Sunday 29 August 2010

61me Ligne (1)


I'm having the same experience with Husson's brigade and I did with Campi's - I misread the General de Brigade orbat and have given the 61st Ligne two battalions and the 3rd Ligne only 1 (it should be the other way around), and I've painted the 61st backwards. This is the second battalion officially; in fact it has a third battalion fanion, simply because GMB sell these fanions in packs containing one second battalion flag and one for the third battalion - given that there were only a handful of French regiments at Waterloo which fielded 3 battalions I will end up with lots of redundant red fanions unless I put them to use.


As with my other French battalions, this one is a mix of Perry plastics and metals. There are more of the former than the latter and the plastic figures incorporate several of the spare heads that are included in the box. This is an excellent idea and I hope the forthcoming plastic Prussian sets from Perry and Warlord have plenty of spare heads too. Ideally I'd have liked another couple of flank company heads (i.e. with moustaches), as my grenadier and voltiguer companies always seem to look the same. Anyway, the front rank of this unit mostly have head swaps. I was worried that the drummer's new head might make him look older than the stereotypical "drummer boy", but I think it's turned out ok and in any event I confess I have no idea about the average age of Napoleon's infantry drummers - I suspect it wasn't quite as young as one might think. The skirmishing voltiguers are based on the bases that come with the Perry box, only with the green edges painted mid-brown.


I've started the 61me's first battalion, but won't finish it until later in the year. Last night I put together a couple of Perry plastic cuirassiers and and tempted to paint those up to see how they look. I'm aware that a unit of 18 French cavalry will take most, if not all, of September to do, so I'm not sure that I'll manage a whole regiment, but you never know. Next up will be some foot artillery and Baron Campi.


28 figures. Painted August 2010. Fanion by GMB.










6 comments:

Sire Godefroy said...

I'm very impressed - again. The ragged clothing/equipment makes for a greatly individualised unit. If only the Bardin uniforms had been in use a bit earlier - I'd love to build a 1813-force to go together with the all-new Prussians coming from Warlord and Perry.

Cheers
SG

AJ (Allan) Wright said...

Giles, the consistency of quality in your painting is amazing. This unit like all the others is no exception. Your detail work on the standard bearer's face really brings out the action in his expression.

Christopher(aka Axebreaker) said...

Really,really fine work Giles!

Cheers
Christopher

Der Alte Fritz said...

Gee, I can not distinguish the difference between the plastic Perrys and the lead Perrys. :) :) :)

This is a very nice looking project that you have going.

cheers

DAF

Giles said...

Thanks for the comments, chaps. It's certainly exciting times for Napoleonic fans, even those who have a pathological hatred of plastic figures!

DAF - you cheeky fellow! :^)

Doc Smith said...

Love your Perrys Giles - you've given them a nice authentic 'campaign' look. Mixing with the casualty, bttn & regt command sets in metal is definitely the way to go. With two boxes of plastics and three metal sets, I ended up with over 90 figures - brigade-size or more for Black Powder games. Will we see any accompanying French cavalry from you? Those Perrys hussars must be tempting eh?

Cheers,
Doc