Mustering my Napoleonic army (1 Viewer)

[Middleguard]

'Nuff said.





My 1/32 scale Napoleonic army. Battle to follow.

 

[Middleguard]

 

[semperrandyfi]

If you are looking for more ,I have 4,000 War of 1812 metal & plastic pieces looking for a new home.

 

[Middleguard]

Semperandyfi, although I would like to expand my collection there is such a thing as too many figures. I spent a few months looking for a place to set these guys up. The room I am using is 50x30 foot. It is old factory floor space that a businessman friend of mine is renting me for a few dollars a day. Most places don't rent by the day.

The French and allies take up the entire 50 length of the room, and I do not have enough cavalry to represent what I want yet. In these pictures I don't even have the artillery or supply wagons set up yet.

So the problem is not, not being able to acquire figures, it is in finding somewhere to set them up. I would need a basketball court sized room to do it properly.

I have my army set at a ratio of 1 figure equals 3 men. I would like to have an infantry division and a cavalry division at a 1 to 1 scale, but how would I play with them and where?

 

[Colebraden2011]

Wow! Very fun looking set up. It can probably be argued that I was more excited for this than you were! ^&grin Living vicariously through you, my friend.
How many French and allies would you say that is? 2,000? 250 cavalry? and you still have the artillery and wagons to set up!! Will you include the village you have been working on as well?

Semperrandyfi, what kinds of plastic figures are you trying to get rid of? maker, set and numbers? I am also a big Nap plastic collector and was wondering if there are any sets that would be compatible with my collection. Thanks!

 

[Middleguard]

Hey Colebraden! The count of figures is more like 4200+ infantry and 620 some odd cavalry. I'm about 200 cavalry short of the proper percentages of infantry to cavalry. I am sore today. Made it very hard to go back and set up the town. Did I say the town? Guess I did. I'm getting a little better at using the new camera and finding the right spot to snap a picture.

Here is a sneak preview. Tomorrow I will be adding the opposing armies.

 

[semperrandyfi]

Semperandyfi, although I would like to expand my collection there is such a thing as too many figures. I spent a few months looking for a place to set these guys up. The room I am using is 50x30 foot. It is old factory floor space that a businessman friend of mine is renting me for a few dollars a day. Most places don't rent by the day.

The French and allies take up the entire 50 length of the room, and I do not have enough cavalry to represent what I want yet. In these pictures I don't even have the artillery or supply wagons set up yet.

So the problem is not, not being able to acquire figures, it is in finding somewhere to set them up. I would need a basketball court sized room to do it properly.

I have my army set at a ratio of 1 figure equals 3 men. I would like to have an infantry division and a cavalry division at a 1 to 1 scale, but how would I play with them and where?

Precisely the reason I'm going to unload 10,000 ++ figures.Wretched excess run amok.But....it
was fun getting there. Good Luck! Randy

 

[Middleguard]

The opponents arrive.
Hungarian troops occupy the walled farm.

Russian infantry masses on the outskirts of town.

Austrian battalions fill the gap.



Russians infest the town.

 

[Oldallamerican]

Enjoying the shots - I am dealing with the same problem as far as my collection - lack of room to store and no place really to set up the figures I've collected. But for some crazy reason I hold out hope one day I'll be able to find a place to do some of the great scenes I've dreamed about since I was a kid and finally have the wherewithal to set up - if I could just get to the figures and accessories and have a place to set them up.

 

[Marxmaniac]

I am assuming you are single.........

Can you list the brands of figures or are there too many to say?

 

[Middleguard]

Marxmaniac, if you were directing those questions to me the answers are. I am married. As paintball has become too expensive to play and we have all the gym equipment we require in the basement with the room to use it I have only one hobby left which takes time and money. Toy soldiers. My wife has her sewing room and makes all her own clothes so she can see my point of focusing on one hobby the way we each do. I am not a drinker and I don't own a motorcycle or skidoo. I don't fish or own a boat. I make good money at my 2 jobs so I spend my extra money and time on toy soldiers.

The brands I use are just about everything plastic, augmented with a few character figures in metal and the Elite Command set of cast iron French.

Airfix Accurate AIP ACTA Blackcat Britians BMC Cafe-storme CTS Dulcop ESCI Hat Italeri Jean-Hoeffler Jim Marx Rel Replicant Reamsa Unknown Russian makers (2) Timpo

There are also those BMC recasts of the Italeri figures with the metal recast cavalry figures in plastic. Probably some others I am forgetting about. Then there are the converted figures.

I have come to the conclusion that I will never finish painting all of my army so I decided to put it on the ground as it is. I spray painted the figures in the color of the jacket the unit would have worn. Or in the color of the armor they would have worn.

I intend to paint on more detail to each group as I have time. They start as a single color and maybe I paint the helment and plume. Or maybe the crossbelts. Whatever makes them look better from a distance when formed in mass numbers.

 

[Middleguard]

Day 4. Oh my aching back and legs.

Anyway, first contact is made by the French light cavalry to try to silence the Russian guns. They succeed in driving off the gun crews only to be repulsed by Russian heavy cavalry. The Russian infantry forms square against the threatening cavalry and shelters the fleeing gunners.




On the French right the light infantry pushes the Austrian sharpshooters back through the woods.


The French heavies sweep up the right side to outflank the Austrians who have taken up positions in the walled farm.


In the center a combined force of Saxon and French infantry pushes towards the town.

 

[Marxmaniac]

The secret is to marry someone who also has a hobby then they understand , not a counselor who sees it as an addiction. In my mind a hobby by definition is a subset of an addiction. I probably have a few thousand Napoleonics, ACW, WWII figures, and just a few less of ARW, Alamo, 1812, western, ECW, Ancients and the like. I admit I have way too many and spent too much money on it and went overboard. We built a new home and my wife said no soldiers in the basement, you can have the bonus room over the garage. Now she and the kids (all girls) are drooling over that room, and tell me it's such a waste of a room to fill it with boxes. One day I will set my dream dioramas of each era up if I don't die first. I don't drink, never smoked. I quit everything else. Ii seems that usually being single is the only way to peacefully, anxiety/guilt less, way to enjoy your hobbies. But it would also be lonely. But I vent.

 

[Middleguard]

Marxmaniac, you have some valid points. I had the same "one day I will set up a huge diorama" dream too. A lot of us have as has been expressed on this thread alone.

When I saw Colebradens empty bedroom set up of a Napoleonic war battle it inspired me to post what I had for a collection. When I saw his misfortune at having to throw away the buildings he had made I found a way to make fair enough buildings with the ability to collapse them for easier and less space using storage. Once I had that I made about 3 dozen, because anything worth doing is worth overdoing, I knew that the time to make my dream come to life was upon me.

As a kid I had a few airfix WWII US and brits. I never knew there were other figures out there. As an adult I was stationed in Korea. While reading a comic book I saw an ad from STADS for a box of 50 assorted Marx figures for $5.00.
I said to myself, I'd be stupid not to do this. When that box arrived there were indeed 50 assorted Marx figures including 2 Alamo Mexicans in the standing firing pose.

I set those two figures up side by side as if in a firing line. At that moment I had a vision of a grand, giant, enormous, gigantic diorama. I reordered another box immediately. The second box had one more firing guy and 2 different running guys. I knew I was on to something but I didn't know what it was.

Along with that second box of figures was a STADS catalog. I discovered something called The Napoleonic wars.

I started buying every airfix Napoleonic guy he put up for sale. Then I learned about Timpo and I was off to the races. From that moment in 1988 to until this past week my dream had remained unfulfilled.

On June 6th of this year 2015 I made my dream a reality. After an exhausting 2 day of placing two armies and a town in their starting positions I sat down in a chair and looked upon what I had done. It was beyond my ability to put into words. The pictures do it no justice. To say that I am pleased is an understatement. I was moved.

I have so far taken 4-500 pictures of which I have posted only a handful. I intend to finish this project and then spend many hours putting them into a story format which I hope to share with all of you. Please wait if it takes a while for me to get it together as I am not familiar with doing such things on the computer. While you wait please enjoy these pictures.