I had actually been thinking of making a few Cannon balls out of Miliput to use on the bases but these tiny Ball barrings are a much better option and I'll never run out of them either. Hours of sculpting saved by a lucky find.
A weighted bag used for holding camera equipment split open today at work and to my surprise, thousands of tiny ball barings rolled out. When I picked a few up I thought they looked perfect for 28mm Cannon balls, so I borrowed some.
I had a day off work today and took the chance to start the Herculean task of basing my 15 French Battalions. I found It quite enjoyable though as you can get quite creative in moving the grass and Glue around to make muddy shapes.
The last of my French field guns are finished off and brought up to speed with the others. They were painted over five years ago and so were crying out for a few Silflor grass tufts.
Luckily for me I had guessed the size of base needed and they match almost exactly with the Artillery bases from Foundry. A very lucky guess and it saved me a bit of re basing.
Glue and flock painted with brown paint while glue is still wet.
Static grass sprinkled on to PVA glue.
PVA glue painted on wheels.
After finding my entire collection of unpainted figures painted and based to an unimaginable standard, I thought I would leave out some more and find out what was going on.
Little Louis is the best shot in my army and I will put him to good use in every game. I have shown him a picture of Alan's head and he knows what to do. No Officer will be safe from this little sharpshooter.
I couldn't resist putting this little scene together. I wanted some more causality figures in my skirmish line, so picked out some figures that could interact with each other.
After reading some great little publications produced by 'Waterloo Wargames', I got around to the idea of knocking up a couple of Sapper/Engineer companies. These companies should come in handy when playing the La Haie Sainte scenario. I would of just painted one in the old days, but by using the dip I knocked up two in the same time, that's the real bonus of using the stuff I think and very useful for producing the huge forces needed for Napoleonic games.
I thought I would paint up another unit of the French Cuirassier to make a brigade of the big brutes. I already have the 1st Regiment and so I'm going to complete the Brigade by creating the 4th. When the ground begins to tremble and shake, better form square before It's too late and pray to God you are not under the command of the Prince of Orange.
To finish off the Artillery Battery I thought I'd put together a couple of command bases. The good thing about using Front Rank Miniatures is that you could order individual figures separately, which saves money and allows you to Taylor units. I selected a few likely looking lads and painted them up. In the game 'Napoleon' you don't need command for Artillery but I think it will look good on the board. Besides, I do like all the fuss that goes on behind the guns, the extra men and waggons etc and will try to do more baggage detail when i get the time.
I painted these guys up the old way by layering and dry brushing.
The last of the men have been dipped and based ready for flocking. Over all I'm very happy with the dipped effect. It was quick and easy and brought It's own kind of joy back to painting. Now I have perfected this style of painting I will use It for all of my rank and file troops, although I will still paint up command bases in the old layered way, you just can't rush officers.
