"28mm French Chasseurs à Cheval, 8th regiment (Warlord)" Topic

I had a bunch of unpainted plastic Chasseurs à Cheval from Warlord games stuck in my wardrobe. But with a campaign rapidly closing in, I realized I needed some light cavalry to provide a scouting screen, and fast! So between hussars and these, it was an easy decision which one I'd be able to paint up quicker. And the chasseurs seem to not get enough loving by many wargamers, considering that they formed up the bulk of the French light cavalry.

Overall I'm happy with having them painted, though there are a few things with the Warlord sculpts that bothers me (the sabretaches being one). I wrote a more detailed post on my blog, but if you just want some pictures I thought I'd post them here. Enjoy! :)

link

Let me first say do follow the link. A really perceptive review of the Warlord figures. Much maligned by many of us (as with most…but not all….. their work).

But your work has flattered them.

The top picture does look like a very impressive unit…a proper regiment.

The detail shots. You do have a steady hand for the piping and, however much you deplore the sabretaches, painting an 8 on them takes some doing. In 28mm "2" is just impossible, "5" is not easy……..

Thanks Deadhead!

Yes, I have a bit of a mixed relationship with Warlord's offerings for Napoleonics. Some kits are IMHO clearly inferior to what others have out there, some kits are on par, and in some niches they're still the only game in town if you want plastics. And as a wargamer still collecting the initial bulk of my French army, plastics has a lot of advantages, even if the details are sometimes not spot on.

I think a good way to approach it is to see which kits are good, which are passable, and which ones where you'd be advised to look elsewhere. And sometimes you can fix some of the issues with some planning and conversions.

So if you are looking for a cheap source of chasseurs, and you don't mind some details being off (notably the sabretaches), I'd say these are fine enough. That is, until Perry hopefully release their previewed Chasseur box! :P

They came out very nicely!

great work on painting these , and your bases are lovely !

Just thought, simple head swap with their line lancers, would compensate for the rolled blanket over the wrong shoulder on the torsos of the latter. Frankly I thought they had just reboxed the chasseurs with different heads anyway.

and yes, I had meant to comment on the bases too!

Thanks for the kind words. :)

Lovely painting, these look fantastic.
I really like the bases too.

Agreed, very nice work! They will look great on your table.

I'm still not sure about plastics. Some have definitely gotten better in the sculpts, but others are well not so great. I'm still a big fan of Calpe and Front Rank.
I did buy some painted Warlord Prussian Landwehr which are quite nice. I have a box of Perry French Dragoons which I am not impressed with. Overall still a fan of metal.

Your paintwork is superb, as are your bases. As Deadhead said you have made the figures look very good.

I quite agree with your review, particularly the point you make about the horses. After Perry Miniatures introduced plastic horse halves that enable you to create nine (3x3) different horse poses from a single sprue in most cavalry sets and I think 16 (4x4) for the French dragoons / heavy cavalry five years or so ago, I don't understand why other manufacturers like Warlord, Victrix and now HaT don't follow suit with their plastic cavalry sets. The diversity of poses is one of the big advantages of plastics. Your lovely variety of horse colours hides the uniformity of their poses. :-)

wrgmr1:
Thanks! I'm a bit on the fence. I'm happy to have used plastics for the initial bulk of my French army, and there are stuff that I'm currently converting (like dismounted dragoons) which is easier with plastics. But metals usually end up with better details and more natural poses. Plastics always end up a bit more stiff, IMHO, no matter the brand. So I think both have their place.

AdmiralHawke:
Thanks! Agreed, I've bought a lot of warlord cavalry, and some variation would go a long way to both make them look more interesting, but also be more fun to paint.