28mm French Voltigeurs - Peninsular War - Perry Miniatures

 

Were you expecting this? I'm not sure that I was to be honest. My last few blog posts have hopped around time and continents like the Dr Who Sci-fi character. From Victorian Sudan, Sassanid Persia and now to this...the Napoleonic Peninsular War.

Napoleonics - an early wargaming interest of mine.  My teenage years seem to have spent largely painting and converting the basic Airfix and Esci sets of 20mm plastic Napoleonics. Trying to ignore the paint flaking off and of course all figures based individually on bits of card.  I would write my own sets of very basic rules... basic but my goodness it was fun.

As I got into metal figures I realised that I wanted big armies and so I tended to go for things easier to paint. English Civil War was another early interest, so Minifigs gave a way to get big fairly easily paintable armies. Napoleonics just took too long with all that lace.

I'm sure I have given a brief background to this dilemma before.  I do really like Napoleonics but I can paint up 30 Sassanid Persians in the time it takes to paint 6 Napoleonic figures.  The scales have always perplexed me too. I always wanted big battles, but surely 6mm would be the way to go.  

I enjoy wargaming but I must confess that I don't get anywhere near the same satisfaction of painting smaller scales, as realistic as they look on the table.  6mm and 10mm look great en-masse and I know they can be painted quickly...but for me I get immense satisfaction out of just looking at 28mm figures painted as best as I can (without going to excess). Not painting to competition standard but to a point where I feel that any further work will be wasted time.  

I digress.  I recently discovered the Too Fat Lardies rules 'Sharpe Practice.  I used it for French Indian Wars recently and it is superb. This is a game changer for me, quite literally.  I realised that with these rules I really don't need that many troops painted up. So a few groups of French Voltigeurs and some Line and perhaps some Spanish Guerrillas, Portuguese Cacadores and of course British 95th Rifles and this will give a superb game and let me play a period that I find fascinating.

I decided to base the figures in pairs. This has several advantages.  It seems that fighting in pairs seems fairly standard for skirmishers for the French and British so this will be a normal formation.  In addition the larger base gives the plastic figures more protection.  I have tried to make angled muskets incline in towards the centre of the base. Firing figures have been set back to protect the musket and bayonet as far as possible.  This should hopeful protect the figure in normal handling. 

In addition, if I can keep my interest going in this period without deviating ('Impossible' I hear you say!) then as I play larger games with Black Powder it will be easier and quicker to move figures as I look at getting Brigades and Divisions on to the table. This is a long time off perhaps!

The figures are from the Perry's Elite Companies French Infantry 1807-14 plastic boxed set. This is a lovely boxed set with a lot more than just these Voltigeurs in the box!  Assembly is straight forward with nice simple large pieces - just what I like!

The painting guide in the box is superb. It folds out to a double sided colour A3 sheet with lots of illustrations for French and their allied troops and flags too. It is an immensely useful guide, one of the best I have ever seen with a box of figures.

I'm using 6 figures for each group for skirmish gaming. When I play Black Powder rules the 6 figures will represent a Battalion's entire Voltigeur Company.  I have so far based just one officer on a single base as he will be a senior leader in the skirmish games.

There are small differences between the 2 groups that I have so far painted.  The 26th Regiment were at Busacco and their Voltigeurs have green plumes with yellow tips.  Their epaulettes are green with a yellow crescent.  

The 63rd were at Fuentas d'Onoro and Vittoria and their Voltigeurs have yellow plumes with green tips. Their epaulettes are yellow with green worsted fringes.

After painting 2 x groups of these I can now add them to the group of Victrix Voltigeurs that I already have and some Line troops...and that is my French contingent ready to play!

I have 3 groups of Spanish Guerrillas on my painting desk right now.  I shall probably place an order shortly to the Perry's for Cacadores and the 95th and that should be enough to get me playing for a while. 

I am sure I once saw some 95th characters based on the Bernard Cornwell/TV Series'Sharp' characters - that would be good fun to play some scenarios with.  The opportunity to say various phrases from the TV series show during play would be irresistible too!  

So that's the plan anyway. Lets see how long I stick to it!  A few more photos below for the fun of it!

Until next time!

28mm - Spartans - Wargames Foundry and Victrix Miniatures

Figures are being completed thick and fast at the moment.  The reason for this is that I had nearly finished some units and then got side-tracked on to new shiny things.  Finally they are all coming into fruition!   These Spartans were painted in May but basing has just been completed.

I decided to add some more troops to my Greek collection.  I started off doing Thebans, then Athenians and now on to Spartans.  I tend to just do whichever ones I fancy doing and add them to their respective boxes.  My Greek project is more of a Marathon than a Sprint...which I guess is appropriate! 

The Spartans can be a little more straightforward to paint than the Athenians in that most sources seem to indicate clothing and cloaks in red and simple shield designs.  This suits me.  The Victrix Spartans do wear linen armour so I put some different colours in to represent captures from Athenians etc.

Whilst painting up the Spartan infantry I decided to paint up some 'Brigade' leader stands too.  I really enjoy using Hail Caesar rules (much modified over the last decade), so leader stands are needed. I normally neglect leader stands so the policy of doing them at the same time as the troops seemed a good way to get them done painlessly.  

The leader stands used Wargames Foundry figures.  These are really nice and it was a pleasure to just have to just de-flash them and they were basically ready for painting. This is a nice contrast to the plastic figures which seem to take ages to build and prepare.

Having said that, I don't help myself.  The one issue that I had with the Victrix Spartans is that most of them are wearing footwear of various types.  One thing that seems to appear in sources was that the Spartans had a contempt for those who wore shoes/sandals etc.  So it did irk somewhat.  I wondered if a sharp scalpel would work to scrape the shoes off and make more into feet shapes.  It actually worked really well and I was able to do this quite quickly.  Basing also covers many sins too!

The Victrix figures are very nice. I find I do have to read the instructions carefully, and practice putting things together (usually cloaks etc). I had to bend the hair a little to get the heads to fit on necks, but I am sure that is from me doing something amiss.  The finished result was pleasing.

A few more pics below to finish off.

There are lots of outside distractions going on for me at the minute which might affect output, so I am not sure what to do next and indeed when I will finish the next unit.  It has got very warm here now.  The UK is not great in the summer heat.  The air is humid, people outside are noisy and paint dries too darned fast (might need to use a wet palette). .  I am also extra tired from work.  Air con is not really a UK thing but I think it will be the way it seems to be getting hotter year on year...maybe I should paint some more desert stuff! 

28mm - Sudan Campaign - British Infantry - 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers

 

It's a new project and a whole change of period!  What madness is this!  Yes, of all the many projects that I have unfinished, I have decided to start a new one. This time it is the Sudan campaign, one of the many colonial campaigns in Queen Victoria's reign.  It is also another involving really interesting uniforms, fascinating characters, and enemies who are colourful and very dangerous and determined (and with amazing hair in the case of the Bija!)

I have been drawn into the Victorian period again, largely sparked by using my Martini Henry rifle in a competition based on the service rifle shooting of the day. This event required accurate shooting on true copies of the original targets, but it also had a time element and the requirement to shoot from different positions.   This shoot was fascinating and the results showed for me what an excellent rifle the Martini Henry was as a combat rifle of it's time (and my goodness doesn't that barrel get hot after 6 shots in a minute!).  

With this enthusiasm still burning I dropped everything else and started work on these wonderful Perry's miniatures from their plastic boxed set.  I also bought as many good source books as I could and started reading and learning more about a campaign that I previously knew little about.

One thing that struck me was the wide variety of uniforms and clothing (on both sides), and how it all evolved during the 15 or so years of the war.  Even the Ansars changed their dress following the Mahdi's decrees, the 'Fuzzy Wuzzies' having to shave their hair off near the very start of the war, and the purposely patched 'uniform' becoming formalised.

It seems that this particular British uniform (as per the figures) was only really worn like this by the troops who arrived via India (actually on their way home to the UK from India until they were recalled and diverted!).  The 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers seems to be the only regiment that I have so far found that wore the equipment and uniform pretty exactly like this.  One battalion, The York and Lancaster Regiment, came via Aden but illustrations show them not wearing the pugree  and having the chin strap wrapped across the front of the pith helmet at a diagonal . They also seem to be shown wearing the blanket roll across the body.

So it might be that I can only really use the plastic boxed set for this one regiment in Sudan, if I'm really pedantic about it. I would love to hear of any other units who wore the unform exactly like this with Martini Henry Rifle.  In the meantime I will buy the lead troops from the Perry's who are modelled to match the York and Lancaster's and the many grey clad regiments.

I do realise that the plastic boxed set will be perfect for other colonial wars such as Afghanistan and NW frontier etc, so will see if my interest spreads out that way too...it probably will!

Back to the figures themselves, the troops assembled really well and the poses are wonderful. I really really like these figures, and I enjoyed building them. This is not something that I say about all plastic figures. I really am not keen on putting loads of bits onto a figure and thankfully these do not require too much assembly. One has just enough choice to make it really interesting and add variety.

Painting involved using Army Painter washes of different hues and thickness to get the desired effects. I wanted lots of shadow and for shades to be a touch lighter than they would be in Europe. For instance, I made the blankets a little lighter to show the effect of the brighter sunlight. In Europe I would have used a slightly darker shade.  

I decided to go back and use black to line in and used a Pigma Micron 04 black ink pen to draw the lining in.  This proved effective I think, and seemed to be quicker and easier than using a brush.  I must remember to do this more often.

The basing required some thought.  I wanted to try to capture the right look.  One really useful acquisition has been the book 'Go Strong into the Desert' by Lt Col Mike Snook and sold by the Perrys.  This book is so well laid out and is perfect for the wargamer.  It also has many colour photos of the battlefield (so much unchanged it is amazing!). One thing of note was the contrast of sand and greyish rock.  

I had feared making the bases too 'sandy' and losing the figures in the sand as they might blur in.  With more confidence from the photos in Lt Col Snook's book, I used some thinned AP strong tone in patches and other shades before dry brushing with Vallejo Iraqi Sand and a top layer mixed with white. A few tufts, AP washed cat litter and static dead grass put on sparingly finished the effect.

I finished the figures last night and put them on the Barrage Miniatures desert mat. I must say that I am really pleased with the overall look.

To finish off I did my usual thing of printing a label and naming the unit. It just helps to tie them into history more for me and make that connection.

So what to do next?  I should do my box of Mahdists, but then last night I had a great game of Sassanid Persians vs Late Romans with Ian using 'Hail Caesar' rules and I want to fill in some army gaps...oh choices, choices!  😀

Partizan Wargaming Show - 21 May 2023

This is a rarity for me, a write up after a wargaming show.  Well, I made my first visit to the Partizan wargaming show yesterday with Ian, my regular wargaming opponent.  Partizan is a show I have heard so much about and always wanted to go to see why it was so special.

We attend many of the more local shows; Overlord at Abingdon, Attack at Devizes and Colours at Newbury (and Reading before that).  Years ago I have also worked assisting a trader at Salute and Sheffield and we have been to the show at Bovington Tank Museum too. So we have been to many shows.

Over this time, the shows have always been mostly, as expected. Devizes was one of the first shows we ever went to and still continue to go to, about 30 years later.  I think the location in the town, the drive through the spectacular scenery of Avebury and the valley of Long Barrow burial grounds, as well as the proximity of Roundway Down have always acted as a draw and made it something to look forward to.  The traders and games have always been good too.

Overlord at Abingdon was an amazingly very local thing when it first started, and we have continued to support that show up to this year.  It's move to the college next to the School where it used to be held was definitely retrograde and this seems to be reflected by the drop off in known traders. I gave it a miss this year. A real shame as it would it have been great to have kept supporting the local event.

Colours is always good and well attended. The Octagon at Reading was a hideous location though, and the labyrinth-like tight corridors (and most wargamers have rucksacks, large bellies and sticks!) made moving around difficult, but it did always have good traders. The move to Newbury was a great improvement.

So why go to Partizan? It is in Nottinghamshire and thus not all that close to home in Oxfordshire.  Well, its reputation made us both curious as to why it has always been described in glowing terms for years.  I was very curious to find out why.  

The show has its own website and the first clues started to appear.  This show seemed very well organised.  The games and traders were known in advance and they all looked very good indeed.   I could see it could be expensive for my pocket, the traders were very good ones indeed, and many of them.

The drive up to Newark on the Sunday morning was very smooth. A warm day and bright sunshine and hardly any traffic meant that we had an hour in hand still.  I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to visit the Wars of the Roses battlefield at Stoke Field.  This is located where Wargames Foundry is too.  This proved to a good decision and it was an excellent use of time.

Stoke Field - The ridge is probably the location of the Earl of Oxford's position - I say 'probable' for now, as I have yet to do a full tour/walk of the field, but it seemed from the viewing spot to be the most likely

For anyone who has never been, Partizan is well located outside of Newark and easily accessible. A bit of signage on entry would have been helpful as other events were being held on the large site, but it proved no real bother in the end.  Parking was plentiful and right next to the hall.  The hall is spacious and well laid out.  There is also plenty of room to move between traders and to walk around games.

It was clear quite quickly that it was going to be an expensive day, there was a lot of goodies on offer and all of the well known (and lesser known) traders were there.  

However, there was something else in addition to this which I didn't really expect  and this made the day really special.  There were several legends and well known figures in the hobby who were present, some of who have influenced my wargaming over decades and quite radically with their game concepts in more recent years.  Not only were they present, but they took the time to chat and every one of them without exception, was a delight to chat to.  

Henry Hyde was the first I met in the car park and he proved to be exactly as everyone says he is, an absolute gentleman.  I was delighted to meet the man behind so many great works including 'The Wargaming Compendium' and so influential in our hobby.

I also got to chat with Richard Clarke and Nick Skinner of 'Too Fat Lardies'.  I disturbed Richard as he took the last bite of a rushed lunch as he was so busy running games.  Nevertheless, he didn't seem to mind and was a delight to chat with as was Nick who presented me with a picture of Sidney Roundwood - unsigned alas(!), but we all had a great and very funny chat.  Nick was playing on his amazing Arnhem table in the 'Lard Zone'.  The Too Fat Lardies have been incredibly influential in the last few years on my wargaming, with their philosophy and thinking behind their games.  Their 'oddcast' podcasts on YouTube were also an absolute godsend during the Covid lockdown, a welcome bit of insanity and inspiring.  I really appreciate the amount of work they put into producing rules which are both so well researched and yet are fun and enjoyable to play too.

By now, my day had been made, but then I saw Alex from 'Storm of Steel' wargaming and we had a great chat too.  Alex proved to be as decent a gentleman as he comes across on his channel.  For anyone who hasn't seen his channel, I would really recommend it.  His rules playthroughs are really useful and I have made decisions on buying rules based on his games.  Alex's paint and chat sessions are ideal to paint to whilst listening.  

Also seen were the Perry Twins, my goodness the amount of figures of theirs that Ian and I both own must be in the thousands. Their figures were so heavily influential over three decades,  dragging me deeper into the hobby so far that I have never looked back. They were both tied up in games so I never got to chat with them but would like to on another occasion.

This game just made me stop in my tracks. It was the Battle of Ipsus, put on by Simon Miller of Big Red Bat Cave (https://bigredbat.blogspot.com/).  Simon's games are always awesome.  This was simply amazing. I tried to estimate the number of figures in the pike phalanxes who are 6 deep. I lost count, there must be thousands!

I have to say that the people running the games were all amazingly friendly and that was the one thing that I think I can say really stood out about this show and what made it special. Every single person who chatted to me was just so friendly and happy to chat.  

True enough, both Ian myself spent several hundred pounds each...the figures and kit being sold was remarkable, but that wasn't the key thing about the show. It was the people we met and chatted with. I can honestly say it was the nicest and most pleasant show I have ever been to.

My 'loot' haul from the show. I went with a list. Some items were on the list, most were not and bought on impulse!  Included are Spanish Napoleonic Guerrilla's by the Perry's.  Also seen here is the picture of Too Fat Lardies' Sidney Roundwood given to me by Lardy Nick!

Will I go back? Oh yes! This is going to be a regular event in my diary from now on.