It has been a while but I'm back with a small update. I have always wanted to have figures for when my French Dragoons dismount to operate as Skirmishers (which they can do in the Sharp Practice rules). I decided to convert the figures in the Waterloo 1815 Set 041 Napoleonic French Foot Dragoons into dismounted Dragoons. In Sharp Practice a dismounted unit of Dragoons is 6 models, I also painted a dismounted leader figure.
The conversion wasn't too difficult. I carved off their infantry knapsacks and used greenstuff to add the crossbelt for the cartridge pouch on their back and to turn their infantry gaiters into riding boots. I'm really happy with how the conversion turned out.
This was my first time painting figures from this manufacturer - I found some of the details to be a little soft, not bad, but not on the same level as Zvezda or Italeri.
I also painted a couple of new figures for my Russian force - a
Barabanshchik (drummer) and a
Kapitan (Captain). The drummer is from Zvezda set 8020 Russian Heavy Infantry Grenadiers and the officer is from the Zvezda small set 6815 Russian Infantry Command with a head swap from set 8020.
Drummers in Jäger regiments had black crossbelts, drumsticks and details on their drums.
When I painted the leaders for my French force I painted a Sergeant (level I), Sergeant-Major (level II), and an officer that could be a Lieutenant (level III) or a Captain (level IV). Initially I was going to use the same four ranks for my Russian force but I have changed this to Non-commissioned officer (level I), Lieutenant (level II), Captain (level III) and Field Officer (level IV).
I think this better reflects the weaker leadership of the Russian Army in 1812 but also solves the issue of not being able to distinguish between Russian NCO ranks (as I mentioned previously, I could not find any information on Russian NCO rank distinctions).
Pictured below left to right is the optional
Barabanshchik, an
Unter-ofitser (NCO), a
Poruchik (First Lieutenant), his gorget is silver with a gold eagle, and a
Kapitan (Captain), his gorget is gold with a silver eagle.
Eventually I will paint the mounted figure in set 6815 as a Field Officer however painting more infantry and cavalry support units is my priority.
That's all for now, thanks for looking.
