Napoleonic & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Tuesday 12 September 2017

Bavarians - Figure Samples


This is a little selection of figures for which I have already obtained samples. Here are some miscellaneous infantry poses from Falcon, including a rather charming mounted infantry officer, a couple of artillerymen from SHQ/Kennington and a charging grenadier and a OPC chevauxleger from Hinton Hunt.

The castings are resting on a cutting board, and the little squares are 5mm. All these ranges stand 22mm soles to eye, the hats and weapons match, they have sensible human proportions. It all looks rather promising, doesn't it?

20 comments:

  1. It's nice that they have the same body build and style

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    1. Yes, I'm pleased that they are so similar that it will be very feasible to mix them - that is pretty rare in my recent experience. Falcon are historically most accurate - officers with waist sashes and all that - some of units recruited elsewhere may well finish up with Falcon command contingent.

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  2. Tony where are you getting the Falcon figures from? Are they readily available?

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    1. Clive - Hagen have some of them - look under Bavaria in their Napoleonic section. There maybe will be some more - Uwe is going to check. I'll email you.

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  3. I prefer the Hinton Hunt figures (but then again I have become slightly obsessed by HH in the last 6 months).

    Are these originals or from JC recast range?

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    1. The two in the picture are originals, I think - I may well use some recasts - especially if I need duplicates of converted figures - e.g. infantry fusilier without a plume, which Marcus didn't make, and probably some cavalry command figures.

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  4. They are all fine figures. Fwiw, on a purely personal taste level, based on the photo (which are inherently liable to lie) I rather like the look of the SHQ best with the HH a close second.

    All admirable though and should paint up beautifully.

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    1. I hope so - there will be a division of duties, effectively - SHQ make the only artillerymen (if you ignore exotica like Franznap), so they get that job without any challengers; the only suitable cavalry figure that's in scale (before we get to conversions) is the Hinton, so that's pretty clear too. I have a good number of HH grenadiers, very kindly donated by very kind donors - grenadiers constitute about 25% of each battalion, so i propose to produce some prototype fusilers by grinding plumes off some spare figures, and get a supply of these recast. That takes care of a lot of the infantry, but to introduce some variety I'll have some SHQ battalions (they make both grenadiers and fusiliers). The Falcon seem to score most heavily for skirmishers and command figures, so that's probably their gig.

      Organisation, you see. No, it's not really organisation - it's just that when there are limited choices it's easier to make your mind up!

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  5. I'm so glad you have returned the subject to wargaming, after the recent controversies. But have you checked which side their tunics button on?

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    1. I'm very glad you raised that! In fact they all have double breasted tunics, so they button down both sides. I couldn't have lived with myself in any other situation.

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    2. Just a minute, not so fast. You cant dismiss the question so lightly. Its a well known fact that the Bavarian Army was not an equal opportunity employer. How many female persons do you intend to include in your army? Come on, be honest

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    3. Stop it now. We are all familiar, from our childhood reading, with the fact that there were all sorts of undercover women in the armies - produce your own list from romantic fiction: La Voltigeuse, the mysterious Lieutenant (why always lieutenants?) Barrington of the 10th Light Dragoons (the most popular lad in the regiment), then there's Das Heldenmädchen aus der Vendée, and of course there was Massena's famous campaigning companion, who dressed as a hussar, but I think she was on special duties. Readers of GA Henty will be familiar with Wellington's playful frolics with the Young Scamps on his staff - you're not going to tell me these were all straight from Eton, surely?

      All right - you got me. This is all reprehensible, stereotype stuff - quite whether it's me or the characters who are stereotypes I'm unsure - probably both. The answer is no, there will be no women in my Bavarian army. We'll just assume that the women are back in Munich, running the country, sending the soldiers off to war, and holding down top jobs in the professions. There must be some way I can spin my way out of this?

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  6. Hav you considered Newline Designs? Their Bavarian line look good to me although I have yet to see them in hand.

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  7. Hi Jon - Blogger not working properly on Android (again)! - Newline figures very nice but too small.

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    1. Most likely fingers and eyesight are the problem. Perhaps I should consider giving up? Listed as 20mm, they are too small?

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    2. Size match is in the eyes of the beholder, of course - Newline too small to fit well with Hinton Hunt-sized figures - for me anyway. The only current figures I would consider them compatible with are maybe Irregular 20mm, which are definitely too small for me.

      Blogger was misbehaving on my tablet this morning - I could add new comments, but couldn't reply to previous ones.

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    3. Are HH figures more towards the old, "one-inch" scale that Scruby used to produce? If so, I can see how 20mm is too small.

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    4. All the figures in the comparison picture here are as-near-as-damn-it 22mm from soles of feet to eye. That makes them about 24mm to the scalp, I guess, which suggests that they should match 1/72 plastics, though plastics are usually of a more spindly build.

      20mm means all sorts of things to all sorts of makers and collectors - HH reckoned their figures were 20mm - Scruby's "25mm" were similar size - I think their "1 inch" figures were smaller. Current 20mm WW2 castings are smaller than 1/72, I think - are they 1/76? HO? 1/87? - dunno. Sometimes i think I understand this stuff, then I realise it was all a dream.

      Anyway - yes - Newline too small.

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    5. Here's a nice table giving soles-to-eyes measurements for nominal 20mm figures...

      http://www.vintagewargamingfigures.info/available.html

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