Iain W 28mm Gendarmes de elite of the Imperial Guard (60 points)

 The Gendarmes de elite of the Imperial Guard nicknamed the Immortals by their comrades in the Guard on account of them not being deployed in the front line in the earlier campaigns, although later Napoleon made sure at least some of them saw combat in his later actions, I wondered if there was an element of dislike towards these military policemen by the soldiers of the Guard, I remember my brother describing military policemen as squaddies who liked beating up squaddies! 

This unit is made up of the six spare figures of grenadiers a cheval that I got as the unit came from Colonel Bill's as an eighteen figure unit, looking around for something to do with those spare figures I figured they'd pass as Gendarmes de elite in spite of the aigiletes being on the wrong side.I  converted a trumpeter with a plastic Perry trumpet and at some point I'll expand the unit to twelve figures but for the moment six is all I have.

So thats 6 x 10 , 60 points, I've got the flag ready for when I get a figure to hold it!

Next up? More Napoleonics, on horses!

All the best

 Iain 

Lovely looking Heavy Cav Iain, you'e really aced the blue and I like the outlining to pick pout the belts etc.   Your re also making me want to paint 28mm Nappys and that's not a good thing.

I am sure that you are not the only one to ignore the aigiletes placement and sub Grenadiers as Gendarmes, in fact I may have done this myself.  Looking forward to seeing more Napoleonic era Cavalry including someone holding a flag for these boys.

Don't forget to label your posts.  I added your name and the basics but I don't know the make of the figs.

Iain W 28mm Grenadiers a cheval of the Imperial Guard (120 points)

 Twelve more cavalry men of the Imperial Guard.  This time it's the Grenadiers a cheval, the premier heavy cavalry unit, the gods! I got these from Colonel Bill's an online second hand figure shop that is also present at shows, I've bought some lovely gendarmes from them before at Salute,but this was the first time I bought some online. They're venerable Connoisseur figures, proper old school, sold originally as 30mm mounted on Colonel Bill's own brand horses which are nice and chunky, I only got them because I'd seen our own Matts Napoleonic French cavalry over on his blue willow blog and quite fancied them and they've been fun, I had to add an eagle bearer and trumpeter, although they did come with an officer,but you've got to have a flag though right? Once more it comes from GMB and is lovely. 

More Napoleonic French cavalry, I'm trundling along in this challenge as I managed to damage my knee and ankle painting and decorating the hallway and unfortunately the only time for physio is time that I would otherwise be painting so I am somewhat behind but I'll just have to see how it goes, I  have got dark age figures primed but I seem to be addicted to Napoleonics at the moment!

12 x 10 points for 28mm cavalry gives me 120 points to my total 

All the best Iain 

Ouch painting at 1:1 scale sound painful Iain, I suggest that you give that a rest and focus on the small scale stuff.  Loving these Heavies especially as they are the proper old school figures.

But get on to those Dark Age figures will you!

From DaveD - Sudan , a bitsa week. (190 points)

This last week has been a bit of an unplanned week as I picked up a selection of figures at the York wargame show. This combined with the planning for putting on the first large Black Powder based Sudan game  (which was a refight of the 3rd battle of El-Teb - Link to report here ) meant I ended up deciding  to prep and complete this stuff within the week . The horses were done in thin oil and were quick dried overnight in the boiler cupboard and then once touch dry being hit with spray varnish - don't believe all you read on oils taking weeks to dry.

First a conversion piece - this is made from a spare camel and a Perry Bashi Bazouk figure. I remade the saddle in milliput and added in a wire rope rein - this was soldered on the camels head and into the figures hand. The represents Major Kitchener in his role as an intelligence and scouting officer in the early Sudan campaigns.  

next , 6 Mounted Infantry . By Wargames Foundry... well 6 horses and 4 riders are , two other riders are Perry ones ( but I am sure they were both sculpted by the same person  as they are almost identical , of course you will have to wait and see what I did with the two officer figures. Plus a mounted commander which is from the lead pile which I am sure is Empress Miniatures. I just fancied doing this one as he was wearing his patrol jacket . Makes a change from khaki.

 

 Next 6 mounted Bashi  Bazouks , used as scouts in the weekends battle. A kind of irregular Ottoman cavalry - like cossacks but even worse by all accounts..

 

I had a set  of old school "Arabs of the market" castings from Connoisseur Miniatures so I thought these will serve nicely to add to the civilians selection . The 4 larger market stalls are resin pieces with new paint jobs - the smaller one is part of the Connoisseur set,  its metal - with a cover made from a piece of old handkerchief and set with PVA prior to painting.  While the detail is and style of these old sculpts may not be to today's standards with a simple paint job and at typical table distances they still work well as set dressing in my opinion.

 

 

The bustling markets with the other civilians from the collection

So its 14 mounted and 10 foot figures and 5 market stalls (2 points each?).   it looks like a much reduced total off 200 points .. well I have had the last two weekends off from painting. I am sure Martin, Miles and Alex will be glad to hear I start back at work this coming week too..

Initial work on the new man cave has started with window replacements completed - the electrical  and lighting solutions designed, costed and contractor engaged. Flooring up next...

MilesR: Yet more inspired work but I'm afraid I must be a rules lawyer and point out terrain doesn't count outside of a bonus round.  I feel bad but can't count the wonderful stalls so it's still a nice 190 points.  As we may come down to the wire points total wise, I will spot you ten points vs my tally as that seems to be the sporting thing to do! 

From DaveD - Sudan Vignettes (75 points)

More vignette pieces completed this week. The war correspondents from Perry, and a set of  locals making their way to town in possession of various snippets of "intelligence" , will it be accurate or lies, who knows! well the umpire will ... i.e.  me!

War Reporters, Bennet Burleigh, Melton Prior sketching and Frederic Villiers mounted

The dog is a limited addition piece from Jon at Ainsty who breeds Otterhounds, so I have added it as the faithful companion to Bennett Burlieigh the Daily Telegraph correspondent.

The reporters are another nuisance for the imperial commanders as they go off risking themselves, and needing to be protected, or more likely rescued. Nicely diverting the imperial players from their core mission. After all bad news always appears in the papers.

Also a set of locals heading to town with their wares. These are an old Connoisseur Miniatures set, the detail was very soft, but actually from table distance they do the job, and could just about be added to a nativity set!

I think the whole concept of game vignettes are the cat's pajamas. At the very least they add personality to the tabletop, and with a further touch of imagination, as Dave shows here, they can be of central importance to the game itself. Wonderful.

Even though the castings may be showing their age, the Connoisseur civilians are lovely and, as you say, probably could be used to depict people going to market for the past 2000 years. 

And of course, I can't help but give the tumbs up to Burlieigh and his Otterhound as the breed looks very similar to one of our lovable mutts, Oscar. 

Great work Mr.D!

From DaveD - Sudan Camel Corps - Part 2 (240 Points)

So part two of the Camel Corps consists of  a unit of close order infantry , and a set of skirmish order troops. It's taken an age to complete the whole Corps, so I am pleased to see the end of this lot.

36 troopers in double rank , front rank kneeling - with Martini-Henry's levelled ready to fire!

The breech-loading, single-shot .458in (ouch that is going to hurt) Martini-Henry rifle became a symbol of both the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 and the numerous battles in Egypt and the Sudan in 1884-85. Its invention and introduction into British service were in direct response to the success of the Prussian Dreyse needle gun, which demonstrated that the breech-loading rifle offered faster loading, improved accuracy and superior range. Significantly, the weapon could be loaded and fired from a prone position, thus offering the rifleman greater security on the battlefield.  

These are old Connoisseur figures , and i found them a pain to paint (which is unusual) as they were really showing their age , and some soft detail . 

My rules also allow units to break up a company or two into skirmish formations , to help with recon and flushing out the bad guys.  I have 12 figures from Redoubt, these are individually based , and set into various free form sabot bases. This mean I can choose to field a number of "skirmish units" on the sabot base with between 2- and 5 figures so it make them go further. I just then fill in with tall grass / rocks etc for visual effect. 

  

 These were a lot nicer to paint than the close order ones. 

So that is 48 foot... 240pts

Cracking! Your first volley of the day is right on the mark, Dave.  Fabulous work. It's too bad that the Connoisseur figures gave you a bit of stick, but these venerable castings still look terrific all ranked-up. Again, I really like your skirmish sabots, especially the rock and grass inserts - very well executed.

And so with this entry Dave's begins his march back into the top ten... Thank you sir, may we have another?

From DaveD - Naval Brigade and Guard Skirmishers (95 points)

I have now moved onto to the new Brigade for the operation around Suakin. This saw the Guards Brigade enter the the campaign. So to start I have the skirmish elements on sabot bases. I am using these to give me some options as there can be a number of skirmish units in the game - so I can use 3 4 - 5 - 6 figures per base (and fill in with bush/rocks as needed) depending on the size of the overall game. I also think they have an appeal on the less regular shaped based.

 

12 Skirmishers for the Guards Brigade. (Perry Miniatures)

Plus a root in the lead pile recently revealed some classic "Old School" Connoisseur Naval Brigade. I intend my Naval Brigade units to be made up from a range of manufactures and dress - just to give some diverse interest. These appeal to the early  teen in me - which is when I first saw these in the flesh! 

So altogether 19 x 28mm foot.

I am occasionally working on a naval gun team, with the guys pulling the Gatling gun and limber - got a good bit of conversion work to do on it to get it how I want. But for inspiration I occasionally watch this:

I worked for number of year with Petty Officer "Smudger" Smith who competed in this a number of times in is Navy Career... he always said it was "The" hardest thing ever! and to prove it he would wave at you with a missing half finger - removed by the gun carriage!

Here we are, jumping from one shell crater to another, admiring the sights of Dave's work. Fabulous stuff. It's great to see the Guards' arrival on the scene. I like the sabot bases with the rock and bush inserts - very clever. The boys from the Naval Brigade are excellent as well. I quite like their cutlass bayonets and round hats. 

 95 points to add to your daily tally, but wait, there's yet another on the horizon...

From DaveD - Sudan - 10th Hussars (241 points)

Here we have the arrival of the last major cavalry unit for the imperial forces - the 10th Hussars. These are my old favourite 28mm Connoisseur Miniatures on a mix of various manufactures horses. The 10th had more grey horses when first deployed so I have added in more than usual. They provide a nice contrast to the 19th as these have khaki tunic and blue pants with yellow belts. One figure had a spot of casting trouble with the right arm and I have remade that with the soldering iron  and added a pistol into his hand as if firing the starting pistol. 24x28mm Cavalry

So that gives me the 9th Bengal Lancers,19th Hussars and 10th Hussars, so i thought you might like a group shop.

That leaves a small 12 figure unit of Egytian Lancers and a company of 6 figures of Mounted Infantry left to finish all the mounted elements.

I have also just topped-up the Mounted Mahdists lead pile as they head toward their final total of 100 camel...... now has anyone seen the Mahdi...

Beautiful work Mr. D!  It's wonderful to see 'The Chainy 10th' (their nickname due to their unique chainmail epaulets) getting some love. The brigade shot is terrific - you can't argue with the majesty of that mob.

As we can all see Dave has begun the saturation bombing in earnest now as I see we still have two more entries of his on the horizon. 240 points with another added for the starting pistol. Magnifique ! :)