Prussian Posse

New Zealand goes into lockdown for four weeks in 24 hours, so to cheer myself up (and anyone else who might be watching), I've gathered together my German generals. Blücher will know what to do!

To all my friends, stay safe old chaps. I'll see you all again one day, no doubt, if you don't see me first.

All the best
WM

Doing things by halves

I've been hard at it on the 5th Westphalians this weekend and have finished the first half of the battalion. I suppose this makes them the 2.5th Westphalians.

I've been painting my infantry in half battalions like this since I started this project nigh on five years ago, but I still haven't found the secret of making the second half nearly as enjoyable as doing the first half. There is a rather interesting late substitute for my officer and my converted drummer to do in this case, however, so I'm hoping this will keep me keen.

Yours, shining on

WM

Gott Mit Uns

We all have our crosses to bear, and Prussian Landwehr in particular. I was hoping to get the first half-battalion of the 5th Westphalians finished today, but all my time was used up painting their fiddly little hats!

Never mind, I've done the hard yards with this lot and they stand a very good chance of being finished by the end of next weekend.

Cheers

WM

Black Banner

Painting time was a bit more plentiful this week, thanks to a cold, so I made a start on Rob's Westphalians and even managed to paint up a flag for them.

It's another one of those tricky Prussian cross jobs. Something black and menacing seemed to be called for, I thought. Just the ticket for storming Plancenoit.

I made a slightly better job of it this time, I reckon, by making a paper template. This was used to create an impression on my fizzy can metal by placing the template onto the flag and pressing onto it with a ballpoint. It sort of worked.....

Auf wiedersehen,

WM

Garrison Duty

Today was supposed to be spent finishing off the horses on my cuirassiers, but I started fiddling about with the Garrisons again and no horses were painted. I don't know what it is about the G-men, but I just adore them. Exactly the same thing happened when I was painting my French Garrison battalion, who threatened to elbow aside my Prussian reservists at one point.

Pictured below are the day's results:

The standard bearer was dead easy, of course, as all I had to do was cut away his musket and drill a couple of holes. The Silesian Landwehr flag he's carrying, needless to say, is not what he'll be carrying when he's finished, but it's shown here to give an impression of what the final result ought to look like.

The drummer was a much bigger challenge. I spent hours carefully paring back his arms with the intention of repositioning them, but when I tried to re-attach them they disintegrated. To make matters worse, I'd changed the solder I've been using recently and it really wasn't working very well. In the end I had to revert to my earlier supply and chop off a new pair of arms from a surplus Lamming Guard Grenadier. He still needs a little bit of work, but he's basically all there now. There's now a very high probability that the Garrisons will queue jump my cuirassiers, although I'm still fighting it.

In other news, my friend Rob G has sent me the attached, demonstrating once again his extraordinary painting accomplishments. Those have got to be among the best Poniatowski' and Ponsonby figures ever painted. Rifleman Plunkett, Rob tells me, is the chap they are about to tread on.

Last but not least is a selection of the absolutely stunning flags Rob has been gradually adding to 'Lee's wonderful Hinchliffe ECW army. These make me weep for my teenage self. My own attempts back in those days were absolutely abysmal.

That's it for now. It'll be either more Garrisons, cuirassiers or a general or two in the next post, although I also have some gunners on the go so anything could happen really.

WM

The Lost Garrison

It's the day after Waitangi Day here in the Land of the Long White Cloud, so I've been taking a bit of time off to paint toy soldiers. This has mostly been devoted to cuirassiers, but while I was about it I also had a crack at one of the wonderful Garrison Prussian Landwehr sent to me by Rob Y. This was a bad idea, as I want a whole battalion of these delightful figures now and they're really not allowed until I've finished Phase 2.

He's a Garrison PN 12: Prussian Landwehr marching, of 1973-design vintage, or thereabouts. The intent, I am assuming, was to expand the existing Garrison Prussian range, which the year before had included guard, line and landwehr in advancing poses. Alas, Rob tells me, the moulds for these are no more, but I've found a picture of some of them.

The image below of troops from Peter Gilder's collection appeared in Charles Grant's Napoleonic Wargaming, published in 1974. The troops in line attacking Plancenoit are Garrison Prussian Guards and Landwehr (codes PN 2 and PN 11, respectively according to the 1972 catalogue). Line infantry (PN 7s) can also be glimpsed in the village. Marching up in column behind them are Lammings, albeit with Hinton Hunt officers by the looks of them.

If anybody has any of these and would like to send me pictures of them, I would be extremely grateful.

There may or may not be another post this weekend. I have a couple of generals on the go and with a bit of luck I may have one of them to show off in a day or two.

WM