I know I don't very often ask for your opinion on how I should make stuff and usually make you have what I have decided, take it or leave it, but now I am asking (I hope I don't regret this).
Before Richard even starts the next batch of figures, I am going to tell you what I have in mind and see where we go from there . . . .
There are sixteen mould spaces to fill and what I have in mind to do is:-
4 x French Hussars - Trooper 1 & 2, Musician and Officer
4 x Hanoverian Horse Grenadiers :- Officer, Standard Bearer, Musician and Trooper.
4 x Civilians on foot, doing nothing in particular, two gentlemen & two ladies and before Abdul gets his spoke in, NO, the ladies will NOT be in a state of undress. They will be fully clothed in the dress of the period.
4 x French High Command (possibly a mix of mounted and dismounted?)
Right, that was my plan . . . now for the help and opinions bit . . . Firstly the opinions;
Should I make the French Hussars different from how I have done the Prussians and Austrians? By this I mean, should I mount them on the walking horses for a change, with their sabres on their shoulders, or does everyone think that hussars should be dashing about waving their sabres in the air like the others? Or, should I do them both ways and scrap the French High Command for now?
What about the high command? Mounted or on foot? Two mounted and two on foot?
Now the help part;- I don't have any pictures of the Horse Grenadiers which shows them from the front, back and sides, neither does Richard, so do we go on what we have and wing it, making people aware that they might not be 100% accurate? I know that the many Imaginations fans would like horse grenadiers, whether they are accurate or not and I may press on with them on that basis, but I do prefer accuracy and so this is where I need help. Does anyone have any good pictures of uniform detail which would help us to get them right? If so, I would appreciate copies in an e-mail please.
Another option is just to make generic horse grenadiers and openly state that they are imagination troops and are deliberately not historically accurate ?
I could put the case for all sorts of stuff here, but at this point, I will throw it open for your comments and opinions, so please don't be shy. I will consider anything except making half naked female troops, which will never happen!
Thanks,
Frank
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23 comments:
Hi Frank,
well when you don't ask for suggestions you get them so you may have opened the floodgates!
I collect the French so here goes
Yes to the High Command
Please do the Hussars active (just not the same otherwise)
other wants
Grenadiers de France
French infantry with lapels
Heavy Cavalry in Bearskin(probably more of a want for me than the hussars) clive
Frank,
While I don't have any images of the Hanoverian Horse Grenadiers, I do have some of the RSM castings of them . . . which might give Richard some guidance as to what they may have looked like.
-- Jeff
Frank
My opinions;
I like hussars to look dashing please and as I haven't got any of yours yet they would make a nice addition.
French command on horse or foot would be welcome.
Hanoverian Horse Grenadiers - I have a few pages with description and drawings I could scan and send you that seem relevant from Cecil C P Lawson's "A History of the Uniforms of the British Army" Vol II, if that's anything new?
But......Abdul's not the only one who would buy a half naked Hussarette :-) She'd look good on the arm of Count Gregorius von Grunburg!
Chris
Hi Frank.
Exciting news. I like all youir suggestions and would be happy with the active hussars.
As to the horse grenadiers, I thought you already had a copy of the Prachtwerk on a CD from when you asked for Hanoverian uniforms some time ago. There are several illustrations of horse grenadiers in that, one of the Guards unit and others of the dragoon grenadier uniforms (they are slightly different). If you haven't, then they are on line here:
http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Braunschweig-L%C3%BCneburg_Grenadier_a_cheval.jpg&filetimestamp=20090404080051
or just Google prachtwerk.
Good luck with it all and have a restful Christmas.
John
Here is a better link:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Gmundener_Prachtwerk_1761?uselang=de
John
Hello Frank,
also i ordered most Prussians (except few Austrians^^) French command mounted and unmounted would be great.
With your civilians and clear some 'supplement' Prussians would be my next order.... next year ;-). Anyway i have on my list still many of your Austrians, Prussians, also i want some of the other Nations, there is much to order, collect, paint. But again, if French command, mounted and foot would be my preference.
For troops of Hannover i will ask a friend he is more interested in Hannoverian troops than Prussians, perhaps he has some infos about.
But if here folks have no fitting 'images' then i think it will be probably finally an interpretation, sadly.
I really like the idea of a generic horse grenadier. I collect Austrians and Prussians but would have no problem adding a generic horse grendaier unit to my existing collection.
Happy Holidays!
Hi Frank,
I still like the idea of falling wounded. So they'd fit in a unit rather than behind. The perrys do a hessian in their awi range. He has a bare head and two hats. A tricorn and mitre attached at different points. You snip one off.
And high command types.
I'd buy a Russian army as well. Well you said anything mate ;-)
Hello Frank,
French High Command (2mounted 2 foot)would be great and second French Hussars charging.
happy holidays!
Elmar
Hello Frank,
mounted and unmounted French Command,
charging french Hussars
Happy holidays
Elmar
Hi Frank,
Thank you for including one of my desires in your list, but it seems that I will be in the minority. The Hanovarian Horse Grenadiers are my vote. They will provide a different type of heavy cavalry unit on the table top and be great for imagination style armies.
Rhys Jones
Hello, Frank.
The outlined plan sounds excellent. Keep the Hussars the same active style as the others - that is the beauty of your range.
I'll look for any details I have on the Hanoverian Horse grenadiers - very glad you are considering these - Rhys, you are not alone!
I'd prefer all mounted High command allowing for brigadiers as well as army level command - foot officers are good for vignettes, but for command stands I prefer mounted & will have many more of these than nice vignettes.
The civilians would be good too, though I'd support Clive for French cavalry in bearskins before the civvies.
I'd hope you will stay clear of the generic idea. The historical figures available provide plenty of scope for imagi-nation creators, and craft knife & green stuff can do the rest if something else is desired by the individual. Generics are neither a*** nor elbow.
Have a great Christmas break.
Cheers, Rohan.
Hello Frank
French, High Command mounted.
French Hussars charging.
French Infantry with lapels.
Paul
"4 x Civilians on foot, doing nothing in particular, two gentlemen & two ladies and before Abdul gets his spoke in, NO, the ladies will NOT be in a state of undress. They will be fully clothed in the dress of the period."
I did not expect otherwise :) :)
But 'seriously' it would be precious to have 'walking' *exactly* those very same 'characters' already produced mounted. Allowing to 'dismount' and 'remount' them during an 'adventure' game (think Lady Pettygree vs Milady de Winter).
French High Command gets my vote! Preferably all mounted, but I'm not fussy.
Dear Frank,
Great suggestions and I would buy all proposed. My preferences are:-
1. Mounted French command.
2. Charging hussars.
3. Definately hanoverian grenadier. Fantastic idea.
4.I will buy the walking civilians however you do them.
Future ideas:-
5.Grenadiers de France.
5.Swiss Guards etc.
6.Cavalry kettle drummer.
Best wishes for the Christmas season and I have an order ready for when you have finished your December break.
Regards,
Guy
Coming late to the party again (thought you'd already closed down for the winter), I would suggest doing the hussars, or one of them at least, in a pose suitable for patrol or skirmishing: walking horse, choice of right arm with carbine or pistol, sabre dangling from wrist in either case. French hussars were NOT battlefield cavalry at that time, and spent far more time on outpost duty than charging around!
Very much looking forward to more civilians, yes fully dressed please, and French Command, although I would also second those who clamour for French cavalry in bearskins.
For further consideration, after the better sort of civilians is covered, how about some of the numerous camp followers? Not Abdul's version, but sutlers, washerwomen, soldiers' wives and children etc., who swarmed around the army camps.
I don't collect Hanoverians, so you may disregard the following, but looking at the Prachtwerk the only differences between guard and line ones that I see are laced lapels and cuffs for the latter, and slight differences in the cartridge pouch decoration - but then some line regiments have differing versions as well. Which details are missing in you view? Basing them on dragoons would seem logical since they were drawn from them. The standard bearer is really only relevant for the single Guard squadron, do you really want to use a slot for an individual ensign?
Have a rest- and joyful Chirstmas season!
On second thoughts... How about some more French light troops, starting with the helmet-wearing mounted contingent for your existing Légion de Hainaut? These could also work for dragoons of Volontaires de Clermont and the earlier La Morlière corps, seguing into infantry in helmets for the former and in mirlitons for the latter.
The Chasseurs de Fischer would be another candidate unit: their "dragoons" dressed as hussars, but the foot chasseur had cloth caps, the grenadiers bearskin ones.
More a thought than a demand^^.
For prussians there is no standard bearer for fusileers (those also bear the special 'cap'). I converted the normal musketeer 'ensign' with a fusileer head to one, but if in future there will be a spare in one mould..... a prussian fusileer standard bearer would be also not badest.
Another useful infantry type would be a Grenadier in Austrian style with bearskin that has a metal plate on lower section with a grenade or shield insignia to allow for Austrian units with this form of bearskin as well as Imperial/Kreis troops, eg Palatine grenadiers, and some other Freikorps in Prussian and French service. There is really only the need for an infantryman, as officers wore tricorns usually, and the NCO's & musicians could be converted from existing figures, as there are usually only 1 or 2 in most gamer's units.
Frank, regarding my post above, there are some good illustrations of this head gear in the Knoetel plates & I can send pics of them to you via email if you need them. I imagine that to produce the dolly for these would require minimal tinkering with the Austrian figure. Cheers, Rohan.
Frank
I still havenn't painted the models I have yet!
For me I would like the Minden range to include all the troop types that fought at the battel of Minden itself so that all units in this great battle can be recreated with your unbeatably beautiful figures.
Best wishes for the New Year
Malcolm
Just another thought, Frank, as I start to put my forces together - would you consider a set of mounted "generic" generals (brigadier type rank) and ADC's ? Cheers, Rohan
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