Painting Progress: Heroics & Ros 1/300th French Wagons

Not quite finished these, but they're 'hot off the press'. It's funny, viewed with the naked eye I'm quite pleased with them, but under the microscope of the camera, they look so clumsy! I'm tempted to return to them and tidy them all up when I see these photos. But I reckon once based they'll look alright pretty much as is.

I like the wagon train uniform, with the French blue offset by beige breeches and brown facings. The H&R figures are so miniscule, and with fairly minimal detail, I'm not sure I can manage to do the collar'n'cuff facing colours!

I'll probably add blinkers to the unridden horses.

Note the large holes in the rear horse of each pair: these are meant to receive the 'T-bar' of the wagon pole. I'm sure T-bar and wagon pole aren't the correct terms... anyone care to enlighten me? [1]

I'm planning to populate my wargaming action with plenty of ancillary figures: baggage train, camp followers, beaucoup de limbers, and suchlike. One of the features of many contemporary pictures of the wars of this period is troops and their support network trudging through the landscape. This is my first batch of such folk. I also have the H&R French pontoon train. I'd love to find - or even scratch build, perhaps? - some ambulances, fire-engines, field forges, etc.

And for the final pic, below, the wagons. These need more work, to bring out the spokes, and generally 'funk 'em up'. Behind the wagons are some H&R Imp. Guard Engineers, awaiting a lick of the brush.

Heroics & Ros' figures are the smallest of the three 6mm-ish brands I've bought so far, with Baccus being larger, and Adler the chunkiest of all. As the sizes increase, so does the detail. Some of these H&R were both very thin, and slightly hare-lipped (as if the mould wasn't 100% aligned when casting). I don't know how they'll blend with the Baccus and Adler, which two brands will, I think, sit together pretty well.

I'm not sure how I'm going to base any of my units yet. With wagon train, artillery and limbers, etc., I think I'll try and find a uniform width. But I'm confused as to whether to add grassy flock stuff, or have them on rutted muddy 'track' type bases. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please share them with me!

[1] I could always browse Philip Haythornthwaite's Weapons & Equipment of the Napoleonic Wars, I guess, and see if the terminology is given in there somewhere... Think I'll save that for a(nother) rainy day! Pictured below is an older edition of this useful book, which I recently snaffled up for just £4, from the second-hand book shop at our local NT property.