Arm & Leg Cuirassiers and fighting Johnny Reb

A few weeks before Christmas there was a conversation in our house that went like this:

Mrs S "What do you want for Christmas?"

Me "Dunno"

Mrs S "Is there any Hinton Hunt you need?"

Me (thinking need? need? need?) "Well come to think of it, there are some Prussian Cuirassiers on eBay that I need"

Mrs S "Why don't you bid on them then?"

Me "Because they're rare and they'll go for a silly price and I'm not paying that!"

Mrs S "But why not bid a silly price if you want them?"

Me "Because it's a matter of principle, I'm a pensioner and I won't pay more than three quid for a cavalry figure"

Mrs S "But if you want them...."

Me "um, er... no I won't.. no... no..." ...CLICK

Costing an arm and leg, 12 x PN77 Prussian Cuirassier, lovely vintage castings, yes really, really lovely and so worth it honest...

Goya came over today to indulge me in a game of Fire & Fury with my 15mm ACW collection. Despite having had the ruleset for 30+ years I have only ever played one game using them and that was a multi-player game back in the 90s and frankly I had no idea what was going on.

I convinced Goya to take the role of James Longstreet as I have an aversion to playing the Confederates. The scenario was a simple encounter battle with the aim of taking possession of a vital road junction.

The Rebs are on the left whilst my own command (part of General Porter's V Corps) are on the right.

Goya moved first and we were both quite amazed at the speed of his 'foot cavalry' as they fair zoomed along the road towards the crossroads.

At the same time Anderson's division rolled forwards. The figures are mostly a mixture of AB and Old Glory but there are some Freikorps and even the odd Essex in there too.

I responded by sending the Iron Brigade forward in column but this proved to be a mistake.

General Porter surveys the scene from the top of the hill.

The Rebs however seemed to get the better of the fight with two of my five brigades 'Swept from the field'.

The Louisiana Tigers sweep up the hill towards General Porter uttering a fearfull Rebel Yell.

We both agreed that we really like the game system, particularly that the morale element is built into the combat mechanisms. I'm thinking we might give it a run out again.

Have a Happy New Year!

Pomeranians done - woof!

Just to remind you that a Pomeranian is for life and not just for Christmas. These have been quite a lot of work and I hope you like them.

I really do like painting Prussian infantry as it takes me right back to those early teenage years although these probably look much better than the ones I painted then.

I often forget to show the backs of my figures so this is to prove that I do paint the whole figure.

No, no, no - not that type of Pomeranian!
(this image has been shamelessly taken from the internet if I have offended Mr AI I apologise)

The musketeers are all vintage castings generously donated by Ian earlier this year*. The figures have waited patiently for 50 years to have a coat of paint, they are:

21 x PN.5 Private, with separate musket (one converted to standard bearer)

1 x PN.1 Officer, charging

1 x PN.6 Drummer

1 x PN .7 Officer, marching

*the officers were supplied courtesy of Rob.

This has been an exceptional year for this project as the painted Hinton Hunt forces have expanded by 272 figures. This is largely due to the influx of Austrian figures from Don W and the help with renovation works from Goya - a big thank you to both.

Have a good one and see you on the other side...

Pomeranian Progress and the Battle of Rohr

A few distractions on the painting desk have caused a drop off in Prussian production although I can now report that I am halfway through the unit. Also done and dusted is the standard bearer and flag. The bearer is another conversion of PN5 and the flag this time is a printed paper one.

My other Prussian musketeer units have old Revo paper flags but I have run out of those and wanted something that would fit in. I found this one on line and have given it a couple of coats of gloss varnish to stiffen it.

On Thursday I was lucky enough to be invited to Goya's seaside residence for a game of Command & Colors Napoleonics. This time it was Austrians versus French at the Battle of Rohr from the campaign of 1809.

I played the French and with a 3:2 advantage in units thought I would have no problem smashing the Habsburg lackeys. How wrong I was.

As usual at Goya's there were a mixture of Hinton Hunt and Minifigs S-range figures on the table.

My masterstroke - playing the 'Grande Manoeuvre' card enabled me to turn the Austrian right but in the end my men were just blown away by their superior firepower and the game ended in a French defeat. Those buildings are really nice plastic ones Goya picked up for a song.

After lunch we swapped ends for a re-match but this one was in the balance when I had to head for home.

The scenario turned out to be a lot trickier than it looked as although the French had an advantage in numbers those Austrians with their bigger units were hard to shift. I'd forgotten how much fun CCN can be and the rules are very easy to pick up again after a break which is perfecrt at my age.

Getting Animated

It's been a bit nippy in the Hinton Hut this week but I've still managed to make progress with animating my PN5 Prussians. This has been a lot of work (but then I knew it would be) and is certainly a lot more time consuming than preparing normal castings.

This is how the casting was originally supplied with the arms lightly attached at the hips. The bases of the figures had already be filed and there was very little flash on them.

First step is to cut the arms free and gently bend them into position. The musket is then Super Glued in place. Trying to get all 20 musketeers in exactly the same position proved impossible but I'm hoping this won't be too noticeable when the unit is finished.

Step two is to add in the hands (I use Magic Sculpt). My sculpting skills are very basic and I noticed a tendancy to make the hands too big but this should not be so obvious once the figure is painted.

This is the last batch and includes the standard bearer completed in the same way.

I have the whole unit ready and primed so now it's time to get painting.

Brandenburg Uhlans - Updated

Ten years since their first appearance on this blog (here) the Brandenburg Uhlans have been updated to a full unit of Prussian PN.89 figures thanks to the recent donation by Ian.

The front rank are my additions and the rear rank are the originals painted by Matthew in 2015.

Trying to match Matthew's work has been tricky and not just his superb detailing but also getting a colour match with acrylics to his work with enamels.

The rear rank showing the very neat piping on their jackets.

If this year has been the year of the Austrians then next year is shaping up to be the year of the Prussians.

More Prussian Pondering

The observant amongst you will have noted that by breaking up my old Prussian Uhlan unit to produce the Landwehr Lancers it left me with six odd regular lancers. The remedy for this is of course to make up the numbers with some of the figures Ian sent me earlier this year.

My attempt at PN89 Prussian Uhlan Lancer (mounted) charging.

Once again I have had to try to match Matthew's painting style which is very tricky as his detailing on the original figures is superb with some incredibly fine lines on the jacket seams. In the end I've had to fudge it a bit but with luck the new troopers will blend in when viewed from playing distance on the table.

PN5 Private (with separate musket).

I've also painted the test figure for the next Prussian infantry unit using the casting with separate musket I posted about a couple of weeks back. I'm looking forward to starting on the whole unit of these as they are something a bit different and the quality of the castings is superb.

Austrian Artillery Review

Here is the promised parade of the full Austrian artillery contingent.

All the guns, limbers, horses and over half the gunners are original Hinton Hunt figures. The remainder of the gunners are very nice DK versions.

I completed this second limber using figures Don sent me earlier this year.

There are 6 guns, 2 limbers and 24 gunners.

I aim to have one gun battery for every two infantry units in an army so I'm thinking I will need one further Austrian infantry unit to balance things up but that may have to wait until next year.

Austrian Artillery Expansion

Following the rapid expansion of the Austrian infantry and cavalry forces this year I felt it would be a good idea to also add to the artillery contingent. I've been able to do this once again thanks to the generosity of Don W.

The figures are a mixture of Hinton Hunt and DK castings that have been refurbished by me in a style that fits in with my existing two batteries. The guns are all original Hinton Hunt ones.

I have a limber to do and then there will be a full parade of the whole six batteries. 

Pondering Prussians and a wargame at Tony's

You will remember that earlier this year I was the lucky recipient of some very nice vintage Hinton Hunt Prussian castings from Ian. Amongst them were quite a few of PN.5 (the figure cast with a separate musket). I've been wondering about the best way to animate these so couldn't resist having a go and after several attempts I came up with this.

I did try a few other options but none of them looked very realistic poses so this rather safe version will be the one I use for a unit.

This week I was fortunate to get an invite to Tony's for a War of the Spanish Succession game with his superb Les Higgins forces using his Corporal John Lite rules. The rules have some similarities to C&C but Tony has done away with cards and introduced a clever brigade activation system instead. The game progressed at a fair old pace and we fought to a conclusion in four hours which was impressive. Tony has already posted an AAR here so what follows are just a few photos of his lovely toys.

This is the view from my side of the table. I went for the Austrians again as it seemed a good idea after my success at Nigel's last month.

French cavalry on the move.

The view from Tony's side of the table.

I've always had a thing for cavalry with lobster-pot helmets.

This cavalry clash was a big one and it lasted for the whole game.

My lads got a lucky break with a random event double move that allowed me to rapidly advance my centre.

This village was worth 1VP to whoever held it. Here you can see the French have beaten me to it.

And here you can see that I have pushed them out - hooray!

These very smart chaps are from Hessen-Kassel. They went forward bravely and immediately routed. The mini-dice shows which brigade they belonged to.

This unit of French cavalry hid in a turnip field for much of the game. Nice to see those old Britains hedges.

In the last turn of the game I managed to destroy one of Tony's guard cavalry units and unhorse both of his cavalry commanders (that was 3VPs).

More Hessians this time hanging back a bit.

The table at the end of play, I managed to just pull off a victory on points.

Here the Comte de Marsin pushes forward with a regiment of infantry but a bit late to affect the outcome of the battle.

Next up will be a few more Austrians then things will definitely be going in a Prussian direction.

Hampden at Hendon (Off Topic #40)

We were in London this week and I managed to convince Mrs S to take a trip out to the RAF Museum (not sure how I did that) because I wanted to take a look at the Hampden that has recently gone on display. There are very few examples of the Hampden Bomber left and I had never seen one before. My interest in this aircraft is that my father - W/O Dennis Spencer DFC - did his operational training on them in Canada during 1943.

It's a very sleek design and impressive even without wings fitted ("where are the wings?" said Mrs S - good question).

It has a very long thin tail. There are upper and lower gunner positions just above and below the wings.

As a Navigator he was impressed with the excellent visibilty from his position (or 'office' as he called it) in the nose. To me it looked like an incredibly exposed location and one that I personally would never have wished to occupy.

The Navigator's position was in this plexi-glass 'greenhouse' in the front of the aircraft and just below the Pilot's position. The Navigator was also the Bomb Aimer and had a machine gun for forward firing.

See how ridiculously narrow the fuselage is (old git is for scale).

He told me that the fuselage was very narrow hence the nickname 'flying suitcase' but I didn't think it would be this narrow. How he ever managed to crawl back (under the pilot's seat) and up to the observation hatch to take readings with his sextant and then return again whilst in flight baffles me. I'm not very big but I doubt I could even turn around inside the thing. If you were in trouble and had to put on a parachute and find an exit I can't see how it would be possible. Fortunately for him this was never put to the test as by the time he completed training and returned home the Hampden had been declared obsolete.

The rear part of the fuselage has been reconstructed but an original part is displayed next to it that still shows bullet holes from the day the aircraft crashed.

This particular aircraft was recovered from Russia in 1991. Operating from the Shetland Isles it had crashed there in 1942 during a mission to protect an Arctic Convoy. At this point in the restoration only the fuselage has been made good so there are no wings but it's still possible to get a good idea of how the whole aircraft would have looked.

The engine and wheel give a better idea of the size that a fully restored version would be (old git again for scale).

The Beaufighter.

One nice thing for me is that the Hampden is displayed next to the Beaufighter which is the aircraft my father actually did fly operations on.