Blog – Page 32 – Steve’s Hobby Blog

History surrounds us.

I haven’t lifted a paint brush or done any modelling for nearly a fortnight now. It’s been one of those fallow periods that you go through from time to time. There are other things happening in life that draw you away from your hobby. We are having a new kitchen installed that has caused a bit of chaos and, of course, my hobby den, AKA the garage has been used as a dumping ground for the new units coming in and then the old ones going out. This means that I couldn’t get to my workbench if I wanted to. There was some good news though. I have had a new light installed in the Garage as well as a couple of new power sockets, so when I do get access ( next week…) the facilities will be much improved.

I also had to return to my home town in Torquay to conclude some family business. Sadly, my father passed away back in March after a long illness, and I have been travelling back & forwards to Torquay from Nottingham for the last few months. My Dad was a big influence on my hobby. Of course if it wasn’t for him I would probably never have got involved with building models. Dad was an enthusiastic model airplane and model boat builder and was more concerned with building a working model rather than the ultimate replica. He taught me the practical skills that I needed to build models, how to use the various glues, filler & materials and of course how to use the tools & techniques to produce a good model.

The Slipways at Torquay

His other passion was for fishing – sea fishing of course, being in Torquay. The great advantage of sea fishing over coarse fishing ( apart from the fact that you usually eat what you catch when sea fishing!), is that you don’t have to be quiet and so you can have a conversation whilst you are watching your float. During our fishing trips to Torquay harbour, my Brother & I would be asking Dad about the various buildings and structures and it was surprising how many of the unusual buildings around the harbour were actually defensive structures from the Second World war, now modified for everyday use. This inevitably led to stories from the second world war. Dad was only a young boy during the war but he witnessed the Terror raids on Torquay, ( My Mum was bombed out of her house in Babbacombe and my Aunty was nearly killed when a Fockewolf crashed where she was taking shelter – stories to be told in later entries in my Blog) and of course the build up to D Day. The Americans were billeted at the bottom of Dads Road in Upton Park.

It was from these stories that my love of history grew, and if you put an interest in history together with a passion for modelling, a wargamer and military modeler is sure to emerge! The strange thing is that whilst at school, although we learnt the dates of the big battles and wars, when kings came & went and the political background behind the conflicts, we were never taught what happened in our own town. Recently, the town has recorded that the two slipways that I fished from as a child were built as loading ramps for the LCTs that went off to Normandy on D-Day. Now I reckon that kids today would be just as interested to hear these stories now as I was then. So check out your local history, if you don’t already know, there will be lots of history stories all around you. If nothing else, they will no doubt inspire you fro your next modelling project! Here’s a few pictures of the plaque erected in memory of the D-Day ramps in Torquay.

Free Postage until the end of August

Batch Painting Prussians – Part Two of Two

In the last entry I had just finished block painting 22 Prussian line infantry. The next stage in completing them is to apply Army painter quick shade, or as it is known, dip. Quick shade has a mixed reputation. To some painters it is the Devils brew, a cheat, and should be avoided at all costs. To others it is a magic product that has revolutionized painting wargames figures. My view is somewhere in between. If you are painting large numbers of figures for the wargames table it is probably the best way to go. If you are entering a painting competition, dont go near it! I do not dip my figures in the tin & flick the excess down the garden as the instructions recommend – this sounds like a disaster waiting to happen if I was involved – I’m sure that my figure would end up at the bottom of the garden and the quick shade would inevitably end up on something that it shouldn’t! 2014-03-30 15.02.29

I prefer to liberally brush it on my figures and leave it to dry for about 24 hours. This helps me to control how much ‘dip’ is being used and where it is going! The point is that once applied it not only shades your figure but also protects it with a coat of varnish. There is one other issue with tins of Quick shade. It has a tendency to form a skin on the product as time passes. So long as you carefully remove this skin and give it a good stir, you can continue to use the dip. I also add a bit of white spirit to the tin before use and I am meticulous in wiping the top of the tin to try and get the best seal after use. That said, for an expensive product, I think that the tin could be of better design and quality. As you can see from the picture, the quick shade does what it says on the tin & shades the creases and gives definition to the figure. Dont be put off by the high gloss finish. The next stage in the process is to spray the figures with a good Matt varnish or anti shine. I stick with Army painter for this job. It’s not necessarily the best Matt spray available but it is designed to work with the quick shade & I get good results with it most of the time. Matt varnish can be temperamental so ALWAYS shake the can well, and spray in light coats from about 18 inches. Also if you can, spray in a well ventilated area with consistent temperature. It all helps to get a good finish. 2014-03-31 17.47.00

The next picture shows the figures once they have been coated with matt varnish. There is one other quick trick that will help bring your figures to life and that is to repaint some of the lighter colours to add highlights & clarify them. I usually redo some of the white ( particularly the webbing), the yellow facings and I also retouch the steel bayonets with silver and the brass items with gold. it doesn’t take too long but it does add something the the figures. The figures are now based on 40mm renedra bases in fours and the bases painted Vallejo Chocolate brown 872.

The final stage is the basing. I use a range of finishes on my figures but for the Prussians I have gone for a very quick & simple solution. Using watered down PVA, I coat the bases & then cover with a forest brown scatter. Once this has dried, I put on random patches of ‘grass’ using Javis fine scatter – again stuck with PVA. To finish and to add detail, I then use tufts of grass from either the Army Painter range or the Gaugemaster/Noch variety. I prefer the latter as they come in distinct clumps and are easier to use. The final detail is to add some flowers! In this case, yellow really contrasts against the dark prussian blue and adds the final touch! Hey presto, 22 Prussians ready for battle. 2014-03-31 20.55.02

Batch Painting Prussians! Part one of two

The entry is a bit of a backwards step…. To be honest I had part written it sometime ago but not had time to finish it before I actually had finished my Prussian brigade. However, I haven’t done a great deal of painting over the last week so I thought that I would add this back in to the blog to show in detail the process I used to speed the painting of my Prussian contingent.

I usually paint my models in batches of about 6 figures at a time. It seems to take a long time to finish a battalion of troops this way but at least I had the reassurance of watching the battalion grow in numbers. However, I decided to have a go at a much bigger batch to see if I could speed up the process. I’ve heard a lot about speed painting but it’s not something that I’d ever tried. Besides, painting is supposed to be a relaxing pursuit, so I didn’t want the pressure of painting against the clock. Of course, if I could be disciplined to have a go at a full battalion in one go, it might help to grow my collection and if course reduce my painting back log.

2014-02-22 09.57.00

So here’s how I got on. I hope that the following will contain some useful ideas for other modellers. I ‘ve also tried to take pictures at nearly every stage so you can see my progress. Before I start any painting project, I usually spend a bit of time researching the subject. I’ll cover this as a general topic in a future blog entry as I think it might be useful and thought provoking. I have found that often, the references can give different colour schemes, particularly when it comes to the detail. The most consistent source that I use, and the best that I have found for a painting reference is the mont st jean site. Here is the link:

http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/liens.php

2014-02-22 11.06.09

Before starting to paint a batch of figures it makes sense to paint at least one test figure, if nothing else to establish what paints that you will use and the best sequence for painting. As I had already painted a battalion of Prussians, I was already prepared and I knew exactly which colours I would use. To help me through the process, I lined the colours up in sequence on my work station. This keeps things organised and helps to mark my progress as I work through the colours. You can see the paints used in the first picture. Picture two shows the figures assembled and undercoated and with the first colour, vallejo 815 Flesh painted on for hands & faces. I tend to stick exclusively to Vallejo paints. I find them to be about the best around for painting miniatures so all the references to paint numbers are for Vallejo. The next picture shows the figures with 950 black applied to the hats, boots and cartridge cases.

2014-02-22 18.36.10

I’ve also shown the brush that I am using an Expo sable sized 1 brush. I find this ideal for block painting figures of this size and only use a smaller brush when it comes to painting the fine details.

Picture three shows the troops with their jackets painted Dark Prussian Blue, Vallejo 70899. So far, painting has been fairly quick as I am painting reasonably large areas on the figures. Now comes the first of the fiddly bits, painting the Muskets, hair and leather straps on the blankets. I tend to do these all together as I use Flat brown (984)for the musket stocks, Leather Brown for the strapping (871) and both these and a variety of browns for the hair – Light brown (929), yellow Ochre(913) & Chocolate brown (872). You could use the different browns to paint a wood grain effect on the musket stocks if you wish, but it’s not a style that I like – plain brown is just fine! The detail on the muskets is finished with 864 steel for the barrels & bayonets & 801

2014-03-04 20.04.09 , brass for the bands on the barrel, stock, sword handle, scabbard end & badge on the cartridge box. Next up, I carefully paint in the webbing, Bread sack and detail on the back pack, as well as the sword knot. You could use Vallejo white 951 but I prefer to use the off white 820. At this stage the figures are nearly fully painted. So far, it has taken me about 8 hours of painting, or to be more realistic 4 evening sessions of two hours. Any longer & my back seizes up!

The next picture shows the figures with the facings painted Yellow 953, the shoulder straps & sword knot red, 957, and the buttons picked out in steel. The yellow facings are to represent the Silesian regiment and the colour of the shoulder straps & sword knot indicates the battalion & company respectively. The purists out there will want to paint different colours on the starps & knots but I am too lazy and the red gives a nice contrast to the yellow facings! The final bit of painting before using Army Painter dip is to use Neutral grey, 992 to touch up the trousers and Blanket rolls and to correct any obvious errors. At this stage they dont look too bad but the block painting leaves the figures looking a bit flat. I could go back

2014-03-29 17.52.29

& shade and highlight the figures but this is an exercise in getting a batch of figures ready for battle, not a painting competition!

In the next article, I’ll show you how the Army painter quick shade helps to bring the figures to life and my quick basing technique.

It’s too darned hot!

I’m not really complaining about the weather, honest! I’ve been away on holiday to Crete and it was a lot hotter there! Of course the difference was that I didn’t have to go to work and the only time I spent on my hobby was to do some holiday reading. As well as reading the latest Bernard Cornwell historical novel (‘Pagan Lord’), and for a complete change, the latest Lee Child thriller ( ‘Never Go Back’), I also managed to fit in Alessandro Barberos’ book, ‘The Battle – A History of the Battle of Waterloo’. It’s every bit of a page turner as the the other two and just as exciting! As with all good history books it combines the facts with the narrative of the Battle, told from the perspective of those that were there. If you haven’t read this book , then I’m happy to recommend that you add it to your holiday reading list!

Prussian Command So over the last three weeks or so, progress on my projects have been slow to say the least. The hot weather brings other distractions and it doesn’t help that the paint was drying faster on the pallete than on the figures that I was painting. But work on the Prussians has progressed. I’ve finished an Officer & a sergeant and I also now have my Brigade Commanders completed. So I do have a Prussian brigade of Infantry that I can field in my next battle. Of course the brigade isn’t finished… I could do with completing the Jaeger as skirmishers that come with the set. I’ve started to assemble them but I have had problems with the arm holding the rifle on these figures. It seems that the rifle is a weak point and the rifle butt has snapped off on a couple of my figures. So I have decided to do a couple of minor conversions & replace the broken rifle arm with a musket arm from the Victrix British set. This does mean a bit of filing & filling with green stuff – the shoulder wings need removing, as does the piping on the cuffs and I’ve remodelled the cuff to match the other one. Apart from being a fidley job , it’s not too difficult. I don’t think that the musket rather than a rifle is too much of a problem, I am sure that there were jaegers with both. So that’s about it for this weeks blog – I’m off for a cold drink of something…..

Jaeger conversion

What’s on the Work Bench 26th June 2014

Landwehr With Muskets at trail

A couple of projects are moving towards completion. First of all the Prussian Brigade is slowly getting there. I have been painting another 10 Prussian Landwehr to complete the second Landwehr Battalion. These are Warlord Games metal Prussians running with Muskets at the trail. It means that I have a bit of variety with my troops and I hope that when these are mixed with the casualty figures already painted, there will be a bit of a story being told, with the officer ordering the advance in the face of enemy fire. I know that some wargamers like to have their models in similar poses and certainly for the sake of quickness, this helps when painting. I prefer some of my models to look a bit different, so I’m quite happy to mix it up a bit!

Landwehr Advance!

So, although I have painted 94 Prussian Infantry & Landwehr figures, the brigade is still not quite there! I have sent for a separate Prussian Infantry command sprue from the Perry’s – this will allow me to complete the 2nd battalion of the infantry. I also have a couple of Prussian Generals from Foundry to paint to make up the Brigade command. At this point, the Brigade will be ready to take to the wargames table but of course there is always more to add but at least I have the main rank & file done!

Sarissa Dark Age Church

As a break from painting figures, I thought that I would make a start on a church for ‘Little Bingham’, the fictious village that occupies my wargames table when it is not in use! I have a test piece from Sarissa, the Dark Age Church, and I thought that this would make a nice addition if painted up. So, to start, I just sprayed the walls of the Church with a Textured spray bought from B&Q. I first masked off the door, but otherwise just carefully sprayed over the MDF. I was quite pleased to see that despite the thickness of the spray, some of the MDF etching & detail still was visible even the fine detail around the windows.

Church window detail

I then just painted the roof tiles with a dark grey Vallejo paint. Again, the detail of the tiles are still visible. So the next step is to weather the the walls & roof with a quick dry brush & add some Ivy & moss. Hopefully, it will be finished for the next workbench!

Battle Report – Waterloo 2014

The Allies deployment -Hougoumont in the foreground.

As we were approaching the 199th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo I thought that it would be fun to fight a large battle in the style of Waterloo. The plan was to put as many of our troops on the table and fight a scenario that paid homage to the battle rather than attempt to recreate it exactly. To this end The British and her Allies would be defending a line that ran from a small village ( ‘Papelotte’) on the left, along a road to a walled farm house on the far right (‘Hougoumont’), with another farm house (‘La Haie Sainte’) at a cross roads in the middle of the board. Just behind the road was a line of hills that would allow the British to place defensive artillery – not quite accurate but a nod in the direction of the reverse slopes that gave the British infantry cover during the battle!

The French troops were massed on the opposite side of the table and whilst they outnumbered the Allies significantly to start with, had no cover or defensive position. Their mission was simply to drive the British from the field before the Prussians arrived. The simple mechanic that we used to simulate this was that on turn 3 the Prussians would enter the table form the right on a dice throw of 6, turn 4, a throw of 5 and so on.

The rules that we used were the Black Powder Rules, without too much in the way of ‘extras’ from the recent supplements. I very much like the original rules and find that there are too many extras in the supplements that can both distort and over complicate the original rules set. That said, we do have a few of our own ‘house’ modifications and even with a large 12 foot by 6 foot table, still prefer to use shortened movement & ranges, basing everything on 66% of the original distances.

Mercer observes the French advance!

Our troops were a bit of a mixed bag, as we were short on the British side, so close scrutiny of the pictures may revel that the Allies consisted of a few Bavarian & Austrian troops! And so with the troops deployed, the battle got underway with the British advancing in line to take position just in front of the road. The 95th Rifles dashed forwards to garrison La Haie Sainte and form a skirmish line whilst the KGL rifles moved into the woods in front of Hougoumont.

In reply, the French moved to attack the village of Papelotte, set up the Grand Battery, and they advanced towards the British Right Flank. Hougoumont was largely ignored, although there was a sharp exchange of fire between the skirmishers in the Woods in front of the house.

Turns two and three saw the French batter away at the defenders in Papelotte but to little effect. To relieve pressure on this sector, the British advanced past the road to attack the advancing French Columns, stopping them with a fearsome volley! ( or as the French General would say , some dead jammy dice rolling…how many 6’s!) To add to the French woes, the Grand Battery was having trouble deploying effectively – a blunder sending them in the wrong direction. Add to this, the Centre also refused to move and so despite fierce fighting around La Haie Saint, the British right wing was holding it’s own, with the garrison in the farm house stubbornly holding on.

Fighting around La Haie Sainte

The French right wing attacking Papelotte

Turn 4 saw the British inflicting heavy casualties on the French left flank. The French Guard were soaking up the punishment but finding it difficult to make further progress. Faced with the Cold-stream Guards and taking heavy fire from both the Howitzer and the rocket battery on the hills, the French were beginning to waver. To add to their woes, the skirmish around Hougoumont had been won by the KGL and they were now advancing from the Chateau and threatening to out flank the French. The French centre still stubbornly refused to support the Guard and was becoming entangled with the small garrison at La Haie Saint.

At Papelotte, the Prussians were yet to arrive and the French were gradually making progress. However, the odds were that the Prussians would soon make an appearance and so rather than being able to exploit their stronger position, the French were forced to make provision for the threat to their flank.

The Prussians have arrived!

Sure enough, on turn 5, the Prussians began to filter onto the battlefield putting the French in front of Papelotte in dire trouble. To add to the French worries, the Guard brigade attacking the British Right flank had begun to crack and was falling back…

By Turn 6, the inevitable happened, and the French position became untenable. The Prussians drove into the flank, breaking the French Brigade attacking Papelotte and flanking the next French Brigade that was being held by the British Left.

Around La Haie Sainte, The French Guard Brigade had broken, and despite attempts to support it with the cavalry and troops from the French centre, it was now in retreat. The French had become entangled around the farm house and despite their best attempts could not shake the Rifle Companies defending it.

The ineffectiveness of the Grand Battery was overshadowed by the British Howitzer fire and amazingly, the Rocket battery, which scored 4 direct hits, causing mayhem!

Although the French had largely ignored Hougoumont, this time La Haie Saint had been their undoing, tying up too many troops and causing congestion in their lines. Strangely, the Cavalry on either side had been fairly ineffective. The British Cavalry had managed one charge but although they had caught a French Infantry battalion in the flank, they failed to do any significant damage. The French cavalry had also done very little. When called upon, they had failed their orders and refused to charge, lurking behind the infantry…

British Rocket Battery!

The star on the British side was the Rocket battery. With 4 direct hits, including a double hit on an advancing French Guard unit they had undoubtedly been the most effective artillery unit on the board! So a most enjoyable game (especially for the British!) – no doubt that the French will be back again!

Many thanks to Pete & Quentin for being such good sports and for doing the hard work in setting it all up!

What’s on the Workbench 14th June 2014

Napoleonic Gun Boat!

Somewhat encouraged by the news that Northstar Games, in conjunction with Osprey, will be releasing a new rules set for Pirates – ‘On the Seven Seas’ I cracked on with my gun boat project and here is the finished result.

All the crew painted and facing the right way!

Gunboat from the Bow

I painted the crew in dark Prussian Blue Jackets with off white trousers. Although there wasn’t a formal uniform as such, most sailors were kitted out this way. The head gear would have varied and of course the shirts & neck ties could all have been different. I have gone for a fairly straight forward colour scheme with a few red & light blue neck ties to brighten things up. The Marines were of course in uniform. I have used an Osprey reference guide and painted them with the standard red coats, Black ( Navy Blue in reality I think!) facings, off white trousers and white lace. All colours are from the vallejo model colour range. So for the time being, this model will sit in my cabinet to await the Osprey rules set. I suspect that I wont be able to use the boat but it will provide a nice bit of scenery. Although the rules are set in the 1600’s when pirates were in the ascendancy, I’m sure there will be a chance to modify the rules to incorporate these more ‘modern’ chaps! I plan to expand my naval force with a detachment of Marines, supplemented with some sailors to make a good sized shore party.

So, it’s back to the Napoleonic Army again, and of course on with my Prussians!

The Heroic Stand of The Inniskilling, 27th Regiment of Foot

Inniskilling memorial at Waterloo

In last weeks post, I gave a brief description of La Haie Sainte Farm House and my observations from the battlefield visit to Waterloo. This week, I thought the I would take a look at a different part of the battle. When we were planning to visit Waterloo, it seemed appropriate that we would take some of our figures to the actual battlefield. I had been inspired by the stoic bravery of the 27th Regiment of Foot, the Inniskillings, during the battle and had painted one of my Battalions to represent them. It just seemed right to take them to the Battlefield.

The Inniskillings had been held in reserve during the battle until around 3.00pm when they were ordered up to defend the crossroads. Following the loss of La Haie Sainte, they were ordered to form square. This wasn’t so much a response to any imminent cavalry threat but such a formation would allow them to deliver fire to the side towards the Brussels road as well as to the front, over the ridge towards the french advance.

The densely packed ranks of such a formation made a tempting target for both the French Guns and the many French skirmishers – a target that they could hardly miss. As a result, the battalion, commanded by Captain John Hare, suffered terrible casualties, losing 66% of it’s men and officers. Of the Nineteen officers with the Battalion, sixteen were killed or wounded, leaving many of the Companies to be commanded by Sergeants. The memorial reads:

Inniskillings on memorial

In Memory of the heroic stand by the 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot at the Battle of Waterloo on 18th June 1815 when, of the 747 Officers and men of the regiment who joined the battle, 493 were killed or wounded. A noble record of endurance. Of them, the Duke of Wellington said, ‘Ah, they saved the centre of my line’. Erected by their successors, The Royal Irish Rangers (27th Inniskillings, 83rd,87th) 18 June 1990.

My act of remembrance was to take the regiment that I had painted to the battlefield – here they are on the memorial once again, facing out across Waterloo.

The models are Perry miniatures from the plastic box set. I have painted them with Buff facings and with buff cross straps. I am not sure if this is entirely correct. Some pictures show the troops with the standard white belts, others with buff. I have also painted the officer with buff trousers or coveralls. I suspect that this is incorrect as the Officers would have worn Grey trousers as was standard for campaign duty. However, I had seen a picture showing an Ensign in buff trousers and according to a reference in C.E. Franklins British Napoleonic Uniforms, the Officers wore Buff breeches – however, I think that this is the dress uniform rather than campaign. That all said, Officers were responsible for their own uniforms and given the haste with which the British Army moved out to Waterloo, may be this officer stayed in his dress uniform… Regardless, I just wanted the unit to look a bit different on the gaming table. Finally, here is a close up of the models actually on the Battlefield of Waterloo, roughly in the position that the real Troops would have made their Stand.

Inniskillings 2014

What’s on the workbench 8 June 2014

With the onset of summer (allegedly!), my painting seems to slow up, and as I’ve mentioned before it’s not fast to start with. So progress on the various projects is hampered by the need to mow the lawn, weed the borders, power wash the patio, wash down the garden furniture, clean up the barbeque, light the barbeque, cook the burgers, open the beer, drink the beer, drink the beer, drink the beer….you get the picture!

Ice Age Range!

But the baby mammoth has his tusks now and has joined the rest of the herd! If you would like one, he is now available as part of the DeeZee range. We’ve also added in the Lucid Eye Neanderthals and the Bestial huts, so if you would like to start building your own Ice Age collection, it’s all in one place now!

I’ve also made some progress with my gun boat, with the oarsmen almost finished, leaving just the marines to complete. The gun boat is one of those models that looks better from a distance. I mentioned that the crew needed quite a bit of work on them but some of the detail hasn’t cast too well and this is more obvious close up when the mini’s were painted. Still, the model will make a nice centre piece for my growing Caribbean collection.

Gun Boat & Crew

Incidentally, there is a big mistake with the positioning of my oarsmen on the gun boat! I hadn’t spotted it until I was looking at my own picture and it is just as well because they would have been glued in as they are. If you haven’t spotted it, I’ve got the oarsmen facing the wrong way! They should be facing the stern not the bow!

Also on the work bench is the last of my Prussian Landwehr troops. These are more metals from Warlord and will finish off the final battalion, giving me two battalions in total.

So over the next week, World Cup Football and Barbeques permitting, the plan is to complete at least one of these projects, not least because I am eager to get to work on the new Hanoverians from Warlord!

Battlefield Visit – La Haie Sainte – Waterloo

La Haie Sainte Farmhouse

I mentioned a while back that I had been over to Belgium for a short break to visit the Waterloo Battlefield. I went with my war-gaming buddy, Pete Harris. We spent a couple of days visiting Ypres looking at WW1 museums and then went on to spend a couple of days at Waterloo. It’s surprising how much you can fit into a few days if you are well prepared – there isn’t space in a short blog article to cover everything that we saw, so I thought that I would put together a few short pieces reviewing various facets of the trip.

The great thing about visiting the actual battlefield is that you can see for yourself just how things were, how the land really lies and gain true perspective on the size of objects & the distances involved. You can also walk in the footsteps of the combatants and try to imagine just what they would have seen and how they would have felt. I have been reading about the Battle of Waterloo since I was 15 – I still have the first book that I read ‘Waterloo – A Near Run Thing’ by David Howarth. Interestingly, it is David Howarth who has written the Official Guide to the Battlefield that is sold in the Battlefield Gift shop.

So although I had seen many pictures of the battlefield, read many accounts and looked at the maps, it was only when I actually saw the battlefield did I begin to really grasp what may have happened. Incidentally, one of my favourite quotes from Wellington is as follows:

The history of a battle, is not unlike the history of a ball. Some individuals may recollect all the little events of which the great result is the battle won or lost, but no individual can recollect the order in which, or the exact moment at which, they occurred, which makes all the difference as to their value or importance.

The Crossroads & La Haie Sainte

So with that in mind, here are a few pictures of La Haie Sainte with some of my observations. The photograph at the top of the article shows La Haie Sainte as we look to the west from the Lion Mound. The first thing that struck me was how big the Farm was. It more of a large complex than I had imagined and although set well forwards from Wellingtons main defensive line, nestled down on the side of the valley, it made an impressive defensive position. The photograph to the right shows the position of La Haie Sainte in relation to the crossroads. Any attack on Wellingtons Centre would have to pass by this strong point.

La Haie Sainte – Road view

The next picture shows the western side of Farm and the road as it is now. This road runs straight on to to the cross road and from there to Brussels. The slope on the road is about right – it’s not me with a dodgy camera angle! It just goes to show that the area wasn’t flat ( I think that wargamers prefer nice flat tables but it doesn’t really reflect reality!) The other thought that struck me was how tall the walls were. It wasn’t going to be easy to climb over those in full kit, especially with the Kings German Legion defenders inside doing their utmost to stop you!

One of the mysteries of the battle is why the french didn’t use artillery to breach these walls. I just wonder if because of the position of the farm in the landscape, none of the French Commanders could see how difficult it was to breach these walls. The main gate was particularly defensible and the higher walls could probably be left unmanned as unless the troops had ladders, there was no easy way over. Of course, the buildings face into the farm complex, presenting the sheer sides to the outside – the owners built this farm to keep out intruders! The picture below show the Main gate and part of the higher wall that runs down the West side. la Haie Sainte gate & wall

La Haie Sainte was eventually taken by the French during the battle. At around 6.30pm, exhausted and practically out of ammunition, Major Baring, leading the defense, ordered the remnants of his command to retreat to the British lines. Only about forty of the 360 defenders made their escape – a terrible toll to pay in the defense of the farm.

For the French, any sense of victory would have been tempered by the fact that although they had captured the Farm house, the British lines remained intact further up the slope.

Even worse, the Prussians were coming!

Whats on the Workbench 29th May

Gun Boat!

Oh dear! I’ve been distracted from finishing off one project by the lure of something more interesting…..

I guess it’s a common occurrence and it explains why most of us in the hobby have a ‘lead mountain’ lurking around in a secret location. A bit like the Wife’s handbag and shoe collection…

Well, last year, at the Derby war games show I saw a lovely model of a naval gunboat and thought that it would make a nice addition to my collection. I justified buying it as I could use it in the Caribbean campaign that I will one day play. Having had the instant gratification of buying it and showing it off to my mate, once home it went up onto the shelf – ‘for later’.

Well, I was tidying around in the garage this wet bank holiday weekend and came across it. What a great little project to complete, I thought. It wont take long as the uniforms are pretty straight forward to paint and they use a similar colour scheme to the Prussians, so I might as well have ago at finishing it. 2014-05-25 18.01.28

Unfortunately, things aren’t that simple. The figures weren’t quite as cleanly molded as I would like. Now I dont mind doing a bit of cleaning up, scraping down mold lines , getting rid of flash etc. – but these figures were just hard work! In fact, rather than cleaning up, it felt at times that I was re-sculpting them….Nevertheless, I persevered and I did make some progress. In fact, actually, the figures turned out to be quite nice and when put all together on the boat, do make a nice model. So the boat and the crew are finished. Just 5 marines and the ten oarsmen to go. So much for a quick project….

The full crew awaiting painting…

1 … 30 31 32 33 34 … 43