Planning Forward

 These few pictures might tell you a little story of where I am going next.

This first one is of some few Swedish Dragoons. I wonder how many of Holger Ericsson's figures representing the army of Charles XII are actually painted as such. 

I am nothing but responsive to my comments...

These beautiful marching figures are from a small stash I have had in my collection for quite a long time part-painted. So, I shall need to buy a few more to round them out to a full unit which will be well worth the expenditure. Don't tell anyone, but it would be a lovely thing to put together a small Swedish army from HE figures. All arms are represented fairly comprehensively and by heaven I already have rather a lot of infantry. There are even horse teams for the guns.

Next are some more HE figures. Those in the first picture below are some of the first HE's that I bought when I heard of them, they are painted in something of the style of the French guard cavalry. 

Next there is a lovely little batch that came to me through JP from the collection of Stuart Asquith which are not too far away from my own in their look. I am thinking of a composite Alzheim Leib Regiment with Dukes' and Duchesses' squadrons respectively. These too will take a few purchases to bring them up to strength and the heck with it, yes they will both be rather over-officered with many an appointment "à la suite".

The picture does not really do them justice...

Last, we have another red-coated regiment from the Comardo Collection. I had long since decided that the Alzheim dragoon regiments will wear red coats and here we shall go. 

I think that totals another 49 cavalry which will need to be completely painted from scratch plus the finishing works that will need to be done on the 15 Swedish Dragoons which are on he painting desk now. I like that. Also, the Comardo Alzheim Dragoons paint time will neatly fill the waiting time for the newly ordered figures On a financial front it represents a good combination of lead pile reduction and new incomers!

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A bold General of Cuirassiers and an obscure Brandenburg Markgraf

The Brigadier of my new cavalry brigade, Generaloberst Von Ahlenfeldt. Born in 1670, von Ahlenfeldt learned his warriors' trade in the Turkish Wars, served under Prinz Eugen and Ludwig von Baden and some Englander named Marlborough against the French and latterly with the Russians against the Swedes and Saxons before retiring to Alzheim in the middle 1720s. A moderately famous and relatively competent cavalry commander, he has revived the declining Alzheim Horse and become known - only half in jest - as the "König der Kürassiere".

A dashing Holger Ericsson Cavalryman indeed.

And a stolid King of Prussia by HE as well.

And here we have the rather obscure Friedrich Wilhelm, Margrave of the Mark of Brandenburg, This place is known to history as a flat and sandy desolation garnished with a few gloomy pines. Little more than a Swedish highway during the Thirty Years War Brandenburg is second in lack of significance to Mecklenburg.

Graf Von Abriegelung Regiment of Cuirassiers

 

And that is the last figure of that fine body of horsemen. Looking at the lace pattern on the saddle-cloth and the pole, I would assume that this will be an Alzheimer Regiment.

The Graf Von Abriegelung is a solitary, introverted type of chap who enjoys long, quiet days in the library, taking a constitutional around the battlements of his ancient, Ivy infested old Schloss. It's said that the Plague went through the town below and he didn't even notice.

Daily management of the Regiment of which he is Inhaber is of course devolved upon the senior Captain....

And a quick update:

Things to do During Lockdown.

 I could have done some work in the garden, I suppose.

But I didn't. 

With their gloss varnish drying in the early morning sunshine, I present the latest unit of Spencer Smiths, painted very much as 'German" cuirassiers. They still require two officers and an Ensign.

The naming Dear Readers, I leave to you. If it helps, they will be in the Imperial service.

A Change of Scene

 Time to take a little break from 1/72 panzer grenadiers and let my eyes rest for a while on something larger and yet also simpler.

I went and pulled out the Comardo Collection of cavalry with my son and arranged them all on the floor of the shedio. We picked out four units for renovation, and if I had been thinking straight this morning I would have shot all four of them, but that's me without coffee.

So the idea is I'll go nuts on them for the next six weeks and se if I can get thru four units of 27 figs.

That should get my ratios of SSM infantry better in keeping with the cavalry arm. 

The idea is to repaint them while honouring their original look. They are old veterans with a lot of years on them and they deserve to be remembered in their old livery - or at least a modenised version thereof. 

Just crane your neck to the right

This is a couple of them post renovation. So, more or less a German Cuirassier on the left or- -ah - top with a French Cavalerie Legere to the right.

How much is Enough?

The Artillery

 Today was a nice sunny morning, not too hot and with a nice breeze blowing. It was time to undertake part one of a review of my Spencer Smith plastic armies for the Empire and the Duchy of Alzheim.

The Light Brigade

 Pictured here are the forces that I currently have in hand for the Empire. However, there are others on the way from the UK for both the Empire and Alzheim.

de los Rios leads off

 It looks like the Empire has something in the order of nine and a half line infantry units, two light infantry units, a heavy and a medium cavalry unit as well as a pair of light cavalry units. In addition, there are two gun batteries at the Emperors' disposal.

Salm Salm Salm to the fore

 Alzheim disposes ten-and-a-half infantry units, four units of dragoons, three batteries of artillery and a single light infantry unit.

The new boys - awaiting an identity!

 Now, as far as I can recall this would be about right to handle almost any of the Grant family scenarios (although I might on occasion come up a bit short for cavalry) and anything at all from "Charge!". I think Mollwitz, Lobositz, Fontenoy and anything else are at least within reach.

The Heavy Brigade

The only thing that concerns me is the cramped confines of my gaming table. As you can see here, somewhat less than all of the Empire army comes pretty close to filling one of my table-halves.

I'm starting to think that it's time to stop building and to start gaming.

OK, I need to base everything consistently, but that's another post.

Alzheimer Artillery

 Artyillery has always been a bit neglected in  my armies. I can't explain why. I like cannons. They're good. I like painting them - I have a large collection. I think it's because I don't really like painting gunners. Easy enough to see why as the Spencer Smith gunner is easily the most misbegotten, flat, flash-encrusted, two-dimensional creature ever to roam a war games table.And why is the bloke with the rammer carrying a hanky? Anwer me that!

Still, I was pleased with how the guns came up. They are Battery 'C' (Howizers) of the Royal, Loyal and Efficient Train of Alzheimer Artilery. I will now embark (cursing no doubt) upon Battery 'B'.

Now, in other news, the recent sad attempts of certain bloggers to drum up interest in their paltry blogs* has made me do a little counting and I have realised that, with another couple of gun crews and some infantry subbing for engineers/ponooniers that perhaps I might just be able to put on something similar. Perhaps this weekend. I may need to use the odd house brick instead of some bulildings, though. How Old School is that?

*What? :^)

The Comardo Dragoons - Pictures

The Dragoons obligingly gallop past for the camera.

 As promised, I got out the Comardo Dragoons and the camera this evening and, as the thunderstorms crackled away above, got busy snapping away.

Conversion of the regular Dragoon trooper - yes, the flag-pole has been thrust through his foot.

 In the Alzheim Cavalry, the senior NCO carries the unit's colours. His distinctive mark is metallic lace on his hat and shabraque.

Close-up of one of the regiment's Officers.

 Ow, on closer examination, I could have been a little more thorough with shaving this chap's flash down!

 The Regiment sweeps forward in line. On the table, this unit has a huge footprint.

The proud parent!

Comardo Dragoons

I finished the final half-dozen troopers of the Comardo Dragoons this morning as I was getting myself and my little daughter Erin (2 and a half) ready for work and creche respectively. I am fortunate Erin creches at my place of work as will her little brother Sam (one year old on the 25th) next term.

What with packing bags, eating breakfast and an unusual trip to the naughty spot, there was no time for affixing the unit flag nor for any photography, so you'll all have to wait on this evening.

In the meantime, it's been quite good fun doing the repaint on this unit. To digress a little, when I received this extravagant donation of cavalry to the "Spencer Smith project" I was a little uncertain as to how to integrate the different units. I felt dreadful at the idea of pressing them into my service without honouring their already impressive heritage and so I've opted to repaint them in their original uniforms (OK, with some minor changes) and re-flag them with colours that acknowlege that which went before - the original colours will hang in the Alzheim and Imperial Armouries.

Thus it is that the Comardo Dragoons will retain their original red coats and green facings and their white lace. In the ongoing Alzheimer "tradition" they will get white small-clothes. Their saddle-cloths have changed from the original pale blue to green in harmony with their uniform distinctions.

One of the common troopers has had his sword cut away to allow him to grasp a flagstaff (see the coloured pics in the front papers of "The Wargame Companion" and you'll see what I mean) while the now flagless officer had been equipped with a deadly pin-sword.

Now I've said all this, I really feel like I ought to have done some before-and-after shots!

The Comorado Dragoons

The first ten troopers of Alzheims Dragoon Corps.

Four Regiments strong, this corps are all dressed in red coats. The Comorado Regiment sports green facings, the Marchmont Regiment yellow-buff, the Speyer Regiment canary yellow and a fourth - yet un-named - will wear bright blue.

In the ongoing "tradition" of Alzheim units, their small-clothes are white.

I've got more cavalry for sale on eBay as well:

http://tinyurl.com/5w4yn8m

IR#3 von Browne

 Not my best photography, but, nonetheless, here they are, IR#3, von Brownes' own regiment of foot. They are marching along behind IR#3, von Prittwitz.

 Being part of a friendly competition in a group is a great way to motivate yourself. I've found a recent painting challenge a real boost and used it to push out 33 olley-points' of figures in the past ten days; a real first for me!

As must be pretty obvious now, i'm basing the Alzheim Army look on that of Bavaria albeit with the almost mandatory mistake on coat colour. Rather than the correct dark blue, I've opted for the rather more "heraldically correct" pale blue. You'll note that it goes quite nicely with the Bavarian flags that I'm using.
I sourced these beauties from Warflag and my partner Amy did me the kindness of sizing them correctly for my Spencer Smiths as well as getting them all into the one document - another version of "friends with benefits"!
Anyway, back to work - I'd like to get the Leibregiment finished and make some more headway into IR#5 "La Rosee" next.

Infanterieregiment Nr. 4 "von Prittwitz"

 In all their glory.

My first self-completed Alzheimer Infantry unit. Thank-you painting challenge.

The next dozen figures are cleaned ad primed and ready to go.

UPDATE: I started work on a dozen figures this morning. They will be mustering with IR #3 "von Browne" by the end of the working week, I hope. I'll follow on with another dozen and a mounted officer and then it will be time for a test game, I think, as both the Alzheimers and the Imperials will be able to field a brigade of Foot and a regiment of Horse each. Just need to paint up those Italeri stone walls up. I'm thinking that the starter scenario in "The Wargame" will do. Anything but Blasthof again!

The Great Leap Forward

Events have moved on rather here at the jolly old Duchy of Alzheim.

I was pleased (OK, delighted!) to take delivery of a huge box containing Phil Olley's Spencer Smith collection. Phil had contacted me a few weeks back asking if I was interested in purchasing part or all of it.

I hesitated for a microsecond or two then emailed him back saying YES PLEASE!!!

So here they are. I spent most of yesterday evening and part of this morning to unpack them - I still have more bubble-wrap to peel off - and they are splendid. Three fine regiments of Infantry and three more of Cavalry and a fine battery of guns as well as sundry independent companies and a unit of light infantry.

So, thanks again Phil and I will be posting photos tonight when I get the chance.

Little Gems

I got up at 05:00 this morning filled with a burning determination to win an eBay auction.

Well, win it I did, although not without a degree of buyers' regret.

On the bright side, this purchase will get me to the point where we can start having battles. This is a good thing. The infantry alone represent about 7 regiments worth of figures, so some progress can again be made.

The cavalry may be a bit surplus (except for the hussars), so I may sell some of them on to pay for further bits later on.

The Riders of Alzheim

 Forgive the very rough nature of these pictures. We got home from a day-and-a-night away in Castlemaine to find a big old cardboard box on the doorstep. I knew immediately what it was. I had to wait until dinner had been eaten and the children put to bed before I could open it though.

These are 11 regiments of Spencer Smith cavalry, three are painted as cuirassiers and the rest as Dragoons and other Chevaux-legere, very kindly donated by a US reader, Mr Gary C_.

More tomorrow.

Alzheimer Jaeger

 Laid low though I have been these past few days by a pernicious cold, I have nonetheless completed the Alzheimer Jaeger. Above the NCO. Below, the whole unit.

Rendra came through yesterday with some 45x40mm plastic bases. I have used most of this sample batch up with basing up a couple of my units as a test. I'm pretty happy so far. The officers are on the 20mm circular bases. The CO is as yet unbased, but will probably go on a cavalry base before long.  I have left the bases unpainted as they are close enough to the base colour of the figures as to render painting them redundant.

Alzheimer Jaeger

Last night I got cracking on some of the Jaeger. In the end I decided on a fairly traditional look for them with their red-faced, green coats. I made a small nod at their Alzheimer origins by giving them white small clothes and red neck-stocks. Having done that I could only further compound the impracticality of the uniform by having each man wear his hair powdered. I mean, you just would, wouldn't you?

 The hat is a bit of a nod to the European light infantry as practised in central Europe; it's meant to be a leather casque. If you look closely, there is a bit of brass edging, doubtless designed to turn a sabre-blow. I'm sure it has saved many a trooper!

Note also (if you wish) the blanket-roll on top of the knapsack in Alzheim Blue. I did that to help tie them to the line infantry.

There you go. Next is another couple of troopers and an officer. I'm hoping to have a dozen or fourteen figures ready for the weekend.

IR#5 La Rosee

 As promised in my last post, a couple of pictures of my latest figures of IR#5 along with the new gunner who got snuck in at varnishing time.

I'm quite please with how the "white" metal fittings look on these as a contrast to the "yellow" metals of the other regiments.

On the subject of test figures like the gunner, I have started painting my lone plastic SSM Hussar. Dashing chap. UPDATE - pics below.

 
I am now (apart form about a dozen command figures) out of Spencer Smith plastic infantry and so as I while away the hours before payday and therefore an order from Spencer Smiths for the metal versions, I will start work on those Minot AWI that I'll be using as Jaeger.

Over the next few weeks I will be able to share some rather exciting news that I have had in the past few days about this project. But just for now, I shall remain a tease.

Converged Grenadiers

 From behind - you'll notice the Leib Grenadier Company has the bag of it's fur cap opver to the right, whie the others have theirs to the left. This is either a singular distinction accorded them as a mark of the status of the regiment or an error on the part of the milliner. You decide.

 From the front, a further distinction of the Leib Regiment is their blue trousers. More commonly, the Alzheimer Foot has white small-clothes.

IR#2 Leibregiment

I just finished blasting the Leibregiment with it's second coat of varnish and thought it was time to put a picture up here at the Duchy.

As you can see, the regiment's uniform is not dissimilar to that of the Bavarian Leibregiment of the Seven Years' War. No mistake there, although it varies in many details, not least the coat colour.

As you will also doubtless notice, the Regiment falls far short of the Grant organisation, being here only 29 figures. I will be rectifying this in due course with metal figures from Spencer Smith unless any more appropriate plastics fall (doubtless to shatter into a million pieces) into my lap.

Normally, I'd have trundled straight on to IR#1, but I've decided to use it's castings, of which there were really only a few, to bring the grenadier companies of Infantry Regiments #3 and #4 to their proper strength of twelve figures.

When they are painted, I'll do a little floor show of all three regiment's companies as a combined Grenadier battalion.