Monday 29 December 2014

A commission in the army .....

The start of a story line in which a young noble receives a commission as an officer in the army, travels to take up his post, takes part in his first action and ...... 

For the story picture I'll use figures and sundry items from my 28mm and 40mm collections.

---oXo---

The young Steffen Hofler, Marquess of Kronstadt, had placed his name on the army commission list and had heard nothing for months. Then one day he received a letter from the offices of Count Hermann of Munster asking him to come to the palace - there was a opening for an officer....


The Marquess on reaching Wittenberg palace asked directions from one of the guards ...
 He made his way through the entrance hall ....
 and then upstairs to the office of Count Hermann Munster, where after a short wait he was ushered in. The Count greeted him warmly. Come sit down, I have a officer's commission for you in the army..
 after finding out the details, the Marquess accepted the commission.  The Marquess was pleased - he had received the command of a new battalion of Pandours which would be part of the Boritzy Friekorps.

Friday 26 December 2014

The Marauders return ...

Sennari, who has recovered after being wounded in his last encounter with the Irregulars (see here), leads his Marauders on a mission to get the key spy Von Stahling and his daughter across the border to safety in Monrovia. 

Madame Givenchy and her Irregulars are working with Captain Scharfe and a detachment of jagers to intercept them as they try to reach the Monrovian border post at Nitteldorf.

---oXo---

Sennari and his Marauders gather at the Inn....
 Scharfe and Givenchy decide where to deploy ...
 Scouts report back to Sennari ....
 Madame Givenchy spots some movement by the Inn ...
 Sennari and his men move off ...
 Shots are exchanged after the lead men cross the ford ....
 Gievenchy and her Irregulars, with support from a couple of jagers engage the Marauders ....
 The Marauders push through, the coach making headway down the road....
 Meanwhile a group of Marauders are clearing a way past the Mill ....
 The coach lurches forward at full tilt onto the bridge; Scharfe and his men fire a couple of shots and then dodge out of the way ....
 The Marauders continue their fight with the Irregulars, Givenchy is wounded and is carried back down the side road ....
 The coach races onwards towards the border post, as the Marauders reach the bridge ....
Sennari leads a small group of Marauders through the field by the side of the road, with them is Von Stahling and his daughter
 The exchange of fire back and forth across the hedges continues as Sennari leads his group forward ....
 The coach arrives at the Monrovian border post, the border guard find it empty and the driver badly wounded ...
 Sennari watches the fighting by the road and bridge; the group of Marauders who went via the mill are now crossing the river ....
A jager sniper in the rocks picks off a couple of the Marauders ...
Sennari's group crosses the river ....
Sennari and his men deal with a couple of Irregulars who were hidden in a small copse ...
Sennari leads Von Stahling and his daughter to safety at the border post, the leader of the group which went via the mill waves to him ...


---oXo---

Sennari and his Marauders succeeded in their mission, but lost half their number in the process.  Both Scharfe and Givenchy were wounded - they lost a few Irregulars and a couple of jagers.

Saturday 20 December 2014

Happy Xmas ...


The King has obtained (via the Spanish Ambassador) more llamas, this time some of a smaller species plus a strange curiosity.

The King has presented a llama mascot to the guard grenadiers ....
The King has a pet project - llamas for military use.  Here a feldjager is trying out how they are to ride ....

 A strange curiosity has been added to the palace menagerie - a rare Push-me-pull-you
"I've never seen anything like it in my life" - exclaims Count Herman

As preparations are made for the festive season, the palace llamas get their own Xmas tree .....





A Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to All


Saturday 13 December 2014

The King make his way back to the palace ...

On returning from his hunting trip the King stopped off at Waldemart

The Kings made a special visit to the Priory to hear the famous singing nuns ....
The next day, after staying the night in the Burgermeister's residence, he returned to Wittenberg palace.

Wednesday 10 December 2014

40mm: Pandours for Wittenberg - WIP4 - all conversions done

Had a bit of push and finished off the rest of the conversions I required to finish off the battalion (13 in all); I've used some hungarian infantry figures (firing/marching/kneeling/biting cartridge) as a basis for a few figures.
I've also done out a quick first-off colour scheme,
So will now be moving on to painting the unit..

Tuesday 2 December 2014

40mm: Pandours for Wittenberg - WIP3

The tools and stuff what I use

I prefer a pin-chuck as I can only stab myself with the bit, rather than drill a hole in myself using an electric powered mini-drill. For cutting bits off figures I use a good strong pare of snippers - the orange handled pair (normally used for Xuron OO/HO model railway track cutting). For moving arm position I use the pin-nosed pliers.

I've put a few photos together to outline some of the techniques used for my next batch of three Pandour conversions

First one using the standard advancing figure - first I cut off the musket & hands, raised up the left arm, re-positioned the right arm and stuck a new musket into position. For sticking smaller parts I use a dab of Evo-Stick on one part and a dab of super glue on the other.
 Next up a marching pandour based on a Hungarian march attack figure - a head swap, new musket and the coat tails removed - all the bits laid out
 All put together, using some green stuff to attach the head,

 Next a pandour carrying his musket; this time after cutting of the musket&hands I repositioned the right arm, for the left arm I've added a new one part made of wire and the cuff of the original arm
I usually leave the figures for a day to allow glue and green stuff to set. Then I add missing hands and do any additional re-buiding.

All three finished with new hands where needed, plus a new arm for the middle chap using green stuff.
Now to decide the on the poses for the next batch of three.

Saturday 29 November 2014

A spot of hunting ....

The King and the Field Marshall, with an escort of horse grenadiers, arrive at the King's hunting lodge in the forest some 10 miles from Wittenberg.
After a restful evening and night they head out hunting. They have a good day and have already shot five deer and two wild boar. Late in the afternoon while stalking a herd of deer they reach a small clearing, staring defiantly at them is a white hart ....
 The King in awe of this beautiful and brave animal, declines to shoot it and lets it go off into the forest.

Friday 28 November 2014

40mm: Pandours for Wittenberg - WIP2

I have finished off three more pandour conversions ....
so 6 done, 18 to go. I've run out of figs, so I've ordered 18 more pandours to convert plus some hungarian infantry which may provide some more body poses to play with.

Saturday 15 November 2014

40mm: Pandours for Wittenberg - WIP

I've decided to add a battalion of pandours to Witteneberg's Boritzy Freikorps; I'll be building the unit up from some Creartec homecasts and Irregular Miniatures pandour figure. The aim is to have lots of different pose figures, so conversions to do with green stuff etc.

I've finished doing the officers

and have 3 of the pandours done, original Irregular Miniatures on the left and a couple with simple change of pose.
I have another 21 pandours to work on, so will post pictures as things develop.

Thursday 6 November 2014

40mm: Wittenberg - Kurassiers

Colonel Waldebeck finishes his round of inspections of the forces at his disposal. Today he is checking out a detached squadron of Kurassier regiment von Plotz.

[note: the Kurassier figures are Creartec homecasts]