Sunday 18 June 2017

Estorff Salad

One of the glories of Napoleonic wargaming is the riot of colour that results once you've managed to paint up a few of the opposing regiments. Hanoverian hussars, however, manage to be a colour riot all on their own.

The regiment I've chosen to do is the Lüneburg Hussars, more popularly known as Estorff's Hussars after the Hanoverian notable who raised them in 1813. I'll say a little more about them in my next few posts, but in the meantime suffice to say they are painted according to one of the versions of the uniform they are thought to have been wearing by 1815.








The figures are all Der Kriegspielers from set 164: British Cavalry 1815, Hussars. My intention is to keep plodding away on them until the regiment is finished, but there's a distinct possibility I'll crack and do something else for a while.

Speaking of which, I must be off to finish the Sunday roast!

Best regards,

WM

34 comments :

  1. Colorful and beautiful, excellent job on these Lüneburg Hussars!

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    1. It was a toss up between the Bremen and Verden or the Luneburg Hussars, Phil. Luneburg won because they were the most garish!

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  2. You are a man of your word - love them - the post makes a nice treat for us overgrown boys on Father's day. They remind me of the Goodies 'Inbetweenies' outfits as you flick between the first two photos - first a unit of slightly foreign looking hussars in red, then a quick about-face for that good old true blue British look!

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    1. *Laughter*. They are a little cartoonish, Rob!

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  3. A riot of colour indeed! The work on the yellow lace is fantastic, it would be hard enough on a HH figure but must be harder still on the more slender DK's. I doubt if any DK's have ever been painted to this standard before (apart from your other ones of course).

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    1. Apart from the ones you and Don did, that is!

      I think this particular lot compare quite well with the HH OPC British Hussar. The single one I have in my collection is an ugly brute, in so far as I can see anything under all the flash!

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  4. Fantastic Matt, picture number three is my favourite, the level of painted detail is stunning :)

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    1. Cheers, 'Lee. They were the very devil to paint (that diabolical Humbrol yellow paint again). However, I've made a couple of conversions for the second squadron which I'm very keen to see painted, so I'll press on regardless.

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  5. Agreed with all of the previous commenters above. Love, love, love them!

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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    1. Hanoverians are just more fun, don't you think Stokes, even their combat record was a bit...er...iffy?

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  6. Superb!

    Tony S

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    1. It's all show, Tony. JC will be furious when he discovers that they're only C class!

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  7. Picture #3 is my favorite as well. Stunning paintjob on the figures. I will have to keep a lookout for some of these figures myself. I would love a squadron or regiment of these fellows in my army.

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    1. Thank you, Captain. I'll have to ensure they are only ever seen attacking from right to left!

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  8. Painting question: When you are painting cavalrymen figures (which are detached from the horse) do you mount them on something, or glue them to a nail, or what? I usually end up just holding their plume or feet, and I know there is a better way.

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    1. That is a jolly good question, Captain. After a number of unsatisfactory experiments involving little mounds of bluetack, these days I simply drill a little hole between their legs and mount them onto a piece of stiff wire stuck dabbed in PVA glue and stuck into a cork. It looks a bit undignified, but one can certainly get at them properly that way.

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  9. Excellently presented unit. The braid on the Uniform is very well done.

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    1. Cheers, Mark. They're still only half done, I'm sad to say.

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  10. I can't stop looking at photo number 3 above. And, I can't wait to see Major General Wilhelm Caspar Ferdinand von Dörnberg out in front of the unit. If possible, his uniform outshines the color riot of the uniforms of the Lüneburg Hussars!

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    1. I thought those Polish lancers were difficult, Nolan, but these ones really took the biscuit. The only way to do them, I found, was just a little bit at a time. This does not augur well for a rapid mobilisation I'm afraid!

      I've promised myself something a lot simpler for my next regiment.

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    2. Ahhh, but is rapid mobilization the goal? You already have enough troops to recreate a fine battle. Increasing the variety and interest in uniforms and troop types to choose from, as well as the aesthetic beauty of your troops takes time and leads to a higher quality army. Take your time and enjoy the results...we certainly do (enjoy your results, that is). Bravo!

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  11. Did you adjust the sword arms on some of these boys?

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  12. The sword arm question is most interesting. I have a suspicion that the HH British Hussar in busby, one piece, had his sword joined to his busby plume so the arm came right round to place the hand in front of his face. The DK 'version' had the sword separated from the plume and bent out wards so the hand was in line with the figure's shoulder. That made me think that maybe we were always meant to perform that small act of surgery on the HH figures as that enables the arm to be varied in its vertical position, thus giving much more action to the figure abd I believe that the latter phase of the one piece castings were designed for action as Hinton moved from the rather rigid positions of the British Dragoon and the ACW figures to more active poses
    .Of course, if one has the takents of a WM then the arms could be removed and replaced with others , in a variety of positions which could look really good.
    Another option is to copy Peter Gilder and detach the horse's hooves from the base, reposition the legs and resolder. I have done a bit of this with the ACW cavalry and whilst not of Gilder standard, it does bring them alive.

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    1. You are absolutely correct, LG, judging from the DK and HH versions I have here.

      I hesitated a bit before re-animating the arms as I rather like uniformity in my troops. It emphasises their toy soldierlyness. Just a little bit of variation seemed to be justified for hussars, however.

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  13. The 1796 pattern Light Cavalry sabre was a fearsome piece of kit. Apparently the French were unhappy that it could lop off arms and heads. a heavy beast, not designed for fencing or for giving point, it was for slashing and hacking so your raised arm position is just right.

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  14. Don't you just love the reported attitudes of the Napoleonic French? They kill their monarch and then complain when the Brits start taking aim at their officers in battle. Mind you, whatever the merits of the Light Cavalry sabre, I believe the British heavy pattern was no match for the French version? And can I add my congratulations to the above long list of aficionados for these superb hussars?

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    1. Thank you, Archduke, and to everyone else who commented. I suppose I'd better crack on and finish the rest then. It remains to be seen whether the French have anything to fear from them!

      WM

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