Thursday, January 15, 2009

Esterhazy Hussars Are Completed

I am pleased to announce that I have finally completed the second squadron of the Esterhazy Hussars in Austrian service. They were a bit of a chore to paint, but now I have 24 hussars to add to my Austrian army for the Seven Years War. This brings my overall Austrian cavalry contingent up to 180 figures, or 15 squadrons of 12. This is slightly half the size of my Prussian army, but I can also rely on Graf Frey's 5 or 6 squadrons of Austrians and 8 squadrons of Saxons that are currently attached to Monsieur Chevert's army. So the numbers are getting closer, albeit the Prussians have a lot more cuirassiers.

That could be changing over the next couple of months, for I was browsing the net this evening and noticed the announcement over on the Minden Miniatures (see the link on the left hand side of this page) site that the Austrian and Prussian cuirassier "greens" are nearly completed. Frank Hammond provides some sample pictures on his web page, and they are as handsome as we have all grown accustomed to with regard to the wonderful Minden range. So let's see, I could use a 60 figure regiment of Austrian cuirassiers and a similar number of Prussian cuirassiers that will form the core of my new Hesse Seewald heavy cavalry. These won't be available for awhile, until Frank can get the molds made and figures cast, but they will definitely be worth the wait.

I will not be lacking things to paint, as I have an order of some 200 Minden Prussians wending their way across the great pond and hopefully I can start on one of the new green-clad Hesse Seewald regiments in February. Or I could paint a second Minden Austrian battalion that I have on hand. So there is much to look forward to in February.

The completion of the Esterhazy Hussars at the mid-point of January indicates that I am on schedule with regard to my painting plans for January. This gives me two weeks to work on the Minden Austrian regiment Andlau that I started last week. Given the fact that the US has a national holiday this coming Monday, I will have a long 3-day weekend available for a painting frenzy. Yesssss!

I will try to get some pictures of the hussars and the Mindens posted over the weekend. My camera chip is getting full and it takes a good 15 minutes or so to down load even a few new pictures, then more time to adjust the settings on the pictures in order to get them ready for my blog.

10 comments:

  1. Congratulations on finishing the hussars . . . and yes Frank's new cav figures look good. I hope that you answered his question re: command figures . . . and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your Hesse-Seewald figures soon.


    -- Jeff

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  2. Alte,

    Well done, though they are congratulations tinged with envy. I never quite understand how manage to paint so *fast*.

    Conrad

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  3. I received some Minden figures this week and am so disappointed that they don't really match up well with my Front Rank figures.
    Very nice figures indeed, but the proportions are too different for my tastes.

    So I won't be painting these fellows, yet they need a good home.

    Not many as this was a test run, but I have 12 Grenadiers, 4 officers including a horse and the 4 man artillery crew.

    If you or anyone would like them I would happily sell them for a dollar a piece to ensure that they move rapidly.

    Thanks,

    Chris

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  4. Looking good, looking forward to the Hesse-Seewald units

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  5. Chris: I would be happy to buy your Minden figures for $1.00 each.

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  6. I'm with Conrad on the speed of your painting! The quality is excellent, too!
    Looking forward to pictures of the finished minis and future troops.

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  7. Please send me an address where you would like me to mail them and I will drop them in the post soonest. There are 22 figures including the horse and some odds and ends, couple NCO pikes and some artillery implements.

    Thanks,

    Chris

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  8. Chris: you can reach me at:

    J. Purky
    67 W. Mallard Lane
    Lake Forest, IL 60045
    USA

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  9. toys went out today.
    Once you receive them, please shoot me a check. I hope that they bring you great luck on the battlefield. I am now going to have to chop the heads off of 22 FR fusiliers and 22 FR Grenadiers just to ensure the cuffs are correct on the Grenadiers for my converged battalion. The things we do for this hobby.

    Chris Bump
    1320 Pinehurst Drive
    Lewisville, TX 75077

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  10. Thank you Chris. I will let you know when they arrive and send the check out to you.

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