Saxons - I fancied painting something Red!

Saxon Leibgrenadiergarde

As a break from Prussian blue and Austrian white I decided to paint something in red, both because red always looks good, and I have an opponent who I am trying to tempt into painting a British army. (Also - I really do not like painting Prussians, I have never mastered painting the red and the blue - just too much like hard work)

We already have a few battalions of white coated Saxons (Karoliners), so I opted for the Saxon Leibgrenadiergarde regiment - no point in messing about is there!

There are no figures for this, so it was a matter of getting as close as possible.

Bodies

The big decision was what body to use, Prussian or Austrian?

After reading all the material I had at hand, plus the compulsory visit to the Project SYW website, I came to the conclusion that the Saxons fell somewhere between the two:

• They carried a sword - Prussian
• Probably did not carry a bread bag - Austrian,
• Water bottle rectangular - Prussian
• Cuffs not particularly deep - Prussian

So on a 3:1 vote I went for the Prussian bodies. (I was initially tempted to go for the Austrian and add a sword, but then I decided that doing a lot of conversion work on the figures is not what we are aiming for with this range)

(When the Russians come out there will be figures with a sword and no baggage which would possibly fit the bill better),

Heads

The rank and file wore Prussian style grenadier mitres, so that was an easy choice.

The officers and NCOs wore tricorns with cockade, the shape looks more Austrian in style, so the Austrian officer head, with a mustache painted on the NCO (the Hungarian officer head has a mustache, so will be bang on when released, but that really is getting picky).

Standards

For the units in these new PA figures I have been using printed flag from Maverick Models.

Unfortunately the website does not list the Leibgrenadier flag, presumably as information is lacking. However Pengal and Hurt suggests that both the leibfahne and ordinarfahne were of the leibfahne style, with the former in white and the latter in yellow.

Stuart at Maverick Models very kindly modified his Saxon infantry leibfahne to give what we thought best fit the description. The one used on the unit is the white leibfahne which I put in the first battalion (silver grenadier front plates). I have a yellow version for use when/if I get the second battalion (brass front plates) painted; it is cast & primed...........but I now have some Hungarians to paint!

 I think they turned out OK, and show what we are trying to do with this range.

Hungarians

I had a chat with Chris (the sculptor) on Thursday, the Hungarians have gone to the factory and should be out end of October????  I have the test moulds, and have cast, assembled and primed an advancing unit ready to paint, so here's a preview. (These figures do not have a pom-pom, this has been added for the production moulds.

There is also a march attach figure which is not shown, and there are grenadier heads as well. We are not sure what will be in each mould yet, I hope to an update in a week or so

Advancing Hungarian fusiliers

Hungarian NCO, drummer, officer and standard bearer
(The officer pole arm is filed down from the halberd)

Accessories

There will probably also be an 'Accessories' mould, he is seeing what will fit in.


As usual - comments on the range would be appreciated.

Hungarian Infantry Update

I've been off on my holidays in 'sunny' northern England for the last week or so - which is my excuse for the long quiet spell.

Chris (Chris Tubb the sculptor) has sent me the photos of the greens for the Hungarian infantry, and I should get my grubby hands on the test moulds later this week.

I posted some photos of the officer and NCO back in May/June, now I can show you the rest. As usual they all can take separate heads so there will be fusilier and grenadier options.

Officer      

The officer is in a different pose to that in the Prussian 3101/1.     

In the new pose the right arm has been lowered to accept a separate pole arm or musket as an alternative to the sword shown.

Standard Bearer

The standard bearer is in the same pose as the Prussian 3101/4.

In the Austro/Hungarian army the standard could be carried by either an officer or NCO.

In action.with the NCO more likely to carry the standard; however we decided to go with an officer with an open coat to provide more variation in the range. (With a bit of conversion work he could provide an alternative standard bearer for other nationalities)

NCO

The NCO is another new pose and has been discussed before.

The right hand can carry a variety of weapons such as the pole arm shown, or a musket.

Drummer 

The drummer is in the same pose as 3102/4, but with the distinctive Hungarian uniform

Infantry March Attack

The same pose as 3104/4 & 3105/2, but in the distinctive Hungarian kit.

This is shown with the grenadier head, it could also be assembled as the fusilier option.

Infantry Advancing

And finally the old faithful advancing pose as 3103/1 and 3105/1 but in Hungarian kit.

A rear view (an earlier photo before the shoe laces), with the Austrian type kit, but with the sword as carried by all Hungarians.

I'm not sure when these will be released, hopefully not too long.

Next up are some cuirassier cavalry.
(Update 28/08/14), it looks like the cavalry are being delayed and the Russians infantry are next up.

As always please let me have your thoughts.