Napoleonic Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde Impériale

Purchased some Chasseurs a Cheval. But then I became a bit over enthusiastic whilst looking at the Waterloo in Miniature blog. I really wanted to see what the full regiment would look like. Although the AB figures had the simpler campaign uniform, this was not a simple paint job. I think the sheer numbers made it a bit of a slog as I was never quite  happy with the overall finish. But I guess they will only ever be there to give support from the sidelines.

 The buildings are ether from the really nice range from Supreme Littleness (10mm range) or scratch built using Warbases 15mm tile sheets for the roofs (I think you have to ask for the tile sheets in 15mm, but the folks at Warbases are always really helpful).

The Cassion at the back is Blue Moon and the limber horses and riders Eureka.

Napoleonic Russian Supply Wagon

A Blue Moon Napoleonic supply wagon. No idea what’s in the barrels (vodka, Vimto or pickled herring who knows?).

The drivers are also Blue Moon with their shakos cut down to a cap shape. I painted them in a grey uniform that I spied on some website. No idea if it’s correct but I liked the thought of the Supply Wagon having drivers in a grey uniform and cap for transporting the barrels around. I added some red facings because the grey was a bit grey grey. Also the traces are a bit weirdly placed for the front row of horses but at least they are connected. I think the paint job was a bit rushed on the drivers when zoomed in, but looks okay on the table. At least now there are no excuses for the Russians going thirsty. 

Napoleonic Essex 15mm French Campaign Dress

I have had mostly Essex Napoleonic's kicking around for 20-30 years. I seemed to think at one stage I was quite pleased with the paint job I had made. Eventually I think I became disillusioned with my overall paint job and truly hated my basing. In fact all of the figures were based according to "The Sound of Guns" rules. This meant 0.75mm per foot figure. That is tight by any standard, even at the time trying to squeeze an already plump Essex figure onto a base giving only 0.75mm was going to make them look like people heading through the doors of a Supermarket on Black Friday. Plus the fact I was just going crazy with the scatter grass. It all culminated in me throwing in the towel. But, the Napoleonic itch was always there. Eventually after 20years I started reading the blogs of people like Paul Alba, Loki's Great Hall, Furphy's Brush with History and Mac Phees Miniature Men (apologies for all the other great blogs that have inspired me) I knew I could learn the lessons and give it another go. So I got out the old miniatures....

Essex 15mm French in Campaign Dress

 I thought I would do a before and after shot. This old paint job was getting very messy.

Essex 15mm French in Campaign Dress with a bit of new paint

 The figure were ripped off their old bases ready for a spruce up (this photo is after the spruce up by the way, please do not raise your hopes too high).

Essex 15mm French in Campaign Dress rebased too

 On a figure by figure basis the painting was not great, but overall I was pleased, like an X Factor contestant that has got through to the "lives" they were looking smarter with more purpose. I followed the basing tips from Paul Alba's blog which helped a lot. Although I was bit nervous of raiding my local golf course for sand so opted for a bag of kids sand from Mother Care (I think that one bag is going to last me 30 years).

Essex 15mm French in Campaign Dress looking a bit better

In fact at some point as I got into the rhythm of the painting I bought some extra figures and swelled them to 3 Battalions (very easy to go a little megalomaniac, I guess without any checks and balances  I can see why Emperor Qin Shi Huang ended up with over 8,000 figures in the Terracotta army). The command figure I based separately. I think I was going for a "realistic" Battalion look in a fit of pedanticness. But when you have 36 figures representing 700 people I later felt a bit ridiculous. Now the officer based separately has to rattle around the storage box and get in the way of everything. But at the time I was felling quite smug, Then I had a glance back at Paul Alba's blog, I was totally crushed !

The start

The name of the blog is 1818'ish as everything in Napoleonic 15mm ends up with a bit of scale creep. So maybe another 3 years of the Napoleonic war seems to fit too. Maybe Blücher never reached Waterloo, perhaps he had hit the Schnapps early, fell from his horse and Bülow couldn't be bothered following up sending the Napoleonic wars into "Sudden Death" overtime? Another 3 years of misery for the people of Europe (and other parts of the world). Or maybe 1812, 1813, 1814 and 1815 were already taken as blog titles, who knows! But I guess these metal men can take it, after all they are all only 15-18mm tall, they could never adapt to modern living. Endless table top conflict is the only life they know.

Oh no, Blücher falls from his horse ! This could mean overtime !