplyDeleteAll the best. Aly
Thanks Aly. I have gone rather overboard with the cavalry. By the time I am finished I will have as many cavalry units as infantry...purely so that I can options of course.
DeleteI do like troops on parade. The conversions came out looking good.
ReplyDeleteSometimes my hobby stuff gets interrupted by home improvement as well.
Thanks Stew. My favourite conversion is the chap holding his helmet.
DeleteWonderful additions, they look superb!
ReplyDeleteThank you Phil. Now I want to see how they look on a wargames table.
DeleteGreat work Mark, those parcel remind me I better get an order ortwo in before April 2nd when Perry put their prices up!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark. It is more curassiers than I intended, but when I saw that order of battle from and Mighty Ape had their sale before Christmas it was all too tempting.
DeleteDamn I didn't see that price increase on their page. I suppose it is inevitable as Brexit starts to bite. Still this will affect my carefully planned purchases and may bring forward my next purchase by a month to save some dollars...that will take some skillful negotiions with Domestic Control.
Lovely heavy cavalry, I like the carabiner holding his helmet best of your conversions.
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thank you Iain. He is my favorite too. When I do the next batch of dragoons there will be anothet two spare figures and this two more escorts/couriers so I think I will try a similar conversion, although there will be a need for a reasonable amount of work on the helmet since the current ones all have the flowing mane.
DeleteA lovely collection of French heavies there Mark. I noticed that Perry price rise but, fortunately, there is not a lot I need from them at the moment. I was looking at their Royal Navy boats as a potentially interesting side-project, but I have far too many of those as it is. Hopefully by the time I get around to it the dollar will be stronger against the pound again anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe odd thing is that when I was painting these it didn't seem that much, but when they are layed out the look mighty impressive,
DeleteI did my calculations on the orice rise and on an order of £200 it will make a $NZ 23 difference. So I won't even bother advancing my order and riak the wrath of Domestic Control.
I am keen on those boats too and could use them for the War of 1812 too, but can I really justify the cost?
Yes, the 50p increase represents a 7% price rise, which can be offset easily by a currency fluctuation in the right direction.
DeleteI'm thinking two, but more likely three, boats, but then I'll also need the landing party including all the sailors and marines. Just under 200 pounds there alone, but it would be an interesting side project (to go with all the other side projects). They really do look like they would be fun to paint.
Yes the boats are very tempting - the very thought I had when I saw the original masters on the Perry FaceBook page last year. I have the marines already - two battalions that fit into the schedule in about two weeks time, but no naval landing party yet.
DeleteI have this idea for a series of linked games for the Egyptian campaign, beginning with the landings and ending with the capture of Cairo, with each game influencing the next and if there are unhistorical results it throws the series down an alternative history line. But the likelihood is that there would only be a single game involving a landing and I would then have to think of other waterborne operations to justify the cost...and having watched the Hornblower series again recently I am sure there would be plenty of opportunity for scenarios involving raids along the French and Spanish coast to provide that justification...and I am planning some Spanish later this year...oh dear did I just see some scope creep?
Mark Mark Mark....I think you are seriously out of control! That is more French heavy cavalry than Napoleoni possessed! Plastic figures make conversion so simple don't they...even I managed a few with our Marlburian collection...and my twenty Frostgrave Warriors all have Statuesque female heads! The idea of RM and RN landing parties a la Hornblower is one that's been in my mind for years too but all the landing boats seem prohibitively expensive when they are effectively just window dressing ...the sailors and marines have to disembark before they can actually do any fighting��
ReplyDeleteNo so, there were 12 regiments of cuirassiers and two of carabiniers and at Borodino there were five cuirassier divisions present.
DeleteI did seriously consider a boat or for the War of 1812 a Tarawea, but it doesn't fit into this year's budget. But then again RN has one fron what I remember.