BRB's Away Day: Part Deux

In yesterday's post I showed the starting positions of the Russians, and here are the French!  Everything is clickable.

Above is a view along the French front line.  L'Empereur had 20 battalions of 36 infantry on the table (with another dozen off table!), and half a dozen cavalry regiments (with 4 in reserve) and a grande battery (14 total guns).  Indeed the force was so numerous that it was extremely challenging to fit it on the table!

A head-on shot of the French centre, shows some of the 14 battalions le Petit Caporal committed to the frontal assault on the fleches.

... and here you can see RTB's 2 battalions of Poles that later distinguished themselves (on which, more in due course!).  

Our light cavalry brigade was commanded by Lasalle, himself (gesturing with pipe).

And finally, below, le Petit Tondu himself, with General Staff; lovely painting by Roger, particularly worth a click.  That is Ney with his back to us, at the table.

Most of the French shown are Rogers, but some are Ken's (and a very few of the line, my own).  Tomorrow will follow some shots of the action!

BigRedBat's away day

I've been away to Nottingham to play a game chez RTB, with Roger himself and Ken and Will from WD3 forum.  We played a very large Napoleonic game, very loosely based on Borodino, using Roger and Ken's extensive armies and a small contingent of my forces.  I'll post a few shots over the next few days, here are some to get started with from the initial Russian deployment.

Above is a view from behind the Russian great redoubt, which Will had made for the game, looking towards the French lines.  I think RTB painted the guns.

Here are some troops on the Russian right; the cossacks, in particular, turned out to be a real PITA.

Above is a view of the Russian left, including a battery of 12pdrs.  The Russian guns were terribly powerful, and later took a terrible toll of the attackers.

A view of the Russian left, from behind the French lines.  This was a relatively quiet wing; not much action aside from some long range firing.  I think all the Generals were too worried that they might need to read up the bizarre Black Powder rules on attacking buildings.

...and finally Kutusov, himself (seated) with the Russian General Staff.  The Russian Staff drank a good deal of imported French Pinot Noir, during the game, but sadly this isn't depicted.  It didn't seem to unduly impair their performance.  These beautiful figures were painted by Roger, over just a few days.

Tomorrow, the French!

Flocking Hell

I've made great progress with my three additional Garde Chasseur Battalions and command stands, but have now reached the point when I need to stick around a dozen clumps of Silflor to each of 33 bases, for a total of 400 clumps (then add static grass and drybrush).  This is, by no means, a small job.  :-(   

OTOH Mrs Bat is out so I can have a clear run at it, the day is young, the sun shining and I have 402 minutes of the excellent 1980's BBC "Fortunes of War" series ready to hit the DVD player!

Tambour Major

A rare sight; a mini I've painted from scratch!  This Drum Major will lead the massed drums of the two regiments of Chasseurs I've assembled.  His drummers will sound the Pas de Charge, in the event that the Garde reserve is needed to assault the enemy redoubt in our Petit Borodino game on the 30th (scheduled to be my first game in 5 months!).

I repainted the drums, and the drummers.  I was very pleased with how the drums came out; I replaced the Victrix drums with spare Perry drums, which are a little more crisply moulded.  I also replaced the drums on the command stands, which look better for it (not shown).

These chaps have put me somewhat behind, but I hope to catch up with the five mounted command figures I still need to paint, on Saturday.

Raising my standards...

I've replaced the old standards for my 1er and 2eme Chasseurs, with spanking new 1813 GMB Tricolours, which rather look the biz.  I'm taking the opportunity to do a little gentle refurbishment on the figures (highlights, new drums, fixing some minor details I got wrong and revarnishing).

Below are the mounted Generals for the two regiments, the Garde Brigade commander and the Divisional commander for the Dragoons; all at a worryingly early stage!

I'm getting nervous about the timings to get all this finished and based, for a game at the end of the month; it is looking challenging...

I love it when a plan comes together...

At last the majority of my four Garde Chasseur a Pied battalions are substantially painted and on their bases.  There are almost a company's worth of them.  Most were originally painted by Shaun Duncan, some by Dave? and a few, from scratch, by me.  I've added a lot of detailing, though, and most recently mud-splashes a la Burkhard (very easy, very effective, highly recommended).

I still have to paint 5 mounted officers, new standards, and ideally a drum major and some drummers.  The basing is going to take a couple of weeks, and I need them finished by the month-end.  Gulp.

Yet more Chasseurs and some Grognards

Shaun Duncan's reinforcements arrived last week, and I've now got almost all the miniatures I need* for my 4 battalions of Garde Chasseurs.  Two battalions are now on their bases (at the rear), two more are mostly painted at front left and centre, and on the right are two dozen grognard Grenadiers, that I just purchased from Foresight Painting, on eBay, and will expand into a battalion and rebase in April.

*I still need to paint the mounted officers (Perry's)