More adventures with Speed Paints

 Over the past few weeks I have been dabbling with painting 25mm figures using Army painter Speed Paints.  Overall I have enjoyed using them, however, I had run into difficulties with the paint bleeding into lighter colours (especially red) and later in applying white.

My solution has been to paint most of the colours in the normal way with Speed Paints, which is very quick.  Once dry, I then give the figures two coats of Army Painter matt varnish.  It is then possible to paint on the detail, such as cross belts and shako cords.

Overall, not brilliant, but acceptable and an easy way of churning out multiple battalions.  Here we see three units, one Portuguese and two British line.  They are a mix of figures.  The Portuguese are mostly Ros British and the British are in the main Minifigs S range.  

Mystery Figure

 I was wondering if anyone knows what this figure might be.  I have checked all the usual places that have information on early Minifigs to no avail. It is possible that someone has one of these in their collection.

He is most likely from the 25mm Minifigs S Range and may well be from the Colonial range; CC2s Moroccan Cavalryman.

Also in the Minifigs catalogue, under the French Revolutionary War, there is a figure listed as FRC 7s, Syrian Horse Lancer. Again, does anyone know of this figure and maybe what it looks like. Could the figure above be this one?  Or could the figure be something completely different.

Any information would be gratefully received.

Portuguese Cacadores

 I recently bought some Portuguese light infantry from eBay.  The figures are 25mm S Range from Minifigs and were quite well painted, although a little worn.  I touched them and rebased them and they provide a nice little unit of cacadores:

There are enough figures for a second unit, although some have broken bayonets.  I'm not sure whether to repair them, or cut them all down and use them as rifle armed infantry.

However, before I start on them, some 54mm Romans have grabbed my attention!

More Russians Restored

 As I was clearing out one of the corners in the war room, I found a long forgotten box of Minifigs S Range Russians,

For the past ten days I have been gradually restoring them and putting them in new bases.  There are five infantry battalions, an artillery battery and a regiment of Hussars.

My growing Russian force now has 20 battalions:

An incident on the road to Sebastopol

This imaginary scenario sees the British army in October 1854 running up against a hasty defence by a Russian rearguard.  The Russians have established themselves on a line of low hills straddling the road to Sebastopol, in order to delay the Allies and allow the Russian field army to withdraw.

Here are the Russian positions, with six battalions of infantry and a couple of artillery batteries either side of the road.:

The Russians have pushed forward some rifle armed skirmishers up to the river behind some stone walls.

The British are advancing on a broad front with three brigades, supported by artillery and light cavalry in the vanguard

The action begins with the British moving the Rifle Brigade up to the river line and an advance by some of the Scots and Guards. As they advance the Russian batteries on the hills open up, cutting down some of the Black Watch.

At the same time the Russians push forward three massive columns of infantry, in an attempt to hold the river line, all the while the British take casualties from the guns;

The British artillery fires into the Russian columns.

The Rifles take even more casualties, but from the shelter of the river bank pour fire into the central column:

Whilst the brisk action with the Rifles goes on, the Guards and Highlanders continue to advance upon the river, as a third Russian column edges around the small plantation:

The Rifles are taking a heavy toll on the Russians, but are themselves in trouble and in danger of being overwhelmed.

However, the Black Watch and the Guards arrive in time to save the Rifles, pouring fire into the dense columns.  The British in line with Minie Rifles outgun the musket armed Russians in their tight packed formations:

The combination of artillery fire and the Russian skirmishers cause heavy casualties amongst the grenadier Guards

But the arrival of the Black Watch halts the Russian column skirting around the plantation, saving the Rifles.

Now, the Russians are subjected to a punishing rain of fire.  The three columns are torn to pieces, as are the Russian skirmishers, who have been pushed back:

The British move across the river, driving the Russian columns before them:

As the Black Watch emerge from the river, they are charged by Russian dragoons.  With the Highlanders in line, they pour down devastating fire which cuts down the horsemen.

A second Russian dragoon regiment thunders towards the Rifles who, supported by the Grenadier guards and an artillery battery, also cut the cavalry to pieces.

Two fresh Russian columns counter attack against the two Guards battalions, that are now standing behind the stone wall.  The Minie Rifles once again devastate the close packed Russian infantry, halting the columns in their tracks.  

With six Russian battalions destroyed, along with two cavalry regiments, the Russian commander feels that he has delayed the British as long as he can and he withdraws his forces from the field.

The battle ends.  All the figures are from the collection of the late Alan Cook, consisting of Miniature Figurines S Range figures and some conversions.

The Russian Restoration

 Over the years I have collected quite a pile of Minifigs S range Napoleonic Russians and apart from the odd dabble, I have not done a lot with them.  The recent couple of wet weekends gave me the opportunity to rectify things.  Having roughly sorted the figures out (they were all lumped together in a drawer) I was able to see what I had.  Most of the figures were painted to some degree, some very good, others not so.  Also, many were still attached to a variety of bases.

After a day of tidying them up I began to work through them.  Some required a complete repaint, others a quick touch up.  All required new bases.  

There were a lot of Guards figures, about eight battalions worth.  I have completed four and will become the basis for a Grenadier Division.

Here they are, the completed Russian army:

This is about the halfway point, with many more cavalry, infantry and artillery to go.

S Range Austrians

 I have been feeling a little guilty over the pile of Minifigs S Range Austrians sitting in a drawer for some time and, wondering what I should paint next, I decided to have a go at a few.

The main effort was two battalions of line infantry and rebasing some jaegers and gunners. They now form a nice little battlegroup:

If my mojo is maintained, I would like to paint a battalion of grenadiers and some militia.  We will see!

Romans

Another Roman unit is completed.  This time it is a Minifigs S Range Praetorian Guard Element (PB 133). The eagle bearer, with his enormous standard is PB 116 and the 'senior' officerPB 115.  I have sufficient figures to make up three such units.

Next will be some Garrison Assyrians.

Minifigs Nassau Grenadiers

 I started these figures a couple of years ago and then set them aside as I already had one unit of grenadiers and did not really need more.  In reality there was just a company of grenadiers in each battalion. However, in the old Minifigs S range there were no line troops for Nassau, just these figures complete with standard bearer.  If you wanted Nassau line infantry in shakos the only option was to use French infantry in later uniforms wearing trousers.  These figures are quite hard to find nowadays.

So, I decided to use a bit of modellers license and add these grenadiers to my Anglo Dutch army, acying as combined grenadiers battalions (which I am sure never occurred).

Merry Christmas everyone!

Brunswick Hussars

Today it was the turn of the Brunswick Hussars to take to the field.  I have been painting in the background for several weeks while I have been working through other projects and finally finished them off last night.

The figures are all Minifigs S range castings and will fit in well with my Ros British.

Dutch Militia and British Light

Finished off this morning are two units.  The first is battalion of Dutch Militia troops.  They are Minifigs S Range Spanish line, paint converted.  Their command is provided by a British Light Infantry officer and standard bear, also S range:

The second unit represents  British Light infantry.  the figures are mostly Ros 25mm with a Minifigs S Range commander and standard bearer:

25mm Minifigs S range Dutch Line Infantry

This morning I finished off a unit of Dutch Line Infantry.  All of these figures are by Minifigs S Range.  I have have had them in my collection for quite a few years so it is good to have them painted up and ready for use on the table:

Brunswickers

Off the production line today are two units of Brunswickers.  The Line Infantry are refurbishments while the Jaegers were painted from scratch.  All are Minifigs S Range figures:

I hope to have a couple of British units completed by tomorrow.

Nassau Troops

Next off the production line of my 1815 allied army are two units of Nassau troops.  Both are from Minifigs S range of figures.  The first, a unit of Grenadiers, are the only Nassau figures available in the S Range. The second unit consists of paint converted French troops; the standard bearer is from the Dutch Belgian range:

Next will be some Brunswick figures.

Napoleonic Bonanza - Bavarians and Prussians

I am having a blitz on a number of incomplete projects as I am planning a couple of games over the May Day bank holiday.  I have around 25 units to brush up by that date.

Clearing the painting table, I finished off these Bavarian Light Horse from Minifigs S range figures.  The painting was done by Alan, a friendly and kind blog reader, who also converted the figures using British Scots Greys bodies and Bavarian infantry heads.  My contribution was just to paint five of the horses and base them. They do look splendid and will now join my slowly expanding Bavarian army:

Another little project has been the refurbishment of these two Prussian generals that I purchased off eBay.  One had a broken sword which was repaired using a sliver of baked bean can:

Coming up will be a number of 25mm Anglo Dutch units for a proposed Quatre Bras wargame.

Brief Encounter - Crimean Skirmish 25th September 1854

This rather strange action is based upon an incident at a remote location on Mackenzie heights, known as Mackenzie's Farm, when the British army blunders into the tail end of Russian Prince Menschikov's field army that had departed Sebastopol to protect Russian lines of communication.

An abridged version of events from Cadogan's Crimea, published in 1856:

............. Lord Raglan followed the road which the artillery had been ordered to take and trotting on, placed himself at the head of the column on the line of march. After proceeding for about four miles through the forset the trees became thinner, and it was evident that we should soon be clear of them.  Lord Raglan had been there for some time wondering that we had not come upon the cavalry, who had been ordered in advance, and therefore sent two staff officers into the wood on our right to try to find them. Two hussars  and a staff officer up ahead reported sighting Russian troops on the road just in front of them. General Airey rode forward with his ADC to see what they were and returned minutes later and announced that they had seen a Russian convoy or troops on the line of march passing northwest along a road at right angles to the one we were on. More staff officers were sent off to find the cavalry and the 2nd Rifles were ordered to hurry up. The horse artillery were ordered to readiness and to advance immediately the cavalry got up.

A contemporary map of the area:

This is where I join the action, with the 2nd Rifles moving forward and the horse artillery deploying.

The board is set up showing the road with the Russian column of wagons, infantry and Cossacks:

Lord Raglan and his headquarters emerges from the woods:

While the cavalry that should have been in the vanguard blunder along the wrong track:

At this point the Russians spot the British and raise the alarm:

Raglan sends a staff officer to recall the cavalry and the horse gunners move into the area of the farm to deploy while the Rifles move up. However, a Russian battlaion deploys across the British front and begins firing at the British artillery:

In this battle the Russian continually gain the initiative, while the British are in chaos. Russian musket fire starts to topple the British gunners and a regiment of Cossacks deploys to support their infantry:

The Cossacks charge the rifles who while deploying into line manage to loose off a volley into the Russian cavalry, but the Cossacks make contact with the British infantry:

The Rifles are cut down and break and run off into the trees.  Meanwhile the Russian infantry close in on the horse artillery in the farm and cut the gunners down. 

As all this was going on the Scots Greys arrived having newly arrived in the Crimea and having missed the Battle of the Alma were keen for some action.  They charged headlong into the Cossacks sending them packing:

However a second Russian infantry regiment had deployed to the front of the Scots Greys and the Russians, now in the farm, began pouring volleys into the exposed British cavalry.  Casualties were heavy and the Scots Greys retreated back down the road:

With the British beaten off the Russian columns and wagons were able to move off unmolested and the action was over.

A clear win for the Russians!

In the real action, which saw the British commander through error being at the point of the column,  the Russian battalion loosed off a volley or two which went over the heads of the British with no effect.  The artillery and rifle fire caused the Russians to turn on their heals and they fled. Little more happened and the British captured the wagons, tons of supplies, some drunks and a lot of loot, although a few Scots Greys were killed by Russians that played dead amongst the baggage. 

The figures used are S range Minifigs, originally from the Alan Cook collection. Rules were adapted from C&C Battlecry.