Diorama: The Death of Marshal Poulain

I've done a few small dioramas in my time, and recently I felt the need to paint some 28mm models again.  I'm taking a break from my 2mm posts to bring you this diorama which depicts the (fictional) death of Marshal Poulain at the Battle of Talavera.

Some of you might remember our recent Talavera game; it was an enormous undertaking, all done on 2mm scale.  I thought, however, I'd use my Christmas money to buy some lovely Perry Miniatures and recreate some crucial moments from the battle.  As with my previous dioramas, it's fairly small in scale, all mounted on a 120mm Secret Weapon Miniatures resin base.

The diorama shows the moment where Marshal Poulain, surrounded by Grenadiers of the 68th Ligne on one of the main crossroads in Talavera, is cut down when British Light Dragoons manage to flank the small force.  It was an absolute joy to spend lots of time on these - each model took about an hour to paint in total, spread over a day to allow for drying.  I know Perry Miniatures don't need me to plug them, but they are by far the finest 28mm miniatures out there.  Meticulously researched and stunningly sculpted, they made the whole painting process more enjoyable.

Next week we'll continue my posts on the 2mm Austrians with a basing tutorial, and you can look forward to a second Talavera diorama in the next month or so.









Thanks for looking!

Ed

Comments

  1. Outstanding ! That LD is brave, risking blue on blue (or scarlet on scarlet, keeping with the times) as they're obviously in the middle of quite a firestorm. Excellent composition, lovely execution (sorry) and as you say, fantastic models.

    You'll have to do a Devos IV one at some point. There was that rebel Co Cdr who beat the crap out of that Palladian Officer before he was captured...

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    1. Thanks! The situation in the town was chaotic and there were no lines as such, it was just a bit of a swirling melee - but yes it looks like he could have easily taken a 'friendly' bullet.

      Oh, a 40K diorama...

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  2. Terrific vignette! One second later and Marshall Poulain's arm might be laying on the ground, detached from to its owner.

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    1. Yes, I was weighing up what moment to depict, and the 'just after' was a close second to the 'just before'!

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  3. That is absolutely fantastic - beautifully composed and painted. Great stuff, man!

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    1. Thanks mate! Really enjoyed making it, glad you liked it!

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  4. Whoa - beautiful!

    Such a sense of pace and action!

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  5. Thanks Drax, glad to hear you say that (or see you type it), pace was exactly what I was going for.

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  6. Really well done Ed. Good selection of poses to depict a desperate moment. The mix of casualties and furiously loading/firing troops being marshaled by their CO does a great job of describing the hectic last seconds of the group's collective lives.

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    1. Cheers Dai - I was driven to include as many different examples of the amazing Perry sculpts as I could, and I think it inadvertently had the effect of making it look dynamic!

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  7. Absolutely incredible, as others have said it's very dynamic, and beautifully done - can't wait to see it in person

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    1. You need to come up to the war room and see it all!

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