Prussian SYW Number 1 Regiment von Winterfeldt

Well it took some time but in the end I got there. I am basing my army mostly on the opening attack into Saxony at the start of the SYW. Even though I will be mostly fighting the Russians but hay we can't always be perfect.

The figures are Old Glory, supplied by Timecast and the flags are Fighting Fifteens both I can heartily recommend. Old Glory figures needed a bit of a clean up and are very well detailed. The only issue with this is the amount of time it took to paint them due to the high level of detail. 

Lee and myself took a lot of time discussing the make up of units and base sizes each coming from a different angle before finally settling on 18 figures over three bases for infantry and 8 cavalry over two bases. Command have around three figures dependant on command level and guns on a single base with one gun representing a battery.

The colonels battalion gets two flags and is displayed here with the three bases in column. I went with a base coat of Dark Russian Blue followed by a highlight of Prussian Blue. One fully painted I inked with Nulin Oil and then highlighted again with the main colours to make them pop. 

The second Battalion just gets the one standard, I have a flag for a third battalion but the regiment only had two during the Seven Years War. I may yet use it but for now it will remain a two battalion regiment.

It was quite a slog painting up two battalions at the same time, I think I may take a leaf out of Lee's book and go one at a time in future. However I have bought a army pack from Lancashire Games and as they are not as detailed may keep to a larger number for these. My aim is to get enough painted up quick enough to actually get a few games in whilst the project is still new.

I do like the way they turned out and the rich colours of the flags really makes the units pop. Our first games will have to include unpainted mini's but at least some will come dressed for a fight.

Next up will be a couple of guns and a few casualty markers and then either a regiment of Hussars or a combined battalion of grenadiers, but before that I have the small matter of a couple of pike blocks to finish.

Fighting Fifteens SYW Prussian Flags

Got home from work to find my flags for my Prussians had arrived. Needless to say they are now attached to the standards and edges painted. I have to admit I am more than a little relieved to get these finished as I have been really slow post challenge.

I will get something up on the first two battalions early next week once I have a few decent images.

The flags are nice and sharp, cost £3.50 per sheet which compared with a few others seems quite cheap. I also add folds to my flags and these show no sign of creasing or losing their colour where folded so seem perfect for the job.

As it was my first order I did not go for too many, six regiments of Infantry, one sheet of Cuirassier and one of Dragoons. Infantry sheets have two regiments with four flags a regiment, enough to do six battalions if you add the colonels colour with a battalion one in the same unit as I have done. I will be ordering more when I need them, having bought yet more figures that may be sooner than you would think.

Last Entry Of The Challenge

Sorry my posting has slowed to a crawl, just been too busy, too tired from work this last two weeks and what I have painted has taken an age to paint! I still can't blog about what I have painted as I am awaiting flags to finish them off, two battalions of SYW Prussians.

I wanted to finish in style so I painted up a couple of squares using Adler skirmish and casualty figs with a a command strip thrown in, all from the French 1812-15 range.

Both squares are rather gory affairs with the casualties mounting with dead on all four sides. I really wanted it to look rather desperate, I think I should probably have had a face or two in better shape but I rather enjoyed the destruction.

A number of Baccus dead also made it onto the bases adding a bit more variety to the mix. I have to admit is was a bit of a pain cutting all the figures onto single bases but as always it pays off to do so.

The animation that Adler get in their figures is pushed well beyond the excellent normal standards into a thing of beauty, I really want to see the Prussian ones out before I finish off my collection so I can take advantage of adding these to a few bases.

I have plenty of casualty figures but no skirmish figures so can't at the moment add any more (Lee says I need lots more LOL), but I will need to order more skirmish to paint up the other Adler French and Polish battalions I have already.

I love this view, can you imagine doing it on a lot bigger scale, that's something to consider for a pet project, after all it's not like I have a lot on!

One square is line and the other light, these being the light.

These will be used as regular battalions I think, possibly though I will bring them out when I am forced into square, not really sure yet.

So lots of death but no gore, I resisted the temptation of adding blood as I think it detracts, especially at this scale.

This squares not in quite as bad a shape as the first one but it's getting there! 

Next few posts will possibly be my recent purchases, I am not giving much away but two new rule sets for different projects and a rather large reinforcement for my SYW Prussian army, which is being posted out tomorrow.

Parliaments Horse by Baccus

Still slowly filling in the posts for the last entries into this years Analogue Painting Challenge. The penultimate offering is two regiments of Cavalry for Essex, well Lee but you know what I mean.

I was hoping to get more units for both Lee and myself for our ECW armies but in the end I was rather more focused on other projects. I still have quite a bit of Lee's figures sitting waiting but other projects are more interesting for both of us at the moment but I will keep them in mind so I can add a few every now and again. Especially as we almost have enough units painted to sort out a game.

The Earl of Essex had a Lifeguard of cavalry to go with his regiment of Foote, well he was loaded after all. Again the uniform was tawny orange which makes them nice and bright. The only detail I know of the ensign is that it is red with a white scroll so I went nice and simple.

The second regiment, Colonel John Dalbier's Regiment is far more lost in detail. I have gone with a red coat simply as it will stand out well and also a red flag. What I do know is that Dalbier was locked in The Tower and was given his freedom on condition of raising a regiment for Parliament which he did. His regiment of cavalry was quite large and fought at Edgehill. The regiment disappears from Essex's listed regiments probably on the replacing of Dalbier as the commanding officer when he fell out of favour around a year or two into the war.

The figures are all Baccus and were nice and clean castings with the lobster pot being of exceptional detail with the face bars. I have plenty of other regiments I can paint up from the army at Edgehill so will not fall short of units to paint.

Unfortunately I did not take many pics of the units before handing them over to Lee so I can't give you much to look at. Next lot I will do better.

The Start of Something Persian

My Macedonian army will be needing someone to fight and as mentioned before I would be supplying the Persians and of course bought the army pack from Baccus about a month or so back. I did manage to get them started with a few infantry and cavalry units during the challenge.

Three units each of 36 figures were dashed off the painting table, quite a colourful bunch that will please some and raise the blood pressure of others.

These are under Hail Caesar are Levies with either spear or spear and bow. Under old 6th Edition they would be Kardrakes with JLS and bow and they rocked. Not so much these days but under Field of Glory they lost the bow altogether and were quite a poor choice in a game.

I just could not resist adding a couple of silly shields to one unit. Talking of shields these were just a series of random patterns with the idea that they just blend in when viewed on the table top. Again my idea of LOTS of units mean that the view of mass and quick painting are the main concern.

The second spear only armed unit. I intend to paint up roughly two spear to one mixed until I have a fairly large number then I will possibly do more mixed once a few games have been played and see how it works out.

From behind they look more of a uniform colour, this is to allow me to roughly colour code all the units into divisions on the table but without them all looking the same.

One rank of spear and two of bow, these I hope will give the Persians an edge in the game up to the point of contact, then it all comes down to how badly they have mauled the Macedonian's. Having yet to commit to a definite set of rules we may have fun sorting this out. My feeling that Hail Caesar will bog down too much with fifty plus units per side. I am most interested in taking a little from the Command & Colors Ancients and making changes that will suit our armies.

I can almost make up three units of these for every single Phalanx I paint up so I expect the units to quickly pile up when I really get into painting them. A good thing too as I will be needing thirty plus levy units along with the ten plus Hoplite units etc.

Not that I can just rely on the foot so I have started with a couple of units of Persian Satrap cavalry. I have enough figures for two more units before moving onto the Colonist cavalry. Again I will be needing many more of these, but the same can also be said about my Companion cavalry.

Again I could not resist doing something a little naughty. Seems my cavalry has picked up a sponsor. This battle is brought to you by McD, I'm lovin' it!

The red unit is a little bit more traditional. In both cases I forgot to add the dice cells, I have an idea of attaching one to them but not sure if it will not just add other issues so will have to ponder.

So a start has been made on the Persian elements of the army, just a small stab into what will be a long term project. The Macedonian part will continue to get the most of my painting time for this project though our plans to put an Ancients game on at this years Joy of Six has had to be shelved in favour of another Napoleonic game, the question remains what exactly will we put on?