Sunday, 24 April 2022

French artillery Napoleonic 15

 In an effort to rebalance the arms race between the Austrians and French I have here four French artillery pieces, two six pounders and two howitzers,of course this doubles what the Austrians have and there will now need to be a response ! 

We have three line models,plastic by Victrix, nice detailed models, although unhelpfully they were packaged in the eight/twelve pounder packaging, so the instructions didn't really work but eventually Victrix sent me a link to some instructions and four years ago they got built (we don't like to hurry things do we now?)

 The other piece is a metal Warlord Guard howitzer which I picked up one Sunday evening from the Last Bastion  miniatures shop in Rotherham about six months ago,I was working seven day weeks in Yorkshire and in need of  some retail therapy after work and they open late on Sunday, it's mainly a fantasy/scifi shop but they were very friendly and had some Warlord historical figures, mostly Bolt action, a lot of Napoleonic Prussians ( obviously I thought about starting a new army,as one does!) but there were a couple  of packs I thought would be useful,so I got them( I do try and buy something in a shop that stocks miniatures) a Roman general on a horse with a dog,(which was covered with flash and a bit small) and this artillery piece which seems a little big? The figures are a touch bigger but the gun is enormous compared to the Victrix gun,they were nice and clean figures though ,which is one of the reasons they've been painted! 

I have got the Victrix eight/twelve pounder set to do at some point,but haven't even started building them yet,liable to be some Napoleonic cavalry next,although I am tempted to paint something simple and  non Napoleonic, having said that, these chaps were pretty straightforward for Napoleonics!













Just for Keith, a comparison of Perry and Hat 28mm figures. 



Noticeably slighter but probably alright in their own units I would say?



Finally four casualty markers for my French infantry, Perry plastic from their heavy cavalry sets. The blue is a bit too light but they'll do!

All the best Iain 


  

35 comments:

  1. All looking great Iain!
    best reagrds

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  2. Fantastic looking artillery pieces Iain, ranked up together the models don't look too out of scale, the gun carriage is the most noticeable difference. As for the Perry and Hat figures, as you say if you keep them in separate units shouldn't be a problem. The causality markers look great as well.

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    1. Thanks Dave, I guess it's the weight as well as the size that does it, as you say ranked up they're all fine!
      Best Iain

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  3. Those guns look great and the crews are nicely animated too. Hope their shots are always on target for you!

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    1. Thanks Mark, as I'm doing both sides, they'll probably be on target when I'm the opposing team?!
      Best Iain

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  4. That looks great Iain. I have prepped a pile of French Napoleonic artillery for completion a bit later in the year, so seeing your work is great for added inspiration.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence, on to the artillery, just a small matter of a Medieval Spanish army to knock out!
      Best Iain

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  5. I keep telling myself I will NOT start Naps in 28mm. You've not helping ;)

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  6. Very nice work Iain...on a whim some years ago I bought a set of the Victrix British artillery off our local version of eBay .....I think, as with most hard plastic, the "issue" (if you consider it one) is that all dimensions, human, animal and inanimate objects, are more realistic in hard plastic than metal. The plastic guns seem very delicate compared with the usual metal versions...but I think that's mainly because they are more accurately scaled...
    Thanks for thr HaT comparison...I saw similar on th McPhees Miniature Men blog, which was what convinced me to give them a go. I feel the infantry were nicer than the cavalry in the first place, and given I actually got the 1/72 versions, I never got the chance to do a fair comparison. Perhaps I will purchase a pack from overseas one day but the whole experience has kind of put me off bothering at present.

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    1. Thanks Keith, I just figured I had them so I could put them up, I'm still undecided to be honest!
      Best Iain

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  7. Well, nice purchase and excellent job, I call that a total victory.

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  8. Great job on all the items. As I plow through my own queue it is evident it is minor crisis like the arms race that really decide what is next. We are just along for the ride.

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    1. Yes, submit and go with the flow, although when I do that I end up with collections containing too many of the wrong kind of troops!
      Best Iain

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  9. This is a grand looking battery! Working seven day weeks? Yikes! That is harsh! Jonathan Freitag posted this, I got the update but it didn't post on the blog?

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    1. Thanks Jonathan, luckily I didn't have to do too many weeks like that!
      Best Iain

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  10. Nicely done Iain , one day I might get round to french artillery ? The Hat figures do look very slight to me ?

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    1. Thanks Matt, I'm sure you will, jury's out with the Hat figures at the moment!
      Best Iain

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  11. An interesting mix of gun sizes and crews. The wheels on the howitzer look enormous compared to the others!
    I love that you're having an arms race with yourself!

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    1. I know, it's all entertainingly schizophrenic, oh no it isn't, oh yes it is!
      Best Iain

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  12. I have the same arms race issues with my ACW collection. Great job on all the artillery you did. 😀

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    1. It comes from doing both sides I guess?
      Best Iain

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  13. Nice looking battery. The casualty markers are effective.

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  14. Lovely Artillery Iain…
    I do like the French Artillery uniforms…

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly , not too plain but pleasingly workmanlike!
      Best Iain

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  15. Great additions to your Napoleonic collection, Iain. I think the Victrix set is great with all of the options.

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    1. Thanks Dean, yes the options are really useful!
      Best Iain

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  16. Considering the mix of producers all of this looks great mate. The arms race never ends btw.

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    1. Thanks a lot Dai, I know but it's an entertaining ride!
      Best Iain

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