Monday 17 November 2008

Raw metal (or painted?) for sale

I'm going through bags and bags of figures I have for sale as its time to dispose of things I'll never get round to painting for my own collection. So, if there is anything here you would like to buy, please drop me an email at nigbil@free.fr and we will sort out payment and postage. Just make me an offer!

1) 25mm Venture Miniatures Havoverian SYW cavalry; 10 horses and 11 mounted including officer, standard bearer and a choice of trumpeter or kettle drummer.
Unpainted and new.
2) 25mm Sash and Saber SYW Prussian hussars in mirliton. 8 horses and 8 cavalrymen.
Unpainted and new.
3) 25mm Sash and Saber SYW Prussian hussars in bearskin. 12 horses and 12 cavalrymen.
4) 25mm Sash and Saber SYW Prussian hussars in mirliton. 20 horses and 20 cavalrymen.
Unpainted and new.
5) 25mm Renegade Republican Romans. 4 principes (plus pila and shields), 4 triarii kneeling (plus shieds), 4 hastati (plus pila and shields), 4 command (plus 2 shields and 4 standards), 2 mounted officers (horses and shields) and a single Carthaginian foot standard bearer (why, I don't know) by unknown manufacturer.
Unpainted and new.
6) A 'ton' in weight of A&A 25mm Samnites I bought to make up allied Roman legions
for my 'late' Republican army: 36 foot command, 48 of code SAM2, 134 of code SAM1 and enough shields and pila for the lot. I also have anough LBM shield transfers for the entire lot as well.Unpainted and new.
7) PAINTED and for Sale: 12 25/28mm French Infantry of the WAS (by a French company called Capitulation).
8) 40mm Sash & Saber Napoleonics: 10 British infantry (plus heads), 2 British infantry with broken bayonets, 7 French infantry (plus heads), 3 French infantry with broken bayonets. $10 plus postage.
9) Front Rank 25mm SYW French Guards; 4 painted infantry, 14 unpainted figures.

I'm happy to sell the raw metal or, if you want me to, to paint them up on special commision for you. Drop me an email and we'll discuss it further. If these do not sell, I'll probably be putting them on eBay sometime soon.

Over the next few weeks/months I'll be painting up the following for sale:

1) 15mm AB Napoleonic Austrians in helmets - 5 battalions of 18.
2) '25mm' Minden Miniatures - 40 figures of Prussians in 2 battalions.
3) 25mm A&A Hypaspists - 24 figures.

Sunday 9 November 2008

'Lucky' Luckner






This is what Niemeyer and Ortenburg say about Luckner in their excellent “The Hanoverian Army during the Seven Years War”:
In 1757 Rittmeister (Captain) Nicolaus von Luckner, formerly in Dutch service, raised a unit of Hussars which consisted originally of a single troop, but by the end of the year already numbered 90 men. Eventually, in 1760, there were 4 squadrons, each of two troops……with a strength of 671 men. The success of the regiment is reflected in the career of its commanding officer. Entering the Hanoverian service in 1757 with the rank of captain, he was a lieutenant-colonel in 1758, and was gazetted major-general on 25th January 1760; finally becoming a lieutenant-general in 1761 at the age of only 39.
The greatest possible praise can also be seen in a letter from Prince Ferdinand to Lt.General von Wangenheim: Your Excellency may also convey to Colonel von Luckner the particular congratulations of His Serene Highness, and assure him that our confidence in him is so firm that we are never in any doubt that, whenever he and his splendid regiment undertake a task, it cannot fail to have a fortunate and successful outcome.


Luckner’s hussars was one of the few units that completely changed its uniform during the course of the SYW. It started off wearing a combination of green and red and, at some point, the date being unknown to me, the uniform changed over to the more famous (and unusual in light cavalry) red and white. I wonder if Luckner himself made so much money from pillaging French baggage camps that he was able to fund this expensive change of uniform.

The mounted figure (Luckner himself) is by Front Rank and is actually Franz Leopold Nadasdy (SYAP3), with the moustache trimmed off. I don’t know why I took this off but in my mind’s eye Luckner did not wear a moustache but I’m pleased to be corrected. He is placed on a Foundry horse and the saddle cloth was done with green-stuff. I have painted him in the second uniform. Next to him, on foot, is one of the new Eureka SYW Saxon hussars and what a great figure he is. The detailing is superb with no mould lines at all. A joy to paint. As he is wearing a mirliton I decided to paint him up in the early uniform on the assumption that there must have been a period, however short, when both uniforms were in service. The only small detail I’m not convinced of is the tiny skull and crossbones on the front of the mirliton – I don’t think the Saxons wore such a symbol. But I left it on anyway.

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Friday 7 November 2008

Hessian Brigade






The Hessian Brigade of my second column (Division) under the command of Lt.General Freiherr von Sporcken is finished.
The top two pictures show Regiment Gilsa, consisting of two small battalions, after the 1760 changes, which joins Regiment Mansbach in the Brigade. The third picture shows the converged grenadier battalion (name unknown?) consisting of the grenadier companies of Mansbach and Gilsa. The final picture shows the brigade arrayed with its battalion guns. Those sharp-eyed amongst you will note that I have slightly changed the brigade structure from that described in the OOB a few posts ago.

A word on Gilsa. Prior to 1760 this was regiment Fürstenberg, a regular musketeer regiment. Besides changing its facing colour from red to black, the regiment became a Fusilier regiment, adopting the small fusilier mitre in a direct copy of the Prussian model. During the American War of Independence the regiment was known as von Knyphausen after its Inhaber at the time. Sent to North America in 1776, most of the regiment was captured at Trenton in December 1776.

This is the only fusilier regiment I intend to have in this Pragmatic/SYW army and they make a nice change. By the way, and I almost forgot to mention it, the officer commanding this Brigade is Maj-General Bischhausen - there's a name to conjure with!

My next post, at the weekend, will be about Colonel Luckner, whose figure I have painted but which needs basing. Nic at Eureka kindly sent me a dismounted Saxon hussar which I have painted and added to the base. More on that later as the dismounted Saxon is one of the finest 25mm figures I have ever painted. My next project is to finish off this Division's first Brigade (consisting of Hanoverians) as well as a box of Perry plastic Napoleonics.