Creating a 1/72 Napoleonic wargaming army

[Zed1]

Hi folks!

After a long time in which I was maximum busy in my job, I eventually had to change my assignment after the local elections in November 2020. Since then, I'm still in the local political business, but on a much smaller scale which leaves me, once again, time to return to the hobby.

As that Corona thing still forbids to participate in miniature conventions, I have no large motivation to work on vignettes or dioramas. But my oldest son one day came over with the question why we cannot just start wargaming with all these figures. Well - challenge accepted. For the start, you need two armies as counterparts, so the painting started early this year. Let's see when we're ready for playing.

On the first hand, I got two boxes of French cavalry for christmas - cuirassiers and Polish lancers from Zvezda. There's not much you can do with cuirassiers then painting them as cuirassiers - for the lancers, you have a number of options. I decided to go with a rather unusuals subject and painted them as Chevauleger Lanciers.



Those are the first three, the others are nearly ready...




The first cuirassier regiment is already completed:





Plus the first French line infanty bataillon ready for basing...



For the Prussian side, I have collected some stuff in the last years. I took out the HaT Prussian artillery set first, but noticed that the figures look rather odd. So I painted the guns, left the figures aside and looked for alternatives...



I found them in the shop of Newline Designs, a metal figure producer I really didn't know before. I placed a test order and it showed up that the figures, although a bit smaller then my usual 1/72 miniatures, fit quite well with the HaT guns.




So the first battery is already completed. I also have completed a number of Landwehr figures from the Strelets marching Landwehr set that will also be a part of the future wargaming army...



From earlier painting sessions, I have some Prussian infantry that needs a bit of refurbishment, but will nearly form a bataillon, when painted. They still sleep in a plastic box...



And here's the stuff that I have in reserve - French infantry, loads of Prussian sets and the rest of the artillerymen, ready to form the bulk of the two armies.



Wow. A lot to do. Currently, I have some Newline French Chevaulegers and Prussian lancers still on the painting table.



When I have finished them, I will start to refurbish the Prussian infantry and show you the results.

[Mr. Andrea]

Great to see you back full throttle! Great project! Welcome to wargaming-hood. Which rulebook will you use?

[Zed1]

I'm currently not sure, at the moments, the favourites are BlackPowder and General d'Armee, therefore I have chosen a convenient basing size.

[Germanicus]

I like the grass effect on the bases, what did you use?

[Minuteman]

An interesting and good-looking project. Your Zvezda cavalry look wonderful, and the basing is excellent. I also very much like the Newline gunners, enabling the rather basic HaT 6pdr gun to have a new lease of life! Nice artillery figures and very well painted.

Good luck with this project!!

[Michael Robert]

Great start, zed1!
These are lovely.
One point kept me confused. The chevauxlegers lanciers didn't wear Czapka, no? They had helmets similar to Dragoons - at least from what I know, but you never stop discovering new stuff. At first I thought them to be Lanciers of Berg. They had this nice mix of green and pink (amarant red).
Many greetings
Michael

[Kekso]

Yup, nice to see you're back. I will follow your progress.

[Zed1]

I also first thought about painting them as Berg lancers, especially because I like their uniforms very much. But I wanted to have something more unusual and then stumbled accross the 30e chevauleger lanciers. There are plenty of pictures that are differing in small details - so finally I decided for the plume I liked the most (out of 6 different solutions). Have a look here: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/9e_r%C3%A9giment_de_chevau-l%C3%A9gers_lanciers#/media/Datei:30e_chasseurs_%C3%A0_cheval.jpg

[Zed1]

T44 Turf burnt grass from NOCH.

[Bessiere]

Great looking figures there. You have a masterful touch with those cavalry sir. I love that you even have a fourier represented. Happy gaming, I hope you and your son have some good fun battling it out.
cheers,
Bessiere

[Peter]

Now I see you working!

And what is the young padawan doing in the mean time you're painting these figures?

Real nice painted figures! Kep them coming Sascha!

[C M Dodson]

Beautifully painted figures Mr Z.

Newline are nice but as you say a little small compared to their plastic friends.

I have found that SHQ ( the old Kennington) figures are more comparable and very nice indeed.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Minuteman]

I have found that SHQ ( the old Kennington) figures are more comparable and very nice indeed.

Thank you Mr Dodson, a helpful tip: I have been aware of the Kennington range for quite some time but have never actually purchased any of the figures.

I am trying to track down some 'large 20mm' (1/72) Russian Horse artillery circa 1812, but it looks as if Kennington do not include these in their range unfortunately....so it may have to be conversions after all.

[Mr. Andrea]

I'm currently not sure, at the moments, the favourites are BlackPowder and General d'Armee, therefore I have chosen a convenient basing size.

Great to hear that. If you'll go for BP, maybe we can have a try together during next FIGZ. I am sure Jan will join as well with his Prussians. Take care and happy wargaming.

[MABO]

If I am able to understand the rules.

[Zed1]

Okay. Just a little update. The good thing is: the more figures you have in preparation, the more you get finished in a row.

So - here's the first example of based infantry.



I told you that most of these figures already stood in my cabinet. But to get it right, I needed a sapper (which I took from the HaT French Light Infantry Command set) and a flagbearer.



Unfortunately, the French Line Infantry box continues everything but a flagbearer - I never understood why. So I chose to convert an officer figure - voila, an eagle bearer.
In the end, I have my first bataillon ready. Second is about to follow - I just have to paint the command group for that. I also have four voltigeurs for a skirmisher base already done. This means a lot of progress.

My plan is to to build up a line and a light regiment, plus a large and two regular cavalry units. The second regular cavalry unit will be chasseurs a cheval, for which I have painted the first platoon and already put it onto a base. These are metal figures from NewlineDesign.



To complete my first little army, I have to add some artillery and generals.

So what's actually on my desk? The second half of chasseurs a cheval and chasseur lancers are about to be based. The first French gun crew is painted up 80percent. The three command figures of my Prussian line lancers is at around 80percent.

This means it's time to fill the table for another round - maybe I complete the Prussian artillery and lancers first, together with the rest of the French artillerymen and then order some adequate guns.

See you later!

[Edmund2019]

Impressive work! Keep it coming

[Peter]

Great work again Sascha!

You don't paint the sides of the bases?

[Zed1]

Great work again Sascha!

You don't paint the sides of the bases?

I actually only wash the sides with a Sepia tone washing to make the wood a bit darker - but as it's the part that will be touched by hand, I thought that this would be enough.

[Peter]

I asked because I give my bases a color for each country.

French blue, British red, Austria white, Spain yellow, Russia green, and so on....



Uniforms are not all the same for the armies of a country, as you are already showing here. Just a thought of me but it could be helpfull during the battle.