SYW Prince Ferdinand

Fistly, my apologies for not having blogged here for a while but as summer approaches things start getting quite busy here in SW France - gardening, visitors etc. I have been painting when I have had the time and will have quite a few new units to show over the following weeks.

I'm still busy on my main project - an Allied/Pragmatic army for use in both the WAS and SYW.
Dice throws will either supply Cumberland as C-in-C or Prince Ferdinand and the latter's command stand is ready.

It shows Ferdinand himself in his Prussian regimental inhaber's uniform (IR5) with, on his right
a British officer holding a telescope. Behind them, mounted, is Major Hase, commanding Hanoverian artillery. On foot is the Prince's secretary, Christian Heinrich P. Westphalen with an aide carrying his portable writing desk.

Next week I'll post pictures of the Advance Guard plus a Brunswick regiment I'm just finishing off at the moment.

More SYW British and Brunswick troops

The first of the British brigades of my WAS/SYW 'Pragmatic Army' is finished (top two pictures).
They show Major General Waldegrave's three battalions - Bentinck's (5th), Guise's (6th) and Stewart's (37th). The only thing lacking is finials on the last two battalions and that will have to wait until my next order to Front Rank. All figures are Foundry.

The bottom two pictures show von Roth's Brunswick Hussars of the SYW. These have been put on eBay (110242407134). Figures are Sash & Saber.

ACW:Ames' brigade of Barlow's Division-11th Corps

This is the 2nd Brigade of Barlow's Division of the 11th Corps. As I said in my earlier post below, this is a fictional OOB. The Brigade is commanded by B.Gen Adelbert Ames and consists of:
(Top picture) two battalions -
29th Massachusetts (5 bases of 3)
46th Massachusetts (5 bases of 3)

(Next two pictures) Every army has to have its Zouaves -
114th Pennsylvania (5 bases of 3) with red trousers
155th Pennsylvania (5 bases of 3) in blue with yellow lace

All the figures are Sash & Saber.

The last two pictures are of Dixon's figures and show B.General Barlow, the divisional commander (a base with two figures) and the Corps commander Major General Oliver Howard,
a base with three figures.

Eventually, this small army will consist of two divisions of 11th Corps with some attached cavalry and I'm hoping my friend Seb will paint up the Confederates.

ACW:Gilsa's brigade of Barlow's Division-11th Corps

One of my background projects has been the American Civil War. I'm somewhat limited in source material so I've created a fictional order-of-battle for the Union 11th Corps.
The first Division (Barlow's) is finished and the three pictures above are of one of the two brigades - namely Colonel Gilsa's.
This brigade contains:
36th New York (6 bases of 3 figures)
88th New York (7 bases of 3 figures)
10th Massachusetts (5 bases of 3 figures)
Companies C and D of the 2nd Sharpshooters (8 figures)

I am planning to use computer rules so the basing system is mine. Each base is 1.5 inches x 1.25 inches. The figure scale is 1:33. Lastly, I know that some of the regimental numbers I have chosen might not have existed but such, in my view, is artistic licence. All the figures are, by the way, Sash & Saber, and are to be highly recommended.

25mm Vignettes

I'm collecting vignettes for my wargames villages. All the figures are 25mm Foundry and from the top:
1) an English soldier being entertained by the 'wife' of the inn-keeper while another soldier runs of a cheerful ditty on the fiddle. Trying to get her to look appealing was a bit of a painting trial but, like me, both soldiers are short-sighted.
2) the blacksmith hard at work.
3) two pictures of a French camp-sight. They are rather better behaved.

The last picture is of a 40mm Sash and Saber Napoleonic battalion I have just put onto eBay
(110236330428)

New SYW Brits, Hanoverians and French

I have not blogged for a while because I've been busy painting, which seems like a decent excuse.

The top two pictures show the 2nd battalion of the Gardes Francaises - figures by Foundry. I like the profusion of lace on the officers but my only complaint would be that some of the officer's heads look they have been stuck on without considering the possibility of a neck between the torso and head. Perhaps the designer did not want these gentlemen to lose them later on....

The middle two pictures show a British regiment of the SYW - figures again by Foundry. This is the 5th Foot (Bentinck) and the flag colour is probably too dark as I ordered the 51st Foot's colours from GMB in error. So, being economical, I pressed these into service. The Foundry faces are demons to paint as the designer has gone for the look of a battalion of thoroughly nasty types (highwaymen etc) and making these guys look a little less mean has been a struggle.

The last two pictures are of another Hanoverian regiment, this time 10A von Post with turquoise facings. These figures are Crusader with a Foundry officer added. Crusader figures are a great joy to paint but I may have said that before.

25mm (TAG) 1650’s Russian Guard Cavalry - Jiltsi

Here is a TAG (The Assault Group) unit of Jiltsi or Zhiltsi. These were the elite bodyguard of the Tsar and there is some dispute as to whether they were winged, in the Polish fashion, or not. As the TAG figures come without wings, so be it.

I wanted these to look threatening so I used lots of black and white but at the same time I wanted them to have a ‘sumptuous’ look as befitting a personal bodyguard.
Leading onto from a thread on TMP (The Miniatures Page) I gave some of the horses pink noses as this seems to be more common than I thought.

The flag is one of my hand-made creations and, without historical evidence, I went for a religious theme. E-mail me if you would like a free copy.

This unit, pretty (and threatening?) though it may look, will be in trouble, I suspect, when it comes up against Polish winged hussars, who were, in the 17th century, probably the best cavalry in Europe.

PS I just received an email from Michal Paradowski and this is what he said:

"Here's fragment of Jiltsy's description by Bernard Tanner, member of Polish-Lithuanian mission in Moscow in 1678 (I know, later then those from You minis)- maybe You'll find it interesting (sorry for rough translation...):'all of them were wearing long loose red garments. Their horses were white like snow, [Jiltsy] have on their arms [he rather think about back than arms] beautifully painted wings, easily seen above their heads. They have long lances [originally 'kopie' - like Husaria] - to each spearhead there was attached golden effigy of flying dragon (sic!) that was turning around whenever wind blows. You would think that they're regiment of Angels!'