Ziethen Personality Figure

Minden Personality Figure of von Ziethen (click picture to enlarge the view)

Here is a picture of one of the new Minden SYW personality figures that was added to the range recently, as a result of one of our Kickstarter campaigns. One of the subscribers pledged at a level that allowed him to choose to have any figure of his choice to be sculpted and added to the range. In this particular case, the choice was to sculpt a very heroic looking von Ziethen personality figure. Our new von Browne, Fermor and Prinz Moritz personality figures were also generated from the Kickstarter program.

As you can see from the pictures, there are a number of inspirations for the Minden Ziethen personality figure, which comes with its own special rearing horse that is unique to this model.

The figure is a joy to paint and makes an attractive addition to your Minden Prussian cavalry contingent. The stock code number is "PER-011" and the figure is priced at $8.00 for the rider and horse, plus applicable shipping

54mm von Ziethen (I don't know the brand though)

54mm toy soldier, but of collector's quality von Ziethen

NEXT UP: the Minden von Seydlitz personality figure.

DR3 von Meinicke Prussian Dragoons

DR3 von Meinicke Dragoon Regiment (click to enlarge all pix)

I am particularly pleased with the way the musician's horse turned out. The flag is from GMB Designs.

With the 3-day holiday weekend, I was able to put together enough painting time to knock out a 12-figure squadron of the DR3 Dragoon Regiment in the Prussian army of the Seven Years War. I have another 12 figures to paint before completing the regiment and I hope to do that over the course of the next week.

I decided that my Prussian cavalry contingent was heavily weighted towards cuirassiers, having 3.5 regiments of those and one regiment of Bayreuth Dragoons (which I count as two regiments because it is twice the size of a normal Prussian cavalry regiment at 10 squadrons rather than 5.

The Meinicke Dragoon Regiment is one of those units that probably finds a place in every Prussian wargame army. It has the unique Rose colored facings (cuffs, lapels and collars) and horse furniture that make it a very colorful addition to the otherwise drab looking Prussian dragoon uniforms.

Once the final 12 figures are painted, I will consider my Prussian heavy cavalry arm more or less completed, although I will need to add more hussars in the future. This new addition gives me plenty of cavalry to game Reichenberg, Prague and Kolin in the 1757 Campaign, which I will feature in my convention games at this year's SYWA convention in South Bend, IN at the end of March this year.

My SYW Russian Brigade, So Far

SYW Russian Brigade, so far. Click or double click to enlarge the view.

This evening I completed the last six figures for my third battalion of Russian infantry for the Seven Years War. I used the new Savoy infantry figures that are part of the Crann Tara Miniatures figure range. A little bit of "conversion by painting" is used to make them Russians rather than Savoia figures. Click on the link below to visit the Crann Tara home page and shopping cart.

Crann Tara Miniatures

Crann Tara's Savoy musketeer figures doing stand in duty as Russian Musketeers.GMB Designs flags and Minden French officer. Click to enlarge.

Close up view of the newest Russian battalion to the brigade. Click to enlarge.

For terraining the bases, I used fine railroad ballast, medium brown in color, for the ground color. Then I dry brushed the ballast with Howard Hues Geo Hex Tan paint. Next, I added a few Winter Tufts and added some scorched grass static grass. Here and there I added a dark green or a brown Highland tuft to add some contrast to the stand.

Here are some closer views of the Russian artillery section that is part of the brigade. On the left is a 6-pounder and on the right is a Shuvalov Secret Howitzer. My understanding is that both pieces were commonly used as regimental or battalion guns with a regiment of infantry.

Fife & Drum Russian cannon and Russian artillery crew. Click to enlarge.

A closer view of the artillery, loading pose set on the left and firing pose set on the right.

The civilian set of figures carrying a wooden box are painted in Russian red and create a vignette  of men carrying ammunition to the cannons. Front Rank artillery wagon in the background, although Fife & Drum recently added Russian ammo wagons to the lineup. Minden French officer acting as a mounted Russian artillery officer.

So far, I have three battalions of infantry and some cannon in my SYW Russian army. The grenadiers are from RSM, the marching Russian musketeers are Minden French with turn backs, and the At the Ready posed figures are Crann Tara Savoy figures. The artillery crew are Minden/F&D recent additions in mid 2015. My plan is to add Russian infantry to the Minden range later this year, but I wanted to get a head start on my Russian army by recruiting other brands of figures that fit in well with the Minden sculpting style of Richard Ansell.






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Gyulai Musketeer Regiment

Hungarian Regiment Gyulai (click all pictures to enlarge the view)

I recently received and based a regiment of Minden Hungarian Musketeers, painted by Alex Akers, to add to my collection for the Kolin game at this year's SYWA Convention on March 31, 2016 in South Bend, Indiana.

Combined with the Josef Esterhazy regiment that I already have, I now have an official "Hungarian Brigade of two regiments = four battalions. In my set up, each regiment gets one 3-pounder regimental or battalion gun model. I like all of the new cannon models that Rob Baker made for Fife & Drum, but to my way of thinking, his Austrian 3-pounder is the most elegant of all the cannon in the range. One interetesting thing to note, the Austrians were way ahead of everyone else in that they standardized the wheels of all of their artillery - every cannon used the same wheels. There is also a standard smaller wheel that was used for limbers and for the front wheels of the four wheel ammo wagon.

Austrian 3-pound regimental cannon from Fife & Drum Miniatures

I haven't had time to paint all of the Austrians and Prussians that I need for the game, so I recruited Alex to help me with the Austrians while I concentrated on the Prussians.


I also put together a temporary photo booth so that I can have a better looking background for my pictures. An old blue towel or a faded sheet of blue paper doesn't really do the job anymore. The long view, below, depicts the photo booth. Compare it to the picture at the top of this post.

Long view of the photo booth that I set up to create better back grounds for my pictures.

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ANZACs Figures WW1

ANZACs painted by Alex Akers. Click on all pix to enlarge the view

Rear view of the first picture.

SOLD!

Here are pictures of the ANZACs (12 pointed) and what I believe are Germans (4 painted). The Lot for Sale also includes some unpainted Anzacs (machine gun crew of 3 figures) and 10 more in various  charging, advancing and firing poses. I'm not sure, but I think that the figures are Woodbine Designs. The entire lot is $95 plus applicable postage and fees.  First come, first serve.

I think that I took some fairly good pictures of the figures, front and back, but I have to say that these are some of the best looking painted figures that I have seen and that my photography does them no justice. I think that this lot is a real bargain.

Anzacs advancing (click picture to enlarge)

Rear view of the previous picture.

Another grouping advancing. I really like the blue shirts and the contrast that they have with the khaki. I wish that I could paint khaki like this.

Rear view of the previous picture.

I am pretty certain that these are Germans from WW2

Rear view of the Germans

As before, if you are interested in any of the figures painted by Alex, then send me an e-mail at

altefritz1740@yahoo.com

If I were a collector of the period, I would keep these for myself.

The Perry Napoleonics are still available. I aplogize for the poor pictures of the Perrys. I tried to clean up and lighten the pictures that were sent to me, but as with the Anzacs, the pictures do them no justice as they are very nicely painted and based.

Finally, I also have some 40mm British Napoleonic Peninsula figures. I'm not sure of the brand, but they are impressive looking figures - these are unpainted. Make me an offer, or I might paint them myself.

Next up, some pictures of two battalions of Minden Hungarian Musketeers that were recently added to my army. I will post pictures of the Hungarians by Saturday.

Perry French Napoleonics For Sale

Perry French Napoleonics - plastic 28mm. Click pix to enlarge

French 28mm Napoleonics For Sale
I am posting some pictures of two French Napoleonic battalions, 24 figures each, of Perry plastic figures that are up for sale. The figures were painted by Alexander Akers and I am posting them for sale on my blog for Alex since we seem to get a fairly large amount of page hits on this blog. Alex is asking $5.00 per figure so the full set of 48 figures comes to $240.00 plus applicable postage.

Alex is a really good painter and has a few Golden Demon awards as evidence of his prowess.  Better yet, I can personally vouch for his painting skills as I use Alex to paint some of my own Minden figures to bulk up my Austrian forces.

The figures are well painted and they are attractively based and terrained to give them a nice finished appearance. At $5.00 per figure, this is really good value as I would personally sell them for significantly more if they were mine.

Take a closer look by clicking on each picture to see the well detailed Perry plastics and Alex's nice brushwork and basing. If you are interested, then send me an e-mail at: altefritz1740@yahoo.com and I can hook you up with Alex to make the final arrangements.

Close up of the command stand

Rear view of the Grenadier base.

Grenadier (left) and Voltigeur (right) stands.

Close up view of the Voltigeur base.

Next Item For Sale - WW1 Anzacs for Gallipoli

Alex also sent me some 28mm Anzacs in Gallipoli kit for sale. I will post pictures tomorrow. There are 13 painted and singley based figures and maybe another dozen unpainted. I think that they might be Woodbine Design figures. There are also five figures that look like Deutsch Africa Korps 28mm single figures painted. All of them are painted to a very high standard and are perfect for a small skirmish game force or an Indiana Jones style game in the Middle East.

GNW Russian Musketeer Regiment

Wow, do I have a lot of things to report and post about on my blog. I will break the topics up into individual posts this week, so keep coming back for updates. Among the updates are some new painted Hungarian musketeers, new SYW Russians, some painted figures to post for sale, and of course a 2015 Year in Review report and a 2016 Preview of the Year.

The first item, an appetizer if you will, is a battalion of Great Northern War ("GNW") Russian musketeers, figures from Warfare Miniatures:

Warfare Miniatures GNW Russians (click pix to enlarge)

I use 32-figures in a battalion of infantry for my GNW Swedes and Russians mounted on bases that measure 60mm wide by 80mm deep. The extra depth helps to protect the extended bayonets of the charging poses and leveled pikes, because if they don't protrude over the edge of the base, they are less likely to break off during handling of the figure base. The same applies to leveled muskets in the firing pose.

I really enjoy painting the Warfare Miniatures GNW figures. They paint quickly and easily for me and the animation is really nice. It is as if each figure is a different figure. I also really like how the Russian armies of the GNW and SYW look with the predominant Green and Red coloring.

Warfare Miniatures will be adding a significant number of new figures to the GNW range in 2016 including Russian cavalry, artillery and grenadiers and Swedish cavalry, artillery and grenadiers. I can see that I have a lot of painting ahead of me.

Overhead view of the battalion.

I like to place at least one "command figure" on each stand and offset it a little bit to imply a third rank. When you place all of the bases together, then the effect of the third line becomes more clear, as shown in the picture below:

Rear view showing the officers, NCOs and drummers forming a  virtual third rank.

Side view illustrating the "third rank" effect achieved by the deep bases and offsetting the command figures.

SYW Russian Army Project Update

I have completed painting of three stands of musketeers using the Crann Tara Miniatures 'Savoy" infantry figures. The figures are completely compatible with Minden, Fife & Drum, RSM and Crann Tara figures. Since the Russian infantry had large cuffs and no lapels, the Savoy figures work just fine. The only change that I have to make is to paint a red collar onto each figure. Otherwise, the figures are perfect Russians "as is".

SYW Perm Regiment, work in progress (3 of 5 stands completed so far), using Crann Tara "Savoy" figures.

More to follow this week.