A standard requirement for my refurbishment of bought-in figures is the addition of compatible command figures to suit style and scale, and to fit with the house rules for unit organisation. Ever since I was besotted with the photos in the Charles Grant Napoleonic book, back in the 1970s, I have included mounted colonels with my infantry (or
chefs de bataillon, or whatever), and yesterday I painted the mounted officers to go with the two units of Old Guard I'm currently working on.
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| Classy little sculpts by Jorg Schmaeling at Art Miniaturen, to fit in with Les Higgins guardsmen. |
I'm pleased with them. The drummers, officers on foot and eagle-bearers should appear during the next few days, and I'll post some proper photos once they are done and the units are complete with flags. Next in the refurb queue are some French light infantry, I think - I'll need to buy in some SHQ command figures - better get on with that...
***** Late Edit *****
In response to Wellington Man's comment (below), here's a picture of my existing battalion of Old Guard Chasseurs - one I prepared just a few years earlier! You can't find these castings now - very rare.
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Lovely figures, particularly the chap on the left, a very dynamic pose.
ReplyDeleteThese are wonderful! Like you, I too feel that mounted officers are a vital part of an infantry unit's "look," and these certainly do the trick. The faces, to my mind, are spot on for wargaming figures.
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
A lovely pair of colonels sir...
ReplyDeleteArt Miniaturen don’t really get the press they deserve in this country... they are far more popular on the continent.
I first saw them used in/on that incredible Crobern 1813 diorama... I have the book but have yet to see it in the flesh.
All the best. Aly
These are lovely scuplts, well done. I also try to put a mounted colonel in my infantry regiments, initially I did it to save painting an extra figure, but they look better with a mounted commander.
ReplyDeleteThank you all, gentlemen. Mid-week football matches on BBC radio should help with the painting schedules this week (though the piping and the moustaches can go a bit awry when the ball hits the crossbar).
ReplyDeleteAly - Art Miniaturen - they are a bit pricey now, but I think they are excellent. Have to make on-the-spot alts sometimes to toughen them up for wargaming (gluing scabbards to legs etc), and the best protection of all is to hide them in the back row of a base!
For celebrities, odd command figures and introducing variety, I use Art Miniaturen and Hagen a lot. The quality of the sculpts is inspirational, though sometimes it's also a little intimidating. I have been known to get AM figures painted by a pro, since I didn't feel I could do them justice! I have a complete unit of A-M Chasseurs a Cheval waiting in the queue - hmmm...
My friend Prof De Vries observes my attempt at awarding these boys the cross of the Legion d'Honneur - well, it was visible on the casting, so I felt I had to have a go!
Those are simply gorgeous, Foy.
ReplyDeleteAre you planning any foot Chasseurs?
If I can get my hands on some old castings, I'll go for them. Higgins did OG Chasseur figures, but they were discontinued when the range was simplified after Les died. I have a battalion of them (in Late Edit section of the post above - they are cast with no plate or crown patch on the bearskin, though Les did not know to give them pointed cuffs! - this unit has the same AM colonel casting, the foot officer is a Les Higgins grenadier officer with a head swap, and the drummer and porte-aigle are HH with a little modification. They look a bit shiny for me, but hey.).
DeleteAfter my current batch of 2 bns of grenadiers is complete I will have an OG brigade of 3 bns of grenadiers and 1 of chasseurs, which is a little eccentric for Wagram but not bad if you don't look too closely!
I thought I'd landed another unit of chasseurs recently (albeit painted as Dutch grenadiers) as part of the "Carlo's Army" shipment, but Carlo's brother bought them off him, since he couldn't bear to have his childhood sold to an outsider!
I keep my eyes peeled...!
I already have 1 bn each of Fusilier-Chasseurs and Fus-Grenadiers, and I have (I think) a guard tirailleur bn, so I have the makings of a Young Guard brigade, too. This is all new to me, since the Danube is unfamiliar (and unforeseen) territory.
I am now thinking vaguely of vast campaigns somewhere or other...
What fine fellows! I'm sure they will serve you well.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ian - I'm working on raising some suitable generals to keep them in order. Curial, Dorsenne...
DeleteMost of the S-Range generals seem to have aiguillettes, so there should be no shortage of brigadiers!
Very nice. AM are well worth the investment.
ReplyDeleteI have only ever owned a few Higgins figures but they ooze "class", are they still available - I know they made an appearance a few years back?
Hi Matt - Higgins Napoleonics were reissued by the NapoleoN people (from Murcia) circa 2009 - production actually started, and they made new moulds - then the company went bust and they have disappeared since then. I keep an ear to the ground, but all I can hear are bloody trains...
DeleteAll the other Higgins ranges - the ECW, Marlburian and (I think) Colonial are alive and well - owned and produced by Old John at Nostalgia 20mm. The "classy" sculpts are due to Les Higgins, who was replaced by (the also very talented) Tim Richards when he died rather suddenly. The figures were made of pewter, and the traditions of the firm were in the trophy and statuette business - hence the very fine finish. Hence, also, a certain lack of knowledge about uniforms on occasions. They are elegant, if a bit stiffly posed, and I love them, but the Napoleonic and colonial horses are terrible!