Prussian Frei Korps

Following on from the Grenz I have painted a a small 8 man unit of 'double blues'.

The new firing infantry are nice figures, and are designed to mix in with the very first Prussian moulds. The bodies are cast in 'scrap metal' and came out reasonably well, however I used heads from the original Prussian moulds (cast in Model Metal), as I prefer the proportions of the older heads.

A rear shot, the kit is similar to the original figures, however size is inconsistent, but they look fine mixed together - the chaps will go thirsty as the water bottle is missing.

Comparison with the original Prussian infantryman (they have heads from his mold), even with the different kit size they mix fine.

On this occasion I decided to go a little down the 'imagination' route and give the troops the new hornist figure as their musician; these are skirmishing troops in my army, and the horn looks far more appropriate than a historically correct drum (and it used the brand new figure). Using similar logic they are commanded by the new staff officer. - I can see him popping up in all sorts of places. 

And finally a mix of the old and new figures.

Next I think a couple of mounted officers.

Austrian Grenz

 I finally got around to casting and painting up some Grenz - just a small 8 man unit for use using the 'A Gentleman's War' rules (which are highly recommended).

These are (currently?) the only two Grenz figures in the range, with no dedicated command. To complete the unit I also cast and painted up a Hungarian officer (with a Russian officer's musket) to act as their commander, size wise he fits in OK; however he looks a bit odd in an advancing pose when the rank and file are all stationary firing.

The original plan was to also have an advancing figure, so after mixing in a few of those the advancing officer would look fine. I will have another attempt to have some more Grenz figures made - if anyone else wants them then let me know, and it would help if you contact PA on their Facebook page to ask them to make some more Grenz poses.

Casting wise;  I struggled to get the fine detail, particularly on the face and shako fur, however they paint up fine.  I was using my 'scrap' metal which often struggles to produce fine detail, I had run out of Model Metal, but now have some, so will see if I can get better results next time I have a casting session.

I have also cast some light infantry and generals, which I hope to get painted in the next week or so.

As always your comments would be appreciated.

New Releases! Generals and Light Troops

Yes I am still here, however I have not done anything with my semi flats for some time.

I recently had an email to say that PA have (finally) released four more moulds, and that there is a 10% discount if you buy the full set.

I have to confess I have not yet seen these moulds, so have not had chance to try them out and see how they cast. The packaging illustrations are prints of the computer generated designs - not castings.

The moulds are labelled 'Austria', however they are intended to be more generic than has been the case previously, and to produce figures that are 'near enough' to fill some of the gaps that exist across all of the armies. 

General Officer

The mounted general officer is based on the Austrian uniform, with different heads (from other moulds) and varying paint jobs he should do nicely for all of the armies. 

We decided to try and make something a little different from the usual pointing with sword, so went for the raised hat and pointing with baton. Hopefully a dragoon or cuirassier arm can be used if a sword is wanted.

Light Infantry

These have been 'a little while' in the making - looking back through the blog the discussions about what figures to produce were back in September 2014, and then the first sculpting shots were back around Christmas 2019 - no one can say they were rushed out!

Grenz & Pandours

Currently just a single mould for these, the kneeling and standing firing poses are fine for skirmishing. I would have liked to have seen another mould with an advancing pose paired with either one marching or loading - any thoughts?

The mould contains heads for Austrian grenz, Russian pandours and also a mirliton to make the various frei corps units.

The Hungarian officer will stand in nicely for their commander.

 Frei Korps and Jager

Although labelled 'Austria', the second light infantry mould is even more generic, designed to cast figures which will be acceptable  for a wide range of troops; again a single mould with two firing figures. The figure's kit is the same as the Prussian infantry figures, so can be mixed with the earlier moulds (and would make a close order firing line).

Officers can be provided by the line infantry moulds.

The figures have gaiters, so are correct for light troops such as Prussian frei korps, however as they have gaiters they are not quite right for jager (although these are also sometimes shown in gaiters).

The mould includes a head with an Austrian jager style casket, so the figures will also give a reasonable approximation of the Austrian jager, again as they have gaiters they are not quite right .

General Officer on Foot and Hornist

The general officer is intended to be paired with the mounted officer to make a command group, with the two of them having a chat.

The hornist should add a little more variation to the skirmishing lines.

Hopefully I should get the moulds soon and will see how they cast.

As always comments are welcome.

HAPPY NEW YEAR & SYW Update

Best Wishes to everyone for the New Year.

Sorry I've not written anything for a while, my gaming interests have been elsewhere.

With lock down I have not had much chance to play with my toy soldiers, however I have done a lot of on-line gaming. A group of us have been playing Commands and Colors Napoleonics, using the VASSAL platform for the game and DISCORD for the chat. If any of you are feeling a need to get some interactive gaming done I can highly recommend this combination, as to play requires constant discussion/interaction between players, so almost as good as a face to face game.

Plans for the SYW Range

I have recently had a chat with Chris Tubb, PA's sculptor, who assures me that PA are planning to continue/complete the SYW range, however as you can imagine the pandemic has made things difficult for them.

The good news is that I am in possession of 3D prints of some of the next releases, which will comprise a mounted general, grenz and other light troops, as discussed in previous posts these will have a variety of poses and heads so will cover most armies. Hopefully we should see these in production in the next couple of months.

Everyone take care - hopefully we will all be gaming again soon. 

Prussian Cuirassiers - Rossbach

I thought I had better write something to let you know I am still around!

Quite understandably, Prince August have gone quiet during the pandemic and  not been able to release the new staff officer and light troops moulds I was looking forward to.

I have painted up a few more cavalry units, but they are just 'more of the same', so nothing worth discussing here. I have however recently had an attempt to make a unit of Prussian cuirassiers. Neither the old Karoliners or new SYW range have anything suitable, so decided to have a look at the old Rossbach range - and spent my hard earned pennies on the 3 Guarde du Corps moulds (trooper, officer and standard).

I was not happy that they fit in 'as cast', so did need a little work..............

As usual I swapped the heads for the Prussian infantry officer from the SYW range. The one on the Rossbach figure is not bad actually, however I decided they would match in better if I changed them.

The troopers have neither a carbine or valise, I decided I could live without the valise, but really wanted a carbine. The figure has the sword low on the right side, just where the carbine hangs. I initially thought that I was scuppered, however after a little experimentation I found that it relatively simple to cut a groove down the back of the sword using a hacksaw blade, and then slot in a slightly filed down carbine from the dragoons.

The Rossbach moulds do not include any musician, and the Karoliner and SYW do not match the style, so the best I could come up with was to cut/file away the whole right arm of an officer figure and replace with the trumpet from the SYW Austrian cuirassier. The Austrian cuirassiers are rather on the large size, so even after some filing down the trumpet arm has a bit of a 'lobster arm' effect, not brilliant but he will do (oops a bit of basing paint to clean off).

Size wise the Rossbach figures are on the small side, see comparison with the Karoliner/SYW Austrians.

I am not overly impressed with the results, and think we really need a a figure adding to the SYW range. However having invested in the moulds I will possibly do one more unit to have some units to put on the table.

General Officer

Just a quick post to let you know I am still here, and that PA are still slowly progressing the SYW  range😀

General Officer

There have been quite a few requests for a general officer, so PA are proposing to produce one. Rather than the usual sword in hand we thought something a little more interesting might look good, so we went with bare head with his hat in his hand - I think it is rather splendid.

As with the other mounted figures, he will have a separate right arm and swapable  head, so there will also be an alternative with head covered and a baton.

And you can also (hopefully) use an arm from the dragoons to give him a sword in hand (the hilt on the horse would need cutting off which might be fiddly)

If you don't mind the poses being the same you could make some French household cavalry using various arms (sword, trumpet & standard).

Light Infantry

The light infantry are also well underway, there will be standing firing and kneeling firing for both the Grenz & Frei Korps, I will post something when I have more details.



As always feedback would be appreciated.

More Austrian & Prussian cavalry

Happy New Year to everyone!

Over the festive break I have managed to finish off a few units which have been sitting on the painting table for some months  (they kept being put back as I indulge in my current fads). Excuse the photo quality, they are just taken on an old compact camera under a desk lamp.

Austrian Horse Grenadiers

This is my take on the grenadiers from DR#2 Liechtenstein, as usual I have simplified detail, as I prefer to have them 'neat' rather than 'accurate' (I can't do both), the flag is as usual from Maverick Models.

The horse grenadiers are based on the recent dragoon mould, but with a few modifications:

• The sword arm has been replaced by that from the cuirassiers, as I really do feel this is a better pose - it is a bit oversize but I think looks fine.
• The head is from the earlier infantry moulds, as the the castings I get from the dragoon mould seem very small/flat (I have suggested to PA that they remake the head mould).
• Horse grenadier squadrons had trumpeters rather than the drummers in the rest of the dragoons. I made one using the dragoon officer with the cuirassier trumpeter's arm, it took a bit of filing/bending, and again is a bit big - but I think looks fine.

• To finish off, I added sword hilts to the empty scabbards on the trumpeter and standard bearer (from from the French infantry).

This swapping of parts is what I always wanted for this range, although there are some issues with fit and sizing I must admit I enjoy using the various parts to come up with as close an approximation as I can to the units I want.

Prussian Dragoons

I have also painted up Prussian DR#5, again with a simplified paint job.

I could not resist making a few of modifications:

• The sword arm is again from the cuirassier.
• The heads are all 'Prussian officers' from the infantry moulds, as again I wanted heads which were 'fuller' than those in the dragoon mould.
• A sword hilt was added to the drummer, as it is missing on the casting.

Austrian Cuirassiers

Although the recent PA cuirassiers are very nice figures they really are too big, and having used them on the table a few times I simply cannot live withe the size difference relative to the rest of the army (I'm an engineer).  I have sugegsted to PA that they reprint the cavalry (possibly with torso/horse combined) at the correct scale, however in the meantime I have decided to cast and paint up some cuirassiers based on the Karoliners, with a head 'upgrade' using the Russian Infantry officer's head.

As always comments welcome?