French German Division in Spain - 2nd Nassau Regiment - Oberst August Freiherr Von Kruse

 The 2nd Regiment of the Nassau contingent sent to Spain was lead by Oberst August Freiherr von Kruse.  I do not think Marcus Hinton sculpted a suitable figure for the Nassau Officers on horseback, so I was fortunate enough to have an acceptable recast figure of General Cooke below.   I needed a long tailed horse, so he is mounted on a similarly dodgy recast French horse, but I have been unable to locate the exact code.  It had a greatcoat, or bedroll, in front of the saddle and a portmanteau behind, both of which needed to be removed for Von Kruse.

Here is an example of General Cooke from the Hinton Hunter site

After attacking the figure with nippers and an exacto knife and adding some green stuff he is ready for priming and painting.

A new front of the shabraque was added to disguise where the old bedroll had been, and the portmanteau removed.

Removing the command sash and cleaning up the turnbacks of the jacket was challenging.  The turnbacks will have to rely primarily on paint to distinguish them.

All of the aigulets and lace as well as the upper folds of the open jacket collar have been removed and then a single row of buttons up the middle added.

Epaulets were added to replace the aigulets

So this is an oddity and a bit of a non-sequitur, but I had the distinct misfortune of allowing myself to be lured into attending a wargamers garage sale and came home with about 7-8 free waterline 1/700 scale battleships.  I used to love building the battleships as a kid, so for the sake of nostalgia, have started in on the Scharnhorst.  I did also score a nice selection of Napoleonic uniform Osprey guides and one of Cassin-Scott and Philip Haythornthwaite's uniform guides that I did not even know existed!  I also got a Memoir 44 boardgame I thought I might try.  I remember seeing it at a convention and thought it looked interesting.

Hopefully next time I post it will be to share the completed Nassau 2nd regiment with command!

British 13th Light Dragoons and Friends

 It was past time to bolster the British Cavalry arm, which has been woefully understrength compared to their French counterparts, so it was the turn of the 13th Light Dragoons to get touched up and given the shiny treatment.  Dick Tennant originally painted 18 of these, and by adding an NCO as guidon bearer, I was able to keep my standard 18 troopers, and pull out the officer figure to mount as Lieutenant Colonel Charles Morland.

The regiment nicely posed in a newly painted backdrop inside a little portable light studio I use to photograph miniatures.

Being able to use the original officer figure as the Lieutenant Colonel was very useful as finding matching figures is near impossible these days.

The troopers are no doubt BN 209.  I am unsure what figure Dick Tennant used as this officer figure, but Dick was fond of conversions so it is often difficult to tell.

The guidon was hand painted based on a description I found in a regimental history. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/54908/54908-h/54908-h.htm#Page_20 

The NCO for the guidon bearer was a one piece casting by Dave Clayton of BN 50.

I was also able to add an additional NCO as guidon bearer for the 9th Light Dragoons, completing the Brigade under the command of Major General George Anson.

Brigade and regimental command

Another example of the commander painted originally by Dick Tennant, not mounted separately as Lieutenant Colonel Michael Head of the 9th Light Dragoons

Major General George Anson

Lieutenant Colonel Michael Head

The NCO guidon bearer for the 9th Light Dragoons.  Points for anyone who spots my egregious error...

Love this trumpeter!

Captain leading the command squadron

Coming down the pike is the 1st battalion of the 2nd Regiment of Nassau as employed by the French in 1811-12

Originally painted by Dick Tennant, I am just repairing these and adding some shading and highlighting.  They are ready for their bases!

Lastly we have Oberst Leutnant Meder who will lead the 2nd battalion.  Oberst Von Kruse of the 1st Battalion is still taking a bath in paint stripper, but will make an appearance soon.  Meder is a converted Der Kriegspieler figure of an Austrian/Russian general that I added as a battalion leader and will be based separately.

1er Régiment de Chevau-Légers Lancier de la Garde impériale (Polonais)

 At long last I give you the... 

1er Régiment de Chevau-Légers Lancier de la Garde Impériale (Polonais).

The official start date for the painting on these was May 14th 2024, so a mere 4 months and 29 days from start to finish for the painting.  Of course, if you include the time prepping the figures (they were a bear to prep), you might as well round up to 6 months!

The figures are Hinton Hunt for the most part.  I had to sneak in one Der Kriegspieler trooper, and Count Krasinski is an Art Miniaturen sculpt.

I love this dynamic pose, but the weight of the figure was too much for the back ankles of the horse to be steady, so I put in a support post and disguised it as a bush over which the horse is jumping.  The Art Miniaturen castings are somewhat rough, but sizewise they fit very nicely with the Hinton Hunts.

15 troopers, a major, trumpeter and eagle bearer complete the regiment.

Prepping the figures was a real challenge as the molds had clearly deteriorated by the time these were cast, and there was a lot of flash and undercuts that had to be cleared.  Facial detail was also quite rough.

Probably the worst casting flaws were in the belts holding the ammunition pouch and carbine hook.  I did my best, but what is there is almost all paint, as the detail was either gone or so rough to not be helpful.

The eagle bearer is a converted trooper whose lance had broken.  His carbine was removed and arm repositioned to hold the guidon.

The white kurtka of the trumpeter was probably never worn in the field, but I couldn't resist the temptation to paint him in full dress!

The guidon is a hand painted paper flag, stiffened with white glue and then varnished.  They end up being quite robust and it allows me to paint the flag initially on a flat surface and then just fold it around the pole.

The troopers!  I tried to accomplish most of the shading with a black-brown ink wash ala Alastair Morrison.  The horses, being brown to start with had a black was for shading.

So much fiddly detail on these lancers!

General de Brigade as well as Colonel of the regiment, Count Wincenty Krasinski.  I'll be painting Major d'Autancourt as well, who will be the acting Colonel, allowing Count Krasinski to fulfil his roll as GdB.  Hopefully the Regiment of Dutch lancers will join them in a year or two to complete the Brigade.

Quite a fancy lad!

The troopers view of their Colonel leading from the front!

Up Next - British Light Dragoons and a few odds and ends including more riflemen, and a Bavarian ammunition wagon with team.

In closing I will leave you with some work in progress pictures of the backdrop for the wargames table.  Still lots of work to do, but the basic design and colors are there.

An Austro-Hungarian Fusilier Tour de Force!

My good friend Terry Webb did me the honor of painting one of the 54mm Hinton Hunt figures I recently acquired.  I am still amazed at the generosity of friends who were willing to paint these for me and add to the Hinton Hunt collection started by Richard Tennant.  In any event and without further ado, I give to you Hinton Hunt S. 11 Hungarian Infantry in 54mm.  All of the basing and fencing is handcrafted by Terry as of course is the paintwork.

The level of detail in this display is beyond anything I could have imagined, and speaks to the joy Terry feels in creation.  This piece, as indeed all of the painted gifts I have received, are truly the treasure of the collection.  Thanks to you all!