Onward, for Beer and Pretzels! My Bavarian Guard Grenadiers.

At last these stalwarts have been added to my Bavarian army. Bavarian Guard Grenadiers are not easy to find. I bought the majority of the figures from Bicorne miniatures three years ago at the Salute show in London (they are from the Connoisseur range). The nice chaps at the Bicorne stand explained I needed to add a mounted officer, a drummer and a standard bearer - probably from Elite miniatures Old Guard Chasseurs - as Connoisseur don't make these. In the end I bought a Guard Gendarme officer (Connoisseur), a standard bearer from Connoisseur (Guard Chasseur) and a Guard Chasseur drummer from Elite miniatures. Painted and based they all work together OK. Connoisseur/Bicorne/Firing line have vast ranges which vary in style. But the faces, dimensions and size of these Bavarian Guard Grenadiers seem to work well with Elite Guard Chasseurs and the other Connoisseur bits. I only just got around to putting everything together and getting these based up. Part of the delay was due to me deciding to make this a 36 man unit rather than a 32, which is what I had bought figures for initially.

The Guard Gendarme officer didn't have a plume, cords or flounders. I made the plume with a bit of wire, drilled into the bearskin. The cords were made by braiding very thin copper wire. The flounders were made with green stuff over a bit of epoxy resin which drizzled down from the right side of chappies bearskin. This is the sort of thing people did ye olden times to keep themselves amused.

The figures are based for "In The Grand Manner". I used some Silfor tufts, from Warlord Games, and some static grass, from Scenic Express on the bases. The rest is ground up sea shells dusted over PVA glue.

 

Reinforcements by post

Six Napoleonic Westphalian line infantry battalions

I have finally finished six line infantry battalions and two skirmisher screens to add to my Westphalian contingent. I screwed up and ordered them all with Grenadiers in bearskins whereas only the first regiment had Grenadiers in bearskins, with other regiments having Grenadiers in Shakos. Oh well, I can always replace those bases later if I get around to it. Some times things like this niggle me. Hopefully this won't!

The battalions are painted for about 1810 which is before all facing colours were changed to dark blue. 

I still have the cavalry and artillery to paint. Before I get around to that I've three battalions of Portuguese Legion, the Zastrow and Guard du Corps Cuirassier of Saxony, a couple of Portuguese officers, for line regiments I finished years ago, to complete .

These are Elite miniatures. The figures are based for "In The Grand Manner". The rule system is 1:20 figure to men ratio. Obviously it is quite a job to collect for this system. If you don't have the space or time have a look at the Wargames Holiday Center. Mark Freeth, your genial host, can supply the figures and gaming space. It is an amazing spectacle.

If you like the Westphalians you may enjoy reading this ebook written by a contemporary courtier.

28mm Napoleonic Westphalian 1st Light infantry

Here are some light infantry to add to my 28mm Napoleonic Westphalian contingent. This time I added some static grass to the bases, which brightens them up, in addition to the tufts I used last time. The highlighting hasn't come out well in these photos. I may have screwed up the lighting.

I'm not sure the center companies had plumes. But this is how Elite miniatures do them.

I came back from a walking holiday in Nepal recently. This picture shows the virtue of taking hundreds of images in case one comes out OK! This is looking back from the route to Annapurna base camp. (on the edge of the Rum Doodle range..)

Napoleonic Westphalian gunners

Hot on the heels of my two Westphalian Guard battalions here are some gunners to give them support. I've no guns as I have so many for the French I doubt I'll ever get them on the table and I may as well use them for allies when needed.  The figures, once again, are from Elite miniatures.

I couldn't get the horse gunners to stand up. Minus one on firing for them for hitting the ale too heavily at that last village!

28mm Napoleonic Westphalian Guard and Russian Soum Hussars (metal from Elite miniatures)

I closed my factory in August, to allow me to spend more time outside of Bangladesh, but kept on the best 12 people and moved them to my house (a new and larger place). We still have projects to finish for customers and since August I've only managed to get these figures for myself. I hired a couple of extra painters to speed things up. I guess we will go to a higher staff level from here. I've piles of lead to be finished. BTW, in the future we will only work from stock - of which there is a lot.

These are the Westphalian Guard Grenadiers. The metal is from Elite miniatures. You will see that Pete Morby, the owner and sculptor, has abandoned the "hey, steve!" dramatic turn of the head on his figures. I've still to add flags.

The figures are painted off a light grey base, to make them look different from my mass of Austrians which are painted on a base of "off beige/sand". This is my new painting technique which I came up with about six months ago. Instead of painting a block of colour I have the paint "tickled" on in little lines around the area to be painted. This doesn't cover everything, so the effect is a sort of blending where the strongest coverage is in the area "highest". Then the next, lighter, layer goes on top of that in the same manner but more restricted to the higher area.

I got a new light box fixed up in my house. This, along with a tripod, is helpful in taking good pictures. Click on images to get a larger picture.

 

These are the Westphalian Guard Fusiliers. I think I have the Guard Jaegers somewhere in my lead pile (from another manufacturer). I got the Westphalians from Elite, Connoisseur, Bicorne and Front Rank. I have enough for my needs from each manufacturer (i.e. times 4) and ambitiously thought of selling off the figures I didn't want when I'm finished. Well, only 2 infantry units done so far!

 

These lovelies are the Russian Soum Hussars. I painted 12 for a customer and then noticed that some of the uniform details were from the wrong year. I hated the idea of over painting so I replaced his Elite miniatures figures with some from my unpainted 32 man regiment and then finished this lot for myself.

Bundles of joy

Latest arrivals from Warlord Games

Basing, un-basing, re-basing my Bavarians

Back in 2011 I posted pictures of some of the thirteen Bavarian battalions I had painted. The figures are Old Glory 1st edition, which I like for their animation (more people hate them than love them). Well, not having mounted officers for those units bothered me. I could feel the figures calling out to me from the shelf.

Napoleonic Bavarian 6th Line Infantry Regiment (Old Glory 1st edition figures)

http://lacenbighats.blogspot.com/2011/02/old-glory-28mm-1st-edition-bavarian.html

 Eventually I broke down and ordered a Connoisseur miniatures mounted officer for each battalion. This was part of a huge order to Bicorne miniatures, which took months to fill - I spent months dithering over the order too! Then I had to get around to painting the figures, of course, and to face the pain of taking the painted figures off their bases and re-basing.

Now I am finally done.Well, except for the fact I have to sort out flags for the units and import some silfor tufts for the bases. A wargamer's work is never done.

Napoleonic Bavarian Line infantry regiment. Old Glory 1st edition figures with Connoisseur miniatures mounted officer.

Napoleonic Bavarian Line infantry regiment. Old Glory 1st edition figures with Connoisseur miniatures mounted officer.

I have all of the painted figures, which were replaced by a mounted officer, and so, of course, I have to paint more battalions. And so the cycle begins again..