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Friday 26 August 2016

French Infantry Update..............again

Nothing very exiting, just the mould listing for the French infantry, which are sculpted and waiting for packaging design etc.

I have not seen the moulds yet, but they look OK from the images I have.


 Mould 3113 - Infantry in full coat - march attack and advancing


1.  March attack figure
2.  Arm & musket for march attach
3.  Fusilier head - tricorn
4.  Sword
5.  Grenadier head - bearskin
6.  Sword
7.  Advancing figure

(The casting has a groove in the coat to accept the sword, which is fine early war, and for those troops which carry a sword.
If you don't want a sword there might be a bit of work to fill the groove if it doesn't paint over).









Mould 3114  - Infantry in  with coat turned back - march attack and advancing 


1.  March attack figure
2.  Arm & musket for march attach
3.  Fusilier head - tricorn
4.  Bonnet-de-police head
5.  Sword
6.  Fusilier head - tricorn
7.  Sword
8.  Advancing figure











Mould 3115   Drummer and officer


1.  Drummer body
2.  Sword
3.  Fusilier head - tricorn
4.  Officer head  - tricorn
5.  Officer body
6. Grenadier head - bearskin













Mould 3116  Standard Bearer and NCO


1.  NCO body
2.  NCO partisan
3.  Officer bare head  - with curled wig
4.  Grenadier head - tricorn (moustache)
5.  Officer head - tricorn
6.  Standard  bearer  body
7.  Officer's sword












As I said, I haven't got my hands on any of these moulds yet, but they do exist and cast - so hopefully not too long now (have I said that before)! 





Saturday 18 June 2016

Battle of Chotusitz

Last weekend I spent a very enjoyable weekend with a group of gamers from the AMG (A Military Gentlemen) group, which is a group of gamers with a general interest in 18th Century Gaming.
http://amilitarygentleman.blogspot.co.uk/
A group very worth joining - to do so you will need to buy the book 'A Military Gentleman' from the above website - a very nice book - but not cheap.

Over the two days we played the Battle of Chotusitz twice, using the 40mm semi flats on a 12'x6' table. The table was of a size which allowed us to represent each of the units shown on the map below with one of my gaming units of either 16 infantry or 8 cavalry.


Figures were a bit of a hotchpotch:
  • There were 16 units of Austrian infantry, of which about half were my new SYW Austrians and Hungarians - the remaining units being white coated French.
  • The 17 units of Prussian infantry were all blue coated 'Prussians', again about half new and the rest 'Karoliners'.
  • The 25 units of cavalry were just a mix of what we have (not helped by the fact that I left 6 units at home!). Like many of you I am waiting for the new Cuirassiers.
The initial Prussian starting  positions are shown below, however we did remove the two long ranks of foot which were still on the march when the battle started. Only the exposed units of Leopold's foot, the 24pdr battery and Buddenbrock's foot were available when the battle started.


And the long lines of Austrians eager to crush the Prussians in front of them before Frederick arrived with the bulk of the infantry.


I took a few photos, but not really with sufficient regularity to describe the game, so I will just show a few shots of interest.

Part way through the cavalry melee on the west of the field. The Austrians are gettingthe better of it, but there is no way I can tell you who is who!


In more detail - just to show off my new Russians (Austrians today).



And at the other end of the field, east of Chotusitz, another very confused cavalry melee  - again I can't remember which units were Prussian and which Austrian!


And the Austrian infantry assault on the centre, after seeing off Leopold they are confronted by Frederick's infantry lines.


The situation just prior to the end of the second game. The infantry in Frederick's 'square' is pretty much all that remains; Leopold's infantry and most of the cavalry having been swept from the field. Shortly after this point the far end of the square caved in under a combination of short range musketry followed by a charge of the Austrian cavalry; at which point we called it an Austrian victory.


The games were played with the 'Field of Battle' rules, which allowed the games to be played to a conclusion on both days. The card driven approach gave rise to some odd/amusing swings in play, which most players enjoyed.

There are some more photos on Mark Dudley's blog:

And just something which might be of interest - Chris has found space in one of the moulds for an officers head without a hat - oh the shame!


Thursday 2 June 2016

French Infantry - Sculpting Complete!

I've not posted anything for over a month, so I thought it time for an update - just to show I am still here!

It's been a long learning process..........however I'm pleased to say that Chris has now finished the sculpting of the French infantry - and they have been tweaked a bit to make them fit in even better with the older figures.

He has also taken the opportunity to add two new figures - a standard bearer:



And also an NCO without turnbacks (so the chap with a sword I discussed in the last post is an officer).


In addition to the tricorns there will be a grenadier head




And a bonnet de police (not quite finished)


The 3D printing is now all sorted, below is a casting of the French infantryman with turnbacks advancing (right), shown alongside an advancing Austrian (er left), as you can see they are a pretty good match. (Since this version the facial features exaggerated a little, and the tricorn enlarged, see image).





I should get a set of test moulds shortly - AND THEN THE CAVALRY!

Friday 22 April 2016

French Infantry - Drummer and NCO

Attached are the two latest digital sculpts for the French.

Drummer


There is a drummer, without turn backs.



NCO


Also there has been a change of plan since the last blog - it has been decided to add an 'early war' NCO. This figure should be more useful than another standard bearer (the Prussian or Russian will do fine), as he can be used for the War of Austrian Succession. Currently he is shown with the sword option, but will also carry a pole arm.

He should also make an alternative officer who has chosen to wear the belt outside on campaign.


PA are stating on their blog that they will be releasing the digitally sculpted Mithril Miniatures in the next few months, so hopefully I should get some sample SYW moulds soon!

As always comments welcome.

Friday 11 March 2016

French Infantry Update

Chris has recently sent me a set of screen shots of the digital SYW infantry, which are now looking good. (I've asked for some rear shots).

I don't profess to be an expert on French infantry, so comments would be appreciated if there is anything needs changing (although I think they are at the 'printers', so only really anything major.)

Planned six figures


The plan is currently for 6 figures:

Mould 1 - Two infantry with turnbacks, one at march attack and the other advancing:



















Mould 2 - similar figures without turnbacks - which will be very useful for earlier periods:




















Mould 3 - To go with them will be a drummer without turnbacks, and an officer carrying a standard, again no turn backs.

There will be tricorn heads both with and without a moustache, and a bearskin head with moustache.

Officer and NCO?

Currently there is no plan for a mould with an officer and NCO, as:
  • For most of the war the NCOs were dressed as the infantry and carried a musket, so basic figure will be fine.
  • The officer looks to be the same as the Russian, with musket and cartouche box.

Turnbacks?

During the SYW the infantry generally had coats turned back, however does anyone know if this was this a regulation or fashion, for example:
  • Could the unit have a mix of troops with coats in the two styles?
  • Could perhaps just the NCOs have no turnbacks?
As always comments welcome.

Steve

Saturday 27 February 2016

SYW Progress Update


I spoke to the Chris Tubb (the sculptor) yesterday, about the SYW range.

The figures have been delayed a bit longer due to difficulties in changing over to digital sculpting - not only his own learning curve, but also the need to invest in much more computing power to handle the software and large model files.

The good news is that the French Infantry have now been sent for what is hopefully the final 3D printing, and I should (fingers crossed)  have something to show you in the next week or so. The infantry will have the coat both with and without turn backs, so will be useful for earlier periods as well.

The Austrian cuirassier cavalry are also well on the way, but he is waiting to get the 'look and feel' of the French infantry right before moving on.

There will also be artillery, but not for a while, below is the start of an Austrian cannon, which still needs a lot of 'twiddly bits', but already looking good.


New moulds would be good.............the weather is brightening up so casting days cannot be far away!

Wednesday 27 January 2016

Changes to Blogger

I pinched this from the 'Tin Soldiering On' blog.

AN UPDATE ON GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT


A bit late really!

December 21, 2015

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we've seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we'll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs. 

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we'll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we'll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they'll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

I think 3 or 4 followers have dropped off the list - please come back :-)