Extending the range

This week I received the latest photos from the Calpe Towers workbench. There are no surprises, because these figures are in line with what I’ve been trailing for a while – the first of the march-attack pose French infantry packs and a couple of packs of legere command and officer figures that you can use with the existing route march packs to create light infantry battalions. Without further ado, on to the pictures. Enjoy!

F19: French light infantry command.

F20: French light infantry foot officers.

F22: French march-attack infantry, uncovered shakos.

F25: French march-attack infantry, covered shakos.

I know I’ve been quiet on the posting front the last couple of weeks – a case of reality intruding on enjoyment, I’m afraid. However, I expect to get back to more frequent posting in the next week or so and I have several updates lined up for you.

If at first you don’t succeed

Blimey! Almost two months since I last posted. I only spotted that tonight when I finally found the time to deal with some outstanding e-mail. How did the time pass so quickly? Well, to be honest, I know the answer to that: “real life” got in the way of hobby activities.

So thank goodness for Les Pinceaux de la Guerre over at the La Bricole forum. Robert’s announcement of the forum’s second painting challenge has come at just the right moment to re-ignite my enthusiasm coming, as it does, just when the clouds of work commitments are beginning to clear. And I’m doubly motivated because I didn’t manage to complete my entry for the first painting challenge by the deadline. This time I rate my chances of completion much more highly because the theme is diorama bases which means a much smaller number of figures to paint.

I’ve chosen to paint up a couple of brigade command bases using the Calpe French Infantry Regimental Headquarters pack (F18) as the cadre for my entry. My minimum target is to have two bases each with one foot figure and one mounted figure. If things go to schedule, I also plan a couple of extra embellishments which I’ll unveil in a week or so’s time.

If you’ve got a moment, take a look at what my fellow forum members have declared as their entries. There are some fascinating options on offer and most of the guys will be maintaining threads in the forum about their progress as well as posting on their blogs too. And that really illustrates the spirit of this challenge (notice how it doesn’t use the word “competition”) that appeals to me. We’re all in it for the honour of participating and perhaps a little collateral glory for the eventual winner but the main purpose for the entrants is to support and encourage each other and share our ideas and techniques.

So, now’s a good moment to invite you to cheer on the entrants who have so far declared their hands (my apologies in advance for not mentioning any late entries that emerge after this posting):

• French Army Morale Stand by John De Terre Neuve from Massachusettes, USA.
• In the Trenches of Cadiz by Schrumpfkopf (AKA Kawe from Berlin, Germany).
• Austrian Hussars by ArchiducCharles (AKA Iannick from Montreal, Canada).
• Uxbridge and an Onion (!) by 14th Brooklyn (AKA Burkhard from Castrop-Rauxel, Germany).
• Prussian from the Top! by Der Feldmarschall (AKA Jason from Minnesota, USA).
• Cossack Camp in 30mm Flat by Kleist (a bit of a mystery man!).
• Russian Command by figvfig (AKA Dave from Queensland, Australia).

So you can vicariously enjoy all our progress (or the lack of it) between now and the closing date at the end of September. Who knows? This may even tempt a few of you to join in.

Getting ahead with the photos

These won’t be available until the start of May but here are sneak preview shots of two of the forthcoming Calpe French packs that’ll round out the route-march set. I think I mentioned these in my Salute report so it’s good to be able to follow up so quickly with the eye candy. Enjoy!

Pack F17 - the "cherry on the icing" pack as Peter F. has christened it!

Pack F18 - the regimental command pack.

I think these will prove to be two very popular packs. Pack F17 includes a several lovely scuplts, especially the typically enthusiastic French pose of a shako being hoist high on the end of a musket! And I can see how many a command stand will be painted and based up using Pack F18. I even forsee some nix ‘n’ match between these two sets!

Modest progress

Completed French drummer and officer montage.

The minimum number of figures required for my La Bricole painting competition entry is eighteen. With two weeks to go, the total completed stands at two! Only sixteen more required then. Not much chance of that by the deadline I’m afraid so I bet the other entrants are breathing a sigh of relief 🙂

At least I’ve been able to use the competition of carry out some successful experiments and brush up on my uniform research. One of the most useful resources I’ve relied on are the Rousselot plates (which, frankly, deserve a whole posting of their own) but even they are silent on some detailed subjects. A case in point being sword knots. Yes, it’s easy enough to pick up the colour of these for officers (gold), grenadiers (red) and voltigeurs (green or yellow) but what about the members of fusilier companies that are armed with a sword, such as NCOs or drummers? One contender appears to be white but another option is the company colour (i.e. green, sky blue, aurore or violet).

Given that I’m looking for a bit of colour to spice up the greatcoated campaign look figures I’m painting at present, I’ve decided to opt for the latter. So the drummer above has got a fetching sky blue sword knot (not to mention the the cord on his water bottle and some gratuitous cuff piping in the same colour) to help reinforce his membership of the second company of the battalion. In a way, I think it’s only fair to give him these splashes because by being bareheaded, he’s missing out on his shako lentille.

The officer is painted in an almost entirely conventional way. He closely follows one of the illustrations in the Rousselot plate that covers line infantry officers (Planche No. 62) which shows the grey trousers that were popular with officers on campaign. The small satchel worn by the officer is mentioned in Rousselot’s notes but strangely not illustrated in any of his Napoleonic plates though I’m told it does make an appearance in one of his Restoration period plates.

All of this work is also grist to the mill for the painting guide to go with the Calpe French infantry range. Peter F. has got most of the uniform references sown up from all his research for sculpting the figures so I’m hoping I’ll be able to contribute a good range of paint suggestions. I also feel a posting coming on about paint dilution and additives in which I’ll share the recipe for the little glass jar of stuff I’ve mixed up and have been using successfully over the last couple of months.

UPDATE: I’ve received an e-mail from Peter F. on the topic of sword knots. He concurs that Rousselot doesn’t really cover the topic but mentions that Rigo does address it in his series of plates. According to Rigo, sword knots for fusiliers carrying sabres should have been in company colours with senior NCOs having the addition of relevant gold threads and decorations. However, Rigo then goes on to say that this regulation was honoured in the breach because each regiment appears to have had its own tradition. Rigo himself has documented wide variation from one regiment to another. Peter F. finished his e-mail to me by saying that Rigo’s comment is essentially “God only knows!”. So I think that pretty much gives each of us the opportunity to follow his own preference.