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| Maffei at the front, Luetzelburg at the rear. All ready to be hidden away in the boxes. I've smartened them up a bit, but these are still identifiable as from the original 1970s army, which is what I intended, so I'm pleased with that! |
I was going to arrange a group photo of all the Bavarians I have ready for action, but decided against it - I'll get to that another time - the gaps still irritate me! For a while I was sorting out the boxes, crawling around on the attic floor in a way that I would have found extremely natural when I was eleven or thereabout - the knees must be in better shape than I thought!
When I do the Bavarian group picture, maybe the attic floor would be a good setting - shades of HG Wells, too.
For the Bavarians, I have now completed the following:
IR D'Octfort
IR Tattenbach
Leibregt (2 Bns)
IR Spilberg
IR Haxthausen (2 Bns)
IR Maffei
IR Luetzelburg
Monasterol Dragoons
Arco Cuirassiers
Weichel Cuirassiers
4 guns & crews
I have to complete refurbishment of:
IR Kurprinz (2 Bns)
IR Bettendorf (2 Bns)
Garde Karabinere
Santini Dragoons
And I have yet to start:
Leibregt Grenadier Bn
Boismorel Grenadiers
All the General Staff
Set out like that, somehow it looks like progress is being made!
I think I have made something of a decision this morning - I may change my mind, of course! While sorting through the various units in the WSS boxes, I got confused a couple of times by the fact that the Bavarian and Austrian cavalry look very similar. The units are all fitted with 5mm dice frames, to carry status scores in my new rules. They have white dice fitted at present, but I also have red and blue mini-dice of the same size, so I think I'll issue the Bavarians with blue dice, to avoid any embarrassing mistakes! Stryker can tell you about such mistakes.
That is certainly progress Tony. Looks like you have enough Bavarians ready for a decent game. How are the Imperialists coming on?
ReplyDeleteI often cannot tell the difference between two sides with similar uniforms. It wouldn’t surprise me if there’s been some turncoats in my ECW games. I put it down to the chaos and fog of war. 😉 I’ve started adopting conventions like floppy hats for Cavaliers and lobster pots for Roundheads. Those old school blokes knew what they were doing.
I like it - my Les Higgins ECW chaps are pretty much in pantomime outfits anyway - we should break out the famous striped sleeves - that is bound to cheese off the purists. Warty noses wouldn't show up in 6mm?
DeleteImperialists a few steps behind - I think I've got 5 battalions ready, plus most of the cavalry and all of the guns. There are 8 bns waiting to be retouched.
I could have a very small game now.
They look magnificent Tony! The cornflower blue looks a treat. Those facings, the drummers, the officers... all lovely.
ReplyDeleteThank you James - apart from the changed unit organisation, I've really just put them back to their state in 1973!
DeleteYou certainly are make nice progress Tony...
ReplyDeleteAll the best. Aly
Thanks Aly - this is the fruit of my self-isolation.
DeleteYou continue making material progress on your Bavarian Army, Tony! A group photo with your Bavarians deployed on the attic floor ought to have you in the photo as well, and in black and white. That would definitely harken back to Old School days.
ReplyDeleteGood idea - I'll have to be careful not to kneel on the soldiers. I'll also have to wear a tweed suit - 3-piece, I think. I'm always black and white anyway, so no difficulties there.
DeleteTweed suit, that's the touch!
DeleteDon’t forget the pipe!
DeleteAh yes, annoying gaps. This seems to be a permanent feature in my armies, Foy. This is partly deliberate, as it keeps me painting.
ReplyDeleteYour Higgins' are magnificent, btw.
I'm working up a new strategy - when I remove the figures from their old bases, I remove as much gratuitous flock as possible, clean them up, pick out the breakages and the undesirables, give them a good wash and put them in freezer packs by regiment. When the time comes to get them "fell in" I sort out what I've got and base them as far as possible, leaving gaps on the bases for missing figures (mostly command chaps at the moment, but it varies). Then I can paint up the missing men as a catch-up project. In the meantime, the storage is as efficient as I can get it, and it saves that infuriating business where you keep counting the figures YET AGAIN. If I put a regiment off because there are missing figures then I've fallen off the strategy - I must do what I can, while the isolation lasts!
DeleteThey've come up a treat Tony, great work! Your dice idea is very good too!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ian - I've changed the dice over this very evening. I did a lot of cleaning and scrubbing figures today, but painting activities were interrupted a bit by watching a major part of series 1 of Better Call Saul - I'd forgotten how good that was.
DeleteMark Allen's articles were published by Wargames Illustrated starting from issue 27 , think there are at least 29 articles
ReplyDeleteBavarians do look great, my compliments
cheers old John
Thanks John.
DeleteIs everything old new again?
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to stoo looking at these posts. WSS attracted me as a young fellow, mostly Marlbourough though and I do NOT want to find myself buying any boxes of the 1/72 plastic sets that are now available or starting a new 40mm homecast collection.
I am hoping that if I become old enough, I might become, as you say, new. The armies I have here are very old armies - very heavy provenance - their age is part of their appeal. I am amazed that I know so little about this period and this war - I know rather more about the history of games which reconstruct it, but the history? - zip. All new to me, brother.
DeleteThey look great, Tony. Reversed colors on the drummers and the colonel, too?!
ReplyDeleteYes indeed - I think they phased that out pretty quickly as they got into the early 1700 - it's a bit like having a big arrow pointing at the commander, so the enemy sharpshooters would make no mistake. To compensate a little, the colonel would have the only cuirass in the regiment (not the British, though) - the cuirass (I now learn) evolving into the gorget plate for on-duty officers.
DeleteThe Bavarians (and Austrians?) also had a tendency to use red uniforms for officers - maybe the red cloth was expensive?