Prussian 1870-1871 Artillery

In response to the increase in French artillery in the 15th Loire Corps, the Prussian IX Armeekorps has received new, heavier guns for two of its heavy batteries.  These new guns were supplied by the Frabrik Eisenmuhlen, originally established by Lukas Trask, Baron von Traskon in the 1740s.  His foundry has continued to supply artillery to the Kingdom of Prussia and other states in the North German Confederation, including these C/61 6-pounder (91.6 mm) breechloading rifled guns.

As usual, please click on the image for a larger picture.

5th Heavy Battery, 18th Infantry Division artillery
composed of Old Glory Krupp guns and Castaway Arts gunners

6th Heavy Battery, 18th Infantry Division artillery
composed of Old Glory Krupp guns and Foundry gunners

Originally these two batteries had smaller gun models, but needing additional "light" guns for the corps artillery, I replaced them with Old Glory Krupp guns.  These versions are actually from Old Glory's Egyptian-Sudan line but they were the closest I could get nowadays in the US.  I wasn't going to pay an arm and two legs for Foundry guns.  These will work just fine.  All painting except for the 6 Foundry gunners was done in Col Campbell's 'art studio.'

Next in line are the two heavy batteries (3rd & 4th) for the Corps artillery.

P.S.  As with the French foundry, Fabrik Eisenmuhlen and its founder Baron von Traskon are part of my 1750s-1760s imaginations.  Besides, Space Vikings is such a good book by a great science fiction writer.

Revitalized Frontier Miniatures

 

Some time ago I acquired a batch of 12 painted Frontier Miniatures French 19th Century light cavalry that were already based on 2" squares.  They sat in a box for a while until I got the "bug" to do something about them.  Since the base size doesn't match with the cavalry base size for the "Chassepot & Needlegun" rules I use, that had to be changed.  An overnight soak in water softened the adhesive enough that I could gently pry each figure off the old base.

I was able to identify them as French chasseurs a cheval in their 'trademark' green jacket and black sheep wool busby.  But I needed 16 to make a full regiment.  As part of the same acquisition there were 4 other apparently French light cavalry.  A little research in the two volume Ospreys on the French Army, 1870-1871 revealed that at least three of them were hussars.  The fourth looked close enough even though it had a white havelock.  Since Frontier made figures for several wars during the mid-1800s in which the French were involved and the figure fit in, I decided to use it as well.  Besides this regiment would be part of my post-Sedan "revolutionary" French Army so the exact uniform wasn't that much of a concern.

A little touching up of the paint, including repainting all four hussar kepis, and the regiment was ready for their new bases.

Please click on image for a larger picture.

3rd Mixed Light Cavalry Regiment with hussars on the left of the photo and the rest chasseurs.

I now present the 3rd Mixed Light Cavalry Regiment of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, 15th Corps, Army of the Loire.  Because of all of the losses of cavalry at Sedan and Metz, the French were doing whatever they could to get their cavalry arm reformed.  This regiment is a typical example where squadrons from four different regimental depots were organized into a regiment.  In this case, three squadrons of chasseurs and one of hussars.  Temporarily they'll join the 3rd Spahi Regiment in the 3rd Cavalry Brigade.

And here is the 3rd Brigade, in all its 'glory!'

3rd Spahis on left, brigade command group in center, 3rd Mixed Light Cavalry on right
All figures are Frontier Miniatures!

I painted the brigade command group and the 3rd Spahis way back in April 2007, 14 years ago (yikes!).  It has taken this long to add to my French cavalry.  But the Germans are still stuck with one cavalry regiment, the 6th Magdeburg Dragoons, even though I have several that are complete but unpainted.  Just as the French have several more regiments complete but unpainted.  Can you tell I don't particularly like to paint horses!

Now to painting more German artillery, two Prussian and three Hessian batteries!

French 1870-1871 Artillery

Well, the Fonderie de Bullion has been working overtime to increase the artillery strength of the 15th Loire Corps of the Republique de France.  Originally founded by Mestre-de-Ordinance Jacques Riviere, Comte de Bullion ( J R Bullion ) in the 1760s to answer the improvements in artillery made by the Austrians and Prussians, the foundry has continued to provide  artillery pieces to the French army, even during the dark days of the war with the Germans.

Please click on each image for a larger picture.

The 2nd Division, 15th Loire Corps obtained their two light artillery batteries.  All of the gunners are from Foundry Miniatures and were bought already painted.  The guns are Old Glory ACW Union Napoleons "masquerading" as French guns because I cannot locate reasonable priced French guns.

The 4th Light Battery of six 4-lbr canon de campagne de 4 La Hitte.
In the "Chassepot and Needlegun" rules, each battery of 6 pieces has three guns and six gunners.

The 5th Light Battery of six 4-lbr canon de campagne de 4 La Hitte.

These two batteries have joined the 6th Mitrailleuse Battery to complete the division's direct support artillery complement.

The 15th Loire Corps has gained a fourth battery, this one manned by gunners from the French fleet at Toulon.  The gunners are Askari Miniatures French naval gunners and the guns are Falcon Miniatures.

The Naval Battery has six 85mm canon de campagne de 7 de Reffye modèle 1870.

This battery has joined the 7th and 8th Heavy Batteries (also similarly equipped) and the 9th Mitrailleuse (Gatling) Battery in the corps artillery.  

That leaves one one battery to go, the 10th Light Battery a cheval which will be raised as soon as funds are available to obtain the guns and gunners.

P.S.  I hope that by now you've guessed that the Fonderie de Bullion is "imaginary" and based on one of my imagi-nations 18th Century Gallian commanders.  It is fun to be able to cross over between imagi-nations in an earlier century and the "real-world" in a later century.

Reinforcing the Loyalist Cavalry

I finally got around to painting an additional four mounted figures for my Loyalist York Dragoons, a "made-up" regiment of Tory horse.  This regiment is composed of vintage Custom Cast mounted dragoons from their American Revolution line.  I've had eight of them painted and based for a long time and finally acquired another four to complete the unit.

Please click on an image to see a larger picture.

Here they are as I begin to paint them.
I use some older 1 liter soda bottle caps on to which I glue the horse (or in this case the horse and rider) in order to paint them.  This allows me to hold onto the bottle cap rather than the figure as I paint.

Here they are completed but still attached to the bottle caps.
I painted one of the figures as an officer after cutting and paring away his slung musketoon.

He's on the far left of the image.

The two newly based stands.  The officer described above is the figure on the far left.
He is riding his favorite bay horse.

And the complete unit with the newly painted command group figures on the center front stand and the others on the front right-hand stand.

This regiment joins the British 17th Light Dragoons and the mounted portion of the Queen's Rangers as the cavalry arm of my British Expeditionary force.  They are opposed by two Continental mounted units -- Bland's Dragoons and William Washington's Dragoons.

Saracen Leaders, Arab & Numidian Infantry, and Asiatic Horse Archers

The last 15mm painting for a short while includes two new Saracen mounted leaders, a unit of Arab infantry and one of Numidian infantry, and another unit of Asiatic horse archers.

First the two leaders.  These are both Miniature Figurines ZC-332, Saracen cavalry with sword and shield.  Although these figures are listed as being later than my period (900-1100 AD), their armor and weaponry doesn't put them too much out of time.

They are mounted on horses from an unknown manufacturer but are suitable for "noble" leaders by having a chest protector.  The one of the left is of metal scale while the one on the right is of horn scale.  These two were given a terrain treatment on the bases consisting of a grass tuft, some rocks and some earth-tone scatter.  They are the first ones with which I have done this.  I think it looks good and will most likely retrofit at least all of my mounted leaders this way.

The Arab infantry unit is all Miniature Figurines figures and also features a "made up" banner.

They are wearing light blue clothing with different colored head wraps.

The Numidian infantry unit is also all Miniature Figurines figures and features a "made-up" banner.

I made their shields dark to resemble animal hide such as rhinoceros or elephant.

And finally we have a unit of Asiatic horse archers.  They are Miniature Figurines ZC-350, Mongol light cavalry firing bow.  These are really out of my time period but as far as I'm concerned, an Asiatic horse archer is an Asiatic horse archer.  Many styles of dress didn't change that much from century to century.

I'm trying something new with this unit, basing the figures as if they are swirling around loosing arrows at various targets.  I think this gives a feel for the type of tactics used by Asiatic horse archers.

Well, this will be all the 15mm figures I'll be painting for a short while, taking a break from the little guys to paint some 25/28mm figures and guns for my 18th and 19th Century forces.

Khorasanian Horse Archers and More Arab Infantry

As I continue painting my way towards a break from 15mm Dark Ages/Early medieval figures, I added four newly purchased horse archers to four I had painted many years ago to make an eight figure unit of light bow cavalry.  These figures are from Alternative Armies' Dark Age Isarus line, the Arab ARC-8, Khorasanian horse archers.  I originally had twelve of these figures but when I got the GMT "Commands & Colors - Medieval" game, eight of them were quickly grouped into a unit of light bow cavalry.

These differ from the other unit only with their red skull caps.  The other unit, although wearing shades of red tunics, have light blue skull caps.

And I've added to my Arab infantry with two more 12-figure units.  These units can be used as medium infantry, warrior infantry, or auxilia infantry, which gives me plenty of latitude in deploying them in various Middle Eastern armies.

This "red" shield unit has nine assorted Miniature Figurines Middle Eastern infantry figures and three unknown manufacturer Middle Eastern figures.  The unit standard is just a "made-up" one using a geometric design.

This "dark" shield unit has the same composition.  The unit standard is also "made-up."

This post was delayed a number of weeks due to forgetfulness on my part.  But now it is up and the next post will catch us up to date with my 15mm early Medieval forces.