Saturday, May 31, 2025

Imagi-Nations - Work in Progress

What I've been doing lately - instead of writing up my latest 'Chubby Marine' naval battle.


Khevenhuller Dragoons and Nadasti Hussars now have their bases flocked...

Batthany Dragoons newly painted. I've added a squadron of chevauleger using Airfix RHA mounted officers on spare Revell horses.



The mounted arm in the service of the Principality of Ursaminor. They - or at least something very similar - have occasionally been seen in the service of the Reine d'Oro Royalists in the Gatonegro War of Independence.



Ursaminor foot. These were painted well over 25 years ago to create an army for my daughter, Ursula. I added to it about 10 years ago.






Additional units (5th and 6th Foot) in Ursaminor service. I have added a second Grenadier Battalion HQ. The 6 line infantry may then be organised as 8 battalions, 6 line and 2 grenadier.



Ursaminor militia battalions, and artillery. The nearer militia battalion was created out of some Airfix Imperial Guard (horrible figures, but they made OK militia. The other was made from selected figures from an American War of Independence set - manufacture unknown (to me).


Latest paint job: Palffy Hussars in Imperial service. 



Two units that have been adapted for service with the Landgravate of Hessen-Rohr - Cuirassiers and Uhlans.


Some of the horse and all the guns in the service of Altmark-Uberheim. 


A final pic of the Palffy Hussars. I wonder if my new phone has a flash...

W still very much in P, but the light at the end of the tunnel is looking a deal brighter!

 

22 comments:

  1. Splendid work! I agree about the French Guard far too skinny. I think your AWI are from the Revel American Militia set.
    Neil

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    1. Neil -
      Thanks for your comment! The AWI thing sounds about right. I picked them up years ago at a bring-n-buy meet.

      I have to admit that my original 'Emperor vs Elector' concept got rather out of hand. Along came the Grand Duke, then the Princess, (with a side order of the Markgravina), and finally the Landgrave. For a while, the Herzogtum von Rechburg featured, but that was someone else's army (The Ulrichstein Campaign).

      I have yet to do a proper inventory, but I think this project has something approaching 2000 figures, all but a handful, plastics: Airfix, Revell, ESCI and Italieri. Over 1000 belong to the Imperial and Royal armies (Draco von Spitzensparcken having decided for himself that 'Elector' was a title insufficient for his august majesty).

      I'll have to check the Imperial foot, but I rather think all of the figures (apart from a unit's worth of Italieri French Carabiniers I don't {yet} know what to do with) have enough of a paint job to be fielded in battle.

      Cheers,
      Ion

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    2. 2000 figures! It rather puts my pathetic efforts to shame. I do like a 20mm plastic army, well done. I'll look forward to seeing them in action.

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    3. Martin -
      My projects do have a way of expanding well beyond my original plans. My Napoleons also run to a thought over 2000 figures, but compared with some Napoleonic armies in this town this is a fairly miniature collection. A certain 'Chasseur' blogster has a vast collection of French and Austrians (some of which have occasionally featured in After Action Accounts (AAA) in this blog.

      Some hints of action appeared in July, September and October 2022 in this blog. I have to set up the complicated strategic situation that has developed in Ursaminor with the unexpectedly decisive victory won by M'yasma as related in the narrative 'Chance Encounter'.
      Cheers,
      Ion

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  2. Very nice, all you need now is a map.

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    1. Mark -
      Gotta map - needs a little bit of tweaking. I'll sort that for the next account of action on the Ursaminor border.

      I like your cartographical style. I may do a version of it myself!
      Cheers,
      Ion

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    2. Thanks! Looking forward to seeing it, maybe with some of your cartoon doodles on the corners? 😁

      Delete
    3. Ah, yes. Illuminations. I guess we gotta have illuminations...

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  3. Nice additions to an amazing force. Can't wait to read the action reports.

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    1. pancerni -
      I'm hoping that I can do more in that line fairly soon. The last action between these armies were fought out in the second half of 2022 - the opening actions that 'were' to trigger the War of the Imperial Succession.
      Cheers,
      Ion

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  4. Lots of useful units there, Archduke- great progress 👍🏼

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    1. Martin S
      This particular project went in for large(ish) units. Not exactly Charles Grant (53 figures the infantry regiment), but biggish enough, standardising on 36 line infantry and 19 horse per regiment, or 19 infantry for a battalion. But numbers aren't constant, and my rule set des involve head counting (no special chore, this).
      Cheers,
      Ion

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  5. Terrific fun, can’t wait to see more…
    Alan Tradgardland

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    1. Alan - I have some hopes of more to come. The battle accounts of late 2022 were intended to kick things off, but Draco Sptizensparcken's impatience cost him dearly against Hessen-Rohr...

      Meanwhile, I've been looking at your ... Renaissance? ... German army and wondering how I'd tackle it. Well, I've had to do that with the armies subject of this blog post, but in recent times with my 30YW (last year), and Byzantines (early 2022), not to mention the binge naval construction program at the beginning of this year.

      I am something of a binge worker, but I find what kicks it off is to do something fairly small - a unit of a dozen figures, say. Once I get 'on a roll', the thing goes pretty well - at least for a while.
      Cheers,
      Ion
      Cheers,
      Ion

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  6. Superb looking addition to your project, lots of cracking regiments added there. Forgot all about how bad the Airfix Guard were, they were not one of their better sets thats for sure, yours look grand though.

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    1. Donnie -
      Many of the Airfix stuff were pretty good, on the whole, especially the more useful AWI figures. But I have been quite happy to place figures of different manufactures in the same army.

      Some of my Imperialist infantry are shown in the title banner of this blog spot (Hildburghausen, Alt-Colloredo and Baden-Durlach regiments). However a quick check has revealed that I still have FIVE Imperialist infantry regiments and a battalion to paint up.
      Cheers,
      Ion

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  7. Well, if the forces are building up then surely the armies will soon need to be deployed in action (if only to justify the taxation expense and maintenance of all those troops).
    Are any of these minis your “favourite” troops? You know, the paint job you’re proudest of, the miniatures that were most difficult to obtain or whatever?
    You can add my vote to the list for “more cartoon artwork, please”. 😉
    Cheers,
    Geoff

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    1. Geoff -
      There is one Imperialist unit I am very fond of: Arenburg Infantry. Very pleased with how they turned out. Pretty fond of the Khevehuller Dragoons, and my recently painted Palffy Hussars.

      But I really like all these armies, and try to present them as best I can. Two of the regiments of the recently (3 years ago already!!) completed Army of Hessen-Rohr I actually painted a year or two short of 50 years ago. One of them is the 'Ewige Blumenkraft' Infantry. They became rather orphaned when the Army of Altmark-Uberheim got a whole swodge of Revell Prussian infantry (https://archdukepiccolo.blogspot.com/2010/05/altmark-uberheim-infantry.html)
      But I never quite had the heart to give them away. Finally, an army - a small one of some 250 figures - was created, along with the Landgravate of Hessen-Rohr.

      Of the five armies, the Imperialists are my favorites, but also the least 'finished' at the moment. Methinks I might have an article or two to write about that!

      I'll think about the cartoon artwork. I find I really need the mood to take me to produce these things! But thanks for the ... erm ... request!
      Cheers,
      Ion
      C

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  8. Fantastic colourful Imagination forces Ion. Nice to see old Airfix figures fighting on.

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    1. Hardy fellows, those Airfix chaps, Maudlin Jack!
      They make up most of the Landgravate army and Imperialist foot, and the line infantry of Ursaminor are almost all from the marching French Infantrymen from the Napoleonic Artillery box. Altmark-Uberheim foot are Revell, the Grand Duchy's ESCI. Cavalry are distributed with less ... discrimination. Guns are mostly ESCI Napoleonic, but one army has French artillery for battalion guns.
      Cheers,
      Ion

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  9. What a glorious and beautifully colourful variety of units!
    Best wishes, James

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    1. Thank you, James. There's more Imperialist foot to come, too. That should complete the whole project, pretty much (more than 45 years in the making!). The Imperialists form the largest army - over 600 figures. I'll have to do a proper count of the Kingdom: something over 500 figures, I think. The other armies are smaller.

      Plenty of variety to be had!
      Cheers,
      Ion

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