Project 64: progress with French infantry of the revolutionary period

I set up a temporary painting desk on the small table in our room and have been happily progressing with painting these early French infantry that have been waiting so long to be completed.

Temporary painting desk.

I had not realised when I packed it that this container that I brought to hold my wash water (which formerly contained cotton buds) had three small air holes in the bottom. I employed an empty ice coffee carton for the job.

More of the major colours (red, white, blue) added to the figures at right. Before we head home tomorrow, I'd like to finish the red on all of the figures and perhaps some white and/or blue on some of them.

It is so enjoyable to paint some French infantry again, which I have not done for ages. Even more so to work on my revised painting technique (modified Mitch method) and even more-erer to be getting these figures painted!

Along with these works of fiction, i.e. French circa 1796 that are gonna see service from 1792–1805-6, I also painted a single figure based on the best of history.

A representation of Napoleon as he lead the famous cavalry charge at Waterloo, as depicted so brilliantly in that historically accurate biopic directed by Sir R.S.

In case you missed it, or simply to bring back the enjoyment all over again, here are some stills from the film.

You'll recall how Sir R.S. so vividly recreated this historic moment.

Napoleon ordered an advance against the British infantry, that had been defending in square against French cuirassiers. The wily British deployed into line as the cuirassiers retreated in disorder towards the French lines, past their Emperor seated calmly on horse back in front of his deployed line of infantry. Napoleon ordered the infantry line to advance. They took casualties from the volleys of the British line. The Emperor ordered the cavalry to advance and personally lead them in a charge in support of the infantry. From his command position behind the entrenchments on the ridge, Wellington calmly ordered 'cavalry will advance', sending the Life and Horse Guards into the fray. It was a hotly contest mêlée, but then, the Prussians arrived, on the British left (west) flank, to tip the balance of the battle.

Such brilliant cinematography. Such an accurate representation of the battle.

Strangely, there is not a figure of Napoleon leading a cavalry charge, certainly not in 1/72. Still, the sculptors and figure manufacturers were not there, so what would you expect? I improvised a conversion using one of the Mameluks from the Hat set.

Another photo taken under natural light, from a different side.

A photo taken under the painting lamp, showing my attempt to represent the pose from the third of the stills above.

This time at wargamer's distance, on the balcony of our room , looking at the Indian Ocean, a small section of the 3 500 km of coastline and near-continuous beach that we have in Western Australia.

 

I decided to make my figure of N leading the charge at Waterloo, rather than the other, celebrated occasion when he lead the charge at Borodino. On that occasion he even donned his former uniform as a republican general, no doubt to produce an added morale effect for the troops. In fact, some of them followed suit, which I am sure put the hee-bee jee-bees up the Russians! Perhaps I should do a figure in this uniform to use in earlier games featuring Napoleon as a general? This won't be until 1796, so there is a bit of time, if I decide to do so.

For now, some stills from the bio-pic will have to suffice.

I am happy with my amateur representation of the Emperor in one of his finest moments; another of my 21 Napoleons, now probably up to 23, that I have in progress and planned. It'll be a beaut figure to use later this month when I head to John's for a game using General d'Armée. He'll be fitting for the 'magic' that is c-in-c commands, especially glory!