French Grenadiers a Cheval

While I have only one dragoon regiment to go, I thought it was time get stuck into another Guard regiment with the Grenadiers a Cheval:

I purchased these in around 2008 and undercoated them two and a half years ago, so they have been patiently awaiting their turn:

The figures are from Foundry, and the flag again from GMB:

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That's thirteen regiments done, so over halfway to the twenty-four I have planned:

I ordered a bunch of GMB flags back in February and am still eagerly awaiting their arrival so I can complete the last of the dragoons. I fear it has gone astray, but am clinging to the hope it might still turn up. 

French 2nd Dragoons

It's back the red facings of the 2e Dragoons for the third of four regiments, this time with Perry figures:

The flag is from GMB as usual, and I have again included the elite company for a bit of variety:

I'm not quite sure what I did with the camera settings on this one as they came out looking a bit shinier than they are in reality, having had a couple of coats of Testors Dullcote (which seems to be in short supply here in Australia at the moment). I always seem to magically find a new setting on my phone camera each time I use it, just to keep things interesting:

I have the last exam for the semester coming up this Friday before a four or five week break so I am hoping I'll be able to step up my output, for the next month at least.

French 20th Dragoons

 The second of four dragoon units, I had to include one with yellow facings:

These are the Perry "at rest" dragoons, and I particularly like the way they appear to just be standing about waiting for the order to charge. I also purchased the bearskin figures to form an elite company for the next three units:

Even though they may be over-represented in a twelve-figure unit, I can never resist a bearskin cap:

The command stand:

And a couple of close-ups of the troopers:

Two down, with two to go:

That's the 20e Dragoons completed then. Next up the 2e dragoons.

French 4th Dragoons

The first of four line dragoon regiments, I had originally intended these to be 1st Dragoons. However when I remembered that regiment had been converted to lancers in 1811 and that all my cavalry flags are 1812 issue I switched them to become 4th Dragoons:

Not that switching them involved any additional work as the only difference between the two regiments is that the 1st had vertical pockets whereas those of 4th were horizontal. Thankfully none of the pockets on these Foundry charging figures are visible (well, apart from the officer, but cavalry officers were notorious for doing their own thing anyway):

My third attempt at attaching a flag and a label to this unit has worked, which is just as well as I would have run out of spares again:

That's ten French cavalry regiments now completed since Christmas, a much slower rate than previous years:

This has been for a variety of reasons, including getting the house ready over the best part of a month for a Christening party for grandchild number one and also an increased study load in an attempt to hasten the completion of a part-time law degree I undertook for "fun" five years ago, but which I am now keen to finish. Next up, the first of three Perry dragoon regiments.

French 1st Hussars

 The last hussar unit, the 1st hussars look a little more what I think French Hussars should look like as opposed to the comparatively staid colours of the 2nd and 3rd regiments:

This was the third attempt at attaching their flag, the previous two having disintegrated, but after having given my painting room a decent airing this one appears to be holding. Rather annoyingly I had ordered some replacements along with some chasseur flags, but received two copies of the latter by mistake. Deciding that I am not going to wait another two months, and because they appear to have the same battle honours anyway, I have used one of the chasseur flags instead:

With their pigtails the trooper figures appear a little gnome-like, but at least they have plenty of character:

The sabretache decals are by Little Big Men studios, meant for Perry figures rather than Foundry but I managed to get them to fit with a little bit of trimming:

That's three French hussar regiments completed, which is all I am planning on doing:

Next up, the first of four line dragoon regiments I have in the queue.

French Empress Dragoons

Following my recent disintegrating flag issue a few replacements arrived last week which has allowed me to complete several units, and restore my "flagging" motivation. First off the line are the Empress Dragoons:

 

As a Guard unit these are fifteen figures strong, and are some Foundry figures I purchased over ten years ago so it is nice to finally complete them:

I was pleased with the way they turned out, particularly the command stand with its new flag:

There is also some subtle variation between the trooper figures which is nice:

Apart from anything else, it was just nice to get back "on the horse", so to speak:

I am still awaiting some further replacement flags from GMB plus some lance pennons from an order shipped in March, so on top of a yet-to-arrive Perry order from December I am hoping that it too hasn't gone astray. With regard to what was causing the paper to disintegrate, I have given the painting room a decent airing and the issue seems to have subsided. I shudder to think what the actual cause may have been but there was definitely something that was reacting with the PVA glue and paper, and possibly the late summer humidity. Whatever it was, I just hope it hasn't had a similar effect upon my lungs. Next up, the 1st Hussars.

French 3rd Hussars

 I was looking forward to the French Hussars as I thought they'd add a splash of colour to my French Army, which is obviously why I chose the brown pelisse of the 2nd and have now followed up with the grey of the 3rd:

Even the sabretaches of the centre companies is a rather uninspired '3':

At least the elite company and command sabretaches provide a little more elan:

That said, given the prima facie unappealing colour combination, I think the uniform actually works quite well:

The other thing is, being Perry Miniature Hussars, there was no standard bearer and so no disintegrating flags to deal with. On this subject, I went out and purchased a Japanese-manufactured acid-free paper-glue. Rather amusingly called 'Yamato' glue, it looks like an oversized tube of Wasabi and comes out with the same consistency. Not cheap, but after losing five flags to three different brands of PVA, price was only a secondary consideration. Thinking by now I must surely have the problem resolved, I charged straight in and attached the flag to some French dragoons I have nearly completed, only to wake up the next morning and be greeted with the following:

As with the PVA disasters, the unit label printed on standard photocopy paper had also disintegrated:

I have been happily gluing flags and standards together for the past ten years, five of them in the same painting area, and the last month is the first time I have ever had this issue. Four different types of paper glue have now been tried, and I'm running out of ideas other than touching up the disintegrated flags and calling it canister damage (although another 24 hours after this photo was taken the flag had all but disappeared). I'm off to the art supply shop to try a fabric white glue next, but will make sure I try it on some off-cuts before I destroy any more flags...