Grenadier Command

Having finished the rank and file figures for my Hungarian Grenadiers I have now moved on to the Command group. The officer is one of my all time favourite Hinton Hunt sculpts - he has a real swashbuckling swagger about him I think.

AN.30 Hungarian Grenadier Officer, charging

The drummer has been a bit of a problem as I had used all my DK Grenadier drummers to convert to line drummers. The solution was to decapitate a French drummer and replace his head with an Austrian Grenadier's one.

FN/6 French Drummer, charging - converted to Hungarian Grenadier drummer

On a different topic, Tony recently donated this characterful Preacher figure by Warrior Miniatures to my stalled ECW project. I just couldn't resist painting him.

If you're going to wargame the ECW period you need one of these

The next post should hopefully feature the full unit of Hungarian Grenadiers on parade.

The Joy of Flash

The human mind is fickle. When I was buying direct from Hinton Hunt in the early 1970s I can remember the dissapointment of receiving a Jiffy Bag full of figures, halfheartedly wrapped in newspaper with loose bits rattling around. The figures that weren't beyond repair were covered in ridiculous amounts of flash metal that took literally hours to remove. In those days there was no point in trying to complain or leave a bad review (there were no reviews) and you just had to suck it up and be greatful that at least the packet had arrived.

Fast forward to now and I have a warm glow of nostalgia to see figures with their original flash attached. This doesn't happen often as the majority of the figures in my collection have been prepped and painted by others and then stripped and repainted by me. Most of the flash is therefore missing although it is always a surprise to see how many people in the past have just painted over great chunks of it.

AN.85 Austrian Uhlan (Lancer) (mounted) charging.

So I've been very excited to start prepping a unit of 'virgin' Austrian Uhlan Lancers that have never been painted and still have all the flash attached. I've had these figures for a very long time and I thought that, with the recent growth spurt of the Austrian infantry, it was time to start thinking about adding more cavalry.

Meanwhile work on the Grenadiers continues and I have just completed a 'company' with green facings to add to the combined Grenadier Battalion.

I like the idea of having a unit with mixed facing colours.

And last, but not least, Goya sent me this picture of a recently completed Austrian unit for his own forces. This is IR1 Franz 1. These are more of Don's old troops that have been very sympathetically restored and rebased by the great master.

The rank and file are AN4 but the command figures are Hinton Compatriots. The flag apparently has the design etched on it and Goya has done a fab job with this.

I like the Barber Shop pole effect on the flag staff and will be nicking this idea for my Grenadiers!

Hungarian Grenadier

This is the test figure for my next unit which will be comprised of Hungarian Grenadiers in the firing position AN.33 Grenadier, firing. I've been wanting to paint this unit for a long time so I'm pleased to finally have them on the painting desk. When finished this will bring my total number of Austrian infantry units to 8 which I consider to be a respectable size for an army.

There's a lot of detail on these figures but they deserve the extra painting effort.

The figure pictured is a vintage casting but I will also be using some rather nice reproduction figures to make up the numbers.

I'm going with the facing colour and white on the bearskin patch which may not be historically accurate but looks good.

Now some of you may remember that my 51st Gabriel Spleny regiment has a 6-figure company of Grenadiers in its ranks. These figures will be transferred to the Grenadier battalion and their numbers made up with musketeers. I know some of you may object to me tinkering with the old regimental establishment but we must change with the times and anyway, the old unit can easily be reconstituted if needed.

Austrian 23rd Archduke Ferdinand Regiment

Here then are the Austrians I promised you in my last post. This unit will represent the 23rd Archduke Ferdinand Regiment because they have rather nice poppy red facings.

So how have I managed to knock out another unit so fast I hear you ask? Well, the answer is that I haven't actually done very much myself to contribute to their mustering-in. The original paintwork is by US gamer Don W and they have been spruced up by none other than Goya who added the black lining to match them to my own style. All I did was add in the command figures, base them, and give the whole lot three coats of gloss varnish.

Don's original brushwork gave them grey lined straps and Goya very kindly changed them to black to fit in with my other troops. The headgear is all Don's work.

The rank and file figures are all vintage castings that Don bought direct from Hinton Hunt in the early 80s. They are:

21 x AN/4 Musketeer, charging

1 x AN/1 Officer, charging

1 x DK Grenadier drummer (with head swap conversion)

1 x AN/9 Standard bearer (David Clayton)

Here you can see how neatly they fit in with the 26th Schroeder Regiment I completed last year.

Don has very kindly sent me quite a few castings so there will be more Austrians to come.

Attacked from the rear

After storm Eowyn visited us last Friday I found a few pieces of the Hinton Hut roofing-felt covering on the lawn but couldn't work out where they came from because by then the Hut roof was covered with snow. The Hut is a kit construction I built 5 years ago and the roof is covered with roofing-felt strips that overlap with a tile effect. Asthetically this is pleasing but the problem is that the wind can whip in behind the edges and blow them off.

I was finally able to get up on the roof today to investigate and make a temporary repair. Once the tiles rip off it is almost impossible to patch in without it looking a mess so I'm seeking a more long-term solution.

Normally when we get a gale it comes from the northeast and I've had to repair patches on that side of the roof several times but sneaky Eowyn came in from the southwest and attacked from behind taking me unawares. No problem, I have made a temporary repair whilst I plan a more permanent one for the Spring.

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I'm still working away slowly at Austrians so I have nothing new to show you but I did come across some photos of a Waterloo game held at Roy's house just prior to Vintage Waterloo. Here are a few that I don't think ever made it onto the blog.

In this game the table was extended quite a bit past Hougoumont and the French cavalry seem to be attempting to exploit the additional space.

The Emperor and his staff at La Belle Alliance - these figures are from Roy's collection.

An impressive looking French attack on Hougoumont.

The British make ready behind La Haye Sainte. The Highlanders on the right are the 42nd from my own collection, all the other figures visible are Roy's.

Baring's men prepare for the coming onslaught at La Haye Sainte. These figures were on loan from Goya's collection.

Next time it will be Austrians - promise!

Austrian General Staff

I've just finished another two of the lovely Hinton Compatriots Austrian commander sculpts recently sent to me by Don. These have been such fun to paint.

ANC08 General holding telescope on Horse H01. This one will represent General Colloredo who commanded the 1st Division at Dresden.

ANC05 German Grenadier Colonel on Horse H01. This one will represent General Chasteler who commanded the Grenadier Division. I know he wouldn't have actually worn a Colonel's uniform! 

And finally Hinton Hunt RN.85 Russian General (in plumed cocked hat - mounted) looking through spyglass (horse attached). He will be Schwarzenberg's Chief of Staff General Radetzky.

This brings the staff for my Austrian army to a total of 10 figures.

Group photo of the whole gang. Back row L-R, Klenau, Gyulay, Mack, Chasteler, Crennville. Front Row L-R, Colloredo, Schwarzenberg, Radetzky, Emperor Francis, Archduke Charles.

In our last game back in the summer we reverted to my original idea of having a command figure to represent the colonel of each infantry regiment (we used counters for the cavalry as I don't have enough figures for that). This adds a little bit of extra fun as nobody wants to be the person that loses Marshal Ney in a melee (or do they Nigel?). This recent boost to the Austrian General Staff means I will have plenty of 'Colonels' for the Dresden game.

If you missed the recent post with photos of Roy's Hinton Hunts in action over on the Cirencester Wargames blog click here.

I beg your pardon I never promised you a Grosser-Garten

I've had this idea in the back of my mind to try a small refight of the Battle of Dresden 1813. This has niggled away because of fond memories of a multi-player game I took part in back in the 90s, I think I played the French Marshal Saint-Cyr. I can't remember which side won but I was always impressed by the model of the Grosser-Garten that my friend M made for the game.

This is how it looks now but the palace is not the original structure of 1813 and at the time of the battle the place was surrounded by high walls.

So, with a fair bit of help from Goya (who made the palace building) I have knocked up this interpretation of the Garden suitable for play with Muskets & Marshals. Mrs S was less than impressed that I had missed off the fountains and lake but my modelling skills are not quite up to that and anyway, I needed to leave enough space to fit in some figures.

My version is built on an MDF base 18" x 9". The walls are foamboard covered with model railway brick paper. The palace is constructed in reinforced card from a cut-out book in Goya's possession. There's enough room to deploy at least 4 battalions for defence. 

The rather nice garden gate also came from Goya. In the actual battle all the entrances to the garden had been barricaded on Napoleon's orders.

The Austrians prepare to 'have a go'.

Emperor Francis and Archduke Charles consider the options for assault.

Meanwhile, the French make ready to repel them...

I'm pretty pleased with the result which should make a nice centre-piece for the game. Next I need to work on some Dresden type buildings.