The best laid plans...

Well it appears that yet again real life issues have conspired against my painting schedule ☺ I’ve had to move my office into the city, which has meant a few late nights and not much time for any painting. I’ve been watching with great interest the release of the Eureka French Revolutionary range. I think that after the Austrian gun crew is done, I’ll move on to a group or two of French Revolutionary Infantry, probably for Bonaparte’s Italian campaign. I’ve had a lot of these figures lying around for a shelved General de Brigade project, so might see if i can finally get some painted up.

The Austrians are still coming along, as are the Saxons. One more session and I think I’ll have them done. In the meantime, i’ve finished basing up a few more Frenchies, this time it’s a Captain of Line Voltigeurs and a Fusilier NCO. I’ve stolen part of the basing technique from Orctrader on the Steve Dean forum – it’s a wash and then a brush with some pigments. I think it’s very effective and is quite an improvement.

Maréchal Joachim Murat, le Roi de Naples!

Well, i'm still plodding along with the Saxons and the Austrian gun crew. Laura and I went to a friends birthday party on Friday night at the Löwenbrau Bavarian Beer hall in Sydney. Many a stein was consumed and I think that we got home at about 4am. Needless to say, not much painting was done over the rest of the weekend.

I didn't want to let the weekly updates slip though, so decided to post a pic of an older figure, but one of my favourites - the Wargames Foundry Marshal Murat. I'm thinking of ways to work him into a Sharpe practice scenario.

Maréchal Joachim Murat is perhaps the most interesting characters from an era full of interesting characters. I've been reading Martin Boycott-Brown's excellent 'Road to Rivoli', about Napoleon's 1796-97 campaign and came across an excellent little paragraph about Murat, which sums him up very well.

"There is nothing one can say about Murat that has not been said a thousand times before. The most unlikely candidate for the priesthood in the history of the church, he was to blaze a multi-coloured trail through the Napoleonic Wars as the most over-dressed man in Europe and gain a reputation as one of the most spectacular battlefield cavalry leaders in history. Tall, handsome, flamboyant in the extreme and extravagantly brave, this hoarse-voiced Gascon was always in search of women to seduce when he was not thundering about on horseback looking for other kinds of action."

Murat was known for his extravagant uniforms, and the one foundry have chosen must surely be one of the most flamboyant - seriously, a 2 foot high heron feather plume atop a bright yellow czapka?. He is dressed as the King of Naples, and the sculptor has used a famous portrait by Gros as inspiration - the portrait i've posted above.

Without further ado, here are the pictures. As with a whole lot of my figure's, i've still got to complete his base. I'm thinking of doing a mini diorama, with the figures removable for use individually. Now, to find a figure that would work as a Neapolitan ADC