France: train d´artillerie

Only some weeks till our annual battle, the french army is now well-prepared after an effort of reorganization of its artillery train. In the foreground you see a munition carriage, which I built in polystirol, added by some front parts of an old NMZ-limber and beautiful wheels of Matthias-Manske-Manufaktur.
It is the result of my research I did in the Marburger Digitales Archiv (http://www.digam.net/) which presents a lot of spectacular plans of our favourite century...
I re-calculated the measurements of a prussian carriage and added the typical, french details at the backside: the curved ladder, fixed above.
It is possible to open the cover and to fix it by a movable needle - but my construction is still a prototype and I will improve my technical system...
Below you will see the original map. Just enjoy now the pics I shot of my french train.

Originaltitel: Zeichnung eines 7 Grenad Wagens für die preussische reitende Artillerie - von 1790

http://www.digam.net/index.php?dok=6476&h%5B0%5D=munitionswagen

And, at last, a more dramatical picture of a french cannon (limber and cannon from NMZ)

Prussia: König Friedrich II. mit Stabsoffizier

I put some new pics now of this set because I wasn´t happy with the former images..

Dear readers - sorry for my late posting in this blog after a while of silence - it´s dued to the big preparations to our battle wargame in july in Switzerland, when we will celebrate the annual, big family-battles. We will meet at our relatives there and place our armies for one or two big battles, involving Prussia (5 reg.), Russia (6 reg.), France (6 reg.), Saxony (2 reg.) and - the first time - Sweden (4 reg.). It´s still in discussion, which armies will be allied and  in which combination - we will see. So, the last weeks, I was occupied with the new terraining for the battlefield (ground 2,50m of 1,40m)  and some artillery-trains. More about this later.

Today I would like to present you the figures of Frederick II. with his guard officer, mounted on horses. The figures are from Matthias Manske and again delicious pieces of his edition.
I placed Frederick on a round plate (as seen at the Alte-Fritz-Blog) to check the effect. The guard officer is placed separately to give him the freedom to move during the battle and to take more positions: officer of the 1st regiment or the guard of the king.
I did again - just for fun - a montage with some backgrounds - this time a bavarian landscape, taken a few minutes from my home.

Russia: Charkowski Hussars finished and rebased

My yellow hussars from the Russian army are already a couple of years old and almost packaged in dark boxes, hidden from daylight... They are figures from a - in fact - beautiful edition of Prince August, not completely threedimensional, but okay in the details. I painted them 8 years ago and now, I renovated them and placed them on new vignettes -  3 figures on each platform 7x8cm.

The "joltii gusari", called yellow hussars were located in the north-eastern Ukraine and changed their dolmans r.a. in 1760-62 into the black ones. I preferred this uniforms, but also because I am really a great fan of the Ukraine. 

Look at the banner; there is written "S NAMI BOG" - "god with us"-  and is a banner of the 16. cent. - but till now I couldn´t ever find any sources about the russian hussar flags. I chosed a religious one, inspirated by the orthodox iconic painting.

Saxony: Mortar Lafettenwagen

This is the second project of a Lafettenwagen, carrying a 16pds-mortar; actually for Saxony´s artillery. The limber is taken by an old NMZ-set, also the horses and riders. The Lafettenwagen is built in Polystirol and mounted on two wheels of Matthias-Manske-Edition.
I am not sure what kind of vignette I can create for placing this set. The whole ensemble has a length of r.a. 25 cm, so placing them on a rectangular vignette will be beautiful when standing in a vitrine, but for wargaming it could be to big and slow. Maybe I will place just the horses on a vignette - I still don´t know.

Russia: Commander and officer

Happy about a figure of the new Matthias Manske´ edition, "the officer greeting the king", which ment the original proposition to paint this officer as a prussian one, standing in front of Frederick the Great. I combined him with the General Apraxin, horse-riding, regarding the battlefield of Groß-Jägersdorf in East-Prussia. The figures are in 40mm, placed on a vignette of 7x7cm.

Russia: Permski regiment finished

The second long-during project is finished now, my first complete Matthias-Manske-Regiment in 40mm. They are freely composed of different figures of his collection, I just wanted to have the advancing character of the whole rank. So, I like very much the different way they hold the weapon, looking in different directions, marching and falling wounded - and all in the white biten dust of the battlefield.
My russians wear winter uniforms in the typical dark green. Next regiment will get the summer dresses in red.

Prussia: Infanterieregiment No 13 finished

Finally, Prussia´s infantery is completed by the new regiment No 13 "Itzenplitz". The light yellow tone is a good contrast to the other regiments we have. The figures are from Sash&Saber, the flags by Manske and printed in computer.
The backgrounds are sceneries from original silesian pictures.
Well, Scheckinator - good prepared for the summer campaign in Switzerland!

News from my workplace

Dear followers, dear readers
sorry for this long silence in my blog - it was dued to a big, busy time in the University and in urban design projects - working nights long, the soldiers´ program gots a break.
I am still working on 2 regiments: the prussian 13th regiment "Itzenplitz" for Scheckinator:
The figures are from sash&saber.

And the russian regiment "Permski", the city close to the Ural, which is compsoed by marvellous figures of Matthias-Manske. I mixed the marching ranks with some wounded and fallen fellows, which gives a more dramatical effect.
More pictures soon, I guess I will finish at the end of this week.