Fairy-tale: 'The Seven Ravens' (Semi flats)

These are so called 'Semi Flats' (thicker than flats, 'halbrund'), made by Heinrichsen. The original forms from 1899 were used. The engravings are not as fine as for most of the Flats, but the figures are more robust. Like most of the Heinrichsen products from this period they were meant to be children's toys (they were sold painted). They are somewhat larger than typical flats (about 40mm compared to the typical 28mm - 30mm size).

I tried out new paints for this project - Turner Acryl Gouache. The paint behaves like Acryl paint (it does use acryl resin) and is fast drying, but like Gouache it is very opaque. Shading and highlighting with this colour is a bit more difficult, but in my opinion a somewhat coarser style works well with these figures. Most of the Turner Acryl Gouache Colours are quite bright, which again works well in this case. There are also quite a few paints called 'Japonesque' in the product line (supposedly representing ancient Japanese paints) - the pigment for these paints is coarser, but there are some very interesting shades in the 'Japonesque' line-up. The paint dries flat (like gouache), but I used satin varnish to give the figures a more toy-like shine.

The figures illustrate 'The Seven Ravens', a fairy tale written collected by the Brothers Grimm. An 'enhanced' version may have been used, or only some forms survived and then scenes from two fairy tales were combined for one package. For example the picture above clearly shows a scene from another fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm ('The Six Swans'). [Brueder Grimm: Kinder- und Hausmaerchen, 1819 edition, re-print (and possibly some editing, not sure) by Artemis & Winkler 1993].

As can be seen above (look at the woman's face), some of the castings have minor imperfections. probably long use wore out some molds, or they were slightly damaged during the passing of the years.

The final scene - again probably from 'The Six Swans'. Despite the gruesome scene the story actually ends well - the heroine had to keep silent for six years, and these are up now, so she can speak and defend herself (and her brothers, the six swans, are redeemed - they become human again).


Will I use Turner Acryl gouache again - yes, if I need a very opaque yellow or similar. For a whole project? Depends, I prefer delayed-drying Acryls (I use Golden Open) when shading and Vallejo or similar for '3D' figures (I like the more muted colours they provide), but if I again paint flats or semi-flats that require little shading, I will probably use them.

Berber Command

These are 18mm Legio Heroica. The flags are from Little Big Men Studios. The sheet includes shield decals, but these don't fit on the shields due to the protruding center. Painting is mainly Golden Open Acrylic, Vallejo Primer, and some Foundry paint. The wash was done with thinned Sepia, Golden Highflow Acrylics.

These 'Berbers' are really meant to be Sudanese Infantry for the Muslim Armies of the Crusades (see http://www.legio-heroica.com/Musulmani-en.html), but I think they are a good fit for the Berber mercenaries widely employed by the Caliphate in Spain.

A School for Bunnies

The engraver of these flats used a German children's book as a template, called 'Die Haeschenschule'. the book was written and drawn in 1924, was very popular and is still in print. I assume that the engravings are from the 50's or 60's, but could not find relevant information. the figures are sold by Berliner Zinnfiguren. The figures are considered to be '40mm' (whatever that means in this context), and were painted with Golden Open acrylics.

Berber Bowmen, 18 mmm (Legio Heroica)

Ok, these are actually Sudanese archers for a Fatimid Army (from Legio Heroica's 'Holy Land - The Muslim Armies' range) - http://www.legio-heroica.com/Musulmani-en.html. the figures are a bit chunky, but well sculpted and quite pleasant to paint. They will be a part of my Andalusian army (a very slowly progressing project - the idea is to create an army as it could have been used between 800 and 1000 by the Califate). I am not sure how the Berber mercenaries in these armies looked like (my sneaky suspicion is that they were dressed like the locals in tunic and trousers), but in my imagination the Berber mercenaries roughly looked like these figures.

British Infantry, AWI, (Fife & Drum, 28mm)

 

I finally managed to paint a few British Infantry. The figures are from Fife & Drum (http://fifedrumminis.blogspot.ca/), very clean castings, easy to paint, and seem to be sturdy enough to withstand some knocks. The figures are nicely sculpted, only the muskets seem a bit too large (but sturdy - and I prefer large and sturdy to 'in scale but breaks / bends easily'). These figures are in campaign uniform, but definitely at the beginning of the campaign (no torn trousers or similar).

The range is reasonably complete, but of limited scope and variation, although it is slowly getting expanded. service was very good. By the way, strictly speaking the range is 1/56, or 30mm high, but as far as I know the figures can be mixed with other 'slender' 28mm, for example Perry (but don't take my word for it - I didn't do a comparison).

Sorry for the quality of the pictures, but I don't have a good set-up for taking photographs right now.

 

Armed and Unarmed Civilians

Just finished some armed and unarmed civilians, all from Minden Miniatures, 28mm. Quite nice figures, I just have some problems with the photos, the colours don't come out very well. I guess I'll have to improve my set-up, but currently have little time and space for it.

In the Old West

The Old West (or, in this context, better Wild West, German: Wilder Westen) played and to a certain extent still plays an important role in the German imagination - and one important source for this imagination were the novels of Karl May (1842 - 1912), which until around 1970 were widely read, especially by boys (according to Google Karl May is still considered one of the most widely read German authors). His most popular figures - the noble apache Chief Winnetou and the German traveler-hero Old Shatterhand, are still well known names and during the summer you can find more than one open air theatre show about them.

Of course his heroes were also re-created as flat tin figures. The forms for the figures below were created by Heinrichsen in 1906 and for copyright reasons the figures were (and still are) sold as 'Im Wilden Westen'. Unfortunately the satin varnish reflects the light a bit too much (and my photo-setup is not the greatest anyway).

Old Shatterhand and Winnetou meet

 

Ten books to read if you are interested in the Napoleonic Wars

Ten Books to read if you are interested in the Napoleonic Wars

Going a bit off topic, here is my highly subjective list of books about the Napoleonic Wars that I suggest. Ranking is not by quality, but by suggested reading sequence.

1) Napoleon's Wars by Charles Esdaile - Currently probably the best summary; from the British point of view. As you can guess from the title not very sympathetic of Napoleon.

2) The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon by Gunther E. Rothenberg - a good overview, although a rather dry read.

3) Napoleon: Eine Biographie by Johannes Willms - well written and up to date; from the German point of view. I am not sure if an English translation exists.

4) With Musket, Cannon and Sword: Battle Tactics of Napoleon and His Enemies by Brent Nosworthy. A difficult read, but provides a very good review of the tactics used during the Napoleonic Wars.

5) The Campaigns of Napoleon by David Chandler. Still the best overview of military part of the Napoleonic Wars.

6) Swords Around A Throne: Napoleon's Grande Armee by John R. Elting. Very detailed and well written description of the organization, dress, way of life... of Napoleon's troops.

7) Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814 by Dominic Lieven. Very good description of Russia's contribution to Napoleon's downfall. Also shows how troop organization and organizational adaptation made it possible for the Russian army to lead a campaign all the way to Paris.

8) The Peninsular War by Charles Esdaile - Up-to date and comprehensive description of the war in Spain and Portugal. More objective than 'Napoleon's Wars.

9) Napoleon's Last Campaign in Germany - 1813 by F. Loraine Petre. Pure nostalgia - I have this book for a long time and have always been interested in the 1813 war. Replace with any other book of Petre depending on your area of interest.

10) 1812: The Great Retreat by Paul Britten Austin. This book consists of eyewitness reports, tied together by short explanations - very well written, very readable. Not the best book about the war of 1812 (in my opinion that would be Moscow 1812 by Adam Zamoyski), but the best description of the suffering during this retreat. One day I'll read the author's first two volumes of the 1812 war.


What I am missing:
- The books on the list are between neutral and anti-Napoleon. It would be interesting to read a book of the quality of those written by Esdaile and Willms with a pro-French view.
- A book that concentrates on the role that the economic and financial conditions played during the Napoleonic Wars.
- A good and affordable Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars. I do have new version of the 'West Point Atlas for The Wars of Napoleon', which is helpful, but overall underwhelming.
- A book that provides an overview about the diplomatic (including clandestine) activities.
- A book that analyzes the question under which (if any) conditions Britain would have been willing to make a long-term peace with a France that dominates the continent.

I left out uniform books and eyewitness reports (with the exception of the 'edited' ones that make up 1812: the Great Retreat) - in either of this categories there is no outstanding volume that makes my 'top ten'.

Prussian Musketeers 1806 - Review Part 2 - Finished Figures

So, I finally had the opportunities to make some pictures of the finished figures. As already mentioned (see January post) the poses are realistic and it is possible to put a nice battalion together, although unfortunately there still has been no progress regarding the other promised figures in this line.  Not shown is the back of the figures - it is nicely detailed and includes some extras (axe, canteen, or tent pegs), which is realistic.

I still have to work on my painting style, especially the painting of the belts needs to be improved - I'm more used to painting flats.

The package also contains two flag bearers with poles, but due to the way I glued the flagpoles to the figures they won't stand on their own and are therefore not included. The 'wounded grenadier' group was supposedly a crowdfunding-special, so you may not be able to get it.

Retreat from Moscow - Finished Figures

Finally managed to finish the 'Retreat from Moscow' flats (they are varnished matte):

1812 Retreat from Moscow - finished some figures

Not a good month, neither for painting (too much other stuff to do) nor for blogging - internet was down for most of the month. Hopefully the issue is resolved now (we changed internet provider). nevertheless, I got a few figures finished.

During engraving and painting obviously some artistic licenses have been taken - I doubt that on the retreat from Moscow you would see shakoes with full ornaments or clean trousers and coats. On the other hand, painting everything caked with mud and stained with soot would be boring to paint and to look at, so I decided to keep some colour and cleanliness.

Prussian Musketeers 1806 - Review Part 1

The basics: 28 mm size, produced by the Forgotten & Glorious Company of Art, 'Musketeers in Attack March' with Command Group. The poses are realistic. Some of the equipment and body parts are sculpted a bit out of scale, but the men look very realistic and have a lot of detail. Uniform accuracy is good, and they are depicted in (pretty neat) campaign dress - I guess they'd be looking a lot scruffier after a few weeks of war. Suitable for the period of 1806-07 - and with a bit of leniency for other nations of the 'early' Napoleonic wars (Spanish, earlier Prussians). I found the poses relatively challenging to paint, so they are probably not suitable for beginners.

What I like: Lifelike poses, good details, good variety (different poses for the soldiers, complete command set (sapper, drummer, NCO, officer, 2 different colour bearers)
What I don't like: Bayonets are quite fragile (all of them were bent in the package - according to the company this will be fixed in the future); relatively limited scope for now (there are only Grenadiers in March Attack and a mounted officer available in the range - the mounted officer is quite a nice sculpt as well).

Additional comment: These sets were part of a crowd funding campaign (disclaimer: I contributed), and on the list for future editions are Fusiliers, Schuetzen for Musketeers, Grenadiers, and Fusiliers, Jaeger, Hussars, and Artillery, but it seems to take them a lot of time to get these editions ready, so I don't expect the complete list to be finished before mid-2015, if that.

Alternatives: There are a few older editions of 28mm 1806 Prussians - for example Elite Miniatures has a quite complete line, but I don't know anything about their quality. AB miniatures has 18mm 1806 Prussians which look great on pictures, and HAT has a nearly complete range of 1806 Prussians in 1:72 - plastic figures. I painted some of the HAT range (you can add the Italery cuirassiers and convert some officers, then you have complete coverage) and quite liked them, but of course 28mm metal looks more impressive.