Wooden Wars: Wooden Soldier Project - Part 8: A Gentlemen and an ADC

The painting of two armies for Gencon is starting to gain steam, so much so that I haven't had time to photograph much of it, let alone document much.  So, today I want to talk about how playing around and making conversions leads to better design work; or, as I like to call it, " tweaking gets you thinking"! 

Actually, I have never said that in my life.

Must be the coffee.

...Sorry.

Foot Officer in the traditional French style.

Side view shows how many pieces are layered in these flats.

Those ADC's are nothing but Bicorn and Brassards!

Up until now, my wooden bicorns have been "athwart ships", that is to say:  side-to-side in a "flat" mode. This works just fine and covers many a different unit type, but the fore-and-aft bicorn is just plain sexy.   Since I already had the hat shape, I just needed to fit it to the head. Inspired by a great illustration in my trusty Soldiers and Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars (Histoire & Collections) I set off to create a few bicorns. Once again the intrepid foot officer steps in as model. 

  

Le pub, C'est don la rue du Foss!

I've cut it twice and it's still too short!?

This was a pretty easy conversion. I glued two bicorns together (extras from the foot officer sprue)  then moved it back and forth on the head to see where it would look the best. I then marked a line to cut the slot in the hat, and went to work with my Jewelers saw.  Long story short, I did this a couple of times before I got the slot right. Via a happy accident, the first hat I cut the slot was way too big, but it let me adjust the hat around and really helped nail down the angle and position for the next attempt.  Now that I have it, the fore-and-aft bicorn will feature in future models or as an accessory piece. 

The "trick" was the angle.

This image looks a bit charnal house.Arty crew in the wings wait their turn.

Blocking in colors.

Brassards - or - What did you call me?

To denote the status of aide-de-camp, or ADC,  the officers holding this position wore an arm band that bore the colors of the rank of the person they served. These bands are called brassards. Brassards were miniature replicas of their respective superior's sash.  Go ahead - say it out loud; feels good, don't it.  And now we know why so many Hussars dueled, eh?   

I made the brassard on our ADC out of one of my business cards.  I just cut thin strips, glued it around the arm and added another small piece in front to denote the fold.  As in the illustration, the red brassard means our gallant is in the service of a General de Division.  When I get a chance, I'll add a medal to his chest in the same manner.

Finished ADC. This fellow will command the Leger unit.

Brassard on left arm is made of business card stock.

That's all for this post. Next time we'll review some new troops, and talk about more action-based Wooden Wars Rules -  charging and melee!