Comparisons and choosing miniatures
From Campaign Games miniatures came Austrian Jägers command and Brunswick too (looking roughly the same/ Korsehut wearing lads). Landwher in 18mm and engineers can be done from the same stock of pics. I needed the officers to have variants for the Landwehr, so the numerous horn blowers lost rifles, horns and extra pay becoming modest rear area guys.
Mixing up the slightly bigger Old Glory and Blue Moon brits in cut coats and slouch hats. Some Peter pigs could be added to Blue Moon units , not to Old Glory ones, the sizes difference too striking (and the muskets would no be tailored hey?).
All three brands of Iroquois/ 5 nations and co. Less trouble with sizes as used in looser groups and the smaller ones will go to groups of "young warriors" together with some veteran older irregulars, minifigs and you name it I had in the 80s(!!) waiting patiently knowing the North American Bug would catch back one day or another.
...You set up a nice "Russian" battlefield, proudly getting out your stock of houses, patiently collected over the years from everywhere you could. After all, a big table needs a lot, even if less "east" than usually if, say in Austria. Then she comes down to the game room and starts commenting. And you know she has been everywhere there, over the last 30 years, she know a lot and has a great attention to details. She was a tour guide for 30+ years. And then things get complicated;) as you get this kind of comment:
"Russian log cabins mostly have 3 windows façade. Hard put you ‘d be to find some with one or two only. "
"Entrances, traditionally, are almost never from the main facades, always from the side. "
“None of those houses are for living. Only maybe half shed from very poor 19th century. " deception, that was about my proudly showing my game buildings;)
And I have been to a number of reconstituted villages, to a number of ancient wooden houses here and there and seen pictures in museums and I know she is right. And of course modern adaptations, you can see, are most often far off from what one needs for 1812 and even 1941. She searches YANDEX the Russian stuff, rather than Google and finds examples.
And I defend our houses, our game suppliers: "You cannot show everything at that scale compromise with the ground surface, but some things could be right."
NIET we visited several: 3 parts one for animals, one for summer and one winter. Objects to those recently
painted:
http://www.timecastmodels.co.uk/range_2/range_2.html
Modern houses maybe. But too many windows on the door side. This one getting painted, with two useful sheds...
A simple house
This one is good 1812- WW2. It has a little internal courtyard, gate front and entrance sideways inside.
Plenty more. and here...
The whole Russian search for traditional rural houses (center /west Russia, Karelia-North or South-Ukraine would be different).
Pictures from the time of Tourgeniev taken in "his" museum. He describes these in his books too.
From a little town. Usually each house is part of an enclosed area, with service buildings and gates.
He says poor people have thatch and better off wooden planks on roofs. Talking about the Kursk/ Orel region. The more North the less thatch.
And yes then we can enter another can of worms as, guess what not everywhere do they have the same.
Ukraine/ south has more wattle walls covered with clay; whitened..
Richer, from a reconstituted peasant village/ museum.
Now that I have a rule...
By fire and sword works at a 1/3 rough level of scale than what I plan for TWODR. All existing bases are 4 cm front, It leads itself towards a center of several pikes and sides of musketeers. A 12cm front will do.
3 ranks mostly for brigades and tercios, and 2 plus command behind for the regiments. It would look right. No way to have a tiny pike center.
We are in early Spring 20, time of the Great Mess of confinement and virus threat.. the resupply arrived earlier, but for the new Eureka few to finish the Scots and add variety. For the cavalry I had to do many Kuirassiers for the Imperials and lots of commands. page up
Minis from Old Glory (bought cheap from one of their big occasional discount), Wargamer.pl left over, new Bluemoon, the few scores of Tottentanz (las before they stopped), a few Donningtons, and Khurasans.
Left over from the over ordered commands... tempting later to have more infantry.
The horses are a trouble, most cannot be exchanged, using different systems for the guy to ride; Old glory (small!!) B Fire and S, though not the same size could be swapped. Some Blue Moon ended up on Ab horses. Some Khurasans on smaller ones (they have huge ones). Overall it does work with a bit of efforts.
Also needed bigger cannons, loads of infantry. Some I did one single big bases. The pb with big bases, they look ugly on hill and in some terrain (fortification), but they are a joy to move around. It might be that I will magnet the infantry, but I loath the extra pedestal 3 mm of base.
Then came the toil of 80 pikes... I have some of the soft (seen in fog?) metal ones, then many Polish dangerous ones, then I dug out the box from the 80s (!!!) at the time when I had ECW armies. Plastic rigid kitchen brush "hair". the right size! Please manufacturers for supermarkets, you have forgotten the use for pikes?
Flatten the top, cisors cut to a point.
Most of the new stuff is does with 3x3 horse men, or 8 big Khurasan types on a single 12cm wide base, or 8 Croats of two 6 cm bases. Seems I need only two units.
Infantry first ranks of pikes gets 4 to look "piky", then 4 including two flags then another 3 pikes. It makes for a decent looking unit center with the flags "like on the pictures" in the museums. I recently had a dose at the Vienna arsenal.
On picture a sample of the unusable polish made flag, note that they did not reverse properly the letters. I had to do it scanning and work. Most of their flags (which LOOK great) are not good for the period; intended for 20+ years later. I have books on 30yw flags...so I did my own. One day will publish them. Days of suffering on the computer.
Historical infantry flags are 1.8 to up to 4 meters high! people who like big flags can do them for this period and be right (for a change). But then manufacturers for some reasons mostly put small flag poles, or soft pre broken ones or both. So some of themy chaps had a surgical op, cut drill and stiff metal pole.
The armies on parade
I opted early on for the "mess" school of dress for the 30yw: seems no one agrees much on "uniforms". The new Helion magnificent books, tell of some (but who knows if they did carry on more than a few years?) who did. Tradition tells some swedes probably deserve them. "Bordel" looking veterans, Have that admirable quality: they can be remixed and used both sides.
So many of the troops that can be non descript, have flags that are not stuck. It allows for fine tuning units numbers and keep myself satisfied that no Protestant ever carries an Imperial flag etc. The cavalry as many were already doen for BY Fire and sword (and stay so) are so far a bit less historical although all the new ones are right. It looks that many of the cornets we actually do not know. page up
One or two things to stick in the slots (twice less chances of breaking one); 4 chaps per 3 cm front base instead of 3. It is then awkward to mix the original Wofun and the Dennis ones, unless to represent different density.
P. Dennis cavalry comes by 3 on a line, vs 2-3 before. Most of my previous horseman ended up singles as scouts. Here you see them next to the newer ones and a few infantry. The style is also different but this is less trouble.
I did paint up some horses to have far less whites and very light coloured ones.
In the original version, the horsemen end up in a somewhat messy order. As here.
This would work best for periods when you can expect it or irregulars. On the other hand you had roughly twice as many foot than horse on the same frontage, which is right for 1750+.
With the Dennis types you have 8 foot for 6 horses, which is wrong, except maybe the 1600-1700 on deep infantry even till the 4 ranks lines, and even.
Want at the end, a brigadier for each unit for the 7YW, nice, and used as a counter to show morale hits and pursuits.
The big Prussian fellows at the rear are Eureka. A long overdue Prussian rgt. finally finished with 3 Lancashire figs to join their Old glory colleagues.
Eureka general, 3 lazncashire grenadier to finish Fehrenteil Reichs rgt in Oldglory. An Eureka drummer finished the base of 3 very ancient Old glory grenandiers.
An Irregular minis between two Lancashires behind a command stand of ex Prussians Blue moon to do my first Saxon Kuirassier. Not as neat as OLd Guard Painters minis command, but cheaper;)
Saxon cheveau-legers; Lancashire games the only one doing them with the mitre; probably a mistake and should have one stand of mitre in each of my two regiments, but no t urgent.
The other half of my saxon battery. A bunch of commanders for the Reichs allies, saxon, Württemberg etc..
To compare sizes. Blue moons on Khurasan horses (not here), or big Ab ones. It could be the smaller guy with Eureka. One can also cheat with having higher bases and grass, muddling height differences.
Prussian artillery, mostly Old glory but with 2 others. Two Wofun whose bases where broken. The Cossack could be 7YW too. A few odd horses fro dismounted dragoons, or camps. (30yw-7Yw...)
30years war figures comparison; specifically done to show the size and quality of the QR miniatures.
They are on the smaller side of things. would work fine with old glory cavalry, others if changing horses
Nice figures not found elsewhere. Here Lithuanian foot. Crisp, 5 variants in a pack of 12.
Western style cavalry.
#5 all QR Kuirassier, Harquebusiers, cavalry. All one piece casting his horseman so no exchanging horses.
Compared with, 1, left Khurasan; 2 Old glory ; 3 Eureka; 4 Blue Moon;
6 Wargamer.pl; down of 2 a Wargamer.Pl plastic horse, sold separately they can remount other men that do not have their own saddles.
Many but the bigger ones (Khurassan and Tottentanz giants) can be mixed, for ex on multiple bases one QR in the middle as such or on a thin additional card base.
Western infantry samples. Right side QR.
I do not have many others that can be mixed, only a few Caliver and Minifigs a gift from a friend who got them from crap bag.
As you can see all those here are notoriously bigger.
they would mix with that newish ECW line
Steel Fist Miniatures, and Peter Pig. I have so many in stock hardly I will get them.
QR boys. Accurate 30yw dress, not the English Civil war recycled as the others (which works ok but would be better with some period typical types in the mix---). I avoid the Montero and wool bonnets from ECw; the few I had from Eureka ended up in supposedly units with many Englishmen that the Protestants had. Maybe not accurate but...
These QR plus a few small guys will end up as Saxons. page up
They arrived very well packed, well shaped figures, not thickish heavy-set guys which would not be so often realistic, given their food and lifestyles. A bit fragile, weapons and some horses on two legs to the ground, easy to break. Best maybe to put these chaps in the middle of other metal ones you might take into your hurried game hands.
A bunch of Napoleonics and a few Japanese for the project Burma. The smallest are sold as 15mm, big ones as 18mm, japs as 22mm.
The napys are compared on the pics with AB and Campaign games 18mm, japs with a mix of plastic (Strelts and more?) ans metal AB; Eureka and Early war miniatures and maybe Combat 20mm.
The only grunt for the 18mm, heads are sometimes a bit small and always with nearly no neck. This must be corrected as painting those ever pissant collars are then next to impossible. Given that he creates everything, he could do some guys a bit shorter etc. To make them less clone like, a problem we have in all brands but with mixing and then they might have "personal" shakoes and even weapons tailored, not possible. Ok most times in 15-18mm game you don't see it jumping to your face on the table, that but in 28 you would. The faces and details are likely in scale which means traditional painting with washes, dry brushing etc. is not the best. Think like flat figures, nearly;) underline and highlights maybe?
The horses are a bit too big (pregnant mares?), like cart horses rather than cavalry ones. So the cart is fine;) It also makes them unlikely to mix up with AB and Campaign games (the best) and the Bluemoom ones would be too small. Old Glory’s don't even think of it.
For a newcomer this is annoying as most customers will want / have to mix. I cautiously only had officers who will go separately. You can see they are even bigger. Frankly in 2021 you need to do variants of men's attitudes and horses. From what I understood of computers, if you can do such a sleek product (details shapes and final impeccable printing, nothing to cut, smooth or else), varying a bit horses and heads etc should not be a problem, unlike good old fashioned moulds. Ok I put them with AB or others and it works, they are the variants. To me, it has not yet gone to its whole very promising potential, lots can be done to tone up these products.
1 Heads with necks
2 More variants on multiple base, though horsemen should be singles as painting an Austrian saddle on the side of another stuck figure might require the impossible angled brush. Plus not every rules uses the same numbers.
3 Weapons which are right in scale should be exaggerated a bit (thicker) to make them stronger. If a musket breaks bye bye repairing it.
From Cdt Bucquoy book: Two will be painted as general of light cavalry Franscechi Delonne and an adc attached to the Major general (HQ); a decorative guy to go with luggage or "cover" an order chit. The mounted one being on a dangerous 2 legs did not fail to break when I cut the little moulding line; overnight repaired with stick thick glue. He will finish in a high bushy ground to hide the odd angle. Pleasure to paint... except when some angles where putting things into a squeeze to reach. One has to think ahead for these and work with long brushes and washes... One base was done with washing in hot water, the rest not; in the end no difference in painting, no pb as in soft "plastics". page up
Already explained a bit. Maps of the place, historical, topographical... The more the better, then you can sort out the important from what can be overlooked.
You need to find the ups and downs, and to save future time best to have a relatively permanent dedicated set, bits can be used for other set ups.
Don't forget to label it! and mark + number the set up from one side to the other, to avoid a puzzle game next time (as I did with my Gjatsk ).
Here I use pins to keep the layers in place. When you cover the set with your mat, they have a wish to move and fly away.
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