Saxe-Jarlsberg: Leib-Grenadier Guard.

The guard grenadiers completed....

Saxe-Jarlsberg .. the artillery...

After having painted artillery crew for both Wittenberg and Monrovia... I was in the groove and went on to do the Saxe-Jarlsberg cannon, limbers and crew in the uniforms of Brunswick artillery.

[Crusader Miniatures cannon & crew, Eagle Figures limbers, draught horses and riders.]

Wittenberg.. replacement artillery crew..

As part of army refurbishments I've replaced the old Hinchcliffe figures that crewed the Wittenberg artillery with some of my home-cast figures (they are painted in the uniforms of Saxony). In addition I've added two larger caliber field guns.

Saxe-Jarlsberg .. the generals...

Just finished the Generals and staff for the Saxe-Jarlsberg army (Redoubt Enterprises figures with a Foundry figure) 

Monrovia.. replacement artillery crew..

I've replaced the old Hinchcliffe figures that crewed the Monrovian artillery with some of my home-cast figures. They are painted in the uniforms of Hesse-Kassel.

Building the lead pile....

All the lead has been accumulated for the next army project - this will be Saxe-Jarlsberg. This army will comprise mostly historical units from the Brunswick SYW army with a couple of added extras.

Last weekend I had a 'cast-athon', I used my new moulds and also a couple of the old ones; 150 figures cast overall. The mounted infantry officers are a mix of Front Rank and Elite Miniatures.

I finished off the army with a couple of Ebay purchases - some von Kleist Uhlans and Hanoverian infantry to be a small Freikorps

All previous and new items now placed in boxes, all prepped and ready to start painting ....

Overall the little army will comprise:

• Cavalry - Garde De Corps, Dragoons, Hussars
• Infantry - 4 infantry regiments, 1 converged grenadier battalion, 1 grenadier regiment
• Light troops - jagers mounted and on foot
• Small Freikorps - Uhlans and infantry battalion

28mm SYW Sculpt & Cast (MK2) - first metal

 The MK2 moulds have been made and I got the chance to do a first casting session yesterday.  I made the moulds carefully to avoid any 'bubble' problems and added plenty of air vents. I was pleased with the result of the first off castings  - nice cleanly cast figures without much prep work needed.

The cannon in the picture are from AW iminatures, now could I make a mould for a cannon ? (plus a limber as well) - something to think on 

The four new moulds will be used to cast figures for 

• building up the Saxe-Jarlsberg army (based on Brunswick)
• replacing old gun crews for Wittenberg & Monrovian artillery.
• updating part of the Wittenberg army - replacing some of the older units.

Duchy of Noverre - the whole army ...

The whole of the Duchy of Noverre (French) army set out on the table ... 

The cavalry ...

Some of the  infantry ....

Artillery with grenadiers behind...

More infantry ...with the light troops on the flank...

A couple of additions are planned - already a cavalry &  infantry unit have been added to the lead pile.

28mm SYW Sculpt & Cast (MK2)

With a couple of army build projects in 28mm coming up, I thought I would update my 28mm SYW master figures (fix casting & details issues along with adding some new things). The MK2 set will focus on foot figures - the cavalry figure moulds are OK and work well enough.

I've made up a gun crew, modified from the march attack musketeer figure...

All the amended and new figures have been completed and attached to metal pouring reservoirs ready for making four moulds.  Mould 1- 2 fusiliers (new) & 2 grenadiers; Mould 2 - artillery crew (new)

 Mould 3 - infantry command & hussar with busby (new); Mould 4 - march attack musketeers (4 off)

If I have enough mould compound left then I'll make a fifth mould containing 2 Austrian style grenadiers and 2 generic jagers.

Hunting Frule....

Ernst von Tiddenheim was reading poetry to his wife Eleanor out by the obelisk in the grounds of their house...

His manservant Gutermann, ran up - sir, there is a message from the King, "Make all haste to investigate activities of monster Frule-men at the village of Felsfeld (cattle mutilated and stolen with villagers having been attacked)". 

Very well Gutermann, send messages to the team to meet by the windmill at Felsfeld on the morrow..

Ernst von Tiddenheim was the hereditary witchfinder general of Wittenberg.  He was in charge of the Department for Supernatural Affairs whose responsibility included investigating and dealing with supernatural monsters.

---oXo---

The team assembled the next day by the windmill at Felsfeld  - Ernst & Eleanor Tiddenheim, their Servant Gutermann,  along with Heinrich Muller a hunter-seeker, Samantha the white witch,  Burt Hoffman (known as blunderbuss Burt), Sargeant Manfred Harfenist (from the Kings Jagers)

the team arrived in Felsfeld and met with a delegation of the villagers..

It was soon night-time and the the villagers scurried away to hide in their homes, while the team familiarised themselves with the layout of the village.

After discussion they decided to split into two groups one watching the road and the other the rough ground and rocky area - where the villagers had seen the Frule sometimes ...

As the team positioned themselves a small band of Frule approached.....

Tiddenheim sensed something and moved forward, Samantha followed him ...

The Frule bunched up and approached closer

The team moved forward cautiously... then suddenly a Frule loomed up out of the gloom and attacked Tiddenheim...

A deft bit of sword work and a pistol shot from Tiddenheim; with an attack spell issuing forth from Samantha's wand killed the Frule...

The rest of the Frule moved up and attacked anything in reach ....

soon the team was struggling, however many wounds they inflicted the Frule just kept fighting....

Finally Tiddenheim and his servant Gutermann killed the Frule they were fighting, concerned for his wife Tiddenheim went to her aid.....

It took four of them to kill the next one ....

The other three of the team had been fighting he last remaining Frule; it was now badly wounded and it  managed to get away....

The team fell back to the village, no more Frule appeared that night ...

Tiddenheim and his team stayed for two more days, scouring the area but there was no signs of any more Frule; the hunt was over for now and the team returned home.

---oXo---

Notes: 

• This game was a play test using my 'Simple Combat' rules with aspects of the Devilry Afoot ruleset. 
• The game played well, however some adjustments need to be made.
• The Devilry Afoot rules slotted in reasonably well with my game rule mechanics.

Duchy of Noverre - Light Troops...

Volontaires De Clermont-Prince added to the Duchy of Noverre army ... (flags from Not By Appointment)

Duchy of Noverre - more cavalry...

 Finished painting cavalry regiment La Reine....

Kesselsdorf.. research ...

 On the list of games is to do a refight of Kesselsdorf 1745... this neat little book from Helion has been obtained..

Looks like it contains all the info I need including the orders of battle for both sides.  For the re-fight Monrovia will take the Prussian side and Wittenberg Saxony; I think I can scale it down as needed to use the armies I have in my collection.

Game Planning...

I'm trying to get more organised planning games. With 8 active blogs it is way to easy to get focussed on one and loose the thread on the others. So I want to get some sort of game plan for each blog, each blog has a two or three threads or series of games so I want to cover these.

So far I've made up a table with a set of game lists, there are a few blanks but at least I can start working on scenarios.

The aim is to play a game relevant to each blog on a 'round robin' basis. I expect it may be more of a random walk 😀

The Return of Saxe-Jarlsberg .......

 Its been a while since the forces of Saxe-Jarlsberg tried to take the Hoflandt from Wittenberg. The 40mm home-cast armies  have now been redeployed.  What happened to the armies ?

• The 40mm Wittenberg army was upgraded and expanded to fight the Begovian threat on the Zinzendorf border. 
• The 40mm Saxe-Jarlsberg army which were all Prince August castings fell victim to my delight in recycling figures via the melting pot of doom - most of them became re-cast as Begovians.

Saxe-Jarlsberg Grenadiers

I thought it would be nice to bring back Saxe-Jarlsberg (based on SYW Brunswick), they will be my next army building project when the French are finished - this time they will be in 28mm. Recruiting has already started .... some Crusader cuirassiers for the Garde de Corps.

Duchy of Noverre - Cuirassiers and more infantry..

For SYW french troops for the Duchy of Noverre...

Cuirassier du Roi (My home-cast riders on Eagle Miniatures horses, flag from Kronoskaf)

Infantry Regiment Bentheim (Crusader and AW Miniatures; flags from Not by Appointment)