Tuesday 25 September 2012

Wittenberg: King reviews the Guard du Corps

The Queen and Prince Albert have come out to see the review,  the Prince wants to see his Kurprinz cuirassier regiment on parade with the Garde Du Corps
The King rides up to start the review....
 
The Garde du Corps at the front and Kurprinz cuirassier behind them...
 
The King congratulates the commander of the Garde du Corps on the turnout of the regiment ....
 
---oXo---
No new units here, just re-paints:
- Garde Du Corps (Elite Miniatures), the most work - repaint of my Chevalier Garde, orginally in redcoats, in the uniform of the Saxon Garde Du Corps, wearing their coat over the cuirass - I filled in over the waistcoat to represent the cuirass.
- Kurprinz cuirassier (Front Rank)- these have a small paint tweak so that they appear to have the coat over the cuirass as well.

The Chevalier Grade will re-appear soon (single squadron), also another regiment of cuirassier awaits in the lead pile.

Saturday 22 September 2012

Monastery (3) - Count Hermann visits ...

Count Hermann of Munster, the King of Wittenberg's right hand man (and also 'spymaster'), is visiting the monastery of St Wigberts, he is greeted by the Abbot...
Count: (swishing his hand) There are a lot of bees about.
Abbot: sorry about the bees they are still settling in ..
 
The monks sing to the bees to calm them as they orientate themselves to the environs of St Wigberts...
A monk escorts the Count through the abbey grounds round towards the old seminary..
Count: Whats wrong with that chap over there  ?
Monk: That's brother Ignatious, he's communing with the worms,
part of the Abbots relating to nature program.
 
The monk takes the Count to the entrance to the seminary..
Monk: you'll find Master Cantor and his associates in the courtyard
 
 
The Count meets up with Cantor (the court inventor and leading light in the Wittenberg Royal Society) in the courtyard. There is the sound of musket fire...
(the old seminary has been rented by Count Hermann for Cantor and other scientists and engineers to do research work, at the Abbots request they wear monks habits over their clothes to mask their activities from casual observers ). The Count has come to visit today to check on the new musket cartridges being developed for the army ...
Count: How is the new powder formula doing ?
Cantor: Tests show a 10% increase in range and accuracy, this is the best we can do for now.
Von Braun: The details of the mixture will be sent to the arsenals tommorrow for them to start manufacture
Count:Very good, that will please the King
Von Braun: On another matter, the cartridges from the Wangheim arsenal you sent me for analysis have revealed that the powder has been adulterated - reducing their effectiveness
Cantor: I checked on the recent output from Wangheim - its is all stored for shipping - none has been sent out to units yet.
Count: We'll hold the stock at Wangheim and investigate who's messing with the powder - I have my suspicions on who's to blame. Well gentlemen, lets go inside and discuss progress on other projects....

Saturday 15 September 2012

Monastery (2) - The Monks Arrive

A simple paint up where needed and some scatter on the bases and the new abbey buildings are ready; I've mixed them in with other buildings from my scenic stock to show the monastery of St Wigberts. This monastery is only 5 miles from the capital Wittenberg.
 
---oXo---
fish ponds
 
cloisters
 
front gate and busy road
 
surplus hops and beer being loaded onto a wagon
 
the Abbots house and guest quarters
 
---oXo---
The monks from Alt-Wittenberg arrive and are greeted by the Abbot (the treasure beehives have been transported safely).
 
An overall view of the main abbey complex.....
 

Friday 14 September 2012

Monastery (1) - builders are busy ...

The monks of Alt-Wittenberg are currently in transit to a new monastery (taking their beehives with them). They are moving up the valley to join a larger community.

---oXo---

So I thought I better make the new monastery; I decided to use the cloister and buildings from a 1:87 card construction book
and 'join' it to my gothic church (made from Pegasus sets); so I cut into the gothic church base and added a new side base with the ground plan part of the card kit stuck on.
Next I assembled the cloisters and buildings from the card kit and stuck them to the base - the card kit is a bit fiddly but goes together well; shown below is a first fit of the two bases with a bell tower (from a 1:87 church kit), and a chapter house that I found in a local charity shop.
still plenty of work to do ...more to follow....

Saturday 8 September 2012

Wittenberg - Kings Jagers ...

A new unit for the Wittenberg army, out of the lead mountain and into their uniforms. The battalion is made up from a mix of figures and converted spares - half of the unit is Foundry prussian jagers and the rest converted Foundry, Jacdaw, Eagle and Old Glory, plus a couple of converted Perry Nap. french dragoons. Most conversions involved new arm sets taken from spare Wargames Factory WSS and Perry plastics bits.
 
---oXo---
 
The Kings Jagers out on manouvres, skirmish line is forming up....
the commander and a small group of jagers move up ...
officer directs jagers as they exit the churchyard ....
Overview of jagers in and around the church, with staff officers looking on ....