A while back I posted my Vendee figures on TMP, and among the comments was a link to Stonewall miniatures, a company based in Cornwall, and their range of 15mm Republican and Royalist figures - Les Carabiniers Cassique. You can find their site here... LINK
Unfortunately there are no photos of this range and a google search failed to reveal any information.
So I placed a small order: LCC05 Republican Mounted Generals; LCC22 Grenadier Command in Bearskin; and LCC12 Royalist Volunteers.
The figures have arrived, so here's how they looked...
The figures come in zip-lock bags with plain coloured card labels which are hand written.
The figures themselves are traditionally scaled 15mm, rather than the larger 18mm scale miniatures. They seem reasonably well cast, with a little flash. The detail is there but not great, so I'm not sure how, or if, my limited painting skills will bring out the best in these.
The Royalist Volunteers come in mixed poses, and these are quite interesting poses. There's even a multi-part figure with separate weapon - I'm unsure how well this will go together. I think these will mix well enough with the Alan Touller range although they are styled differently.
Here is a comparison picture. There are (from left to right) LCC x3, Alan Touller x2 and Magister Militum's Revolutionary French x2...
The next set is the Republican Mounted Generals. I had hoped these would give me suitable figures for my Marengo project, and there may be one I can use. To be honest, I'm slightly confused to what's what in this pack. There's an obvious general wearing a bicorne, a figure with bicorne and standard, one wearing a bearskin and another with a shako. Any help identifying what these should be would be great.
Again these are cleanly cast, but one horse (top left) has a poorly cats leg that will require some green stuff. Another is quite a small horse, with short legs, but these are not the worst mounts I've seen.
These scale well with other brands. Here, these are (left to right) LCC, Alan Touller, and Warmodelling.
The last pack, Republican Grenadier command in bearskin, I had hoped may have been suitable for Consular Guard, but these are for much earlier Grenadiers. I expect these guys should be wearing white uniforms. Not sure if I like these as much as I like the Royalist volunteers, but they may paint up nicely.
All in, I think this is an interesting range, and if I ever get serious about collecting the earlier Revolutionary period I will probably get more of this range. If the quality had been a little better I may have been more tempted.
The other day there the kids had me put the buildings, stream, bridge and trees out on the table with some figures, and what was clear was that I really needed to sort out the road situation. Now at the moment I have limited funds and some spare time, and with a pile of heavy card sitting under my desk, I decided to make myself a test piece of road.
I cut a length of card, 60mm wide to allow a 40mm base width and 10mm each side for some grass, and plastered it lightly with grout. I scored the grout with a bit of scrap card and let it dry. Once it was dry I blobbed PVA glue along the edges and sprinkled sand and gravel. Once that was dry I painted the whole piece with the "chocolate" brown paint I picked up from a DIY store, let it dry, gave it a light wash of darker brown, then drybrushed with a 50/50 mix of the brown and a stone grey. I added a little static grass afterwards.
All in it took about ten minutes between doing some housework and it turned out not bad.
I had to be careful not to put too much onto the card so that it didn't warp. It still turns up a little but not too much.
Once I was happy with this piece I did another couple of bits. A "T" junction and a curve. I still need to do a few more straight pieces, which I'll do shorter next time to avoid as much of a warp. These new bits haven't been drybrushed yet - just undercoated and washed, but that shows the painting process.
Then while taking these pictures I got carried away...
First I added a couple of buildings, then some trees, then the stream and bridge, and before I knew it I was putting Marengo on the table. It's a very squashed version though as I didn't have much space. In a proper game I'd have a this all a but more spread out, and I need a lot more of the road pieces.
After putting out the terrain it only made sense to add some figures.
So here we have a small French force of two demi-brigades and a cavalry regiment marching through an Italian town and being met by a couple of Austrian Battalions supported by artillery.
So, after putting these out I've decided a few things. I need a lot more roads and a huge lot more gaming space, my streams are way too blue, and worst of all - my French Heavy Cavalry with added plumes... the plumes are a little fragile. Where's my super glue?
:(
