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


Sunday 12 April 2020

WSS - Another Batch of Cavalry

It took me three days (not very intensive days) to paint the remaining cavalry which were still in the current queue. About half that time was needed to refurbish those figures I could lift pretty much straight from Eric's collection (with facing changes and a bit of cleaning up), and about half to paint the missing command figures from scratch.


From front to rear, these are the (Bavarian) Santini Dragoons, the (Bavarian) Leib Garde and the (Imperialist) Aufsess Dragoons. Not a flag in sight, as yet. I have a good image of the flag for the Aufsess boys, courtesy of one of the Bruno Mugnai books, but have come up with nothing at all yet for the Bavarian dragoons - maybe they didn't carry them in the field? Nah - there's men with poles waiting for them, so if I can't get authentic flag images I'll invent my own. I've a lot of flags to do, so I'll have a graphic-design week later on.

The Aufsess unit (grey coats) are actually Franconian, from the Fränkische Kreis - I chose them because I had pre-painted troops in very similar coat colours - no better reason for selection could be imagined! The dismounted dragoon contingent for the Aufsess are now in the queue - I have the figures, I just have to paint them.

The Leib Garde (blue) are actually [heavy] horse; the squadron with the red belts and facings are the Carabiniers, the squadron with black are the Hartschiere.

No excuses left now - the next job must be the first of the remaining big Austrian foot batches - 4 battalions, I think. I'll clear the decks and have a couple of days break before I disappear into that lot.

I had a very pleasant walk on my own yesterday on the farm - during one of the few sunny spells of the day. I walked down to one of the farm's reservoirs - really just a big rainwater sink which they use to pipe water on to the fields. There must be fish in the reservoir - I saw a swan, about half a dozen geese and a few ducks, and a spooky heron took off as soon as I appeared. Strange creatures, herons - they take off like a lorry-load of scaffolding. I also saw and heard the skylarks busy over the farm fields, so I guess they were trying to distract my attention from their nests.

Very therapeutic, anyway.

Keep well, everyone.

11 comments:

  1. Fine looking troops Tony... and a nice selection of coat colours...

    I too was listening to bird song... this morning...sipping a mug of tea sat at the back door...
    My weather App tells me we are about to have some light rain...the sky is grey enough.
    It has also give me a Yellow Thunder warning... I look forward to seeing what yellow thunder looks like...

    Ah!... when the App says light rain ... it means Sh****g it down...
    Roll on yellow thunder...
    All the best. Aly

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    1. Actually Aly, that wouldn’t be a bad nickname for a regiment of horse in an Imagi-nation: the Yellow Thunder - der Gelbe Donner.

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  2. Excellent looking Cavalry Sir!!!

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  3. I like your cavalry organization of three stands of three each. Perfect, I think. As Aly, says, good selection of coat colors too.

    Good that you managed a soul rejuvenating walk-about in.

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  4. Coming along nicely. The cavalry are going to add a nice splash of colour.

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  5. These gentlemen are looking very smart Tony, by the time you leave lock-down you will have two fully formed armies!

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  6. Thank you all, gentlemen. I'm officially steering clear of painting for a few days now (for a little rest), but naturally I couldn't keep my hands off entirely, so have sorted and reboxed the Austrian battalions, all in the order they are to be based in, including new bare-metal figures to replace breakages and deserters. I'm now doing work on finding flag patterns. All good stuff. The number of replacements for the Austrians is higher than the Bavarians - maybe their box was in a rough part of the stables, or maybe the Bavarians just didn't get out much (I know how that feels).

    Jon - my cavalry organisation is a compromise, like everything else, but the size of the hexes on my table was a consideration! Because I don't count the figures in a unit in my rules, a "big" unit doesn't need to have extra figures - it just has a higher number on the attached mini-dice! Also, I recall that I was impressed by some 9-man units you based up recently!

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  7. Bavarians and Franconians - I like the mix:-) Good job!

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    1. Thanks Uwe - good progress so far! Keep well!

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  8. A trio of handsome cavalry regiments, Tony!

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    1. Thank you Peter - just about every nation under the sun had red dragoons at this period, so some variety is handy!

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