Update in Hesse Seewald

I've been off-line for a couple of days now, as we bought a new Apple iMac for Mrs. Fritz and we had to leave the old computer at the Apple store so that they could migrate all of our files to the new computer. We just picked it up this afternoon and have just set it up a few minutes ago.

At any rate, you are probably wondering what is going on in Hesse Seewald these days, especially since yours truly had a long four day holiday weekend.

Well, for starters, I have been busy painting some Minden SYW Hungarian figures for the Josef Esterhazy Regiment. The first battalion is nearly completed and I hope to have some piccies up within a couple of days. It really pains me to be painting more units for the Austrian army, but in all fairness, I did need to build up the Austrian army. With the completion of this battalion, I will ahve 7 line battalions (of which 2 are converged grenadier battalions) and one battalion of Croats (plus 10 more Oguliner Croats in nifty blue coats). This compares to 8 battalions of Prussians, so the forces are nearly even at this stage.

Next on the docket: more Oguliner Croats for me and 24 Warasdiner Croats (white coats) for a painting commission. Then, it is on to some dismounted Austrian hussars for yet another commission. Somewhere down the road, I will need to paint a regiment (32 figures) of Austrian dragoons for my own army. Hmm, should I use red coats or blue coats? What do you think.

Croat Fever Continues Unabated

Karlstadter Liccaner Croats painted on commission by der Alte Fritz. Minden Croats and Peco scenic backdrop. (click pix to enlarge the view)

It has been a busy week at Schloss Seewald as I've been searching for a cure for my case of Croat Fever. The only prescription is to paint a bunch of the little fellows, but they have to be Minden Croats. I had enough extra Minden Croats in the Closet O' Lead to start work on a unit of Croats that I was painting on commission for someone in the Imaginations universe of the blogosphere. I must say that I was a little bit jealous, as I had wanted to paint these fellows for my own army, but nevertheless, I proceeded to whip them out within a couple of days.

I have also posted some pictures of the other items that I have been painting for the same client and thought that you would enjoy viewing the pictures. Now that the order backlog has been cleared out (pending the arrival of a new shipment of Minden figures for other orders), I plan to work on some Minden figures for my own collection of Austrians. You guessed it: Croats! I'm working on some Oguliner Croats in Blue coats/vest with red trousers. And some Hungarian infantry too. I am starting a long 4 day weekend, so the prospects of increasing the ranks of my Austrian army look very, very good.


Another view of the same unit, from the front.


Some command stands, painted on commission, using RSM mounted officers and Minden drummers and standard bearers. As you can see, the two ranges are very compatible. The customer plans on adding his own "imaginations" flags to the units. Thus, he can flag the unit as an Austrian regiment, or by changing command stands, the unit becomes one of the regiments in his fictional country. Kind of clever, don't you think.


Some RSM grenadiers to fill out the client's battalions. He uses 4 stands of musketeers and 1 stand of grenadiers. The grenadiers can be converged to form a grenadier battalion or they can remain with the parent unit.

I've Got Croat Fever...

A finished unit of Carlstadter Croats - Minden Miniatures




Minden Miniatures Croats get prepared for priming and painting.


... and the only cure is: More Mindens!

I recently received a commission to paint some Minden Croats for one of my regular clients, I and have to say that I am really stoked to get going on this project. The unit will have 16 assorted figures based 4 per stand, in a random manner. Of course, I will embellish the bases with lots of terrain effects (rocks, logs trees, grass etc) to make them look like mini dioramas.

I have enough extra Minden Croats to paint two additional units of 16 figures. One shall be painted in red coats and the other in blue. The price for a unit, fully painted and terrained is $160.00. So if you want to buy one of these units, then send me an e-mail at altefritz1740@yahoo.com. These will go fast, so don't delay.

Last evening I walked the dogs early, while there was still daylight, so that I could hunt for small rocks and pebbles to use for terraining the bases. These will be terrained similar to the Croat unit that I painted for myself. You can find piccies in the blog archives.

Greek Ruins Turn Up In The Oddest Places




I found this little gem at Petco, when I was taking the dogs in for a bath. As usual, I made a point of perusing the offerings in the acquarium section and found this beauty for only $15.00. It would have easily cost twice as much had I bought a similar terrain piece from a wargame supplier of resin buildings. They also had two other Greek ruins available. I plan to use these in my Late Roman period games. Highly recommended, as Hal Thinglum would say!

18th Century Field Bakery

Field bakery model for the SYW, crafted by Ed Phillips, and now in the collection of Randy Frye.

I played in a SYW game at Chez Protz last weekend, as part of Bill's annual birthday wargaming bash. During the course of the game, I noticed this model of a field bakery that Randy had brought to the game. The model was crafted by Ed Phillips, whom many of you know as the owner of the Wargames, Inc. mail order business, until he sold it and retired. Ed brings something new and different to the annual Seven Years War Association Convention, and his models usually get snapped up fairly quickly.

Randy was lucky enough to have purchased the model that you see above and below and it is very similar to the one that I bought from Ed last year (although I must say, that Randy obtained the better model - Ed gets better at his craft every year). Ed got creative and built one of the baking ovens completed (with the awning) and the other one as a "work in progress". He also scratch built the wheeled cart shown in the pictures and finished it off with some of Frank Hammond's Minden Miniatures Generic Pioneers. I would say that the Minden figures look like they were made for this type of model.

Rear view of the field bakery model.




Side view: note the Minden figure placing some bricks on the uncompleted oven. A second Minden figure (lower right) is shoveling some dirt. The third figure in the background (blue waistcoat) has had its shovel tool converted into a baker's spatula for removing the bread from the oven.


Front view providing a better look at the fellow constructing the oven on the left. Ed also scratch built the 2-wheeled wagon.

I hope that you enjoy looking at these models as much as I do.

RSM Austrians

Los Rios Regiment - new battalion headed to the Duchy of Beerstein. Note the new background from Peco, for model railroad layouts. The dreaded blue towel is no gone forever.

I have some quick pictures to post this evening for the benefit of the Duke of Beerstein, who recently augmented his army with several new battalions from the collection of Der Alte Fritz. The unit shown above is the Los Rios Regiment wearing its uniform from the War of Austrian Succession period. However, even though it was supposed to switch to the new 1755 uniform, in all likelihood it retained the WAS uniform until the middle of the SYW. This was a newly painted battalion, whereas the McGuire regiment was an older unit that I simply rebased.

This was an interesting uniform, with a green waistcoat and buff breeches rather than the usual white waistcoat and breeches. It rather stands out from all of the other Austrian units, I think.

I rather enjoyed painting this unit, composed of RSM figures plus some Minden drummers and standard bearers. If you click on the pictures, you can see how the RSM and Minden figures are a perfect match for each other. I don't care for the RSM "drummer boy" or "cadet standard bearer" figures, so I simply replace them with the comparable Minden figures.

McGuire Regiment, showing the Minden standard bearers (with GMB Designs flags)

I rebased an existing unit of the McGuire regiment to the Duke's specifications. I had to put the figures into the freezer for about an hour so that I could pry the figures off of the plastic bases that I was using. The Duke uses 2" square bases for his rules (Might & Reason, perhaps?) and these are mounted on Litko bases - a very fine product, by the way.

Tomorrow night I will post some pictures of the field bakery that Ed Phillips made for Randy F. Here is a preview:


Field bakery built from scratch by Ed Phillips for the collection of Randy Frye. Ed used the Minden pioneer figures for the construction crew as well as the baker, shown in the background shoveling a dough ball into the oven. The oven in the foreground is under construction - a very clever piece of modelling.