The war of Spanish Succession... French Infantry Regiment Royal Italien

My second unit for The War of Spanish Succession...


I have no rational reasons for picking this unit as my first French battalion other than that the 'butterfly' finds the colour combination rather pleasing...


The colours were all blocked in ...

Here are the basic colours...


Coats... Citadel ,,, Doombull Brown
Waist Coat ... Foundry ... Ochre 4B
Facings ... Citadel ..Evil Sons Scarlet
Belts ... Foundry ... Buff Leather
Stockings and white bits ... Citadel ... Pallid Wych Flesh
Grenadier/Sergeant braid ... Foundry ... Ochre 4B
Ammunition pouches and Officers scabbards ... Citadel ... Skrag Brown
Musket/wooden bits/powder flask ... Citadel ...Mournfang Brown


Except for the drummer...

The Coat is ...Citadel ...Kantor Blue...
The rest is Royal Livery ...
Which is a nightmare of red braid and white chains that never ends...


Everything was given my usual coat of Aly's Brown Liquid then re-highlighted.


https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/paint


https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Painting-Modelling




The next thing was how to base them...
I had intended to use a narrower frontage to represent troops using volley fire tactics but then discovered that the French had started to use platoon fire-unofficially at first- during the war.
I felt I needed to represent this option somehow ...

Option 1 ... 60mm x 75mm... represents the deeper formation rather well but not very flexible...

Option 2 ... 60mm x 50mm.. rearranged differently to suit the situation. Okay.. but for me a bit forced...

Option 3 ... 2 60mm x 50mm plus 2 60mm x 25mm... this one works for me... its neat and flexible.


https://warbases.co.uk/?product_cat=premier-bases-metric

And here they are...
The flags are by Maverick models but in this case I have followed Robert hall and painted over the Fleur de Lis.

http://www.maverick-models.com/flags.htm


The Robert Hall plates are available here...
http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/c4bb0c_1584fc60168040b9957f885cf553584d.pdf

I really enjoyed painting these they are not -for the French- a common combination of colours and therefore an interesting challenge .


Next up ... White.. Grey... Grey/White...another interesting challenge...


All the best  Aly

New books

I went to my local book store and found these...

Be still my fluttering butterfly...




All the best... flutter flutter flutter....... Aly

The War of Spanish Succession ... Prussian Infantry Regiment Kronprinz

So I have finally finished my first War of Spanish Succession unit...Hurrah!!!


I thought I would put down the whole painting process in this post, so I apologise in advance for the repetition of some earlier images...

Stage 1.


First I block in all the colours...


Coat and waistcoat ... Citadel ... Kantor Blue.
Cuffs, Stock. Piping on Pouch and Stockings ... Citadel ... Evil Sunz Scarlet.
Musket and Powder Flask ... Citadel ... Mournfang Brown.
Shirt Sleeves, Officers Cravats and officers Stockings ... Citadel ...Pallid Wych Flesh.
Flask Cords ... Wargames Foundry ... Boneyard 9B.
Belts and Scabbards ... Wargames Foundry ... Buff Leather 7B.
Officers Belts and Scabbards ... Citadel ... Doombull Brown.
Field Sign ... Citadel ... Elysian Green.
Hat Piping ... Wargames Foundry ... Ochre 4B.
Hats, Shoes and Ammunition Pouches ... Citadel ...Abaddon Black.
Flesh ... Wargames Foundry ... Flesh 5B.
Eyes and Hair ... Citadel ... Dryad Bark.
Lips ... Citadel ... Pink Horror.
Metal Parts and Officers Sashes ... Army Painter ... Shining Silver.
Gold/Brass Parts ... Citadel Retributor Armour.

Some paints....

Stage 2.
I then give everything a coat of ...


                                        


Aly's Brown Liquid...


                                         


40% Agrax Earthshade, 40% Seraphim Sepia and 20% Lahmian Medium...
The final ingredient is a few drops of Drakenhof Nightshade...
The colour you are looking for is not quite Brown any more but not entirely Payne's grey.
I usually put in a drop at a time and check the colour on a piece of white plastic or paper.


I also give the Face and Hands a wash of ... Citadel ... Flesh Shade.


Stage 3.

Everything is then highlighted with the original colour...
I added an extra highlight to...
The Belts ... Wargames Foundry Buff Leather 7B plus some Buff Leather Light 7B.
The Flesh ... Wargames Foundry Flesh 5B plus some Flesh Light 6C.
The Coat ... Citadel Kantor Blue plus some Citadel Caledor Blue... mostly this was a highlight around the edges of the coat.
The chins are given a wash of Aly's brown Liquid for that 5 'o' clock shadow.


https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/paint


https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Painting-Modelling


https://www.thearmypainter.com/


Stage 4.

I varnish the black leather and metal parts with Tamiya Clear X-22 and give the officers scabbards and belts a coat of Tamiya Clear Orange X-26.

Yup! here's the picture...


The miniatures could live without this, but I like it... It gives a nice contrast and - in my opinion - 'Implies' extra detail.

I write most of this in a book... it helps when you get to my age...




Basing...

Using super glue I first stick the back row to the bases.
These are from War Bases...
https://warbases.co.uk/?product_cat=premier-bases-metric


They are 60mm wide, 50mm deep and 3mm thick.

Next I apply and texture lightweight filler around the bases...

While this is still wet I attach the rest of the miniatures making sure they have a good contact with the MDF.

Once they are secure I apply the rest of the texture...


I leave the filler to set over night.
At this stage I like to have a good look over the unit, it gives me a chance to see how the unit looks as a whole , I can do extra work if I feel it is needed.
In this case I added extra highlights to the hat edging, the field sign and the officers hat.
I paint and flock the bases in my usual way...
https://alystoysoldiers.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/basing-tutorial.html


The flags are from Maverick Models...
http://www.maverick-models.com/flags.htm

All in all I have really enjoyed painting these toys.

I already have the first French unit started..

And thanks to a donation of some unwanted miniatures from my friend Adrian and a fresh delivery from Front Rank...
https://www.frontrank.com/product-category/18th-century/spanish-succession/


I have plenty to do...

I also took delivery of these beauties...a very good resource.
Available from The Pike and Shot Society...
http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/c4bb0c_1584fc60168040b9957f885cf553584d.pdf


All the best.  Aly.

From my side of the table...The battle of Alexandria 1801

After a good rest (a very nice Thai meal and some beers ) we were ready to play the last game in Alan's Egyptian trilogy...


Rick Priestley and Peter Dennis came over for the day...
Peter joined the glorious French army while Rick sloped off to join the forces of reaction/darkness.


We had a cunning plan (yes...another one ).
Keeping our cavalry in reserve we would initially bypass the Roman ruins and move rapidly towards the enemy and 'stamp all over them' before they had time for their breakfast Gin...

A fine body of men...

Covered by a thunderous bombardment from Peter's artillery we went forward with all haste.


With some of the best dice rolling I have done in ages I was straight across the battlefield and closed with the enemy - forces of reaction/darkness...
Unfortunately I was the only one with "lucky dice " and soon found myself alone and in front of a wall of angry (and probably drunk) men armed with muskets and cannon...

With bayonets levelled I pressed on regardless ...

There was a crashing roar of Michael rolling 5's and 6's and my brave little force almost evaporated.
The bloodied and bruised survivors pulling back - hopefully out of range.


Bernhard's infantry were making slow progress...

I think we had the wrong numbers on our dice...

As Peter made his way steadily forwards under the cover of his artillery we decided to bring on our reserves.

  My light brigade advancing on the left flank of the forces of reaction/darkness...

Bernhard's Dragoons arriving opposite the Roman ruins...


The forces of reaction/darkness also brought their reserves onto the field...
Led by none other than Alan Perry!!! our host and umpire...
Money had obviously changed hands or someone had discovered Alan's collection of suspect murals...we were doomed.
My cavalry move towards the flank of our enemy but sadly found no weakness to exploit, although I did manage to draw some of Rick's men away from the centre where Peters attack was going in...
I also drew the attention of a lot of musket and cannon balls, which made my men want to be somewhere else.

While Peters troops charged forward and engaged the enemy...

Bernhard coordinated his infantry, guns and cavalry and managed to annihilate Stefan's 28th regiment of foot...this was followed by a disastrous charge against the Corsican Rangers.
I suspect foul play and dodgy dice...once again we threw all the wrong numbers.
With Peters attack being ground down in the centre and Stefan putting in a coordinated attack on our left flank...

The forces of reaction/darkness's numbers started to tell...
With our glorious French brigades breaking one by one against an ever increasing wall of lead and steel we admitted defeat...


What an excellent days gaming in excellent company...


As before another version of this can be found on the Perry Miniatures Facebook page...
https://en-gb.facebook.com/perryminiatures/




Once we got our breath back we headed out to...

Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem...


Then on to a very good 'French' restaurant (so a victory of sorts ).


All the best.  Aly

From my side of the table... The British invasion of Egypt 1801

Well... the reason I didn't do any painting at the weekend was because I was trying to fend off the British invasion of Egypt.
But not on my own, I had friends...
Bernhard Hennen and Stefan Konigs flew in from Germany for a weekend of Wargames, food, drink and convivial company.
Alan (Perry) hosted a three game extravaganza for us all, based on the British invasion of Egypt.


Unfortunately I missed Aboukir Bay but Bernhard my fellow French general gave the British a bit of a bloody nose on the beaches....Hurrah!


My first battle was Mandara...
We had a cunning plan...
We put our small but beautifully formed force along a ridge facing - the forces of reaction/darkness - as Michael and Stefan are now known.....

A thing of rare beauty...


Our plan was to draw the enemy- the forces of reaction/darkness - towards us and then fall back bringing them into the range of our big guns on the heights behind us...
Once they crossed that 'Line in the Sand'... we would pound them with artillery and then charge in with our glorious cavalry.

Some glorious cavalry...


They would obviously run like the whipped dogs they are...


Sadly our enemy - forces of reaction/darkness- seemed to be on drugs or had specially made 'always roll what you need dice'...

They came on fast... we retired faster..

They were many...

We were few...

But we did stamp all over the Corsican Rangers...again!

But would they fall into our trap?...


No...

They cunningly stopped at that 'Line in the Sand' - Cowards!


Maybe we shouldn't have actually drawn a line in the sand...

I also think that the - forces of reaction/darkness - had spies!


A really enjoyable game...with more to follow.


For a slightly different version of events pop over to the Perry Miniatures Facebook page...


https://en-gb.facebook.com/perryminiatures/


And did I rush off and buy lots of Napoleon in Egypt miniatures?
No I didn't..

Here is one I painted earlier...


All the best.  Aly