Wittenberg Guard Band ....

The Wittenberg guard band has been issued new uniforms and instruments (sourced from Eureka Saxons, drum major is converted standard bearer); here they are entertaining the King ....

Some additional hills for the gaming table

For some time I've been pondering the best way to make some useful hills that will match my gaming table. After finishing recent DIY jobs I had some leftover bits of shelving - these got me thinking - I was sure they could be recycled into some simple hill sections. So having cleared the gaming table I placed and marked up the shelving offcuts, going for a 6 inch wide 'join' between pieces ..

After some cutting out with a jigsaw I tried out the layout with the main pieces I planned to have ...

After that I tried out some alternate layouts with some other pieces I had cut - enough variation for the moment

So next step was to paint the edges of all the pieces, I just managed to find a shade of green that was close to the fabric I had covered the gaming table with

The tricky bit, covering the hills sections - I did one side only; I marked out by drawing round them on the back of the fabric and then carefully cut out shape with sharp scissors - sticking it on carefully with PVA glue. Hills completed and layed out on the table - nice looking valley ready to be fought over ...

40mm: Engineers on field Manouvers - bridging

As part of the preparation for the coming campaign season General Waldebeck has initiated some field manouvers in the Hofland which will involve the crossing of a river, the engineers are sent ahead with the pontoon train....

The engineers have arrived at the river and while the finishing touches are put to the ramp on one side, men are ferried across the river on a requisitioned barge to make the ramp on the other side...

The ramps on both sides are done and the bridge part completed, the final section is being moved into position ....

General Waldebeck and Count Boritzy arrive to check on the progress of the building of the pontoon bridge ...

A tree on the far side of the river is in the way of the line of march, so the engineers prepare to cut it down ...

The pontoon bridge is completed, the barge is about to be moved back to the other side of the river ....

The Boritzy freikorps chasseurs cross the bridge watched by General Waldebeck and Count Boritzy ...

---oXo---

The following section has been updated to add extra detail on source of figures with codes where available - 26/4/12

1. Pontoon wagon, pontoons, ramps and bridge deck are from Reiver Castings; they are for 28mm but are a good size and don't look out of place with the 40mm figures.

2. Horses pulling the pontoon wagon are cast from the 'Driver on Horse' Nürnberger Meisterzinn mould (1006)

3. Barge - is scratch built from cardboard, painted brown and given a black wash for weathering; the bollards on the barge are board pins.

4. River is acryclic sheet, cut into sections and sprayed with appropriate paint on one side.

5. The pack pony shown is made up from a toy plastic horse (provenance unknown) and oddments with its attendant cast from the Creartec artillery crew mold (40 821)

6. The two wheel cart is from a toy set (no longer available), with an attendant converted from a spare ECW figure.
7. Engineer Officer on foot, carrying hat in hand - Front Rank AWI Hessian officer (40A133)
8. Engineers - the bulk of these are made up from castings made from the Creartec artillery crew mold (40 821) with Front rank AWI Hessian fusilier heads. In addition to thes there are a two converted Irregular Miniatures figures - Engineer with open hands (LWSY47) and Prussian Infantry Advancing (LWSY5).
9. Mounted officers
- General in white coat and yellow sash is a from Drabant (DM1030)
- Aide in white coat and red facings is cast from Creartec Fieldmarshall von Keith mould (40 802)
- In hussar uniform - Irregular Minautures hussar (LWSY28) on a horse cast from Creartec Hussar mold. (40 807)
10. Boritzy chasseurs (crossing the bridge) are Irregular Minautures freicorps (LWSY29, LWSY30, LWSY31), with mounted officer made up from Irregular Minautures hussar (LWSY28) on a horse cast from Creartec Fieldmarshall von Keith mold.

40mm: Pontooniers - work in progress

Firstly some a couple of chaps ready to punt about and a chap cut off at waist to be in the water; converted from a couple of spare Creartec castings and a spare Irregular Miniatures fig I had left. Also some piles of cut lumber ready for the bridge construction.

While I was at it I thought a barge may be useful too, made from thick card...

40mm: Wittenberg Engineer Corps

Nice to finish off some more figs for my 40mm project, this time the Wittenberg Engineer Corps. These are mostly Creartec castings with Front Rank AWI hessian fusilier heads, the axes, spades and picks come from a number of sources which I've been collecting up for a while.

A couple of close up shots ...

What to add next - perhaps pontoon bridge and some engineers carrying out their role as pontooniers  ?

40mm: Saxe-Jarlsberg Jagers on manouvres

Count Pottensdorf watches his reformed jager battalion on manouvres; they seem to be shaping up well and he hopes they will be a match for Wittenberg's Kings Own jager battalion who caused him much difficulty in previous engagements.

Jagers are all Prince August castings; I've expanded the 15 figs I already had by adding 12 in a mix of firing and loading poses.

Interior rooms - 'flat-pack' approach

The standard room basic dimensions I currently use are: width 25cm; depth 12.5cm; height 14cm; with (floorspace 25 x 12.5 cm). I wanted to keep these measurements and yet have more practical storage as a completed room takes up space (and I 'm running out of storage room). I decided to have the room walls so they were removable - this means the could be stored 'flat'. Thus a base would be required with the capability to support the walls and keep it all together - but also to be the simplest design I could think of.

So I started with a mdf base and added a thick card floor piece, scribed to represent floorboards ...

 Then I added wall supports using mdf with plastic corner screw blocks - just stuck in place with glue

 Leaving a slot between the floor and supports for the walls to fit into ...

I made up the three walls and slotted them in position, not wanting any complex holding piece for the corners I scribed some thin card offcuts, folded them and used some blue tack - which holds the walls together nicely ...

The 'blank' room assembled with a spare piece of card with a reminder of the measurements of the walls, for when I want to make further room wall sets.

For the flat pack room setup I used 3mm mdf and 2.5mm thick card from some old A4 box folder lids.

In order to check the method out I converted one of my current rooms from 'fixed' setup to flat pack mode. I chose the cellar/inventors workshop, which worked out alright; the paved floor section was saved and I can now use that as an alternative to the standard wooden planked floor.

Now for the next bit - turning the blank room into something ; current idea is to make up an non-palace interior - a coffee shop or bar

Happy Easter from the Kingdom of Wittenberg

Its a busy time with arrivals at the palace for the Easter celebrations; there seems to be a hold up ...

A bit of queue develops on the drive up to the palace; the reason for the hold-up is that the King has made time from his busy schedule to check the completed improvements to the front portico (a sunburst in the pediment and a low wall across the front ..

A little later and the King and some of his guests enjoy the music of the guard band and a small parade of palace guard ...

---oXo---

40mm: Infantry Regiment complted and soem conversions ...

Firstly a completed regiment of infantry, all Prince August castings. This is Hesse-Limburger's conrtibution to Saxe-Jarlsberg's growing army in in the south-west against Wittenberg

In turn Wittenberg is raising some engineers/sappers to support it's army in the south-west; here are three converted Creartec artillery crew castings which have been reworked with Front Rank AWI  hessian fusilier heads and other suitable equipment (more conversions under way...)