The 2nd Light Infantry Battalion, King's German Legion, are ready to make their debut.
They've been finished for a week now, in fact, but I was too busy chopping wood in the back garden to set them up for their photo shoot before now. It really was a massive tree that fell down.
They are to be the skirmish element for Wallmoden's Corps. In reality, only about half the 2nd KGL Light Infantry was sent to join the Anglo-Hanoverian forces in Germany in 1813, but I thought I ought to paint up a full battalion so they would also be ready to occupy a certain farmhouse in Belgium.
Major Georg Baring's men filter through the woods ...
... and form up in line
Major General Wilhelm von Arentschildt takes temporary command.
The battalion faces to the rear, showing off their dinky little havresacs. I'm not 100% sure that this is what those weird little bulges on their left hips are supposed to be, but they look OK.
Wallmoden's Corps forms up.
The figures are:
Alberken:
BN 4: Rifleman Officer x 1 (converted);
BN 3: Rifleman on Guard:x 22; and
Hinton Hunt:
BN 20 British Rifles bugler x 1.
I cannot thank Aly Morrison and Mark Dudley enough for providing me with these charming figures. As soon as I saw them I knew they'd be exactly right for Wallmoden's forces.
One of the things that made them so appealing for me was that, unlike much of the rest of the Alberken range, they do not look like Hinton Hunts. The big question then was: what were they?
I was starting to think they might be Jacklex conversions. Rob G then sent me a picture of a Jacklex ACW gunner, which looks to me as if it may very well have been the base figure.
Exhibit A:
Jacklex ACWs were certainly of the right vintage for this, but it's his legs, wee pinched face and oddly sloping upper arms that clinched it for me.
I've been given a few other delightful presents recently. Here are two of them below, with a KGL light infantryman for scale.
The cottages were given to me by the Armchair General, who thinks he bought them in the 80s but can't remember the manufacturer. They're really nicely sculpted and seem to be made of rubber, as they're a little bit squishy. If anyone knows what they are, please do say so in the comments. I'd love to find out what else was in the range.
The 2nd KGL Light Infantry are the last of the Phase 2 Coalition infantry. I think it'll be some artillery next.
Best wishes
WM
Well the wait is over and very nice they look. For some reason there looks like there's more of them in the first photo - the skirmish line with others emerging from the trees - I even counted them but there were still only 24.
ReplyDeleteNot convinced about the officer posed against the Jacklex ACW gunner, but for the rank and file a pretty good match. IIRC there was another Jacklex gunner (I suspect the same basic figure) holding his rammer horizontally that's probably and even better bet for the pirated dolly.
Rubber houses! Not ever come across those before, no doubt guarateed to rebound any assault.
*Laughter*. I'd noticed that multiplying effect too. It's wierdly troubling.
DeleteI really need to know who made those rubber houses. I'm really hoping they did a bouncy castle.
Lovely work on them, they look great and a super addition to the Corps. Never seen the rubber houses before but they look great and work really well in size.
ReplyDeleteI'm very pleased you like them Donnie. I imagine that a lot of these were produced back in the day, but they seem to be very rare now.
DeleteWhat a handsome bunch! Regardless of provenance, they are impressive. The added attention to the musket stocks, visible in the photograph taken from the rear of the unit, is an especially nice touch.
ReplyDeleteKind Saturday Regards,
Stokes
Those muskets really are something else, aren't they. I like their ambiguity. I gather that the 2nd were predominantly musket armed when they were in Germany, but seemed to have acquired rifles by 1815.
DeleteThe rubber houses are reminiscent of the Tri-ang rubber buildings used in the early wargames books of Terry Wise and Donald Featherstone. See the Vintage Wargaming site here: https://vintagewargaming.blogspot.com/search/label/Triang%20Countryside All your figures are charming and these riflemen certainly look the part as well!
DeleteCheers John. I also thought Triang at first, but Clive's very useful post about them quickly disabused me, which was rather ... er....Triang.
DeleteA wonderful looking unit.
ReplyDeleteThank you Peter!
DeleteThey look splendid WM and the massed ranks of the whole Corps super impressive! I had some of the Triang rubber houses as a kid but I don’t remember any looking like those - they did some rubber trees as well.
ReplyDeleteWallmoden's Corps was only ever supposed to be a small side project using non-HH figures, just to see what could be made of them, but it's ended up as a third of the Coalition army. What's more, I think it's going to need at least another two battalions to round it off, plus one or two cavalry regiments.
DeleteThe mystery of who made those rubber cottages is going to be bouncing around in my head for some time to come, I suspect.
They look splendid Matthew…
ReplyDeleteAs for the buildings my first impulse was Triang… but they don’t appear in their catalogue…
Mind you if Triang were anything like Minifigs … there will be quite a few things that weren’t listed or were listed under the same number/description…
It does make me think that I must attend more model railway exhibitions Cos you never know what you might find…
All the best. Aly
Thank you Aly. It' been a delight working on these soldiers.
DeleteI used to keep a reasonably close eye on what was going on in the model railway building world, but clearly not close enough.
Magnificent additions. I do love the whole Corps image!
ReplyDeleteCheers Matt! Wallmoden's Corps has always been about showcasing other vintage 20mm Napoleonics ranges, so I was extremely pleased to add these Alberkens.
DeleteI just love these WM. Everything about them is just so precisely done and yet retains the charm of an early wargaming figure with minimal detail. The shading and highlighting you have done works to bring them life, and all of the lining makes them look like finely detailed sculpts. Really well done and absolutely unique. Wallmoden's Corp is really turning out to be a treat, but what will you choose for the next two battalions..?
ReplyDeleteAs for the rubber cottages, I have absolutely no idea. Sometimes the best you can do is acknowledge the divine mystery of things and move on. :)
This would be an Almighty mystery then, I take it.
DeleteI'm so glad you like the troops. I worry sometimes about how some of the wierder ones will be received.
As for the extra troops, I'm trending towards more Russo-Germans and Hanoverians at the moment, but there are a number of options.