von Szekely Hussars SYW

It's not often that I don't enjoy painting something and even less that it effects the finished result but these sit in that group. I am not saying I did a bad job but they could and should have been better. Given the new size of cavalry units I should buy another pack so that I am able to generate three units but at the moment I just don't want to.

These are Old Glory as supplied by Timecast and whilst they have the detail that the infantry get the sculpting seems to have been done by someone else. Whilst the riders were quite easy to clean up the mounts were less so, especially the horses with closed legs (front) which were just too much trouble to separate. Right from first inspection I was disappointed with them so I did not enter the process with a positive view.

It's not all bad, they paint up well but maybe it's the uniform colour which looked really ugly before the ink wash was applied but I found myself cutting corners to get them finished which just adds to the annoyance.

Regiment One all ride chestnuts with white tails but I wanted a bit of a campaign look about them so have a few riding either chestnuts with brown tails or horses of other colours. Just wait till I do one with dapples! I am pleased how the braiding came out on the pelisse which was a great bit of sculpting. 

For all the moans above I am happy with the look and look forward to using them in games. I will be needing other Hussar units later but before that I will paint up their heavier brothers.

Originally we were going with two bases 60x30 with a total of eight figures for light cavalry and ten for the heavies. However on seeing the SYW game by I think Nottingham Outlaws we were struck by the mass look of the cavalry and decided to copy it. Light cavalry will have ten figures and heavier types will have 14-16 figures per unit, quite a bit more painting to be done then.

The new bases are 60x60 with two per regiment allowing us to use some form of column. The obvious side effect other than time to paint is the extra outlay we have committed too. It could get worse as I will be looking at Blue Moon as an alternative to Old Glory but that choice will wait till after I have painted up a few Lancashire Games regiments.