Sunday 1 August 2021

On the Workbench: Talavera - Leval's Division

Well not quite the whole of Leval's division but most of it. The two Nassau battalions will be drawn from my Waterloo collection and two artillery batteries are on the verge of completion. There are also two cavalry regiments for Merlin's brigade.

The two artillery batteries will bring to a conclusion all the figures I need for Talavera. It will then be just down to a decision on whether to use terrain mats or my terrain tiles. The concern I have with my tiles are that they are really designed for a more northern European setting and a little too green for this part of the world.

I recently purchased a Geek Villain Sicily battle mat which is the right sort of colour but a little concerned the green patches, which are a little dark, may have a tendency to 'swallow' the 6mm figures. Ideally I need something a little more subtle to allow the figures to stand out and to that end I plan on lightly spraying my felt desert mats patches of green.

Click on 'read more' for detailed photos.

The 1st and 2nd battalions of the 4th Baden Infantry.

The 1/2nd (front) and 2/4th Dutch Line.

The 1st and 2nd Hesse-Darmstadt battalions.

The Frankfurt battalion. 


The large 1st and 2nd battalions of the 4th Polish Line.


The Vistula Legion (Polish) Lancers.


The Westphalia Light Horse (Lancers).

10 comments:

  1. Well I must say they look splendid Jon and can't wait to see them in action. Personally I'm now in the 'life is too short' brigade to worry about my mat colour, some of which is also coloured by a lack of space to make/store new terrain for say Southern Europe. Maybe one day but until then I'll be lazy:)

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    1. Many thanks Steve. An update on the mat. I tried spraying a felt desert cloth and basically failed! It did not achieve what I wanted. So I have placed the Geek Villain mat on the table fully intending to use it. Slept on it overnight and came to the conclusion nah! I am with you, cannot worry too much about being precise with the Southern Europe look and will be reverting to my terrain tiles.

      I would dearly love to be able to create the sort of look the Perry twins achieved with their version of Talavera but like you, do not have the time or space to create and store such terrain. I'll stick with lazy!

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    2. Lazy does allow one to spend more time on painting and gaming, even though I do enjoy making terrain. But the thought of starting from scratch again is too daunting!

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  2. Your discusison about terrain prompted me to explore your earlier posts on the subject where I found your building template system for 6mm Waterloo. I had been planning doing something similar for WW2 20mm as the buildings I have are resin and lack removable roofs. How well does it actually work in practise? Do you put a marker by the building to remind you it's occupied?

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    1. On the whole it works well. At least so far no problems! I place the template on a table nearby where I can see it easily so no need for markers as I can tell at a glance which buildings are occupied.

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  3. Fantastic looking additions, Jon!
    I thoroughly enjoyed running Talvera (with Field of Battle) back in 2018!

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    1. I saw your photos and AAR online Peter. Looked great and hope I can do it justice.

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