Joseph Napoleon Infantry

 A couple of battalions of the Joseph Napoleon Regiment

Young Guard Voltigeurs

 Latest off the painting table are two battalions of Young Guard Voltigeurs.

New Additions to the Napoleonics Collection

 Wurttemberg Chevaux Leger Cavalry

And some Portuguese Infantry in French Service

Battle of Shevardino, Sort of

 Using all my Russian troops and a somewhat historical order of battle, a group of use played a game of General d'Armee loosely based on the fight for the Shevardino redoubt.   Shevardino was preliminary battle before the big fight at Borodino.  

Bascially the Russain 27th Division backed up by cavalry and grenadier brigade try to hold or at least inflict casualties as Compans 5th Divisision advances with support from the 1st Cavalry Division.

A few scenes from the battle.

The battle lines.  French infantry battalions advancing from the left against a heavy Russian skirmish line screening the Shevardino Redoubt and the deployment of the Russian 27th Division behind (right side of photo) the redoubt.

A ccouple close up of the battery in position at the redoubt.

French infantry advancing with skirmish screen out front.

French infantry pushing back Russian Jaegers (deployed in skirmish order)

Russian infantry advancing to support the redoubt

Uh oh!  Here comes the Russian Cuirassier

The opposing French cavalry hesitate at a critical moment!  Infantry form squares.

First French square is hit by heavy cavalry and lose formation and are dispersed by the heavy cavalry.

Another square holds of the Russian heavy cavalry

Russisn and French light cavalry meet and ultimately the French are driven back.  Though the French later charge with another light cavalry to stabilize the situation.

The Russian Cuirassier line up on another French square while the light cavalry (on right of photo) continue the fight.  Note the fresh, elite French lancers waiting to delivery their blow.

French move artillery and their own heavy cavalry to face the onrushing Russian heavy cav on the right.

And that's where we left it.  To be continued.

New Napoleonic Units Ready to Fight

 So as I get the new painting station set up I have been working on a backlog of minis I had from before the big move.  Here are there close up shots.  Still working on ideal phot setup and now using iphone 13 camera vs Canon Rebel w/ macro lens. Minis in the units are either Battle Honor or Old Glory 15, I lost track.

A unit of French Grenadiers

The Irish Legion (3rd Foreign Regiment) fighting for Napoleon

Lithuanian Uhlans fighting for the Czar

Polish Uhlans (9th Regiment) fighting for Napoleon

Russian Grenadiers

New Vehicles from Butlers' Printed Models

These are the first 3D printed models I've formally added to my WWII collection.  I haven't used 3D printed models before because the quality and cost factors always moved me to choosing cast models.  Analog vs. digital and I'm just an analog guy in a digital world.

The quality problem with 3D Printed Models for me is the resolution problem.  Vertical surfaces show the deposition layers in the 'Z' dimension (up/down) and for sloped surfaces it is even worse as they show the resolution problem in the Z and X/Y dimensions.  Sine, cosine, and all that stuff.  The better the resolution of the printer, the less noticeable the striations.  And the resoultion also limits the amount of detail you can include on a model.  Think of rivets and such for armored vehicles.  

The better the resolution and the more expert the person creating the digital file and the printer setup  are the better looking the model will be.  That all comes at a cost and for me I have always decided on cast modes vs. 3D prints as the quality of cast is better and the price is cheaper.  

But I've added a new factor into my choice of models.  With 3D printed models, a manufacturer can have a large inventory of digital files compared to the master sculpts and master molds a casting operation requires.  It is cheaper to create a digital file than a mold so a 3D print process can offer lots of variations without much added cost.

I needed French Lorraine vehicles, specifically I needed a radio vehicle for 21st Panzer Division in Normandy.    None of the businesses I normally buy from do a Lorraine much less a radio vehicle version.  I would settle for a 3D printed model if I could find one that was decent.

And I did with a UK company called Butlers' Printed Models.  These guys had a large inventory of digital models and judging from their descriptions about their process and looking at the photos, they seemed to know what they were doing and the price was better than what I pay for cast models.  So I ordered some vehicles to see how good they were.  I ordered the Lorraine 37L+ fuel trailer to stand in for a signals vehicle.  Looks like a spool of signal wire on the fuel trailer to me.  Close enough!

I was impressed.  The size of the vehicles fits well with my other 15mm vehicles. The better resolution printers and material that Butlers uses gives  a model that does not have thick bulky sides, the model is not fragile, and does have a good level of detail and the striations on the vertical and sloped surfaces were tolerable to me.  And the price was right.  So overall I am happy with the Butler models and will add them to my buying list.  Service and delivery time from UK to USA were all excellent.

Some photos below with OG15/Quality Casting figures included for comparison.      

Here is a shot of the models right out of the box.  There is some clean up (expected)and you always have flash removal and filing to do with cast models) to remove the support surfaces produced in the 3D printing process.  No problem using a sharp x-acto knife.

This is a shot of the the models after clean up.  The red arrow points to a support surface I missed and removed later.  Often the support surfaces to be removed can look an intended surface so you have to look twice before calling clean up complete.

And below are the painted vehicles.  The basic Lorraine 38L will go with my French 1940 collection and the "signals" version will go with the 21st Panzer Division "oddballs" collection

 

Napoleonic Generals and Aides de Camp

 Finished up a group of French ADC's and Russian Generals and ADC's

Russian ADC's

General Bagration

General Kutuzov

General Platov

A group of three "typical" French ADC's

And some more fashionable French ADC's

Circa 1812 French Infantry in Greatcoats

 French Infantry unit decked out in greatcoats.

1st Infantry Regiment of Vistula Legion

 

Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard Cavary

 Here are a few squadrons of the Chasseurs a Cheval of the Imperial Guard.  Nice christmas colors just in time for the holidays!  These are AB figs.

French Chasseurs a Cheval

 French 1st and 2nd Chasseur Regiments.  Both regiments has scarlet regimental color, 2nd had green collars instead of scarlet.  So I've either got two small regiments or they can be put together to form a larger 1st or 2nd Regiment.  These are Battle Honor/OG15 figs.  I haven't used to many of them in my collection as I feel the AB figs are nicer but the OG15 figs are generally more "dynamic" and good in their own right so I mix in a few OG15 units for the tabletop.

Not sure why I posted such a dark image before.  I tend to do that . . . I shouldn't be afraid of the light!

French Line with Artillery

 Finished up some French Line troops and guns.  This time with Battle Honor figs to get some more variety amongst all the Eureka figures.  Here's a sample.

Napoleonic French ADC's

Just off the painting table, a set of French ADC's.  AB minis from Eureka.