Wurttemburg infantry brigade

Not quite as many of these as the Bavarians so I have called them a brigade. Adler 6mm figures.

• 2 regiments of infantry with 2 battalions each;
• a battalion of light infantry
• a foot battery
• and some command stands.

I have liked the Wurttemburg artillery for ages - I even converted Airfix plastic 1/72 British RHA figures when I was a kid. Nice to have some proper ones

I particularly like the light infantry figures:

A couple of command bases:

For all my Napoleonic posts see the Napoleonic Summary page. Also on the basing and flags see my basing post.

Pimp your Tiger - Takara King Tigers

I have a lot of 1/144 Takara models, particularly from the versus sets. They used to be very easy to get hold of any still many of them are not too bad in terms of availability or cost. They are nicely detailed and the general painting is fine, but some of the equipment detail painting is a bit haphazard. You can see an overview of various manufacturers in a general review I did.

I always to some work on my Takara models, at the very least a wash of Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade which brings out the detail a treat. Anyway here is a finished King Tiger platoon and a command tank. They are all enhanced versions of the Takara versus set King Tiger. After the main pictures I will describe what I did and show against the original vehicle.

The command tank has the turret drilled out and a metal German command figures from Arrowhead glued in. Panzer Korps Tigers come with two hatches for the turret and so I used a spare for the open hatch. I also added some track pieces which come with the versus sets (cut down slightly).

The basic process was:

• Paint the equipment (spades, axes etc.);
• wash the hull and turret in Agrax Earthsahde;
• some additional wash in Nuln Oil (black) for engine grills and muzzle break;
• add mud effect to wheel, and bottom edges of vehicle at front and back (using Vallejo paints, first German Cam Medium Brown, then Flat Earth and finally German Cam Orange Ocher);
• Decals added to turret (number and cross) and front Glacis (divisional marking). Check out my post on decals;
• Then finally some track pieces on a couple of the vehicles.

Now some comparisons with the model in its original (out of the box) paint scheme.

You can see how the wash tones it down and really brings out the detail (NB if you enlarge the photos by clicking on them then you can see the differences much better). I have added an SS divisional marking on the front.

Original had no decals so added turret numbers and German crosses:

As well as the Agrax Earthshade general wash I used a black wash (Nuln Oil) on the engine grills:

Aslo some black wash on the muzzle break:

The equipment pieces on the side, before and after:

Equipment on the top of the hull, before and after. You can see the ax in particular had not really been painted in the original:

You can see a summary of all my WW2 posts on my WW2 Summary page. And links to manufacturers pages on the WW2 manufacturers page.

Bavarian Infantry Division

Next up from my mammoth basing session is a division of Bavarian infantry. Adler 6mm figures.

They consist of:

• 2 battalions of 4th regiment;
• 2 battalions of 5th regiment;
• 2 battalions of 6th regiment;
• 1 battalion each of 1st and 3rd Chasseur;
• some skirmishers
• a foot battery;
• General Wrede.

Some close ups of the line infantry. I have used a mix of flag patterns from different years to give some variety as their are no distinct regimental flags. I have always loved seeing Bavarian flags on the game table, even the plain flag just look so good.

Light infantry and skirmishers:

The foot battery:

And finally the command base for General Wrede. I have actually had this for years but until now no troops for him to command!

An easy way to see all my Napoleonic posts is via the Napoleonic Summary page.

French Guard Cavalry - completed

My French Guard Cavalry are now complete - other than I might do some Gardes d'Honneur later on, but need to convert some figures if they are to have both a sheepskin saddle cloth and a plume and Adler do one do a figure with both at present, but a later project, so finished for now at least!

All 5 main regiments so twice what I had a few months back in my original post. Now comprises:

• Red Lancers;
• Polish Lancers;
• Chasseurs a Cheval;
• Empress Dragoons;
• Grenadiers a Cheval;
• Mameluke squadron;
• Gendarme d'Elite squadron;
• 2 batteries of horse artillery.

All figures are 6mm Adler.

The Red Lancers:

Polish Lancers of the Guard:

Chasseur a Cheval:

Mameluke squadron:

Empress Dragoons:

Grenadier a Cheval:

Gendarme d'Elite squadron:

The two horse batteries:

Now some photos of an individual stand of each unit.

Gendarme d'Elite:

Grenadier a Cheval:

Empress Dragoons:

Mamelukes:

Chasseur a Cheval:

Guard Polish Lancers:

Red Lancers:

Many thanks to Perfect Six for doing such a good job on these and giving me a full Guard cavalry compared to the one horse battery and one stand of Grenadier a Cheval I had managed to do myself.  I aim to paint up some commanders to give me Brigade, Division and Corps commanders and I will probably paint the Gardes d'Honneur myself when the mood takes me.

You can see all my Napoleonic posts in a convenient way using the Napoleonic Summary page.