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


Saturday 20 July 2019

Bavarians - Brigade Commander

I do enjoy painting staff figures, as I've possibly mentioned before. We have a game coming up next weekend, and I was short of a brigade commander for the Bavarians (who will be getting a run out, though I fear they are going to get thumped again).


Here's a new arrival. In my normal Bavarian organisation (3rd Divn, VII Corps, 1809) this will be GM Vincenti, but next weekend there will be a bit of role-playing going on, so he will be Minucci for the day.

The casting is a fairly recent one by Hagen, though his horse is an OOP Falcata. Yes, he does look a bit as though he's falling from his horse, but I think he's just giving a very dramatic signal for his boys to get a move on. In the honourable traditions of the theatre, the twitch of your eyebrows must be discernible from the back row, or such that even Hansl in the 14th IR picks up on it.

17 comments:

  1. I think he's just finished singing an aria below some lady's window, Foy.

    Lovely work. WM

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    1. Thank you WM - I received an email suggestion from Martin S that he is saying, "How do you expect me to fight anyone with this lot?".

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  2. Suitably impressive figure and brushwork Tony, I hope he performs well (or not depending on who's side I'm on).

    Bessieres is ready and waiting!

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    1. Thanks Ian - he looks a bit flaky to me - would you rely on this chap for a last-man defence? Bessieres is not going to care for him, I think.

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  3. Very nice...
    He does indeed look rather operatic...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thank you sir - [whispers, behind hand] he's foreign, you know.

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    1. Thanks Jon - he certainly believes he's a handsome fellow - his horse is not so sure.

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  5. "Oh referee! How was that not a foul?" said a disgruntled Vincenti after being fairly dispossessed by the Viennese defender.

    Super figure. The theatrics point is well made. This may be why it was so important for insouciant British officers to get themselves killed ;-)

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    1. Thanks Chris - your comment made me roar with laughter for a number of reasons - thanks for that.

      One of the reasons is [promptly digresses] that "insouciant" was one of the words my mad cousin Dave and I used as part of our long-standing piss-take on the Language of Critics (when we were young, like). We were especially fond of wine critics, and our all-time favourite quote was "you'll be amused by its insouciance". There were loads of these - our conversation was eventually so stuffed with them that outsiders probably gave up on us, and hoped we'd grow up one day. Among the more extreme wine examples were a couple of made-up ones: "you may be blinded by the tannins", and [Jillie Goulden style] "parsnips! - and I'm getting great wafts of Tesco's own-brand furniture polish..."

      Too silly - we also used to collect the marketing phrases from the menus in what Dave described as "chain hotels where there was a photograph of breakfast on the wall outside your bedroom". It became impossible to go out for a meal without one of us saying "and all served on a bed of dew-fresh lettuce" and collapsing pathetically in helpless laughter.

      The real joke out of all this is that I've just looked up insouciant to see what it actually means - it had been a private joke for so long that I wasn't sure. The joke, I guess, was on me all the time - funny how other people's pretensions are more apparent than one's own...

      Sorry - that was a lamentable digression, but I, at least, enjoyed it.

      I hope to report favourably on the valour of "Minucci" and his troops next week, but I'm definitely looking sideways at him. Lateral issue - how is it that there were so many Bavarian noble families which had Italian names? Anyone know?

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    2. Ha ha! Glad to be of service Tony.

      There were a couple of Italians commanding Bavarians in the WSS too. Well one genuine Italian, Maffei, and one Italian sounding guy d'Arco/von Arco. Arco is in Trentino, northern Italy.

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  6. He and his steed are striking! Very handsome both.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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    1. Thanks Stokes. I'm going to struggle a little now - I have ADCs and suchlike, but Bavarian generals in 20mm or 1/72 are thin on the ground - I see some conversion work coming up - can't have identical generals in an army (apart from Hinton Hunt's OPC French general, of course).

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  7. "And now, gentlemen, if you would all be so kind as to step this way..."

    I like the figure, but I can see why you might not want 5 more exactly like him!

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    1. That's particularly good if he is facing his unit, with his back to the enemy at the time. That will have to be written into the movie.

      5 more like this would have to be in the chorus, you would think?

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  8. Looking beautiful! I have to apologize for not having found your blog before. I have already added to my list and I will be up to date;)

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    1. Hi Michal - thank you, and thanks for visiting my blog.

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