Tidying up?

Figures, that is.

It's a mix of things. Waiting for the moulds to arrive it seemed to be a good idea to start looking at outstanding items - unbased figures, figures needing a paint touch up, etc.

First off, started on doing some of the Prussian lancers. I haven't tried to add any other details, for example reins or buttons, etc, just kept them 'as was' and painted over areas of paint loss.

Bugler's a bit of a weird pose. Likewise, officer's sword a bit iffy. Other than that, they'll do.

And I haven't tried to look up if they are meant to be specific units. If I did, it would probably tempt me to add more detail!

Meanwhile, working on basing some more Egyptians, Assyrians and Indians...

42mm British army Review.

Having produced a lot more on this project than I ever expected, it does seem to be a good time to do a Review of the currently biggest army...

In order to get everything in I had to push the army further and further back on the table!

28mm buildings don't look too out of place size wise. Well, the bigger ones anyway!

Looking down the army from the right flank. Got more infantry than I'll ever use in one battle, could do with some field guns... this picture is a slightly different setup to the first two - I hadn't added the lancers at this point and the guns are separated.

If I've got any sense I'll leave the British for now, get the Russians sorted and perhaps a few more French. And Prussians.

Disclaimer:
I don't have any sense.

More 42mm Zinnfiguren homecast

This time painted up as British infantry and Dragoons.

A dozen infantry and five cavalry.

I'm trying to cut down as much as possible on detail, but increasing the command group to officer, standard bearer and bugler eliminates any time gains.

Now, the cavalry. Should have been a 4 man squadron one of whom was an officer. Then another officer to act as a general staff or possibly infantry officer. Then I only painted 1 officer... Horses I'm simplifying by not painting on eyes, blazes or stockings. The casting itself is simpler in the sense non of the figures have carbines...

The officer is from one of the artillery moulds. Need to overpaint the red on his bincoculars! Bugler, all-action pose and has a backpack.

So although all these figures are meant to be 1901 Germans they fit really well into the 1897 British army.

German 1st Hussars

Having finished the 3rd, really had to do the 1st!

Colour scheme is pretty spectacular

Horses cast well apart from the reins - not going to worry about that!

Almost didn't post this picture - it's not the most impressive view.

The 1st followed by the 3rd - think that should be enough German Hussars for now.

 At this point I'm really going to have to stop the 42mm figures and get down to finishing the 20mm Prussian Landwehr!

I've noticed that Tango has posted this in the Napoleonic Board on TMP so thought it would be a good idea to add a bit more to this.... the figure is based on a Knotel print of a Prussian unit in the German army  'Lieb-Husaren Regiment No. 1'  in 1903, homecast from a Berliner Zinnfiguren mould and part of my Great War in England 1897 collection that is based on the 1894 book by Le Queux - in that book, Germany was on our side, in his later book 'The Invasion of 1910' they were the enemy.

1897 German 3rd Hussars

Lots of hussars seem to have carried a lance around this time - but not sure about the 3rd. The uniform is taken from Das KLeine Buch vom Deutschen Heere published in 1901, though the horse furniture is actually from a picture of  the 3rd Hussars in a Knotel print showing the dress in 1861.

They paint up well and have a real 'toy soldier' feel about them. Couple of issues on vasting this first batch of horses - mainly bridles - but later horses coming out OK.

Must admit I found the scalloped edging to the saddlecloth hard. Time was I could do a lot better on 20mm figures! I didn't even try to do any of the fancy lacework...

But overall very pleased with these and can see quite a few hussar squadrons appearing in the future.

A package from Germany.

Technically I shouldn't have opened this as it's been costed as a birthday present and that's still a couple of weeks off - but Sandra said I could so...

So five new second hand moulds.

Naturally I had to try them out straight away.

My initial aim was to cast a cavalry squadron....

Done... don't usually use officers, originally I just wanted to use the hussar as a hussar but then decided - why not have an officer for once?

April 2020 Review

Seems a good idea to just draw breath and put everything together I've painted and/or cast so far this year - some armies are starting to get up to a useable size (?)

So, this is the current head count:

6 battalions, 7 squadrons and 8 guns. That Austrian cannon looks a bit lonely out there.

View from the back of the Allied line as the Prussians arrive! No particular battle suggested of course. I have neither the terrain or the figures!

View from behind the French.

The Prussian infantry pass the Russian and Prussian cavalry.

The British.

And the French.

Not forgetting the 42mm Zinnfiguren homecast Prussian infantry and reclaimed Irregular Russian cavalry.

So quite a productive time so far this year.

Reclaimed Russians finished

Obviously, as far as 1897 is concerned, it's another 'made up' unit/uniform but based on ... something.

Quite a quick, simple paint job.

The replacement gun barrels are, at best, wobbly and I doubt the bonds will last long - really should have drilled out holes for them to fit in.

Still, for a quick paint job on reclaimed figures I'm happy with the result.

These are the pictures I'm using to justify the colour scheme - the standing figure was the model for the coat colour (though didn't bother with the red collar, gave mine brass buttons) whilst the mounted figure justifies white belts... The helmet seems to match some infantry figures but theu're Dragoons - almost infantry! Taken from the Blandford book 'Uniforms of the Imperial Russian Army' by Boris Mollo. The figure is a closer colour match to the picture than it looks here.

Some 42mm Prussians

Being the first painted figures from those Zinnfiguren moulds I bought a while back.

Two units plus a couple of extra officers

Not the best figures in the world, but effective and they look OK.

I'm seriously thinking about buying a load more of these moulds - not really economically practical but I like to have figures that I cast myself rather than bought figures. I can live with the poorly defined rifles etc...

Update on that - went on to the website and found that since yesterday some of the moulds I wanted were being offered cheaper in their fleamarket area. So I've bought some...

Casting ZinnBrigade Prussians

Back in May...2018... or thereabouts I ordered some Prussian ZinnFiguren moulds from Germany. What, with one thing and another, I finally got round to trying them out!

I bought 2 moulds - officer/marching soldier and 2 different firing.

Moulds are neat but I was originally concerned at the lack of air channels.

It didn't prove a problem. In fact, I needed a clamp to hold the moulds together - elastic bands just weren't enough. To spread the load on the rubber there are rigid 2mm mdf boards on the outside of the mould.

After just a couple of trials it worked - one thing, I found that metal temperatures had to be lower than for spin casting.

Initial trial batch - by the end of the holidays I hope I will have cast quite a few of these.

1897 The Battle of the Bridge

Battle fought, won and lost. Quite a quick and bloody affair!

Move 1 saw a general advance by the Alliance forces as the artillery shot at each other to no effect.

The French advancing up the road take heavy casualties

While Move 2 saw the British artillery decimate the Russian battery.

The French may be taking casualties but so are the Highlanders. British cavalry rush to the flanks to sort out threats there.

Only to find it was a wasted journey - the French cavalry are being neutralised quite effectively.

End of Move 2 one French line regiment has been reduced to a single figure and routing whilst a Zouave Regiment is also retreating.

The Alliance forces have reached the river and can now find some cover from the British firepower.

The result being being that the British take heavy casualties and two Regiments decide to retreat.

On the other hand, the French on the bridge halt while their supports also start walking back to their start point!

And... the Highlanders and Irish Free Brigade have had enough, leaving the Lowlanders and two cavalry squadrons holding that flank... as the French cavalry are also distinctly unhappy.

So at the end of Move 3 the French were basically all retreating except for the ones at the bridge. This bemused the Russians who could see the British centre in retreat - well, apart from the Russian artillerymen who were basically dead.

Casualties. French 22 dead, Russians 9 (mostly artillery crew), Free Irish Brigade 3, total 34. Anglo-Scots 19. If you assume that attackers need a 3:1 superiority, the Franco-Russians did well with their roughly 2:1 superiority - they really just needed a couple more regiments in reserve and I think they would have won! However, the bridge was still in British hands so it's a British victory.

Thoughts on the game. Shooting is bloody but seems to give reasonable results. Artillery and morale could do with a few tweaks. Movement fine. Still need to worry about melees - need to have a few melees!  So over all things seem to be working out OK.