French Cavalry - Chasseurs D' Afrique

This important unit, the 4th Chasseurs d' Afrique, played an important role at Balaclava, sitting on the left rear flank of the Light Brigade. During the charge of the Light Brigade this colourful unit drove away the Russian infantry and guns on the left hand heights overlooking the north valley. It is probable that their action did much to allow the remnants of the Light Brigade to extract itself after the charge.

There are no French Cavalry in the Douglas Miniatures range, and my efforts to get hold of either Scruby or other 20mm metal remoulds has been problematic, so I settled for plastic figures. Once again I used Strelets figures and I have to say that they were a joy to paint. Here is the result:

British Siege Mortar

Thinking ahead to the battles around Sevastopol I have started to work my way through the Strelets British Siege Artillery set. First up is a large mortar. I cut off the wheels that come with the model as most mortars would be set onto the ground. The crew are in light order, but dressed very smartly for the siege lines. The earthworks are knocked up from some cocktail sticks and a bit of sand mixed with pva glue.

Royal Marine Detachment

During the Battle of Balaclava reference is made of a Royal Marine detachment that was positioned on a rise to the right rear of the 93rd Highlanders, protecting the approaches to Balaclava Harbour. There is little detail given about this unit, which appears to have been about 1,200 strong. They were reinforced with a couple companies of Highlanders and some Turks. During the actual battle they played little part, although their presence was crucial for the defence of the harbour. I have been keen to represent them, but I have run out of Douglas figures, so once again I have turned to the Strelets range and used some of the Rifles and a few gunners. The Royal Marines wore standard infantry equipment and uniforms, so any line infantry would have done the trick. The colours are made from internet downloads, adapted for the Crimean War period:

Progress report

I have completely run out of Douglas Miniatures raw material having painted every last man in my stash and I have discovered that the 200th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo in June has placed orders for Crimean reinforcements in a long queue. So, while I await the quartermaster to get supplies rolling once more I have been diverted into using more plastic troops. In the pipeline is a unit of Royal Marines. These will be conversions from the Strelets range, as will a unit of Chasseurs d' Afrique. I am also playing around with a box of plastic British siege artillery, as no doubt in the future I will look at some form of battle to reflect the siege of Sebastapol.

As for planning the next battle, I am hoping to be ready to have a go at my interpretation of the battle of Balaclava  in June, when I have some spare time. I have assembled most of the troops that I need, I have started work on the terrain and have a fair idea as to how to set out the battle - I am looking forward to see what happens.

More Turkish Artilley

In order to provide guns in all the redoubts along the Causeway Heights I needed several more Turkish batteries. This weekend I painted three more, bringing the current total to four. As with the other battery I have used recast Minifigs S Range figures. They look quite effective grouped together.