Sunday 12 May 2019

SYW French Bercheny Hussars

After four and half months I've finally finished my SYW Bercheny Hussars project! I started this unit way back in the Christmas holidays, but for some reason I procrastinated with then and was enticed away to other small side projects. I think it was the thought of painting all that white lace type stuff that put me off. I got the Front Rank figures for this unit in a second-hand bulk buy of some poorly painted troops (minus horses) at the local wargaming swap-meet a couple of years ago. After a soak in some nappy cleaning solution I was able to discard with the old enamel paint and prepare them for re-painting, but I needed to purchase some new Front Rank horses to go with them.
Although the figures are actually SYW Prussian Hussars, I decided that with the Mirleton felt cap that they could pass for a French hussars unit if you don't look too hard. The bugler is not in the historical regular dress of the Bercheny Hussars, but I can live with that.
The bulk buy of poorly painted figures from the local swap-meet from which the troops from the new unit originally come from. The rest will probably end as Hessian and Hanoverian hussars.

The newly painted, but not totally historically correct, French Bercheny Hussars.

The officers of this unit were distinguishable from the troops by wearing red trousers

Although not quite fitting the historical dress of the buglers of this unit, I think this bloke fits in nicely with his feathered hackle on his Mirleton cap.


The flag may not be historically correct either, but it was the closest I could get from the GMB flag French SYW cavalry range. It is marketed as a dragoon guidon, but I think it looks the part. 

I'm quite happy with the look obtained by using shading washes on the faces, followed by touching up the highlights afterwards. To be honest, at my age I'm just happy to be able to see such detail.

Until next time!
         

Wednesday 8 May 2019

'Bring out ya dead!'

Something that I've never had enough of in my miniature forces are casualty markers. I know that some choose to use dice in calculating the 'wastage' from combat in their units, but I reckon that distracts from the aesthetics of a well-presented wargame. To rectify this, I've recently purchased a bunch of War Bases MDF casualty counting-bases which are perfect for mounting 28 mm figures. These circular bases cater for up to 12 casualties per unit and look great on the table next to engaged troops. At this point I intend to have one of these casualty bases for each individual unit in all my 'Horse and Musket' armies. I highly recommend them. All the figures are from Front Rank.
SYW/ FIW British casualty markers

British and French casualty markers for my Peninsula armies
42nd Highlanders (Black Watch) casualty for the mid 1740s period. Note the buff sleeve facings which changed to Royal Blue in the late 1750s


French SYW/ FIW casualties. The blue coated figure is for the Royal Ecossois, while the red coated figure is for Lally's regiment of the famed Irish Brigade. I'm currently painting up this regiment, which has a special significance for me as one of my ancestors led a picquet from this unit at Culloden...and survived!   

Another recent purchase is a couple of Teddy bear fur terrain mats from Killing Fields in the US. Previously I wasn't sure whether I liked the Teddy Bear fur effect until one of the other Southern Strategist hosted a 28 mm game that changed my mind. They even come with complementary combs to gain the desired effect. The standard size is 7ft x 5ft  size and they weren't cheap to post to NZ, but I'm sure I will get years of use out of them.

Until next time!