Wednesday 28 April 2021

More French late XVIIc. reinforcements from EBAY

 Hello friends,


A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to witness one of the few times that worthwhile miniatures appear on Ebay !!

Normally when I am on eBay I usually see poorly painted miniatures  or directly absolutely horribly painted miniatures at a high price... but this time I was very lucky and found very well painted miniatures and at  a good price.

Of course I prefer painting my own armies, but sometimes, it is nice to have miniatures painted by good painters, it saves time (but not money!) and armies grow faster and are playable sooner.




I guess these miniatures were painted by Artmaster Studio, and have now ended up for sale on Ebay (fortunately, at a lower price than a high quality commission would cost).

The units I won in the auction are the following:

-Regiment Montcashel (1690)





-Squadron of Gendarmes Dauphin (1670' onwards)






The regiment of foot is the Irish regiment of Montcashel, although perhaps I may swap the flag and  change and put instead Dillon regiment flag, also Irish and also the service of France, both  (Montcashel and Dillon) were part of the Irish brigade that in 1690 was put at the service of the King of France. 

The reason for using the Dillon regiment is that it fought, among other places, in Catalonia during the Nine Years War, and many of the battles that I play in my wargames, take place there.

The cavalry unit is a squadron of Dauphin gendarmes, this company was created on December 13 1665 for the Grand Dauphin (son of King Louis XIV). It initially counted 300 men.

These two units will reinforce my existing French army of the League of Augsburg War :)





Cheers!





Friday 23 April 2021

French reinforcements: Regiment de Montroux 1690

 Hi guys,


Today I bring you a "new" regiment for my French army of the League of Augsburg War,  I say "new" because it was painted in 2015 in an old school manner, using Wargames Foundry miniatures, which are smaller in size than most of my other miniatures from other manufacturers.  The only new thing is the flag, from regiment de Montroux, from "Flags of War". So this post is no more than a flag swap!

Initially, these guys were going to be my Gardes Suisses, but their uniform was not suitable for that task, so they were stored for years until I decided to send them to battle with a new name and a new flag set!

I had to re launch my regiment so it needed a new name, I looked from an actual French regiment in red uniform faced in blue, and I found it! From Robert Hall's Flags and Uniforms of the French Infantry under Louis XIV 1688-1714 ...  Montroux Regiment, or Regiment de Montroux, a French (Italian) regiment made up of Piamontese prisioners of war put into French service in 1690, it fought with its 500 men in Flanders during the whole conflict, in the main battles, also in the War of Spanish Succession.

I usually prefer taller miniatures and I don't like using tricorns prior 1700' but as I had the miniatures and they were painted, it was a shame not to use the unit.








Cheers!

Monday 12 April 2021

28mm XVII c. encampent


Hello guys,


I have just finished a project of a XVII c. military camp, primary for my Gerona 1684 campaign, but generic enough to be used by any army during the whole pike and shot era, or even later, so I will use it in my 30 Years War battles too :)




I painted it using as inspiration, contemporary paintings, some of them from the most excellent book "Pieter Snayers: Battle Painter 1592-1667" a true gem, for all who look for information and inspiration about XVII c. warfare.



The core set of my encampment is the nice box of "terrain crate" from Mantic, absolutely inexpensive, just 27 euros for 4 tents, sleeping bags and campfires...  also some spare bits from Games Workshop and other manufacturers, all together can make a nice Renaissance or Baroque military camp for almost every European power. 


I painted the tents with an airbrush, in a cream color, applying soft lights from the top. Later, I sealed it with satin varnish, to protect the previous work.  I gave it an oil wash as a filter, and then, a day later, I painted small dots of oil colors that were then spread from top to bottom with the brush moistened in White Spirit. After that, I painted the few details that the tents have and matt varnished all. Simple and fast.


The other details were painted as usual, but with simplified methods like drybrushing (after all, they are scenery).



In the base I left a big area clear in order to place my different miniatures there,  some examples from different periods and nations:









                                                      Drum and map

                                                      Holy Virgin Mary "Chapel"

Bar-tent







Some inspiration here...











I hope have liked this little scenery project

Cheers