Two fresh battalions, ready for the duty boxes. As mentioned previously, these have been marooned on the painting bottletops for about a year, so they are as relieved as I am.
Hessen-Kassel. These gentlemen are the Leibregiment zu Fuß (red cuffs, at front) and the IR Prinz Wilhelm (blue cuffs, at rear). As usual, they are mostly Les Higgins/PMD castings from the 1970s, with a few Irregular friends to fill out the command roles.
I was reading about Hessen-Kassel this week. The first and most important thing to know about the history of the army of that state is that it was complicated. My own WSS armies started life when I acquired the relevant 20mm bit of Eric Knowles' collection, so I was off to a flying start with Bavarians and Austrians, and there were also some French. The other nations in Eric's collection had been in different scales, so I spent the next few years hunting down compatible figures to bulk up the French army and build a British one. When I reached the "Phase Two" stage, at which I planned to decide which was to be my fifth army, the Dutch were an obvious choice, but the prospect of another mass of grey infantry caused me to think again. I eventually plumped for Hessen-Kassel, as a nice colour contrast, and maybe some Hanoverians. My subsequent reading reveals that this has not necessarily been a major change of plan, since there were plenty of Hessians and Hanoverians in Dutch pay after 1702.
Hessen-Kassel was one of a number of nations at that time which hired out their regiments to other armies. For example, Prinz Wilhelm was the colonel of two regiments bearing his name, the first of which (which had yellow facings) was formed for the Venetian service. The second was the one which appeared at Blenheim, possibly in Dutch pay, possibly British. Anyway, as long as they were paid, that's the main thing.
This morning's heroic rescue came when I realised I had mounted one of the flags upside down (I've only done this once before), but, miraculously, the glue was still wet enough to allow me to slide it off and refit it. That is probably all my good fortune for the next month used up in one dose. I refuse to say which flag it was, to avoid everybody looking for traces of damage. [There isn't any].
Superb work. Look forward to seeing them on your wonderful hex battlefields sir.
ReplyDelete(and if it makes you feel any better - I get flags the wrong way up all the time - I however, am far too lazy to correct it, preferring the way of flag madness to flag authenticity )
Thank you young sir - I'm going to try to keep more involved in gaming this year!
DeleteYour armies must outgrowing your table - but they are lovely and I am also guilty of not stopping when I should.
ReplyDeleteAs for the flag misadventure I'll opt for the L-zu-F colour next to their mounted colonel as the others all have elements (Crowns & Lions) that makes it fairly obvious which way up they go.
Sensible logic for choice of re-fitted flag; wrong though! I am flattered that you assumed that I wasn't just an idiot.
DeleteThese WSS armies were always going to be too big for a single fight. These days, if I live long enough, my aim is to put together campaign armies, with plenty of options.
Those are lovely looking units! Interesting how troops would commonly be 'hired out' to ( almost ) anyone who would pay for them, thus presumably allowing small states to keep larger forces than would otherwise be possible. Also v. handy for wargamers, as you could plausibly 'hire them out' to either side in your campaign if you like...
ReplyDeleteIt really was a money-making industry; the Swiss might have been the most businesslike mercenaries (with the Irish and the Scots not far behind?).
DeleteWorth the wait Tony, they look great. Do you just have infantry left to do now or will there be more horse?
ReplyDeleteThanks Ian. Still some more horse; latest Official List of stuff to be painted (i.e. figures I already have) to complete current Phase is:
DeleteHessians: 2 of horse, 1 of grenadiers and 1 artillery.
French: 1 of dragoons.
Austrians: 2 bns of foot waiting to be refurbished.
British: 1 of dragoons.
Bavarians: 3 units of cuirassiers that have been in the queue for a couple of years.
Everyone: some more staff figures.
I also have the castings to produce some siege artillery (generic as far as possible), some siege engineers and a few wagons.
...and I recently acquired a pile of painted red Higgins infantry which might well provide some Hanoverians (or Irish or Scots fighting for the French), but that might be another Phase. Certainly getting there, anyway! Sorry for waffly answer, but it got me thinking.
Lovely looking units, nice uniforms and a good contrast from the grey and red hordes! You really have a lovely collection, aways a joy to see it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie - having got these guys finished is very encouraging - I'm looking through the WSS Paint Queue boxes, deciding what to go for next. That's more like it!
DeleteWhile I know relatively nothing of the period and its minor protagonists I can say they look rather grand.
ReplyDeletePlus I really like the natural look/pose of the Higgins figures.
I can see why you cleaned up your painting kit with that to-do list.
Thanks Matt - Les Higgins figures took a lot of criticism back in the day for the statuesque poses, but I have to say that the lifelike human proportions give a big plus. Mind you, the bayonets are a bit flimsy for campaign action compared with S-Range Minifigs!
DeleteVery nice. Just noticed you've done the sleeve lace on the drummers. Very neat.
ReplyDeleteBack in about 2010/11 when I was painting up a Spanish Napoleonic army, I failed to notice that I stuck one militiaman marching in the opposite way to his comrades. In my defence they are Baccus 6mm. And well, Spanish militia....
Sleeve lace - I'm nervous about sleeve lace - it's very easy to make a complete disaster of an otherwise sound unit by making the musician look like a joke. I always concentrate very hard on drummers...
DeleteAbout face - you've reminded me that I had the pleasure of attending a big, posh game at a friend's house a few years ago, and I wrecked quite a few of my host's photos of the event by having half the gunners in the French Old Guard foot artillery facing the rear throughout.
Smart looking units, Tony. Why the year lapse spent idle in the painting queue?
ReplyDeletePainter's block? Complicated; to an extent, I guess I was sulking. This particular paint job hadn't gone very well up to some time last January, which for me has always been more discouraging than it need be, but also I was increasingly worried about my eyesight, and painting sessions didn't help my concerns. Now, after far too long, my eye problems have been diagnosed, and with my sensible hat on I find that I am able to paint OK - I just need to keep the sessions down to a couple of hours max.
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