From BobV: The Last Napoleonic Brigade and an Origin Story [Biography] (229 points)

Hello all!

I cannot believe I am at the end of the Challenge and my Napoleonic project! I have successfully eliminated the mountain of 18mm Napoleonic lead. Other mountains remain of course, but those are left for another challenge. This week’s post includes a final four squadrons of cavalry and a self-portrait in miniature. In this entry I will also utilize Miss Sarah’s library cart to access the biography section of the library. I’m calling this an auto-biography although it’s really just a small origin story of my entry into the hobby. We’ll see if the judges award the points.

In the mid 70’s I was an avid board wargamer and a faithful subscriber to Strategy & Tactics Magazine. Our library was far too small to carry anything written by Charles Grant or Donald Featherstone so other than collecting an occasional box of 1/32 Airfix figures, I had never seen historical miniatures. I then came across an advertisement for Heritage Models in a copy of S&T. The ad hyped a couple of Napoleonic games that included a box of metal 15mm miniatures. I was beyond intrigued and promptly ordered the set for the Battle of Nations. 

I used the figures exactly as shown in the advertisement. I loved the three-dimensional nature of the miniatures but didn’t like the idea of a single figure representing a Brigade or Division. With no access to any further miniatures, I could not figure out how to solve that problem and soon lost interest.

A couple of years later I started a job in a hobby shop after school. It was a typical shop of the time with about half the store displaying model trains and the other half plastic model kits. There was a small section of board wargames and Dungeons and Dragons material. My boss who owned the store was a giant, gruff old gentleman. He could often be heard at our high school football games loudly voicing his displeasure at the talent of our play.

One afternoon in the back of the store, I came across a catalog offering ranges of both fantasy and historical miniatures. The list included many choices of Napoleonic miniatures in blister packs from both Minifigs and Battle Honors. Here was a solution to my problem, with just a few packs I could create brigades of miniatures!

Swallowing my fear and using my best 16-year-old business acumen, I approached the boss with an argument of how much money he could make selling fantasy and historical figures. To my surprise he agreed to place an order to see how they would do. The D&D figures sold out in days. The boss was very pleased but he couldn’t figure out why the historical miniatures didn’t sell as fast. It took a few months to sell those out.

I never told him the reason it took months to sell out the historical minis.  You see that’s how long it took me to save enough money to buy every single pack that I had safely hidden in the shop’s storage room. 

And that was the start of a 40+ year obsession with miniature wargaming.

As for today’s entry, there are two squadrons of British Light Dragoons, one squadron of French Dragoons and one squadron of Chasseurs a Cheval. The figures are 18mm from AB Miniatures. These do not represent any particular squadron or regiment as I took some license in painting the uniforms. The paints are typically Vallejo or Citadel, washed with contrast paints. That works better on some colors than others and I’m considering it a method in progress.

Here are the British Light Dragoons in Tarletons:

And another squadron of British Light Dragoons in Shakos:

Here is a squadron of French Dragoons:

And a squadron of Chasseurs a Cheval to round out a brigade's worth of cavalry:

The artist figure is a 28mm miniature from Foundry. I received him years ago when purchasing a set of Foundry paints. The paint is long since gone but I finally got around to painting the artist as a self portrait.

For points I am claiming the following:

51 x 15mm Mounted @ 4pts = 204 points

1 x 28mm foot @ 5pts = 5 points

Library Bonus for Biography Section = 20 points

Grand total = 229 points

As this is my final entry for this year’s challenge, I think some thanks are in order. First to Curt and Sylvain, thank you very much for the opportunity to participate in the challenge. It is exactly the impetus I needed to complete a project that required painting of something just shy of 600 miniatures. Your hard work is very much appreciated and made this the most fun I’ve ever had in meeting a deadline. Next, thank you to all my Monday team members and all the participants and commentors. This has been a great collegial experience. Your amazing talent and commentary are both inspirational and motivating. Lastly, thanks to the Yarkshire Gamer. I found the Challenge via Ken's podcast and I greatly enjoy listening in to his interviews.

Challenge Complete!

From Millsy: My eyes lit up when I saw this sitting ready for posting Bob. So many memories for me in this post... exact same minis I've owned, S&T mag and both Charles Grant or Donald Featherstone whose books grace my collection in serious numbers. Your story about hiding minis so you could buy them is pure gold and despite slowing down sales in that dept you were clearly adding value elsewhere! You've done a wonderful job on the AB15s which are such a joy to paint, especially the dragoons with their glorious red facings. Congrats on a wonderful challenge mate and what a cracking wrap up photo at the end.