Sunday, June 21, 2009

1806 Prussian Update


Der Alte Fritz's 1806 Prussian army, so far (click the pix to enlarge).

I haven't posted anything since last Sunday for a couple of reasons. First of all, Teddy Bear Wars always seem to generate more traffic and comments than any other topic, so I wanted to keep the adorable bears at the top of the page for the week. I appreciate all of the comments that people have left over the past week. I really enjoy reading what you have to say.

Secondly, Lady Emma was scheduled to have some surgery this week. We were at the pre-op room waiting for the final visit from the surgeon and ready to go, but the surgeon determined that Lady Emma had an infection and so the surgery was too risky until the condition cleared up. That was on Wednesday of this week and we are all kind of in state of mental exhaustion over the "will we or will we not have the surgery" question. It looks like now it will be postponed to later in the summer.

Thirdly, I have been busy painting 1806 Prussians during the month of June and I didn't want to post anything until I had a few of the units completed and based. You can see some of the results in the pictures, above and below. This week alone, I finished a third 12-figure squadron of the Koningen Dragoons (DR5) and 45 more musketeers for IR23 von Winning. This evening, I finished 10 scheutzen (rifle armed skirmishers) and primed some more figures to paint next week.


Same brigade, but a view from the left side. Click pix to enlarge.

The pictures above depict four battalions of infantry [IR19 Prinz von Oranien, IR13 von Arnim, IR23 von Winning, and the Knebel Grenadier battalion (19/25)], two 6-pound foot artillery sections, three squadrons of DR5 Koningen Dragoons, and a host of mounted officers. There is a fifth battalion completed, but not yet based (IR24 von Zenge) and a sixth battalion (IR5 von Kleist) that has 30 of the 60 figures completed. The latter two units are not shown in the pictures. I also have 36 converged cuirassiers (3 by 12) that I picked up at Historicon last year. The two cavalry regiments are from Imperialist Miniatures while all of the infantry and artillery is from Elite Miniatures.

My goal was to have six Prussian battalions and two 36-figure cavalry regiments done in time for our first Napoleonic game on July 18th of this year. So with a week and a half to go in the month of June, it looks like I will hit my target for the Prussians for this month. If I have any spare time before the big game, then I will add a unit of French chasseurs a cheval. I plan to use my SYW Black Hussars in the Napoleonic game since some of the Prussian hussars still wore the mirliton in 1806 (although the Black Hussars were switching over to the shako).

I also have two batteries of Foundry 1806 Prussian horse artillery (I'm using Elite's gun models though) and a company of Foundry Jagers on the painting table. So the Napoleonic Project looks like it is on schedule and will be operational (the Death Star is operational) in time for the first play test.

12 comments:

  1. Dear Jim,

    my thoughts go out to you regarding the pending operation for Lady Emma. I hope all goes well finally. Waiting and anxiety are not a gentle combination.

    every blessing,

    Stephen

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  2. Very nice figures. I've always fancied an 1806 Prussian army but would probably go the AB 15mm route. Your figures are inspiring though.

    Good luck as well re Lady Emma. Having done the old flashing lights and sirens ambulance job last week with my 1 year old I know how kids and hospitals can drain you (my lads OK now).

    All the best

    Andy

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  3. Fantastic work Jim! Most inspiring- I await the game with great interest...
    Having had been in and out of hospital quite a lot with my middle child a few years ago now, I know just how exhausting the mental strain can be.Hopefully you will keep us posted on Lady Emma's health over the summer too.
    best wishes
    Alan

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  4. our prayers are with you and Lady Emma.

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  5. Hi Jim,

    Firstly, I hope all goes well with Lady Emmas surgery and I can echo the other comments about knowing how kids and hospitals combined can be a very draining experience.

    Your figures as always look the business, but if you don't mind a teensy weensy bit of constructive criticism, try painting the edges of your flags to match the printed colour, as the white edge showing just spoils the effect a little. The most obvious one in your pics are the black Prussian flag.

    I hope you don't mind me pointing this out, but it just finishes off the unit when you do this.

    Looking forward to you getting back to the SYW again though :-)

    All the best,

    Frank

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  6. Thanks everyone for the kind comments. We hope that we can go back to the hospital on Wednesday, but it will be the surgeon's call as to whether or not the infection has gone away. If not, we will reschedule for later in July or August. It is mostly a mental thing to get over at this stage.

    Frank: good idea about the edges of the flags. I get lazy sometimes but the finishing touches make a diffence. I think that the 1806 lads look better closer together vis-a-vis the SYW figures, but it is too late to change2-3 thousand SYW figures.

    I really like the AB range of 1806 figures and was highly tempted to give them a try at 1:10, but I like the larger figures when it comes to painting them.

    I am almost through the Napoleonic build up that was needed to get this project to play test size. I will look forward to painting those Minden Austrian cuirassiers next.

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  7. Good luck with the Teddy Bear General...Ioannis

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  8. Fritz,
    YOu are most frustrating.
    Your lovely SYW collection has inspired me for the past two years since I first found your site.
    I have been painting SYW exclusively ever since and because I cannot match your speed have downsized my battalions to 30 (allows me to mass for the big battalions games).

    Now you are mass producing Napoleonics. How can I ever hope to catch up with this pace?
    I agree with your assesment on the closeness of the figures and have been basing mine to that effect too.

    I deeply hope that all goes well with Emma.

    Best,
    Chris

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  9. Fritz,
    Very sorry to hear Lady Emma needs surgery, what a little charmer! The power of prayer is strong and Lynda and I will add her to ours. I see your Prussians are rapidly expanding. What an inspiration. Thanks for sharing.
    Best regards, Bill

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  10. I can only echo all the good wishes for Lady Emma and the admiration for your 1806 troops!

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  11. Wow, and amazing array of Prussians! Well done as ever!

    All the best to Lady Emma on the surgery, my wife and I will keep you all in our prayers.

    GregS

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  12. Nice figures, I am building my in 15mm as I just dont have the room for larger scales. Just one world of information re the brigade 6pdr guns, there are two guns per battalion and they were normally deployed under direct command of the bregadier who could choose to deploy them any way he saw fit. At Jena it was not unusualy to see 10 and 12 gun brigade batteries deployed in one place. The PRussians had abandoned the concept of individual battalions having allocated gun but kept them with their battalions for supply and movement control purposes. Drew

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