Richard Ansell

 

Minden Miniatures Seven Years War Hanoverian Musketeers

It is with deep regret and sorrow to hear that Richard Ansell passed away on February 11, 2021 due to complications with an old injury. On the way to having exploratory surgery to repair old wounds from his reenacting days, he suffered a heart attack from which he did not recover.

Those of you who are regular readers of my blog will know that Richard sculpted both the Fife and Drum Miniatures AWI and Minden Miniatures SYW figure ranges. Richard's talents also extended to such fine figure ranges as The Assault Group, Alban Miniatures, Crann Tara, Rif-Raf Miniatures, Hasselfree Miniatures and many others.

While Richard could sculpt in almost any style, his trademark style was a more anatomically correct and proportioned style, sculpted in the 1/56 scale (approximately 30mm high). Because his figures were done in a "scale" rather than a "size/height", they looked like real people rendered in miniature. At a time when the trend in figures was for "heroically proportioned" warriors with over sized heads, big hands and impossibly large weapons, Richard's anatomically correct style stood out from the rest of the crowd.

It was Richard's figure style that really caught my eye back in 2009 to 2010 when I stumbled upon the Minden Miniatures range, created by Frank Hammond and sculpted by Richard Ansell. The second I saw my first Minden figure, I knew that this was what I wanted to collect and paint. I bought lots and lots of Mindens from Frank, liking them so much that I bought the company when Frank offered it to me for sale.

Concurrently, I had started my own AWI figure range called Fife and Drum Miniatures in 2010. Richard was the sculptor for the range and I couldn't have made a better choice in sculptors. In addition to his exceptional sculpting talents, Richard was the nicest man that you could ever hope to know and he was a pleasure to work with. As noted above, he sculpted on commission for many other companies, so I had to wait in the revolving queue for my turn to have him sculpt figures. He worked at a pace of 8 figures per month, with 16 figures being the normal amount of figures that one could put into a standard master mould. So each commission was for 16 figures.

Every few months I would get an email from Richard saying "well Jim, what shall we do this month?" We would go over a few ideas with me giving Richard some broard perameters and ideas. Then I would sit back and wait, like a kid on Christmas Day, to see what wonderful goodies would appear two months hence. In some instances I would just give Richard some general ideas and tell him to just "go for it and stretch the bounderies of your  imagination". And the results always exceeded my expectations, particularly when it came to the personality figures, where he could really let his talent run free with creativity.

A great example of Richard's creativity in one of those "just go for it" moments, was when he made this sculpt of the Prussian hussar general von Zieten. This was sculpted as a special commission for one of our Minden Miniatures customers. The customer sent me a picture from a historical print and Richard rendered it  in green epoxy putty to perfection.

The inspiration for the von Zieten sculpt.

Von Zieten personality figure - a special commission for one of my Minden Miniatures customers.

It is very sad to see such great talent leave us, but even more so to lose a friend. I extend my condolences and best wishes to Richard's wife Coral. Richard, we are all better for having brushed up against you. Take care old friend.

New Minden Prussian Hussars in Mirliton Hats

The new Minden Miniatures Prussian Hussars, shouldered sword pose, wearing mirliton hats.

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I finished painting samples of the new Minden Miniatures Prussian Hussars wearing mirliton hats. The new figures are all in a more relaxed pose with shouldered sword and on a new walking hussar horse, also added to the range. Now you can have your Prussian hussars in a very animated charging pose, or in the more relaxed shouldered sword pose.

The painted samples represent the Malachowski Hussar Regiment (H7). The regiment was one of those extra large 10-squadron cavalry regiments in the Prussian cavalry establishment. During the SYW, Frederick II loaned three squadrons of H7 to Prince Ferdinand's army in Hanover. Two squadrons of the Black Hussars (H5) were also detached to Prince Ferdinand.

Malachowski Hussars

The new product codes for these figures are:

MPC-012  Prussian Hussars, Mirlitons, Command (2 figures) - $12.00 per pack

MPC-013  Prussian Hussars, Mirlitons, Troopers (2 figures) - $12.00 per pack

Fife & Drum Miniatures Web Store

We also have the same figures, wearing fur busby hats under the following product codes:

MPC-014  Prussian Hussar Command, Busbies (2 figures)  $12.00 per pack

MPC-015  Prussian Hussar Troopers, Busbies (2 figures)  $12.00 per pack

Prussian Hussar in Busbies. The officer on the white horse and the trumpeter on the tan horse comprise the command pack for the hussars in busbies. The figure on the left, times two, comprises the trooper pack of hussars.

Many people feel that painting hussars of any kind is difficult due to the amount of lace on their uniforms. The sculptor, Richard Ansell, has made these hussars easier to paint by including raised detail on the figure's shabraque, dolman and pelisse.

For example, the jagged saw-tooth lace (or "van dyking" pattern) on the shabraque is made easier to paint because the van dyking is a raised detail - you don't have to paint your own van dyke pattern because it is already sculpted onto the shabraque. The sabertache, which hangs off of the waist of the hussar, has the royal cypher of King Frederick Rex engraved on the item. One could lightly dry brush over the surface to pick out the details of the royal cypher. This is much easier than having to freehand paint the "FR" initials and the crown onto the sabertache.

The payback for the amount of time spent on painting these new hussar figures is very high, as you can see from the pictures of the samples that I painted.

Painted Samples of the Newest Minden Figures

For the past several days I have been burning out my paint brushes trying to paint samples of all of the new Minden SYW figures that I received from Griffin Moulds last week.

So far, I have finished three of the new Prussian hussars: the officer and trooper wearing busbies and the trumpeter wearing a mirliton hat. Note that all hussar trumpeters wore the mirliton even if they were in a regiment that wore busbies.

The figures, below, in busbies are painted as the HR1 Szeckly Hussar regiment in Prussian service. I have always wanted to have this regiment in my SYW Prussian army, but had never gotten around to painting it.

However, the new Minden hussars in the "shouldered sword" pose are the right ticket and so I chose to paint them as the Green Hussars.

(Left to Right) Officer, trumpeter, hussar trooper.

Reverse view of the first picture.

If you are a member of the Fife and Drum Miniatures forum then you will have already seen these painted samples.

The new hussar figures come with busby fur hats or the tall felt mirliton hat. The product codes in the web store are as follows:

MPC-012 Hussar Command, Busbies  $12.00

MPC-013 Hussars in Busbies  $12.00

MPC-014 Hussar Command, Mirlitons  $12.00

MPC-015 Hussar in Mirlitons  $12.00

Click on the link to the Fife and Drum Miniatures web store to order these or any other figures:

fifeanddrum-minis.com

All Hussar packs have two figures plus horses. I had Richard Ansell sculpt a new Hussar horse, complete with all Hussar bling, in a walking pose that looks very nice with the Hussars.

One of the forum members was complimentary of the brush work that I did on the hussar sabertaches, thinking that they were done free hand. Actually, Richard sculpted all of the detail on the sabertache, making it very easy to paint the Prussian royal cypher "FR". Likewise, the van dyking work on the shabraque has raised detail making it easy to paint the "teeth" pattern on the edge of the sabertache.

These new castings, along with the other new figures (Russian Horse Grenadiers and Ferdinand of Brunswick and Mounted Croat Officer) are now available for purchase in the Fife and Drum Miniatures web store. Click on the link provided in this post to go to the web store.

New Figures Have Arrived - Bosniaken, Prussian Guards, French Gendarmerie

I am really excited about the latest batch of new Minden SYW figures that arrived from the caster yesterday. Richard Ansell has really hit the ball out of the park with these figures and I thinkk that you are really going to like them.

The new figures include the IR15/II and IR15/III 2nd and 3rd battalions, respectively, of the Prussian Garde; the elite Gendarmerie de France cavalry; a Hanoverian infantry officer carrying a musket rather than a pole arm; and finally, those exotic Prussian Bosniaken Lancers.

You can purchase the new figures through the Fife and Drum Miniatures webstore by clicking on the link below:

Fife and Drum Miniatures webstore

Prussian Garde regiment IR15

The first group of new figures, shown below, are the Prussian Garde of IR15. The first battalion of the Garde (or designated IR/I) was the ceremonial battalion decked out in fine silver lace. They only fought at one battle during the SYW - at Kolin.

The second battalion of the Garde (IR15/II) wore tricorn hats and the third battalion of the Garde (IR15/III) wore miter hats. Note that officers in both regiments always wore the tricorn hat, so officers in the 3rd battalion wear tricorn hats rather than grenadier miters.

Prussian Garde - 3rd Battalion

MP-023 3rd Battalion of the Garde, wearing grenadier miters.

MP-022 3rd Battalion of the Garde, in miters, except for the officers who wore tricorn hats.

Prussian Garde - 2nd Battalion

MP-020 2nd Battalion of the Garde Command group

MP-021 2nd Battalion of the Garde, wearing tricorn hats.

Prussian Bosniaken Lancers

Christopher Duffy refers to the Bosniaken as "the comical performance of the Bosniaken", so that might hint at the quality of this unit, which eventually numbered TEN squadrons. Yikes! The Bosniaken were usually attached to the HR5 von Reusch (Black Hussars) Hussar Regiment. 

MPC-010 Bosniaken Command

MPC-011, side view

MPC-011 Bosniaken Lancers (2 figures per pack, even though the picture shows three lancers)

Side view of the Lancers.

The Bosniaken wore black coats and trousers edged in red and they wore white turbans that gave them an exotic Turkish appearance. Each of the ten squadrons had different colored lances, done in a striped "barbershop pole" pattern. That should challenge your painting skills, but I might post a striped flag pole, lance pole tutorial on this blog.

Gendarmerie de France

This elite cavalry unit was ranked a half-step below the Maison du Roi French cavalry and were an awesome unit to behold on the battlefield.  They were raised in troops (half squadrons, in effect) each with different names of princes of the kingdom. Two troops were brigaded together to form a squadron of cavalry. There were 8 companies of Gendarmes and 8 companies of Cheveaux-legers, and thus 8 squadrons in the entire fighting force. The Gendarmerie de France made a valiant charge at the battle of Minden, but they were decimated by the steady British regiments' accurate musketry. The Gendarmes were one of the few French cavalry units to break through the British battle line.

Kronoskaf - Gendarmerie de France

MFC-014 Gendarmerie de France Command

Rear view of the Gendarmerie Command figures.

Side view of the Gendarmes. The officer on the right wears his cuirasse outside of his coat  and is a magnificent work of sculptural art by Richard Ansell.

MFC-015 Gendarmerie de France troopers.

MFC-015 Gendarmerie de France troopers.

And finally, something completely different 

One of my steady customers over the years has been asking me to add a Hanoverian infantry officer that is carrying a musket rather than the pole arm figure that is in the Minden range. Officers in regiments of many countries began to discard their pole arms during the war and carry a musket or a short fusil instead. Good idea guys! I might add similar poses for French, British and Austrian officers in the future.

I plan on adding this figure to the Hanoverian infantry command packs, but will also offer the figure as a single figure with a product code of "MH-008" in case you only need one or two in your existing Hanoverian battalions.

MH-008 Hanoverian infantry officer with musket

And Even More New Figures Are on the Way!

As I post this blog, Richard Ansell has finished the greens for 15 more new SYW figures plus two different sprues of muskets.

Prussian Hussars in both busby and mirliton in a shouldered sword at rest pose. He has also made a new hussar horse for these figures and they sport the appropriate horse tack bling. I've also added a dismounted Prussian hussar firing his carbine, busby and mirliton versions, and these figures will be added to the dismounted Prussian hussar figure packs.

Russian Horse Grenadiers: five poses with one of the troopers wearing the summer waistcoat rather than the regular green coat (although we have that figure too)

Ferdinand of Brunswick has arrived to lead your Allied army in western Germany. Ferdinand is mounted on a horse - we already had a dismounted version of Ferdinand in the Minden range.

Finally, a mounted Croat officer with an attitude! He is wearing a tricorn hat and his cape is draped over his shoulders.

I will post pictures of the new greens within a couple of days, on this blog.

French Personality Figures: Broglie & Chevert

Lt. General Chevert (left) and Marshal de Broglie (right)

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I commissioned the painting of some of the new Minden Miniatures personality figures to use for advertising and trade stand purposes. Normally I paint my own figures, but I wanted to go the extrea mile for display figures so I went with a very good professional figure painter.

Another view of Broglie (left) and Chevert (right)

Grenadiers de France mounted officer (using the French officer in bearskin cavalry figure)

French Kettle Drummer

I am very pleased with how these figures turned out, both in terms of sculpting by Richard Ansell and by the professional painter. The painting really brings out the best in Richard's sculpts.

I guess that I will have to start building a French army for these gentlemen to command.

More New Minden Greens!

Austrian Horse Grenadiers: drummer (left) and officer (right)

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So here are the pictures for Part II of the announcement of the new additions to the Minden Miniatures Seven Years War figure range. The greens have been sent on to Griffin Moulds so that the master moulds and production moulds can be made. After that, we start spinning metal and getting the castings into production and ready for sale. I am going to estimate that I will have the new figures in stock in about four weeks.

First we have the Austrian Horse Grenadiers:

Reverse view of the Austrian Horse Grenadier officer (left) and drummer (right).

Austrian Horse Grenadiers: Standard Bearer (left) and Reiter (right).

Reverse view of the Austrian Horse Grenadiers: Reiter (left) and Standard Bearer (right)

Each Austrian Dragoon regiment had five squadrons of dragoons and one elite squadron of horse grenadiers. Typically, the horse grenadier squadrons from several dragoon regiments would be converged into one or more elite cavalry units prior to the start of the battle. After the battle, the horse grenadiers would return to their respective regiments.

I am really excited to see the Austrian Horse Grenadiers added to the Minden range. This fills an obvious hole that was in the Austrian cavalry lineup and I know that I will be busy painting them once the new year rolls around. I paint a regiment of Austrian dragoons and then add on a squadron of the horse grenadiers. Once I have painted several dragoon regiments, then I can hive off the grenadiers from the parent regiment and create a horse grenadier regiment comprised of the grenadiers from dragoon regiments in my own army.

Next we have the French Cavalrie wearing bearskin hats:

French Cavalrie in bearskins: Trumpeter (left) and Officer (right).

Reverse view of the previous picture above.

French Cavalrie in bearskins: Standard Bearer (left) and trooper (right).

Reverse view of the previous picture: trooper (left) and standard bearer (right)

All of the "foreign" cavalry regiments in French service during the WAS and SYW wore bearskin hats. So the Fitzjames (Scottish) and the German regiments wore bearskin hats throughout the war. Of course, the French Cuirassiers du Roi also wore bearskins, but that regiment already has figures available in the Minden range of figures.

New Minden French & Austrian Cavalry Arrives!

Prussian Jager zu Pferde delivering message.
A private commission from a Minden customer.

Last week I received a batch of 16 new Minden figures from sculptor Richard Ansell and I think that you will enjoy the goodies that are headed towards the production pipeline.

The new additions to the Minden Miniatures figure range includes French Cavalrie in bearskin hats, French foot grenadiers in bearskin hats, a French kettle drummer, Austrian horse grenadiers and finally, two French personality figures: Marshal de Broglie and Lt. General Chevert. It's a tough day if you are a bear, but a  very exciting day here at Minden/Fife & Drum headquarters.

The new greens fill in some major holes in the SYW French range of figures and include some personality figures to command your French armies. I think that Broglie was one of the best French marshals during the SYW and showed competance and professionalism in all of his campaigns. The Battle of Bergen was probably his signature victory over Ferdinand of Brunswick. I also like Chevert as he seemed to display "outside the box thinking", notably at Hastenbeck where his attack on the flank and rear of the Hanoverian army led to a French victory.

Marshal de Broglie (left) and Lt. General Chevert (right - pointing)

Chevert (left) and Broglie (right)

The Minden French cavalry needed a kettle drummer and so we have added one to the Minden range:

French kettle drummer (left) and Prussian Jager zu Pferde (right)

An earlier version of the Jager, before a mail pouch was added to his right side.
The  other side of the French kettle drummer is on the right.

French grenadiers wearing bearskin hats. Bearskins were worn by the Swiss and German troops in the French army and after 1759 they became widespread among the French line regiments, often on the whim of the regiment's colonel.

Rear view of the French Grenadiers

I will post pictures of the French cavalrie in bearskins and the Austrian horse grenadiers within another day or two as this post is getting rather picture heavy.

The greens are being sent to Griffin Moulds this week and the normal turn-around time for making moulds and spinning new production castings takes approximately 4 weeks. Alas, probably not in time for Christmas purchases, but you will certainly  be able to start off the new year with some French and Austrian heavy cavalry, etc.

Russian 4th Grenadiers - Newly Painted

Minden Miniatures Russian Grenadiers in coats.

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A few days ago I finished a new battalion of Russian grenadiers wearing their green coat. These are the new Minden SYW Russian figures that Richard Ansell recently sculpted. A big thank you to Richard and to Griffin Moulds, the latter having turned the greens into production moulds in record time for me.

I think that these figures, the Russian grenadiers in coats, might be one of the most gorgeous units of Minden figures that I have ever painted. The fine details on the figure, the wonderful faces, the body proportions and last but not least, the colorful combination of red and green colors and gold-copper miters make for a beautiful wargame figure.

Russian 4th Grenadiers with view of the Ordanance flag.

In the picture below, the flags were hand-painted using Kronoskaf images as a painting template. Note that the Russian army had organized standing grenadier regiments that carried their own regimental standards.

Russian 4th Grenadiers - Minden Miniatures.

I wanted to pitch in and paint these grenadiers right away, but some recent "life events" kept me away from the painting table. Notably, painting figures is very relaxing for me and helps me to deal with some of the life stresses related to the recent passing of my mother. But I digress and am not looking for sympathies...

I use 32-figure battalions in my Russian units and base them on four stands. This is done so that I can place the drummers at the end of the line, where they should be, and the NCO is also at the end of the battalion line, again, where he should be.

However, four bases creates an imbalance in the symmetrical look of the battalion, noting that the flags are offset from the center of the unit due to having an even number of stands rather than an odd number of stands. My "fix" for this visual problem had been to add a stand of a battalion gun on the flank of the battalion. I use two Russian artillerymen and a Prussian 3-pounder for the actual gun (one of these days, in the future, I will add an actual Russian 3-pounder to the Minden figure range).

Two of the four stands shown with the battalion gun stand on the flank.
The picture also depicts how I place the drummer on the flank plus an NCO
at the end of the front rank (right-most figure in the first row).

Russian 3-pound battalion guns stands. I had to use the Minden Prussian 3-pound
cannon as a substitute for an actual Russian 3-pounder model.

4th Grenadiers with a pair of battalion guns - not my normal set up.

If you are interested in adding a Russian grenadier battalion to your wargame army, then you will need the following product codes for Minden Russian grenadiers wearing their green coats:

MR-007  Russian grenadier command (officer, ensign, drummer and NCO)

MR-008  Russian grenadiers, rank and file figures (8 figures)

It looks like I will need to either add a second standard bearer to the command pack or add a new product code for a pair of grenadier standard bearers.

I hope that you enjoy looking at these pictures (I apologize for some of them being a little fuzzy and dark) and that they convey the grandeur of the Russian grenadier uniforms.