There have been stirrings among the MHWC, stirrings of a strong Napoleonic complex…
Here’s two of our members to talk about their new projects!
Für König und Vaterland!
Club Secretary Steve Thomas talks of his new Prussian Persuasion
This year at the MHWC, there had been considerable talk around the Napoleonic Wars. This was kickstarted by a lovely collection of 15mm Naps very kindly donated to the club last year. We’d made use of them a few times playing games of Black Powder under the watchful eye of Simon Warren - a true aficionado of Black Powder!
While I really enjoyed playing the games, I felt myself getting bitten by that ever so insidious bug and decided I needed some Naps of my own! However, between the 15mm collection and Simon’s own extensive 25mm Peninsular War collection I wasn’t sure how to start. It was during these days of contemplation that I found a rulebook stored in the MHWC’s vault - a copy of Sharp Practice by Too Fat Lardies. Leafing through got me interested, and after watching a few of the Lardie’s informative videos online I had decided that I had a new project. With the rules selected came the next challenge - what to collect? It turned out that our esteemed Chairman, Dave Mustill, already had a French force in 28mm. That sorted the scale and side I wanted to collect - but still didn’t answer what nation?
I started looking at different options, with the obvious solution being British troops. I must admit though, that there’s a certain dullness to the regimented Red and White to me. It was around this time of head racking that my other half (who has started to develop a budding interest into history and wargaming) asked about her countries involvement during the Napoleonic Wars. And thus, my journey into the Prussian history began!
I decided almost straight away that I wanted to collect later Prussian troops, post reformation. I settled on a soft 1814-1815 style collection and was captivated by the Warlord Games Landwehr box. I loved the ramshackle look of the models, and the distinct lack of uniformity. The troops arrived in my possession and not a month had passed before I had put in an order with Foundry for some Landwehr Lancers and officer types to bulk my force out. I was in love with their designs, with the soft forage caps and the bulky coats. For a little bit of a difference I also decided to include a unit of Landwehr armed solely with pike (sans 1 musket armed figure), this was in relation to research I read which stated that a number of poorly funded Landwehr trained with pike until they could be issued muskets. I enjoyed painting them thoroughly.
But once I had finished, I felt that there was something missing. Alas, before I knew what had happened I had ordered a box of Prussian Line from Perry Miniatures.
They look pretty good ranked up next to each other, even though the Perry’s are slightly thinner overall than their Foundry or Warlord counterparts. I think it’s the larger greatcoat design of the Landwehr that help to trick the eye into thinking they’re actually the same size figure. And now, after several months painting I’m quite proud of how they stand. The forces themselves are quite different.
My Landwehr are organised as if from two distinct groups. There are 2 units of 10 in Silesian colours, supported by a unit of Jaegers and 2 units of 10 from Westphalia supported by a unit of Lancers, musician and colour bearer. The Line are a little more regimented. 4 units of 8 Line with a unit of 8 Grenadiers and a 6 pounder gun. The gun, quite handily, also has a howitzer barrel so I can swap it out at will.
I’m very pleased with my work on these fine figures, but there’s no fun only collection one side of a conflict is there?
Well, I may just have to get me some Saxons soon…
Rally to the Flag!
Oni’s thin Red Line
This month I started to focus on painting up some of my Peninsular Wars British troops. This is my first attempt for my own personal Napoleonic force for wargaming. I painted for another person from the club in the past. But these troops have become a focus for me. I plan to use them for a few games of Sharps Practice once I have painted enough. I undercoat them with a black acrylic paint. For the trousers I painted a few light layers of white paint. The red coats were painted with a flat red. This took two coats of paint. The flesh was done with a pale flesh paint with a wash of flesh wash. The black back packs were dry brushed
with a dark grey. The guns were painted a dark brown for the wooden parts and the metals were painted dark gun metal with a steel highlights. Once the paints and washes were dried I used PVA to stick flock onto the bases. The models are a mix of Warlords and Vitrixs ranges.
