6mm French Napoleonics Eyecandy Extravaganza!

...In which our protagonist really just wants to show off his stuff.

By taking pictures like this, I can pretend I'm actually making good progress!

Work continues slowly but steadily on Marshal Ney's III corps for the 1812 project. I finished a few more bases since my last post, but rather than taking pictures of them individually, I opted to dig out some scenery as well as Davout's I corps and take some pics showing the Grande Armée so far. If you've been paying close enough attention, you might be able to pick the new bases in the crowd.

Why is it my troops always seem to have their backs to a forest? Are they attacking out of the woods like a pack of savage Ewoks? Could it be that I just don't have anything else suitable as a backdrop?

The French side has three main advantages, as I see it:

1) A great variety of troops. Even having started with the most 'French' of corps, I've already done some Spanish, Portuguese and Polish troops, have the entire Württemberg division on deck, and there are zillions more units from all over Europe that will eventually join the ranks. Even without including allies, the French cavalry has more different types than anyone else!

The III corps so far. The brigade at the top left is a 'loaner' from the I corps. Still to come are the corps artillery, command, and a rather large (and snazzy) division from Württemberg.

2) Very colourful. While taking pictures of my Russians, I realized anew that brighter is better in 6mm. The Russians don't really stand out at a distance, whereas the French do. Yes, the French coats are supposed to be some kind of 'dark' blue, but most people will accept a brighter hue (such as I've been using) at this scale. Really, I should have gone for a battle with a brightly-coloured opponent, like the Austrians, the British, or the Spanish.

 A test base from the Cavalry Reserve managed to sneak into this picture. Can you spot it?

3) Complete range. When you're trying to follow a specific order of battle, nothing's more frustrating than discovering that you can't find minis for all your troops. Luckily I can find pretty much everything I need for the Allied side at Borodino, including not only obscure troop types, but also a variety of different poses for the more common types to make things more interesting.

Variety is the spice of life.

Why do French cavalrymen wear green? I've never figured that out.

Of course the Grande Armée is frickin' giant. As is the Russian army of 1812. The more I paint and the longer it takes, the more I wonder whether I'll be able to see this project through. On the one hand, it would be so cool if I could; on the other, there are so many other great projects I'd love to do. It's a toss up.

My bases seem to have been getting distinctly grassier, which is both unnecessary and expensive. I should cut back.

Have I mentioned recently how awesome Adler's cavalry figures are?

And, now that I've run out of content, I'll just let the rest of the pictures do the talking:

While I try to figure out how long I can stick to the plan for this project, I'll continue to paint the minis I already have for it. Heck, even if I don't buy any more, the stuff I already have should keep me busy for most of the year at the rate I'm currently getting through them!

Until next time, adios.

French III Corps in 6mm, Part 1

...In which our protagonist, much to the surprise of everyone, proves not only that he isn't dead, but that he's been working on at least one of the projects he intended to work on this year. Furthermore, our protagonist at long last ceases trying to be clever in his post titles and simply tells it like it is.

93rd French line infantry and 2nd Portuguese Legion. A pretty tame base layout on this one, but it's exciting because it's new!

So it's been a while. I mean, I knew back in December that real life was going to start impinging on my hobby time, but I underestimated (or, to employ a George Dubyah-ism, misunderestimated) just how much it was going to impinge. Badly.

View from the rear. Both of these regiments would actually have comprised their own respective 'brigade' at Borodino, but as usual I've ignored such details and simply lumped them together on one base.

Nevertheless, perseverance has its rewards, and so with a daub of the paintbrush here and there I've managed to at least make a start of Marshal Ney's III Corps for the Borodino project. As I found with Davout's I Corps, even the best-available Orders of Battle can prove something of a mess. The problem is, making each base a brigade only sounds good until you do your research. Lo and behold, some brigades have two regiments and some only one; and since regiments can comprise anywhere from one to five battalions, a base could mean anywhere from one to ten battalions!

Adler BN 4B - "Centre comp Belgic advancing". These are British centre-company line infantry in the "Belgic" shako. Of course, the Belgic shako was copied from the Portuguese berretina shako, which saw service both with the Portuguese fighting alongside the Britsh in Spain, and with the Portuguese Legion in French service.

Naturally, the best way to avoid such problems is to simply ignore them. In practice, this means that every base represents two regiments, and, in the finest traditions of abstraction, every regiment gets the same number of troops, give or take.

Adler BN 20B - "Command Belgic (5)". Each strip actually comes with two flag bearers, as British battalions carry two colours. 

Likewise, "good enough" tends to be the rule when it comes to figures. While Adler boasts a jaw-droppingly prolific range of French infantry, the same can't be said for their selection of Portuguese. These doughty troops, be they for Braganza or Bonaparte, are pretty much stuck with being paint-converted British figures. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing; it means even if you're doing the 1812 Russian campaign you get to try your paintbrush out on a few Brits (albeit not in their famous red coats).

72nd and 46th of the line. You can see the difference between this base, representing 8 battalions, and the one above, representing 5 battalions. Yep, the difference suuuuure is clear. 

Speaking of Adler's French range, it's sometimes bewildering to try to make heads or tails of all the different figures. For instance, the line infantry alone come with shako cords and bundled greatcoats on their packs, with no shako cords and rolled greatcoats worn over one shoulder, with bundled greatcoats, shako cords and epaulettes, with shako plumes, wearing greatcoats, at high porte, low porte, marching, firing, reloading-- and that's just for the 1812 warrant uniforms! For the sake of my bank account (not to mention my sanity), I find myself having to resist the temptation to do at least a unit of each.

The view from behind. The rearmost line regiment shown here has actually been assembled from spare light infantrymen I had. Running out of figures has certainly never been a problem of mine!

At the same time, even while I try vainly to paint my supply of French in "Bardin" uniform, I find myself wishing I'd gotten some troops in the earlier uniform. After all, experts will point out that most of the French army in 1812 would still be wearing the older style; and this would also be the uniform of the Wagram campaign, of the Peninsular War, maybe even of some units in the Polish campaign back in 1807-08.

Adler FN 21B - "Mounted Officers (1812)". These fellows can claim the colonelcy of many a regiment.

Not that I'm planning to branch out into Wagram or Spain anytime soon. After all, I've barely scratched the surface of 1812. Besides, there are plenty of other campaigns for showcasing the late-uniform French: Napoleon's revenge on the Russians at Lützen, Bautzen, and Dresden; the granddaddy of all Napoleonic battles at Leipzig; the later Peninsular War; the brilliant defence of France in 1814; and, of course, the (in)famous Hundred Days ending at Waterloo. Sure, everyone else wears some kind of shako after 1812, which does take some of the variety out of Napoleonics. But that doesn't mean they can't still look great-- as I hope to someday have a chance to prove (ha ha ha. Keep dreaming, Mike).

4th and 18th of the line. These two regiments were among the most decorated units in the French army, the 18th earning the nickname "the Brave". Along with the rest of Ney's corps, both were virtually destroyed during the 1812 campaign, the 18th losing its eagle to the Russian Lifeguard Uhlans during the running battle at Krasnoiye.

Not content simply to make a muddle of brigades and regiments and battalions, I decided to go one step further along the road to confusion. Although I've started my III Corps wearing 1812 uniforms, I've given them the flags to go with the early uniform. New uniforms, old flags-- make sense? Well, probably not, but at least it gives me an easy way to visually differentiate between Ney's units (with the old flags) and Davout's (with the new).

I showed this picture back in December, which I guess reveals that not all my 'new' content is, in fact, new. So sue me. Anyways, I was trying to depict a formation clambering over rocky ground, but it didn't turn out all that great. Perhaps I'll try again some time.

Probably the best solution to my uniform woes would be for me to just start doing my French troops in greatcoats and shako covers. Of course I'd still be SOL for the Revolution and early Empire, when they wore bicornes, but at least I'd be covered for everything after that. More or less-- I guess I'd still have those blasted flags to worry about!

The 93rd of the line and... a mystery regiment! Ney had an odd number of regiments at Borodino, so I've filled in this base with an unspecified unit.

Along with wishing you'd done something else, one of the dangers of going too long without working on a project is that you forget what you were doing. Which figures are intended for what, where are they, and what is it I'm supposed to do again? After my recent hiatus, I confess having had recourse to my painting guide for French infantry, painting guide for horses, and basing tutorial. I suppose I should also confess to being a shameless self promoter, too.

Another view of the same, showing a few casualties in the line. What's got them? Cannister? Solid shot? Musket fire? Or are they just sleeping on the job like I keep telling people?

So that's the start of Ney's III Corps. A pretty pathetic start I know, but more is on the way. I'm hoping for some better photography on the next round too, if I can find my other light.

The Year in Preview

...In which our protagonist wastes his time and yours by sharing his hobby plans for next year, even though experience shows that only abject boredom creates any interest whatsoever in such things.

Yes, the 6mm Borodino project will continue in 2010. No, the 6mm Borodino project will not be finished in 2010.

Alas, despite a strong push through the autumn months, it looks like 2009 is going to end with a whimper rather than a bang, at least as far as Mike's Leadpile is concerned. I came, I saw, I... had too much else to do, as it turns out. In fact, for the first time ever, I can actually report no new progress whatsoever since my last post. Well, nothing worth talking about, at least.

Get on with the preview, you damn fool

Anyway, despite the disappointing finish, I'm staying optimistic about 2010. There are lots of projects I want to do, and, what's more, some of those I even expect to do. In no particular order, here are a few that could or should happen:

1. More 10mm Ancients for Basic Impetus. I kicked off the first of these "lazy side projects" with the Celtic hordes over the last few months. Since 10mm Ancients comprise a hefty chunk of the leadpile, I would expect to see at least a few other forces inch their way towards completion in 2010.

Everyone "knows" Romans wore red.

2. The French and Indian War. Also known as the Seven Years' War in North America, or as the Guerre de la Conquête. It's the quintessential Canadian war-- although at the time, the Canadiens all spoke French. In any case, I won't feel like a proper Canuck until I've done something with this one.

Snow, trees and rocks. Yep, that's Canada.

3. Borodino! I'm hoping to finish this project for the bicentennary of the battle in 2012. It's going to be a long, hard slog to get there though, as I've raised the bar rather high on this one.

I haven't been shy about experimenting with my Napoleonics figures. Sometimes the results have been everything I could have hoped for. But only sometimes.

4. Wars of the Inca. This was a civilization that saw both sides of imperialism within a very short time. In the late 15th century, they were on the up-and-up, ruthlessly conquering the largest and most populous of the Mesoamerican empires; by the early 16th they were being devastated by smallpox and falling victim the predatory opportunism of the young Spanish empire.

Fear and Loathing in 16th-century Peru.

5. Armies of the Dark Ages (or, as they've been re-branded, Late Antiquity). I kicked off Mike's Leadpile by showing some 10mm late Romans. While the 10mm project seems to have stalled along with the product line itself, the period continues to fascinate. Great empires, migratory kingdoms, multicultural barbarian hordes, marauding pirates, all against a background of ever-shifting alliances and intrigue... what's not to like?

Late Romans in 10mm. Remember these guys?

Basing by numbers

...In which our protagonist gives a step-by-step look at his ridiculously-complicated basing method.

I'm going to show how I make a simple vignette, in this case a base with some troops wading through a puddle, like the one shown above.

Basing. It's another one of those aspects of a great looking army that wargamers either love or (more likely) hate. From the pioneering days of green paint to the the modern age of artificial foliage, it's been a long struggle to balance between the quick and easy, versus the great looking, and again versus the realistic.

My own style has verged decidedly away from the quick and easy, at least for the current 6mm Borodino project-- so don't try it if you haven't got a lot of patience! And remember: I'm not plugging this as the best way to base your figures; it's simply a way, and not even necessarily a good one.

Step 1: you need something to base your troops on.

Well, actually step 1 would be getting troops and painting them; in this case I've already got some painted ones standing by. Anyways, being too lazy (not to mention too inaccurate) to cut my own bases, I much prefer to buy mine. In this case I'm using an excellent pre-cut 60 x 60x 2.5mm MDF square from East Riding Miniatures. Different media have their pros and cons; MDF bases are cheap, fairly durable, and thick enough that you can grab them directly, rather than using the figures for leverage and consequently ending up with an army full of spaghetti spears. On the other hand, MDF is not magnetic, and it swells and warps when wet-- so don't spill your beer.

Step 2: figure out where your troops are going to go.

This means getting out your ruler and sketching some guidelines. Yes, a lot of wargamers are too impatient to bother with such things... and it tends to show. It's worth taking the extra couple of minutes to do this, even if you're using figures cast in strips (granted in that case you don't need to worry about spacing, only alignment).

Step 3: etch and sketch.

The surface of most bases is going to be pretty smooth, which is not ideal for creating a strong bond. If you're planning to use sand, flock, or anything granular as texturing, you will definitely want to roughen the surface before getting out the glue. In this case I've scuffed it using a coarse sandpaper.

Note, however, that I didn't scuff everywhere. Since this base is going to have a puddle on it (which I've sketched in), and since the puddle won't be taking any texturing, I've left it smooth. The two Xs you see in the grid mark where the standard bearers will go in that formation, which is important when it comes to identifying victims for the next step.

Step 4: down and dirty.

Looking at the layout grid for the base, you can see that three soldiers are going to end up with their feet in the muck. Muck, of course, is not generally kind to white uniforms, so out comes the brown wash. Three unlucky Russian grenadiers get their gaiters spattered, and then go in for a bit of amputation!


Out come the side clippers to cut the base off each of the figures, and the needle file to flatten the botttom of the cuts. I've also decided to have a partially-submerged log floating in the puddle, so I've also done some surgery on a twig.

Step 5: stuck in.

At long last, I've finally gotten out the glue. I told you my way was long and absurdly complicated! Most wargamers would probably be done the entire base in less than five steps. In any case, I've used gel superglue to stick my three amputees in place, one at a time, along with the protruding bit of wood. As I glue each figure, I prop them in place while the glue dries. You don't want your grenadiers stuck on there leaning at 45 degrees! Once everything's in place, I brush on some PVA glue to strengthen the join.

Now wait for the glue to dry.

Step 6: work that murk!

Because a single stage would be entirely too quick and easy, I do the water in several layers. First, I paint the puddle green. This represents... algae. Yeah, that's it. Hey, I never said any of this made sense: it just happens to be what I do.

Now wait for the paint to dry.

Over top of the green goes a coat of watered-down brown ink. Since the forward regiment on this base will have already marched through the puddle, I've drawn "ripples" in the brown ink with a wet paintbrush, letting part of the green undercoat show through. Finally, a thick layer of glossy varnish gives the water a distinct shine. Note that I've also glued on a scrap of bark, which will in due time become a boulder.

Remember to wait for each layer to dry before brushing on the next one!

Step 7: everything at once is too much.

Have I mentioned how absurdly long my basing method takes? By this point you should be starting to see why. In this stage I've glued on the front rank of each regiment. Why the front, and not the back, or both? Well, since the grenadiers I'm using are all in an "advancing" pose, the space between the ranks is pretty much inaccessible once all the troops are glued in place. By sticking only the front rank on first, I can deal with the "in between" space without having to worry about anyone's bayonette being in the way. If I were using minis in standing/marching poses, I would definitely glue everything on at once.

...And wait for the glue to dry.

You can also see that I've started to apply my texturing medium, in this case good ol' terrarium sand, stuck on there with undiluted PVA. A lot of people dilute their PVA with water-- a waste of time, in my opinion. The stuff is dirt cheap, spreads nicely enough without being watered down, and dries twice as quickly to boot. And believe me, when you're doing as many steps as I am, drying twice as quickly saves a lot of waiting! Notice, though, that I've been careful not to apply any sand where the other ranks are going to be.

Now wait--again--for the glue to dry.

Step 8: you put three layers of sand?

Yes. Three. Again, this is something a lot of people are going to say is pointless: a bit of static grass will easily cover up the "step" between a single layer of sand and the thick figure bases. Even those who like a flush base will frequently go with some sort of pumice. In my defense, I have only couple of points: firstly, that a single layer of sand will tend to deteriorate from day-to-day handling, whereas the three-layer method simply wears down to the next layer of sand (and for that matter it has so much hardened glue in it that it's much less likely to wear away). Secondly, pumice is comparatively expensive, and a careless brush coated with the stuff will leave white smears all over the place. Sand and PVA, by contrast, cost next to nothing, and the glue dries clear if you get any where it shouldn't be.

Of course, you do have to wait three times for the glue to dry.

Also note that I've capped off the three layers of sand with a dark brown wash. Again, for anyone who cares and who didn't already know, I'm using the Baccus Basing System (with a few minor tweaks of my own).

Step 9: the middle ground.

This is an easy one-- just drybrush the ground between the ranks to suit your usual "ground" look.

(And wait for the paint to dry!)

Step 10: double the fun!

Now, at long last, I glue on the second rank of figures. And wait for the glue to dry. For the sake of interest I like to my my ranks a bit of variation, so here the line is straggling a little bit where it's gone through the puddle.

It might seem like a preposterous amount of waiting to get to this point-- but notice that each of the steps to get here takes only a couple of minutes (well, aside from painting the figures). The trick is to plan around the waiting. For instance, I'll generally do two or three bases at once, working on them for twenty minutes or so in the morning, and again in the evening. Depending on your schedule, you might even be able to do three coats of PVA in a day. Painting is similarly handled-- because I know I'm only going to base one rank at a time, I don't even paint the second rank until I've already started glueing on the sand.

And waiting for that glue to dry.

Step 11: touches and textures.

At long last the base is starting to look good. Here, after the long wait for the glue holding on three more coats of sand to dry and make everything flush, I've drybrushed the ground to bring out the texture. For the sake of a better photo I've drybrushed everything; realistically, this is when I'd decide (more or less) where the static grass is going to go. Obviously, any ground that will be covered with ground doesn't need to be drybrushed.

That scrap of bark I stuck on there also gets its own drybrushing, in this case a medium grey followed by a light grey. When that's dry, a inking with watered-down black brings out the surface details, and you've got yourself a boulder. Finally, I paint the base edges to cover up any messiness from the previous stages.

...And wait for everything to dry.

Step 12: it's alive!

At long last we come to the fake foliage stage. I outlined in a previous post the materials and methodology I use for this. One thing worth repeating is that bases seem to look better when they have a "dominant" type of foliage. In the picture above you can see the bright yellow-greenish mix I've been using in this role; the pic below shows the final result, with other grass mixes and some flocking added. Of course, every different type of foliage you add means having to wait for the glue to dry!

So, after all that it's finally time to give the base a last once-over to make sure everything's the way it should be, followed by a helpful squirt of varnish to keep it that way.

I pronounce this base ready for the gaming table!

...and it's off to join its grenadier division.

For anyone who lost count, I waited five times for superglue to dry, seven times for PVA, a good six or seven times for paint and/or ink, and twice for varnish! I'm surprised the grass didn't end up longer...

Bare flesh and hot rides... Yowzah!

...In which our protagonist writes about the other half of his Celtic "army" for Basic Impetus, while simultaneously indulging in a bit of historical revisionism. It's not nearly as sexy as the title makes it out to be.

The Ancient British force, with options, deployed in the famous "pose for the camera" formation.

For something that was supposed to be a lazy side project, this one turned out to be something of a chore to finish. My dislike for painting large models was the reason I moved to small figures in the first place, so when something as "large" as a 10mm chariot comes up I tend to look for ways to procrastinate.

British light cavalry. Like my Gallic horse, the figures are a mixture of AIM and OG riders on AIM's WWII horses.

Nevertheless, the Ancient British are done. Sort of. At the moment they're stuck using the same warband infantry as the Gauls, so while I can say I've got two armies finished for Basic Impetus, I can't actually have them fight each other.

Pimp my rides

Chariots. Transportation, fashion statement, and getaway vehicle, all in one.

Adding to my general reluctance to finally deal with them, the chariots I had were... shall we say unimpressive. Each model came in 6 pieces: two horses, two wheels, the chassis, and a single figure for the two crewmen. Several specimens of both crew and horses showed defects in casting. The wheels were even worse, many of them coming with spokes broken or cast together; even the best castings weren't even round! Only the chassis seemed to lack casting flaws... with the caveat that there was no way to attach it to either wheels or horses.

Pendraken AG7 - "Chariot, 2 Men & 2 Horses (3)". Not one of Pendraken's finest offerings. You can see how I jury-rigged axles out of scrap balsa; an inelegant solution to an inelegant problem.

The wheels had clearly been designed with holes in the back of their hubs for wire axles; in practice, probably half the wheels were cast with their holes filled in (sounds kind of raunchy, doesn't it?), and even when they didn't, glueing the wheels on properly perpendicular proved something of a nightmare. Anyway, the drillbits I broke trying to drill out the remaining hubs were worth more than the figures themselves, so ultimately I gave up on the wire axle idea. Substituting a bit of scap balsa still resulted in a few fingers being superglued together and/or to various chariot components, but the end result probably wasn't any worse than it would have been with wire.

Once painted, the models do look fairly nice, though. And yes, this time the shield designs are mine.

The horses were another issue. Coming in two different poses, with no real indication of whether they are supposed to be used as left/right in a pair, or matched (as I have depicted them), these simply add even more frustration to an already frustrating project. To their credic, at least these horses are depicted wearing horse collars. Now, I don't know if any archaeological or pictoral evidence actually exists for the yoke system used on Ancient British chariots, but at least the collars are a reasonable guess-- certainly they make far more sense than the fantastical oxbow-style chariot yokes depicted on many a wargames miniature that, in reality, would likely asphyxiate the horses.

On the other hand, the rest of the harness on the Pendraken figures is ambiguous at best. Just what are those straps leading wrapping around the horses' hindquarters supposed to do, anyway? And how are you supposed to attach them to the pole of the chariots' chassis? Long story short: more scrap balsa. Oh yeah, and hope that Pendraken re-sculpts their Celtic range some day.

Beware! Male Nekkidness!

AIM 10020410 - "10mm Barbarian Warriors". I used these for naked fanatics and javelin-armed skirmishers, but the 10mm Celtic Warriors pack from the AIM Punic Wars range makes for a better warband. I'm not sure whether the "naked" figures are even meant to be naked, but inflatable G-strings were the only other explanation I could give for their accoutrement!

Were there ever actually naked fanatics? The jury's still out on that one. Certainly in greco-roman sculpture there's a discernable towards nude Celts-- but in greco-roman sculpture there was a general tendency towards nude everything. Yep, no hiding the Family Jewels from the Greeks. There are also a few ambiguous statements by Greek and Roman writers that have been interpreted (or not) as meaning some Celts fought in the buff. Mind you, factual accuracy in writing ethnography and history was not really a priority back in the day; it was considered perfectly alright for a writer to spice up the facts to make a more exciting read.

Man, these fanatics have babymakers as big around as their biceps! Oh, and tatoos that I drew on with a blue Sharpie pen. They didn't turn out all that well.

Of course naked fanatics are a staple of wargaming Ancients. Heck, even the standard Gallic warband charges bare-chested across the wargames table, even though current archaeology tells us that it was the Celts who invented chainmail. In fact, the Romans copied the famous "Gallic" helmets used by imperial legionaries, and there's good evidence that the oval "spindle boss" shield of Republican times was a Celtic invention as well. The Roman legionary would have been something of an imitation Celtic warrior in his equipment! Celtic torcs became prized Roman military decorations; some of the best imperial weapons and armour were manufactured in Gaul after the Roman conquest.

All roads lead to Rome

Old Glory ANT-107 - "Gallic Slingers". These are surprisingly nice figures; in fact OG's Gallic range is among the very best of their grand scale offerings. It's a pity their warband figures are cast in strips.

In fact there seems little evidence of Roman superiority over the Celts. The Romans built roads and lived in walled towns; so did the Celts-- and these were not barbarian copies, but home-grown technology that were just as sophisticated. Roman-centric historians over the ages have denigrated the Celts as living in primitive tribes; modern research indicates that many Celtic groups were governed as Republics, with elected annual magistracies not so different from Rome herself. The similarities go even further: linguistic research shows that the Celtic languages of Gaul were perhaps Latin's nearest relatives in the ancient world. Given how little change there would have been for many, perhaps it's not so surprising that the Gallic provinces were so receptive to Romanization!

British slingers. Why do the Brits get slingers but not the Gauls? I dunno. It doesn't really match what Caesar told us.

Of course the Romans had a better army. Wargamers know at least this much: how the badly-outnumbered but disciplined legions of Rome squared off against the innumerable but poorly armed barbarian rabble and beat the stuffing out of them time and time again. Or did they? I sometimes wonder. After all, it's the winner who write the histories-- and in this case the losers weren't even literate. Indeed, the lack of a writing system was the one outstanding technological deficiency of Celtic culture.

A horse is a horse, of course (of course)

AIM 10020411 - "Barbarian Cavalry". Reasonably nice figures, but, like all of the old AIM lines, lacking in the over-emphasized details that make painting easier at this scale. All of the musculature on both horses and riders has been faked with paint.

Anyways, getting back on topic here, the final component of the Ancient British force for Basic Impetus is a couple of stands of light cavalry. Now, one thing about horses is that manufacturers tend to use the same sculpts for all their ranges-- so a 19th century cuirassier is going to ride a horse no bigger than that of a 17th century dragoon, and indeed, no bigger than that of an ancient Celt, even though the latter would likely have had a pony for a mount. I say most manufacturers, because there are an enlightened few; in 10mm the winner is Pendraken, who mount their ancients on nice little pony-sized horses. Strangely, I've actually heard a number of people complain about this! I mean, you're counting the bloody buttons on your Peninsular War redcoats, but you whine when somebody sculpts Ancients on appropriately-sized horses!!????

This picture is fairly similar to one of the ones at the top of the post. I'm not really sure why I'm including it.

Okay, I'll admit that it could well be different people who are complaining about the one thing versus the other. In fact it probably is. To each his own, right? I, for instance, don't care how many buttons there are on my toy soldier's jacket, but I prefer to be able to mock anyone who's anal-retentive enough to count.

And now that we're off topic again...

Another picture similar to one already posted.

What was I saying? Horses. Right. So Pendraken makes cavalry that would have been perfect for these ancient Brits... but I didn't have any. And since the whole point of this project was to use the figs I already owned, you won't see any here. Disappointing, eh?

All the Celts, all lined up.

A final note on things Celtic

'Celt' is a rather slippery term. Usually it's held to have come from the Greek word Keltoi. We don't actually know what the people in ancient Gaul and Britain called themselves. Even the concept of 'Celt' as a single homogenous, identifiable ethnicity is problematic. To my knowledge (and feel free to correct me here if you know better), aside from a few groups who straddled the Channel, the people of ancient Britain were not even identified with the Gauls-- the latter were supposedly tall and fair-haired, the former small and dark. Linguistically they must have been close; but as we've already seen, the same was true of Gauls and Romans. The speech, customs and culture from one end of Celtic Europe to the other may well have been just as varied as it has ever been.

So who were the Celts? In a way 'Celtic' is as much a product of Sir Walter Scott, Queen Victoria and their contemporaries in 19th century Europe as it is a meaningful distinction. Wargamers like me, who so blithely use Gallic and British figures as interchangeable, are only fuelling the melting pot.