The latest addition to the project is a battery of French foot artillery. Bizarrely, I've got very little uniform information about artillery so had to rely on my ever reliable single combined volume of Funcken books (has all the Lace Wars, Napoleonic and Franco Prussian in it) and google for most of the details.
Though it would be nice to have a limber per gun, possibly with a caisson added too, I think one train piece will be adequate for game purposes. In some games I've played, where the full panoply has been fielded, the train ends up being put back on the shelf because its footprint takes up too much room on the table - so I wonder if having more train pieces might be a waste of money and painting time.
At some point I might add the traces but, for now I'm leaving them off.
One thing worth pointing out about the photos is that the French artillery green isn't quite so green in the flesh (lighting?).
I think they came out alright, and hope you do too. The figures are all Front Rank.
13 comments:
They look great, James... the limbers and teams especially. Like you, I have painted very few limbers. One per 2 guns (my units have 2 guns) seems like plenty to me. They do take up a lot of space on the table, but that may not be all bad as it limits how much artillery you can jam into a small space!
They are lovely, and the decision to field a two-gun battery looks right. It is certainly in keeping with early hobby practices in the 1960s and 70s from what I've read and seen in the old photos. I'd argue though that taking the time and trouble to include limbers for both guns, with maybe a caisson too, as much space as it takes up on the table, is more realistic and forces certain tactical considerations to come into play. Just my two cents of course.
Best Regards,
Stokes
Very nice, I'd be inclined to spin the single caisson ninty degrees tho, and have it centred off the back of the two gun battery, can always add a second later, when it starts to annoy you lol very impressive as usual
We long ago gave up on limbers which, although they look lovely, we found took up too much space on the table. I know others disagree with this approach, but it works for us.
Looks very nice, and yes much better with limbers!
I love my Funcken books :-) Tgey look great!
Very Sharp work there. I've gone and saved your pictures of the limbers for when I finally get around to my 15mm ones. Thanks in advance!
Lovely looking artillery crews James.The colour of French limbers etc has been argued many times. The nearest I came to finding the right? colour was an olive green with deep yellow mixed in for highlights.One of the best artillery source books is still the Almark ones. They are still available now and again and are cheap. They have everything you would ever need.
At some point I will have to sort out limbers for my British artillery. We also use two bases per battery so I will most likely use one limber model per battery too.
Tony.
Very nice work there James. In my FRW armies I have decided to field 2 or 3 gun batteries and 2/3 limbers/caisson for precisely the reason that they give a more satisfying footprint. Each to their own though.
Yeah I would say they came out more then alright James! They look excellent!
Christopher
Great battery of Guns James, this collection is coming along nicely.
Definite second on the Almark book on the French Artillery; I had no idea it was available again!
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