Bearwoodman's Silver Bayonet

[Bearwoodman]

Thanks for the comments all!

Like everything you have done so far, Bearwoodman! Goblin is my favourite. I foresee nothing being wasted off those sprues.
Don't forget Caliver books do a Regency Zombie range with zombie redcoats, and characters from Pride and Prejudice so if you fancy having Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet....

http://www.miniaturefigurines.co.uk/Catalogue.aspx?ScaleID=14&CategoryID=83&SubCategoryID=361

That Recency Zombie range is cool, they have plenty of character. I have plenty on my painting table already (not least the large pile of plastic Victrix British infantry donated by Vodkafan) so I am trying abstain from purchasing new figures, but I am particularly tempted by the Lord Byron and Mary Shelly figures. I look forward to seeing your work Tikitang!

I have not had much chance to paint over the past week or two, but I have finished the first of the Victrix Brits mentioned above. An "Infantryman" from a line company, my first ever proper Napoleonic figure:



I had arrogantly dismissed warnings about how fiddly these figures are to assemble and how delicate they are once complete. I am humbler now, as I broke the end of the bayonet and had to reshape it into something that is no doubt unhistorical (but is perhaps a field modification to make it better suited to close quarter battle in confined spaces like crypts). I also snapped off part of the sling of the musket and had to replace it with a thin strip of cardboard. Painting was fiddly too, but I expect to improve my quality and efficiency as I work my way through this man's comrades.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Brilliant work mate! Napoleonics can indeed be fiddly but worth the effort when they come out great like this British Infantryman of yours.

[vodkafan]

Amazing work! 

[tikitang]

Great work!

That Recency Zombie range is cool, they have plenty of character... I am particularly tempted by the Lord Byron and Mary Shelly figures. I look forward to seeing your work Tikitang!

I can't wait to start painting that whole Regency gang. Sadly, it's been two weeks since I ordered them and I am still waiting for their arrival. I guess they are made to order?

[Cat]

That looks great!
 
For good and for bad, they are indeed fiddly kits.  Pose variety and tweakability are all very good, but at a price.

I had been awaiting the Victrix Bavarians which finally just came out.  But in the meantime I wound up buying Foundry metals during their holiday sale (just arrived today). and am not unhappy with having a good variety of poses all in solid metal.

[Bearwoodman]

Thanks all, glad you like him!

That looks great!
 
For good and for bad, they are indeed fiddly kits.  Pose variety and tweakability are all very good, but at a price.

I had been awaiting the Victrix Bavarians which finally just came out.  But in the meantime I wound up buying Foundry metals during their holiday sale (just arrived today). and am not unhappy with having a good variety of poses all in solid metal.

You are right, and I didn't mean my comments on the figures as a criticism, more that I had to learn the hard way to treat these figures with the respect they deserve. I do love the realistically slender muskets and bayonets and the conversion possibilities that these kits allow (like my goblin).

As for the Bavarians, I did not know they were coming. They look interesting. Are you planning to apply the rules for Prussians in Silver Bayonet to your Bavarians?

[Cat]

You are right, and I didn't mean my comments on the figures as a criticism, more that I had to learn the hard way to treat these figures with the respect they deserve.

Oh, that was clear.  I love hard plastic figures, but some kits do go overboard on the separate bits.  But then you've got separate bits to play with...
 
For the Bavarians, I'm just making my own list — all the usual characters plus these specials:
Native Scout (Alpine foresters), Occultist (Munich Book of Necromancy & Frankenstein studied at Ingolstadt), Rifleman (schutzen companies) Swordsman (dueling more prevalent than Prussia), Werewolf (very common in those parts).
 
Turns out that Foundry packs are ideal for this game.  One pack of 6 assortedly posed infantry and one command pack that includes a dis/mounted officer is just sweet!
 
I also got a pair of packs like that for British Light Infantry.  I'll tweak the hats to make them 71st Highland Lights.  I wasn't originally planning on British, but then had a unit concept thought around an Investigator and Veteran Hunter that cannot be unthunk...

[Iain R]

Wonderful work thus far! Looking forward to seeing more...

[Bearwoodman]

I have been attempting to kindle some interest in this project within my son. He has little knowledge of the period beyond the Napoleon Waterloo rap from the Horrible Histories TV series ("You say I’m cocky, maybe I am/It’s not my fault it’s my pituitary gland/Or maybe my ego, but I’ll tell you what is true/I’m a military genius and my army love me too") so I suggested he look at my recently acquired reference book on the subject of Napoleonic uniforms and chose a Nation based on which army he thought was the best dressed. 

After perusing the beautiful colour plates, he chose the Prussians, based on this illustration of the 2nd Life Hussars:

Despite the rather sombre palette I think you will agree that these chaps cut a serious dash, with a uniform that is both extravagant but also rather sinister. The question is, where do I find suitable figures? Ideally both mounted and dismounted. I have looked at Perry, Warlord and Victrix but I haven't seen anything that looks quite like this (Warlord do a box of Prussian Hussars, but as far as I can tell they have covers on their shakos so you cannot see the sparkly skull and crossbones). I am not averse to conversion or kitbashing if that is required, and I am also not adverse to using figures that are "close enough" to this unit if perfect accuracy is not possible (no one I am likely to play against will know either way).

I would be very grateful for any suggestions.

[Blackwolf]

Bear, I would use the Perry British Hussars,with the Wargames Atlantic Riflemen,which have a similar look. You’ll have to shave off the plaques on their shakos so you can paint the skull and crossbones. The Wargames Atlantic riflemen come with pelisse et cetera 

[Cat]

If you wait a tiny bit, Steve Barber is working on Brunswick Hussars right now. 
 
I replied to his post last week on FB that dismounted figures for this, or any cavalry, would be really great for The Silver Bayonet.  So, mounted  ones at least are coming sometime soon, and maybe foot.  At the very least they can be spliced at the waist with your favourite pair of legs.

[Bearwoodman]

Bear, I would use the Perry British Hussars,with the Wargames Atlantic Riflemen,which have a similar look. You’ll have to shave off the plaques on their shakos so you can paint the skull and crossbones. The Wargames Atlantic riflemen come with pelisse et cetera 

Thanks Blackwolf - these are now on my Christmas list!

Thanks Cat also, I will keep an eye out for the Steve Barber figures too. Although as I understand it the Prussian Life Hussars are not the same as Brunswick Hussars are they - they just have similar uniforms? (apologies for my ignorance).

In the meantime here is another converted Blacklist figure.  I thought he might work as a Pixie, but reading the rule book again I think he might be a bit big. Better as a demon?



Although since carrying out the head swap I have discovered tricorn hats had fallen out of style by the Napoleonic wars. An unfashionable demon then.

[Cat]

Although as I understand it the Prussian Life Hussars are not the same as Brunswick Hussars are they - they just have similar uniforms? (apologies for my ignorance).

A nice thing about hussars is that there is a lot of similarity between uniforms; a head swap, if that much will usuually do the trick.  The Brunswickers come with a nice death's head on their shako.  The only real difference with the Prussian is the plume.  A bit of green stuff added onto the standard sort of plume on the Brunswick hat is all that's needed here to make it the droopy horsehair type. 
 
I suspect Gargoyles and Demons can be old-fashioned in their fashion sense.
 
I'm leaning towards making custom Gargoyle stats.  Les gargouilles sont très gothiques, n'est-ce pas ?

[tikitang]

How about these two Brunswickers?

http://www.miniaturefigurines.co.uk/images/catalogue/PENN01.jpg

http://www.miniaturefigurines.co.uk/images/catalogue/PENN02.jpg

Available here:

http://www.miniaturefigurines.co.uk/Catalogue.aspx?ScaleID=14&CategoryID=36&SubCategoryID=187

[vodkafan]

At first I thought those Prussian Hussars were Brunswickers when I saw the skull and crossbones, but then realised the plume was the wrong colour!
Good work for getting your son interested in a bit of the period history. Maybe if you get him to read the exciting story of the Brunswickers and why they were fighting for the English he will switch to these Germans instead!

It's a funny thing about Napoleonic uniforms...combatants borrowed styles of uniform from the enemy over time...for instance the British had been wearing tight below the knee gaiters for many years...just when they dropped them for good in favour of proper trousers around 1812, both the French and the Americans both
 copied and adopted the same style...the US army actually kept them right through to WWII.

That demon in the tricorne hat just seems to fit so well with the world-building... well done.