Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Minden Prussian Grenadiers

Taking a temporary pause between the remaining parade of Assyrians and a respite from the heavier mathy-stuff, off the painting desk today are two dozen 1/56th Minden Miniatures (now Fife & Drum) Prussian grenadiers.

These grenadiers have languished in the primered but not painted state for longer than I can remember.  I know they were purchased six years ago.  Primered not long afterwards.  Every time I dig into the bins of primered figures, these figures naggingly remind me to, one day, push them into the painting queue.  With no SYW project to paint towards, motivation was low to proceed.  
Well, this procrastination finally ended.  Hobbled by a broken leg and no means to spray primer onto more figures in the hazardous and wintry weather, I pushed the grenadiers into the production line.

These grenadiers muster from the 15th and 18th regiments to form a combined grenadier battalion.  The figures are superbly cast with not so much as a hint of flash.  If I was to start a SYW project in 28mm, I would be very tempted to use these figures.  In the meantime, get ready for a few more units of Assyrians to hit the photo booth in the coming weeks.
On the gaming front, Kevin hosted a round-robin session of Command & Colors Napoleonics on Saturday.  This marked my first non-solo game since early January.  Kevin set up the Battle of Delhi 1803 using blocks rather than miniatures.  Really interesting battle and solid scenario design.  The three of us each fought two battles for a total of three games.  The three games were fought in about two hours total.  Very fast conclusion to the session.  Scott came away undefeated in his matches winning with both the British and Indians.  Great fun!

Back on the home front, I laid out the grid mat and pulled the Punic Wars figures from storage boxes for a Telamon refight, having clearing the gaming table earlier of Kunersdorf.  Out came the Celts and Romans.  Looks like the battle will cover the entire 6' x 8' mat with armies arrayed from one end to the other.  The Celts, of course, find themselves outnumbered and sandwiched between two Roman armies.  It will be interesting to see how this plays.  

42 comments:

  1. These Minden/Fife and Drum miniatures are truly beautiful Jonathan ... I have the 18th century civilians by thus company...see my post re Mrs Loring a few weeks ago.

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    1. Thank you, Keith! I remember your civilians very well.

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  2. Great painting (as always) on superb sculpts.

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  3. Excellent Grenadiers Jonathan! I played a solo CCA game of Telamon last year, inevitable Roman victory but closer than expected.

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    1. Much appreciated, Mike!

      THere are many Telamon scenarios available for CCA. Which did you play?

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  4. WOW looking good, sir! Always liked the look of the Minden line. Will we be seeing pictures of your ancients game? I'm needing some motivation to restart my 15mm Romans! One of your epic battle reports might be just the tipping point I need to get me started.

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    1. Thank you!

      Yes, there will be photos of the Telamon game once I play it. I may run through it solo first before bringing in the team for a trial run-through.

      There is a lot of conflicting accounts of the battle so I need to sort through the different accounts to make sense of it all. Once I settle upon a narrative, I will be ready to play.

      If my effort provides a little incentive to you then that is great!

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  5. Gosh, they are just magnificent Jonathan

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  6. Very nice, the yellow pants are very eye catching. I am getting a strange optical illusion that te yellow pants are taller figures!!!

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    1. Thanks, Norm! You know, they do look bigger in the photo. I wonder of the yellow pops more than the white or if the 15th is slightly closer to the camera? The grenadiers look lined up properly to my eye.

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  7. Quite impressive: not only are they well rendered (as usual), but the figure count is equally impressive. Sorry to hear about your bum leg. Hope that you're up and able to cycle again by the time the weather turns.

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    1. Thank you, Ed!

      With a little luck, I may make it back on the road bike in a few weeks. Cycling on the stationary bike does not produce much pain but I cannot clip out of the pedals yet. Ouch!

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  8. Super looking regiment Jonathan!

    Christopher

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    1. Not to your exquisite standard but you are very kind, Christopher!

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  9. Splendid Jonathan...
    I do like the pink/rose facings....

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thank you, Aly! Only real men dare to wear pink/rose facings!

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  10. Absolutely stunning, Jonathan. Superb sculpts superbly painted. Love the facing colors.

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  11. Awesome figures (and uniforms!), great paint job!

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  12. Very smart indeed Jonathan. Prussian grenadiers really are among the iconic units of the period. Now on to Telemon - I've really been looking forward to this one.

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    1. Much appreciated, Lawrence! Prussian grenadiers are iconic, indeed.

      Now, for Telamon. The battle will be my interpretation of the events given my understanding and troop availability. We will see how it turns out.

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  13. When I saw your lovely Grenadiers I was reminded that I have a quarter painted unit of grenadiers sat in a box. Youre righ Minden as was, are a lovely range. My part painted grenadiers are started as Saxon Garde. Although they are beautiful sculpts I always found them harder to paint, I think it was because they were so fine and detailed. Perhaps its time to have another crack at them. By the way lovely figures, well done.

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    1. Thanks for your comments, Robbie!

      The detail is fine, for sure, but I found the Minden figures not too burdensome to paint. Given that, you may wonder what took me six years to get them into the painting queue. Good question! The main reasons are that I have no 28mm SYW project and painting 24 seemed rather daunting.

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  14. That is lovely paintwork Jonathan, beautiful.

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  15. Gorgeous Prussian grenadiers! Lovely figures, delightful painting!
    Best Iain

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    1. Glad you like them, Iain! The figures are really well sculpted.

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  16. Great looking miniatures all marching in step. I agree that the yellow really pops in the pics. Glad you also have healed enough to get in face to face gaming. 😀

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    1. Thanks, Stew! My timing is impeccable. Healed enough for FtF play just in time for virus outbreak.

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  17. Very well painted, elegant figures.

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  18. Wow, Jon! These fellows are awesome!

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