British Horse(s)

While still fiddling with the Serbs, I’ve taken the opportunity of a diversion by painting some more figures for the War of the Spanish Succession. Ukrainian manufacturer Strelets keep on making new figures for this period and I keep buying them. This latest box is title British Regiment of Horse (Late War). It features, charmingly, both horses and riders alike at ease and taking the opportunity to either chat, smoke, graze or whinny, depending on whatever takes their fancy.

The regiment I’ve intend to paint have green facings and, as I’ve seen depictions of British Horse at this time having saddle cloths matching the facings rather than the red of their coats, I’ve given the horses green garments. Here’s how my sedentary stallions have turned out;

I’ve painted a grey –

And also some dark bays.

Whilst still not perfect, I do think Strelets horses have improved significantly from their early efforts.

I particularly like their grazing pose, a common enough activity for stationary war horses but one seldom seen sculpted.

Another good choice of pose, horses pawing the ground impatiently waiting for some action!

I assume these are officer’s horses as they have not roll blankets. I’ve given the pistol holders a gold trim to distinguish them.

And the final pose, another one that I’ve never seen before, horses whinnying loudly!

So that’s the horses completed, I’m really keen to start on their pipe-smoking, chatting, dozing and gesturing riders soon.

Harry Payne’s Christmas Cards

Thought I’d share on this day an image I found of a Victorian Christmas card depicting the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert’s Own) gathering mistletoe.

The 11th Hussars gather mistletoe for Christmas.

The so-called ‘Cherry Pickers’ are seen here gathering a different crop to cherries. The regiment acquired the nickname following an incident during the Peninsular War, in which the 11th Hussars were attacked while raiding an orchard at San Martin de Trebejo, in Spain. The colour of the trousers, unique to British cavalry, were adopted from the Saxe-Coburg livery and were described as ‘cherry’. Lord Cardigan referred to his men as the Cherry-Bums (or when ladies were present – the more genteel cherubims).

It must be a memorable painting as I recall that I once received a Christmas card of Harry Payne’s Christmas Cherry Pickers when I was around 12 years old and have never forgotten it. It was originally published by postcard manufacturer Tuck and Sons, one of their 6-part #8085 “Christmas” series and it comes as no surprise that their celebrated military uniform artist Harry Payne had a hand in this.

Men of the 16th Lancers returning with holly and mistletoe – by Harry Payne.

After the first Christmas card was sent in 1843, it appears that cards featuring sentimental scenes of brightly uniformed soldiers were a popular theme in the Victorian era helping connect families and friends scattered across the extensive British empire.

“A Jolly Christmas” by Harry Payne features a wistful trooper of the 17th Lancers leaning on a stable door. Postcard c.1887.

I was surprised to learn that in 2004 famous toy soldier manufacturer Britains produced a “Winter Limited Edition” for their Collector’s Club featuring a representation of Payne’s iconic Cherry Pickers postcard scene in model soldier form! Only 250 sets were made. I’m always pleased to see an artist’s vision of soldiers brought to life in model form. It seems to me to be the perfect Christmas decoration, being something along the lines of my decorative Army of Advent.

And the tradition of modelling military Christmas scenes continues today with Replica Model Soldiers issuing a seasonal scene every year with charming themes include snowballing soldiers, “The Garrison Christmas Dinner” and “US Army Winter Manoeuvres”!

Lace Wars: French Horse Grenadiers

Introducing my latest addition to the Lace Wars project, the prestigious Royal Horse Grenadier regiment of the French King.

You’ll notice straight away that I still have a flag to sort which is just an ominous black at the moment.. Some research needed before I tackle that, I think.

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The most distinctive aspect of their uniform is the fur-trimmed cap. The red peak was according to Plastic Soldier Review, originally a standard grenadier cap of the period, having “a hanging bag like any other grenadier, but by 1720 this was stiffened with a point at the top, which is what we find on all these figures“.

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 Each man is armed with a curved cavalry sabre, flintlock carbine and two pistols.

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An elite force, the Horse Grenadiers were a small formation, rarely more than a couple of hundred men in total. Their elite status as grenadiers however would mean they would often lead a charge, thereby adding to a fame which exceeded their actual clout on the field of battle.

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The set includes a flag bearer and a mounted drummer.

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The two officers included see one of them (the ‘big wig‘ sports a cuirass over his coat. Lots of extra clothing detailing on the cuffs and coats with these command figures – well, it is the Lace Wars project!

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There seems to be a wealth of different War of the Spanish Succession mounted formations in the pipeline from good old Strelets, including Dutch and Austrian Cuirassiers, British Dragoons and Late War-era Horse, French Garde du Corps and French Chevau-Legers / Gendarmes de la Garde. As for French dragoons, they are being released “on the march”, “in reserve”, “in attack” and “in skirmish”! Strelets, you’re spoiling us.

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My hobby plans have taken an unexpected turn very recently. This has resulted in my needing to revisit an old set last seen a few years ago on Suburban Militarism. What this set is, and why, will be revealed in the next post.

Chevaux du Roi

Back to the 1/72 scale horse and musket era, so that means, ah, horses. Not just any old horses. Horse Grenadier horses!

If these equines are familiar it will be because I painted the same very recently as Strelets’ British / Saxon Cavalry from the War of the Spanish Succession era. Strelets have used the same horse sculpts for this French set.

This small herd wear blue-edged white horse cloths as can be seen on the cover French Royal Horse Grenadiers box. Illustrations show double white edges but I’ve gone with painting a single line as I value my sanity.

Box art from Strelets French Royal Horse Grenadiers

Their distinctively-dressed riders are well-advanced in their painting so hopefully should be united with their exotically attired human companions soon.

Back in the Saddle

I’m back painting cavalry again. The last cavalry I painted were Ottoman Sipahi back in November last year. This is the first cavalry regiment for my Lace Wars armies. The figures I’m using are Strelets new “British Cavalry” of the era 1701 to 1714.

With my 2021 being so focussed upon painting Saxon infantry, I immediately thought about painting them as Saxon cavalry. The Saxon armies infantry and cavalry colours being so similar to British regiments, figures could be easily used interchangeably on the wargaming field of battle. Once again, the glorious Tacitus website has lots of information on Saxon cavalry and after mulling over the options I’ve decided to paint them as Beust’s Regiment of Cuirassiers which had red coats and black distinctions.

I’ve started on the horses first and it felt good to be back painting them again. Strelets horses have not traditionally been rated very highly, their principal problem (I always felt) was that they were too chunky being very over-fed equines with seriously stocky legs. Strelets equine sculpting has certainly improved over the years, I think. These horses are very decent indeed and much better proportioned.

Strelets have mostly sorted the legs out. Always a tricky challenge for the sculptor, these horses are much better proportioned while the gait seems more natural and sensible than inn previous sets. I’m also particularly impressed with the detail on the horse tack, cheek pieces and bits being very clear and detailed.

At the moment, my horses are majority reddish bays but I recall Stokes over at The Grand Duchy of Stollen mentioning some time ago that he had painted the majority of his horses for a regiment as chestnuts because he recalled it being described as the most common horse colour in the Napoleonic era. So, with that in mind, I’m going to make a few changes to some to make the manes lighter or the same colour as the coats (i.e. true chestnuts). I may leave some Bays with dark manes and legs.

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The all-important riders are next and again Strelets seem to have done a nice job!

Ottomania: Turkish Sipahi

As promised in my last post, here are the finished Red Box Ottoman Sipahi, my first cavalry unit for the growing army of Ottomania.

With this unit of Ottoman Sipahi, I thought that the painting process might be quicker as a consequence so much armour to paint but I was wrong! There were still plenty of little details left to paint which demanded careful attention. The end result is a very pleasing addition to my Ottomania project!

A quick run through some of the finished figures…

Sipahi archers:

Technically, all the Sipahi are archers as they all have separate quivers for both bow and arrows. I’m referring here to those who are shown using the bow. I’ve placed them all on walking horse poses as I can’t imagine that they would be widely used on a charging horse.

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There’s nothing worse than getting your scimitar stuck in a tall plume… Some of the poses were a little 2 dimensional, but still have nice detailing.

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This next pose seemed to go particularly well with the charging horse.

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Perhaps my favourite pose was this one:

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Finally, some Ottoman axe-wielding maniacs:

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There’s plenty more troops for Ottomania to paint from Red Box but for now it’s back to those Napoleonic French Infantry on the march, though I may have to wait for a painful back spasm to improve first…(it’s my age, you know…).

Knights of Ottomania

I’ve just about finished painting the riders from Red Box’s 2nd set of Osman Sipahi for my Ottoman army. With all their considerable amounts of armour, I’ve had to crack open the metal colours far more than I’m used to with my 18th/19th century bias. According to Plastic Soldier Review, getting these figures to sit on their already painted armoured horses will involve yet more cold steel in the form of my scalpel, so we’ll see how that goes…

In the meantime, here’s how they’re looking. It seems Ottoman shields could take many ornate designs using anything from full colour to plain metal, so I’ve just used my imagination here with these figures.

Archery was a significant part of the Sipahis power and Red Box have given all of the figures quivers for containing either the bow or arrows. It seems a kind of decorated red leather was typical and so I’ve given that to the whole unit.

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Red Box have also included a couple of poses showing the bows in use.

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So hopefully with a little work this week should see my Ottoman army adopt it’s first cavalry formation to join the artillery and units of Janissaries already done!

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Crustacean Cavalry

I sincerely hope all visitors are staying healthy and following the advice during this horrendous pandemic. During this difficult time, any slight sense of normality is welcome and it’s more comforting than ever to occasionally engage in the act of immersive act of figure painting. I’ve been finishing off my Les Higgins War of the Spanish Succession cuirassiers.

The Bavarian army during the War of the Spanish Succession initially included three cuirassier regiments (the Arco, Wieckel and La Tour regiments). This later increased to four with the raising of the Wolframsdorff Regiment. With their “lobster-tailed pot helmets” and metal cuirassies, these troops looked like something familiar from the previous century. During the English Civil War, the so-called Haselrig’s Lobsters wore this armour, not too dissimilar from the Bavarian cuirassiers of 60 years later:

Lobster cavalry armour of the English Civil War, Household Cavalry Museum, London. (my photo)

I’ve chosen to paint these Les Higgins figures as the Arco Cuirassier Regiment, led by Cavalry General Johan Baptist Graf von Arco. Although the numbers in the regiment could vary significantly, a Bavarian cuirassier regiment at this time could have anything up to 900 men, organised into 8 -12 companies.

All the Bavarian cuirassiers during the War of the Spanish Succession wore grey coats with colours of cuffs & lining being distinctive to each regiment. The Arco Regiment was distinguished by mid-light blue facings and horse cloth. The original Robert Marrion illustration below, originally depicting the Wieckel Regiment, has been doctored by somebody with Arco facings and posted online.

All my Les Higgins’ Arco Cuirrassiers are wielding a pistol, which looks a convincing pose, I think.

As soon as I took these photos and uploaded them I found a post-it note to myself with the words “cuff buttons” and “stirrups” written on it, not coincidentally the exact same things I’ve forgotten to paint on these figures! (my friend Pat will know that feeling well). Ah, well. I’ll attend to it in due course. Nevertheless, I’m feeling quite pleased with my first WSS cavalry regiment, and my first metal Les Higgins figures too.

Hoping all visitors to this blog keep themselves and their loved ones healthy and we get through this together soon. In the meantime, when I’m not figure painting, I’m NHS employed and so will be playing a very tiny part in the national response during this time.

Best wishes, Marvin.

Lace Wars with Les

Just wanted to share some progress on my Les Higgins War of the Spanish Succession cavalry, sample figures courtesy of John Cunningham. There’s still a little corrective paint required on one or two of these figures, nonetheless I’ve been creating (from left to right):

• a trooper of the Bavarian Arco Cuirassier Regiment
• a French dragoon of the Royal Regiment
• a dragoon of the Danish 5th Jydske Dragoon Regiment
• a trooper of the Regiment du Roi, a French Horse Regiment

Still work to be done, but they’ve given me the template for creating an entire regiment of each. Yesterday, I received more of these wonderful old Les Higgins miniatures so I can set to work when I’m ready. These, along with the other mountain of figures should at least keep me well occupied in these troubling times of global pandemic.

Scrubbed and drying, ready for paint: my Les Higgins 20mm cavalry haul.

For anyone interested in purchasing Les Higgins recast figures, please visit this page on Vintage Wargaming Figures for more information.

My Horse is Irregular…

I’m patiently waiting for a little something to arrive through the post which I hope will enhance my slowly progressing FEMbruary submission of Empress Catherine and the Russian Court.

In the meantime, as the shocking Storm Dennis rages outside it is at least an opportunity to add some paint to those War of the Spanish Succession horses which arrived from Irregular Miniatures some weeks ago.

These are first metal 20mm figures I’ve ever had the pleasure to paint, so I’ll have to see how the riders go. It’s also a toe in the water for some other classic metal 20mm figures which I’ve received.

Right – I’d better nip outside now and check for any storm damage…!