Général de brigade Bruno

Adrien François Bruno was born in India in 1771. He joined the 4^e regiment de hussards in 1193 (aged 16), making lieutenant two years later, captain in January 1798, and gaining squadron command in 12^e regiment de hussards in 1801. Shortly afterwards, he was promoted to major and joined 10^e chasseurs à cheval.

After stint on secondment to the Dutch Army, Bruno returned on 11 November 1810 as a général de brigade and was given temporary command of 5^e division de cuirassiers before gaining a cuirassier brigade for the invasion of Russia, taking command of the 1^re division de cuirassiers after his commander, général de division St. Germaine, was wounded. Thereafter, Bruno commanded various light cavalry brigades and was captured after the Battle of Dresden.

Here he is modelled with a trumpeter from 3^e règiment de cuirassiers: the unit which made up his brigade. Unlike the musicians of the 2^e règiment de cuirassiers, those of the 3^e 

seemingly had the more usual black sheepskins over their shabraques. But more on the 3^e règiment de cuirassiers later...

I've occasionally had issues with Perry metal horses being a little week at the fetlock, but have found a solution in superglue. I now put a dollop of superglue where the fetlock/hoof meets the base and this seems to strengthen it up nicely.

Ball Buttoned Gunners

Artillery support to 1^st Heavy Cavalry Division came in the way of 1^st and 3^rd companies of 5^th Horse Artillery Regiment (5eme régiment d’artillerie à cheval).

First up is 3^rd company, resplendent in their Hussar-type uniform of French blue with the red trim of an elite unit. These models by Alan Perry are dressed in the 1812 uniform. Although many units did not receive it until a year or two later, they will not be out of place in my c.1812 force.

French artillery regiments were administrative units comprising of six, later eight artillery companies. Each company consisted of between six and eight guns of which two would typically be howitzers. Companies were paired to form artillery squadrons and each regiment also had a depot company. By 1812, horse artillery companies were normally equipped with four six-pound guns and two 5.5” howitzers, and artillery pieces would normally operate in pairs. French officers used the term battery to describe the tactical grouping of artillery in battle and a battery could consist of gun pairs from several different companies. See this piece on the use of artillery at Auerstadt by Robert Burnham, for example, http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/France/Artillery/c_3rdCorpsartillery1806.html

Black Powder traditionally calls for single models to represent batteries, but I’ve come to prefer two models for reasons both aesthetic and historical. Napoleonic artillery units, even horse artillery, took up a lot of space. Single gun batteries just seem too nimble in BP, especially when deployed without limbers. Moreover, two gun companies makes it easier for me to form batteries suitable for other gaming systems, such as General de Brigade.

As to the title, that harks back to the nickname for members of the Royal Horse Artillery, who to this day wear ball buttons on their dress uniforms.

Big Brothers V - End of Phase 1

The completion of the Brigade commander and his staff officer brings the first part of my 2015 Heavy Cavalry Division challenge to a close.

2e Regiment de Cuirassiers

To recap, 23 Cuirassiers were created in 1635 from an Ordnance company of Cardinal Richelieu and were initially called Cardinal-Duc. However, in 1643 they were renamed the Royale-Cavalerie and in 1791 the 2e Regiment de Cavalerie. Their name changed once again in 1802 when the Regiment became the 2e Regiment de Cavalerie-Cuirassiers and, finally, in 1803 they take on 2e Regiment de Cuirassiers.

In 1812, 2e Cuirassiers were led by Colonel Pierre Rolland, but came under the command of Général de Brigade Bruno. Despite being wounded in October 1813 Rolland went on to command his own brigade a month later, having been made Commander of the Legion d'Honneur earlier the same year. A former Hussar officer, Adrien François Bruno also survived the invasion of Russia. He took command of the 1st Heavy Cavalry Division after Borodino, but his career was curtailed when he was captured in 1813 after the battle of Dresden.

Here, Bruno is represented by Alan Perry's 28mm L'Heritier model.

As you can see, I've made a start on their commander and the 3e Cuirassiers and 1e Chevau Légers are all prepped for painting. The box to their rear contains two batteries of horse artillery, 9e Cuirassiers, and associated commanders.

Finally a plea to anyone going to Salute who might be willing to part with the event special sculpted by the Twins...

Big Brothers IV

With the final squadron of the 2e Cuirassiers I decided to try out some different tones on the horses.

The officer is mounted on a black. Many blacks are a very dark brown. So I've used that as the highlight with an even lighter brown around the mouth and sheath.

As always, the trumpeter is on a grey. However, rather than the near white of the others, this one is on a dappled grey. All grey horses are born chestnut, bay, or black and fade over time to grey. They can retain their dappling for many years, sometimes not completely greying out until their teens.

As we have not yet accomplished my dream of living next to the stables, overlooking the horses as they graze. I use photos of t'internet as a handy reference. In the case of the trumpeter's mount, I used the one below, but allowed the light grey/white dapples to accentuate the highlights somewhat more than one the real horse. If enough people are interested and like my results, I'd do a specific post on how I paint horses sometime.

You'll note that I've also gone for darker tones than my norm on two of the troopers, based on this example of a faded black:

Once I've completed the brigade command stand, I'll post up a picture of the full regiment.

Imperial German VII

Having cracked half of 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, I Corps of the German 8th Army c.1914 last year, it was time to move onto the second regiment - 41st Infantry Regiment 'von Boyen' (5th East Prussian) (Infanterie-Regiment von Boyen (5. Ostpreuß) Nr.41).

The acquisition of Kraus's excellent work on the uniforms and personal equipment of the Imperial German army sees this battalion enjoy a few refinements.

Firstly and most simply, the canteens went from being painted as all leather to my giving the canteen a dull brown to represent felt.

The main difference is the painting of sword knots in company/battalion colours - in this case with a white background to denote 1st battalion.

Here we have the second company, leading the fourth company:

As always, officers - both commissioned and non-commisssioned - followed their own rules:

For completeness, here are the rules of cap buttons.

 These plates all come from Ruhl, M., Die Uniformen der Deutschen Armee, Volume 2, (Leipzig, 1899).

Big Brothers III

Onto the next squadron of the 2nd Cuirassiers:

I think more detail survived this time due to a lighter (in thickness) undercoat. As usual, I dry brushed dark brown over the undercoat to help lift the detail for later painting, as well as provide another level of shading.

As I messed up last time and had to convert two figures to the 3rd Cuirassiers, I took the chance to squeeze in the replacements this month.

So, I'm two figures ahead, which is always useful in a larger project. 

As an aside, a grey gelding has just moved into our corridor at the stables, which has prompted me to consider a more dappled mount for the next trumpeter.

Some Archers

.. to whet the appetite whilst I sort out a post on the next batch of cuirassiers.

These form part of my project to convert two HYW armies to Hail Caesar rules, which requires the sixteen figure archer units to be bolstered by a further four figures.

Onwards and upwards ...

Big Brothers II

Despite finishing these off last month, the real world intervened. So My apologies for the time taken to put words to the pictures.

My aim was to complete the second squadron of the 2nd Cuirassiers, but as the more observant will note, plans changed.

Yes, I managed to mount three figures on identically posed horses! So two have rebadged 3rd Cuirassiers, i.e. rather than sporting red lined collars of blue, they have blue lined collars of red.

So onto the next six,  two of whom will now join this squadron...

Honda Redux

Those who follow the Lead Painters League may be aware that I signed up for 'It's Alive!' - a collaborative task in which we try to finish off abandoned projects. In my case, a late sixteenth century Samurai army.

So first up were the last of the dismounted samurai, as well as refreshing those already completed.