French Light Cavalry Brigade

En avant mes braves!

Welcome back for another irregular blog update. They do seem to have been getting rather irregular of late, I can't believe it's been three months since my last post. Full time teaching commitments have meant that i've had to be quite strict with my hobby time. While i've not had much time for browsing and blogging, I have managed to fit in quite a bit of painting time. Painting is my wind down time, where I can put on some music, a podcast, or a good audiobook, and let the worries of the day evaporate. I guess it's similar to meditation, and I find that a half hour at the painting desk can restore a bit of balance after a busy and stressful day.

Consequently, i've not only managed top work my way through the entire series of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe audiobooks (thanks audible!), but have been smashing through painting and now have a very sizeable Napoleonic French army. I'll be posting photos of these over the next weeks.

Having completed the Frenchies, i'm now working on another project, 20mm ultra moderns based around Afghanistan for the soon-to-be-released Fighting Season ruleset by Leigh Neville and Rich Clarke. I've got ADF (naturally), Brits, US Marines, and Taliban on the go, along with a bunch of terrain suitable for games in Urzugan or Helmand provinces. So
expect some musings on this as i proceed. Multicam in 20mm anyone?

I've also managed to get in a few play test games of the up coming Lardies Napoleonic divisional level rules, along with a game or two of Chain of Command.

Without further ado, here are some pictures of the beau sabreur arm of my French army, the light cavalry brigade.

Division Command - General Saint-Hilaire 

First off, the divisional command stand representing the exceptionally skilled but ill-fated General Louis-Vincent-Joseph Le Blonde de Saint-Hilaire. Saint-Hilaire commanded his powerful division of Davout's corps during 1809 with expert skill. His performance at the Battle of Eckmuhl was such that Napoleon said to him 'Well, you have certainly earned your marshal's baton today, and you shall have it.'

Unfortunately for Saint-Hilaire, fate was shortly to intervene in the shape of an Austrian cannon ball which took off his leg during the battle of Aspern-Essling. The unfortunate General passed away fifteen days later. Together with the deaths of Marechal Jean Lannes and General d'Espagne, Saint-Hilaire's skill and ability could never be replaced. Saint-Hilaire is flanked by a senior officer of the 11e Chasseurs and a divisional aide de camp.  All 18mm AB figures.

General Saint-Hilaire flanked by an officer of the 11e Chassuers

... and a divisional ADC

Brigade Command - General Lasalle

Next, the cavalry brigade command. This is the superb General Lasalle figure from AB. I really love the flamboyant Hussar general, his pipe held aloft. It just exudes the devil may care attitude of this famous beau sabreur. Now as much as possible I try to avoid biographical overviews in this blog, but as Lasalle was the archetypical light cavalryman, I can't resist.

Antoine-Charles Louis de Lasalle lived his life on and off the battlefield with reckless abandon. This attitude was shown again and again, such as in Salamanca in 1800 when he took a fancy to General Victor's mistress and paraded outside her apartment with the regimental band of the 10e Hussards. When the General and lady emerged, the General applauded, thinking this impromptu concert was in his honour. Lasalle bowed his horses head, and proudly stated 'it is not for you, Sir, but for the fair lady".

Among his many other exploits was the crashing of a grand ball held by the Prefet of Argen. Lasalle had been intentionally left off the guest list, so he arrived with his regiments officers, bursting through the doors and causing much chaos, even throwing food out the windows. Napoleon's reply to the Prefet's complaint was that 'It takes just a signature to make a Prefet; it takes 20 years to make a Lasalle.' Lasalle was also a fashion trend setter, and the large red trousers he fancied became a craze for young cavalrymen trying to emulate the General. Marbot includes an amusing story where one young Lasalle wannabe has his horse shot from under him, and then keeps falling over being tripped by his ridiculously oversized 'Lasalle' pants.
Lasalle famously said Tout hussard qui nest pas mort a 30 ans est un jean-foutre! (Any hussar who lives to be thirty is a jackass!). While he was 33 at the opening of the 1809 campaign, it was to be his last. The night before Wagram he had a presentiment, stating to an aide that 'This battle will be my last.' He was to be proven correct, and in the closing stages of the great battle he was shot by an Austrian Grenadier. Lasalle's last note to his wife, penned the night before the battle, seem a fitting epitaph for such a man. 'Mon cour a toi, mon sang a l'Empreur, ma vie a l'honneur.' (my heart is yours, my blood the emperors, my life for honour. )

I've chosen to depict Lasalle in command of the 'Brigade Infernale', the 7e and 5e Hussards. He is dressed as a colonel of the 7e and is accompanied by a senior officer of the 5e. Both are 18mm AB figures.

5e Regiment de Hussards

Next, the 5e Regiment de Hussards. I've got a long history of trying to paint up this regiment, and the first 28mm figure which I ever painted was one of the Perry sculpted Foundry hussars. A mere decade and a half later i've finally gotten around to painting them, admittedly in a smaller scale. The former Hussards de Lauzun of AWI fame, the 5e was involved in every major campaign of the Napoleonic wars, but as for the rest of my army these guys are painted in their 1809 era uniforms. So here they are, led by their illustrious Colonel Pierre Cesar Dery. These are 18mm AB figures.

Colonel Dery's command stand

The Compagnie d'Elite

11e Regiment de Chasseurs a Cheval

Next up are the 11e Regiment de Chasseurs a Cheval, formed from the pre-revolutionary Chasseurs de Normandie. Again, i've a bit of history with these, as I have their compagnie d'elite painted up in 28mm for Sharp Practice.  As with the 5e Hussards, the 11e Chasseurs were engaged in each major campaign of the Napoleonic era, usually tied to Marechal Davout's 3e Corps. In 1809, the regiment was commanded by Colonel Desirad, who had only just taken over command when hostilities opened against the Habsburgs. Again, these are 18mm AB figures.

Colonel Desirad's command stand

The compagnie d'elite

Casualty base

Finally, a shot of the brigade in full. I dare say i'll eventually add another regiment, probably the 7e Hussards, but at the moment this is more than i'll need for my gaming purposes.

Le Grand Fromage

Here i am back again with another update. The final assessment period for this semester is in full swing, but amazingly I'm still managing to keep up some semblance of progress with my painting.

Here are some pictures of my latest base, (actually finished around the time of the Equites Batavii) representing the Magister Militum of the Patrician Roman Army, the Patrician warlord himself. As the Impetus rules call for more than one general, i decided that the foot general would not really cut it as the overall commander, and so decided to paint up something a bit grander. The figures are Gripping Beasties, and i must say i love the pose of the general.

The very ostentatious clothing on this guy I copied from an illustration of the 'last of the Romans' Flavius Aëtius, the patrician warlord who faced down, among many others, Attila the Hun. As usual, i've taken the shield pattern from the Notita Dignitatum, this pattern is that of the Equites under command of the Comes Domesticorum, the Count of the Household troops of the Eastern empire. I figure it is as likely as any to be used by a Late Roman Magister or perhaps even the Augustus himself fighting the Persians in the east. Either way, the bloody angels and lovehearts almost drove me insane! The banner is hand painted over a laser printed Burgundy coloured template i made up ages ago. I just had to have something with the ubiquitous IN HOC SIGNO VINCES (in this sign, conquer!) i've seen on countless miniature army banners.

I figure that this base will be suitable to be used for a late Eastern and Western Roman army as well as the Patricians, and even for Justinian Byzantines. On an aside, if anyone is looking for a great boom set in the later empire, I've started reading Harry Sidebottom's Warrior of Rome series which I'd highly recommend.

Next on the painting list, the first base of Frankish heavy infantry are finished and varnished, and i've just been putting the finishing touches on the basing. Hopefully i'll get some pictures up in the next couple of days, i'm very happy with the GB figures, and with the LBMS shield transfers. I had used LBMS transfers before with some Crusader vikings, only to have them shrink. I've discovered my mistake, failing to gloss varnish the shield before and after applying the decal, and not waiting for the transfer to dry before applying matt varnish. :)

Anyway, next up on the painting bench are a bunch of Late Romans, BTD figures i'm painting up as the Legio Primani for a commission. I'm also hoping to have time to get the base of Musketeer Gothic heavy cavalry completed, but it all depends on how conscientious i am with my uni work.

Here come the cavalry

Well, the first assessment round for this semester is over, and so I've finally been able to get on with some painting.

The other week I received my order from Dadi & Piombo; the 'full' version of Impetus rules plus the two expansions. Looking at the army lists for the Late Roman East and Western armies, I'm happy to see that the Basic Impetus Patrician army I've been working on provides 90% of the bases needed for either of these forces, so it should be relatively painless to switch over to the full system. I'm really looking forward to building some kind of camp/baggage train, which is another addition in the full version.

One of the additional units needed to expand the army is this lot of Roman medium cavalry hot off the painting table. The figures are from Gripping Beast, but as I've never been overly keen on their horses, I've mounted them on the Aventine nags. I must say I'm really impressed with how these go together, and the smaller size of the horses works perfectly for the smaller breeds prevalent in Late Antiquity.

These are painted up as the Equites Batavii Iuniores, one of the vexillationes palatina from the Gallic field army. The shield pattern is taken again from the Notita Dignitatum. Inspiration for the colour schemes I've taken from the Osprey Warrior on Late Roman cavalry, and the commander is based on a plate from the excellent Ancient Warfare magazine on the Belisarian era. Next up on the painting bench I've been working on the first of two units of Frankish heavy infantry. Stripey tunics, braids, angons and franciscas here we come. :) I'm actually enjoying working on something even less uniform and more colourful than the Romans. I've put up a work-in-progress picture, they're some very characterful figures.

I've also made an addition to my Sassanid army. After reading a bit on the Savaran cavalry, i now realise that using Parthian horse archers to represent these is fine for the very early era, but as time progressed these would have been more heavily armoured. Accordingly, i went ahead and ordered a bunch of Savaran armed with swords, bows and kontos(es?), riding a mixture of barded and unbarded heavy horses. The figures look great, and should give the 'heavy but not too heavy' look I'm going for on these bases.

Anyhoo, hopefully i'll get the Franks finished off in the next week and get a chance to post another update. After the Franks, i've got some commission work, more late Roman infantry.

The Big Guns

Here we are at the third post in as many days and still no sign of the project loosing steam. Its a pretty good achievement for me, especially as this base marks the half-way to completion point for my Basic Impetus Patrician Roman army.

The latest addition to my force is a base of elite Roman heavy cavalry, the Equites Catafractarii, argueably the forerunners of armoured knights. The Cataphracts were heavy armoured cavalrymen riding barded horses and armed with the huge 12 foot lance called the contos, and according to some sources also armed with a composite bow. The Romans adopted this style of armoured cavalry from the Sarmatians. During the reign of Constantius II, the Romans introduced another virtually identical type of heavy cavalry called Clibanarii. The main difference between the two being that while the catafractarii mostly drew recruits from Sarmatians and other Germanic horsemen, the clibanarii drew its recruits from the Armenians and Persians.

These figures are from Gripping Beast, and they paint up a treat. Wanting to give the unit a Germanic feel, I chose figures with the Germanic spangenhelm style of helmet rather than those with a more Eastern style of equipment.

The unit I chose to represent is the Equites catafractarii Ambianenses, basically because I love the city of Amiens. As the Notita Dignitatum has no shield patterns for any of the catafractarii units, I took a pattern of one of the Sarmatian named units and changed the colours around. The red-white-yellow theme was chosen by my girlfriend Laura, who has among her many talents a great eye for colour combinations :)

As these guys are the elite cavalry, I decided to keep the damage on the shields to a minimum, assuming that they folks in their prestigious position would have had the money and incentive to avoid scrappy looking kit.

Next up on the painting schedule are a unit of heavy armoured Roman infantry. I've only just undercoated them so hopefully I'll have them completed and get some pics up next week.

For now, enjoy and please feel free to leave comments or ask questions.