My much delayed Estorff Hussars, AKA the Prince Regent's Own (by 1815), are finished.
I was able to grab a few quick shots of them before racing out for a social engagement.
The figures, as before, are all Der Kriegspielers Napoleoniques from set 164: British Cavalry 1815, Hussars, albeit with two conversions to make the officer and the trumpeter. As is ususal with DKs, they are a little on the slim side, but were beautifully crisp castings made from strong, bright, high-quality metal. I wish all DKs were as nice as these.
The Estorffs have not gone down in history for their martial prowess. My main reason for painting them was...well...er..I had them to hand and I needed to get something onto the table for Wallmoden's Army. I hope JC enjoys weilding them. They'll be able to threaten a charge at least!
Toodle Pip.
WM
I was able to grab a few quick shots of them before racing out for a social engagement.
The figures, as before, are all Der Kriegspielers Napoleoniques from set 164: British Cavalry 1815, Hussars, albeit with two conversions to make the officer and the trumpeter. As is ususal with DKs, they are a little on the slim side, but were beautifully crisp castings made from strong, bright, high-quality metal. I wish all DKs were as nice as these.
The Estorffs have not gone down in history for their martial prowess. My main reason for painting them was...well...er..I had them to hand and I needed to get something onto the table for Wallmoden's Army. I hope JC enjoys weilding them. They'll be able to threaten a charge at least!
Toodle Pip.
WM
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| Dörnberg: Charge!........!!?!&$@#! |
They had a red Pelisse with a blue bag on their busbys. With that kind of color combo, do you really need an excuse to paint them? You will have to give me a tutorial on how you convert troopers to trumpeters / officers. I have a unit of Russian chasseurs ready to paint, but no officer types to lead them.
ReplyDeleteIt's all Mark S's fault, David, for sending me those Russians. This forced me to poke around in the lead pile to see whether I could build any sort of rational order of battle around them, and much to my amazement I could.
DeleteSoldering is such a dark art that I find it difficult to describe how to do it. The basic trumpet shape is made by dripping solder onto a steel ruler and then teasing the iron up to make a "string" of metal. This is then welded to the trumpeter's hand - which is where the semi-magical bit happens. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't! The rest of the conversions were all about removing things while leaving some sort of impression of what was supposed to be underneath them. It's just painter's tricks after that.
Well done and definitely worth the effort. Don't worry about any confusion with those hoighty-toighty French Garde types they usually stay well away from the fighting; too busy brown-nosing that jumped-up Corsican Corporal.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Rob. It's not the confusion that worries so much as having too much of a good thing. I didn't really think this through in terms of the whole project. If I ever get round to the Chassuers a Cheval I'll end with two regiments of red-pelissed hussary types on the table. It'll make me look bonkers, which I've been quite good at concealing up till now.
DeleteExcellent looking unit , great paint job
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tony. It's difficult to find any instances of them actually doing anything other than hovering about in a vaguely menacing way, so JC and I will have to put that right.
DeleteSuperb unit, wonderful colors!
ReplyDeleteTa for that Phil. One can certainly see why the dandy-in-chief, the Prince Regent, wanted to claim ownership!
DeleteWM, these are excellent - visually similar to the Chasseurs a cheval of the Garde
ReplyDeleteThank you, General. A bit too similar, as I said to Rob! It's going to drive the Essex Hussar crackers.
DeleteBeautiful. Lovely combination of colours, perhaps their excellent turnout me ght motivate them to cut more than a dash ....to the rear.
ReplyDeleteRoy
Salutations, Roy. All those dour and vulgar Prussians needed something to add a little glamour, I thought, if not too much in the way of combat power.
DeleteWell you can't get those lovely uniforms dirty by actually charging around in a field with some fellows taking pot shots at you, can you?
ReplyDeleteWell said, Matt. Think of the dry-cleaning bill. It would be unconscionable!
DeleteIs the answer to the battlefield excess of red pelisse situation to juxtapose the units in question? The incidence of red pelisse should halve pretty fast. I think there's something sublime about putting that much effort (and palette) into a unit not destined to withstand a rude gesture.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful and stunning unit Matt, the glorious bright colours and shiny varnish makes these something special.
ReplyDeleteI would have made life a lot simpler for myself by opting for white lace and cords, Archduke, which would have been perfectly acceptable for the Estorffs, but I couldn't resist the yellow-lace variant. According to some sources I could even have a had a squadron dressed entirely in red.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lee!
ReplyDeleteAn army is not complete without a unit of 'Dandy' hussars.
ReplyDeleteSome of the prettiest miniature hussars I've ever seen. . . in any scale or size. Gorgeous figures!
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
A very colourful and splendid unit
ReplyDeletePaul
Truly excellent Matt!
ReplyDeleteThank you chaps!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely stunning.
ReplyDeleteAnd I must always commend people for sticking with painting Hussars!
Cheers, Man.
DeleteA beauty to behold. Another master piece! I envy your painting skills.
ReplyDeleteIt's just OCD in lead, Alan. Thank you for saying so, nonetheless.
DeleteThey look superb WM.
ReplyDeleteTony S
Thanks, Tony. Who knows, one day I may actually start painting some Hinton Hunts!
Delete