All at sea

First of the 1200mmx600mm display bases finished today. The sea painted dark blue, with black shading and the waves dry brushed white. Completed with a coat of satin yacht varnish.

Come back here you !!!

”Come back here, you horrible little Frenchman”
Piemont infantry man takes flight as the action starts.
My fun conversion piece over the weekend

Hanoverian IR 2a Von Sporcken

Hanoverian IR2 Von Sporcken starts recruitment with the first three bases completed
A single btn regiment, I am unsure whether just to add one more base or increase to seven.
The jury is still out, but I feel that two colours is too much for a four base unit.
In my Prussian and Austrian armies, a two btn regiment is represented by seven bases of musketeers.

 The officer will become an ADC. He is more appropriate for court, rather than leading the line.
The undercoat spray bubbled up, so the paint finish is not as smooth as I would have liked

Although I enjoyed converting the officer, there have been comments on the anatomy and the chunky legs, which is a characteristic of S@S figures. In an attempt to achieve future perfection, I have cast some filed down dollies in various positions . This should give the collection much more variety in style as it grows, and I find time to convert more vignettes instead of building full regiments.
The dollies will be much easier to add milliput.

A Hanoverian officer conversion, and progress with the fleet

I  enjoy starting to plan and construct a new army, and my Hanover project has started this week.
No matter how much you read on 18th century history and uniforms, there is always something new to discover. This is particularly true when you start a new army which in my case, I know very little about. So armed with the Steven Summerfield's "Hanoverian army of the Seven Years War", a couple of useful Osprey's, and a few other references, here we go.
My first queries were on style of hair worn by the infantry. Did they follow Prussian/Austrian convention and have pigtails, or did they follow the British style, as they did with most of their uniform detail. Sources vary and there seems to be no definitive answer, so I have gone with pigtails and moustaches. Summerfield does say that powdered hair tended to be the norm for parades, but not on campaign. The next query is officers sashes. Some illustrations show a sash worn over the shoulder, others round the waist. I have gone for the shoulder look in this case.

So below is my first Hanoverian officer conversion, the original figure is next to him.
The chap will represent a staff officer/ADC, I cannot see him leading a charge or running into a breech. He seems more suited to court life and an eighteenth century dance floor.The figure is heavily influenced by the style of Edward Suren. He did a number of figures in this type of position, which I have always admired, and for me define the 18th century.

The naval project continues slowly. The 50mm foam board is now glued together to a height of 100mm, and the sides have been strengthened with mdf. The next task was to use polyfila to create a sea effect, which I am quite pleased with. I have bulked this up at the front and rear to represent waves, and the two blobs in the forground will be missed cannon shots. Next task is to seal with PVC then a black matt undercoat.

Some additions to the French Army

The latest addition to the French line is The Piemont Regiment. The black cuffs and  white crossed flag contrast nicely with the white uniform. I have now ran out of French castings so this regiment will be strengthened in due course when more troops arrive.

                                                          The Piemont Regiment

I have also been converting and painting some command figures to support the units.


                                                    French Lt General & ADC

                                                            Mounted ADC

January marks the start of my army of Hanover...... more to follow

What I am up to this week.

Just working on Piemont infantry regiment, but as I need new castings, recruitment for this unit will stop for a short while. Meanwhile I have been building my collection of staff officers and other single pieces for my collection. Just finished the ADC in blue coat, holding a map. Pleased with the finish, but the photo does not really do it justice. The other French officers will make nice single action pieces next to the regimental units.

One of my bucket list ambitions is to put on a display game at a future show. You will remember that I purchased two fabulous ships from an antique shop some months ago, both which are suitable for 40mm scale. The problem was how to display them at water level without butchering the hull.
So on the advice of Stuart, I have bought some 50mm thick ekoboard and glued two pieces together to give a thickness of 100mm x1200mm x 600 mm or approx 4ftx2ft
I then cut a hole to fit the hull of the ship.

The ship fits in the board, sits on the baseboard, and the ekoboard reaches to the waterline

The next job will be to fix mdf board to the sides to give the ekoboard more strength, then layer the top with polyfilla, and then sculpt to look like sea and waves, ready for painting. I will repeat the process for the other ship, which should give me two baseboards which will represent the sea. I will purchase more 4x2 ft ekoboard which will eventually provide the baseboards to create a 6ft x12 ft display.

Turpin Hussars and future plans

Turpin Hussars is my 5th French cavalry regiment, and probably the last for some time. I find Hussars extremely morale sapping to paint, and I am breathing a sigh of relief today, as this regiment joins the ranks. I have used some artistic licence in that the commanding officer wears a tricorne to define him from the rest of the unit. (He is also firing a pistol). Hussar officers were known for wearing a tricorne on occasions, and I assume the French were no different. The standard is hand painted on a flat copper sheet cut to size. I have used a bit of artistic licence with the colour, as I could only find a description and no illustration in Kronoscaf. My French cavalry regiments are smaller, normally 12 figures. I have painted each squadron in a different colour, white, black and brown to give more variation. 3 squadrons of 4 figures = French cavalry regiment.

Next up is the Piemont Infantry Regiment.
I still have some French castings left, so I will paint them up as a new unit before starting my Hanoverian project. I like the plain look of this regiments uniform, and the black facings will contrast nicely with the off-white coat. Certainly they will be less challenging than Hussars.
I had already converted a mounted officer, the foot soldiers will be started today.

                                                      Piemont Infantry Officer


Stuart visited us last week, I always enjoy his visits as he recharges my batteries and always has something new up his sleeve. Hopefully we will get a few games in 2020 and we also discussed a show game to display my 40mm' ers and recently purchased ships. So I have ordered some 1200x600x50mm Ekoboards which hopefully I will be able to cut to shape and use as base boards.
The main task will be to cut a hole in two of the boards which will represent the sea, and will allow me to slot in the ships to the correct hull water line. The last thing I want to do is cut away the hulls of these little master pieces. The ships will need to be sunk by about 80-90 mm, hence the need for 100mm thick/tall base boards.