Some French Line Infantry Completed

I finished these fourteen line troops recently. They had been sat just awaiting basing, which has now been done.

As you can see, three bases of four, which are nominally "companies," plus a couple of skirmishing Voltigeur. I'll need another box of those fine Perry French plastics to round out my 24 man battalion. With another box I should get this battalion up to full strength of six companies/bases and then complete another battalion too.

Gains. Small, but nevertheless there.

24e Regiment d'Infanterie de Ligne

Another unit of French infantry complete. This time the 24th Line Regiment. Figures are Perry Miniatures plastics, blocked and dipped, standard by GMB Designs. 

Again, the dip gives them a weathered look which I quite like, settling into the folds of their trousers. On this unit I highlighted the cross belts just to retain their dimension.

Again, six bases for the six companies, but this unit is lacking a mounted officer. I might add him later, but based individually.

These figures look good from a distance, but don't hold up under close scrutiny, but for generic line troops, that will do. Another 24 miniatures added to the complete list!

Some French Napoleonic Spares

As I have been building up battalions of French foot, I have ended up with a few spares, here and there. I decided to base these on 20mm round bases for use as skirmishers, or sentries. These will be particularly useful for Sharp Practice, where a few of these miniatures interspersed with the rank miniatures can give the sense of a less orderly body of men. 

These were blocked and dipped, like most of my Napoleonic stuff and are a mixture of Victrix and Perry, all plastic. The Victrix kit is particularly good for making up skirmishers do to the highly customisable nature of the kit. 

The Perry Voltigeurs look particularly shiny in the photos, so I might take another pass at them with the matte varnish, but otherwise these chaps look good and grimy.

9e Regiment d'Infanterie Legere

I finished up another battalion of French infantry yesterday. The 9th Regiment of Light Infantry in Napoleon's army. Six bases, one for each company.

The miniatures are plastic Victrix Old Guard Grenadiers, with line infantry heads, so that they have the epaulettes and sabres. The Victrix kits are highly customisable, which adds to construction time. Sadly many of the arms and extremities are quite spindly with several bayonets meeting their ends during painting by the lightest nudges. This is because the plastic is rather brittle compared to that of Perry Miniatures. 

The only metals in this unit are the mounted Colonel and Sappeur, also Victrix. This metal range is now discontinued, or sold by a U.S. company, but I got a pack before Victrix stopped selling them. I like dropping some extra miniatures into units just to  break up the uniformity across the army.

The standard is from GMB Designs. I would highly recommend their flag sheets, easy to work with and a good selection.

As you can doubtless see, the paint job is simply a block and dip, which results in some nice "dirt" toward the bottom of greatcoats, and also on the Sappeur's apron. A highlight might not go amiss just to neaten up cross belts and the Colonel's whites. I also think that the unit might benefit from another coat of matt varnish as parts of it still look a bit shiny. 

These fellows will take their place alongside my Battalion of Old Guard Grenadiers in the 1809 Campaign against the Austrians. 

French Old Guard Grenadiers

So I managed to base up the last two stands of Napoleons brave fighting boys. And here they are:

The battalion looks good from a distance, though I am not entirely satisfied with the Pioneer, who didn't hold up well with the dip method. Other than that though, quite pleased, and it didn't take forever. I suppose the fact that these chaps are wearing greatcoats helps greatly.

The standard is from the Victrix boxed set, and finished quite nicely, I didn't really see the need to splash out on a fancy flag just yet. Once the Napoleonic project gains grows I might redo the standards, but for now it is good enough. Good enough truly is the operative phrase here, I am not looking to do perfect Dallimore-esque units, but rather units that will look good on the table top at low cost in both time and treasure. 

The next concerted effort will be to get a cannon done for the Dwarfs and finish the Thane to lead them into battle. Perhaps the Slayer as well. I am super keen to get the Dwarfs done soon so that I can have a play, having bought the Island of Blood box and had a flick through the rulebook I think I might actually like this edition of Warhammer. 

Foundry Old Guard Grenadiers

I managed to get some highlights on the Foundry models that I painted. The technique I used was based on Doc T's. After the anti-shine I added a little white to the raised areas to give the figures greater depth, and also to spruce them up a little. Apologies for the lighting in the pictures, I need a more focused natural light source, and sadly the British summer is on hiatus.

I varied the exact area I highlighted for a little variety, dirty gaiters seemed most appropriate.

I tried a "feathery" highlight, trying to avoid the paint being to wet and running. From a distance it looks quite good.

So this will be the technique I employ going forward. These chaps are going to be mounted six to a base for a company and then four bases for a battalion. My base size is 60 x 40mm. I only have eight of these grenadiers, and Foundry are far too expensive, so I will fill out the rest of the battalion with Perry Miniatures and Front Rank.