Afghan Tribal Force Update #10: Sometimes a Figure Paints Itself!

Every once in awhile a figure jumps out at me and says, "You have to paint me!" One of the beauties of hard plastic figures is the ability to customize and create unique figures for your collection. In building an Afghan Tribal Force, it takes longer to paint when you cannot set-up an assembly line. What I do is decide, okay, this will be the red painted parts on the different figures, etc., which keeps the process moving along.

Remember this guy?

I had already decided that this was the guy that was going to be the leader figure for my next unit of charging, up close and personal, fanatic, hand-to-gland, combat fighters For the Men Who Would be Kings. As I looked at the figure, I thought my Pashtun Chieftain could look more dramatic with the addition of one or two loose tails to his turban to make it look like they were blowing in the wind. As I glued the tails to the turban, I thought to myself, "Self, where have I seen this before?" Then I realized, it looked very similar to an Angus McBride illustration from the Osprey Men-At-Arms Series #72: North West Frontier 1837 - 1947. It was the right hand figure on Plate H.

The loose "tails" have been added. There are quite a few that come with the box.

Rarely do I stop what I'm doing and decide to paint one figure as I usually have multiple figures and/or projects going on at the same time. While paint dries, I can move onto the next and I think you get the picture. But for this guy, I stopped the presses and worked only on it.

After I did the major painting on the figure, I glued scabbard for his tulwar (saber) and also gave him a shield.

The finished figure.

 His unit is not ready yet, so some men from Irregular Infantry #2 will join him for a group shot!

Afghan Tribal Force Update #9: Putting Together the first of Tribal Infantry Unit #2

I love Perry Miniatures hard plastic Afghan Tribesmen ("Gee Colonel, tell us something we don't know!).

I like to paint these units in 1/2 batches so here are the first 8 for a 16 figure unit for The Men Who Would be Kings. I really like how I put the standard bearer together running as all of my previous have been stationary.

Whoops. Why is that drum floating in the air. I'll need to add some string to fix that.

The head on the figure on the left looks out of proportion (too small) as I look at it now. I think a quick decapitation will happen and I'll put another head on.

This is going to be the leader pointing the troops in the right direction for the charge.

I was half tempted to have him do the one finger salute.

 

The Bavarian Army for the WSS Part 4

 

The Bavarian cavalry adds contrast for color compared to the sky blue coats of the infantry.  The Bavarian Cuirassier regiments wore the lobster tail helmet and front and back cuirass.  Though an anachronistic look it may have been useful in the campaigns against the Ottoman Empire.  Uniform details are from Charles S. Grant’s From Shot to Pike.

Regiment Arco Cuirassiers:  It appears at the time I painted them as the Latour Cuirassier regiment with green facings and distincitions.  Oh well.  Here are the colors for Arco: Coat iron grey, lining blue, cuffs blue, waistcoat blue, breaches blue or leather and blackened armor.

Wolframsdorf Cuirassiers:  If you had the opportunity, how could you not field a regiment with the name Wolframsdorf?  Coat is iron grey, lining sky blue, cuffs sky blue, waistcoat sky blue, breaches leather and blackened armor.

Dragoon Regiment Monasteroi:  Coat is red, lining yellow, cuffs yellow and waistcoat yellow.

Dragoon Regiment Santini : Coat is red, lining green, cuffs green and waistcoat green.

Hussar Regiment Locatelli:  Blue dolmans with white loops, blue breeches and hats of fox fur with blue bags.

The Bavarian Army for the WSS Part 3

 Here is the rest of my infantry for my Bavarian army for the War of Spanish Succession.  Figures are mounted for Volley and Bayonet and bases that are 2 /12 inches wide. It is a colorful force that would pay a high price at the hands of the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy. 

Regiment Bettendorf:  Coat sky blue, lining red, cuff red, waistcoat red and breeches pale blue.

Regiment Haxthausen: Coat sky blue, lining red, cuff red, waistcoat sky blue and breeches grey-white.  I am particular proud of the flag I painted.

Regiment Tattenback:  Coat sky blue, lining bright yellow, cuff bright yellow, waistcoat bright yellow and breeches red or grey.

Converged Grenadiers: These figures are Edition Brokaw and I now realize that they were mislabeled as the grenadier cap is completely wrong and should just be a fur cap with no front plate.  To disguise the fact I painted the front plate black. The uniform details are a mix of the other regiments.

Next up is the Bavarian cavalry.

The Bavarian Army for the WSS Part 2

 There were several reasons why I started collecting and gaming the War of Spanish Succession toward the end of 1992:

1. I was starting to get Napoleonic "burn-out" in 15 mm painting the uniforms.  It was also a time when I was extremely disappointed with the rules at the time.  Empire was too complicated, Napoleon's Battles didn't seem right, WRG had too many tables . . . Now don't get me wrong - I love the Napoleonic period and it was the plastic 20 mm Airfix figures that got me into gaming.

2. I wanted to collect some armies that had variety in color.

3. I bought Warfare in the Age of Reason and I really liked the rules.

4. Looking at purchasing Osprey's  Marlborough's Army from the MAA series sealed the deal.

When I started collecting and researching, it seemed to me that Marlborough's campaign in 1704 culminating in the Battle of Blenheim would give me the maximum opportunity for army variety.  And how can you do Blenheim without the sky blue coats of the Bavarian Infantry?  In 1701 the regular infantry counted a guard regiment of three battalions, five regiments of two battalions and four independent battalions. The militia counted 12 battalions and so the infantry totaled 29 battalions. The cavalry consisted of 17 cavalry squadrons and 12 dragoon squadrons.In the early summer of 1704 the Bavarian army reached its zenith: 8 cavalry regiments fielding 47 squadrons and 9 regular infantry regiments fielding 26 battalions.

 In 1704 the Bavarian army suffered heavy losses in the battle of the Schellenberg and comparably light losses in the battle of Blenheim. The loss of the troops which were in Bavaria when the country was subsequently reduced did however lead to only a small force continuing the struggle in the Spanish Netherlands. The Bavarian troops then suffered again in the battle for the Brabant lines and the battle of Ramillies, but did continue the fight till the end of the war.

Sources I have used for my armies of this period come from From Pike to Shot, Charles Grant; Marlborough Goes to War, Iain Stanford; Wargaming in the Age of Marlborough #2: Danes, Bavarians and Prussian, Pat Condray; Osprey Men at Arms series; various articles in War Games Illustrated; the Web and lots of research at the U. S. Army Command and General Staff College.

Maximilian II (11 July 1662 – 26 February 1726), also known as Max Emanuel or Maximilian Emanuel was the ruler of Bavaria and an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire.  Closely allied with the France of Louis XIV, he was the last governor of the Spanish Netherlands and duke of Luxembourg. An able soldier, his ambition led to conflicts that limited his ultimate dynastic achievements.

Max is the army general for the Bavarian army which is mounted for the rules Volley and Bayonet (VnB).  What makes his command stand look great is that the general officers wore red coats. Accompanying Max is another mounted general, a dragoon trooper as escort (also with a red coat) and an officer from one of the infantry regiments.

The Leib Regiment (all uniform references per From Pike to Shot): Coat sky blue, lining blue, cuff white, waistcoat sky blue and breeches sky blue.

I love flags and for the Leib regiment I had to paint both the "Colonel's standard" of Madonna and child plus the classic diamond patterned regimental flag.

Regiment Lutzenberg: Coat sky blue, lining red, cuff red, waistcoat red and breeches red.

Regiment Maffey or Maffei: Coat sky blue, lining yellow, cuff yellow, waistcoat sky blue and breeches sky blue.

Regiment KurPrinz or Prince Elector: Coat sky blue, lining sky blue, cuff skyblue, waistcoat sky blue and breeches sky blue.

Regiment Spilberg: Coat sky blue, lining red and later dark blue, cuff red and later dark blue, waistcoat dark grey and breeches dark grey.

More to come in Part 3.