RSM Austrians Dragoons

Austrian dragoon regiments Kolowrat (blue), Savoyen (red) and a converged regiment of horse grenadiers. Figures are all RSM figures, formerly from my own collection, originally painted by Bill Biles. I added four more dragoons to the two dragoon regiments to increase the regiment to 24 figures. Click the picture to enlarge the view.

I recently finished rebasing two regiments of RSM Austrian Dragoons for one of my clients and so these units will be passing on to a new inhaber. Hopefully they will serve their new colonel as well as they did for me. The blue coated dragoons are the Kolowrat Dragoons and the red coated dragoons are the Savoyen Dragoons. The third unit is a converged group of horse grenadiers from five different regiments.

The client asked me to increase the size of the dragoon regiments from 20 figures to 24 figures (see if you can spot the newly painted additions in each regiment) and to rebase the figures from two per stand to a more tightly packed in three per stand. Finally, I rebased and reterrained everything using fine railroad ballast and static grass. The end result is quite pleasing to the eye, if I do say so myself.

I noticed that we are closing in on 250,000 visitors to this blog. So we ought to hit this milestone within a couple of days, even fewer if I post more pictures of Richard Ansell's exquisite AWI greens. The traffic has more than doubled on the days that I post pictures of the new figures, which is quite a testament to the work that Richard did on these figures.

We will be fighting our annual Light Troop SYW Game next weekend in DeKalb at Schloss Frye. Every year, we have a game in December that is comprised of only light infantry and light cavalry so as to get more of a skirmish level game with lots of room for maneuvering. I will have to take some pictures of Lady de Winter's band of Regulators, Garde du Corps and Bosniak lancers, all comprising her notorious Black Legion of Doom -- and post them on this blog before the game on Saturday December 4, 2010.

I also have a few more Ansell sculpts to show this week. So stay tuned for more eye candy.

Even More AWI British Light Infantry Figures

British Light Company Man Advancing (click all pix to enlarge the view)

Rear view of the same figure above.

Here are two more picture sets of the British Light Company soldiers that were sculpted by Richard Ansell. The advancing figure shown above would look particularly good "en masse" in the event that you want to build one of the converged light company battalions in a sort of conventional battle mode, rather than with all manner of figures in skirmish poses. Once I have the figures on hand, I will probably paint two battalions: one in skirmish mode and the other with all advancing figures plus officers, NCOs and musicians.

British Light Company Man Kneeling Firing

Same figure as above, but showing the view from the rear.

Next we have the light company man kneeling and firing. I like the way that Ansell sculpts figures in firing poses - they look so natural and elegant. I can just picture a hand full of these figures, three per stand, in various skirmish poses, behind cover (rocks, trees, tall grass, etc.). One could really get creative with these animated poses (see my pictures of the Minden SYW Croats to see what I'm talking about).

Tomorrow night I will post the final two British light infantry figures consisting of an officer figure and another advancing poses.

More AWI Light Infantry & Comparisons

British Light Company Man standing firing

British Light Company man - rear view

Here is another one of the British light company figures that Richard Ansell sculpting for our new AWI range of figures. This is one of my favorite figures because the figure seems so natural in his pose and it is visually very elegant.

Several people on TMP asked for some comparative photos of our figures and some samples from the Perry, Eureka and Front Rank ranges, all of which are very nice figures, with each having its own unique style. In the first set of pictures below, I have placed a Eureka Ragged Continental, a Perry AWI Hessian Officer, and a Minden SYW Prussian Officer (a proxy for the Ansell-sculpted AWI figures) on the review stand together. The Perry figure is 1-2 millimeters taller than the Eureka and Minden figures, but the difference does not seem to be significant. In the second picture, I added a shim (using a US Penny) to the Minden figure to bring it up to the same height as the slightly taller Perry figure. This is a little trick that I use in my 1:10 ratio BAR armies for the SYW whenever I want to use figures that are a little shorter than the rest of my 30mm figures. Once you cover the shim with basing material, the difference will not be noticeable.

Eureka (left), Perry (centre) and Minden (right)

Same figures as previous picture, but with a shim (US Penny) added to the Minden figure to add another millimeter to its height in comparison with the other two figures.

I think that the pictures above indicate that the three ranges, Eureka, Perry and Ansell can all be used together on the same table top, with little discernable difference, as long as you don't mix ranges into the same unit.

Hinchcliffe X-Range (left), RSM (centre) and Minden (right) figures are very compatible in terms of height and the heft or build of the torsos. Both the Hinchcliffe and the RSM figures were sculpted by the late Steve Hezzlewood back in the 1980s.

The final line up of figures showing all six AWI ranges (from left to right): Hinchliffe, RSM, Minden, Perry, Eureka and Front Rank. You will need to click this picture for a closer view.

I think that the final picture, above, illustrates that one can use a variety of figures in the same army. In some cases, you might be able to mix in a figure or two from one range into the other without a discernable difference. Any more than that, it starts to become noticeable, in my humble opinion. I am not averse to using different ranges of figures in my BAR SYW armies, it is just that I do not mix brands into discrete units unless I need a specific figure that nobody else produces.

*****
I will post some more pictures Sunday night or on Monday so that you can see the rest of the British Light Infantry poses that are completed.

AWI British Light Infantry

British Light Company man loading his musket. Front and rear views

I was going to wait a few more days before posting more pictures of Richard Ansell's greens for the British Light Company figures in skirmishing poses, but I know that a lot of my readers are chomping at the bit, as it were, to see more pictures. So I will tease you with a couple of pictures every other day until I run through the 8 poses that we have for the light company men.

Light infantry musician with horn - front view

Light infantry musician with horn - rear view. Note the difference in the metal canteen compared to the wooden "St. Bernard Flask" used by the Guards (see previous posting)

Richard kindly provided me with a picture that compares three different figures in the 28mm-30mm range so that you can see how the new AWI sculpts stand up to other ranges of figures.

Size does make a difference, or does it? Comparative figures depict a HaT Napoleonic figure, a Perry plastic dragoon (centre) and one of Richard Ansell's sculpts for our AWI range of figures. All three figures are of a comparable height, but it is the thickness or heft of the figure that makes each one distinctive from the other.

The left hand figure is one of the Hat plastics and the middle one is a Perry plastic for comparison. The castings from the green will be about 1mm shorter, losing about .5mm in the master mould and .5mm again in the production mould.

The cast figures will be about 30mm to the top of the head (not the hat!) or 28mm to the eye if you want to measure them like that. 30mm to the top of the head/28mm to the eye seems pretty much the norm nowadays, these just happen to be rather slimmer than average.

The British Are Coming!

Brigade of Guards NCO - Center Company

And now for something completely different: the Brigade of Guards in the AWI, circa 1777 during the Philadelphia Campaign. These are the first of what will be an extensive range of 1/56 scale (approximately 30mm) figures designed by Richard Ansell, who is well known for his realistic and lifelike sculpting style, as seen in his designs for the Minden Miniatures SYW and the Alban Miniatures Napoleonic figure ranges.

Our objective is to provide a comprehensive range of figures in this style to portray the British army in campaign uniforms, circa the 1777 Philadelphia Campaign and their American Continental and militia adversaries. The British soldiers will be wearing campaign uniforms: cut down coats, round hats turned up at one side, trousers or gaitor-trousers, and minimal marching kit. These will not be depicting the 1768 Warrant uniform found in nearly every AWI range. In other words, these British soldiers will look like the real deal.

For those of you who are familiar with Frank Hammond's Minden Miniatures range of figures, you will already know that these figures will not necessarily be compatible with Front Rank, Old Glory, Perry Miniatures or various other ranges that are already on the market. They won't need to be compatible, because we are going to provide everything that you will need to fight the AWI in the 1776-1777 period.

Over time, we will add British regulars and light infantry, Highlanders, artillery crew and limbers and guns for both sides, mounted dragoons and mounted officers for His Majesty's Forces. The American army will be similarly covered in equal depth. We might even add French regulars after we complete the British and Americans.

My own reason for getting involved in this new venture is that I believe that Richard Ansell is the premier sculptor in the hobby today and his sculpting style checks off all of the boxes when it comes down to what I look for in a wargame figure: realistic, well proportioned, animated figures with a life like appearance. That being the case, I wanted to have a comprehensive range of Ansell-sculpted figures for my own use and gratification. If I wanted an obscure figure such as the flank company soldier in the British Brigade of Guards, then I could simply commission the sculpting of such a figure and add it to my own army.

At the present time, Richard has completed the first 16 figures, comprised of 8 poses for the Brigade of Guards and 8 British Light Infantry in skirmishing poses. Next in the que will be American militia in skirmishing poses so that you can start collecting opposing forces suitable for skirmish wargame rules, such as Sharpe Practice, etc.

I expect that the first figures will be cast and ready for purchase in January 2011 and then we will continue to add new figures every couple of months.

The figures will be sold under the "Battleroad Games & Hobbies" brand name - a new on-line venture based in Marlborough, Massachusetts

http://battleroadgames.com/

The company is a seller of miniatures and hobby related supplies and accessories, but the AWI figures will be its own proprietary range of figures.

Please take some time to browse through the pictures below, and be sure to click on the picture to enlarge the view. Later this week, I will post pictures of the British Light Infantry in skirmishing poses. I will also post comparative pictures of Minden (also sculpted by Mr. Ansell), Perry, RSM, Hinchcliffe X-Range, Scruby, Old Glory and Front Rank so that you can make your own judgement, based on pictorial evidence. Most of these figures are 30mm +/- a millimeter or two. So their height will be compatible. On the other hand, some figures will appear chunkier, others thinner, but ultimately you will have to make your own decision as to whether or not they are compatible with other brands. But as I indicated earlier, my goal is to blaze my own trail and not try to copycat other figure ranges.

Guards Flank Company Man Marching

Guards Flank Company Officer

Guards Center Company Man Marching

Guards Center Company Man Standing Firing (note wood water cask and detail of coat tails which have been cut back)

Brigade of Guards Officer

Guards Center Company Man Cocking Musket

Brigade of Guards Drummer

The "Minden" Austrian Army, So Far...

Regiment Kollowrat - 2 battalions (5 musketier stands and 1 grenadier stand per battalion). Minden Miniatures painted by Der Alte Fritz. Click the pix twice to enlarge the view.

It occured to me that I had not previously posted pictures of the Austrian infantry that I had painted for my Minden Project. Today's pictures will remedy that short sight. In my army organization, the Austrians will have a two-battalion regiment with a stand of grenadiers detached from each battalion. Two regiments will comprise a brigade and have a separate brigadier general command stand, a brigade ammo wagon, two 3-pdr battalion guns and two regimental command figures. The grenadier stands from each battalion will be converged into one battalion of 24 figures, so each regiment donates two stands of grenadiers to the converged grenadier battalion.

Austrian artillery battery (12-pdr on the left and 6-pdr on the right). Note drag ropes attached to the 6-pdr. Guns & limbers from Berliner Zinnfiguren and limber horses and rider from RSM.

The picture above depicts two sections of a four section Austrian artillery battery. Each section will have the artillery piece (from Berliner Zinnfiguren), four Minden artillery crew, two artillery fusiliers converted with paint from the Minden pioneer figures, one supply wagon per section, one limber (4 horses and 1 rider - from RSM). Later, I might add extra artillery figures in marching poses so that when I limber a gun, I can remove the artillerist that are glued onto the artillery stand and just attach the gun model to the limber. Then, while the limber is moving, I can set down a stand of 4 gunners walking behind the limbered cannon model.

Detached grenadiers - two stands per regiment. These will be converged with two stands from another regiment to form a 24-figure unit. I might add a fifth stand of a completely different regiment in order to build the converged grenadier battalion up to 30 figures, same as the musketier battalions.



What is an Austrian army without its Croat light infantry?

Eventually, I will have two brigades of Austrian infantry with each brigade comprised of two regiments, each regiment comprised of two battalions. The converged grenadiers might be brigaded with the Croat light infantry and the artillery battery.

As for the cavalry, so far, I've painted only a dozen Austrian cuirassiers. My plan is to have one cuirassier regiment (32 to 40 figures), one dragoon regiment (same number of figures), perhaps one hussar regiment and maybe one more dragoon or cuirassier regiment to keep an even number of cavalry units in the brigade. I happen to like symmetry. :)

More Minden Goodness

Prussian hussar trooper in busby - the latest release of figures from Minden Miniatures. Figures sculpted by Richard Ansell (bless him) and photo by Frank Hammond (bless him too).

It always makes my day when I happen to click on the Elector vs Empire blog and peruse the list of blogs, seeing that there is something new on Frank Hammond's Minden Miniatures blog. And so to my great surprise, I visited the blog and discovered Frank's announcement that he was adding Prussian hussars wearing busbies to his wonderful range of SYW figures.

Please click on the link below to see more pictures and read about the new hussar releases from Minden:

http://mindenminis.blogspot.com/2010/11/hussars-in-busbys.html

Frank reports that he also has dismounted hussars in mirlitons and busbies for the Prussians that are getting ready for mould-making so that he can put them into production. My recollection is that the range will include horse holders, horses with saddles and horse furnitures (but no riders) and various skirmishing hussars. I am already mentally creating scenarios for these figures and I have no doubt that they will be real beauties.

Now, the only question that remains for me is "how many hussars should I buy?" Should I go with 30, 32 or 40 man regiments? And should I paint them as the Green Hussars (HR1) or the Ziethen Hussars (HR2 - blue). So many choices to make, but it is a nice problem to have.

Minden Austrian Artillery

Minden Miniatures SYW Austrian artillery crew with artillery fusiliers in waistcoats helping . RSM95 limbers and teams in the background (borrowed from my other armies). Building by Ian Weekley and large tree by HG Walls (Herb Gundt). Click pix to enlarge the view.

I changed my plans a bit and veered off into the realm of Austrian artillery, rather than completing the Minden Austrian grenadiers, as planned. I think that viewing the picture of the Prussian artillery battery compelled me to get to work on the Austrian counterpart - and soon!


Side view of the two sections of 12-pounders from Berliner Zinnfiguren. I plan to use Berliner Zinnfiguren limbers and RSM horses, but borrowed an RSM limber and horse team for this photograph.


A close up view of the Berliner Zinnfiguren Austrian 12-pounders. They are a perfect fit for the Minden artillery crew. The artillery fusiliers on the stand behind the guns are the Minden Pioneers painted as Austrians in waistcoats.

So far, I have completed two Berliner Zinnfiguren 12-pounder and one 6-pounder; two sets of four artillery crew for the 12-pounders (I still have to paint the crew for the smaller gun) and three sets of two pioneers to provide the "muscle" for moving the guns back into position. The artillery crew are Minden Austrians, of course, and the dragrope men are the Minden generic pioneers, holding bar levers or skeins of rope made from twisted florists' wire.

The limbers (Berliner Zinnfiguren) and team (horses and rider from RSM95) are still a work in process with the harness traces (florists' wire) superglued onto the limber - that is the hardest part of the project - and primed and ready for paint. I use a 4-horse team of RSM95 horses and their limber rider paired with the BZ artillery pieces. Hopefully, I will have a three section battery completed by this evening (2 x 12-pounders and 1 x 6-pounder) and then I will add another 6-pounder over the next week or so.

Here is a link to the Berliner Zinnfiguren store site with information on their gun models. If the link doesn't work correctly, go to the store site (link on the left side of this page) and click on Flats link, then Miliary History, then Austria 1756-63, then Austrian artillery. I scrolled down to Austrian artillery and clicked that. It took me to the page below, showing lots of flat figures, but at the bottom of the page, are pictures of the 3-D gun models that I have been using. The cost about Euro 21.75, which is not cheap, but I think that they are worth it (you get the gun and the limber for the price). I then use RSM horses since BZ doesn't make 3D horse figures.

http://www.zinnfigur.com/Figure/DE_Figure_Flats_Set.asp

Stock #: 268/2 Prussian 12-pounder
268/3 Prussian 7-pound Haubitze (howitzer)
268/5 Austrian 12-pounder (looks exactly the same as the Prussian model)

Eventually, I will add a Front Rank supply wagon for each gun model. The Prussian guns get a wagon with a wood cover while the Austrian guns get a wagon with a wicker cover (Front Rank provides both options with their wagons). However, I can always use some existing supply wagons to tide me over until I can get the new official wagons painted. I thought it more important to get the guns, crew and limbers done first.

The Chicago Bears whipped the Minnesota Vikings and Brett Favre 27-13. The Grimsby Wargamer and I will be celebrating the victory tonight.

A Four Day Weekend Begins

Prussian artillery battery - a great picture deserves a second showing. Minden artillery crew, Berlin Zinnfiguren cannon and limbers, Front Rank supply wagons, and RSM horses and drovers. Click (or double click) the picture to enlarge the view.

The picture of my SYW Prussian artillery battery is one of my favorite pictures in my archives. I think that I posted the picture in August 2010, but I like it so much that I wanted to lead off today's blog entry.

Tonight starts a long four day holiday weekend for me, with the office closed for Veterans' Day tomorrow, a vacation day on friday to bridge to the weekend, and the normal saturday and sunday weekend. That should give me plenty of time to recharge my batteries after 12 consecutive weeks of "balls of fire" workload at the office. I'm really looking forward to the time off and the promise of some significant family time and painting time mixed in for balance.

I plan to finish off the Minden Austrian grenadiers and then hopefully pitch in to some of the Austrian artillery crew. I've got a long way to go before I can bring the Austrian artillery park up the quantity and standard that you see for the Prussians, in the picture above. I will probably have to spend a full day assembling limbers, reins & traces, and riders to get all of the pieces that I need to replicate the complete section of cannon & crew/support-drag rope men/supply wagon/ limber team for each Austrian section. It's a lot of work up front, but the painting is relatively quick and easy, plus the end results are well worth the effort.

RSM Prussian & Austrian Sale / Foundry Russian Sale Pending
I have decided to sell off the rest of my RSM Prussian army and the remaining Austrian cavalry that I still have. With these armies being sold, I will not have a reason to keep my SYW Russian army (Foundry) either, so watch this blog over the next week or two for pictures of these armies. I will sell them as individual units or work out a discount for larger purchases of brigades or even whole armies. Stay tuned.

More Korbach Pictures

Opening set up on a 24 ft long table. French on the left, British on the right.

Here are the rest of the pictures that I took at the Battle of Korbach. Both sides had nearly identical armies with respect to cavalry, artillery poundage, grenadier battalions, a guard battalion each, etc. Early in the game, the British seemed to draw the first fire initiative cards, so they drove off the first attack of the Irish/d'Eu Brigade on the British right flank. Both French battalions took a hard pounding, but they refused to run away. They backed off the hill to regroup, and then came on again.

In the center, a British grenadier battalion and the 3rd Buffs were gradually whittled down by long range round shot from a battery of French 12 pounders. The French artillerists had first destroyed their British counterparts in a whithering counter-battery fire. With no artillery in the center, the British infantry had to fall back out of range - they could not contest the attack in the center without artillery.

British left flank is anchored on the Watch Tower Hill. The 8th Regt of Foot occuppies the tower, a battery of 6-pounders deploys on the road, and the the 11th Foot is to the left of the guns. These are both Stadden figure regiments. The rest of the brigade (3rd The Buffs and the Black Watch) deploys behind the ridge.


The British right wing guards an Ian Weekley wind mill.


Irish regiment Bulkeley (in red) and Regt. d''Eu (in white) advance towards the windmill to open the attack. These are Capitulations figures from France. They are supported by Les Gardes Francaises (Surens) in the second line and by the Saxon von Bruhl cavalry and the Arquebusiers de Grassins.


Brent calculates the damage that he is about to inflict on the British.


Closer view of the Bulkeley and d'Eu regiments, after they have been thinned down a bit by British musketry.


Regt d'Eu took a pounding, but kept coming back to fight the British defending the windmill hill. A squadron of von Bruhl Saxon dragoons advances to attack the depleted British infantry. A run of initiative cards and jokers in the French favor allowed them to win the fire fight and drive off the British right wing brigade.

Meanwhile, over on the Watch Tower Hill, the French were advancing in the usual way and grinding down the 8th, the 11th and the Black Watch, in rapid succession.


A bunch of bad guys in white coats overwhelm the British defending the Tower Hill. The 8th Regt of Foot is about to get wiped out when the French either get the first fire card or play one of their two jokers (joker cards trump the opponent's initiative card)


More Bad Guys surge over the ridge - French regiment Auvergne (right) and the 11th Regt of Foot (left)

The 8th and the 11th Foot both rout from the devastating French volleys. Now the Black Watch (Suren figures) move up from the reserve to plug the gap.

The 3rd (The Buffs) Regt of Foot advance with the Highlanders. Their fate is best epitomized by the chap in the front rank on the right end. Note that the French Auvergne Regiment is barely touched even after engaging in an earlier firefight with the 11th Foot.

The Grenadiers de France (2 btns of them, actually, one is not shown in this picture) move in to administer the coup de grace to the British left and center.

The British had one last gambit to play: their reserve of a converged grenadier battalion and the Regt. of Foot Guards. The grenadiers advanced into the French meatgrinder and watched half of their number fall to the ground before they could even fire their muskets. The Foot Guards, seeing this, wisely opted to fall back and cover the retreat of what was left of the British army. It was an overwhelming French victory.

Back to Painting Minden Austrians

I have a stand of six Minden Austrian grenadiers that have been sitting on my painting table since July of this year. I completed them and finished their base with static grass, but I never got around to finishing the rest of the unit (24 figures). This evening, I finally pushed them back to the front of the painting que and it felt good to paint Minden figures again.

My plan for Austrian grenadiers is to paint two stands of six figures for every line battalion that I field. So a two battalion regiment of fusiliers will yield two stands of six figures of grenadiers. Two regiments will yield four stands or 24 figures. I am thinking that 24 figures will be my standard grenadier battalion for the Austrian army.

In theory, I could attach the grenadier stand to the rest of the battalion (five stands of six figures, or a 30 figure battalion) and have one large 36-figure Austrian battalion. Or, detach the grenadier stands and converge them with other grenadiers to create 24 or 36 figure grenadier battalions. I suspect that I will go with the smaller 24-figure battalion having 2 stands in one facing color and 2 stands in another facing color. I suppose that I could add a single stand of a third facing color to bring the battalion up to 30, which is the same strength as my Prussian grenadier battalions.

I should have a couple more stands of grenadiers completed by the end of this coming weekend.

Korbach - October 30, 2010

British right flank commanded by Sir John Beck. Windmill by Ian Weekley, ground mat and road section from The Terrain Guy. Sir Matt Shaw (black shirt) commanded the British left flank, while Der Alte Fritz commanded the reserve forces in the center.

This past Saturday October 30, 2010, we convened in Brown Deer at Chez Protz to refight the Battle of Korbach, which took place in July 1760, if I recall correctly. Actually, the terrain was "sort of Korbach" with the main feature being the Tower Hill on the British left flank. As Phil Olley says, every horse and musket game should have a windmill in it, so I brought along my Ian Weekley-made windmill to anchor the British right flank.


The Tower Hill was defended by some Stadden's kitted out as the 8th Regiment of Foot. Building by Herb Gundt - actually made for Afghanistan, but it looked suitable for central Germany as well, circa 1760.

As commander of the British army and owner of a perfect record in battle, i.e. I've never won a BAR game playing the redcoats, I elected to take advantage of the terrain and split our infantry with four battalions on the left (3rd Foot, 8th Foot, 11th Foot, and 42nd Highlanders) supported by a battery of two six pounders plus one 4 lb battalion gun. Matt Shaw, a first-time BAR player, handled his brigade very well, placing a grand division of the 8th in the Tower, while deploying the rest of the brigade behind the crest of the ridge.

On the far right, John Beck anchored his brigade around the Windmill, with three battalions to the front and a battalion of converged grenadiers in support, forming the second line. For most of the game, it appeared that John was going to stop the French attack cold, but then a bad run of initiative cards (and both of the jokers in the deck) went to the French just in time to give them nearly all of the first fires in the critical final three turns of the game.

I commanded the reserve of the 1st Guards, a converged grenadier battalion and two small squadrons of Life Guards/Horse Grenadiers -- deployed in the center to plug any holes that might develop.

French right flank, commanded by Brent Olsen (not shown in this picture) - two battalions of Capitulations figures and RSM gun crew, backed up by a battalion of Suren Gardes Francaises. Monsieur Protz looks on with approval.



French regiments Bulkelley (red) and d'Eu (white) advance on the British right with Gardes Francaises barely visible in the background.




Hordes of French cavalry prepare to charge on the British far left (French right).


Hanoverian horse regiments, in white coats, tussle with the red-coated French Gensdarmes -- sort of a reversal of uniform coats in this picture

I'm afraid that I will have to stop for this evening and head off to bed. I shall continue the story tomorrow.

Oh yes, the French defeated the British once again.

m