It's looking like a month of not a lot happening, so I thought I'd just show some pictures of a 30YW project that died some years back (waiting for me to finish them off!). I had just written a one-brain-cell rule set for 30YW/ECW when DBR came out.
DBR proved to be quite popular, I recall playing a lot of Spanish vs Dutch games in the late/mid 1990's with 15mm figures, and experimenting with Ottoman Turks (using Byzantine DBM stand-ins would you believe...?).
But I couldn't make up my mind to re-base my plastics for DBR. I knew what would happen. Sure enough! It was like magic. Almost the moment I switched to DBR format, interest in DBR in Christchurch fell away to nothing. Not that anyone else at the time had 25mm armies? The problem was that the rules had at the time been insufficiently developed before publication - at least, so it was felt at the time. My argument that they were salvageable fell on ears attuned to a different story.
These days, a degree of interest has been revived, but I am perturbed to find that in the interveing 10-12 years, not a lot has changed (not to mention WRG's usual opacity creates the standard stupid arguments).
Now for some more piccies...
The pictures are posed as Swedish Foot attack an Imperial battalion that is supported by a gun battery. Imperial horse gallop to the rescue...
The figures are all from the Revell 30YW range, except for the light horse, which are HaT Mamelukes. They paint up very nicely as Imperial mounted Croats!
What's happening on the Wholly Romantic Empire front?
The following pics show work in progress: almost the entire infantry of Altmark-Uberheim.
In the following picture, all the marching figures have been consolidated into the Electoral Footguards (bearing an astonishing similarity to the Prussian 'Garde' of the 7YW!). Rather larger than my usual 36-figure unit, this has 44 - though I haven't made up my mind whether to have 5x8-figure companies, or 4x10-figure coys.
Not having a permanent set-up, this is a reasonable substitute (my wife bought me the split table/easel for Christmas - the green felt bit is my chessboard upside down...), the upside of which, I can get to watch 'Big Bang Theory' whilst painting the boys...
What a nice big bunch of toys!
ReplyDelete-- Jeff
Very nice figures. I have some Revell Swedish Infantry for a project that never really got off the ground.
ReplyDeleteVery tempting.
Glad to welcome you to 'Emperor vs Elector'!
ReplyDeleteA promising mass of regular infantry!
For me I'd use a 4 coys organisation: allows to form a square -if only on the parade ground.
Historically, before the addition of a 'light' company, 'ordinary' (mousquetiers or later fusiliers) companies were generally in even number.
Cheers,
Jean-Louis
An impressive array! I'm thinking of getting some Zvezda plastics and seeing your collection helps to show what's possible. I also like Big Bang Theory. ;)
ReplyDeleteJeff and Conrad - Revell 30YW paint up really well, and there is no reason not to mix the Swedish and Imperialist figures up a bit. The Artillery I use for both sides. The figures of the artillery set vary a bit in size, but you get heaps of different ones - plenty of variety.
ReplyDeleteFor Swedish battalion guns, I've married up the barrel of an ESCI British Napoleonic 6pr gun with the tail and wheels of an Airfix Napoleonic French piece. They look fine!
I also got as much mileage as I could out of foot figures whose poses I didn't like: waving muskets about and what not. They became pikemen, with modelling wire pikes. That grey Swedish unit in yesterday's pictures has such pikemen.
Jean-Louis - I am persuaded: 4x10-figure companies it is. I don't give this unit a specific Grenadier company: they all count as ellite in the Elector's army (which, given its size, will make it a formidable opponent indeed). All my other units have 4 companies, of which one comprises grenadiers, the remainder musketeers/fusiliers. I also have one fulilier battalion of just 3 companies (still using Revell grenadier/fulilier figures).
Overall, the Elector will be able to field 9 battalions not counting Jagers, freikorps or garrison troops.
AJ - I like Zvezda figures myself. I got a lot of Mongols that will one day form much of my Ottoman Turk Army (together with some impressive Janissaries from some other manufacturer...) But possibly my favorite Zvezda figures are their Japanese Samurai and Ashigaru. When I saw those, I was so tempted to build a couple of warring Japanese armies - an urge that, though I managed it, was much harder to resist than giving up smoking!
Most of my armies are plastics. My only lead ones are 25mm Napoleonics, and my 15mm Dark Ages (Byznatine, Bulgar, Abasgians (Georgians)). With care, as several other blogs I have visited have shown, plastic armies can look really good.
Cheers,
Ion