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!
