Conversions and casualties, French cavalry at Waterloo

[Bessiere]

Working on figures for Ney's grand cavalry charge at Waterloo and trying to make casualty figures with what I have on hand they often end up suggesting a unique pose rather than injury. I'm having the most fun since plunging back in to modelling a few years ago. Lots of swapping heads and limbs, wire and green stuff but also playing with a soldering iron and just trying whatever seems workable. Ultimately we need many thousands of casualty figures and even the poses available for sale are few so the more variety we can get the better.

Something like the starting phases: seeing which riders look best on which horses.

Dutch Red Lancers standing in the stirrups



War can be a real drag

My personal favorite; a cuirassier tending his wounded mount and carabinier getting off his fallen horse.




When cannonballs find their mark

A few more


I will add to this thread over the next few months as things progress.
Cheers,
Bessiere

[C M Dodson]

My goodness Mr B you have been busy!

Some very nice conversions and well painted casualties there.

Franz Nap have some good casualties and Speria have just released their cuirassier / carabiner range.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Susofrick]

What a carnage (if that's the right word). Great work! And Strelets and ESCI-horses? Have made some casualties wih boiling water and in my memory the old ESCI figures were great for it.

[Bessiere]

Thank you kindly Mr D. I hadn't seen the new Spiera figures, they look very nice indeed. Having my paypal account terminated I'm finding it a challenge to pay online for things as many small vendors can't afford the fees charged by credit card companies.
Cheers,
Bessiere

[Bessiere]

What a carnage (if that's the right word). Great work! And Strelets and ESCI-horses? Have made some casualties wih boiling water and in my memory the old ESCI figures were great for it.

Good eye. Those are the Strelets Saxon Cuirassiers a couple of whom became French Dragoons (traitors!). I love the horse poses and if you cut away some shrubbery from the legs you can twist them in to dramatic poses that I really like. So much so I'm willing to overlook their double-sized muzzles. ESCI, Zvezda and FranzNap are also represented. The Franz Nap saddles are really nice but they wont fit on Strelets horses but do on FN horses. I only received those this week so I haven't used those yet. Got adventurous and wanted to see what I could do with greenstuff.
Cheers,
Bessiere

[CliosPaintingBench]

Wow the horse corspes are incredibly gory, I love them. Also the rider being dragged along by his horse is hilarious!

[Bill Slavin]

I would agree, the disembowelled horses are especially gruesomely fantastic. It looks like you are having fun!
You probably saw this on a recent Benno post, but if not, it seems very timely for your project.
http://plasticsoldierreview.com/FirstLook.aspx?id=2770

[Konrad]

The dead liven up the battlefield.
Very nice and many conversions.
My god, the horses...

Next to a lost battle, a battle won is the worst sight there is.
Duke of Wellington

[Bessiere]

Thanks Bill.Not sure where to purchase those actually. None of my regular vendors stocks Linear A. If they were making these for Waterloo the Dragoon is wearing the wrong surtout.
Cheers,
Bessiere

[Minuteman]

Looking good Bessiere! Gruesome though some of these conversions are, they of course represent the real cost of war, especially on the packed battlefields of the Napoleonic period. Keep up the good work!

[Santi Pérez]

An amazing project you have embarked on, Bessiere. Both the horse tests and the wide variety of casualties are mind-blowing, but I fully agree with Owen about the marks found by the cannonballs:

Wow the horse corspes are incredibly gory, I love them...

Great work indeed!

Santi.

[Bessiere]

Michigan toy soldier has the Linear A set and I've ordered a sampling of the new Spiera figures along with some HaT and Redbox sets I've been wanting. It will be like Christmas in a week or 2. I'm a die hard consumer when it comes to models. Tis' my weakness.
Cheers,
Bessiere

[Peter]

I feel pity for the horses!

Great conversions on these figures!

[Bessiere]

I feel it too. This project has forced to me to really look at animal suffering and I might have more sympathy for the horses than the common soldier. Of all animals it has been horses that went to war along with humans. There's some stories in that. Someone should make a movie about war from a cavalry horses viewpoint.
Cheers,
Bessiere

[Peter]

I feel it too. This project has forced to me to really look at animal suffering and I might have more sympathy for the horses than the common soldier. Of all animals it has been horses that went to war along with humans. There's some stories in that. Someone should make a movie about war from a cavalry horses viewpoint.
Cheers,
Bessiere

The War Horse is such kind of movie!

[JurgenH]

Simply wonderful figures. I'm thrilled.
Jürgen H.

[k.b.]

Wow! Always felt that casualty figures were something greatly overlooked by wargamers and diorama builders if any realistic semblance of a battleground was to be reproduced in miniature.

Your figures are certainly going to make your battlefield much more realistic Bessiere. And the poor horses, although horrendously mutilated, ….. dare I say it, will add a fascinatingly eye-catching focal point to the battle, in their morbid representation of the true horrors of war.

Can’t wait to see what will surely be a magnificent scene of Ney’s I’ll-fated cavalry charge.

Congratulations

[Bessiere]

I will have to check that out then, thanks Peter. See what happens if you hang out at Benno's too long? You start doing conversions and next thing you know it's a bloody mess! Honestly, it is only because of seeing the many awesome conversions others have posted here I even thought it possible so I blame you all. Especially Mr Dodson. Despite not responding to every comment individually I would like to thank you all for the very encouraging comments, they really help keep me motivated.
Cheers,
Bessiere

[MABO]

I can only agree with the others. Very interesting and creative thread. I guessyou are waiting for the Linear-a set of French cavalry?!

[Bessiere]

I can only agree with the others. Very interesting and creative thread. I guessyou are waiting for the Linear-a set of French cavalry?!

As chance would have it I got an email 2 hours telling me it wasn't in stock yet. Website said it was when I ordered. Gah! I hope it's not too long a wait but I have plenty of things to work on until then. Thanks Mabo.
Cheers,
Bessiere