Saturday, December 25, 2010

28mm French Line Battery


Here is a 28mm Napoleonic French Line Battery using Perry castings. In 'Republic to Empire' terms this represents four 6 pounders and two 5.5 inch howitzers. Ultimately I will be adding another gun/crew and each gun will have a long trail of limbers and caissons behind. Base size is 60mm (f) x 80mm (d).



28mm Austrian Command Stand


Here are a couple shots of a Austrian command stand that I did up as a wedding gift for Greg. These are from an old pack of Foundry that I've had kicking around for years. I based them to work with the various 'Grande Manner' style rulesets that have come out in the past year. The rock outcroping is a piece of bark from our garden painted to purpose. In doing the research for the uniforms I was bemused to find that the Austrian high command used this same cut of dress uniform until the end of the First World War!



I look forward to seeing this stand again when I go to visit Winnipeg next!

Monday, December 20, 2010

28mm Victrix 1804 -1807 French Infantry Battalion


Here is battalion of early period French infantry I did earlier this autumn (aproximately 32 figures).  The majority of the models are Victrix plastics which are fiddly as hell to assemble but pay-off in the end with being able to customize every pose. For example, in this battalion I have made a large portion of the soldiers cheering, lifting their hats and muskets in a salute to their commanding officer. Only a few years ago it would have been virtually impossible to compose a unit like this without a hellish amount of conversion work. Now it's pretty easy.




I use 30mm (w) x 50mm (d) steel bases to allow greater depth for additional models and terrain. (Four figures per base.) It adds visual interest and helps to protect fragile bayonets, outstretched arms, etc. I also like the narrower frontage (15mm per figure) as it seems to give a more realistic, compressed look.




The one thing the deeper bases do is leave gaps between the ranks in column formations. I mask some of this by placing figures and terrain into the dead space in order to better tie the two bases together visually.

28mm British Royal Horse Artillery

Here are some Perry British Royal Horse Artillery castings. I quite liked the sculpting on the crew running up the howitzer. Again, I have these based on sheet steel to keep a low profile to the playing surface. I'll need another gun to make up a full battery for Republic to Empire. Then I'll start some caissons and limbers to denote the depth of the battery. My apologies for the crap photos as they are a bit blurry.




28mm Command Stand: Ney, Marshal of France

Ney, Marshal of France
'Bravest of the Brave'

This is a command stand I put together in 28mm for gaming in some of the new 'Grande Manner' rulesets that have come out recently (Republic to Empire, Lasalle, Napoleon, Black Powder, etc.). This stand depicts Marshal Ney at the Battle of Waterloo leading the ill-fated cavalry charge on the Allied positions at Mont St. Jean.
The stand is composed of a set of Perry castings plus a Dragoon trumpeter from their plastic box. I used a round metal disc for a stand as I like the low-profile and the added weight it gives to groups of plastic figures.