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.  

Minden Prussians in 28mm

Remember the arrival of Fife & Drum Kickstarter from nearly two years ago (see Fife & Drum Kickstarter Delivers!)?  Well, a battalion of 32 (!) Prussian musketeers starting from this pile of lead finally made it into the painting queue,

and mustered out as this,

For me, a 32 figure battalion is much larger than I typically care to tackle in 28mm (actually 1/56th) but I was anxious to see how a large battalion might look on my table.  Good, I think!

With rose facings, this battalion takes the field as the 18th Musketeer Regiment, battalion #1.  As seen from the photo of raw lead, I still have work to do.  Enough figures remain to field the second Battalion of the 18th as well as a grenadier battalion.

The Minden's are very handsome figures with crisp detailing.  Ok, really the figures are brilliant!  The realistic proportions yielded more than a few broken bayonets on the slender muskets but acceptable losses.

What are my plans for these fine fellows?  Having a large SYW collection in 18mm already in work, producing enough figures for a SYW project in 28mm is unlikely.  Not impossible, but unlikely.  I am well aware of the twists, turns, and pitfalls leading down that path.

For now, this has been an interesting diversion and prompts me to put a few more of these "orphan" units into the painting queue.  Another possible inclusion into the painting queue is an "orphan" Eureka French Revolutionary War Austrian Fusilier battalion.

Fife & Drum Kickstarter Delivers!

James Purky, proprietor of Fife & Drum Miniatures announced, during the summer of 2013, that he would be implementing a Kickstarter project to bring additional figures into his existing AWI range.  Without much hesitation, I jumped on board with a $100 pledge.  Well, I did pause for a few moments before hitting the "Pledge Now" button since my AWI British collection is stocked with the larger Perry figures.  Alongside the Perry's, F&D figures look quite svelte and small.

With that level of support, I could expect 18 mounted dragoons.  As a bonus, I would receive 24 Hessians with mounted commander and a three-figure, Spirit of '76 vignette.  Looks like a good deal, right?  I thought so!

Later, James announced the purchase of Minden Miniatures who produce an exquisite line of SYW 1/56th scale figures.  Minden and F&D share the same sculptor (Ansell) and scale (1/56) so the the acquisition made perfect sense.  Along with that announcement, James offered to swap Kickstarter AWI F&D figures for Minden figures.  The swap would allow me to exchange one mounted figure for three foot figures.  This offer held several benefits:

• No need to wait for the AWI dragoons to hit production
• Complete mitigation of Kickstarter risk
• Minden SYW figures in hand now vs AWI Dragoons later 
• Allow the addition of size compatible Perry dragoons to the project

I have had my eye on the growing Minden line for several years often considering the wisdom of beginning another SYW project in a larger scale.  Well, I convinced myself that swapping AWI horse for SYW Prussians would be prudent since not much cavalry was present on the AWI battlefield and my gaming buddy would likely field all cavalry needed eventually.

Perhaps, in anticipation of Leuthen Day (05 DEC 1757), the package from James arrived in the post on the 3rd.  All requested figures were present and the figures do, indeed, look terrific.  The only issue I discovered was that the bayonets are quite fragile and bayonet breakage resulted in 1 in 6 musketeers missing bayonets.  Notice the eight bayonetless musketeers on the right of the picture.  Rats.  Problem solved with a quick email to James.  Replacement musketeers are on their way.

What are my plans for these figures?  Do I really need a SYW collection in 28mm and 18mm let alone another period?  For now, my plan is to form one regiment for display purposes only.  Only time will confirm if I can maintain that pledge.  The good news is that James maintained his pledge and I have a small collection of outstanding Minden Prussians!