French 2nd Cuirassier Regiment

 The last of five, this one is comprised of Perry figures and is my favourite in terms of the variety of "at rest" figure poses. The figures all look very natural and relaxed:

The three figures on trotting horses were the easiest to paint:

Whereas the ones in stationary poses were far more interesting, although the faces on a couple appeared to lack the same definition, possibly because the moulds are starting to get a little old now. It is not  however overly noticeable and they are great sculpts, and probably the most enjoyable Napoleonic figures I have worked on to date:

That's all five regiments of French cuirassiers now completed:

I do have one unit of carabiniers ahead of me, but have readied three hussar regiments and will start work on them next followed by some chasseurs. Hopefully within a couple of months I will have the core of the French cavalry completed, assuming I can maintain my motivation.

French 11th Cuirassier Regiment

 The fourth of five, and the third comprised of Foundry figures. I wanted to do one with pink facings as it gave me an excuse to finally open my Foundry shadow pink paint triad set which I purchased six or seven years ago, and the 11th fitted the bill nicely:

I must say I have always loved the heft of metal figures and, as I have mentioned before, it is quite noticeable how heavy these twelve-year old Foundry castings are. Very sturdy lads:

The flag is again from GMB, and I painted the trumpeter in reverse colours. The Foundry Shadow Pink is on the darker side (and bearing in mind my lighting here is full of shadows anyway), but it was a lovely colour to use. I wanted something solid and with some definition against the white straps and trumpeter's epaulettes as opposed to their lighter Nipple Pink, which I was concerned might look a little too washed out:

That's the 11th and fourth cuirassier regiment completed then:

Next up will be the fifth and last French cuirassier regiment in the form of the Perry's "at rest" figures. 

French 8th Cuirassier Regiment

This is the third cuirassier regiment, and the first of two cuirassier units comprised of Perry figures. What I find a little hard to believe is how this is actually the first Perry unit I have completed, these having sat in the pile for the best part of eight years:

These are the charging cuirassier figures, augmented by three of the 'hit by cannister/volley' figures. I am a little undecided as to whether these last three make good wargame figures as opposed to being perfect for an arranged diorama or command piece, but this does mean that every figure in the unit is unique with no double-ups:

While this was a good thing, it did create some additional work in trying to determine what certain parts of a figure not visible on others actually was, as opposed to just being able to work it out for one and repeat. I also made a mistake in snipping away some of the tufts of grass connecting the horses hooves to the base on a couple of figures which had the effect of rendering them a little bendier than others, but once I realised the error of my ways I quickly stopped this practice and will simply have to remember to always pick them up by the base (which is what I try to do anyway):

The flag is again from GMB, and I painted the trumpeter in the later standard musician livery as opposed to reverse colours:

Three down, with two regiments left to go.

French 3rd Cuirassier Regiment

 The second regiment of cuirassiers to roll off the production line is the 3rd regiment, looking pretty much the same as 1st regiment due to similar scarlet facings:

The figures are again from Wargames Foundry, the original purchase having been made fifteen years ago, and again carry a GMB flag:

These are however in the charging pose, where the bottom half of the figure is part of the horse casting and the top half is glued into position which means they can be subtly positioned to provide a slight variation in pose (although perhaps not noticeable in this picture):

I like these figures, and they again required very little cleanup which is always a bonus:

That's two regiments down, with three to go. Quite a slog if I'm honest, but I'm sure I'll be pleased once they are all completed.

French 1st Cuirassier Regiment

 The first of five cuirassier regiments, the 1er French cuirassiers fought extensively throughout the Napoleonic Wars including Austerlitz, Eylau, Essling and Wagram and Waterloo:

I have had these Foundry figures for  close to fifteen years and they are some of the original Perry sculpts created before they branched out on their own. They have been languishing in my painting queue for the past two and a half years and had accumulated a layer of dust over the primer, so it was high time they were completed:

Apart from the lack of variety in the trooper figures, all being comprised of one pose, the figures were good to paint and the figures themselves had little flash and required only minimal cleaning up. Perhaps this is because the molds weren't that old when I actually purchased them:

The other thing that struck me is how heavy and sturdy they are, and the metal that Foundry have used seems quite strong which is a good thing. 

After having spent the past couple of years painting 15mm I had forgotten how much more effort 28mm Napoleonics seems to require in comparison, but it was good to complete some French cavalry and to finally give these figures some attention. One cuirassier regiment completed then, with four more to go.

28mm Napoleon and Soult

 First figures completed for 2021 are a 28mm Napoleon alongside Mameluke Ali. and a Marshal Soult figure. First off, Napoleon and Ali:

In spite of the fact I have purchased a fair amount of Perry Miniatures product over the years, this is the first time I have actually managed to paint any up. I came across this pack while I was looking for some Perry French cuirassiers and realised they had been languishing in the pile for eight years, and thought it was about time they received some attention, along with Marshal Soult who was in the same pack:

It was nice to get back into some 28mm Napoleonics, and I have five regiments of cuirassiers on the painting table at the moment which is proving quite an undertaking, but a welcome change of pace.

As for the final 2020 count, I managed to complete 1551 figures of 310 horse and 1241 foot and cavalry figures. These were mainly 15mm figures across two armies, in the Tibetans and Republican Romans. I also manage to complete a 15mm Numidian army, a few DBMM camps and wagons, plus 25 GHQ WWII ships, so all up a record effort. 

I'm not expecting to come anywhere near that in 2021, especially as I expect to put in a concerted effort to clear more 28mm figures out of the pile. I'm also going to drastically reduce purchases and try to limit it to just supplies such as paints and brushes as, in the process of tracking down the cuirassiers, I realised I will need a couple of lifetimes to complete what I already have. That is unless something new, shiny and irresistible comes along, of course.

15mm DBMM Camps

 The holiday period has been quite productive to date, and to round out 2020 I managed to complete some camps for use in DBMM ancient games. 

For anyone not acquainted with DBMM, camps add a morale bonus when included in army lists but must be kept out of harm's way as they can have the opposite effect when sacked by an opponent. 

This provided me with an opportunity to use left-over figures and to employ them alongside some Baueda terrain pieces, which I particularly enjoyed painting. First up are a couple of Roman legionary tents accompanied by two Xyston Roman civilian figures (well, three if you count the infant clutching his mother's left leg):

Next up a Praetorian tent. Looking at it now, the woman holding the baby could be asking "Have you seen Regulus? I have something I need to tell him" while the other woman with her hands on her hips could be saying "Yes, he's my husband, and I think you need to tell me":

The Praetorian tent is an example of why I am so fond of Baueda models as the detail is just right, making them fun to paint (although the Dullcote appears to be a little reflective in this photo):

Here are the remaining civilians from the Xyston Roman pack who have formed a circle and grabbed the nearest clubs and spears to protect the family pig and chickens:

I also had a spare Julius Caesar, Brutus and Cicero figure left over from the Julius Caesar Xyston personality pack, so decided to place them on a stand together. 

This put me in mind of a school trip to see an amateur performance of Julius Caesar when one of my schoolmates shouted out "Look out, he's behind you" at the pivotal moment. It was a little unfair to the actors and he got the cane when we got back to school for his troubles, but it was funny at the time:

Next up are a couple of Forged in Battle stands, with a shepherd and a fellow tending some cattle and a goat:

Finally, a Baueda field kitchen with figures as supplied:

And two versions of the Bauda 'Camp Cooking' set:

The thing I like about these last few elements is they can be used for ancients right through to medieval, when I finally get around to completing a few of those armies I have ahead of me in the pile.

Well, that's about it from me for 2020 as it's New Year's Eve here in Australia. Thanks to all who have viewed and commented throughout the year, and I wish everyone a happy, healthy and productive 2021.