On the workbench today

A bit of a variety going on to keep up my interest level.
On the left, the have just based the first two stands for my Grenadiers de France regiment. This will be a big 12 base regiment of 52 figures including command. Should take me well into November to get this finished as there is a fair level of detail on the uniforms. Behind them is a mounted figure for the Royal Cravattes. This will be the colour bearer with the officer to the right.. The colour has been painted by Mark Allen, and the detail is incredible. I will post the finished figure.
On the right, I am converting two sailors who will become crew members of my recently acquired ships. I will paint the bases brown, as my normal green finish will not look right on board ship.
Finally, I have been working on a generic dismounted French officer with horse. He has still to be appointed to a regiment. A nice, quick vignette to produce.

Regiment Diesbach takes to the field

This weekend I managed to finish Swiss regiment Diesbach, one of the nicest uniforms and set of colours in the French army in my view. I have painted this as a seven base unit to represent a 2 btn regiment. The red tunics were enjoyable to paint and I am pleased with the result.

                                                             Regiment Diesbach

        The figure second from the left, front row is painted by Dave Jarvis, the rest by me. If to                      struggle to tell the difference, then my job is done !  Wonderful flags by Mark Allen.

          Found a stray dog in my metal box so I decided to give the NCO and unofficial mascot

A French ADC for Broglie

This weekend, as a break while completing Regiment Diesbach, I converted an ADC to add to my recently made Broglie command unit. The horse is a modified  S & S civil war piece, the figure a modified Dragoon officer. I wanted to get a sense of urgency and "moment in time" effect, hence the hat flying back from the head of the ADC, and the coat tails flapping.  I enjoy converting one -off figures as a break from regimental duty. Much of the inspiration comes from other forums, and research. This particular fellow is based on the uniform of the ADC in the Osprey, Louis XV's Army Vol 4. Ref F1.  I made the figure lean to one side on the horse, to give the impression he is just delivering or receiving an order. I am pleased with this effort, my photograph has not really done it justice, but a recent upgrade of my phone from an Iphone 5 to Iphone 8, with improved camera may help my efforts !

The ADC in action

We are going to need a bigger table ! Here comes the navy !

I have been mulling over this purchase for some time, but yesterday, I took the plunge, visited my local antique shop, used my negotiating skills developed watching Combat Dealers and countless daytime antique shows, to bag my best purchase in a long time. Each ship is around 30 inches in length and with detail to die for.  Even Mrs H approved the quality of the purchaser, although the fleet has orders to sail from the house to the games room !

                                                                 The Soleil Royal.
       Slightly early for 18th century campaigns, but it looks the part. Ideal for my French flagship

                                                                Le Protecteur
                                         Launched in 1760, ideal for 7YW actions
               I may convert this to a British ship to give The Soleil Royal an opponent. A change of flags                will hopefully suffice.

                         The deck of the Protecteur. 40mm figure on left, 28mm figure on right

                   The deck of the Soliel Royal. 40mm figure on right, 28mm figure on left


      Both 28mm and 40mm figures look great on the vessels, and I intend to use for both.
   I need to acquire some naval crews now, not fighting figures, but sailors working the ship. I will probably convert some S& S 40mm civilians, but I hope to acquire off the shelf 28mm 18th century sailors, if readers can give me  some suggestions.
The ships are too nice to cut way the base of the hull, but I will take them off their stands.
My table has a permanent cloth on the surface, so my plan is to create some 4x2ft base boards, or maybe 3x2ft, create an ocean effect, and have a slot/hole cut in the base board which will allow me to sink in the hulls to the correct depth.  The ships will be set in one permanent position but I hope to create a fleet of smaller flat bottom boats which can move around the baseboards.

Another exciting project to get stuck into, and one that I hope will eventually develop into a display set which I can show. ... Back to my French infantry for now

The Wall

Not Pink Floyd, but my attempt to start making an 18th century town wall in 40mm.
Plywood is difficult to come by in the north of Scotland, so I headed to my local wood store, and bought some wood and edging. DIY has never been my thing, so assembled with some nails, covered and sculpted the brick shaps in polyfilla, then painted, washed and dry brushed.
It has turned out a bit chunky, so I may get some plywood, or go down the 3D printing route. I am talking to GC about the prospect of a Vauban fort, so watch this space !

Still thinking about purchasing one of these beauties to go with a Vauban fort. The boats are 3ft long by 2ft tall, and by my reckoning would work with 40mm figures. Now that would make some display game. Tomorrow I will make my decision. The only thing that holds me back is the bottom of the hull. It needs to be cut flat, which kills any resale value (excuse the Pun), or I cut a hole in a baseboard to sink the hull to water level.... What a dilema  but equally, what  display game.

A visit to Fort George and Inverness Museum

Today I took Mrs H to Inverness station, she is off for the weekend with her sisters to see Andrea Bocelli in Glasgow. Having the weekend to myself, I decided to make Saturday a military day, and firstly visited Inverness museum, which has some nice Jacobite exhibits, and which I have not visited for 25 years !

This coat was supposedly worn by Bonnie Prince Charlie during the 1745 uprising. Whether factual or not, it is a beautiful piece of work, and I hope to incorporate something similar to a figure conversion in the future.

                               
                            A nice highland targe and some exquisite pistols circa 1730-80

                                 Next stop was Fort George a few miles along the coast. 
Completed after the Jacobite rebellion it must be the finest example of Vauban style architecture in the UK, and probably the biggest example of its kind. It was too strong to ever be attacked and the rebellion was over by the time it was finished. There was a fear of French invasion in the 1860's when new artillery was mounted on the walls, but it was largely used as a military barracks, and was HQ of the Seaforth Highlanders for many years.  Not the most welcome of postings it must have been a daunting posting for new recruits. I believe the government had considered exiling Napoleon to Fort George at one time !  It also has the museum of the Highlanders, (Queens Own H, Camerons, Seaforths, Lovat Scouts and Liverpool Scottish). This is one of the finest museums in the UK and a must visit. Much credit must go to CG and his colleagues for this project.
As the regiments were only founded in the late 18th century, there is not much of interest for 7YW buffs, but a treasure trove for later periods.


This image is in the regimental chapel at Fort George. I really like the casualty and padre (wearing a broadsword !). I hope to make a vignette based on these two figures in the near future. You can actually see the stain glass windows reflecting in the photo.

The nearest gun is 18th century, the others probably from 1860 when the French invasion scare was at its height. The fortifications are complete and extremely daunting to any prospective attacker.

                                                                    Impressive howitzer

                            I was fascinated by this painting which shows a French attack in the Netherlands.
There is so much going on in the artwork and I could spend hours looking at it. What a fantastic show stopper of a disply game this would make.... If only I can acquire a 40mm Vauban fort !

Broglie & The Auvergne reg.

Some of you may have already seen these images as I posted them on the 40mm forum and The Seven Years war forum.
I needed a new French command vignette, and inspired by my recent German trip, I decided to do Broglie with some staff. I like to give each command base a unique flag, as per AMG, in this case, I googled the Broglie family crest and used it. All figures are S&S converts.

 I also managed to complete my Reg Auvergne this week. Those facings are such an attractive colour, it is a must have unit. They had 4 btns in the SYW, so I have created a big unit of 12 bases, with an officer, colonel command base, nco and btn gun. A total of 55 figures including the casualty.

Glad to get this unit completed, bringing my French infantry regimental strength up to 11 units.
On to Reg. Diesbach now, looking forward to painting some red tunics being a Swiss regiment.
As they were a 2 btn regiment I will paint up 7 bases of 4 figures to represent them. MA has already painted the colours whcih look fabulous