From IanS: 6mm French Napoleonic Division (275 points)

Hi,

This post was delayed from last week as I had an incident with a cat who broke one of the battalions. Although some figures were broken I was eventually able to piece them together. Just in case I painted up another battalion but am saving this for another Division later in the Challenge. So here we are again and another French Napoleonic Division, this time its the 6th Division belonging to the 2nd Corps 1812. As with the last Division this is a two brigade organisation with supporting artillery. Again all figures are from Commission Figurines and are MDF. First up is the Division conmander Legrand, fine fellow.

1st Brigade consists of the 26th Light Infantry and 56th Line Regiments, two battalions of 60 figures each. In addition there are 2 skirmish stands.

 

2nd Brigade consists of the 19th Line Regiment of 2 Battalions,  the 128th Regiment of just one battalion, and then the brown coated 3rd Portuguese Regiment, again only one battalion. With an attached skirmish stand split 50:50 between the French and Portuguese. The French regiments are in greatcoat as somehow I have mislaid the figures. Come to think of it I still have not found 2 of the Christmas presents I got from my daughter. First Photo is the three French battalions in greatcoat followed by the Portuguese: 

Last Up is the Artillery a battery of 8pdrs

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Now here is the Division:

There is another Infantry Division in the 2nd Corps but I have already painted this, so next up is the cavalry element and corps artillery.

Points Being Claimed:

500 6mm Infantry figures at 0.5 pts each - 250pts 

24 6mm Artillery figures at 0.5 pts each - 12pts 

6 6mm Guns at 1pts each - 6pts  

7 6mm mounted figures at 1pt each - 7pts 

Total Pts - 275pts

More 6mm Napoleonic goodies, yes! As before, these look so good in their masses, Ian. I really love it that you went for 60 man battalions, very impressive. Also, I like the Portuguese, so seldom encountered outside of the Peninsular theatre. I am looking forward to the cavalry! 275 points added to your total.

From PeterD Scots-Irish Slingers in 28mm (30 points)

A small post from me this week.  I was out of town at a actuarial exam meeting in Charlotte NC this weekend and I'm still struggling to keep up on my extra teaching load.

This is a unit of 6 Irish slingers for my Late Roman Britain project, based for To The Strongest.  I did some kit bashing using plastics here.  The torsos and heads are all from the Gripping Beast Irish set and the arms come from the Victrix Late Roman Archers and Slingers set.  The two kits mesh reasonably well and I was able to get a good mix of loading and firing figures.  As noted in my last post, the Victrix pack has more archers than slingers and many of the sling options are staff slings, which is a higher level of tech than would be seen in 4th Century Ireland.

Slingers are the only long range missile troops available to the Scots-Irish in TTS. They would typically be the fellows who lacked the minimum equipment (shield and spear) to form up in the war band.  Often they would be beardless yutes, as Cousin Vinnie would say. However, I prefer the GB heads with beards to the clean shaven heads.  I painted them in basic tunics with no decorations.  I left room for a lable, but I am overthinking tribal names for my Scots-Irish and haven't decided which ones to use.

Like the tunics, this is a basic minimalist post.  Six 28mm foot figures for 30 points and no room bonus.

 

The British from Wales, the Scots from Ireland, the Picts from Scotland and the Irish from, well, dunno, Ireland?  always bewilder me. Like the Asterix and the Germans, where our heroes are completely dumbfounded by the multitude of different Germans coming from all directions. However, there is nothing dumbfounding about these very useful slingers, Peter. Simple, yes, but effective, a fine job and some good kit bashing too. 30 points for you added to the spreadsheet ;-)

From MartijnN: The Tuesday Tomes volume IV

 Traditionally, the birthday of the reigning monarch is a holiday in The Netherlands. Our first Queen, Wilhelmina, had her birthday in August. which was fine. Her successor, Queen Juliana, had her birthday on April 30th, which was also fine. However, her daughter Beatrix had her birthday on January 31st, which is not a good for outdoor festivities. So, she decreed that April 30th would remain Koninginnedag,  The Queen's day. In 2013, our current King, Willem Alexander, ascended the throne as the first King since 1880. As his birthday is on April 27th (he is exactly on month older than me), that day became Koningsdag, The King's Day. Traditionally, the Royal Family visit (usually) two towns in a different province each year, where they are treated to all kinds of performances, games, shows and demonstrations of old crafts by the population. A bit old-fashioned, but cute. Usually, these activities are coordinated by the Town Council and the local Oranjevereniging (Orange Society). In most towns there are also vrijmarkten, free markets, where anyone is allowed to sell anything; mostly these turn into a kind of flee market or car boot sale (without the car boots). That in Amsterdam is particularly famous and draws hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country.

Traditionally Kings's Day is celebrated with a glass of Oranjebitter, a liquor based on brandy, and an Oranjetompouce. A tompouce (or tompoes) consists of two thin slices of puff pastry, with a layer of cream or pudding in between. The top is glazed orange, and sometimes decorated with whipped cream. There you go:

Today's posts are obviously a reason for celebrating too, even though they may be small in number. One would almost think that the January Blues has struck the Tuesday Troopers. However, we have two stalwarts producing new tales for the library shelves:

- From PeterB: "Slingers in an identity crisis"

- From IanS: "Mass marching to Moscow"

Enjoy!