Saturday 30 August 2014

The Palace Grounds - the lakeside

The King and Queen enjoy a view of the lake.....
 The view across the lake to the Temple of Apollo ....
 A quick tour round the lakeside, the pavilion by the water side near the palace is used by the court musicians to provide concerts on summer evenings....
The centaur statue and bridge over the river which exits the lake ....
 The rustic house ...
 The gryphon statue ...
 The Temple of Apollo at the far end of the lake.
 A look back down the lake from the hill above the temple...
You can return to the palace by the other side of the lake via the glen and the woodland walk. A path is to be made up the hill from the woodland walk which will lead to the formal palace gardens being constructed at the rear of the palace.

[Notes
1. the lake is represented using some blue curtain lining material.
2. the lush grass by the lakeside and the small island are green felt.
3. Pavilion is a small Xmas town bandstand.
4. Rustic house is a Hornby resin cottage.
5. The statues are some plastic mythical animals (source unknown) on pedestals made from card and foamboard.
6. Bridges: the stone bridge is by Italeri, made up narrower; the small bridge is a from an Xmas town range.
7. The Temple of Apollo was made for my 54mm romans/gauls project and works fine with the smaller figures.]

Monday 25 August 2014

40mm: Regular Infantry Regiments for Wittenberg

I've finished the last two infantry regiments that I had, increased to 45 figs (from 30);  on the march and deployed...


 The two regiments are in Duchy of Saxony uniforms ( or more in the style of..). Regiment at the back is the fusilier regiment before they got their fusilier caps, and at the front Prinz Maximilian.

[ The bulk of the regiments are home cast from the Creartec grenadier moulds, with Creartec artillery heads (rear regiment) and Sash & Sabre heads (front regiment); some of the command figures are sourced from Irregular Miniatures and Front Rank with suitable head swaps applied.

This leaves just new units to paint and the cavalry to sort out. Will be doing the converged grenadier battalion for the above two regiments next.]

Saturday 23 August 2014

Ongoing works at the palace .....

The day after the King's inspection, a large number of wagons arrived. Pre-carved stone blocks were unloaded and a team of masons spent a while installing a ballustrade round the terrace at the side of the palace.

 The terrace is now used by members of the court for a promenade ...

An officer from the engineer corps has arrived to help supervise the works on the gardens at the rear of the palace....
 A small surveying team checks the levels and possible positioning of garden features ....
 While a number of labourers are busy clearing and levelling the grounds ....
 [The ballustrade was made by using a suitable coloured image stuck onto a formers made of card and foamboard;  Survey team - converted Minden figures; Labourers - some new Minden figs a a couple of converted Front Rank and Redoubt figs]

Tuesday 19 August 2014

Improvements at the palace ....

The King has taken some time out from his busy schedule to inspect the new doors and terracing at the side and rear of the palace.

The new door on the side of the palace seems fine ...

The kings walks along the new terrace towards the rear of the palace ...

The new door at the rear of the palace passes inspection ...

The King stops for a chat with the commander of the palace guard before heading inside for his next scheduled engagement of the day .....

There is much to do in the palace grounds, the lakeside below the side of the palace is being re-modelled to allow for new garden features; the ground to the rear of the palace has to be cleared before new formal gardens are laid out.

[ The new palace backdrops were made using some images of drawings of Wilton House (side) and Holkham Hall (rear). The images were doctored to add the same window effect as used on the static diorama I have for the front of the palace. Images were printed out on buff paper, and then stuck onto the back drops. The paving for the terrace is from some self-adhesive floor tiles (bought from Wilkinsons). 

I'm hoping to develop some simple palace grounds and formal gardens - similar to the plan shown in a post a while back]

Friday 15 August 2014

40mm: some more units - bases refreshed

Some more units which have had their bases refreshed with a little static grass,

Wittenberg artillery:
 Wittenberg Jagers:
 The militia (could be used by both sides)

I'm currently working on two Wittenberg infantry regiments (increasing size from 30 to 45 figs each), pictures to come when these are finished.

Saturday 2 August 2014

40mm: Units finished so far ....

Work on the reorg/rebase has been going well.

For Wittenberg - the Boritzy Freikorps infantry and artillery are done,


For Saxe-Jarlsberg, Guard Grenadiers, allied battalion, full infantry regiment (42figs), artillery and jagers all done.




I'm currently working on two Wittenberg infantry regiments (42 figs each). Then I've a few new units to paint. I'm still thinking on how to organise the cavalry, so these will be done later on.