Merry Christmas from the General

 

This year it has been yet another very difficult one for everyone, but now that we have had the vaccine life is nowhere near normal as hoped as a new variant hits the world.

After doing so well in 2020 with my painting it all came to a halt in the August of that year. I did start painting my British 2^nd Dragoons (Scots Greys) and I am near finishing nine horses with twelve troopers. But they have remained on my painting table for such a long time now as the enthusiasm seems to have left me to finish them off. But with another lockdown looming after New Year, this could be what I need to restart that spark.  Also I think that with figure companies not producing anything that I want for the Waterloo period in recent years, there’s nothing to look forward too.

I have also failed to do anything on my blog this year but hope to do somethings for next year. So many thanks for those who take a look at my blog now and again. I have had a total of 84,538 page views to date which is fantastic with is nearly 20,000 hits more than last year’s total.

So I do hope that you all have a lovely time over the Christmas period and I would like to wish you and your family

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

Napoleons Famous Horse “Marengo”

 

A painting by Jacques Louis David of Napoleon and Marengo

Marengo was born in 1793 and was the favorite mount of Napoleon. He was named after the Battle of Marengo. Napoleons horse was imported to France from Egypt following the Battle of Abukir in 1799 as a six-year-old. The light grey Arabian was only 14.1 hands high, probably bred at the famous El Naseri Stud. He was a reliable horse, steady, and courageous mount. Marengo was wounded eight times in his career, and carried the Emperor in the Battle of Austerlitz, Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, Battle of Wagram, and the Battle of Waterloo. He also was frequently used in the 80-mile gallops from Valladolid to Burgos, which he often completed in five hours. As one of 52 horses in Napoleon's personal stud, Marengo fled with these horses when it was raided by Russians in 1812, surviving the retreat from Moscow; however, the stallion was captured in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo by William Petre, 11th Baron Petre, after Napoleon fled the battlefield in a carriage.

Petre brought the horse back to England and was paraded before the crowds where after he was sold to Lieutenant-Colonel Angerstein of the Grenadier Guards. Marengo stood at stud (unsuccessfully) at New Barnes, near Ely, and lived out his days as a star attraction at various parades and exhibitions. at the age of 27. He eventually died at the old age of 38 and in 1831 his skeleton (minus two hooves) was preserved and later passed to the Royal United Services Institute and is now on display at the National Army Museum in Chelsea, London.

One of the remaining hooves was given to the officers of the Brigade of Guards by John Julius Angerstein as a snuff box. The fourth hoof was mounted as a silver inkwell and retained by the family; it is still owned by the family but is now on loan to the Household Cavalry Museum. The Duke of Wellington was asked to disinter his own horse, Copenhagen, to be exhibited alongside Marengo, but refused to do so. Coincidentally, one of Copenhagen's hooves was also later used as an ornament.

News From the Front

 

It now seems that Italeri have release the La Haye Sainte Farm set in 1:72 scale, which first appeared in bit sets with figures in 2015. The new set includes the following figures to go with the farm.

6016 - French General Staff (full set of 21 figures & 13 horses)

6066 - French Infantry (2 sprues = 32 figures in 16 poses)

6135 - French Imperial Guard Artillery (1 sprue = 8 figures & 2 guns)

6095 - British Infantry (2 sprues = 32 figures in 16 poses)

6083 - British 95th Regiment (2 sprues = 32 figures in 16 poses)

6041 - British Artillery (1 sprue = 8 figures & 2 guns)

laser cut kit of La Haye Sainte farm

How much this set will coast in English pounds is not known but it's on their website for 74 Euros and out now.

Up Date on Dragoons

 

Do you remember the days of when you ran out of model paint that you could just go to a shop and purchase what you wanted? That now seems a luxury these days during lockdown.

But I felt that I should give an update on my painting of the “Scots Greys”. Ending of last year I did manage to buy some paints that I thought that I might need before yet another lockdown, but how wrong was I. I had painted little bits and pieces of both troopers and horses, but it was not till after Christmas that I found that I needed some difference grey colour for their trousers and horse. The one pot of old grey paint that I was using dried out and had to be thrown away. But I did not have any spares in my paint box. So the project has come to a complete stop. I did not want to start another project, so after scratching my head, I came up with I’ll paint the top half of the troopers and what I could of their horses and hope that we can come out of lockdown sometime in March to buy that tin of paint.

Now why do I not buy online? I hear you say, well that is it will cost about £5 to post one tin of paint. So as there is no urgency for the paint I’ll wait for the shops to reopen and stock up on different grey paints.

Happy New Year from the General

 

A Very “Happy New Year” to you all and let’s hope that this year we can get back to some kind of normality. Well 2020 is going to be a year remembered for the all the wrong things. Wargame shows were cancelled for which I have missed very much last year. The output of plastic figures seemed to have done very well considering what has happen across the world. Hopefully it will continue and hope that there will be a few new Napoleonic sets for me this year?

Here in the UK we were put in our first lockdown from March for four months due to the Coronavirus first hit the UK. With not being able to go out and see family and friends, I set myself up for the Coronavirus Challenge. This challenge was to make me sit down and paint my Napoleonic armies. In months that followed I managed to paint a total of 94 figures completing two regiments. The first was the British 32^nd foot followed by the Prussian 1^st Pomerania reserve infantry which were finished on the 8^th August.

 On the 17^th August I stated my next regiment which is the 2^nd Dragoon (Scots Greys) but due to the English football season starting, they have been on the back burner while I sorted out my football competition to get it up and running. Although we have had another lockdown for four weeks in November, things have not changed much as we are in yet another lockdown as the virus picks up in numbers in the UK. But now that the Christmas and New Year period are over, it’s my intentions this year is to finish off the 2^nd Dragoon (Scots Greys) and complete some odds and ends that have been stored away for many years. I will also like to start painting some more new regiments but we will see what happens.

Now if you follow my blog then you will know that I do not do any pre-painting list for the coming year, so no New Year resolutions from me once again. If you look at my performance last year it was one of the best years that I have had on my blog with postings. So thank you for looking at my blog but hope that this year even more posts will be posted once again.