Tuesday 15 November 2022

French Napoleonic infantry regiment no 105 ,some command and another Blackpowder game Napoleonic 20

 Here we have a unit of Victrix Napoleonic French 1807-1814 , they've actually painted up rather nicely and I am pretty happy with them, although I can not erase the memory of assembling them and how the air was turned blue by the vast amount of clean up every single component part required, which when you are doing 120 of them can be soul destroying! By contrast I have cleaned up rather more of the same  period French infantry plastic by the Perry's and they we're actually pretty pleasant to do. The Victrix figures have got really characterful faces and managed not to suffer the fate of newly painted figures, hanging on till the bitter end in the latest game. 









I know I need to touch up the flag edges, I've also tried to speed up the basing mixing the sharp sand in with pva and the emulsion basing colour, not entirely successful but not too bad when you're in a hurry! The casualty marker is a Perry plastic casualty figure from their French heavy cavalry horse sprues with a warbase square surround for a 7mm die.














In addition I  needed to paint up two French command stands and an Austrian, these chaps were rapidly knocked out on the Saturday night before the Sunday club game, I also finished off the French unit, having a quiet night in ,while my wife went to the corn exchange to relive her youth watching Suzie and the budgies  and  The Cure cover bands at least I felt better the next morning! 

We tried out a few more rules,and had a first go with built up areas,it was a close run battle, all the French cuirassier brigade were on zero stamina by the end but the Austrians ended up with two broken brigades and  couldn't last out, we adopted the rule that infantry can not do a triple move and shoot( thanks Norm!) Although thinking about it, it might have happened anyway and I think some others from Chasseur's blog and we used cm instead of inches which was beneficial on a 6' x4' board and still gave a good game.




















John supplied the fencing and walls, I was thinking that the buildings aren't Germanic enough, I've got some stuff to make some late 18th century Southern German built up areas but I fear it will have to wait until after the Christmas game, unless I find I have lots of time!

The two French commanders are Perry and the Austrian is Eagle maybe? I picked him up at the last Salute as the stall stocking Perry metal figures didn't have enough space, so didn't bother with Napoleonic Austrians , which was made more irritating by the show being half empty! The Perry figures are excellent as always and I think the Eagle figures paints up well enough? I have some more Austrian 12lb cannons from Eagle to paint up at some point as Perry don't do any.

Next up, probably more Austrians, then more French and French allies as they're a bit faster than French line and as my Austrians will be added to my nephews British and Russian at Christmas, the French will definitely need reinforcing!

All the best 

Iain 

34 comments:

  1. Your Frenchmen and officers painted up very nicely, indeed! Your collection grows at a respectable pace. Getting them into battle straightaway is good form, I think. Nice to see another battle under your belt and that you are getting on with the rules. Keep at it, Iain!

    What battle is planned for your Christmas game?

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    1. Thanks Jonathan, happy to finish them, odd for me to get two games within a few weeks of each other and another club game for the 27th! The Christmas game will be a multi player game, I'm thinking Leipzig, a part of anyway with the British pretending to be Prussians!
      Best Iain

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  2. Excellent French infantry and lovely looking game Iain!

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  3. That is a lovely body of cavalry. I was surprised at the prep problems with the Victrix - are those from those biggish yellow / white boxes? I have 4 of those tucked away ( 2 line inf, 1 landwehr, 1 Grenadier)!

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    1. I like the big cavalry battle! The issue for Victrix is their very first boxes, French line and British line, the Austrians, artillery and I think their French guard ( I haven't assembled them) are much better and comparable to Perry.
      Best Iain

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  4. Lovely work on the French Iain. The assembly is one of the things that put me off plastics, and I find supergluing the odd arm on metal figures to be more than enough.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence, assembling Perry plastic figures I find quite therapeutic, these Victrix French less so!
      Best Iain

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  5. They look smashing Iain. Love the action shots too.

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    1. Thanks a lot Peter and nice to see them in action!
      Best Iain

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  6. The French look good, but I have to agree with you Iain (I have made the point ad nauseum already, probably!) Victrix are a real pain to assemble! Too many small, fiddly parts that don't really add much to the overall effect once painted - I also much prefer Perry or Warlord plastics in terms of construction! The Austrians in your game seem to have been as successful as mine were a few days ago - I am thinking of coining the acronym PBA - Poor Bloody Austrians!

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    1. Thanks Keith, they paint up well but the early Victrix are definitely fiddly! PBA sounds about right historically too!
      Best Iain

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  7. Beautiful looking units sir!
    Best regards

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  8. Excellent painting Iain the unit look great, the battle is wonderful and a real inspiration giving me something to aim at 🙂 I am still working on my Warlord french starter armie. Interestingly their figures require no clean up at all. I shall be cautious of Victrix in the future though.

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    1. Thanks Matt, my first three units were warlord, just a little bit of clean up, it's only the early French and British line I would avoid the French artillery are excellent models and pretty economical and their Austrians also.
      Best Iain

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  9. Excellent work on the unit Iain, even if they were a pain to put together, the officers are excellent as well.
    The game looks awesome, with great scenery and awesome armies, and good the forum has helped on the rules.

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    1. Thanks Dave, yes it's like butter wouldn't melt in their mouths! At least they turned out decent!
      Best Iain

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  10. Great looking collection growing here Iain. Bit fiddly those Victrix plastics aren't they :) Lovely once assembled but more fragile than the Perry?

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    1. Thanks Lee, maybe a little more fragile? Nice to paint up, which is good as I have four more units!
      Best Iain

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  11. Great pictures...and top notch infantry!

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  12. Great looking unit and two excellent looking commanders too. Your game set-up is excellent, but I must admit to rather liking smaller building in my games.

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    1. Thanks Joe, I like a built up area that can just stand on it's own, I'll be working on some European BUA on 300mm x 300mm, but some of my stuff is definitely heading closer to 20mm
      Best Iain

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  13. I can't add to the comments except to admire your new unit and say I enjoyed the photos of the battle.

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  14. Lovely looking French Iain…
    There is no way I would have stuck that many ‘fiddly’ figures together…
    I get irritated enough when they are in three parts 😁.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly! I know what you mean, still very nice figures to paint once they're finished, the experience of building them just put me off for a few years!
      Best Iain

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  15. Great looking Victrix French, Iain. Those were my first 28mm French and still think they are some of the best around. Great looking game too! For the record, I like Black Powder over the Valour tiles, and we've also adopted the no shooting after a triple move.

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    1. Thanks Dean, they are nice figures in spite of everything I've said! Good to hear your views on Valour and Blackpowder, liable to stick with Blackpowder although I did just get General d'Armee!
      Best Iain

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  16. Formidable troops Iain. Your painting skills are enviably impressive. I love the casualty marker. I have a dumb question, why are the commanders offset to one side of their bases? Victrics figs sound like a lot of work, but you make them look good. Lazy as I am, I went with the 1/72 plastic Napies.
    Regards, Vol

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    1. Thanks Vol, very reasonable question it's just maths, 24 figures on 6 bases ( 4 figures per base) means that if I want my command central it has to be split!
      Best Iain

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  17. The latest French unit looks handsome and seems much needed. Great looking game, too. Leipzig is the one major Napoleonic battle I have never tried to do, although I have more than enough troops to do so! :-)

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  18. Can't believe you haven't done Leipzig? It's going to be very much bathtubed and a nominal Leipzig! Thanks, very much needed, two more Austrian units then it's full steam French and friends!
    Best Iain

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