Thursday 21 May 2020

British on the march & AB first impressions.

It's been a funny old past few weeks, somewhat up and down for me, but with the easing of lockdown restrictions life is gradually beginning to feel slightly more normal again.

As usual I continue to paint model soldiers on a daily basis, although there has been a change of direction (once again). The more I painted 18mm Napoleonics, the less I felt I wanted to paint anything else! Something about these little ten figure infantry bases has really caught my imagination and the result are two armies for DBN that could also be used for portable or C&C type games.

The upshot of the above, coupled with the fact that I have been unable to stock up with Baccus figures is that the 6mm WSS stuff has now been sold to a new owner, it seemed pointless working in two scales to the same ends. The One Hour Wargame scenarios will now be played using DBN rules and 18mm figures.

My first order from Eureka UK came through in around 4 weeks and I have more in the queue. The AB figures are of course sublime, and I'm really pleased that that the infantry at least are a  very good fit beside my Blue Moon figures. I had ordered just 4 carabiniers as I had been told that the cavalry are not such a good match, being on the larger side. This is indeed the case, the AB heavy cavalry horses are huge so I'll continue to use BM for future cavalry. The AB guns are superior to the BM models in my opinion, certainly the wheels are much finer and the overall look is much less chunky so I'll be replacing the BM guns with AB's. On order I have Spanish line and militia, Portuguese Cacadores and Polish infantry plus a few more AB personalities. Below you see Marshal Ney, a fine model that I bought to see how the personalities would fit beside my BM chaps, no problem.

Simon at S&A scenics has been busy supplying me with more of his lovely terrain products, I really like the consistency of the items. So far I have roads in two widths, lots of hills, lots of the new 'more realistic' trees and the vineyard you see below. Simon is currently making matching river sections and some terrain templates for woods etc. The cloth was also supplied by Simon, I have a 4 x 3 piece waiting to be fixed down onto a sheet of ply which will then be edged with a wooden border. I'm really pleased with the overall look.

The houses you see are 10mm  scale by Battlescale painted a couple of years back and being used to represent DBN style BUA's for now. I spent quite a bit of time searching for 'small' 15mm scale Peninsular buildings before remembering good old Hovels resin models, I now have a fair number from the 'Spanish' range on order and these will replace the others to present a more Peninsular theme.

The 40mm's are staying here as display figures.

Lots of pictures as usual!

Both officers are AB figures all others are Blue Moon.

AB Ney.

Next up, more French with AB command figures.

AB guns waiting to be painted.

British army on the march.

Part of the Light Division for DBN. Cacadores on the way. 



Light Dragoons and Hussars.

The S&A Scenics vineyard.

S&A realistic trees.

Awaiting Peninsular buildings.

 

Forward to battle.
 

20 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Cheers Steve. I have taken the long way round but finally have a slot booked for a battle which will be a run through of the DBN rules.

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  2. Beautiful figures and scenery! Were I ever to venture down the Napoleonic road again, AB (ex-Battle Honours?) would be THE figures. WOnderful castings.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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    Replies
    1. Hi Stokes, the AB's are wonderful figures. My understanding is that the original Battle Honours range were 'true' 15mm and that Tony Barton's partner in the successful business went off with the takings,or some such. Tony then went on to produce his own 18mm range. The old BH range is still available too. AB is an intriguing character, believe he lives in Australia now.

      Check out his website: http://www.antheads.co.uk/about

      Cheers,

      Lee.

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  3. Lee,

    What a great job you’ve done on these figures ... and if I hadn’t known that they were 18mm, I’d have thought that they were easily 28mm!

    Good luck with your project,

    Bob

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    Replies
    1. Very many thanks Bob, I THINK that I have finally found the perfect combination of scale/figure ranges and set up/space. battle to follow.... at last.

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  4. Lovely results. The AB Ney looks superb. Some really nice looking battles are going to fall out of this.

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    Replies
    1. Norm, thanks for sticking with me through my many convolutions, I really do think this is it!

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  5. Really nice mate - glad you didn't get rid of the 40mm stuff (which were in a class of their own). I think you would have regretted it in the long run. The 18's look fantastic and as Bob said could be mistaken for 28's the way you paint them. Well done sir!

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    Replies
    1. Hi JBM, yes, the 40's are staying, they are still in the boxes they travelled back from Spain in!The 18's are a perfect compromise.

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  6. lovely figures, and superb painting, congrats on them, love the terrain and buildings too, well done mate
    cheers Old John

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    Replies
    1. Thank you John. I feel that I have now reached the point where I can start to focus on other things such as your figures.

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  7. These are pretty impressive elements for DBN - I'm interested to see how the battles go.

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    1. Cheers Rob, and good to hear from you. Battle is about to commence to test the DBN rules.

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  8. Lovely bunch of Napoleonics complemented by beutiful scenery and great photography!

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    1. Many thanks Ross, much appreciated, I try my best :)

      Lee.

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  9. Lovely looking Brits and Ney looks the right size! Glad to hear you've found your perfect size and I'm glad you decided against getting rid of your 40mm figures, as JBM says I think you would have eventually regretted it, put them in a cabinet and throw salt at them! As my dad would say,I don't know why!
    Best Iain

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Iain, I'm really enjoying doing them. Re the 40's, I will do just that :)

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