Sunday 22 April 2012

Battalion d'elite - French Grenadiers.

So this is the 'Old Guard' base that luckily I managed to transform into a converged elite battalion of grenadiers upon discovering that the Old Guard did not fight in the Peninsular! Thanks to the knowledge pool that is the TMP Napoleonic discussion forum there is plenty of evidence to support the fact that the bearskin was still being worn by French grenadier companies as late as 1811 at least, and that numerous British eye witnesses mistook these troops for the Old Guard. That'll do for me! Even in this tiny scale I think the base stands out as elite due to the touches of red on the bearskins and shoulders etc. I'm finding that I'm finally using more of the Foundry 'light' shades that I have had for years now, as I always felt these jumped out too much on 28mm figures unless used very sparingly. On 6mm however they seem to work. For example, the mid colour 'yellow' refuses to cover in one stroke of the brush, but the yellow 'light' is thicker and looks perfect to my eye. Same with the red 'light' which works well for highlighting plumes, epaulettes etc. I added a flag as they just look nicer with flags and I refuse to get hung up on such things.

12th Light Dragoons coming next, just the horses to paint later today if I get a chance. Again lovely little castings, you can see the braid on the front of the jackets! Followed by another French line base, a base of Chasseurs a Cheval and more British line. Soon as my Timecast order arrives I'll build a village base and a small own base. I also want to make a couple of hills. Then it's the first Polemos run through game, hopefully within the next couple of weeks.






3 comments:

  1. Well swerved, sir! I also have Old Guard figures in my Peninsular War army, but I gave them new flags and called them King Joseph's Guard (which is a very close match in the uniform dept) and everything is cool. Your elite grenadiers will be proud and happy.

    The troops are looking splendid. I once thought long and hard about 6mm (well 5mm actually) but couldn't decide whether to go for normal 33:1 figure scales and huge battlefields or great big units and more modest fields with a lot of tactical detail. Minifigs made the decision for me by stopping production of the 5mm blocks, but I've always had a soft spot for 1/300 - the scope for scenery is terrific too. If truth be told, I was also a bit concerned about my eyesight being up to it - and my pal who was the local mover and shaker in 1/300 Naps emigrated to Oz!

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  2. Excellent work yet again Lee. Look forward to your first battle!

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  3. Hello Steve, thanks again. was sorry to see Stoke go down so heavily to Newcastle on Saturday, as you predicted. Mind you, Pardew has done an amazing job with that team, has to be said.

    Tony, King Josephs Guard was suggested to me as an alternative too. This 6mm thing has really taken hold of me in a big way, I think it's something to do with being able to knock out the finished battalions so fast! I'm sure I wont stop at Napoleonics, I'd like to do the ECW in this scale too. Agree about scenery having loads of potential.

    All the best,
    Lee.

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