Life Savers

It is the Spring of 1813, and at a secret location Generallieutenant Baron von Winzingerode arrives with the Leib-Garde Grenadiers, who have been newly promoted to the Russian Imperial Guard. Marshal Blücher rides forward to greet them.

Blücher: Aach, Vinzingerode! Ve vill make ze Gardes Brigade togetzer, jah?

The Leib-Garde Grenadiers parade for inspection. They haven't received their new Guard standards and uniforms yet, but make a proud showing nonetheless.

Two passing British officers can scarcely believe their eyes.

Lyon: Look, Wussians!
Alten: Oh yes, Wussians!

The Leib-Garde Grenadiers march and countermarch.

Winzingerode (under his breath): Hmmm, I must say zose
Garde zu Fuß are a rather weedy looking lot!

The Prussians begin to wonder what they've let themselves in for.

To recap, the figures are all Garrison Miniatures circa 1973-1975, being:

RN 8: Russian Line Grenadier x 20;

RN 8: Russian Line Grenadier x 1, converted into a drummer with a Musket Miniatues drum;
RN 8: Russian Line Grenadier x 2, converted into standard bearers; and
RN 1: Russian Pavlovski Officer x 1, converted into a grenadier officer using the head of an RN 5: Russian Grenadier officer bearing a flagstaff

Many thanks again to Rob Y for so kindly sending me these wonderful figures, and to all those who've encouraged me to get them finished. I'm very pleased with them.

Cheers
WM

Russian WIP

Not much to report this week, except to say that we're five days into our second national lockdown, which looks all set to continue for a while yet. It's not all been working from home and doom scrolling, however: I've also been working on my Russians.

Progress to date is illustrated below. All the white bits are on at last, and although there's a lot of tidying up to do, I think I'm definitely on the home stretch with these now.

I'm very hopeful that they'll all be done by next weekend.

Yours,

WM

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

Half Life

I've finally finished the first half battalion of the Garrison Leib Grenadiers.

I couldn't work out why it was taking me so long to paint these, but when I thought about it for a bit the fact that it takes nine separate steps just to paint their wee cuffs and collars probably has something to do with it.

Thankfully, I was able to rescue the flags by coaxing just a little more blue out of my tin of Humbrol 89: Middle Blue by mixing the paint properly. They're still not all that vibrant, but definitely a bit bluer.

The last shot illustrates the difference in height between Garrison RN 8s, Hinton Hunt RN 17s and Lamming FI/1s (Lamming didn't do any Russians, unfortunately). The HH is definitely on the short side compared to the other two, but it's nothing that can't be cured by a bit of stand thickness variation.

It'll clearly take me a while to get the second half of this battalion finished, but I've a new general to show off in the meantime who'll probably be making an appearance next week.

Toodle pip,

WM

Flags for the Lads

My Russian Leib Grenadiers have been going a bit slowly lately, not least because I decided that they really ought to have two flags rather than just the one. Apart from anything else, this meant I had to carve out another standard bearer despite the fact that he was already partially painted.

The first battalion of the Leib Grenadiers were entitled to carry a "white flag", being a white cross on a field of pale blue, and a "coloured flag", where the colour scheme was reversed. These flags were issued in 1797 and not replaced for another thirty years, apparently.

My main issue with my version of these flags is that the new tin of Humbrol 89: Middle Blue I had to break into produced a blue which was not really all that blue when it came down to it. This concerns me a bit.

I'm all of a dither about this. I've been loyally painting almost everything in Humbrols since I started this project, but the decline in quality in some of the old standards is starting to get really noticeable. The metallics are particularly awful. When I finally run out of the old stock I've managed to scrounge off a few mates I may be forced to take up acrylics. I'm really not happy about this.

Yours, somewhat dejectedly

WM

Wrangling Russians

What with it being the long Easter weekend, I thought I'd get cracking on Rob Y's rather more-ish Garrison Russians. As is the tradition with these things, I wanted to get the command group into shape before launching into the rest of the battalion.

First up is my officer conversion, which is a mashup between a 1972 Garrison RN 1: Pavlovski Officer, and an unlisted 1975 RN 5: Russian Grenadier officer bearing a flagstaff. Apart from the obvious head swap, I used the flagstaff to fashion a slightly more robust sword for the conversion.

Rather simpler was my own standard bearer, who is just a 1975 Garrison RN 8: Line Grenadier with his musket removed and holes drilled to hold one of my fizzy flags. The drummer, however, who is based on another RN 8, was a bit more complex. It took the best part of a day to shave back and replace his left arm and attach a drum. His drumsticks still need a bit of work, but I'm nearly there.

I haven't quite decided who they are to represent, but I'm leaning strongly towards the Leib Grenadier Regiment. This appears to have been the only Russian line grenadier regiment which really was composed exclusively of grenadiers and they have the added  advantage of being transferred to the Russian Imperial Guard in 1813, which will make them A+. Just the thing, I'm thinking, for making up a Russo-Prussian Guards division.

My test grenadier will need bit of white lace on his cuffs and collar to turn him into a Leib Grenadier, but this shouldn't take more than jiffy.

Happy Easter!

WM

Lützow Heavy Weapons

I've been terribly busy with various work projects these last few weeks, but as they've finally slackened off a bit I've managed to get some painting done.

Readers of this blog may dimly recall that Mr A. Gentleman very kindly supplied me with a set of wonderful Hinton Hunt Lützower infantry conversions a few years ago. "If you can bung me a few more," I said, "I'll turn them into gunners". I'm somewhat mortified by how long it's taken me to paint them, but here they are at last.

Depicted below are the other ranks. The first two figures, I believe, are conversions of a Hinton Hunt PN 21: Prussian Landwehr infantryman, marching. The third is a charging variant who I think started life as a BN 72: British Fusilier charging. All I needed to do with them was to pare off their muskets and substitute various artillery implements.

I think the the superb Lützower officer conversion which follows was made from an  AN 50: Austrian Artillery Officer. The only change I made to him was to solder on a new scabbard as the original had broken off. I may have overdone the length a bit.

Their gun is still in the works but when it's finished I'll show them all off properly along with the rest of the Prussian gun line.

While I was about these I decided to have a go at a Garrison Russian grenadier who was very generously supplied to me by Rob Young. Like the Garrison Prussian Landwehr Rob also sent to me, he's a wee bit bigger than a standard Hinton Hunt, but not disastrously so.

He's the first of what is to be a little Austro-Russian side project, which will be matched with a few Bavarians and other satellite units on the French side. I've been dying to do this for ages, so despite the fact that Phase 2 of my main project is not quite complete, a battalion of Garrison Russians is what's up next after the Lützowers are finished.

I can't quite articulate what it is that attracts me so much about Garrisons, but every time I get hold of them I find them absolutely irresistible.

Yours

WM

Guns Fever

I managed to get my second gun battery finished today.

The figures are:

from the Der Kriegspielers set # 70: Russian Line Artillery 1812: Gunner with rammer and Gunner with port fire;

Hinton Hunt:
RN 73: Gunner holding cannon ball;
RN 74: Gunner holding hand spike for traversing; and
A 6: Russian Field Gun

The DKs were very kindly donated by Mark S, who also supplied the RGL infantry. The HHs came as part of a small mixed lot of HH odds and ends that I bought a couple of years ago without any real idea what I was going to do with them. I think I just wanted to know what they looked like up close.

They're painted to represent a foot battery of the Russo-German Legion. They really ought to be horse gunners, but Hinton Hunt never produced Russian horse artillery and I have the excuse that there really was a very short-lived RGL foot battery. It was armed with very poor quality British iron guns, apparently, which was why it didn't last very long. My battery, I'm very glad to say, has a splendid Hinton Hunt Russian gun, which was given to me ages ago by Roy B. I hope you approve of what I've done with it, Roy.

The completion of this battery is a bit of a milestone as it means I've finally reached the half-way point in Wallmoden's army. To celebrate, here's a picture of them:

My thanks, as always, to everyone who helped me to put all this together and encouraged me to keep painting.

Have a great weekend,
WM

Putting out the Bunting

Ian S, more famously known as Stryker and the primary inspiration for my own gloriously deranged project, has supplied me with all manner of vintage goodies over the years. Pictured below is my latest feeble attempt to reciprocate.

Ian wanted a flag and a drummer for his Russian grenadier battalion (which was the very first to be presented on his famous blog), and the same for the new battalion of French Young Guard Voltigeurs that he announced he was planning to do a month or two ago.

Hinton Bunting

They are my usual fizzy-can flags, which I've started to get a little better at since I discovered how to inscribe designs onto them. If the inscription is done too deeply it will cause the metal to split when it is bent, so it requires a very light touch which is only just visible beneath the undercoat. Ian also asked me to adapt two officer figures to carry them. This was very simple to do for the Russian, but more complex for the Frenchman as I had to remove, remodel and then re-attach his left forearm.

The drummers were a separate challenge. Both started out as charging musketeers and although removing the muskets was simple enough, I had a few dramas before I was happy with them. In the Frenchman's case, his left hand came off and needed to be reattached.

In the Russian case his right arm needed to be almost completely replaced. This was because he had an exceptionally weedy right forearm which disintegrated as soon as I tried to bend it! I've found that Scruby parts are rather good for these sorts of repairs as the metal is soft and has a low melting point. The drums are from Musket Miniatures, which were very generously donated by Monsieur Foy.

Just to prove that I haven't been totally neglecting my own troops, pictured below is the new flag for my Prussian reservists. I'd been dreading this one a bit due to the requirement for white lettering, but was determined to give it a go nonetheless. I think it went about as well as I expected!

I haven't quite decided which regiment I'm painting yet, but as many of the reserve battalions were uniformed identically there's a bit of scope for identity flexibility.

The reservists will start to appear in the next post, I promise, although this may be delayed a little as I'll be travelling overseas again soon. It's a busy life.

WM

Russians Right and Proper

Painting in Humbrols can be a slow and tedious business. One weekend in every painting cycle is invariably devoted to letting the undercoat dry out properly, to be followed, if I'm lucky, with the skin tones for the hands and faces. The weekend after that is then generally all about blocking in the main colours and then letting all of that dry. Things don't really get serious until about week three.  Cavalry are even slower as I find that the horses and riders really need to be dealt with separately. It's only when the horses are finished that I start serious work on the troopers.

All this is my round-about way of saying that I haven't got a lot to show at the moment. All is not lost, however. A few weeks ago, just as I was getting started on my Russo-Germans, the Archduke sent me the following pictures of his glorious Russian Army. This was entirely coincidental, as I hadn't told him that I was working on Russians. 

The Archduke has been working on refurbishing this army for the last sixteen months or so, he tells me. The results are simply magnificent.

WM

Green Jarmins

Somewhat delayed by the ever increasing social whirl that is Wellington Girl's life, I present the 1st Brigade of the Russisch-Deutsche Legion, which was eventually to become the Prussian Infanterie Regiment No.30.

The Russisch-Deutsche Legion march on to the North German Plain...

I was a bit doubtful while I was painting these, but the final result is not as dour as I feared. It seems that the over-the-top flag has worked. They are also helped out a bit by their bright white haversacks.

...with snow on their boots and revenge in their hearts!

Even better, I think, is the nice contrast they make with the Field Battalion Bremen in what is intended to be a 4 to 5 battalion army based on Wallmoden's Corps of 1813-1814.

Wallmoden's first infantry brigade lines up to face the foe.

I think I need to make a start on  the cavalry of the Corps, however, before painting up any more of the infantry.

Have a great weekend.

WM

Command Decision

Lurking somewhere within many vintage 20mm Napoleonics collections are examples of the Der Kriegspielers command set.

Der Kriegspielers sold their command figures as a single set, described as #50: Mounted Officers. There were supposedly eight of them to each pack, but I suspect the eight contained therein may well have varied a bit from pack to pack as there seem to have been more than eight variants produced.

Five of the command figure variants are in the Hinton Spieler collection and are illustrated below:

Three are clearly recognisable as close cousins of the Hinton Hunt Russian, British and French generic generals figures. The chaps on the far left and in the centre, however, look like conversions of the Russian figure.

As these are the only Russian command figures I have, it seemed sensible to choose one for my Russo-German Legion commander. The chap who won this gig was the one on the left, seen vaguely waving his sword around. I thought he'd need a bit of tidying up first, however.

The result is seen below. The new head is from a recast Hinton Hunt PN 5 Prussian line infantry figure.  I used the body of this figure to make a Prussian Foot Guards standard bearer over two years ago and the head has been rolling around in my bits and bobs box ever since.

The main task was to transform his infantry shako into an officer's schmirtze. I did this by sawing off the top and then simply dripping a large blob of molten solder onto it. All it needed after that was a bit of filing and cutting.

He is to be Major General Wilhelm Daniel von Arentschildt, who commanded the infantry of the Legion in 1813 and 1814. Arentschildt was a Hanoverian soldier who had served in India fighting against Tipu Sultan, interestingly enough. He entered Russian service, however, after the French occupation of Hanover and was instrumental in the setting up of the Legion in 1812.

I haven't quite finished the rest of the battalion but they shouldn't be tooooo far off.

Ta ta for now

WM