Napoleonic & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Friday 22 July 2016

French Siege Train - Ramrod Enhancement

Ramrod salesmen really don't want you to know about this neat trick.
Kennington gunners in 1813 uniforms, all ready for sieges in 1810 - no wonder they are smiling.
I do have some OOP NapoleoN gunners available, but, since I need big numbers, and since the Siege Train is probably going to spend the vast majority of its time in its box, I am intending to man my French siege equipment with cheap and cheerful (and underrated, in my opinion) SHQ/Kennington crews.

I've still got one small shipment to come, but most of the figures are here, and I've cleaned them up and put them on the regulation bottletops, ready for painting. I also took the opportunity to carry out some modest conversion work, equipping half a dozen of the gunners with ramrods of a suitable size for the 24pdr behemoths.

My photo includes an unadjusted specimen, front centre, for comparison. A razor saw, a pack of needle files, a pin vice and some (accelerated!) superglue and I am a happy chappie - no doubt about it!


Separate Topic

Since today is the 204th anniversary of the Battle of Salamanca (that's Los Arapiles to you European fellows), I am feeling rash enough to do something naughty...


I'm not supposed to show anyone these, but here's a "leak" of some photos of the masters of some new Portuguese Cacadores I have commissioned (in 1/72 white metal) from Hagen Miniatures. In due course they will appear for sale on Hagen's website, but I thought I'd sneak in a quick appetiser. These are to be marketed under the Foy Figures name, to join the Portuguese Line infantry and 1809 Spanish line cavalry which are already on sale from Hagen. The website is here.

Special message to Armand (Tango01) - please do me a favour, and don't link this to TMP...

6 comments:

  1. Lieutenant General Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval hates this one weird trick.

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    1. He certainly does. And here's a list of the 5 exercise types which cause weight gain in middle age. And some jaw-dropping photos from the Oscars.

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  2. Replies
    1. I've only seen the photos thus far, but they look pretty good. The sculptor, as before, is Massimo Costa.

      For dilettante hobby-fiddlers like me, it is humbling to come into contact with guys with this amount of talent. I can only be extremely grateful to Uwe and Andreas at Hagen for making these things possible.

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  3. The Cacadores are excellent, full of character.

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    1. Thank you Lee - there is another potential Creeping Elegance disaster looming here. My immediate intention is to add the missing Portuguese Brigade for the Allied Seventh Division, which will require 4 battalions of the FF line infantry plus 1 battalion of these cacadores, but beyond that my army includes various assorted cacador units - including S-Range, Hinton Hunt and converted Higgins - which I might consider replacing if these new guys look good when painted up. Fortunately I know for a certain that I will live to 90, and I have nothing else to do.

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