Vive l'empereur part 2: Bases

Ive more or less finished (i forget bicorn rosettes) first 4 Victrix French Infantry. And made bases. Ive researched color of soil near Lodii but was hard pressed in thinking up convincing vegetation. Ive decided for some rocks (most of the fight in Italy was at least partially in hilly and mountainous terrain) and some green grass with extras. They could be better but as I hate basing I am not to good with it ;(

Vive l'empereur part 1 :First steps with Napoleonic Infantry in 28mm

I finished my first Voltigeur. Ive decided for Victrix miniatures and bought myself as Christmas present a box of their early French Infantry in bicornes. Later shako equipped infantry is more iconic for great Napoleonic battles, but I am more interested in skirmish so I decided to try early Italy - French in bicornes and Austrians in helmets (If i like th rules and painting miniatures I will then add 1812 in Russia skirmish later). Victrix miniatures are very nice, but a little fiddly. If I would play mass combat game I would choose Perry. Victrix have some flash (and in places it could be a little annoying to remove) but most important they are multipart. Each miniature consist of body and legs, head, musket arm, second arm, and in some cases extra sword.  Its top choice for skirmish, buy gluing up two boxes of them could be annoying.. Especially if you are interested in marching poses.. I want many poses so i went Victrix and despite flash I am very happy with them. Models paint nicely, and have very good detail, although some parts are very delicate (plastic is of the softer kind and one can damage bayonets and straps when cutting them up from the sprue). Additionally for each pair of sprues (4 pairs in box) you get extra 10 sets of hands with muskets, extra 12 heads and few extra bits (although hand with shako and one shako with plume look like  ended in this set by accident) Overall I give the models A- (for flash) but it would be B-  if  you plan to use them in mass combats (like 10 models per company.. any force above battalion would be a chore).

 

 

And WIP shot of guys being painted now:

Question that is puzzling me is how many will I manage to finish before I will get bored by this Napoleonic horde :>

Napoleonic experiments part 2: 28mm Young Napoleon

As a follow up to my experiments with 1:72 Cuirassier I painted 28mm Napoleonic miniature, The man himself !. Interesting model but face was really hard to paint to me. I have to say that it paints much easier than 1:72. Although this model has less detail than Cuirassier soe it was easier miniatures.. After this experiment I have to say 28mm 1: vs 0 - 1:72scale  

ESCI Cuirassier 1:72

I am considering my options for new year plan. Napoleonic Skirmish! I have me my 3mm for big battles, but while such small scale allow me to fight a battle (whatever i call my 60 man bases Battalion or company i can fight different levels of massed battles) but it loose much of the flavor of the epoque. Colorful uniforms - that have to be one of constituting factor for Napoleonic period (This and certain tall fellow that gave so much fear to the English they make him a dwarf in propaganda - a vision that is here today.. This guy was taller than Wellington - swallow this vile red coated evildoers!! Vive L'Empereur).
Off course while some players take it much to seriously, i adore possibility to replicate exact uniform  of a given unit. But I hate doing miniatures i wont ever fight with (and have almost none motivation to paint more than a handful)  :)
So i came to a conclusion that i need Napoleonic Skirmish. While there are many options on the market, Sharp practice from TFL caught my attention (After trying a CoC I am TFL junkie (I ve bought 5 of their games that I am yet to play :( ).

I know that I need French. And I need some guys they will be able to take their frog off making them look completely stupid in the process. While evil red skinned British are first choice for many, lets be honest they were never a real threat to Napoleon when his star was ascending, they just gathered like vultures after his downfall to take spoils. So real question is Austrians or Russians (I think i prefer Austrians for my first opponent, although Perry retreat from Moscow line is very tempting too). Sooo main question is a scale.. I wanted this project to be as cheap as possible but I want to have pleasure playing with my miniatures. I can have less of them but funnier to paint. Thats why i decided to paint my last ESCI Cuirassier from my youth.. I get him in great Quatre Bras set around 1991. I sold the set years ago but i left me one last memory of crushing Highlanders under its hooves  (possibly 2 but i cant find the second one).

To be honest the model is great, it has detail to dream of, but the detail is fine, hard to paint, and model is gummy. paint chipped from him before i finished the painting.. SO unfortunately, while I like how the guy went I will try my luck with 28mm next. (Did I mention awesome retreat from Moscow from Perrys ?