From SidneyR: Regiment of the Duc de Luxembourg, Flanders 1688 (125 points)

“Never allow them to move unthreatened. Always watch their lines of approach. Deny them a direct line to the flanks of your foot, My Lord.  Force them to stand.  Place them under fire at every opportunity if at all possible.  Above all, never lose your sight of their location in the Field. The regiments of Horse of the Sun King are the thin, sharp knife of His army and, unchecked, will cause the shipwreck of all our hopes.”

From the journal of Don Fernando de Torrescusa, Marquess de Girona, Envoy of His Most Catholic Majesty, Carlos the Second, King of Spain, to the Flemish Free City of Laarden in 1688.

For my second submission to Challenge X, I’ve painted up a regiment of French Horse from 1688 - being the regiment of the Duc de Luxembourg. The details of the uniforms are taken from Robert Hall’s book on the armies of the Sun King: "Standards and Uniforms of the French Cavalry Under Louis XIV, 1688-1714" (published by the Pike & Shot Socierty). The figures are 28mm from the older Wargames Foundry range - this is not quite a venerable range of figures, having first come out in 1989, but with a little bit of care I still feel they can look very fine on the table. They are perhaps more “big 25mm” than "true 28mm", and are a perfect match for Perry Miniatures and 1st Corps and Old Glory figure. They also fit very well with 28mm miniatures from The Assault Group, although the TAG horses are a little larger than the Foundry ones. They each come with a couple of arms so you can chose the pose of the arm, hand and sword. This adds a nice flexibility to the figure but does require a little fiddling with. 

I swapped out the Officer’s arm for a sword - which is more martial than his original hand which seemed to be completing a ducal wave. I also changed a couple of horses around from the ones supplied.  As with otheer French figures I've been painting, I added liberal amounts of green-stuff for feathers, knots of ribbons on shoulders, cravats and some extra hat lace. The French troops were known (like earlier Spanish Tercios) to be fancifully equipped with such non-martial additions to their uniform. 

No doubt this was to help distinguish regiments of different combatants, or maybe to engender pride in a unit formation. Whatever the reason, I think it looks fun. And, also, there is a certain black amusement in being confronted by a six foot angry French cavalier on a ferocious horse charging at you while being festooned in more ribbons, bows and spectacular Pom-Poms than would be stitched onto any Texan cheerleader’s costume.

 The standard finial is from Bicorne and the flag is from GMB Designs.

I undercoated all the figures in Halfords car primer - sprayed on in a couple of smooth actions.  I have no idea why I had such problems with the spray priming in the last Challenge.  These (and other) figures for Challenge X seemed to prime very easily.

The paints were Vallejo, with the coats on the figures being painted with a base of Vallejo VMC Light Grey and washed with a mix of Vallejo inks (Grey, Umber and a drop of Black).  I tried to keep the horses as simple as possible.  I feel I have some work to do in that regard, particularly on the chestnut/roan horses.  I might experiment later in the Challenge with horses which are much more basic, ideally to make the mounted figures’ uniforms “pop” a bit more.  We’ll see.

So, on to the points.  Twelve figures, at 10 points each, adds another 120 points to my currently small, rather work-shattered total... Ah well, "c'est la vie" as the Duc de Luxembourg probably never had to say...

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By Paul:

Another stunning Sidney special! What a wonderfully dynamic and thematic entry. I dont think you need to worry about additional work on the horses, these guys pop all my themselves.  Their Cavalier Uncles would be most pleased I'm sure

I always find your entries challenging to score Sidney, resisting the urge to just throw large amounts of bonus points everywhere because they are so visually impacting. Take 125 with a modest addition for the flag and conversion work.

Wonderfully done Sir!