Bits and Pieces

To have a change of pace from the other projects I was working on I dipped into the “pile of pride” and dug out a couple of battalions for my War of Spanish Succession French. These were two units from the French Household troops the Maison de Roi.

First up was a battalion of Garde Francaises – in the field these units had the privilege of choosing their own position in the battle line and also they could claim the privilege of leading the assault on any breaches during a siege!!

The uniform was a relatively straight forward dark blue with red trimmings. The figures are from Front Rank and the only issue is that they do not carry the ribbons that were traditionally worn by the guard units on their shoulders.

The standards are from Warfare Miniatures and a tip here in make sure you have the fleur de leis the correct way up when you glue the flags on, I didn’t the first time but luckily I had a spare (doh!).

The next unit was a battalion of the Garde Suisses (Swiss) who both shared the guard duties in Paris and also fought alongside the Garde Francaises in the Maison de Roi.

This time in scarlet coats trimmed blue. The standards this time are from Maverick Models – and these particular flags have been printed on cloth material. They do need treating with PVA before being cut to size but are very nice standards.

One of my aims this year was to finish off the vehicles I had started for the Western Desert. I have finally managed this with 2 Opel Blitz’s and an Sdkfz 251/1 for my DAK forces. So actually finished one of my pledges.

Recently completed another unit of wandering Poles for my French Napoleonic Peninsular army.

These figures are from Warlord Games so do pose a couple of problems. They are based on the French Lancer plastics figures with metal heads and as such for the purist the jackets have the incorrect turnback’s for the Polish Lancers. Also I wanted to paint these as the Vistula Legion (pre 1811) and there is debate about when they went from the Polish Shako to the Czapka.

Talking of the Czapka there is also differing information regarding the colours and the years they changed was the top yellow or dark blue? Finally there is also conflicting information regarding the lance pennant! Some say it is red over white, while others say it is white over red!

In the end after consulting my library I went with the uniform details of a book I have had for over forty years that is Almark’s French Napoleonic Lancer Regiments (originally published in 1971!!).

Recently completed are a couple of Kubelwagons for my Afrika Korps platoon and they also show a salutary lesson. You will notice that one has a driver figure and the other does not. Well the reason for this is that after assembling the first I had the bright idea that I would leave the driver separate for the second for ease of painting. Once painted I then discovered that I couldn’t get him back into the vehicle ?. Lesson learnt for the future.

To give myself a break from painting Ottoman Turks I managed to finish off a couple more support units for my 28mm Africa Korps forces. First up was a Horch with a 20mm Flak 38 and the other is a Pak 38 50mm antitank gun.

At the same time I finished off a few “jump off” points for use in the western desert for “Chain of Command”.

Here is a collection of random figures that have been lurking on the painting desk for some time. The first three are from the Dark Ages (sorry can’t bring myself to use the Early Medieval that has suddenly emerged) which were a present a while ago. One I know is Uthred of Bebbanburg and his female companion and the last a druid or shaman. Unfortunately I cannot remember who the manufacturer is as I lost the original packaging.

The next three figures were all “specials” from Warlord I have acquired and will be added to my Very British War forces (I have way too many 20mm Soviets for WW2 and am not even tempted to go for a 28mm force ?). They are  Lydmila Paulichenko  – Lady Death,  Vasily Zaitsev and the one and only Churchill. Lydmila and Vasily will be added to my “Lancashire Reds” faction, while Churchill will be included in the “Royalist” forces.

The last of my recent completed figures was a refugee from my Infamy project that I found lurking at the back of my painting desk.

It was a Roman “medic” that I had not used when making up the various “ambush points” for the Roman forces.

It gave me the opportunity to paint him up and us him as the “Capsarius” support option within the game (basically a medic) to treat any wounded leader.

The figure is from Warlord and was painted in my normal, block, shade and highlight style.

The other unit I recently completed was another Infantry battalion for my French Peninsular forces, in the form of a Polish battalion I received as a present.

I decided that these were to be painted as the 1st Battalion, 1st Regiment of the Vistula Legion. I know there is a debate that they did not wear the Czapka in Spain but shako but they do look good. Also it was a struggle to identify the correct uniform details, some sources I have had them with yellow collars and cuffs, while others had them with blue collars lined yellow. There was also varying descriptions as to whether the pompom colour was white or black. In the end I decided to go with the uniform description I had in the old Almark French Infantry book I acquired in the late seventies when I had first started in the hobby.

The standard is from GMB Designs.