Very pleased to report that the first two battalions of the army of Hessen-Kassel are now ready for duty. Very nice paint job, as ever, by Lee. The castings, as ever, are 20mm Les Higgins, with a sprinkling of Irregular.
Here you see the Regiments Erbprinz (front, red facings) and Stückradt (rear, orange facings).
I wonder if their guns were the white and red scheme used later?
ReplyDeleteProbably not, but it would be interesting to find out.
Neil
I am interested in this comment Neil. As far as I can tell, they used medium blue-grey guns with black ironwork during the 7YW, but there is a theory that they had pale grey-white with red ironwork. At least partially, this appears to be based on a painting of the children of the ruling family's children from about the mid 1750s, and among the toys around the room there is a toy mortar, white with red fittings.
DeleteHave a look at the detail image on
https://crogges7ywarmies.blogspot.com/search?q=hesse
This seems to be the only real evidence of this colouring I can find, but I like it enough to be persuaded that my Hessen-Kassel cannons will be finished like this in the WSS. If I come across good reason to change my mind, this is all up for grabs, but it's a nice idea.
The "My Seven Year's War" blog and Christian's painted heavy gun in white and red were all the inspiration I needed for my Imagi-Nation Estavian cannons, since christened "circus guns" as pictured on my blog.
Deletehttp://aufklarungsabteilung.blogspot.com/2022/10/an-even-bigger-boom.html
Since when has "wargamer's license" been an impediment to anything? Would anyone know the evidence is sketchy?
☺
Neil
Neil - I had a squint at your red and white guns - wow!
DeleteI am impressed, though I think I will aim at a sort of silver grey if I do this. Thanks for the link.
Very handsome work!
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased with them Jon - Lee does a nice job, and it's a welcome relief from all that grey!
DeleteVery nice start to your Hessen-Kassel forces, lovely uniforms and very well painted, great additions to your forces, look forward to seeing the next recruitment!
ReplyDeleteThank you Donnie - the postal strike is going to slow down my timescale for a while, but some more infantry should be along quite soon!
DeleteVery smart. Developing an interest in tricorn hats myself lately, though not quite the same period.
ReplyDeleteThank you JBM - I've been reading your adventures with some horror - hope things calming down a bit. If you are thinking of the AWI, I think the C&C-style "Tricorne" rules look interesting - email me if you'd like to discuss further...
DeleteThey look very nice indeed.
ReplyDeleteHi Martin - thank you.
DeleteVery nice work, I like the Hessians they often get overlooked in peoples collections
ReplyDeleteHi Graham - I'm pleased with them - this is going to be a small sub-project, so I'm more relaxed about them.
DeleteI really like the selection of poses and how they have been placed Tony and the colourful flags really set them off. They look quite dark in the photo? Funny enough in my photos the orange facings looked almost too yellow :) Main thing is that you are happy with the result as I was. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteI think the photo may be dark anyway, but my eyesight isn't all that terrific, so I keep an open mind. Making the castings I have into reasonable regimental groups is an interesting little challenge, so I'm glad you approve. The uniform is pretty dark, but it's a nice contrast to the other armies! I am, as stated, very happy with them - thanks again!
DeleteLooking again at the photo on my phone I can get a better close up and they look much better! Vallejo Flat Blue highlights over Dark Prussian Blue was the method and noted in case any more Hessians come my way Tony :) The affect of the gloss finish is delightful
DeleteColours were great. Hope to get another box of Hessians away to you in the next week or so if you're open for business! I'm now doing some head-scratching about the grenadier battalion, which is down the queue a little - looks as though the officers often carried muskets, and I think they probably didn't carry any standards into action.
DeleteComing along nicely Tony. How big do you think the overall Hessian force will be?
ReplyDeleteHi Chris - the plan is for 4 line infantry battalions (these two, and the Leibregiment and the Prinz Wilhelm), one of grenadiers, 2 cavalry regiments (I'm going for Spiegel and the Leib zu Pferd) and one artillery unit. So I guess that would be 8 BMUs! We're getting into the stamina area now.
DeleteThe colours on those uniforms are just delightful - it's a really nice shade of dark blue and the subdued red facings set it off a treat.
ReplyDeleteNot sure, but the flags seem be hoist by the fly as heraldic beasts almost always face the hoist.
Thanks Rob - this is an example of a regiment where the gloss varnish has really enriched the colours, and the effect is pretty much what I had hoped for.
DeleteI accept the traditional expectations of heraldic beasts on flags, but the most important aspect of heraldry in Hessen-Kassel was to be the opposite of Hessen-Darmstadt [I must check out more of the history - it seems to have been more than a little fraught!]. Thus the red-&-white striped lion in the HK arms faces right in the obverse (away from the hoist) exactly because the HD lion faces the other way; similarly, the national flag was the other way up from HD's - one was red over white, the other was white over red, and I can't remember which was which as I sit here. The elephant on the company flag of the I.R.Erbprinz [Friedrich] faces left in the obverse, and it was too much of a pain to reverse all the lettering, so I brassed it out and had the two sides the same - the flag is pretty much conjectural anyway. Anyway, my stripey lions are all correctly facing away from the flagpole, for the reasons stated. Cheers - Tony
They look great....Lee has done a nice paint job and you have placed them in attractive looking units.
ReplyDeleteThanks Keith - apart from the remote ECW wargame on Monday, which was great, this has been a rather trying week for me, so shiny new soldiers are welcome to brighten things up a bit!
DeleteA very smart uniformed regiment.
ReplyDeleteWillz.
HI Willz - thank you.
DeleteThey look superb and the gloss has really set off that blue - now you can see what you've been missing all those years you have used matt varnish (only kidding!)...
ReplyDeleteThanks Ian. In fact I have a couple of British Napoleonic units which were finished in gloss maybe 12 years ago - for an experiment really. I quite liked them, but the option of gloss varnishing the rest of my armies to match didn't appeal. To be honest, the gloss wasn't particularly shiny, and my matt varnish has always been a little satin, so there's not much a contrast - I think I left them glossy, but I'd have to look for them now!
DeleteSplendid looking toys Tony…
ReplyDeleteLee has done a fine job.
All the best. Aly
Thanks Aly - the uniform colour makes a welcome contrast, and I'm very pleased they came out so well.
Deletethey look lovely - as ever! Let's hope they fight as well as they look..
ReplyDeleteThank you Dave - as soon as they have a few more mates available, I am going to try to set up some kind of map campaign to get this lot involved. The lockdown period actually enabled me to get a lot of figures ready quickly, but hasn't done much for gaming opportunities, as with everyone!
DeleteLookin' marvellous Tony, as did the British in the post before the one before this and those officers a couple more back!
ReplyDeleteRegards, James
Thank you James - I'm not getting a lot of gaming at the moment, but I'm good for a parade or two.
Delete