AOE 28mm Waterloo 1815 - 2nd Coldstream guards

A small detour on a new unit in 28mm for the Waterloo campaign, just fresh out of the paint brushes.

With my French and Prussian army accelerating to completion, the British have been left aside. That red and grey is not very appealing but the Coldstream guards in those white trousers bring a little bit more of colour to the shelves.

The command figures were extended over three stands as there were a metal officer on horse and a pioneer as well as the usual flag, drum, NCO and officer to be placed on this elite unit.

The figures are plastic and metal Perry Miniatures. The skirmishers don´t count in AOE brigade level rules terms but are there just in case another level rule set is used.

The flags were printed from the Warflag site. Thanks for all those guys that for nothing in exchange leave fantastic material for others to use.

Rapid Fire! 20mm- Battle of Khafji 1991- Saudi Arabian M-163 Vulcan

Just some finished M-163 Vulcan Altaya reworked for the Saudi Arabian army present at the battle of Khafji in 1991 during the  Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. In this battle there were a number of light infantry american units; the Saudi Arabian National Guard; the 5th Iraqi Mechanized Division; the 3rd Iraqi Armoured Division, along with parts of other units from this and other armies (Qatar for instance). This units are already totally or partially built and posts will get to you soon.

The Vulcans can be found in the american equiped (M-60; M-109 and M-113)  mechanized or armoured brigades(the 12th armoured, for instances). They have  other brigades with french material (AMX-30; GIAT SP and AMP-10P).

 

 

 

The Altaya models are great. Its true they are not cheap at around 12 euros, but are easily available; many just need some drybrushing and a few small parts to enter the table.

 

 

 

 

The main changes these one got were:

 

1- Card basing: I use two sheets of the card that goes along the Altaya models glued together with white  glue. Thanks to the white glue this card basing gets pretty tough.

2- Bedrools made of GreenStuff or similar material.

3- Antennae made of fishing string.

4- US plastic torsos for the manning the Gatling.

5- Grey primer allover; then painting.

6- Printed Web Saudi flags suitably sized. You don´t need no particular dedicated WebSite, just google "Saudi flags"on the  "Images" part, pick the one you enjoy the most, resize it et Voilá.

 

AOE 20mm- 71st British Highlanders- Battle of Vimeiro 1808

This is one of the nice regiments that can be made for the Peninsula War.  The figures had to be made from Scottish heads (ESCI and Italeri) and british bodies (Esci and Revell). The bond is achieved by that miracle all plastic glue (glue+primer).

The mounted officer is the old Airfix figure on a Waterloo1815 horse.

 Here and there there is a fifth figure in the stand to make up aproximately similar numbers as in the french stands (which have six figures).

There is also the mounted Scottish Officer from the Airfix box.

There are two kinds of flocking in the bases. Like this I think the figures "ground" gets more authentic and alive.

 

The flags are printed from the nice Warflag site.

 

 

AOE 20mm - Merle 1st division- Battle of Buçaco 1810

 

In the next weeks I will show you my figures for the Buçaco battle. This post will cover Merle 1st division, Sarrut and Graindorge brigades(Reynier 2nd corps). Two brigades will be showned as Graindorge only had the 4eme Léger regiment in its ranks, so no need to show it alone.

Sarrut to the left; Graindorge to the right.

 Some notes on basing: The french are in three rows as they really fought, while Luso-British allies are in two rows as you will see.

Sarrut brigade: 2eme Léger, in front, is made of ESCI Imperial Guards bodies with  shakos from their line infantry. The Brigade Co, Gen.Sarrut, is a ESCI figure made out of several parts. To the rear, in column, marches the 36eme de Ligne, HAT figures only.

Merle itself. The  Revell mounted figure from their Imperial coated Grenadiers with added GreenStuff to turn it into a general; orderlie is Italeri.

Graindorge Brigade with the sole 4éme Léger. Zvezda figures and ESCI for Carabiniers. The Brigade Co is a metal figure by Irregular Miniatures.

Santo António do Cântaro Chapel. From this place departed the columns of Sarrut and Graindorge to the heights of the Buçaco mountain.

This model was made in card after many visits to the place. If you want also to build this piece pay attention to the detail of the rear part of the chapel having its right side extended to the left.

AOE 20mm- 59eme régiment the Ligne- Battle of Buçaco 1810

With this post I´m starting to show you my own reconstitution of the armies that fought the battle of Buçaco, 27th September, 1810. All figures are plastic 1/72nd/20mm figures with a few metal. The basing is for AOE (Age of Eagles) rule set with a few changes as you will see.

This battle was the biggest ever fought in Portuguese soil and I am fortunate to live 20 km from that place and look there many times  for inspiration (besides Buçaco also is also responsible for the birth of Pineapple Miniatures, the last big miniatures enterprise emerging in the wargaming cosmos!!!).

This collection started many years ago and I am now with something like 95% of the 5000 necessary miniatures already painted and based.

The last one was the 59eme régiment the Ligne of Ney Corps.

 

 

The command stand was made from the YKREOL French infantry, very funny and imaginative figures, besides being compatible with the HAT  French Infantry 1808-12.

 

 

 

Here they are all mixed,  YREOL and HAT.

 

 

 

I´ve changed the bases from AOE placing 3 lines of French infantry as they fought actually in 3 lines.

 

 

Next posts will show the regiments grouped by brigades as showing some 105 regiments would be tedious.

 

Pineapple Miniatures Highland Infantry for Buçaco

Latest Pineapples: highland infantry, one box of Black Watch (front) and two of Cameron. Figures are a mix of Airfix, Esci and Italeri with officers in trousers from the Esci british infantry with highland feather bonnets.

Buçaco Military Museum PINEAPPLE MINIATURES

Now presenting you PINEAPPLE MINIATURES:

This idea came from the nice people that works at the Buçaco Military Museum. For some 3 years now  they have a fantastic big diorama made by Mr Keith Moore with more than 1000 25mm miniatures. Many people after watching it carefuly wanted something related to take home, and offer to kids or just to have a souvenir from the place. Long are the years in which this museum had some miniatures and card houses to sell regarding the 1810 battle of Buçaco.

This were I enter. I´m a fan of the battle of Buçaco since the first time my father took me to visit that museum when I was some 10 years old or so. Since then, with many time gaps in between, i´m a regular visitor to that museum and I like to copy the books I have on the subject and offer them to the museum, so that its staff can inform the visitors about what really happened.

I´ve  also visited the battlefield itself countless times, and I have great fun finding the smallest places of the battle and comparing them to the 1910 photos of Chambers and such, both in Sula and Santo António do Cântaro.

 

Some two months ago, Mrs Cecília and Mrs Livramento, asked me start painting some miniatures related to the battle and selling them to the visitors of the museum.

 

At first my lazyness about producing models that wouldn´t be mine in the future was inclined to say no. But then the idea of getting rich and also getting rid of hundreds, may be thousands, of miniatures that I will never paint, was stronger. Getting rich is something everybody wants, specially since crisis hit our door steps in 2008 and getting rid of many miniatures also, as I switched scale in my late napoleonics to 28mm, making redundant many of the stocked 20mm figures. 

Also JF, PC  and JMM have been helping that stack of figures in the last few years offering me hundreds of those minis.

 

OB on its side is responsable for the name Pineapple Miniatures. "It will be bigger than Apple..." triggered the Pineapple name. So this will have to be a joint venture!

 

So the idea came: Placing inside those nice - but useless Planeta Agostini vehicles boxes - some twenty foot 20mm figures or 8 cavalryman from the Buçaco period, representing regiments and famous units; texturing the terrain and placing a striking yellow legend on it....Yeahhh.

Some of the figures were already painted: Hussars from  the French Imperial Guard; Valencia Volunteers; Brunswickers, etc, which helped to speed up the production of the first dozen of boxes. But then true work began.

I had to paint the Portuguese; British and French that were at Buçaco, without touching my own collection, of course. That forced me to transform many figures and to have a lot of work lately. But its funny knowing that people are ready to pay for what you are doing.

French Line infantry at Buçaco, 1810. The Voltigeurs are all conversions and even some of the Esci fusiliers , all with backpacks attached and some with new heads. The flags are also printed.

French Light infantry. Same text as above also applies.

Cascais 19th regiment (already made 3 of those) charging the french at Sula. Many transformed figures also.

 To speed up painting I had to have a line production system: gluing figures to strips of card; black priming and then paaaaaaaiiiiinting by hand...

 

 First batch to be sent to the Museum.

Wurtembergers 1809.

Already at the Museum...

Mrs Cecília placing them for sale.

First sale, Cascais 19th regiment charge, sold to a nice guy from Lisbon...

 

Just a look at the production spot: miniatures, books and internet. The essentials for such an activity.

 

Linhas de Wellington de Valeria Sarmiento

I went to see the opening of the movie - Linhas de Wellington - in Gil Vicente Theater, here in Coimbra on the 8th of October.

When buying the ticket I bumped, not litterally unfortunately, with Soraia Chaves and I even made her a very favourable and unnecessary remark that she replied with a nice smileeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaahh...

This is the aproximate outfit she was wearing when looking at me !!! (XXXX emoticons with tongue out!!!).





Well...not exactly but believe me she was also in black...

After waking up, the film has some flaws in modelling and wargaming terms :

- There is a big crane right on the beginning of the film on top of Serra do Buçaco. Even with smoke it can be seen...

- There are French cannon destroyed all over that scene. The French cannon were in reality far behind the piles of dead resulting of the two french assaults (Sula and Santo António do Cântaro), but it is an imposing scene.

- The Portuguese infantry is wearing the stovepipe shako instead of the barretina, or at least this last one should have been the majority.

- The British infantry uses grey instead of white trousers.

- The French flags are the Tricolore, instead of the 1804 model.

- The French infantry are mostly grenadiers, as usual  in the movies. It seems epaulettes are pretty common in costume shops.

- The massacred french cavalry were Cuirassiers who made no part of Massena´s

army.

- Maréchal Massena is a young guy in his 30/40ies when Massena was already

53 by then. Besides in 1807 he had lost an eye in a hunting accident.

On the other hand the environment of those troubled days is very well pictured and filming, acting and dialogues are first class, but don´t expect to see an absolutely accurate war/historical movie.

 The fortifications of the Linhas de Torres are pretty well done, at least to my knowledge, and possibly there was a good contribution from the experts of municipality of Torres Vedras itself, as it was the city who ordered the movie in the first place for the 200th anniversary of the event.

And now forget the modelling and wargaming stuff and go see Soraia Chaves and some of her friends who also get naked!!!

28mm AOE Waterloo 1815 IV 2nd Swiss Regiment

The 2nd Swiss was not present at Waterloo as it was with Vandamme III Corps. Nevertheless I´m one more modeller to fall in the arms (better, sleeves...) of those red coats.

Painting blue coats gets tiring and this regiments is a nice possibility for something different.

Figures are plastic Perry Miniatures.

The only battalion of the regiment in column preceded by the usual voltigeurs.

In the Tête the Colonne there is the sole non-Perry miniature: a Hat pionner from their Light Infantry command box.

With just a small piece of plasticard glued to the pioneer base, the figure gets taller and goes along well with the Perry´s.

The column turns into line.

 This voltigeur has Victrix arms for the sake of variability.

 Same for this one.

By the way , I introduced recently a small change in the basing of figures: after applying the normal diluted PVA glue to the stand and dipping it into the scatter material box, I let a drop of cheap chinese Super Glue fall on the green scatter material.

 Some strange fumes comes out of the contact of the diluted PVA and the Cyanoacrylate but the scatter material gets pretty stiff in a matter of seconds.

 Try it and you can have grass as stiff as your figures... if this is good for anything.

 Many of the figures have the Pokalem instead of the shako as this makes  the unit more red in colour.

The Officer is the sole blue jacket to be seen in this unit.