From MilesR: A Few Napoleonic Submissions (316 Points)

 A bit of a Napoleonic / War of 1812 points bomb here.  First up is a unit of 32 Portuguese Cacadores in 28mm scale.  The figures are metal and made by Front Rank.  I've become a big fan of Front rank figures and place them next to Perry for sculpting and a bit ahead in casting quality as figure prep was a snap!

The unit being depicted if the 5th Cacadores (or Cazadores) of Campo Mayer.  The unit saw extensive service in the Peninsular and was thought very well off.  I'd like to say I picked the specific regiment for a reason other then my wife liked the red facings on the collars and cuffs - she felt that along with the green plumes it was very "Christmas-Like".  Any time she shows the even remotest interest in my hobby I need to run with it.

 The last proper Napoleonic unit I paints was 36 Frenchies for last years challenge so it was good to get back int the groove.

 I find painting Nap's difficult but rewarding when done.  I've got another Portuguese infantry regiment to paint  and may throw in a British one just for fun.

 Next up are 24 crew figures in 28mm for the naval aspects of the upcoming Historicon game.  These figures were purchased from Brigade Games and I'm not sure if they are the casters or not.  They're lovely figures and, like the Front Rank ones, had almost no flashing to remove during prep.

Since naval uniform regulations in the age were, shall we say "loosely applied", I've painted most of these figures in a generic way.

In this batch there are two gun crews of 4 figures each.  I tried to make the bases look like ship decks but pretty much failed.

 The ship commanders and and handful of Royal marines - one of the figures only has one arm!

 Generic (and somewhat motley) crewman.

 Lastly, since I finished a gunboat for the Americans, the Brits needed one too, so I painted up and rigged an 1806 Hamilton gunboats.  This design saw lots of service along both the Spanish and American coasts.  They were easy to build and could be effectively manned by a very small crew.  This kit also comes from Laser Dream Works and was really easy to build.  I may have some bigger ships to add down the line...

I'm trying a minimalist style of rigging to see how it works with game play.  The flags are on order and will arrive any day (hopefully).

 The gunboats in action!

 The Hamilton (I'll add a new name later)

And it's US opponent.  My those 32 pound carronades do look menacing....

Wow, I do love a Napoleonic points bomb. These look great Miles and I love the picture of the two gunboats mixing it up in brisk close action. With these small craft it would seem that whoever got the first carronade shot off had a good chance of winning!

As a suggestion, if you want your crews to have a more integrated look with the gunboat decks, you may want to clip off their existing metal bases and glue them to thin steel (coloured as the decks), or to clear plastic bases, like PaulS does, which will largely disappear next to the decking.

This impressive entry will give Miles 316 points to add to his burgeoning total - Well done Sir!