Wednesday, July 24, 2019

28mm Royal Catholic Army Chouan skirmishers

While I wait for the Revolutionary Armies Vendee range to release I dived into my figure stash and pulled some Perry AWI skirmishing southern militia figures, sculpted feathers and cockades and the odd Vendee heart badge. Then painted them in two batchs, and based them. I have completed the first 12 with a further 12 on the table at the moment. These will act as a stand alone skirmish line  for British Grenadier rules until I complete mine.

The Mayenne (old Maine) Department of Pays de la Loire was the hotbed of the Chouan revolt against the Revolutionary government. We have 63 skirmishes and battles within a hour of the Maison. After the defeat of the Vendee the Chouan kept up the fight against the revolutionary government and then Napoleon tying down several divisions in western France.

We conduct tours of a number of the battlefield sites and visit the museums and a private collection as part of our "walk the battlefield in the morning and wargame it in the afternoon"© our French tour and wargame holiday packages.





Tuesday, July 23, 2019

28mm Royal Catholic Armee Vendee rebellion

Another current project is to increase the size of my Royal Catholic Armee for the French Revolution.  My current Vendee/Chouan collection is quite small, mostly because of the lack of suitable figures, I have all of the Foundry sculpts but they are quite limited and small true 25mm compared to current 28mm miniatures. I have been helping the guys at Revolutionary Armies range to complete a better and wider range of miniatures for the Vendee war. Excited to say that the initial sculpts are completed and at Griffin moulds being mastered at the moment a total of 72 individual miniatures, armed with muskets, swords, assorted pikes and farm implements will be produced for the Revolutionary mob and the Royal Catholic Army.

My plan is to build my army for the big battle of Entrammes which is 35klms away from our Maison. The battlefield is largely unspoilt so it can be walked, as part of our "walk the battlefield in the morning, then Wargame it in the afternoon"© tours, plus two other large skirmishes at  Croix-Bataille and the city of Laval.

The 28mm Revolutionary Armies range is now available from the Emperors Toad Emporium  and includes a wide and complete range of armies from early Revolution through to 1806.

Firing line 





28mm Breton Armorican Domnonée skirmishers II

Breton Skirmishers II


Off the table this week some more 28mm Foootsore miniatures for my Armorican Domnonée Breton army. These figures represent the wild forest valleys and mountains around Saint James and Mortain in South western Normandy. The language today is still very different in this area of ​​France. They held onto their old religious beliefs the longest and resisted the Christian church until well into the 7th century according to Abbot Angot. They raided along the Frankish border of Maine (Mayenne, Orne and Sartre) troubling the Marcher Lords of Maine, perhaps even the famous Roland (chanson Roland fame) Lord of Maine and the Breton border marches.



"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™


Cheers
Matt

Gaulois Aulerci Diablintes Noble Cavalry 28mm Victrix

Off the table this week more additions to the Aulerci Diablintes, this time Noble heavy cavalry, I have four more bases to complete to finish the cavalry. The Victrix cavalry are quite nice with lots of movement, my only complaint are the ears of the horse which are facing sideways, not forward or back. I used LBM transfers for the shields which are a little difficult but worth the effort. The checked fabric worked out quite well, a lot more to go, based for Impetus, I do need to add some tufts when they arrive.

The desk is very busy at the moment with multiple periods underway to meet the demand of upcoming Wargame events at L'Hotel de Hercé in the next few weeks.

Enjoy the pics




Cheers
Matt

Saturday, July 13, 2019

28mm Armorican/Breton skirmishers

Breton Skirmishers

I recently purchased a collection of dark age figures and a number were Footsore miniatures Welsh and Irish, while the remainder were gripping beast plastics.

Recently I have read some interesting articles about some of the early kings after the departure of the Romans, the spread of Christianity, the arrival of the Alans, then the Franks, the coming of the Viking invaders, then the Normans.

I had planned to build a Breton army so with a little thought I could build something to represent Breton Dark age army from the 5th century through to the 10th by swapping out a few units it could fight Alan's, Late Romans, Franks, Vikings and Normans. We have six major battlefield sites within a hours drive from late Roman through to the Norman conquest, and a further 11 battlefields within two hours. I plan to develop some tours and wargame events around these sites.

First off the desk some Domnomée skirmishers. The kingdom of Domnonée seemed to have major ties with Britain, even sharing the same king at one time settled by Dumonians in the 5th century. These figures represent the marshland people around current Mont Saint Michel to Dol de Bretagne.  11 bases to complete of heavy infantry and two bases of skirmishers, and possibly four heavy cav and five light cavalry will give me a good start. I have two more bases almost complete and two heavy infantry should be completed this weekend.


"Walk the battlefield in the morning, Wargame it in the afternoon"

cheers
Matt

Monday, July 8, 2019

28mm Aulerci Diablintes tribesmen II

Also off the table this week finallly after my tufts arrived some more Victrix Gauls, I have another 5 units of naked medium Infantry to complete this month, before I start the slog of tartan heavy foot, 90 odd figures to complete the army. Happy how these guys came out



Cheers
Matt

28mm French Revolution mob

Hot off the desk today some French Revolution miniatures from Revolutionary wars miniatures. A pleasure and really easy paintjob with good detail. I am looking forward to receiving more to add to my rabble mob!



Cheers
Matt

Thursday, July 4, 2019

American Civil War 4th of July sale

I am selling off a number of pieces in the coming weeks that do not relate to our business of battlefield tours in western France, or wargaming those battles.

As a celebration of the forth of July, a Brigade of Confederates!

28mm full metal Mark Fenlon/ Adventure Time miniatures ACW western Confederates based for Black powder or Jonny Reb.
Moving on as it does not relate to our business model. Paintjob is tabletop quality

Includes Brigade commander
2 regiment 16 figures 13th ALA, 3rd Arkansas
2 regiments 12 figures 1st Arkansas, Coppens Zouaves
1 Cannon and crew
1 artillery limber/ammunition limber

€250 euro/£224 pounds/$282 US/$400 Aud
Not including Postage and insurance

Payment via PayPal, Postage at cost must be insured.
PM me for any questions. Posted from France using first class post.









Cheers
Matt
French Wargame Holidays at L'Hotel de Hercé
Mayenne
Pays de la Loire
France
"Walk the battlefield in the morning, Wargame it in the afternoon"©