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 ?

 

Late update Sassanian prince painted

 Standard

Long time no post, today only pictures.
Ive finally managed to finish my Sassanian prince (Lurkio upgraded with GS o Taq-a-bostan style. I haven't found this style late Sassanians Assaviras to my taste so i decided to make my own, using Lurkio models as a base as all my Sassanians are Lurkio (Closest match and coolest horse armor i found).
Ive made prince his companion and standard bearer.
As always with Sassanians colors are made up, I just wanted to keep Persian lavish and colorful dress impression.
I tried Non metalic on them, as i think Lurkio models looks better painted this way. I am quite happy from the result, but there are certain flaws both in sculpting and painting visible.
Now its time to finish my Elephant and Byzantines (one base is ready so far).

Taq-a-bostan relief of Khosrow Parviz - Khosrau II The victorious

Sorry for flash, I am now trying to make them more mat with different varnish..

And some close ups

                                                                                            Prince Khosrow

Bahram  Sassanian hero

Standard bearer

7e régiment de hussards

In my quest to rise mine Petit Grande Armee Ive finished 7e régiment de hussards or 7th Hussars Regiment in english :)
One of the most famous regiment i chose for its high contrast red trousers and green dolman and mentyk (blouse and pelisse) and white
 
Ive decided to use lighter green for the dolman and mentyk (like in the picture on the left) .  I am sure that Napoleonic fasion police will want my blood but lets be honest, its just not very visible in 1:600 scale. ALso Ive aded easy nationality recognition system you will be familiar with at the moment you see it :>

So here are my Hussards.. All 4 squadrons of them ! Vivle la Emperreur !

Here is my  whole Davout III rd corps so far

Fromholdeu Forward !!

That day came ! This is my first ever venture into Napoleonic period.. I like color, i like Nepoleon, and where i live we don't call him an Ogre.. we cal Wellington an Ogre - Ok that was attention whorish.. In reality..we don't care about Wellington nor peninsular campaign(Although we thrashed English at Fuengirola :) but Eastern campaigns.. So my oponent army will be Austro-Hungarian, Prussian or Russian (I haven't decided yet what my second will be.. But for sure my first army had to be French.. as all good people say.. Vivle la Emperreur..  !!

Meet General Fromholdeau and his first battalions of Ligne Infantry..
As we all know God is on the side of big battalions.. mine had 60 men each :>
Models are Oddział Ósmy 1:600 Nepoleonic line (sold by Pico Armor in the English speaking world) And they are little wonders.. and paint surprisingly fast and easy.

ANd thats how they look en masse !

To give you a better measur of the size of my little regiment i gibve you silly scale comparision

With 15mm tank (Zvezda)
Its not kind of welcome party in Moscow we expected !!

6mm theurophoroi based on the same 40*20 DBX base (Baccus)
Easy prey to muskets and bayonett charge

Wargamer 15mm cavalry
Allies really

Wiking Jarl AEwulf (Gripping Beast plastics)
Because he stood near..

And no size comparison is not full without space marine from you know who.. Do not Fear Fromholdeu will prevail..