Medieval Irish for DBA

My new part-time job as a charter bus driver is quite the time-eater with lots of time away from the house and more importantly the painting table!
Having downtime between delivery and pickup during the day, sometimes I can get a bit of basic painting in while sitting in the cramped seats of the bus.  With only poor natural lighting and poor positioning hunched over as I am, no great detail can be done as you can imagine;  and for my version of the Irish with their rather plain dress and, well knowing that many poor brush strokes can be covered up by a heavy wash of paint, I set about doing this army of 15mm for my DBA collection.

lots of painting gaffs but really I couldn't see a lot of the details sitting on a bus.  Even with my reading glasses on.  Sigh.

These are converted Corvus Belli Numidians - which were needed for the bare Irish legs - on which I added "green stuff" cloaks

Corvus Belli Irish Kerns from their old HYW range. The first strip has been given a wash stain already.

The completed army. Yeah, well it's DBA ain't it!

Close up of the spearmen

Close up of the General as a light horse element

Murat during the Battle of Heilsberg, 1807

A famous incident during the Polish campaign of 1807 was the inspiration to create my own Murat figure.
Aubier of the 20th Chasseurs a Cheval relates how Murat had his horse killed by a cannonball and gave him his, with the Marechal leaving one of his red morocco boots still in the stirrup.  With this and the beautiful paintings within the Hourtoulle book "From Eylau to Friedland" I set to creating from leftover plastic bits.

I referenced this painting for my Murat who, while hatless in the event captured by the painting below , without feathers and plumage is quite unthinkable.

A great image of Murat riding off on the trooper's horse. And I just happen to have only one horse left to use! Perfect!



Like Hollywood, I combined the two paintings for a "based on the true history" along with the two beautiful paintings.  The following photos show my efforts to create the famous napoleonic cavalry leader.

note the bootless socked left foot. The other side still has the original boot of the hussar officer's leg. The details are from the first painting with the addition of his hat.

With the view as per the second painting but with the troopers horse - his now killed - he is armed with a switch rather than a sword as he is in the Girbal painting

The horse is a Perry troopers, the legs that of an officer, the torso of a trumpeter with the lace and details removed and the arms of a heavy dragoon with the sword removed. The switch will be one of those thin plastic ties used to attach price tags on clothing and glued onto the gloved hand

The front sashes and medallions still need to be added. The initial plumage to the infantry bicorne will be accentuated with more feathers later. The left leg has it's boot scraped off.  

The final version

The final version.  Murat with his flowing locks of hair.

Gettysburg Gate

my scratch built "Gettysburg Gate" a representation of the famous cemetery gatehouse of the American Civil War battle.  General George Pickett of the CSA is shown here looking back at his destroyed division, one could assume.  (28mm Old Glory figure). 

Made of foam core and card with an old wood Monopoly playing piece as the top decoration!

Of course,  the really funny thing about all this, is that I have very few painted 28mm ACW...my collection is now only 15mm.   The gate was built for a re-creation of the historical battle with a gaming group that I no longer attend. (  I guess I should sell it )