Sunday 20 June 2021

An Austro-Russo-Hanoverian

It's a dark and stormy night here in Wellington, but the fire is roaring in the hearth and there's a wee dram of very fine single malt parked up beside me, so all is well with the world.

As promised, I have a new general to show off. He's a beauriful old vintage Hinton Hunt RN 85: Russian General Staff General with spy glass, who had a rather adventurous journey before he finally came to me, but he got here in the end. He's painted almost exactly as specified in  Marcus Hinton's painting instructions (thank you Clive!). He is to be Ludwig Georg Thedel Graf von Wallmoden, aka Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn, the commander of my Anglo-Russian-Hanoverian corps (which I really must get round to finishing some day).




Wallmoden was an extremely capable and very highly decorated Austrian soldier who also happened to be a grandson of George II. He was a specialist in leading light troops, so in 1813 he was just the chap, or so it seemed, to  keep Davout's Corps safely locked up in Hamburg while the rest of the allied armies marched against Napoleon. He succeeded in this task very well, although he could never quite manage to corner Davout or his Danish allies. Nevertheless, in doing so he kept the Prussians out of Hanover, which was all that his British paymasters really cared about.

Wallmoden was in Russian service in 1813, so this is probably what he would have been dressed like during that year. His Chief of Staff was none other than the famous Carl von Clausewitz, who was also serving the Tsar at this point, so I'll probably need to paint him too.

The RN 85 was the only Russian General produced by Hinton Hunt so until I can get another one I thought he'd also do very well as a temporary commander for the Leib Grenadiers.

Auf Wiedersehen and Do svidaniya

WM

20 comments :

  1. He is lovely Matthew…

    I do find it amusing and strangely endearing that when Hinton Hunt and a few others modelled chaps with a spyglass they made it look like they were enthusiastically stabbing them selves in the eye…and in some cases through the head…
    All the best. Aly

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    1. I'm beginning to understand how Mikhail Kutuzov ended up with that eye patch, Aly.

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  2. Single malt, a fire on the hearth, and lovingly painted vintage soldiers you say? I'm on the way! He is wonderful. Mounted generals and other officers -- by themselves, or in vignettes -- are almost a subset of the hobby. Nothing quite like 'em when it comes to collecting, ooo-ing, and ahh-ing..

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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    1. You would be more than welcome any time, Stokes! When I woke up this morning it was still dark and stormy, so I may have to settle in for the duration.

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  3. Very nice - extremely capable eh? Looks to me like he can't see the wood for the trees through that telescope of his... ;o)

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    1. His myopia couldn't have been much worse than my own, Rob. With Clausewitz by his side I'm sure he'll do very well. I have a little Prussian ADC, as it happens, who would be just the ticket!

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  4. Telescope or ear horn? Either way he looks a reliable type ready to trounce the French when he sees (or hears) them coming!

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    1. It was extraordinary how his enemies kept slipping away, Matt, despite all of Wallmoden's brilliant manaoeuvres. He had the Danes completely surrounded at one point, but they still got awway. Mind you, all those dodgy cossacks and the Estorff hussars and whatnot he had to work with probably didn't help very much. I susspect he Knew when to have a 'blind eye' to such things!

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  5. What a lovely figure inspiringly painted. I enjoyed the information about him too.

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    1. Thank you Tradgardmastare. My Wallmoden's Army prject started out as a way of using up some of my surplus DKs, which I was feeling bit guilty about, but it's been gradually gentrifying as I come across yet more fabulous old figures.

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  6. Very nice! Of course, in those days you only needed one general for your army. 🙂

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    1. S'true Jeffers! Still, I think Marcus was shamefully biased in favour of the French and British. Even the Prussians only got four mounted command figures. I'll just have to be creative I guess if I want anymore Russians.

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  7. Yet another highly gifted Austrian...of course, if he manoeuvred at Austrian speed, that could explain a lot. Simply glorious figure. Again.

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    1. Ahem, yes, Austrians. You have reminded me that I really need to paint some proper ones. They're on their way, honest.....

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  8. Simply Brilliant. The feathered, plume and gold embroidery really set him apart. Aly is on point with Marcus' telescopes. I prefer to think that he was ahead of his time and modelling the predecessor of some kind of steam punk/Borg army commander with a telescopic implant...

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    1. That's a brilliant idea, David. I shall declare him bullet proof.

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  9. With a little conversion you could move his arm and paint the telescope as a bottle. A shot of snaps perhaps around the camp fire.

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    1. *Laughter*. That's an even more brilliant idea Mark!

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  10. He's a beauty Matt!
    Regards, James

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    1. Cheers James. I am ever so slowly geting there, wherever that is.

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