Wip Wednesday- lots on the desk

 Quite a lot on the desk as I clear bits ready for more painting. As renovations are in full swing this week a bit motivation to get stuff done ready for undercoating before winter fully sets in! A big mix of ancients, revolutionary wars, 20mm Belgian and German bits 

French Revolution Drums…..

 I have decided to build my French Revolutionary Regiments for the Analogue Painting challenge this year, so research has fully commenced! While I was at the Musee de l’Armée a few weeks ago for the first time I have really looked at the revolution equipment so a number of photos were taken and the rest from all over the place bought together for my research. I do not think I will get to some of the detail but an indicator of what a drum looked like will suffice, the red white blue hoops, and white cords and an indication of a non brass background of some description I suspect! Enjoy another dive down the rabbit hole! 

Cheers

Matt

Terrain Tuesday- Windmill

 Windmill

I picked up the Renendra Windmill at Partizan, last week I put it together, painted it and then was not happy with the lines so I added wood putty paste and repainted it, much happier now. I am considering adding real cloth sails and some flour sacks. Maybe on a week or so when my Victrix stuff arrives. I added green wash for the windows etc pretty happy with the results 

Cheers

Matt

Prussian 4th Hussars (1st Silesian) 1813-15 1st Squadron

 Prussian 4th Hussars (1st Silesian) 1813-15 1st Squadron 

The 1st squadron, I elected to mount them all except the colonel on palomino horses, really happy with my paint job, so simple to do with close Pelisse. Again Elite Miniatures. 

Prussian 4th Hussars (1st Silesian) 1813-15 2nd Squadron

 Prussian 4th Hussars (1st Silesian) 1813-15 2nd squadron 

I elected to paint the second squadron of the 4th hussar regiment on bay horses, so quite plain compared to the other two squadrons. 

Cheers 

Matt

Prussian 4th Hussars (1st Silesian) 1813-15 3rd Squadron

 Prussian 4th Hussars (1st Silesian) 1813-15 3rd Squadron 

Off the desk this week are my first unit of Prussian Hussars, I elected to follow my orbat for the 1814 campaign so the Prussian 4th Hussars are high on the list. 

Eight days from start to finish mostly painting in the evenings so really happy with the speed and the results. The figures are from the Elite Miniatures range, I purchased them last Christmas so good to see they are completed. 

The third Squadron are up first, all on paint horses which I like to do for my Prussians as they were short on standard horse flesh and the hussars did not get first choice of animals. 

Cheers 

Matt

Jean IV de Rieux, maréchal de Bretagne

 Jean IV de Rieux, maréchal de Bretagne

Marshal and Commander of the Breton Army during the mad war and the battle of Saint Aubin du Cormier. I used a front Perry WOTR command figure. The flag is printed on silk linen mix from my printer. 

Cheers

Matt 

Chevau-légers lanciers Brigade commander Tomasz Andrzej Łubieński

 Chevau-légers lanciers Tomasz Andrzej Łubieński

I had a few spare command figures over from the warlord boxes, the metal horses need pinning to stand, this one was snapped off at the hooves so I repined and also added a central pin, when basing came around I stuck flock to hide the pin, I think it looks effective. 

Tomasz Andrzej Łubieński 

Tomasz Łubieński (center, mounted on a white horse) fighting Austrian uhlans at the Battle of Wagram , July 6, 1809. Painting by Juliusz Kossak , 1867.

December 1806 the defeat of Prussia by the French, Tomasz Łubieński became second-in-command of the Polish honor guard tasked with welcoming Napoleon upon his entry into Warsaw. After the Battle of Pułtusk (1806) , where he served as the Emperor's messenger, he received the national order of the Legion of Honour .

April 7, 1807 He was assigned as a squadron leader to a newly formed regiment, the Polish Lancers of the Imperial Guard. In mid-June 1807, he commanded the first contingent of 125 light cavalrymen, assembled in Warsaw, which left the city for Königsberg , then Hanover ; from there, joined by a second detachment, his men marched successively to Paris, Chantilly , and finally Bordeaux , where they arrived in November 1807.

With his regiment, Łubieński participated in the Spanish campaign , in particular the Battle of Somosierra , November 30, 1808. At that time, he commanded the 1st squadron of Polish light cavalry of the Guard, the other three being led respectively by Jan Kozietulski , Ferdynand Stokowski , and Henryk Ignacy Kamieński. During this engagement, following the attack of the 3rd Polish squadron against the Spanish positions, Napoleon ordered Łubieński to lead a second charge at the head of his own squadron and a platoon of Guard cavalry. Although hampered in their advance by the aftereffects of the previous charge, Łubieński's cavalrymen reached the summit of the pass where, regrouped by their leader with the remnants of the 3rd squadron , they witnessed the pursuit of the routed enemy army by the last two squadrons of the regiment. Łubieński subsequently sought to be recognized, at the expense of Kozietulski, as the true victor of Somosierra .

At the beginning of 1809, as General John Moore 's British expeditionary force retreated before the French forces in Spain, Łubieński defeated a British squadron with only 29 cavalrymen . His squadron eventually left Spain inJanuary 1809, closely followed by the rest of the Polish light cavalry regiment. On April 5th He received the officer's cross of the Legion of Honour .


During the 1809 campaign against Austria, he participated in the Battle of Essling , May 22, then to that of Wagram on July 6th. To reward his courage, Napoleon made him a Baron of the Empire with a pension of four thousand francs, later increased to 6,000 francs. In 1810, he returned briefly to Warsaw and received the military order of Virtuti Militari . Disagreeing with Wincenty Krasiński, Łubieński submitted his resignation, but it was not accepted. At the beginning of 1811, he was sent to Sedan with the Vistula Legion ( Legia Nadwiślańska ), one of the main Polish Napoleonic legions; he was promoted to colonel and given command of the 8th Regiment of Light Cavalry Lancers .

March 1812 he led his regiment to Berlin , Grudziądz , Wystruć , and Vilnius , while Napoleon assembled the Grande Armée to launch his attack against Russia,  Łubieński's regiment was part of the reserve corps commanded by Marshal Nicolas Charles Oudinot . It participated in the battles of Filipow, Polotsk, Borisov; on the return from Moscow, during the crossing of the Berezina (November 1812), his regiment suffered heavy losses protecting the army's passage. At the end of 1812, Lubienski returned to Warsaw, which was about to be occupied by the Russian army.

In 1813, still at the head of the 8th Lancers , he took part in the German campaign , notably in the battles of Lützen , Bautzen , Dresden and Leipzig. January 19, 1814 colonel commanding the 7th Lancers Regiment with which he charged at Champaubert , Vauchamps and Reims. Promoted to brigadier general on March 15, 1814. He resigned from the French army on June 1st​ following the abdication of Napoleon

Cheers

Matt

WIP Wednesday- Mameluke Band part two

 WIP Wednesday- Mameluke Band part two

The band is fully underway with the horses all base coated along with the band members, I have elected to add sculpted cobblestones to the base so I will paint each band member then sculpt in the base before placing the next one, this May slow the basing process by a few days but I think will give me a very nice table and  display piece for the cabinet. I plan to have these completed by the end of next week. 

Cheers

Matt

8e régiment de chevau-légers lanciers, 3 Sqaudron

 8e régiment de chevau-légers lanciers, 3 Sqaudron 

The third Sqaudron, this time I elected for swords and carbines, again warlord miniatures 

8th regiment ready for battle! 

Cheers

Matt 

8e régiment de chevau-légers lanciers, 2 Sqaudron

 8e régiment de chevau-légers lanciers, 2 Sqaudron 

The second Sqaudron, I elected to portray with lancers also. Again warlord figures 

Cheers

Matt 

8e régiment de chevau-légers lanciers, 1 Sqaudron

8e régiment de chevau-légers lanciers, 1 Sqaudron 

 Off the desk this week are my newest regiment of lancers, the figures are from the warlord range, they are the last French lancer unit I will build with Warlord figures. Overall quite happy with the results. 

Cheers

Matt 

Mameluke band …… part 1

 I purchased the Gringo 40s band from Ged at 2024 Partizan, but only a few figs, I decided while preparing my order for 2025 Partizan to add more band members. I also purchased a full Mameluke Sqaudron to replace my foundry figures. 

I have a number of research pics for references for my upcoming band project, so I thought I would post them before embarking on my painting project. I undercoated the figures yesterday and hopefully will get some paint on them by next week. 

Cheers

Matt

Bovington tank museum part 1

 My first visit to Bovington Tank Museum , a well of course lots of armour you can get up close too. The layout is a very geared to school groups I feel for education purposes, with big spaces in between vehicles which is nice so you can walk all the way round a large number of them. Impressed with the Ukraine armoured training display. 

Cheers

Matt