Next unit up, 23rd Light Dragoons.

The next unit I am working on is the British 23rd Light Dragoons for the Peninsular War. This is the last British/KGL cavalry unit needed to complete the for our Talavera games. The figures are once again from the excellent Perry plastic box set.

Talavera was to be the 23rd's only action in the Peninsular after it suffered heavy casualties when it charged the french but failed to see a steep ditch, into which many horses and men plunged. It shortly thereafter returned to England and didn't see action again until Waterloo. The KGL hussars brigaded with them were a little more cautious or lucky and avoided the worst of it.

So if I want to be accurate I will only be able to use this unit for one Battle, as the Tarleton helmeted uniform of Talavera could not be used for Waterloo. But no they will still be used as needed for pickup games etc.

Uniform of 23rd Light Dragoons.
From British Napoleonic Uniforms by C.E.Franklin
(I will be using the centre version)

One thing I have started to make more use of now is the airbrush and spray booth I purchased just before lock down in 2020. In the past I have used it for some black priming but have now found how much better Vallejo grey primer covers when airbrushed on rather than just brushed. A vast improvement. I also decided to apply the base coat for the horses with the airbrush and found that the Foundry horse tone colours covered much better using this method, especially the lighter tones.

Recently I purchased some crocodile clip grippers on sticks after seeing them used on YouTube and they make holding models when airbrushing much easier.

Spray booth set up with new crocodile clip gripper rack

Closer view.

In progress work on the troopers.

I found having the figures on the clips made them easier to manipulate when painting.

Painting finished and fixed to horses.

Next up varnishing and basing.

With the painting finished, with the exception of the horses eyes which I paint in with gloss after applying the matt varnish, it's now time for varnishing then basing.

Varnished, on bases ready for texture.

Oh course I got carried away and stuck them down on their bases before painting the horses' eyes!

Having painted in the eyes it was then on with a layer of sand, paint over with a paint/pva mix to seal, two different dry brush layers then on with flock and done.

And finished. well base edges still need tiding up.

So that's another unit finished and with my friend's KGL Hussars the full complement of British cavalry for Talavera.

For paint colours I use see "My British Light Dragoon paint recipe" in the My Resources / Downloads sidebar.

Now what's next?

Tony.

New Toy

 So over the last six months or so my wife and I have become involved in a local D&D group that started up post the COVID lock downs. For my wife this was a return to gaming she had done a lot of in the past. For me, although I had dabbled some 40 years ago, it would be my first time really RPGing.

How does this relate to war gaming? well miniatures. The rise of 3D printing has led to a multitude of figure designers producing miniature designs for 3D printing. Some offer a printing service too, as well as customisation. Now if you intend to get a lot of these printed this can soon get expensive, plus there is the delay in getting your figures.

So with the prices of printers now becoming accessible and my wife's sudden interest in miniatures this seemed a way to go. Of course I haven't looked into any of the more war gaming related 3D printable terrain or figures out there....no not at all :)

Now the fun starts

Elegoo Mars 3 plus wash and cure stations.

Additional artillery.

Later this year I will again be helping to stage the Battle of Talavera at my gaming club. This will be the third time we have played this battle and the first time using Shako II as the ruleset.

Having researched the battle quite a bit I have known for some time that the British Royal Artillery battery "Lawson's Company", deployed in the Pajar Redoubt, was equipped with 3lb cannon. Previously unaware of a producer of these in 28mm normal 6lb models have been used.

Earlier this year in a random conversation at the club I became aware that not only were 3lb cannon available in 28mm but that another member had a spare and would I like it?

The model was by Trent Miniatures available through Skytrex

So the obvious answer was yes and an order was placed with the reopened Front Rank for some crew.

While this particular cannon was not the exact same pattern of 3lb that was thought to have been used it was still a 3lb british cannon of the period. All I needed to do now was paint it up.

Time became available when a dose of Covid gave me ten days off work, fortunately being fully vaccinated it was only a mild case.

The cannon model was very nice, only things I did extra was drill out the barrel and add chains.

This time I haven't glued the cannon in place so I can swap in a heavier gun if required for other games.

Tony.