IR 6 Saxony, Karl Maximilian

Production of 40mm has dropped of late. so I have decided to revisit my partially complete Saxon army and add Regiment IR6 Karl Maximilian, one of the regiments which surrendered at Pirna having failed to link up with Browne,s Austrians who were making their way up the opposite side of the Elbe and who had reached Bad Schandau. This is within a few miles of the Saxons who were starving by this time and could not cross the rough hilly terrain with the weather worsening. A real ”what if “ situation, if the Saxons and Austrians had linked before Lobositz, Fred may well have been sent packing. Bad Schandau is now a lovely little holiday spa. We stayed for 2 days in 2019 in a little hotel looking on to the Elbe.

This NCO of IR 6 has been in solitary confinement for over a year after dismally failing in his recruiting drive.

The dark green waistcoat and facings make a nice contrast to the white jacket.

Mark A. kindly gave me these flags with an order he painted for me some time ago.
I will finally get a regiment painted up for them.   Watch this space.
I need a completed Saxon army before I can really fight a proper campaign based on the situation in 1756, so this is a chance to make some progress.

A bit of a diversion

Hanoverian recruitment has been held back of late by a new distraction, a 30mm unit of Scots Guards circa 1910. This period, particularly the British army in full dress, has always been a major of interest  of mine, and I was brought up in the 1960’s when Britains lead soldiers were being phased out and plastic 54mm and Airfix was all the rage with young boys.  I always hankered after a lead soldier collection but they were way out of my price range and became the domain of serious collectors.
So this seems a good compromise. 30mm is now the industry standard, they have plenty detail if well sculpted, are affordable and look great en masse, without taking up vast self space.
So I now introduce my first completed unit of Scots Guards, 64 marching men, 4 piece colour party, 2sergeants, 1 Sergeant major, 2 officers and mounted Lt Colonel.
I will also paint up 12 line markers. Still to paint up the band, pioneer , transport mule and handler, which should give me a 1:12 representation of a British regiment circa 1910.

French ADC completed

This chap was fairly straightforward to paint and he will make a nice addition to the French staff.

 

On the table, encouraging Regiment Dillon as they move forward.

French mounted officer conversion

Not much to report today, but I managed to finish milliputing my French officer. A little filing tomorrow and I should have him painted by the weekend.

He looks a little too young and enthusiastic to have the title of general. Originally he was going to be a cavalry officer, but I have decided to paint him as a young ADC, riding up and down the front of the French first line.
I will uniform him as the Osprey figure below.

Grenadiers of Hanoverian Reg. IR1a Von Scheither

Slow progress this week, but I have managed to complete this rather fierce looking stand of grenadiers which will go to make up a converged btn of 4 bases, officer and NCO.
Stephen Summerfields excellent book on the army of Hanover only gives a description of the mitre cap, so fingers crossed I have painted it reasonably correctly.
I do know that the Hanoverians created grenadier Btns, but I am not sure if the regiments grouped were fixed as in the Prussian style or if they tended to be grouped randomly per battle which was more the Austrian style. More research is required.
Meanwhile I will order the new book by Charles G tonight on small actions of the western campaign which should hopefully inspire these fellows to take to the table soon.

I am now in the nice position of deciding what unit to start next.
Another Hanoverian regiment, a French cavalry regiment or maybe the Dauphin regiment with that wonderful flag and attractive blue facings ?...... decisions decisions

Heard in passing from my wife !

The kids have all left home now apart from my husband !

Orbats

I love ORBATs or Orders of Battle. I can spend hours browsing over army lists.
Stuart I. asked yesterday if I had a plan or Orbat for my French army.
The answer is no, I am just working towards creating a balanced army which could be used for most actions. As for choice of regiments, I tend to use the following criteria.
1. Variety of uniform detail to ensure a colourful mixed collection.
2. Attractiveness  of colours/standards.
3. In the French case, a balanced mix of foreign regiments.
4. I like to chose regiments that saw action in the major engagements.
(I check ORBATs on major actions such as Hastenbeck, Minden, Rossbach, Warburg etc to see if the selected regiment saw action. I do not go for units who were mainly on coastal or garrison duties, preferring Militia units for such roles.)

My ultimate goal is to be able to fight campaigns with each army. I started this process last year with a Prussian invasion of Saxony, but soon realised I would need more Saxons and Reicharmee troops.
Eventually I should have enough units to cover most campaigns.
My plan then, will be to keep a detailed record of each regiment, casualties, actions, colonels and morale etc to give a more realistic campaign.

When choosing a new regiment to paint, my first port of call is Kronoscaf. I also regularly look at blogs such as AMG and the various Seven Years forums to get ideas.
I am pondering on who will be my next French cavalry regiment. Possibly the Irish Fitz James regiment as they have an attractive uniform and featured in a number of actions, or possibly Penthievre who wore a white jacket and had a very colourful red standard. .... One of the best parts of the hobby, finishing a unit, placing on the shelf  ready for action, clearing the work bench and planning the next regiment.

HQ

A recent message on the blog asked me what size of table I use for 40mm figures. It is big, 18ft x 8ft but to be honest, most actions have fitted on half of the table.
The table is rather cluttered as I am making some base boards at the moment, but the shot below gives the viewer an idea of the layout. Upstairs is a balcony where I keep most of my books and gives a great aerial view of the action below. Of late, troops are beginning to take over the upstairs as well.
The two ships in the foreground were purchased last year and scale reasonably well for 40mm

Royal Roussillon join the French stable

I managed to finish another French cavalry regiment today, bringing the total number to six. I hope to have up to 12 regiments to complete my army.

My French cavalry units are normally made up of 12 figures as some of the French cavalry regiments were fairly small.

Below are a few shots of my shelves of the French army.

Each regiment has a labelled space on the shelf. I also put a label on the base of each figure group stating the nation and regiment to ensure that units do not get mixed up on the table.

All quiet on the 18th century front

This is because I have been distracted this week, so very limited painting on 18th century stuff, (working in Hanover grenadiers) but no progress on the French officer conversion.
The distraction has been caused by some 30mm Phoenix Figures I have acquired. ..No not the dodgy Phoenix follies, but the 30mm parade series. First produced in the mid 1970’s and sculpted by Tim Richards I believe, this series was well sculpted and correctly proportioned, representing British army regiments. The 30mm scale is compatible with some of the better sculpted modern ranges and scales with Willy figures.

So much of the weeks painting time has been taken up by producing a full regiment of Scots Guards, circa 1900. They are very quick and easy to paint and make a splendid display. I am planning to create a 64 man regiment with, in addition , 4 piece colour party, 2 officers and mounted colonel, RSM, 2 sergeants and then a 16 piece band. Don’t know where this will go, but if I don’t get bored I may add other regiments. What about wargaming with them ? Well they are mainly for display, unless I acquire some full dress Germans and create a “Riddle of the Sands” scenario, but I don’t think so.

Vive La France !

This morning I started to prep the French officer conversion I spoke about. I have not decided which regiment to paint him up as, or maybe I will make him a staff officer, or an enthusiastic young ADC.
I have cut the tricorne from another figure, soldered it securely to the sword tip and glued on a new head. Will milliput and file later, add a scabbard and reigns , then hopefully paint tomorrow.

Hopefully he will end up looking something like this.

IR1a Von Scheither joins the stable

IR1a Von Scheither joins the stable

Today I completed this fine regiment which served Ferdinand so well.
They fought at Hastenbeck, Krefeld, Minden and Warburg.
The very attractive green facings make the unit stand out.
I still need to paint up a base of grenadiers, then a short break from Hanover before I work on IR3a Von Knesebeck whose black facings will be a nice contrast.
Meanwhile I fancy another conversion and I will attempt the image of the French cavalry officer with tricorne on sword which I posted recently. Also I have a French cavalry regiment needing completed, So lots to do.

Reminiscing

With the great weather up here I have been spending more time in the garden, browsing some of my old wargaming/military modelling magazines.

Firstly, a great painting of a French 7YW officer. I really must try to do a conversion of this piece with his hat on the end of his sword, Armistead at Gettysburg style.

Next some illustrations from a magazine which must be 50 years old, but is still one of the best ever produced. (Circa 1967?)

I was reading an article in the magazine by Charles Grant when I noticed the figures at the top by Norman Newton.

This photograph still stands the test of time, and probably represents troops of the period at their best.

These figures really look the business, are positioned perfectly, and put to shame many of the “orc” style figures that followed them. I have no idea who the gentleman who owned this collection was, but I would love to see more of his work. Perhaps Charles G will be able to shed some light on the origin.

Off for my morning exercise then back to the garden. Looking forward to a chat with Stuart I later.’

Fort Caroline

Today was a milestone in several ways. It was my wife Caroline’s birthday, and more importantly (I joke), the final piece of my Vauban fort was completed on the 3D Printer. Yes Stuart I took your advice and moved it to the most isolated part of the house to allow overnight printing and undisturbed sleep! As a result it will be known as Fort Caroline, with a suitable inscription above the gate when I paint it. Christened with a couple of bottles of Prosecco, on a glorious day in the Scottish Highlands, things are not too bad .
Next, a trip to Fort George along the road to get the colours right, although the stone would probably have been cleaner and fresher when newly built in the 18th century and less weathered than the current fort.
Much credit has to go to Graham C who first notified and  tempted me to make this 3D fort, encouraged me to buy a 3D printer, and supported me along the way. It has been nearly a year to get to this point, but delighted with the result and another tick on my bucket list.

Hanoverian officer painted and based

The Officer conversion was painted up today.

A staff officer meeting. Sporcken indicates the position of the enemy while the new officer looks on.
Ferdinand wears the blue jacket and the staff officer to the right was another recent conversion.

Next, I need to finish another Hanoverian regiment before any more distractions.
The 3D Vauban Fort continues with the start of the barracks print. These are big files and can take 24 hours to print. Construction has been put on hold as Mrs H was kept awake last night by the printer churning away!