Missing in Action

A little over a year ago, I moved to a new home. Along with the rest of my house contents, I, of course, transported all my miniature troops. During the move, one group of figures went AWOL and have remained missing ever since moving day. This is a problem as they were due to be called for duty at the end of the year.

The formation in question are the Carolling Hussars from my seasonal Army of Advent.

Carolling Hussars (currently missing…)

They must have numbered no more than a dozen in total and I vaguely remember they mere packed in a box completely separate from the rest of my figures, possibly due to space. Being packed in a box unrelated to my hobby has meant they have remained lost despite a number of searches. No doubt they’ll turn up one day, but in the meantime the regiment is due for a tour of duty this Christmas.

So, I’ve been busily raising a new troop of recruits for the Carolling Hussars…

The figures are from Revell’s classic Prussian Hussars of the Seven Years War. The sculpting of this set was, in my opinion, terrific, which makes them a pleasure to paint up.

The Carolling Hussars needed an officer (absent from the Revell set) and so I’ve used an officer of Prussian Hussars by Hagen Miniatures of Germany.

Introducing the regiment’s own commanding officer – the very dashing and debonair Lieutenant-Colonel Cranbury-Soarse.

The CO is based on a 2 penny piece and sports a red sash as well as a few plumes of gold tinsel in his mirliton headdress. The tinsel should be red but a search of the Christmas decorations failed to locate any (you may have noticed a theme of me losing things…). Henceforth, I now decree that the regiment will wear gold plumes.

Anyway, whilst the rank and file troopers in his regiment have white fur trim on their pelisses, as an officer, the Lieutenant-Colonel has expensive sable black fur surrounding his pelisse. In the tradition of naming the horses for all my Adventian army officers, Cranbury-Soarse rides Pio Quinto*, a lively, black Spanish Andalusian stallion.

*(Pio Quinto is a Nicaraguan Christmas dessert consisting of cake drenched in rum, topped with a custard, and dusted with cinnamon).

The rest of the regiment feature in a variety of poses. Some are suitably relaxed as befits troops intended to stand guard amongst the Christmas decorations:

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Eventually, the aim is for the regiment to parade in these least dramatic poses, but for now I couldn’t resist also painting the more active figures too, the epitome of the dashing hussar.

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The uniform is inspired by the Puttkamer Hussars, a regiment sometimes referred to as the “White Hussars” on account of their pelisses. Their namesake was Colonel Georg Ludwig von Puttkamer who met his end at the Battle of Kunersdorf.

In the Revell set, there are also some pleasing figures discharging their firearms:

The Carolling Hussars’ bugler is distinguished with some additional markings and his pelisse is edged in a light grey fur instead of white.

A flag bearer will need to be manufactured at some point but for now I at least have a regiment to parade come December. And, who knows, perhaps the rest of the regiment will even turn up by then?

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