Horsing Around

I was supposed to be painting gunners today, but it didn't quite work out that way. Before getting down to the job on hand I thought I'd do a simple conversion and things sort of escalated after that. The upshot is that no gunners were painted, but I've ended up with a couple of new Prussian generals, so it wasn't all bad.

The simple conversion was a quick head swap on another of my Der Kriegspielers #50 mounted officers. The new head I gave him was left over from the recast Hinton Hunt PN 64 I used to make General Zieten.

This didn't take very long at all and since the soldering iron was all nicely warmed up I started fossicking about in my might-do-a-conversion-but-haven't-quite-decided-yet box. What I came up with was a  Hinton Hunt PN 10: Prussian Guard Grenadier officer, charging. "I wonder if he could be made to sit on a horse", I said to myself. The answer was "yes, he can", although it took several hours to find out.

He still needs a little cleaning up, and perhaps a bit more work on his sword arm, but he's mostly complete. He is to be Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm Freiherr von Lützow, of course. The horse, by the way, is a recast Hinton Hunt FNH 13.

I should be getting back to my gunners now, but I suspect they're going to have to wait a little longer....

Yours, soldering on,
WM

Prussian Grand Manoeuvres

My last two Prussian commanders are all done and so, by popular demand (well, Michael, anyway) it's time for the Prussian Grand Manoeuvres.

The first of the new figures is Hinton Hunt PN 64: General, looking through spy-glass, with the head of PN 61: General Gneisenau. He is to be Lieutenant General Hans East Karl, Graf von Zieten, the commander of the Prussian I Corps at Waterloo.

Next to him is my other example of a PN 65: ADC to a General, painted as a flugeladjutant von der Infanterie. I've modified him by twisting his head ever so slightly to the right. Also distinguishing him is his mount, which is a Hinton Hunt BNH 4: British Light Dragoon Horse as I've run out of Prussian general staff horses.

Lt Gen von Zieten and his ADC arrive on the manoeuvre field in the nick of time
 and report to Blucher

The plan for the manoeuvres is delivered by the Generaladjutant von der Infanterie.
The orders from Berlin are that the Army is to practice the new Drill Regulations of 1812

The Army marches into position....

while Blucher leads his commanders over the manoeuvre field.

At long last the Army is deployed - infantry in the centre, artillery and cavalry on the flanks.
The 2nd Silesian Shutzen take up  position as the advance guard.

The Silesian riflemen and their supports shake out into skirmish formation.

Nearing the objective, the skirmishers fall back to the rear and flanks while the
Neumark Landwehr and 1st Silesians deploy into line.

The Guard and the 21st conduct a nifty passage of lines  and charge,  while the
cavalry swoop in from the flanks to complete the victory. 

Gathering his commanders, Blucher declares the manoeuvres a complete success!

There are 162 figures altogether: 115 Hinton Hunts, 46 Der Kriegspielers and one Lamming!

I have an awful lot of painting to do if I'm to catch up with the French.

.

WM

A General Answer

There was nothing for it after yesterday's post but to rush out after work and purchase some acrylic gloss varnish.

His buttons and other metallic bits didn't budge an inch!

PN 64 in all his new, shiny glory

The other side. Red bits are redder in reality!

My heartfelt thanks, chaps.

WM

A General Question

Wellington may be a small town in the great scheme of things, but it's got fantastic second-hand book shops. Just a few months ago I was absolutely delighted to find a copy of David Nash, The Prussian Army 1808-1815 (London: Almark Publications, 1972), which is still reckoned by some to be the best single English language source for Prussian uniforms.

However, I'm a little confused about his description of general officers' uniforms. On page 77 he writes that on campaign Prussian generals wore "a soft, grey, peaked Schirmutze piped in scarlet". As the accompanying illustration on the next page isn't coloured, there are a number of ways this could be interpreted. Whereas Blucher is almost always depicted with a red band around his old blue Landwehr cap, Nash makes no mention of such a thing for the 'official' cap.

Below is my interpretation of what Nash may have been getting at. The figure in PN 64: Prussian general looking through a spy-glass. Has anyone seen or heard of a cap of this type? It has a rather WW1 appearance!

PN 64: Prussian general looking through a spy-glass.

He's not been varnished yet, so there's still time to change him. Alternatively, I could always paint on a black oilskin cover!

Another question is: has anybody discovered a way to put Humbrol gloss varnish over Humbrol metallics without the metal colour running about all over the place? I'm very fearful about his buttons!