Regiment Bearn

Hello again.

Hot on the heels of their ensign, as befits a unit that does not want the shame of losing their colours, comes the full Regiment Bearn. As with previous French regiments (Royal Roussillon and La Reine - see previous posts), they are 20 figures strong and have just the single flag - no white, colonel's colours in New France (with the arguable exception of Royal-Roussillon, I am told...)

The French regiments are smaller than their British counterparts for two reasons:

1. Historically, the French could not easily acquire reinforcements from either Europe (due to the Royal Navy controlling the seas) or locally, due to various animosities between different parties, etc., so were smaller at various engagements during the FIW.
2. I like the idea of the British getting an extra fire dice as mooted in the "Last Argument of Kings" supplement for the "Black Powder" rules and having the regiments slightly larger fits that bill too.

As with the two previous French regiments, the figures are all Eagle Figures, available at many shows up and down the UK and via the usual mail order. Ian's service has always been exemplary whenever I have dealt with him, so, if you are looking to get into the Seven Years' War in some aspect or simply looking to enhance your collection, give Eagle Figures a look.


Followers of this project may well have spotted a bit of a theme with the French. I'll recap...

• Royal-Roussillon - blue facings, yellow lace.
• La Reine - red facings, white lace
• Bearn - blue facings white lace

So, the next offering needs red facings and yellow lace, so cue the Berry Regiment in the not-too-distant future! A nice bit of purple on the flag too, when it comes!

But that is it for the figures I planned on for the outing to the Barrage Show on 8th July, with the exception of sundry command figures for each side, which I will photograph and post about in the near future. I have terrain to build before expanding the figure collection, however.

G

More of Louis' Finest

Hello again.

Hot on the heels of the 43rd Regiment of Foot for their red-coated opponents, the French are finally getting a few more troops to play with, having, it appears, successfully avoided the Royal Navy and managing to land a few more 28mm Gascons or whatever on the shores of New France, aka Canada.

I know I have painted the whole regiment, as I always do the flag(s) last, but, in a perverse reversal of fortune, I am presenting the flag first for this regiment.

So, third on the roster for the forces of Louis XV in his struggle with les Roastbeefs in New France/ Canada comes the Regiment Bearn, or, at least, its ensign.

The figure is from Eagle Figures, the flag my usual hand-painted calico with a brass pole affair and details for this one seem to be pretty common. again, however, there is a very good picture of the flag, in colour for those who need it, in Stuart Reid's Osprey title "British Redcoat vs French Fusilier" in the Combat series. I like these eighteenth century French flags - simple, yet colourful and readily identifiable for those like me who have a mere passing acquaintance with the period. I carefully drew this one out on the blank calico however in order to try and get the stripes straight!!!

The regiment will follow soon, once I have based it, textured the bases, etc.

It is 5-3 to the British so far in terms of completed regiments, but I have more French "light types" as well as some French artillery to even things out slightly. Either way, that will probably be it for FIW figures in readiness for the Barrage Show on 8th July, with the exception of some command figures for both sides.

The thrust of my next five weeks MUST be on the necessary terrain for our proposed game. I need some semblance of a fort, a building or two to go inside the fort, some trenchworks/ siegeworks and perhaps one or two buildings for a nearby village. I then have to try and work out a scenario to give those involved something to mull over and work through on the day and, who knows, the players MIGHT actually come away having enjoyed themselves...

G

And then there were five

Hello again.

Hot on the heels of the flags comes the unit to which they belong, so let me present for you here His Majesty's 34rd Regiment of Foot.

As usual, I have used mostly Eagle Figures for the unit, with calico and brass wire-built, hand painted flags. Strictly speaking, the figures are European Seven Years' War really, but, as with their French counterparts, I can ignore the odd detail such as infantry carrying swords or sergeants with staff weapons and live with the redcoats vs greycoats, Anglo-French animosity thing without worrying about such exactitudes.

My main source for this unit and its flag was the oft-quoted within these posts Osprey Combat title by Stuart Reid, namely "British Redcoat vs French Fusilier", in the pages of which you will find clear artwork showing both infantry, grenadiers and the regimental flag. Very useful!

This is it for the British side of things for a while, with the exception of a couple of more senior officers to command the brigades and force as a whole. The Barrage Show in Stafford, on 8th July, is just seven weeks away, and it is at this particular show that these figures and the game for which they were specifically painted make their respective debuts on the games table. Developments may well spring from there, but I know what I want to start with and will get that done first. Then there is the mooted move to Europe for "proper" Seven Years' War action...

Anyway, I hope you like the pics and hope to see one or two of you at Stafford on 8th July!

G

The entire 43rd Foot (entire except for the grenadiers, which have already featured in the posts about my British Grenadiers)

A clearer view of the flags showing the gold regimental number and lettering done with a gold gel pen purloined from Occasional Wargamer Daughter Eleanor

And the other side of the unit

The figures are Eagle Figures, with the exception of the drummer and bearer of the Union flag, which are from Redoubt. The eagle-eyed and/or those of keen memory may well have noticed that the grenadiers sported a different mitre cap than that seen here on the drummer...

And a close up of the lettering and its attendant wreath of roses. Gel pens are excellent for this, BUT MAKE SURE THE INK IS FULLY DRY BEFORE YOU VARNISH OR IT WILL RUN!!!

Yet more vexillology

Hello again.

The FIW project is progressing still and units need flags, so here are a couple more, pertaining to the next regiment to take the field (at some point...), His Majesty's 43rd Regiment of Foot. The flags are my usual calico around brass wire affairs, hand painted with acrylics and highlighted in situ once attached to the figures. All painting to a basic state is done with the flag unattached, but it is vital to highlight it only after attachment in order to at least try and get the light falling in the right place!

As regular readers will know, it has taken a while to get to this point, with life and work getting in the way, and that particular balance remains well out of kilter...However, work does continue and I am almost there on something usable for the Barrage Show in Stafford on 8th July. Once I have cracked that initial stage, it will then be "as and when" to add various bits and bobs to develop the game to what I would call it's "Final State", adulthood and old age if you will.

It is not all about the figures though. I still have some of those to do, but there is also some sort of representation of a fort, a terrain board or two, perhaps some dwellings of the relevant kind, an Indian canoe or similar signature item, potentially a lot more trees, perhaps a maize field...

I think I'll just get the figures done for now!

G

A Redoubt figure with the Union flag coupled with an Eagle Figure with the regimental one. Details again obtained from Warflag and similar internet resources and the Osprey Combat book "British Redcoat vs French Fusilier". The gold regimental lettering was done with a gold gel pen "borrowed" from Occasional Wargamer Daughter Eleanor".

These fellows will soon be joined by the rest of their regiment, which is painted, and will feature when I get around to basing and texturing those bases.

Ulster's Finest

Hello again.

Following on from the completion of the relevant flags, His Majesty's 27th Regiment of Foot ("The Inniskillings") are finally ready to take to the field.

Once more, the figures are mainly Eagle Figures, with the odd Redoubt command figure slotted in for a bit of variety between units. As has become usual for my redcoats, I started with a basecoat of "Dragon Red" spray from the "Army Painter" range, courtesy of Nephew Nick at the "Sleeping Dragon Hobby Shop", and worked it up from there. As any regular readers may recall, I do not like painting red, so this spray paint is a godsend for me, replacing my usual black undercoat, but even so I use a brown wash and two shades of red to highlight the coats for the effect I want. It is up to others to decide if they like the look or I am just wasting my time!

Anyway, my original plan was for six regiments of British infantry for my French & Indian Wars project, and this is the fourth one to be completed. I want to push this figure to seven, however, as my Combined Grenadiers feature elements of six regiments, each of which I want to represent. The grenadiers would then be the seventh. Having said that, though, I do have elements of the 44th Foot in my "Muskets & Tomahawks"/ "Sharp Practice 2" collection, so I guess I sort of have covered all the bases once I get the 35th and 43rd regiments done. I still think I will paint up the 46th, however, to get my "yellow facings fix".

The French, by contrast, were targeted at four regiments, plus artillery, as they would be defending a position in the planned show game, so got a few bits of cover to play with. That figure may now rise to five, however, as seven vs four plus artillery may be a bit overkill.

Regiment number five (which is actually the 43rd!) will be hot on the heels of the Inniskillings, so watch this space.

G

A battle line of Inniskillings ready to deliver a punishing volley to the French!



The command element, with the two standard bearers both being Redoubt figures in the usual sea of Eagle Figures.

The right flank

The left flank

More vexillology

Hello again.

Opportunities to actually finish things seem a little thin on the ground nowadays, a view not helped by my desire to paint my own flags. I could print off some examples from one of the various websites covering such things. I could purchase examples from one of the various purveyors of such things. I could just use fewer flags!

But, what greater focal point is there than a big flag or three to finish off a unit? Back in WRG 6th days, it always seemed to be the armies that could have personal army and/ or sacred standards that I came back to when trying to find out what army I wanted to collect and when trying to develop that "killer list" to try and enhance my dodgy generalship. Ancients was never really my thing, so I needed all the help I could get!

I like flags, banners and standards, which is probably why my butterfly tendencies seem most at home in those centuries when such things feature strongly and prominently. My English and Scottish medieval, my Swiss and Burgundian armies, my Thirty Years' War collection, my fledgling Williamite and Jacobite forces all feature prominent and numerous vexilla. So it is only right and proper that my French & Indian Wars units have the same treatment. Even my 10mm Crimean War Russians have flags! It might also explain why, despite the best of intentions, I still cannot bring myself to paint my any of the Second World War stuff I own, my Vietnam War figures, the Macedonians/ Successors I have had lying around for almost twenty years...

So here are the latest examples of the breed, courtesy of some calico, some brass wire and some acrylic paint.

His Majesty's 27th Regiment of Foot (The Inniskillings) will soon be done and their standards are here to help rally the troops to completion and an outing at Barrage in Stafford on 8th July.

G

The figures are Redoubt

I hope I have done the regiment justice. I like the difference between their flags and the norm for British Army units in this period, the regimental number simply replaced by the fortification badge of the city of Enniskillen/ Inniskilling.

A Labour of...something

Hello again.

I chose the 43rd Foot as one of the regiments to feature in my Seven Years' War in America (aka French & Indian Wars) project for three reasons:

1. They were present at many of the actions in that war.
2. I had pictorial references available depicting uniforms and so on.
3. I wanted each regiment I painted for this project to have a distinctive facing colour, so all units were different in this regard, and their white facings fitted the bill nicely among all the buff and yellow of other regiments.

All went well during the painting of the rank and file, with which I have always commenced the units for this project, but then it came to the reversed colours worn by the musicians. I might dislike painting red, but how was I to do a white uniform without using a white undercoat, which I very, VERY RARELY even consider?

Now, back in the day, I painted an entire Austrian 15mm Napoleonic army's infantry units, all 15 of them I think, from a black undercoat and very decent they looked too (IMO). However, a single, 28mm "character" figure in a white uniform, painted up from a black undercoat and surrounded by a host of figures painted from a red undercoat got me thinking that it just would not look right. Hmm.

I took the plunge.

Now, there are many who swear by the white undercoat, but it has simply never worked for me. I never got my head around any sort of technique that left me with clear, delineated transitions between colours that I like, that meant I did not have to keep over-painting mistakes, etc. And that hideous sliver of white showing through where you could not quite get the brush...In short, painting figures only became a hobby when I discovered black undercoats (thank you, Kevin Dallimore!). White has been used exclusively for largely "white" or experimental things since then, such as skeletons, water elementals and Death Guard (mine are actually insipid green...it's a long story).

Anyway, I could see no satisfactory way around the white undercoat route for this guy, so away I went. For the first time also in this project, I chose to do the complicated regimental lace on this figure that British infantry regiments were adorned with to a greater or lesser extent at this time. I had just done "white" or "yellow" beforehand and will for subsequent units. But this guy needed something to offset all the white, so he got the blue dots/ squares (whatever they were in reality) on his lace, as worn in my main picture of the 43rd, as found in the Osprey "Combat" series book, "British Redcoat vs French Fusilier" by Stuart Reid. A double page spread of a soldier from the 43rd features on pages 12 and 13 and a whole camp scene of the regiment preparing on page 46. A little conjecture on the cap finished things off.

Purists may find a few issues to attend to, but I am happy with him, especially as he will join up with 23 of his colleagues very soon.

G

The viewpoint from which he will usually be seen, in the front rank of a regiment of 24 figures in two ranks of 12.

Hmm. A tad rough in places with the blue...

And thank goodness the drum shell was a simple affair!