Hors de Combat

 I am still officially "out of action" and banned from any lifting duties or walks. I am now in a bit of a race against time, because Claymore is less than three weeks away, and myself and three friends planned to put on a large 40mm Seven years war game, featuring a raid on the French coast. This will be similar to the display we put on at Partizan a few years ago, and it is to remember our good friend Stuart Insch, who recently sadly passed away.

The game involves lifting about 10 heavy base boards and a few hundred weight of lead, so we need to decide this weekend if we go to Claymore or not. Edinburgh is a three hour drive, it involves an overnight stay, and I need to hire a van for the kit. The following week, I have booked a short trip to visit the famous bi-yearly flat figure show  at Kulmbach. We also plan a couple of days in Wurzburg, although I have failed to find any information on a potential museum for the Rot and Blau regiments which were raised for the Empire. I visited Kulmbach two years ago, and I really enjoyed the show with the variety of traders who attend, and the fantastic range of flats which are available. I always think that flats give so much inspiration to 3d figure converters, as there are so many different styles of positions. So it really is a race against time to get myself combat ready again.

Meanwhile, we had the first sunny days in months in the north of Scotland. (Moray is called "the Riviera of the north", as it has a micro climate and is largely sheltered by the Cairngorms), but there has been little "Riviera" of late. As I am excused from heavy gardening duties, I spent the afternoon assembling some figures in the garden, while Mrs H cut the grass. (I could get used to this !).

Meanwhile I am progressing well with Prussian Infantry Regiment 10, and I have finished the first three Grenadiers. I hope to have this regiment finished by the end of July if all goes well.

No Pain, No Gain.

 Recently, I have injured the femoral nerve in my right leg. I find it manageable during daylight hours, but at night it is simply torture. The only solution is to sit up through the night, and try and grab some sleep during the day, which can be something of a drag. But on the plus side, I have not wasted the twilight hours, and it has certainly helped King Fred's recruitment campaign. I have now completed the first 20 figures for IR10 von Knobloch which are shown below.

Still some way to go, but it is a striking uniform, particularly the yellow waistcoat and breeches. I am targeting to finish this unit by the end of July, but even with my night time grafting, I am only averaging about four figures per day. I have nothing but respect for our professional painters who can churn out large units which are consistently of a very high standard.

 Austria - Regiment IR3 Carl Lothringen,

Today I managed to complete Austrian IR3, with Btn. gun and mounted officers. The 1st Btn. are in the front row, followed by the 2nd Btn, with grenadiers on the right.

July 4th might be independence day, and even UK voting day, but for me, the most significant event is that I can now start painting a new regiment. Its back to the Prussians and IR10 von Knobloch with those lovely yellow breeches and facings.

 Austria - Regiment IR3 Carl Lothringen,

Austrian Infantry Regiment IR3 Carl Lothringen, together with their grenadiers, march out of barracks in preparation for the presentation of their colours next week. The second btn. is still understrength, but hopes to be at full strength, together with their colonel next week for the full ceremony.

Scale Comparisons

Feedback to my new range on social media has been fantastic, so today, I thought that I would give readers an idea of scale comparisons, although the images do not really do it justice.

From left to right: Crann Tara, Minden, John D Savoy, Eagle, Perry, Phoenix, My figure 

A close up of the heads helps show the different heights.

Like for like, Crann Tara, Minden, Savoy, My range

My own range has been scaled at 30mm from bottom of shoe to tip of bare head.

A small peek at my first Austrian regiment.

The colour party for Austrian regiment IR3, Carl Lothringen. Hopefully fully recruited and ready to parade next week.

Many thanks again to all who have shown interest and visited my blog.

 

 Prussian Infantry Regiment IR23. von Forcade de Biaix

This is the first completed unit in my new 30mm collection. The regiment has two Btn's, 1st Btn in the foreground with colours, and the 2nd Btn following behind. The colours are hand painted on tin strips, and feature the Leibfahne and a Kompaniefahne 1747-1806.

Each Btn is made up of five bases of six men, giving a 30 man btn. Also included are two bases of six grenadiers which will be converged in action, a btn gun, command figures and a mounted officer. "Big" regiments is the order of the day...spectacular on a wargames table.

IR23 was raised in 1713. It was considered an elite unit, hard fighting and one of the best in the Prussian army.During the Seven Years War, Friedrich Wilhelm von Forcade, Marquis de Biaix commanded.

My next featured unit will be Austrian Infantry Regiment IR3 Carl Lothringen.

It has been a long time !

It certainly seems a long time since my last post, and so much has happened in the interim period, too much to discuss now but certainly in the future.

So last year, I had a long conversation with well known eighteenth century wargamer John Ray, about what I was doing, and what my plans were for the future. My eighteen century 40mm armies were up to date, and after doing my demonstration game at Partizan, I felt that I had exhausted the scale, if not the period. I had never felt 100 percent happy with the 40mm collection, and having regularly seen John's collection on his forum, I felt that I could have done better. In the course of our conversation, John suggested that I start again, and after a few days of considering the logistics of starting from scratch, I decided to give it a go. I wanted a 30mm figure which was distinctive, anatomically accurate, but with the potential to convert. It needed to fit in with the eighteenth century linear look, but it also had to have the potential for conversion, to allow the production of vignettes. I was basically looking for a figure that was the same scale and detail as the old Phoenix ceremonial range, had the character of a Willie/Edward Suren figure, and had the look "en masse" of the old Stadden sculpts.

So I was off, I would hire a professional sculptor to do the masters, and make vulcanise moulds and cast them on my own centrifugal casting equipment. I drew up a plan in four phases which would ultimately give me reasonable armies for Prussia, Austria/Hungary/Croatia. (No point in producing half a range.) As many of the figures were quite similar for both nations, masters could be converted and cast, to reduce sculpting costs. The first phase would be Prussian/Austrian infantry and officers, second phase cavalry, third phase artillery crews and fourth phase Croats and Hungarians.

I decided that Andrew Stadden would be the ideal sculptor for my job, I contacted Andy last November, and we arranged a sculpting program, which would fit in with my casting and painting needs.I explained to Andy the style of figure I was looking for and supplied uniform specs for each model. To make make casting easier, and to allow less compromise with the sculpting, we decided to produce figures with separate arms. This is probably unique among wargaming figures, but it differentiates the figures from others that are on the market. Assembly is more time consuming, but casting is simplified and a wider variety of figures can be achieved.I also went for oval bases, which tend to cast easier than square ones.

So for my first post in some years, I would like to introduce my Prussian and Austrian 30mm infantry sculpts.