Mystery Figure

 I recently bought some second hand colonial figures.  In amongst them were handful of rather odd figures that I did not recognise. I have no idea as to what they may be or who manufactured them.  They are 25mm with rather strange proportions, wielding an unidentified weapon and carrying a shield:

As can be seen from the images they wear fur trousers, are bare chested and have the number F? T32 stamped on the base.  Could they be fantasy figures?

If anyone has any ideas I would welcome comments.

More Colonials

 Last night I finished off another of my Irregular Miniatures 25/28mm Colonial British line infantry:

I now have three battalions completed:

There are two more remaining, a naval infantry battalion and a further line battalion.  In addition, there are two cavalry regiments to do.  i also have a final Abyssinian unit to finish off.  Once all this is done I will have completed two of the Irregular Miniatures 100 piece armies.

25mm Minifigs Colonial Royal Navy Pompom Detachment

Another small unit comes off the production line, one that adds a little colour to the overall khaki drab uniforms.

This time it is a small detachment of an officer, five ratings and a Pompom crew from the Minifigs colonial range.  Nice figures and fun to paint:

Warlord Epic Waterloo French Army on Parade

 I have finally organised and based my Epic 15mm French army and I attach a few pictures to show the result.  I still have some more heavy cavalry and skirmishers, as well as some horse artillery to come back from the painter, but the army is just about complete. All of the figures were painted professionally apart from the Guard, which I did.

An overview:

The light cavalry, Chasseurs, Hussars and Lancers, as well as a battery of horse artillery.

The line infantry, foot artillery and skirmishers:

The heavy cavalry, currently consisting of just one regiment of Carabiniers and a horse artillery battery:

The Imperial Guard:

Guard foot artillery:

They will be in action soon.

The Battle of Plancenoit 18th June 1815

 Plancenoit has been on my to do list for several years. I also wanted to get my Ros Prussians and French along with some Warrior figures on to the table.  A visit by Bob Black provided the opportunity to get the figures out of their boxes.  With limited time available we opted for the  Command & Colors scenario, using our adapted rules that dispense with the three zones and the cards.

This is the map:

This was interpreted on the table as:

The battle sees a massive Prussian force approaching from the top of the table, with the French, consisting of numbers of Imperial Guard battalions, holding some of the buildings in Plancenoit village, or dashing forward to occupy them. The famous church is represented at centre left, just about to be taken by a Young Guard battalion.

The battle unfolded with the Prussians bombarding the buildings to weaken the defenders, with two batteries in close range of the French occupiers.  This caused some casualties, but it was clear that at some point the Prussians would have to assault over the open fields.

Meanwhile the French steadily brought up reinforcements:

Looking along the Prussian lines

The Prussian right.

After several turns of bombardment, while taking casualties from French artillery and musket fire the Prussians launched an attack against the nearest forward farm complex:

This attack was brutally beaten back with two battalions quickly being carved up, and General Hiller being unhorsed.  To make matters worse a Landwehr battalion that had not even moved was hit by artillery fire and routed off the table. The French were weakened, but the score at this early point in the battle was 4 - 1 to the French.

Eventually the French were forced out of the nearest farm complex, but by now French French Young Guard units were at hand to re-occupy the buildings as they are vacated.

The battle continued on the Prussian left as they are slaughtered by concentrated musket fire. However, fresh battalions are brought up to assault once more, supported by close range artillery fire.  The Prussian gunners also began to suffer, with one battery being forced off the hill.

The tide was very much against the Prussians as Blucher himself is taken down and the score was 6 - 2 to the French.  Another Prussian infantry assault goes in. The score crept up to 7-2 to the French.

However, the Prussians pushed two battalions of Jaegers into the woods and with some artillery (and some good dice rolls) started to wear down the French defenders:

At this point in the battle the sheer attrition began to affect the French as they began to run out of reinforcements, being attacked by six Prussian units. The score was now even 7-7.

Meanwhile the Old guard were well entrenched in the churchyard with the open ground beyond being swept by French guns.  All Prussian attempts to take the church are thwarted.  At one point it stood empty as French troops were forced out, but the Prussians were unable to occupy it. The Old Gurd clings on:

The battle on the Prussian left now swings in their favour as the French battalions can no longer hold on to the buildings.  Further more the French artillery supporting them is worn down and forced back:

The Prussian Jaegers take the left hand buildings and bring up more battalions.  The French counter attack with some Lancers, but the Prussians form square and supported by the jaegers, the Lancers are wiped out.  The second farm complex fall s to the Prussians and the French batteries are overrun.

It is the end.  The French run out of troops and the score reaches 10 - 7 to the Prussians.  It was a very tough battle and both Bob and I were convinced that the Prussians would fail, but as occurred in history the French were bulldozed out of the village.  The Prussians won but paid a very high price.

Epic Battles Waterloo - Young Guard

 Today I finished off the third of my 15mm Guard battalions.  This time I have painted some of the line infantry in greatcoats as Young Guard - these are chasseurs.  Once agin a bit of paint has really brought out the character of these figures and I am pleased with the result:

Just some cavalry remaining to complete the French army.

Epic Waterloo French Line Artillery

Continuing the process of basing my Epic Waterloo French, last night I mounted three batteries of French Line Artillery on their bases.  The artillery figures are the most fiddly of the mouldings, made up of three parts, which when painted require a bit of filing to get them to fit together. Once assembled they have to be aligned with four holes on the bases.  With my fat fingers they often fell apart before I could secure them.

But, I got there in the end and lined up they look quite impressive.  I did not paint these figures:

Epic Waterloo - French Imperial Guard

 My Warlord Epic Waterloo 15mm French army is nearing completion.  While I was waiting for the bulk of the figures to come back from the painter I purchased an Imperial Guard set and began painting them.  They are lovely figures but are a real test for my eyes.  The figures appear to be 13.5mm, rather than 15mm  and consist of ranks of 10 figures, with 80 figures making a battalion.

Here are two battalions of Imperial Guard Grenadiers.  Fortunately they are in campaign dress which simplifies the painting, although you could really go to town on the detail with the right brush and decent eyesight!

The officer figures are also from the Epic range, but Napoleon is a 15mm Minifigs casting.  I bought him before Warlord brought out their senior commander sets.

I am now in the process of organising and basing the rest of the French.  Pictures to follow shortly.

Steady Boys...........

 Minifigs 25mm colonial British infantry in line ready to receive a charge with volley fire:

My Minifigs colonial project is almost complete. I have some mounted infantry on foot and some skirmishers to complete and maybe some cavalry a little later.  On the painting table is a large group of Pathans getting ready to kick the British out of the valley!

Another Irregular Miniatures Unit

 Last night I finished off a unit of British line infantry from Ian Kay's Irregular Miniatures. As with the other offerings from the company, the castings are delightful and paint up well:

I have a couple more of these units to paint as well as some cavalry.

More Colonials

 Over the last week I finished off a number of projects relating to my colonial collection. First we have some Gurkhas and I have doubled the size of the unit, which was originally only eight figures in number. The figures are by Eureka and are nicely detailed.  In the longer term these figures will be off to Palestine to fight off the Turks:

The next batch of figures have been sitting on the lead mountain for a few years.  They are Boer infantry that came with a load of Barry Minot British colonials.  The castings are in fact by Stadden; I believe they are now sold by Tradition. They are nice delicate castings but are quite small when compared to my other figures:

My final project is the raising of a Brigade of British infantry to head off and deal with my Minifigs Pathans.  These figures have been collected in dribs and drabs over the years and I was a little shocked when I dug them out as I didn't realise that I had so many.  There is a further battalion on the painting table, plus two units of dismounted Mounted Infantry to add to these.

Here we have two infantry battalions, an artillery battery, a machine gun section and command.  All of the figures are by Minifigs: