French Cannon, Limbers and Caisson

[Bill Slavin]

Just what the world needs - more Nappies! These are all from the Zevda kit, other than one of the caisson drivers borrowed from a HaT set.

[C M Dodson]

Hello.

This looks very impressive indeed and the buildings are lovely for the period.

Nice photographs too.

A couple of howitzers and you would have a full battery. Even so you get an idea of how much space the average French battery took up which some of our wargaming friends might like to ponder.

A small point but the sponge man normally is positioned to the right of the piece.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Bill Slavin]

Thanks, Chris.
I did know about the sponge man, but there was no room at the front at this base size and the other side would have put him sponging the guy at the back or facing with his back to the cannon. Either way it looked awkward to me.

[Bluefalchion]

I just love your use of grass. Horses look great, too. Eye candy.

[Avancer]

Hello from Aus,
Beautiful work.
Have been pondering what to do with the Zvezda set, as a balance between correct number of horses and a sensible gaming solution.
What you've done here looks like an excellent solution.
Regards,
K

[gbvarese]

Great Work. Giovanni.

[Cryns]

And again a very charming scene made by you!

Dear Bill Slavin: well done, I like it a lot.

And its not even a real diorama but 'just' a temporary setup.
Very inspiring for another gamer like me.

The figures look excellently painted.
Your houses are the great eyecatcher. The farmhouse with the stairs and just one small window is my favourite... very French! And typically French is the mansion with the high roof and high windows.
This last one reminds me of the buildings made by Mr. Dodson who reduced the footprint of his many scratch build houses to keep the size of villages limited because of the gaming ratio. Is that what you were aiming for?

And once more some words about the high grass. Mr. Dodson what do you say about this? You are a specialist of the Waterloo Campaign. Don't you think this is what the rye or wheatfields of Belgium looked like in june? Wouldn't this be a usefull material for your new Quatre Bras project?

I can not remember having seen such great grass mats before. Its the color. I bought several artificial fur mats in yellow and khaki to make tatched roofs.

I remember another post by you was 'Peninsula'. What do you think: would yellow grass mats fit the Peninsula better because of its dry climate? Or are Spains fields as green as the rest of Europe as long as we visit early enough in the season?

[Bill Slavin]

Avancer,
You can get a number of gun crews out of what Zvevda supplies (24 figures) if you can find some extra cannons! And I confess, having already built one caisson and not really needing two (this was the second set), I made a second limber from the front wheels of the second caisson! Two horse teams work on my gaming table so I cut those down, which left me a number of very fine horses to pair up with some HaT limbers (which come with some not so fine horses!)

[Bill Slavin]

Mr. Cryns,

Thank you for the kind words. I would agree that the green grass doesn't work so well for the Peninsular Wars - I I had made this for some European campaigns. FYI it is a product known here (NA) as "Grizzly Fur", and purchased from a supplier of teddy bear furs. I bought it in dark brown and spray painted it. I'm pretty sure the supplier does a brisk trade in this product with no idea why!
As for the building, yes, I built them to try to balance feel with footprint. The chateau was seriously scaled down from the original I based it on, but I think still works at 1/72.

[Bessiere]

Very impressive and superb painting. I admire the scale, these guns and crews look so awesome en masse. Imagine this x 10 or 15! The grand battery. Rich, earthy colors to your figures and all nicely posed for these shots.

[Beano Boy]

Grass is grass whatever colour it is,
around here the yobs just roll it
and puff away at their magic dragon.

Gunnar will know what i mean Hopefully?

Whatever way one chooses to base these up they are a neat beautiful set, now no longer produced in the big box set. So mine that are unpainted sit comfy style upon their shelf.

Getting to the meat and gravy of your posted topic, they are some of the best painted Guns , horses .riders,and gunners i have seen. Yes Howitzers that fired explosive air burst shells,___iron balls! if that be the correct terminology would complete this Splendid Battery?

In bright way of illusion.
Bill, as an illustrator,you know how best to dress up your local scene.
To fool the cameras eye is a good thing,and to fool the eyes of others is even better. Bravo!

Greeting from the Evergreen Gardens of Fiddle Wood UK. BB

[Bill Slavin]

BB, what is in your tea this morning?

[Beano Boy]

o just the usual . BB