Blacksmiths' Shop

Inspired by the King's birthday parade, Don immediately set out to produce a building: The Blacksmith's shop. As a guideline, he used the following photograph (click the pictures to enlarge):



The final result:

The Blacksmith's Shop

Half past one in the village of Schurtenbach at harvest time. The King needs grain, his soldiers have to eat. The village people do not sense any danger, but cossacks sneak through the nearby wood ...

In the western part of the village, everything is peaceful ...

The idyll is over soon. Lead by their Hetmann, the Cossacks ready their weapons ...



Thanks to Don for his excellent work!

Cossacks !

Another nice little unit emerges from Don's basement: fearsome Cossacks!

Cossacks (Wargames Foundry)

La Couronne

The Blog post regarding the King's birthday generated some positive comments, especially on our local german forum (sweetwater-forum.de; see the Links section). Many thanks to all who took the time to post.

Our mate Don 'discovered' this beautifull Frech unit in his collection:

La Couronne Regiment (Crusader Miniatures; originally, the hat lace is silver and the cockade black)

Originally intended by him for the French and Indian War in the New World, it was quickly reassigned to the Western Front in Europe. The strong blue colour really makes the figures stand out.

As pointed out by the owner, the hat lace should be silver instead of white and the cockade black instead of blue. That really doesn't matter that much, as our gaming group does not contain any "button counters".

The King's Birthday

Today, the 24th of january, is the 48th birthday of King Friedrich II.. In his honour, IR 41 Graf Wied zu Neuwied performes a birthday parade (click the pictures to enlarge):

The outer perimeter is guarded by the Feldjäger-Korps zu Fuß:

Look into their watchful eyes !


IR 41 arriving on the parade ground in march column:


Turning to form line:


Line formed !


Inspection of the troops by the Inhaber, Franz Carl Ludwig Graf von Wied zu Neuwied:


Gun Salute ! Performed by a 12-pdr. "Brummer", manufactured 1720:


"Ein dreifach Hoch auf den König !" (Three cheers to the King!):


"Achtung!" Austrian spies!



Freikorps Musketeers are vigilant:


"Halt! You are under arrest!"


"Run, Herr General-Feldwachtmeister, run!"


"Who have we here?! .. Well done, soldiers!"


"Well done, Oberst von Schlappstein. An excellent parade and a captured austrian officer. I will mention you to the King."



Do the Graf von Neuwied and Oberst Schlappstein know, that there are Croat Grenzers in the area? The Austrian General-Feldwachtmeister will surely order a rescue operation!

Thanks to Jim Purky (Der Alte Fritz) and Bill Protz for inspiring me to use my miniatures for more then just gaming! Thanks to Chris for the photos of his beautiful Feldjäger miniatures.

Basing

Austrian Infanterie-Regiment Salm-Salm (Nr. 14). All miniatures Front Rank. Flag hand-made (and purposely oversized).

Each figure is mounted on a square steel base, 20x20mm. The larger 40x40mm wooden base (laser-cut, 3mm thick, manufactured by Litko) has self-adhesive magnetic sheeting attached to it and can act as a movement tray for four figures.

By using this system, I have the option to use the figures for skirmish games for which individualy based figures are the norm. I can also use larger movement trays then the 40x40mm ones I use now, if the need should arise.

Litko also offers movement trays for tightly packed figures on round bases by now. They are called 'Rank Trays' and are listed under the heading 'Jim's Product Lab' (they also offer 'Skirmish Trays', but on these trays, the figures are not grouped as closely together as on the rank trays). I haven't tried this system but it may well be that the transition between the edge of the tray and the base of the individual figure might be a problem, especially if you plan to use thin round bases (washers) for your figures. But as i said, I haven't tried it or seen them with my own eyes, so they might as well be a good alternative.

Skirmish Project

Freicorps Le Noble. One of four Freicorps units available to the King at the start of the SYW. Freijäger in the foreground, Freimusketiere in the background.


We decided to build these skirmish parties:

Chris: Prussian Feldjäger-Korps zu Fuß and Prussian Hussars
Tom: Austrian Grenzer and Hussars
Jan: Württemberger
Olaf: Prussian Freicorps Le Noble

Each party will probably consist of 8 to 10 miniatures. The first game is planned for April; more than three months time to paint the troops.

Welcome

In December 2009, members of our informal wargaming group here in Berlin gathered for a year-end pub-meeting. There I discovered, that three of them had plans for a Seven Years War Skirmish campaign using 28mm miniatures: Freikorps, Grenzers, Hussars and all that. I immediately joined in as I've been working on 28mm SYW Prussian and Austrian armies already.

One of us, Chris, pointed out that 2010 is the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Liegnitz (and of Torgau as well). So, why not focus on the year 1760 during the gaming year of 2010 ?!

We will start out with some skirmish games and maybe, just maybe, get to bigger battles by the end of the year.

Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 41 Graf von Wied zu Neuwied (28mm, Fusiliers all Wargames Foundry, Officer Front Rank). Click the picture to enlarge the view.