Revell Reinforcements

Thanks to some good online gaming friends, I acquired some reinforcements for my Revell SYW collection at an exceedingly reasonable price. Last week over the course of a couple of days I clipped and sorted most of them, pairing them up with my existing battalions to fill in gaps. Besides filling in gaps, I've actually put together another independent company, which will hopefully become the core of a new battalion down the line, and some cavalry units.

Figures received were 1 box each of Prussian Infantry, Austrian Infantry, Prussian Hussars, Austrian Dragoons, and Austrian Artillery. I've not yet touched the artillery as I need to wait till I have time for painting and assembling it, I think, rather than having loose parts rattling around. But all the rest have been sorted.

After processing, I currently have the following Revell units for my armies:

Austrian
----------
1 Grenadier Battalion - 42 figures
1 Grenadier Company - 9 figures
1 Musketeer Battalion - 51 figures
2 Pioneer Companies - 6 figureseach
1 Dragoon Squadron - 12 figures
1 Dragoon detachment - 3 figures, usable for pickets or HQ guards

Prussians
-------------
1 Grenadier Battalion - 42 figures
2 Musketeer Battalions - 51 figures
2 Musketeer Battalions - 42 figures? (incomplete)
1 independent Musketeer Company - 12 figures
1 independent Grenadier Company - 12 figures
1 Hussar Squadron - 12 figures
1 Hussar detachment - 5 figures, usable for pickets or HQ guards

Figures I still need/want for the infantry:
-----------------------------------------------
2 Austrian officers
1 Austrian drummer
3 Prussian officers
3 Prussian drummers
32 Prussian musketeer stand and fire
10 Prussian Charging Grenadier

I can, of course, still use some other infantry figures and definitely some more cavalry. But the above are the ideal to complete what infantry units I've already sorted out.

Photos coming...

I've had a sudden burst of painting and basecoating today. No photos yet, as I may get more done before the day is out. But photos are planned.

At present, among other things, my 6-man pioneer company has acquired leather breaches and purple coat. A sample RSM95 Prussian Musketeer has been given a purple coat to test its appearance, as well, for my idea of going with purple coats instead of gray. I wiped a little excess purple on one of the older white basecoated RSM95s as well, just on a sleeve to see what I thought of it. I'm seriously considering stripping the white-coated ones and redoing the basecoat in black. This is partly because I made the white too thick, and it obscures lines on some of the RSM95s in unpleasant ways for finding what to paint which color.

Also acquiring a purple coat is my Blue Moon figure that I've chosen to represent Furst Gunter Blauerwolf. And I also intend to include a picture of the Cavenderian diplomat whose arrival I mentioned earlier.

A little bit of progress

It's hardly anything impressive, but I did manage a tiny bit of progress this weekend. Sadly, nothing from Stokes, but hopefully this week time shall be found to go forward.

Meanwhile, I managed to paint hair on 3 of the Revell Austrian Pioneers and paint an experimental brown on two axe handles of the same. My trouble with painting is that I'm perfectionistic enough to hate my mistakes, and too unskilled as of yet to not make them. So I get frustrated by my inability to control where the paint ends up to my liking.

I also painted 3 blanket rolls on the long-neglected 10mm ACW figures to use up more of the brown paint I'd put out.

And lastly, I took my Christmas present styrofoam cutter out of the package and tried it out for the first time. It works pretty nicely. It cuts quickly, though at first the fumes were a bit heady, that seemed to clear up after a few moments. Possibly once it got a coating of melted styrofoam that may have cut down on the scent.

A January Start

The game with Stokes is on hold till the middle of next week while he and the Grand Duchess enjoy some skiing. So expect more on the Stollen blog the latter part of next week regarding the game.

Yesterday's mail brought me the ordered black gesso, and today I opened the bottle and gave it its first run. I've coated a company of 9 RSM Prussians and a pioneer company of 6 Revell Austrian figures with it this afternoon, and am waiting for them to dry. I've also glued the rest of the company of Minden figures on their bases, with an eye to possibly doing a bit of painting on them as well.

I'm torn, where the Mindens are concerned. On the one hand, they offer the chance of completing something small as I only have 9 of the figures. On the other, their detail is intimidating as one feels the need to do the beautiful figures justice. I suspect that I am going to end up aiming to do the Pioneers fairly early on, and see how things go from there.

My puzzle on the Pioneers is what to paint them as. I've been figuring on the Revells mostly forming units for Ober-Schweinsberg combatants, but I'm tempted to do a company of pioneers for Hesse-Engelburg, because they're such an interesting figure.

Needed Revell SYW Infantry

In the vein of reviewing what figures I have and need, I've totaled up what I definitely need in terms of Revell infantry figures to fill out the ranks of units that I've set aside currently.

Austrians needed
-------------------
4 foot officers
2 drummers
2 charging grenadiers

Prussians needed
-----------------
4 officers
4 drummers

Optional Austrians
---------------------
8 additional foot officers
(only if I decided to replace the NCOs with officers in the companies)
2-3 mounted officers
6 Pioneers

Optional Prussians
-------------------
14 charging grenadiers
40 stand and fire
4 or more marching (with extra officers at a 1-8 ratio if I do more than 4).

Right now, my Prussian musketeer battalions are using 2 ranks of the kneeling figures because I didn't have any standing firing ones, so it'd be nice to replace the middle rank with the standing firing. I have 8 from a box bought since then, so the additional 40 would give me enough to replace them all.

If I fill out the missing ranks, I should have:

1 Austrian musketeer battalion
1 Austrian grenadier battalion
2 Austrian pioneer companies
1 Prussian grenadier battalion
4 Prussian musketeer battalions
1 or more Prussian musketeer companies (marching figures)

More News

I was going to have pictures posted last night, but the card reader didn't want to acknowledge that there were photos on the card. This morning, after unplugging it and plugging it back in, it finally admitted that I'd taken photos.

I had some big plans for yesterday, but they didn't turn out as I'd intended them. I was going to play a WW2 game using one of Charles S. Grant's tabletop teasers. This is not the same teaster stokes and I are using (more on that later). However, once I started looking at the troops I'd need for it, I realized I need to do more maintenance work before I can field them. My WW2 figures are unpainted plastic, but that wasn't the stopper. The stopper was that far too many of them still have to have the stubs of sprue cut off their bases so they can stand up.

So, instead, I ended up spending (besides more time online) some quality time with basing for the SYW figures. I repaired the bases on 10 of the Spencer Smith figures that had come unglued in shipping, and then proceeded to apply Litko bases to 6 that didn't have any bases, including 4 of the unpainted ones. Once I receive the new metal SSMs I ordered and get them on the same bases, I'll have the full battalion of SSMs based.

I also took my one sample SSM grenadier and the one Minden musketeer that I've had on my workbench and put them on Litko bases to see how they fit. I think the consistent basing will help the Mindens look that much better next to the other figures.

After that, I tried out basing one WW2 figure on a 3/4 inch round base from Litko, which I have 50 or more of that I received from a fellow gamer who'd changed his mind about what bases to use. Still haven't decided if I'm going to stick with it, but while doing this I had a sudden idea, and dug out some of my Revell plastic SYW figures. By gluing the figure on one of these thick 3/4 rounds, then gluing that onto my standard 1x1 square base, it produces a consistent footprint AND erases much of the height difference. While the 3/4 round is rather obvious in its thickness, I think the benefit in terms of making the heights more consistent is sufficient boon. So I based two 6-man companies of Austrian pioneers this way.

If you examine the photo below (click it to enlarge), you can see all of the above, with a RSM figure stuck in the center to show the height comparisons. Additionally, I glued together a 15mm paper cottage. I'm not sure where I got the original for that, but I believe it was a free sample from a producer of paper building designs. If I can dig up the original again, I may make more.


On the upcoming agenda, besides some more basing, is putting together my custom movement trays from Litko, which arrived last week. More photos to come when that's done.

Those of you who read the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog will know that he and I are preparing to play a game by email/blog in the latter part of November. We'll be using one of Charles S. Grant's tabletop teasers, and the game will be laid out in Stokes' wargame rule with myself issuing commands from afar based on photographs. I will be taking the role of the invading Electorate of Zichenau forces.

Actual Painting!

Amazingly enough, I actually did a minor bit of painting this weekend, and the universe failed to explode.

Saturday, I spent a few minutes priming one of the two buildings of the JR Miniatures 15mm #1663 Worker's Quarters set, one of Frank's Minden Miniatures Prussians (directly behind the painted building), and one Revell WW2 British Infantry all with white artist's gesso (front right).

The first RSM95s I primed, which you can see in the background, I slapped this on a bit too thick on some, making them more blobbish. So I went a little thinner on it this time, and used the brush to keep excess from pooling.

Sunday, I put a first coat of paint on the Revell figure and did a trial of a pink coat on one of the old RSMs (slightly left of center). But the main focus was painting the building, which you can see in the middle of the photo, next to the unprimed second building from the same set. I still need to do a little more on it, but I was surprised at how well it came out with simply an undercoat and three colors of paint. I need to touch up a few spots of missing paint and add a few more details, but it's quite usable even in this state, which amazed me.

(click for larger photo)


All of them were primed with Liquitex white acrylic gesso. The pink uniform is Delta Ceramcoat Painted Desert. The WW2 Tommy is wearing Delta Ceramcoat Autumn Brown. Paints used on the building were Vallejo Basalt Gray for the walls, Delta Ceramcoat Autumn Brown for the door, and Delta Ceramcoat Golden Brown for the thatched roof.

The box in which they rest was originally put together for my trials of the Plasti-Dip spray rubber as a primer. I've abandoned the Plasti-Dip for the gesso, but the box serves as a very nice portable paint booth, as it were, since I have no permanent space for them right now. It's hoped that as we finish re-arranging the basement, there will be an available work surface as well as an available gaming surface.

Updated Figure Comparison: Infantry

As promised, here is a new figure comparison photo, to be followed hopefully by a few more. Click on the image for a zoomed view.

From left to right, the figures are:

1. Airfix Washington's Army 1/72 plastic
2. Airfix British Grenadiers 1/72 plastic
3. Revell SYW Prussian Infantry 1/72 plastic
4. Revell SYW Austrian Infantry 1/72 plastic
5. RSM95 Prussian SYW Grenadier March Attack 25mm
6. Sash & Saber Prussian SYW Grenadier Marching 25mm (YPSI6, I think)
7. Spencer Smith 30mm plastic (based on a US penny)
8. RSM95 Prussian SYW Musketeer March Attack 25mm
9. Imperialist Miniatures French WSS (possibly WAS) Musketeer 25mm
10. Minden Miniatures Prussian SYW Musketeer 1/56 scale
11. Old Glory AWI British Grenadier 25mm
12. Old Glory SYW Austrian Grenadier 25mm
13. RSM95 French & Indian Wars Highlander 25mm
14. Hinchcliffe AWI Minuteman Advancing (AW40) 25mm
15. Hinchcliffe AWI Marine Advancing 25mm (X45)
16. Hinchcliffe AWI Militia in Shirt Advancing 25mm (X43)
17. Hinchcliffe AWI American Militia Advancing 25mm (AW41)

Figure Comparisons

Stokes asked me for a comparison shot with Spencer Smith, RSM, and Revell SYW figures. While I had the camera out, I did a little more than that. As always, click on the photos for a larger view.


First up is the grand comparison photo of 18th century miniatures. From left to right, they are:

1. Airfix 1/72 British Grenadier (AWI)
2. Airfix 1/72 Washington's Army (AWI)
3. Revell SYW Austrian Infantry (SYW)
4. Revell SYW Prussian Infantry (SYW)
5. Spencer Smith plastic (18thC)
6. RSM95 Prussian Musketeer (SYW)
7. Old Glory Austrian Grenadier (SYW)
8. Minden Miniatures Prussian Musketeer (SYW)
9. RSM95 Highlander (F&IW/SYW)
10. Imperialist Miniatures French Musketeer (WSS)

Next, we have a group photo of the Imperialist Miniatures samples I received some months ago. They are, I believe, 25mm figures rather than 28/30, and are for the War of Spanish Succession rather than the Seven Years War. But they're gorgeous little figures, and only a little more expensive than RSMs. I've especially fallen in love with the French officer. From left to right, they are:

1. F-01 French musketeer
2. FO-11b French trooper of horse w/pistol, on Horse H3
3. FO-3 French officer of foot
4. F17 French drummer

Here we have a cavalry comparison, with the Imperialist French trooper between a RSM95 Prussian Mounted Officer on the left and RSM95 Prussian Hussar on the right. The size difference is rather glaringly obvious here. It's also a little odd looking for the Imperialist trooper to be unable to see over his horse's head. However, on a lark I switched figures and horses, and discovered that putting the RSM officer on the Imperialist horse, and vice versa, erased much of the immediate height difference between them. And both of them can see over their horse's heads.

Reoriganization and other stuff

Yeah, I know, I keep reorganizing my unit structure in spite of not getting much of anything painted. But I've done it yet again, after looking for too long at Der Alte Fritz' battalions on his blog.

The short way of explaining the new organization would be to say that it's the same as the large generic battalion in BAR, but with one file cut off of every company. This means a total of 9 men per company, plus a six-man headquarters (officer, drummer, 2 standard bearers, 2 regulars). All in three ranks of course. This gives me a strength of 42 without the grenadier company, 51 with.

Which means, instead of being able to field 1.5 battalions of RSM figures, I can field 1 full battalion IF I acquire two more RSM Prussian Grenadiers. And have all of 8 extra figures left, most of them officers.

To go with this, I've decided to also use a 12 figure squadron formation, matching the one illustrated in BAR. This means a 3 squadron regiment would be only slightly less strong than a 4 company battalion.

To go with these new organizations, I finally got around to sorting through the Revell figures I received from a good wargaming friend. I may have to obtain some spares to fill out a handful of figures I'm short on, but I've now set aside 4 Prussian Musketeer Battalions (2 with grenadier companies, 2 without), 1 Prussian standing grenadier battalion, 1 Austrian composite grenadier battalion, and 1 Austrian Musketeer Battalion (with grenadier company). Also, 1 slightly over-strength Austrian pioneer company.

At a minimum, I need to add 3 Austrian officers, 2 Austrian drummers, 5 Prussian officers, and 5 Prussian drummers. Ideal would be to have an additional 2 Austrian charging grenadier, 18 Prussian charging grenadier, and 48 Prussian standing firing pose. It would sweeten the pot a little further if I had another 12 Austrian standing firing pose.

At present, my Prussian Musketeer battalion companies use 2 ranks of 3 kneeling, 1 rank of 3 reloading. My Austrian Musketeer battalion uses 1 rank of 3 kneeling, one rank of 3 biting cartridge, and one rank of 2 reloading and 1 grenadier NCO.

Update

I haven't posted in over a month here, but I promise I'm not dead. I've just been buried in work and other things the past few weeks, and wargaming has taken a backseat. I just started catching up on blogs a couple of days ago, with some 300 posts on my RSS reader, so I'm getting there. :>

Meanwhile, the only recent SYW-related activity is that I acquired a bagged set of all but one grenadier from a box of Revell SYW Prussian infantry off of Ebay for about $4. On that note, does anyone have a recommendation of a foot officer figure that could stand with a unit of Revell SYW Prussian infantry without looking odd? I can operate a battalion of these in my standard configuration if I do a 3-deep rank of firing poses, but the available poses leave me short 2 officers with spontoon and 2 foot officers with sword or cane.