Kit Build/Review: 54mm Napoleonics, Pt III - MB French Hussar

I originally purchased this kit some years ago, at Salute, 2016 (my first post on it can be read here). I built it some time later, and then later still I started painting it. It's only been thanks to the advent of the Airfix 54mm Napoleonic kits that Sean gave me recently, that I've gotten round to finishing it (near enough).

An image from slightly earlier in the whole painting process.

The above photo was one of the only ones I took of the earlier stages of blocking in colour. And even then by that point I'd started working on highlights and shading, as on his breeches. In this image you can see his face a bit better than in the latter pics. It didn't come out quite as nicely as the recent Airfix Old Guard Grenadier, I don't think. But it's good enough for me for now. I also think the general darkness around his eyes works quite well under the visor of his shako.

Converting the sabretache.

In the image above I'm converting the sabretache, which was a lovely floridly ornate thing. First I had to scrape of the textural detail and flatten it. Then I had to carve/sculpt the new and correct detail from the very thin plastic-card that's supplied for straps, etc. The image on the left of the above picture shows the shield and crown apple to the flattened 'tache, with the tiny eagle on the work mat, next to the cork. The central background image is the whole lot glued in situ. And the image on the right has had a lick of paint. The tiny eagle was still a bit too big. Or was the shield too small? Either way, I could've done a better job. But it was sufficiently had work to leave me not wanting to repeat the process from scratch! And I figured paint would help me out later anyway.

At this juncture I've finally mounted the figure on his trusty steed. Neither are 100% finished, but they're near enough for me to make a post on my progress, methinks. Working on the lace on his dolman and pelisse was another of the very painstaking processes, with much to-ing and fro-ing, painting and retouching.

In these images you can see how the sabretache came out once painted. I'm simultaneously pleased and still a little disappointed. I think the shield should've been a tad larger, and the whole array a title higher/more central on the overall leathern pouch. Still, he does at least now have what I believe to be the correct sabretache, according to my researches in such sources as the Funckens, Vernet, Rousselot, et al.

Nearing completion...

The colours are described in Funcken as Sky Blue and Chestnut Brown. I actually used Vallejo Mahogany Brown for the chestnut colour, and my own custom mix for the blue, using approx' 50/50 (?) and Ivory. The highlights and shading were achieved using Vallejo Black to darken the colours, and Ivory to lighten, with a drop of (?) in the chestnut, to keep it nutty and warm. The colure in the pictures in this post are rather more vivd than normal, as they're taken on my wife's Samsung Galaxy tablet, as opposed to my usual iPad pics. The latter not working (battery won't charge!). For some reason the Galaxy takes much more vividly coloured and rather higher contrast photos.

I'm pleased with how the browns and blues came out.

It still remains to do a few things, such as straps for the stirrups, reins, and one or two other minor bits and bobs. Oh, and of course none of these 1/32 or 54mm models have bases as yet either. But I need to take a breather, as I've been getting real into these. Hunched up over them, painting tiny details... my back/shoulders and eyes need some respite!

Salute, 2016

I didn't buy many figures this year. The only Wargaming figures I picked up were these 20mm AB Germans.

Sir Antony of Barton sure knows how to sculpt! These guys look so natural. I love 'em. Gluing the bike together was a pain tho'. Oh how I hate cyano-acrolite glue!

This isn't really a show report, as such. I'm never thorough enough at a show to really attempt such a thing as that! I'm far too lazy, and narrowly focussed, as well. On that front, I have to confess I was somewhat alarum'd and diffappointed at the theme of this years show: Steampunk. 

My stalwart wife came along again, and I have to say that there were noticeably more women at this years show, mostly tagging along with men, but a few, astonishingly, by themselves, and some, even more surprisingly, apparently into it all on their own account. I mean, there was even a lady with a stand specialising in female wargaming figures, and not your usual 'tits oot' varieties either!

Well I never!

This Peninsular game - The Battle of Adrados (1811) - was quite something: beautiful 40mm figures on a stunning terrain.

A familiar Napoleonic image: a British square waits to receive French cavalry.

Now it is possible that the noticeable (and welcome, I'd say) increase in a sisterly presence was in part due to this years theme. I can only say, in my ornery curmudgeonly way, that I have more of a rear-view mirror vibe. I'll explain: I'm really far more interested in historical gaming, and even there, my narrow focus means I only really find stuff interesting if it lies between the Napoleonic era and WWII.

That period to me represents - and I haven't really ever sat down and thought this through, so I might be talking out of my fundament - the most interesting combo of large scale engagements, interesting uniforms and equipment, and the best of strategic and tactical interest: I'm occasionally quite drawn to the ECW, but even that epoch, and much more so ancient period wargaming, seems to me, essentially, to involve two more or less similar lines meeting and scrapping.

Of course, of course, there's much more to it all than that, I know. But I find my dismissive approach helps me save time and keep (relatively) focussed.

You can see why Boney loved his 'daughters'.

French cavalry making its way up the hill.

Anyway, I'll leave that digression there. Steampunk is, in many ways, a highly interesting avenue, in which the imagination runs riot, and I admire it for that aspect; the Police armoured-car-cum-traction-engine in the Salute programme was, well... cute, I guess. But - and I'm not dissing the whole genre (if, as it appears, it's bringing new blood into the hobby, great) - it's just that, so far, it hasn't really appealed to me.

I also dislike the tendency of some of the bigger companies on the more futuristic front - Wayland Games being the biggest (quite literally) - which can look a bit like they're becoming the Tescos of the hobby: huge and monopolistic. Another way in which I'm, I guess, 'old school', is that I like there to be loads of little fish, in a big pond (why are Adler never at Salute?). Certainly judging by the numbers of games and traders that side of things still seems to be thriving.

It's nice to see some Frenchies not in blue. I love that this game has French units in red, green and even yellow.

Attempting to buy our first home of our own meant my fundage was under limitations, so I'd resolved to try not to buy another army or two. Indeed, I was kind of hoping not to buy any figures at all, this time. But I couldn't help Mice-Elf, and bought a few Tony Barton 20mm Germans, to populate some of my steadily growing collection of WWII German vehicles. 

My wife keeps suggesting I get some bigger figures. She seems to be worried I'll go blind painting the littl'uns - 6mm, 10mm, 15mm, 20mm, etc. - and that she might even go blind just occasionally looking at them! So I bought some larger plastic Napoleonic cavalry figures, by Master Box. Just for her sake, you understand! The guy on stall told me they're 1/32, or 54mm.

A little later in the day, some rude Herbert decided to share his unsolicited and unwelcome opinions on my bartering technique at another stall, and I got so flustered I accidentally left these figures at the stall, when I left. Fortunately they were still there when I retraced my steps a bit later, 'pon realising what'd transpired.

I've only ever seen more modern stuff, mostly WWII, by Master Box. These looked like fun.

Some decals and a little bit of photo-etch for the growing WWII armour collection.

It was at the Milicast stand that this episode took place, as I was buying a bunch of WWII German decals, and even a little bit of photo-etch detailing. It was actually the latter that brought about the mildly unpleasant scenario, as, truth be told, I didn't really want the photo-etch stuff. The guy who served me was great. So I felt I experienced the full gamut of the hobbies social experience in those few minutes: a lovely guy selling me some stuff I was after, and some I wasn't - and prepared to haggle a little in respect of the latter - and the charming oaf who thought it was fine to be rude to a complete stranger.

This nameless Russo-Finnish WWII game looked simply amazing.

The guys behind this game had really gone to town on the scenery. Whoever you were, well done chaps!

This unwonted bit of acid banter contrasts unfavourably with my general experience on returning to the hobby. I see a lot of bitchy fighting going on online, and try to steer well clear of it. And indeed, the experience contrasts badly with my experiences of Salute in recent years, as a whole, where the norm is for people to either mind their own business, or to be very friendly. A little later in the day I bought an airbrush from Barwell Bodyworks, and a guy chipped in during the transaction with a far more welcome interjection, alerting me to the variety of supplementary gear I would doubtless soon be buying. 

My Russia 1812 library continues to grow.

As so often at Wargames shows, my main swag consisted of books. I still have large and mostly unpainted armies for Napoleon's 1812 campaign in Russia, and, funds allowing, I try and get anything I can at shows that will add to my knowledge of that endlessly fascinating campaign. This year I found and bought two new surveys of the whole campaign I'd never encountered before, by Foord and Riehn, plus an old Blandford paperback by Philip Haythornthwaite, on the uniforms of that campaign, and finally, the Frontline Books three-volume reprint of Paul Britten Austin's 1812 masterpiece. I already own the latter in a single volume version. But it's soooo good, and it looks so nice in this edition, that I figured it was worth having in both formats.

I had to climb up on a chair to get this aerial shot. But it was worth it, I think. Two Finnish pilots fly over their own lines, towards the Russian foe.

Skiing Finns. Very, um... cool!

I almost bought one of those magnifying visor doodads, on account of Teresa's (justified) concerns for my eyesight, but the only one I could find didn't feel right to me, so I left it, buying instead the Masterbox Napoleonics. I was sorely tempted, as I usually am, by some books on the Ken Trotman stand, but the stuff in question was way too expensive. And I had to exercise some almighty restraint elsewhere throughout the day. There's so much to tempt one, even on a day dominated by sci-fi, fantasy and steampunk.

This year I was less taken with the games. There were loads that were clearly brilliant, in their own ways, but many of these, where they were modern/fantasy/sci-fi/steampunk, just didn't appeal to me. My favourite games were the 40mm Napoleonic Peninsular game (Teresa was pleased to be able to identify Sharpe and Obadiah Hakeswill!), and the Russo-Finnish WWII winter game, which was a thing of bleak beauty.

A Russian plane heads for the Finns.

Apart from the theme of this years show not being to my tastes, I must admit I ... no, make that we (my wife felt the same), were distinctly unimpressed at the lack of seating/catering provided within the show itself. The catering part - just the one 'express' food and drink stall, where the queue was always too long whenever we passed it - I can (kind of) understand, there being so many options in Excel at large. But the almost complete absence of punter seating, that was, in my books, inexcusable.

Wargamers aren't, by and large - and this certainly holds true for me - the sportiest bunch. And what are those hapless wives and significant others to do, when they want a momentary break? For us there was something psychologically significant about the fact Teresa would have to actually leave the hall - if she wanted to be sure of a modicum of comfort - to take a break.

Anyway, as usual, much fun was had, (too) much money was spent, and we left exhausted but inspired. Thanks South London Warlords, keep up the good work.

I already had this version of Paul Britten Austin's masterpiece. But I thought £20 for the Frontline trilogy, below, was fine. What excuse can I think of? Well, it's a little more portable split in three.. erm, and, ummm... well it's just brilliant. Isn't that reason enough?

Better late than never?

Currently sitting on my bookshelves (making this pic, in modern parlance, a 'shelfie'): 28mm Perry plastic French skirmishers, with Pendraken and Old Glory 10mm French and Russian infantry behind.

A Kind Of Introduction:

I first set up this blog around Feb 2012, pretty much as soon as I had returned to the hobby after a more than two-decade absence. Having turned 40 in January of that year, I suddenly thought 'Hang on a minute... why am I denying myself the pleasure of following a hobby I once loved so very much?'

Some time in my mid-twenties I'd decided that my interest in wargaming was simply a phase of my childhood, and that, as an adult, I should leave it behind. I know from chatting to other gamers at shows since my return that this pattern is something of a cliché. In this respect I can at least console myself that my behaviour is pretty normal.

Another shameless 'shelfie'... 5 different scales on view here: 1/300th (the ship, dimly visible off-centre-left), 1:72 (Kettenkrad & Kubelwagen), 15mm (Boney & ADC, lancers, etc.) 25/28mm (Salute figures), and 40mm (AWI).

But, for some reason, it's taken another two years plus to actually really start to get the ball rolling. It was fairly wide and voracious reading that had finally brought me back to the hobby. I'd been reading on Napoleonic history in particular - which for me is where it more or less all started - for some years, and mostly about Boney's 1812 debacle, before the reading rekindled the desire to start building armies with a view to, eventually, getting back into gaming.

So this, my first post on this 'ere blog - and I hope the first of many (and I hope quite regular) - will find me setting out my stall and introducing myself, as the foregoing already suggests.

A final 'shelfie' - 6mm Napoleonics on the painting conveyor belt: foreground are Adler, middle are Heroics & Ros, and at the backus are, um... Baccus!

How It All Started:

Phase I - Airfix 20mm plastics

I must confess that my memory ain't poifeck, as Dr John might say, so this may not be 100% accurate. I'll try and keep it simple and brief: as I recall it, I somehow got interested in the battle of Waterloo. And at some point this lead to my receiving for Christmas an Airfix boxed-set, with a model farmhouse, and a bunch of 1:72 or 20mm figures, all in plastic. My memory is rather hazy on exactly which set I actually had, but I think it was this one:

The reason I think it was that one is that I recall it having not just the farmhouse, but also numerous plastic soldiers. I gradually augmented my set with extra boxes of figures, although my local model shop hardly ever carried any Napoleonic cavalry or artillery packs - this was the 'olden days', before the web! - so I was always very infantry heavy. This was all when I was pretty young, and before I got in to metal figures and painting or basing.

I was also heavily influenced by an amazing series of articles run by the National Geographic (I've never yet been able to track down when these articles were run) on the American Civil War, which had these fantastic aerial-view battlefield panoramas, often as four-page wide fold-out spreads. So I bought a few packs of Airfix ACW as well, in their appropriately coloured blue and grey plastic.

The contents of a pack of Airfix ACW Confedrate troops... the Grays, quite literally!

Phase II - The advent of Heavy Metal!

Funnily enough I was also something of a young rocker, of sorts, getting into bands like Zep, Purple and Lizzy, around this time. So when I discovered, via a neighbour, that you could buy - or better still, make your own - lead figures, I was very excited. My neighbour, a certain Jason Russell, had, if I recall correctly, a collection of Prince August Napoleonics, that he had cast and painted himself. Seeing these round his house, all nicely painted and lined up on proper display shelves... it blew my gasket!

My dad always was a hands on kind of guy, building and making things around the house. He was keen and supportive, and bought me some Prince August moulds, and the other necessary bits and bobs. And I was soon in hob-heaven, melting little ingots of lead, talc'ing up my moulds, and running off batches of 25mm Waterloo-era Napoleonics. Rather oddly - probably purely down to stock at the local games and hobby shop - I started with a Netherlander mould!

It wasn't long after this that I started to occasionally buy Miniature Wargames magazine, and from that point onwards I was looking to get into the hobby properly. Around this time I convinced a few pals to form a wargames club at school, and not long after that, I began collecting 15mm Napoleonics. Mainly Minifigs at first, followed by a few Essex, and then some fabulous Battle Honours. A bit later I also got some 1/300 German WWII armour by Heroics & Ros.

Diorama Fantasies - unrealised then and now!

A picture from André Rudolph's Facebook page, showing one rather brilliant view (of many) from his Prince August based 25mm Waterloo diorama: my childhood dream realised!

When I was very young we'd had a lodger or two, one of whom, along with my dad, had built some fantastic models tanks and such like. This seeded a desire to build beautiful models, as well as collect figures. Most of their models had been WWII German armour. This would eventually lead to my building a fair bit of Airfix and Tamiya WWII stuff.

But right from the outset tho', with the Airfix set and then the Prince August stuff, my little wargaming heart and mind had been fixed on Waterloo, and even way back then I dreamed of one day building a diorama of the battle. I have now found that a German guy, André Rudolph, has actually realised this ambition (see above pic, and here), using Prince August figures no less. Well done that man! There's also an Airfix Waterloo diorama (there are probably many such), at The Royal Green Jackets Museum, at the Peninsula Barracks in Winchester.

And then there are Captain Siborne's dioramas: the whole battlefield depicted in something near 1/300th at the National Army Museum in Chelsea, and the Leeds Armoury 'small model', depicting the charge of the Household & Union Cavalry Brigades, on a scale, I believe, near to what we think of as 25mm. What with 2015 hoving rapidly into view, and the 200th anniversary of Waterloo, I'll certainly return to this theme in a much fuller way at some point. I may then post a few of the pics I've taken of the two Siborne Waterloo models.

For now here's just one pic from the Leeds Armoury 'Small Model':

I know the above pic ain't the greatest photo ever taken, but I love how the diorama looks quite like what one imagines the real battlefield might've looked like: a French infantry battalion reaches the crest of the rise, wading through a cornfield, their neatly dressed lines starting to crumble in the face of fire from the British infantry lines, visible in the background. Siborne's models are brilliant, and his story is fascinating. I'll definitely return to this subject later.

A question of scale - bringing it up to date:

So, by the time I sold off my wargaming collection, in my mid-twenties, I'd collected figures in varying periods and quantities in scales ranging from 1/300th 'micro-armour' up to the 1/32 Tamiya stuff. The bulk of my collection had been in 15mm, 25mm and 1/300th.

Returning to the hobby as an adult, and visiting Salute and buying a few magazines again, I was now more interested in Napoleon against Russia, as opposed to Waterloo (it was circa 2012, after all!). But I faced the conundrum of where to restart. The bigger scales, like 15mm and 25/28mm, looked prohibitively expensive, and then there was the issue of space. Where would I ultimately put all the figures, never mind a gaming table?

It was from these cogitations that this blog was born.

At that first return to Salute, in 2012, I was accompanied by my wonderful wife, Teresa. She has been so supportive of my return to the interests of my childhood, and wargaming in particular, that I am quite touched and elated. She would rather I collected larger scale figures, and went so far as to buy me some Front Rank AWI miniatures... bless her!

So I'll dedicate this blog to her, and start the images of my own work with a few pics of the figures as they currently stand.

As can be seen, they currently stand upon sliced wine-cork podiums! These were the first wargame figures I'd painted in over two decades, and, whilst nearly finished, remain unbased. I felt that starting at the 40mm scale might be best. And boy was it hard work to get back into it. As a perfectionist who always feels he falls short, I was perhaps a touch disappointed at my first efforts. But you have to start somewhere. It was almost as frustrating at times as it was overall enjoyable. But, in the end, I'm satisfied with them as a way back into the discipline of painting.

But I felt that in order to put together forces on the scale I wanted to - I aim to 're-fight' Smolensk and Maloyaroslavets first - I'd need to do so in a smaller scale, in order to collect large enough forces affordably, and ultimately make suitable terrain, etc. So in the end I've opted to collect armies in 10mm for Maloyaroslavets, and 6mm for Smolensk. Once this was decided, which I did, I believe, at Salute 2012, I started making my lists and my purchases.

My next few posts will cover what I bought and why, as well as my first attempts at painting smaller scale figures. I do hope this will be of interest to some of you out there in the blogosphere!? Please do leave me some feedback in the comments area.