My 1740 Potsdam Musket

Reproduction 1740 model Potsdam musket, from The Discriminating General in Canada

I was excited to learn that my reproduction Model 1740 Potsdam Musket had arrived today. The musket was purchased from Military Heritage through their The Discriminating General website. The Company is located in Canada. Military Heritage and Potsdam Musket

I was perusing their web site a month ago, because they often have some very nice historical reproductions that are fun to look at  and once in awhile I am tempted to make a purchase from them. I had previously purchase a British grenadier mitre for the Seven Years War era and a couple of other smaller items. The company makes complete uniforms with all of the bits and pieces of equipment and accoutrements, including side arms and fire arms. Many of their uniforms go to historical museums or are used in historical films, and given the former usage, their authenticity has to be very accurate.

So I was very surprised to see that they had added the Prussian Model 1740 Potsdam Musket to their product line. Why was I so excited, you might ask? Well, as far as I knew up until then, nobody in the world made reproduction Prussian muskets for the SYW. At one time, you could buy a Potsdam kit and attempt to make and assemble the musket yourself (not a viable option for most of us), but that was about it. I don't know how it came to pass that The Discriminating General was making the Potsdam Musket, but I knew that I had to have one to display on my wall at home.

The muskets are delivered in a non-firing state so that the Company can ship the weapon across international borders. You can then have a qualified gunsmith drill out the touch hole to put the piece into firing condition. I haven't decided yet whether I want to have my musket in firing condition, or just to use it as a display piece.

The workmanship looks very impressive to me. I have included a couple close up photographs of the fire lock (is that what you call it?). You can even see the factory marking, where the word "Potsdammagaz" is engraved onto the firing plate. There is also a nifty looking royal cypher or symbol engraved in brass and affixed to the stock of the musket.

A close up view of firing mechanism

The factory mark

I expected the Potsdam to be heavy, and it was, weighing in at 9 pounds, according to the UPS shipping invoice. I know very little about muskets, but it appears to be nicely balanced, with most of the weight in the back third of the musket. It does not come with the red leather musket sling/strap, so I will probably have to find a company that makes these and order one.

One nice little thing about having this model is that it answers the question, "what are the details on the musket and how do you paint one on a miniature?" I now have a handy reference at hand.

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By the way, would someone please add himself as a "follower" to this blog? I have been stuck on the number 399 and one more follower would bring my total up to a nice, symetrical even number, like 400.

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Upcoming Wargame this weekend: On Saturday February 15th I will travel to Brown Deer with my Minden Austrian and Prussian armies so that we can have a game on Bill Protz's giant 6 ft by 24ft table. Something about the invasion of Saxony, so I'm told. What can go wrong with that? I will post a report over the weekend complete with pictures and details.

1st Continental Dragoons - Fife & Drum Miniatures

All 8 poses of the 1st Continental Dragoons, circa 1777. (Click to enlarge)

I was able to paint all 8 of the new Fife & Drum 1st Continental Dragoons as samples yesterday - that's a pretty good painting pace, finishing 8 cavalry, from start to finish, in one day. I always paint at least one of the figures complete - start to finish - because this gives me a better feel for how to paint the rest of the figures: i.e what order should I paint the various bits and pieces of equipment and cloth. Once that first figure is painted, then the others follow more quickly.

Here are the new product code numbers for each of the eight new figures:

AC-010  1st Continental Dragoon Officer, pointing

AC-011  1st Continental Dragoon Standard Bearer

AC-012  1st Continental Dragoon Trumpeter

AC-013  1st Continental Dragoon Trooper with Shouldered Sword

AC-014  1st Continental Dragoon Trooper, rested Carbine

AC-015  1st Continental Dragoon Trooper, Firing Pistol

AC-016  1st Continental Dragoon Trooper, Firing Carbine

AC-017  1st Continenal Dragoon Trooper, Reloading Carbine

1st Continental Dragoon Command (L-R): AC-013 Trooper, Shouldered Sword; AC-011 Trumpeter; AC-012 Standard Bearer; and AC-010 Officer (click pix to enlarge)

Another view of the command figures, same order left to right. Obviously the Trooper with shouldered sword is not part of the command group - it was just convenient to photograph the figures in groups of 4 figures.

The figures are sculpted such that one could create a regiment with a more formal appearance, an open order skirmish appearance, or a mix of the two. For a more formal looking regiment, use the four figures shown in the two pictures above. For example, you might select one each of the officer, standard bearer and the trumpeter plus nine of the trooper with shouldered sword to create a squadron or regiment  of 12 dragoons.

The you could add one each of the four skirmishing poses (firing pistol, firing carbine, reloading carbine or rested carbine) to bring your wargame unit up to 16 figures, which is probably a good number to have in most AWI games. The skirmishers could either augment the strength of the unit, or if you base your cavalry on the standard 2-inch square base, you could remove one stand of "formal" dragoons and replace it on the table with two individually-mounted skirmishers.

1st Continental Dragoons skirmishing (L-R) AC-0016 Firing Pistol; AC-014 Rested Carbine; AC-017 Reloading; and AC-016 Firing Carbine (click pix to enlarge)

If you want a more open, skirmish order look to your regiment, then I would recommend selecting the officer (pointing to where a target is) and perhaps the firing pistol and firing carbine and reloading figures. Then, you could have a reserve in your skirmish line consisting of the trooper with the carbine resting on his right thigh and perhaps even the standard bearer and trumpeter posted in the rear with the reserve line. I would use the standing horses for the skirmish poses.

I elected to paint the 1st Continental Dragoons in their earlier brown coat with green facings uniform, which is kind of drab when compared to the more spectacular red coats of the British 16th Light Dragoons that I painted last week. The regiment later converted to a blue coat with red facings. I used the brown  coat since that is likely what the regiment wore during the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777-78, which my AWI Continental army is modelled after.

More Fife & Drum 16th Light Dragoons

Six of the eight new 16th Light Dragoons. Click to enlarge.

British 16th Light Dragoons in situ. Click to enlarge.

This evening I put the finishing touches on four more of the new 16th Light Dragoons figures and I do not exagerate when I say that these new figures were really fun to paint. The variety and animation, and the realistic look of the figures is hard to beat. I think that Richard Ansell really out-did himself in sculpting this batch of figures.

I have only the trumpeter and the trooper in hunting shirt/shouldered sword pose remaining in my quest to get each of the new 16th Dragoons samples painted. After that, the 1st Continental Dragoons will be painted.

Here are the new product codes for the 16th Light Dragoons:

BC-010  16th Light Dragoon Officer, pointing
BC-011  16th Light Dragoon Trumpeter
BC-012   16th Light Dragoon - Shouldered Sword, uniform coat
BC-013   16th Light Dragoon - Shouldered Sword, hunting shirt variant
BC-014   16th Light Dragoon - In reserve, rested carbine
BC-015   16th Light Dragoon - Firing Carbine
BC-016   16th Light Dragoon - Firing Pistol
BC-017   16th Light Dragoon - Loading Carbine

Each figure is priced at $5.00 each (including horse and rider). They are available for pre-order now, with estimated shipping in about 1 to 2 weeks, after I send out the Kickstarter Rewards to our backers. You will not be charged for any of these figures until I am ready to ship them, but a pre-order helps me to gauge how many I will need to keep in stock after the Kickstarter orders are mailed.

From L to R: Officer, Firing Pistol, Musket at Rest - in reserve, and Shoulderd Sword. Click to enlarge.

Side view of the four newest dragoons off of the painting table.

16th Dragoons - Painted Samples

16th Light Dragoons (L-R): BC-016 firing carbine; and BC-017 loading carbine. (Click pix to enlarge)

Here are a couple of pictures of two of the new Fife & Drum AWI British 16th Light Dragoons that I painted this evening (Sunday night). These are just two of the eight poses that we have for the 16th Light Dragoons. I really like their "Tarleton" style leather helmet and I could even see using these in my Hesse Seewald fictional army too.

I will paint the other six poses of the 16th Light Dragoons this week and then tackle the 1st Continental Dragoons.

Below is a reverse view of the fellow firing his carbine:

16th Light Dragoons (click to enlarge)

Sadly, it is inevitable that someone will ask me, "are Fife & Drum figures Perry compatible?" I think that the real questin should be, "are Perry figures Fife & Drum compatible?" LOL.

So look below for a comparison photo of two figures, same pose, from each range and judge for yourself.  

Comparison of Perry versus Fife & Drum - similar posed figures.

I think that both ranges could easily be used on the same tabletop. You probably would not want to mix figures into one unit, but keep them in their own discrete units and the two ranges should look just fine together.

Banastre Tarleton shown with the two 16th Light Dragoons to give you a little better perspective of how the Fife & Drum range looks.

Right now I am imagining a whole regiment of about 16 of the 16th Light Dragoons and thinking how absolutely awesome that wargame regiment would look. I can't wait to paint more.

AWI Dragoons for Fife & Drum Have Arrived!

British 16th Light Dragoons (R to L): BC-010 Officer; BC-011 Trumpeter; BC-012 Trooper shouldered sword in hunting shirt; BC-013 Trooper shouldered sword in coat. (click to enlarge).

The 1st Continental Dragoons and the British 16th Light Dragoons castings for the Kickstarter Project arrived today. For those of you who are Kickstarter Backers, I will start packing figures for these two sets of AWI dragoons and mail them within two weeks (it takes a bit of time to process everything).

For those of you who did not back the Kickstarter Project, but would like to purchase figures from the 1st Continental Dragoons, the British 16th Light Dragoons, and/or the Knyphausen, Tarleton and Marion personality figures, then you may begin to place "PRE-ORDERS" and I will ship your order as soon as the Kickstarter backers have had their figures shipped to them. So this is approximately 2-3 weeks before I can start selling AWI dragoons to the general public.

If you pre-order any dragoons, you will not be charged any money until I am ready to ship your figures. The pre-order system allows me to guage the level of interest in the new dragoons so that I can order sufficient stock from my caster, Griffin Moulds Ltd. To make it easier to order, I have assigned part numbers to each figure, which you can buy individually (horse included) for $5.25 per set.

British 16th Light Dragoons skirmishing (R to L): BC-014 rested carbine; BC-015 firing pistol; BC-016 firing carbine; and BC-017 loading carbine. (click to enlarge).

Each set of dragoons has command figures and 1-2 troopers with shouldered swords or carbines rested on their right thigh. Using these figures, you can assemble a "formal" looking regiment of figures for either the 1st Continental Dragoons or the British 16th Light Dragoons.

If you prefer skirmishing dragoons, you can also recruit a squadron or regiment of troopers firing or loading their weapons. Add in the officer figure (pointing) and you can create a nice looking vignette.

1st Continental Dragoons (L to R): AC-010 Officer; AC-011 Trumpeter; AC-012 standard bearer; and AC-0013 Trooper with shouldered sword. (click to enlarge).

1st Continental Dragoons (L to R): AC-014 Trooper firing pistol; AC-015 Trooper firing carbine; AC-016 Trooper loading carbine; and AC-017 Trooper with rested carbine. (click to enlarge).

JP

Von Glasenap Regiment of Hesse Seewald

Von Glasenap Musketeer Regiment & Prinz Friedrich of Hesse Seewald (click pix to enlarge)

I was able to finish a company of the first infantry regiment of the Hesse Seewald Army: the IR1 von Glasenap regiment, which is the senior regiment in the army. One stand of six musketeers will equal one company and there will be five musketeer companies and one grenadier company in each regiment. For now, I plan to have one battalion regiments in the Hesse Seewald army, and with four or five regiments, I can hive off the grenadier stand to form a converged grenadier battalion in addition to the five musketeer or fusilier regiments. If the project really develops, I could always go to two-battalion regiments, in which case, two grenadier companies from two different regiment will converge to form a four company grenadier battalion of 24 figures.

Prinz Friedrich of Hesse Seewald is the Hanoverian Colonel figure from the Minden range, painted in Hesse Seewald uniform of the von Glasenap regiment. He wears the orange sash indicating his Order of the Lion honour.

Below, I have provided the rear view of Prinz Friedrich and of the two grenadier samples that I painted. This provides a nice view of the grenadier bag.

Rear view of the von Glasenap grenadiers, and Prinz Friedrich.

So I have a nice start on my Hesse Seewald army, using Minden Prussian figures.  The Garde zu Fuss regiment is nearly completed and von Glasenap will see more additions from time to time as I paint a few figures at a time, in between other painting projects. I have to place a priority on Austrians and Prussians to use in my convention game at the SYWA Convention at the end of March, in South Bend, Indiana.

While I posted the two Garde pictures previously, here they are again so that you can see everything in one posting.

The Hesse Seewald Garde zu Fuss

Close up view of the grenadier company

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More SYW Saxons

Here is a picture of some Minden Saxons that were painted by Richard Ansell. I found this picture in the archives of images that I saved from Frank Hammond's former Minden blog. You didn't know that Minden made SYW Saxons? They are actually the Prussian musketeers in Swedish cuffs that have been "converted by paint". 

As I look for some allies to field with my Austrians, I am more and more drawn to the idea of painting a brigade of Saxon infantry, to be kicked around by the Prussians on my tabletop. They could then do double duty as the army of the evil Duke of Sachsen Raschstein, the perennial foe of the Elector and Duke of Hesse Seewald.

Some Saxons could come in handy to fight such battles as Hohenfriedburg, Kesselsdorf, Hennersdorf ( all fought during the Second Silesian War/War of the Austrian Succession) as well as one Saxon cavalry for a relight of Kolin during the SYW. Saxon infantry regiments were later reconstituted in the service of France (Berge, Minden).

I have placed an order with Maverick Models in the UK for some Saxon infantry flags. Several of my readers have recommended this company as a good source for flags, so I thought that I would give Maverick a try.

More to come, no doubt.