10mm - Battle of Culloden - Set Up

 

This week has seen the culmination of a project that I started in around 2019.  I had the crazy idea of collecting all of the units for the Battle of Culloden, and after working out the ground scale, realised that I could probably represent it best in 10mm and get most of the battlefield area on my 8ft by 4 ft board.

The project had many stops and starts but I settled on completing the Government Army first of all before giving the Jacobites my full attention.  The Government Army was completed in around 2021 and since then I have sporadically added to my Jacobites.  In December last year I took a pause from painting Napoleonics and decided to just go all out with completing the Jacobites. I still had about 70% to go, but I really wanted to get the project completed.  So since mid - December I have just painted Jacobites and nothing else.  

I found it easier to focus on the painting and then do all of the basing at the end. So there have been no attractive painted units to show as nothing has been finished properly until last week.

Now all of the real work has been done, I can now play out the battle this coming weekend.  It was a deadline date that I set about a month ago, and other than a few casualty stands for markers, It is done.

So to the game planning. Well, throughout the project, the two books shown further up have been of immense help. Both are excellent. Stuart Reid really knows his subject and the maps in both books have been essential really throughout the whole project.  I read 'Like Hungry Wolves' early on in the project and I read it again a few weeks ago to get the inspiration for the final painting push.

From the books I realised that there are some key features that need to be represented. One of these is the road to Inverness which was sunken on the battlefield.  I wanted to show this so out came the towels and dishcloths to start creating the topography to go beneath the mat.

As you can see in these photos, the books were used throughout, along with a recently produced Warlord Games guide, to get the features right.  I must admit to having some nervousness as I worried in case my calculations were not correct and that I wouldn't be able to get the armies on the table.

There was some trial and error for sure!  My initial setting up without the units showed that I had shifted various features too far in one direction, and I had to move the road and the enclosures again and fine tune it.

Seeing it all take shape has been a total joy.  All those years of painting and then several months of intense painting to then see an entire army, and indeed, an entire battle, laid out for the first time.  The fruition of a huge labour intensive project.

I can honestly say that I have learned a lot, especially about painting 10mm figures.  With the Government Army, I put far too much detail in.  I tried to reduce down some of the steps to how I would normally paint larger figures, but I was still doing daft things, like using a wash which matched the colour of the areas of the uniform. So I used a red wash on the reds, Blue wash on the blues etc.   This was labour intensive and not necessary.  The Army looked outstanding for sure, but excessive on 10mm figures.

When I got to painting the first Highlanders, I spent too long painting tartan, when I really only needed to create an impression.  I then changed to using Pigma pens to try to draw the lines of tartan on, but I found this very hit and miss.  If the ink did not apply properly then going back over an area often cracked and flaked the paint.  In the end a simple set of vertical and horizontal stripes of just one thinned paint shade was sufficient.

I also only used one wash colour. Army Painter Strong Tone became my friend. I just painted it over the entire figure after the basic colours were on.

The process was as follows:  I glued an entire regiment on to thick plasticard strips with PVA glue (I used stronger glues for years for this - it makes it unnecessarily difficult to take the figures off the strips.).  PVA might not be able to hold 28mm metal figures, but for 10mm it is perfectly good.

I then undercoated with a light grey colour.  Basic colours were then applied before using the Strong Tone wash.  Once dried, I just dabbed on a light shade of the base colours to bring out the highlights.  Important small details such as straps and bonnet ribbons and tricorn lace was more carefully applied.  I tried wherever possible not to spend too much time touching anything up again afterwards. I think the main exception was tidying up around hat lace as this really stands out if you get it wrong.

A spray of matt varnish over several regiments at the same time and it was all done.  The wet cold weather has been problematic so I have been pre-heating the loft space by leaving the attic door open for half an hour, then creating a spray booth in the loft.  A good protective mask and two coats of matt varnish and the figures were ready for basing.

The Government Army that Pendraken produce (I think Seven Years War British), have standard poles and paper flags. Some of these pre - coloured flags I have painted over to produce the necessary colours that I needed for my regiments.

The Jacobites have cast on flags which required some research and careful painting.  I have to say though that I don't think any flag took more than an hour of time, so my pre-painting fears turned out to be unfounded.  I was very pleased with the results too.

I haven't so far given any commentary on the units or terrain features in any of the photos.  It is my intent to take photos during the game on Saturday when I will then give a battle report on how it goes.  In this case I will give more detail and maybe get some more close ups too.

Saturday's game will be using Black Powder rules but modified for 10mm figures and with my own battle specific amendments.  I have typed out a 4 page guide to the scenario with all terrain modifiers and ranges etc on as well as any other key events which need to be reflected. I have also leaned on the Warlord Games guide for many of the unit stats.  I'll be using the Highlanders as largely musket armed, as per documentary evidence, though of course this does not mean that they won't be attempting their renowned charges! 

I have modified the Black Powder mortar rules to enable range estimation and scatter dice. The main reason is that I think this adds to the fun.  Hits should not be automatic but based on ranging in, with some deviation due to wind, wobble and powder!    The Coehorn mortars will not be overly effective as the boggy ground negated their effects largely.

The stressed, exhausted and somewhat demoralised Jacobite Army (that failed night march must have left them doubting their leaders!) will also be affected by one of my new rules called 'Goaded by the Guns' which will leave the Highland element unwilling to stand in line and just take casualties.  This should prove interesting and hopefully cause some historic counter-actions!

The command aspect will be really interesting, especially for the Jacobites, which seems to have had a rather shambolic structure.  Relations between commanders were not good and Colonel Sullivan is going to have his work cut out trying to get units to do what he wants (Lord Murray will not have suffer the impertinence of  Sullivan giving orders to his units, so failed command rolls in Murray's Division cannot have re-rolls by Sullivan!)

The amendments should make introduce many of the unique aspects of the Battle of Culloden, and as well as being a game, I hope that it will also help me to visualise what happened, how and why...even if we do end up changing history!

I'll finish off here by leaving a few more photos for you to enjoy.

28mm - Napoleonic French 2nd Hussar Regiment - Perry Miniatures

 

It's been a while! My hopes of getting a new painting project posted at the rate of about once a month has been scuppered for various reasons - but I'm back and hopefully this particular project will demonstrate one reason for the production slowdown. 

These are the Perry Miniatures Napoleonic French Hussars.  They are constructed from the plastic boxed set, and I have to say they are wonderful figures.  The Perry's have packed so many options in the box, so many head choices and legs/boots options.  My spares boxes were well stocked with a good selection of left overs once I had chosen the parts I wanted.

Everything fitted together really well and assembly was a delight.  I love the painting guide leaflet and box art too, so many illustrations to assist in uniform choices for all of the very colourful Hussar Regiments.  The Perry's really do a fine job all round.

So with with such a vast array of brightly coloured uniforms to choose from, why did I select a regiment clothed in brown?

Well it goes back to my battlefields trip to Spain and Portugal last year and walking the Napoleonic battlefields.

All of the battlefields visited left a huge impression on me, but there was something about Albuera which was just fascinating. I think it was largely because the battlefield is (so far) unspoilt, and the narrative accounts can be followed.  Standing on the field at the centre of the Allied line looking down the shallow slopes where the French columns advanced to bayonet distance and it all becomes very easy to visualise.  You just know where you are standing was in the midst of a storm of lead and iron.

 

Prior to my visit, I wasn't as interested in Albuera as the other battles in the Peninsular.  This might have been because Wellington was not present and some historians have just noted it as Beresford mismanaging a victory.  Whether the latter is true or not, standing on the battlefield and tying it to the accounts makes one shiver.   Since that visit, I cannot shake those images from my mind and so I have been reading all I can find about those events.

The 2nd French Hussars were heavily involved in the attacks on the right of the British line, along with the Vistula Legion Lancers.   As they were a key unit, I decided to represent them...despite the brown uniforms, though I have to say that they grew on me as the facing colours and other detail went on.

I originally built the figures without the pelisse jackets, to give them a campaign look, however, I had misgivings about this and decided to issue them out after all.  I could well imagine Hussars, (being the showy, flamboyant and very hardy kind of men they were), being very attached to their pelisses, and they would have been very handy to have for late night picket duty even if the day was warm.  Also... Hussars just look so much better with their pelisses over their shoulders!

I divided the unit into 4 Squadrons as per usual organisation.  This does leave a basing dilemma. I much prefer to base 28mm cavalry in pairs.  This allows flexibility on the battlefield when there are obstacles and also to form march columns.  When I used to base cavalry in threes, once upon a time, I found the stand to be just awkward.  

This means that one stand is mixed where the 3rd man from each Squadron is based with another.  This work out ok when the Regiment is all together (as can be seen from the group photos at the beginning).  It's only when the bases are shown individually like below that it looks odd.   As my battles tend to involve the Regiment acting together rather than being deployed by Squadron, it again causes no problems.

I hadn't planned to paint the French Hussars yet. I had ordered a box of British Hussars, which I was very keen to start work on, but I was still researching uniforms and units in the Peninsular.  While I was doing that I decided to paint just one stand of French Hussars while I had a keenness for lace and braid.

I was so pleased with that one stand that I decided to paint three more stands.  Again, I was really pleased with the way they looked so I painted the last remaining 3 stands.  By the end of it I was happy to have finished!  I cannot deny that Hussars do need some considerable work, but my goodness, they really do reward you for the effort put in.

When I had finished the painting I was then left with a feeling of regret that I hadn't painted the regimental numbers onto the saddle roll or the designs onto the sabretaches.  As I steeled myself to attempt to paint these on, I decided to check online first of all to see if anyone produced decal sheets.  I had low expectations as I could not even find a company who still produced British Infantry backpack and waterbottle decals (one company used to but not any more).

I was amazed to find that a UK company called Battle Flag (https://www.wargametransfers.com/) produced the numbers and sabretache designs for Hussars! I immediately placed an order.  The results are very nice indeed and they went on with no trouble at all.  Just a bit of careful cutting with a sharp scalpel for size and they went on really well with no wastage.  I certainly could not have painted them to the standard of the decals.  I very much recommend these.

Paints used on the figures and horses were almost exclusively Vallejo and Wargames Foundry.

Basing was fine builders sand mixed with house 'tester pots' acrylic paint and water to make the soil texture.  When dry, other house paint was used dry brushed on. A light brown and then a dull yellow, finished with Foundry Austrian White C drybrushed to pick out rock and stones.

The base was enhanced further with cat litter rocks (unused) with Army Painter soft tone, heavily thinned and applied over the rocks.

The final stage was the application of tufts. These were mostly from Gamers Grass. Some static grass was PVA glued in patches too, just to add variety between the tufts.

As always, magnetic sheet was applied under the MDF base. A label from a template that I have saved on my pc was then PVA glued on, with a light coat of glue over the label to protect it.

I'm really glad to have finished these figures.  I won't be starting the British Hussars yet(!)  I have quite a few projects that are near to being playable and some effort put into those will get armies onto the field.  I really could do with a change too!