Some Useful Ancients Cavalry

 Dark Alliance figures have been making Lord of the Rings inspired figures in 1/72 scale.

These, and there are two sets of 12 figures each, are based on the Rohan cavalry, but could easily be used as late Roman era goths, Huns, and other types, as well as Eastern European cavalry in the early medieval period.

I painted up 3 boxes of each.

Nice detail, solid figures.

The only quibble is that the riders can eventually pop off the saddle as the legs are kind of a tight fit.

I think the best recourse would be to shave off some plastic from inside the leg or secure the rider with a metal pin and glue.

Waterloo British Heavy Cavalry

 The Life Guard and The Blues

Revell figures, very nice indeed. Lively poses. You might have noticed some missing plumes. I bought a bag of these on eBay, and the plumes were already removed. I think the original idea was to make them Austrian.

I also finished off another unit of Dragoons, these only needing some wax.

Again, these figures aren’t painted historically, but they are so nice as is. I especially like the dapple grey horses, done in enamels.

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I found a few more pix.

Bucquoy Series Of Uniform Books

 Eugene Buquoy was a French officer who studied and published uniform illustrations of the Consular and   Napoleonic armies.

His wiki is in French, but can be translated online:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugène_Louis_Bucquoy

Born in 1879, he studied at St. Cyr. The son of an army doctor, he began collecting illustrations and information on uniforms by age 11.

He saw service in World War 1, and ended the war as a Captain, having received the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d’Honneur. He published his first books in 1935 and passed away in 1958.

His books are still available, and often command higher prices. However used books in decent shape can be found and I have a few of them. They are in French, but anyone with a passing acquaintance with high school French can glean the information. Of course the internet is a big help.

What makes the books so outstanding are the illustrations. Unusual uniforms and variations abound, all in full colour.

Here’s a quick survey of those I’ve managed to find:

Imperial Guard Cavalry

Infantry of the Imperial Guard

“Passepoil” or piping, referring to the uniforms of musicians and trumpeters.

Dragoons and Guides

The Cuirassiers

A selection of other titles available, from the back flap of one of the books. I don’t know if this is a complete list.

I hope this convinces some to look for these titles, they are beautiful books, all hard cover. As for price? I found cheaper copies in the $20 to $30 dollar range at online book sellers. I’ve also seen very expensive ones as well.

More Stuff

 I finished off an old Airfix Hussar unit that I picked up on eBay a long time ago. They needed only a couple of touch ups and a trumpeter and kettle drummer. Whoever painted these did a real nice job. I *think* they are the12th Hussars by the colours. Oddly enough I had the exact colour for the pelisse. It looks like the old enamel Humbrol “hellblau” but I found it in acrylics as “sea foam”. 

Here’s a unit of French “imagination” soldiers using some old Lucky Toys Revolutionary War toys. Sorry about the flag, but I ain’t painting all those tiny fleurs des lis. Maybe I’ll use a Sharpie and draw them over the gold splotches….

Looks like they are arrayed in order to greet some old acquaintances….

Next are some Strelets Highlanders. I had to add a half dozen figures in order to make a unit of 48 (I’ve yet to finish the command base), but the problem was that Strelets figures tower over other 1/72 figures. The only ones who stood eye to eye with them were the Lucky Toys figures. So I converted a few into Waterloo highlanders with plasticine and toothpick muskets.

I played around with a few Airfix British Grenadiers and made some fanciful figures. Loosely based on an illustration of Paris National Guard, I made a couple of small units…

Here’s a couple more pix of those red grenadiers. I tried to slide them in at the appropriate spot but blogger put them at the bottom of the page.

French Napoleonic Hussars

 Here’s some more of my figs. This time it’s mostly Italeri’s first release of French hussars.

Two regiments, the 3rd leading the 7th. I used Funcken’s books on the Napoleonic wars as a guide. I also used Airfix British Waterloo Hussars as is for elite troopers. I mixed in a few Hat horses as well.

A few observations on the Italeri figures. Disappointingly, they mostly lack a pelisse. Now I don’t know why, but my idea of a hussar is a fancy uniform, and a coat on the shoulder flying out behind them as they charge forward. Why Italeri opted for such lack lustre figures, I’ll never know.

Also those Airfix figures are going on 50 years old. But Italeri are lucky to have been existent for half that time, yet they are brittle as wax. Horse tails, arms, legs, all snap off with the least provocation.

Anyways...

I also am putting up some shots of a fun diversion I did during the last Covid shut down. I took some of my banged up Giant artillery caissons and added some gunners, and a base of generic horse artillery riders made from cowboys.

An interesting aside, I should have rewatched Ridley Scott’s “The Duelists”, as Kieth Carradine’s character was a Third Regiment Hussar:

I shoulda used a dull grey...

C’est la Guerre.....

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some more pix