A few vignettes

Here are a few recently completed little vignettes for the 1704 WVS project.

First up, Astrovian infantry Brigadier von Freud:

Plus ... a couple of Cossacky/ Croaty pieces with some left-over figures.

That's all for now... I'm almost finished another infantry battalion, so that will be coming sometime soon.

Meanwhile, thanks to my regular band of followers and commenters. Much appreciated.

And amidst the soaring temperatures, stay as cool as you can. As wargamers, of course, we're already pretty cool dudes, right?!

On the march

Having recently finished all 6 of the Vaubarian infantry battalions for the 1704 WVS project, it seemed timely to lay them out on the table, with brigade commanders, wagons, the marching band, and Markgraf Karl von Orff, Vaubarian Field Commander himself.

Numbering from the right, battalions are:

IR1 Leibgarde (white cuffs)

IR2 Dremel (yellow cuffs/ facings)

IR3 Breitner (red cuffs/ facings)

IR 4 Electoral Grenadiers (claret coats, Vaubarian blue cuffs/ facings)

IR5 Ratzinga (pink cuffs/facings)

IR6 Augenthaler (green cuffs/ facings)

By many standards, it's certainly not a large array, but it is neat and meets the design criteria I had in mind for this army at the outset.

I am, in fact, rather pleased with it.

All figures are Front Rank,. painted by myself. All flags, hand-painted on aluminium foil by my own unsteady hand!

Next, I hope to have a similar array of the enemy (Astrovians) to show in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for looking in...

An all Hellenistic affair

The weekend past saw The Old Berks (Steve Gill, Andy Moran, John Kersey, and myself) gather for a game of WAB. We pitted my Rise of Macedon army against Andy's Greeks and fought out a hugely enjoyable and tense encounter, interspersed with banter, refreshments, and a bit of show n tell of our individual projects and lots of chatter about the hobby in general as well as some plans for future games and campaigns.

I have to report that myself (Philip of Macedon) and Steve (a young Alexander the Great) changed the course of history by losing badly to the Greeks under Andy and John's expert command. The Sacred Band, in particular, fought with considerable pride.

Most important... it was fun.

Here are just a few snaps of an enjoyable afternoon...

Thanks to those visitors who have commented on recent posts regarding the WVS project. There will be more photos of that in the next few days...

More infantry?

The final (?) Vaubarian infantry battalion: IR6 Augenthaler.

(The use of Bayern Munich footballers' names from 1982 continues!).

Really quite pleased with these chaps.

To break up the monotony, I discoloured a couple of the coats, and instead of having all the gaiters white, a few have grey/ brown just to break things up.

The drummer is in reverse colours.

All figures are Front Rank. 

Flags are hand painted on aluminium foil.

Regimental blue flag has a Golden Hart emblem, which also appears near the flagstaff, upper, on the white colour which is dominated by the Vaubarian coat of arms in a wreath as is the standard format for these infantry regiments.

It feels like a bit of a milestone to have finished the six Vaubarian infantry battalions... not a huge undertaking by any means, but a significant point at which to take stock (and wonder whether I should expand the army with another brigade - 3 further battalions - at some point).

Thanks for looking in.

Cheers.

 

Marching Band

I have been meaning, for some time, to create a marching band for my 1704 project, The Wars of the Vaubarian Succession (WVS).

So what better way to spend the weekend, than to settle down whilst all the pomp and ceremony of HM The Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations were on telly, and indulge at the paint desk for a few hours.

The result...

I thought the Trooping the Colour event on Saturday was particularly splendid this year. 

Aly M has already posted some fine 'stills' from this parade on his blog. Pop over there if you need some inspiration on marching men in uniforms.

It still irks me that the drill manual decided to accommodate the SA80 when that weapon was introduced, whereas for decades we'd been using the SLR as the standard drill weapon. The latter is much more in keeping with the "General Salute, Present Arms" order, somehow, and the longer weapon makes for a much nicer appearance when shouldered and on the march, in my opinion. They should have kept it, purely for ceremonial. After all, the red tunics and bearskins are hardly battlefield kit are they. So why have the SA80 on the parade ground?

Answers on a postcard...

Regiment von Klimt

 An interruption to the posts about my plans for the future to show the latest unit I completed at the weekend.

This is for the WVS project (c1704), Astrovian IR5 von Klimt.

Many of the Astrovian units are in plain white with a single colour for facings/ cuffs/ breeches etc.

This time, I decided to mix it up a bit. Following the previous regiment (Wittgenstein) I stuck with the grey coats, but this time combining a blue waistcoat with green breeches, stockings and cuffs. It makes for a nice combination I think.

Flags are hand-painted on aluminium foil.

Pils-Holstein Plans

As I mentioned in my previous post, this part of the collection (the mid-18th century) is a major project, and I have a very detailed order of battle for the protagonists listed out.

Above: the Pils-Holstein brigade - Regts Leibgarde, Kronprinz Grenadiers, and Oldenburg.

Below: a recent battle in full flow.

In terms of adding more infantry I am planning:

• 1 more fictitious Pils-Holstein battalion
• 4 more battalions of Prussian infantry
• 5 more battalions of French infantry
• 1 more battalion of Astrovian (Hungarian) infantry

Flags are done and already in stock (thanks to Mark Allen's work a few years ago - I stockpiled them in advance).

Most of the figures are also in stock.

Whilst I do have a list of 'must have' horse regiments, I have a looser approach to adding more cavalry, but I will over time be able to keep pace with the infantry additions I hope.

Artillery requires some attention too... somehow it's always this arm of service which seems to get left behind in the planning. Apologies to any gunners who are reading this!

The plan is to put this on as a display game once it's all finished, probably in around 5 years time (once I've completed the other projects first - namely Wars of Vaubarian Succession, TYW, and Successors).

Thanks to the many people I met up with at Partizan who said how much they were enjoying the recent posts about my plans for my various projects. Much appreciated.

On that note, Partizan was a terrific show. I took a few snaps, but nothing that you won't have seen elsewhere online. There are lots of blog reports and videos and Facebook posts circulating should you wish to see more. All told it was a good day out, and I spent much of it chatting to old friends and chewing the hobby fat. 

Finally, thanks to those who have been commenting and showing appreciation of my recent posts. 

More to come...