Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Cuirassier Progress Report


Von Seydlitz Cuirassier Regiment (KR8) - Minden Miniatures.
As of Monday evening I have completed the first 12 figures in the von Seydlitz cuirassier regiment for my Minden Miniatures project. I have another five figures in primer so I can start working on those tomorrow evening. Then I plan to primer another 8 figures to bring the regiment up to 25 figures. Eventually, it may be as large as 32 figures.

I am trying to figure out what to do with the Minden kettledrummer that I painted. One option is to base the figure on a 2-inch round base and use it as a sort of vignette that can follow the regiment around on the tabletop. The other option is to make the kettledrummer an integral part of the wargame unit, i.e. base the kettledrummer with another figure (probably the standard) on a 2-inch square base.

I don't know, what do you readers think I should do?

Minden Miniatures Prussian Kettledrummer, painted in KR8 livery.

These figures will be a part of my "Minden Project" of armies using a 1:20 figure to man ratio. They will have approximately 30-32 figures per regiment or battalion, as opposed to the BAR units which use a 1:10 figure to man ratio. One of my regular opponents was getting a bit worried that I was building up more cuirassiers for my BAR army. That is not the case, so let not your heart be troubled my dear friend. The same player regularly command the Russian army, which has defeated my Prussian army something on the order of 3 out of 4 games that we have played. The Russians are armed to the teeth with cannon and I don't particularly like doing battle with them for that reason. A cannon ball doesn't care if it is striking down a guard grenadier or the lowliest freikorps soldier. It is all flesh and bone in the end.

Um, moving on to other more pleasant topics, it seems that Fritz is back in full SYW-painting mode as he uses the time between now and the release of the Kickstarter AWI figures to do some recreational painting. In this case, we are talking about Minden SYW figures, which are a real joy to paint. I had a lot of fun painting the Prussian kettledrummer and I have one more such figure, which I might paint as a member of the KR13 Guard du Corps or the KR10 Gens d'Armes.

10 comments:

  1. Splendid, figure, he needs to be kept separate as part of a regimental band

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  2. Agreed! He is very appealing.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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  3. Leave the kettledrummer as a band/follower. It would be criminal to have to remove him as a casualty! Truely a grand figure and a great paint job!

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  4. Agree with the others, leave him out as a special vignette.
    You can correct me, but don't see something as cumbersome as kettledrums charging in, more of a rally point.
    Don

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  5. Coming from the Murat school of glam, I say keep him in the unit. He has the right amount of flash and offsets the breastplates of the unit nicely.
    Beautiful unit all around.
    Cheers
    Thomas.

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  6. I was beginning to be swayed by the arguments to separate the kettledrummer, but then Thomas came along and presents a compelling reason to keep him in the unit. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

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  7. Lovely kettle drummer

    I would put the kettledrummer on a base with the standard bearer

    --Allan

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  8. I agree with Thomas and Allan to include your kettledrummer within the unit, if basing (width) so allows.

    You're on to a win-win whatever you decide: it's a very fine sculpt and you've painted him rally well. Enjoy!

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  9. Great stuff! I've always been a big fan of your work.

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  10. Definitely part of the unit. It would be marvellous if Frank would make a French one as well. sOmething for the Brits to try and capture!

    Regards,
    guy

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