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Just posted some pictures of the latest two units for my Völkerschlacht von Leipzig (Battle of Nations) project for this years Crisis in Antwerp:

http://dhcwargamesblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/25/generic-french-ligne-regiment

Two battalions of French infantry from the beautiful Calpe range.

Enjoy,

Burkhard

Here is a little preview together with their 3rd battalion previously painted:

awesome work !

Bee-yoo-tee-full work on those!

Thank you guys!

Wow, these look really great. Those bayonets seem hefty to my eye but hey, at least they wont break off
I think i used to prefer napoleonics in full dress but now i think campaign dress is awesome!

THX Jedi.

I have to say, I painted these since I am on a tight schedule to get minis done for a show in November, thinking that greatcoats would be faster. But Calpe minis are so nice and have so many details, that I think it would have taken me just as long to paint some Perry's in dress uniform! ;-)

I have never been into Napoleonics as a setting but I keep seeing such great painted miniatures I am tempted to pick up a few.

Well, I shall do my best to draw you in! ;-)

Can I ask what got you into napoleonics.

Carlos, now I had to think back about this for a moment.

It was the release of the Victrix British plastics a couple of years ago. I found the setting interesting due to the uniforms, but always shied back from doing it due to the large battles.

My first idea had been to do the Peninsular Campaign on a Skirmish level since I felt that it fit skirmish well enough. Well at least that had been the plan. That would allow me to do something, but with a limited number of minis.

After a few weeks I felt that skirmish simply did not convey the period feel, so I decided to move to rank and file.
Further research made me realise, that I found the Central and Eastern European campaigns (Invasion of Russia, Befreiungskriege, Cent Jours) more interesting. So I switched for that.

You may realise, that by now I had turned 180° on this (different scope, different theatre). I guess it would have been wise, if I dropped the idea of Napoleonics altogether, but I had found, that I enjoyed painting Napoleonic minis too much and I decided to pull through with it.

About five years later I now have a sizeable French and Prussian force and tons of French, Austrian, Russian and British troops (both in metal and plastic) still unpainted. If I keep my rate up, I will probably not be done when I retire, but right now, this is giving way too much joy (although I think I need to reduce my stocks one day).
While I do many other historical periods, I have to say that seeing a painted Napoleonic units gives me the most joy, so I think I will keep on doing these for many years (with other stuff mixed in to keep sane)!

Thanks for the detailed response.

I fancy getting some british troops at some point. Are there any particular manufacturer's/scales you would recommend?

Well it depends, my favourite scale is 25/28mm and I never touch anything else.
If you want metal... Well Foundry are too small by today's standards, plus they offer little variety. All the other ranges are a bit boring (even Perry lack their usual panache). Front Rank are the nicest, but have more heft than all the others, so it is a matter of taste and what else you have.
If you want plastic... There are only Victrix or Perry. I prefer the Victrix for the variety they offer, but they mean more parts to glue together and some people complain about the bayonets breaking too easy (although I have never had that problem!).