Regiment Champagne joins the French army

Today I completed the painting of Regiment Champagne, the 8th French regiment I have completed for my Western front campaign scheduled for 2020.
Champagne was a large 4 btn regiment, so to reflect this I have given the unit 12 basis instead of the standard seven bases. I will probably add more grenadiers and a btn gun in due course. The colours were relatively simple to paint, but quite effective.
The regiment fought in a number of major actions including Hastenbeck, Krefeld, Minden, Vellinghausen and Wilhelmstahl.

Planning my western Germany campaign trip

Today is bleak in sunny Scotland with constant drizzle and certainly not weather for outdoor activities. So after a morning of office work, I have decided to start planning our trip to western Germany in late August/early September. Basically we will be following in the footsteps of Charles G, who visited the area in the spring in preparation for his new book, Volume 7, which is currently at the publishers and I hope will be printed before we depart.
The main visit will include the battlefields at Warburg, Wilhelmstadt, Corbach, Hastenbeck, Villinghausen and however many other sites I can fit in, while still retaining domestic harmony.
I visited Charles last month to discuss the trip, and he has kindly provided me with a wealth of information, maps etc to make the trip all the more meaningful. I have already found that background research is the key to getting the most out of these visits. Last year at Lobositz, I struggled to find the Homolka mound until I returned home and realised that I had been standing on it ! Many of the 18th century battlefields, particularly in the east are not well marked or celebrated, presumably because of the previous communist influence. Hopefully the west should be easier as Charles has mentioned a number of markers and signs at each site.

Some of Charles guides :

Charles very kindly gave me some Menzel prints that he had. These prints are an absolute delight and the source of so much inspiration. I keep going back to look at them, and they will give me some great modelling ideas in the months ahead.

IR1 von Winterfeldt receive their colours.

Having been away on holiday, I apologise for not posting. But I have been busy on my vacation, and I have managed to paint up my first regiment, using the new 40mm figures from Crann Tara. These are not yet released, but Graham C has kindly given me some masters to play around with.
I wanted a "big regiment", so the final configuration is a 59 man regiment, with battalion gun to follow. This consists of 7x6 musketeer stands, 2 x 6 grenadier stands, 2 NCO's, 2 Officers and a Mounted colonel. The colonel is converted using one of the Crann tara foot officers.
The flags, as usual have been painted by master flagsman, Mark Allan. All my flags come from Mark, and his work is superb.

I present .... IR1 von Winterfeldt

I do like this style of 40mm. Smaller and more fine detail than other ranges, the scale is more accurate, and looks great en masse. They remind me of the old Stadden style figures, with a touch of "Willie" figures added.

Next up will be IR23, the paired grenadier battalion with IR1.

But a rest from Prussians first I think !