Generic French Ligne Regiment

So as promised in my last post here are two more units of French Napoleonic Infantry. As with the last unit shown, these will serve as stand-ins for the Marine Artillery at Leipzig and otherwise will see service as a generic French infantry unit for a number of battles. A purpose made so much easier by their covered flags and fannions.
As before these two unit are pretty small with 20 minis (which equates to roughly 400 men under the R2E rules). When all that Leipzig rush for Crisis in Antwerp is over these two and the previous one will all receive another company, which will bring them to strength for use as an average French unit of the time I want to depict.

After I painted the last battalion up von Peter pointed out to me that according to regulation it was not the first company of a battalion that was carry the eagle/flag or fannion (as I had arranged them with that unit) but the second company. That way it would always be in the centre of the unit, no matter the formation. Now I did not go back and change that with the previously depicted unit (simply too many men with sabres on the bases in question where the tassels could not be corrected once multibased), so that was one unit that did not follow regulations. But with these two, I heeded to vP’s advise and their command bases feature the colours of the second company.

What else? Well I am usually a big fan of Calpe, but I had a hard time getting around these minis when I returned from my holidays. Even though the first unit was about 1/3 finished when I got back, it took me ages to finish it. Now Peter from Calpe has done some extremely detailed minis here! Which is fine unless you are a stickler for details (like me) and working on a tight schedule. This got me somewhat frustrated and as a result working slow. But if ones worst complaint about a mini is that it is extremely detailed… well there could be worse. On the other hand it was good to paint the second unit right afterwards since I managed to finish it in one weekend plus about a week with roughly two to three hours painting time a night. When I did the work on the bases yesterday though, I was extremely happy I chose Calpe for these battalions. They just look so immensely beautiful in my humble opinion.

I am not going to do photos of individual stands this time, to make sure I do not bore you with tons of detailed photos of marching men in greatcoats. If you want to see more detail, just click on the photos, since they are linked to larger versions:

Generic French regiment
[1st battalion, in line]

Generic French regiment
[1st battalion, in line]

Generic French regiment
[1st battalion, marching]

Generic French regiment
[2nd battalion, in line]

Generic French regiment
[2nd battalion, in line]

Generic French regiment
[2nd battalion, marching]

And I could not resist, but also take a photo of all three battalions in formation:

Generic French regiment
[three battalion shot]

I have to admit, that this progress was badly needed. I still have two Prussian commander bases (which will be next), the Brandenburg Hussars, two batteries of Prussian artillery and one battery of French artillery, and the village of Möckern itself to do. All in just one month. If push comes to shove, the Prussians could do without the two additional batteries, since they could be simulated with off-board fire and I could use a 12pdr. stand-in for the French, but after 2 1/2 years of preparing for this, I would hate it if I stumbled on the finish line. I shall keep you posted on the further progress!

 

Preussische Berittene Artilleriebatterie Nr. 2

So now I am finished catching up with my entries to the Analogue Hobbies Panting Challenge (or at least I will be after this post). Before anyone asks… I ended up nowhere near the top places at 18th out of 47. Never expected any better since the points are based on numbers painted and lets face it… painting Napoleonics takes ages. But my main aim (in addition to having fun) had been to get things done and use it as a motivator to do just that. And frankly I think I did a good job at that in my humble opinion. My first aim had been 500 points which would have translated into 100 28mm minis.Back then I thought “if I can achieve that number, I will be straight on course for my Völkerschlacht project”. But I still felt that it would be a though thing to do. Where did I end up? 818 points. Now if I deduce to extra points I received for a fine-looking command stand and the entry fee Samurai, this still translates into 152 minis and four guns. So I can be happy.

Berittene Batterie Nr. 2 (front view)
[Calpe]

Now the last entry was this and I only managed to finish it in the nick of time. These models are to represent the Prussian Berittene Batterie Nr. 2 (Horse Artillery Battery No. 2) for my Völkerschlacht project. Not much to tell about these, since they were quiet a straight forward job. It is amazing how little I manage to get done these days. The guns were painted one weekend and the crews the following one. This was my best shot at getting the final two points to meet my target together (and to actually surpass it) with a decent entry.

Berittene Batterie Nr. 2 (front view)
[Calpe]

The worst thing was getting them based. Now I glue the minis to their base using two-part epoxy for extra strength. So that first step takes about a day to dry. The next step is applying filler to the bases to reduce the pitcher mound look from the integral bases. And there goes another 12 hours drying time. The rest of the basing is quiet straightforward with sand, tuffs and static grass, but it meant that I was constantly afraid of not being able to finish them in time.

Berittene Batterie Nr. 2, Howitzer

Berittene Batterie Nr. 2, 3rd 6pdr
[Calpe Miniatures]

Berittene Batterie Nr. 2, 2nd 6pdr
[Calpe Miniatures]

Berittene Batterie Nr. 2, 1st 6pdr
[Calpe Miniatures]

Berittene Batterie Nr. 2
[Calpe Miniatures]

Oh and there is one more thing to give you. Faithful readers of this blog will remember the Prussian Artillery officers I presented earlier this week. Now after some feedback from a member of a German forum it turned out I forgot to paint the collars of their Überröcke and that I should not have been at liberty to paint the bands on their caps in state colours at all. The most annoying thing is… I knew this two years ago as can be seen on the very first post on this blog (looking at which I actually need to repaint his sash… good thing he is still awaiting a base that would suit him after two years). So I have no idea why I forgot the lessons learned just now. Anyway… I sat down and repainted the collars and hats and would like to show you the results as well:

Prussian artillery officers (front view)

Prussian artillery officers (side view)