"Eureka 28mm saxon garde du corps" Topic

Finally got them finished and based. Photos are not great but I am still learning about apertures, ISOs, White Balance etc.

I thought these figures showed some of the best moulding I have ever encountered. The monogram on the shabraque has to be seen to be believed. I did think the shoulders of the figures were a bit narrow so built them up with greenstuff. Slightly overdone I admit, in a style more of 1870s than 1812. Also worth freeing up the sword from the horses' heads in the one piece castings. Easy in all but one figure, where it is quite impossible.

Oh and thanks again to Eureka for the freebie von Zastrow Officer. Let's just say he is liaison with the G du C…or he was until half a second ago!

Very nice! What yellow did you use for the coat? It looks spot on!

Great work!!

Very kind. First time I have ever posted anything (other than Napoleon's Coach) and I was bit apprehensive to be honest! These figures almost paint themselves.

Yellow Ochre from Vallejo.70913
Washed with Citadel Agrax Earthshade
Re-highlighted with Yellow Ochre
Final Highlight with Vallejo Iraqi Sand 70819

That is one thing these pictures has captured well. The sleeve of the guy in the middle picture, second from right, (slightly over done shoulder work by me), is the colour I wanted and got.

Isn't photography funny though? The lead officer in the middle photo looks far too yellow, the same chap in the bottom picture is exactly right

Nice work. I think that this is the first time that I have seen this basing of 3 figs on a circular base. Is it for a certain rule set? Or just for display? It looks really nice.

Thanks

Great work – fantastic painting of great sculpts!

Bravo! Beautiful work deadhead!! those shabraques look fantastic!!
I agree with dam0409 about the bases, it makes each base look like a little work of art in itself.
I have been thinking about getting the Saxon heavies for my own collection for a long time, I think you just pushed me over the edge here!
Quite a dramatic effect having the unfortunate infantry figures on the bases..I have to consider "borrowing" this idea from you;)

Very nice indeed!

I am grateful (very) for the feedback, as this is just about the first time I have dared showed my work on line! The bases….they are the cover off an operating microscope, discarded before every operation I do. My OR staff know to keep them for me, but with no real idea why. They are crystal clear plastic, so…. brilliant for puddles in mud. I must try to show my Polish Lancers sometime!

They are for display. Do you really think that, after all this work, I am so daft as to send them up against entrenched, fortified, Russian artillery to get blown away? No one is that daft……..are they? Could never happen…

The round bases do allow a bit of "art" but I do feel I may overdo it sometimes, esp for wargamers purposes. I love an idea I saw here, on this forum, of a cannon ball embedded at the end of a long groove in the muddy base. I used it twice here. The Russian casualties are Perry, one is not seen in these pics, but he is the worst casting of the three.

I loved these figures, but they are not cheap and import duties apply for UK. Even then, I personally think a bit of greenstuff on the shoulders helps…..and I admit again I overdid it. The scales and fringed epaulettes are more Emperor Nap III size than General Buonaparte. But the quality of the casting is incredible. Painting the shabraques you do have to do once before you die. I am serious. The monogram is just amazing and this from a Perryphile (read that carefully). Looking again at my photos, they simply do not show how good the castings are!

You gets what you pay for. I have not yet held a Connoisseur Figure of Garde du Corps, but seen many images. They do look great, if skinny, and no rolled cloak. They all seem to be staring at the sky (throughout the range in fact). But then, at least, they do Gendarmes d'Elite. I feel another task coming on. Their Saxons against Eureka in a charge!

I am grateful for the encouraging comments. Thanks…….

That's some fantastic work Liam. Your conversions paid of big time.

I do own the old Connoisseur miniatures too. Very limited poses obviously and a slim apprearance but still great miniatures.

I must admit, the comments suggest their Garde du Corps is amongst the best they have ever done. I may yet add a trio to these. I have wanted to produce this unit since I saw that illustration in the Blandford Book in 1976 "Uniforms of the Retreat etc". No idea why. It is a plain uniform, other than the braid. I once tried to convert Hinchcliffe Household Cavalry, with a cloak rolled across them. Did not work somehow.

What about my explosion in the middle picture? The family all agree it is terrible. My sons laugh and say it belongs in the Barrier Reef. My wife asks what it is meant to be. I love it and it took me ages……..

Excellent. Your colour scheme and conversions are spot on. And the explosion looks cool…we don't really expect our wimmin to understand such things…

Excellent Work, thanks!

Please indulge me with just one more photo. I really want to show how good the moulding on the shabraques is. That is not my painting skill. Indeed I am mortified by the lace edging here. At this magnification you can see where the yellow and red went wrong…badly………unforgiving is photography at this scale.

I am not a secret shareholder in Eureka and no figures are flawless (maybe except the Ney trio from Perrys). For example history tells us their horses were a bit smaller by Borodino….and museum uniforms do suggest the gents were a bit punier back then and these swords may be a bit "solid" but they are straight and they stay that way!

Bonjour Liam,

I've been revisiting your excellent pictures and contemplating going down the same road of enlarging the figures' shoulders to make them look more substantial.

However, my preferred option by far would be for Kawe at Westfalia Miniatures to produce some heavy Saxon cavalry to go with the keenly awaited Saxon lights.

My Saxon army is virtually 100& Westfalia so it would be great if the cavalry all came from the same stable!

Cheers,

Paul

Nice work on those, good gs skills to.

Well there is a surprise after all this time. As the Good Book says "The Dead arose and were seen by many"…so with this thread.

Must be my favourite unit of the era, ever since I saw that fellow in Uniforms of the Retreat from Moscow from Blandford.

The casting of the Eureka figures is superb. The lines in the lace work, the monogram on the shabraque, the animation and range of figures is really second to none. I would love to see more of these Saxons nonetheless.

The shoulders bit………… I did think for heavy cavalry they were a bit slender. Put them up against Front Rank…no contest! Personal opinion only and easily altered. I tend to that with any figures anyway….personalise them.

Now you sent me back to Eureka, as I have long wanted to do the Zastrow Cuirassiers, but was put off by the import problems.

I wondered why Fighting 15s did not carry these figures in UK. They do!

link

They are not cheap at £4.20 GBP per mounted figure, but now all the postage and import duty delay is fixed for you

Yeah, can see on the standing trumpeter that the shoulders are a bit skinny.

At least that I could fix easily and end up with figures that still make me think "Oh, yes"

The real challenge is what to do with the Hobbit figures from another company (however truly superb the casting quality) that fill my spares/rejects box. No names no pack drill….but I have a (large) bunch of Carabiniers all of which are leaning so far back, (looking for Stukas?), on what can only be called ponies (right for late 1812, early 1813 maybe?) which I simply cannot use…….other than as casualties of canister, a volley, or an explosion.

Lovely work I a impressed by the detail you put into the saddle cloths