Truchseß dragoons join the Barryat of Lyndonia

“The dragoons will advance!”  The latest regiment to join my 18th century imagi-nation, the Barryat of Lyndonia, are these dragoons based on the real-life Prussian Truchseß dragoon regiment.  Click on the above picture to get the full effect.

The Barryat of Lyndonia is based on the movie Barry Lyndon, of course.  This new regiment is the first unit in the Lyndonian army that veers away from the movie, though.  I’ve mentioned in a previous posting the unscientific method I used when I chose to replicate the pink and light-blue uniform colours of the Truchseß dragoons:

Because when I met my wife back in the 80s, pink and light-blue were the ‘in’ colours – she not only wore (very attractively, I might add) pink and light-blue eye-shadow, but we painted our first house together with pink and light-blue trim.  Despite being well out of fashion now, I still have a fondness of that colour combination, so how could I resist a unit dressed in light-blue uniforms with pink facings?!

The regiment currently is made up of 24 figures –  two officers, one drummer and one standard bear (all based singly) and two squadrons of 10 troopers (based in pairs).  I plan to add a couple more troopers to each squadron, as I’m finding 10 an unsatifying number for arranging my regiment in symmetrical formations!  Note that I don’t organise my regiments  in any historical way – they are merely for playing fun wargames, not simulating history.

And before anyone asks, I don’t base to suit any particular set of rules.  Any rules I will use have to be able to cope with my basing, not the other way round!

The figures are all 28mm Minden Miniatures (the most exquisite 18th century figures around, in my opinion).  The standard is merely printed out from a lovely picture on the Kronosaf website.

The horses were under-coated with rust-coloured car primer, then rubbed with burnt umber or black oil paint.  This oil paint used to belong to my Dad, who passed away in 1984, so it imbues my figures with a touch of personal memories, and also shows you how long oil paint lasts!   Oh, and I had some expert help on painting horses, who is  seen inspecting the results in the picture below.

All the above photos were taken on my mobile phone, as our digital camera is presently on holiday in the United Kingdom with my wife and daughter.  While the picture quality isn’t as clear as with a camera, the photos have turned out adequate enough.

At last, an active wargames club

Looks like the embryo Kapiti Wargames Club is taking off.  The following article about it appeared in today’s Kapiti News.

There have been previous wargames clubs in Kapiti, including the old Kapiti Wargaming Club a couple of decades ago, the Kapiti Fusiliers (which was only really active as bricks and mortar club for a year) and lately the Severed Hand (awful name!) which has now become the new Kapiti Wargames Club.  Hopefully this is the start of a mainstream club in our area.

I’m going to pop along to the club night tomorrow after work to have a look.  A regular club night might get me more enthused and involved in actually playing more wargames.

The club appears pretty heavily Games Workshop orientated at the moment, but hopefully they’ll be able to cope with a few historical players!

ANZAC Day – lest we forget

Alexander Turnbull Library photo

We play wargames as a hobby, but today we remember those men and women who have gone to war in anything but a game.   For them it was life or death, and for too many it was the latter.

 The above photo is a lovely montage that appeared on the New Zealand news website Stuff today, to illustrate an article on two of the young men of a small town in the Wairarapa, who left to go to war in 1916, never to return.

The picture shows the lovely group of 34 scarlet oaks planted at the Maungaraki war memorial to symbolise the  ten farmers, two farm hands, two labourers, a teacher, a mail contractor and the other young men of that small community who never came back.

The soldiers in the picture are from WW2, another conflict that saw New Zealanders travelling halfway round the world to fight, and sadly often to die.

Those of you who have read my previous posting on my father’s war service will realise that my own family’s WW2 experiences had nothing to do with New Zealand or  the ANZACs.  But because New Zealand became my parents’ adopted country in the 1950s and was the country I was born into, I am proud to commemorate those brave ANZACs, just as much as every 10 May when I think of my Dad’s war service in the Dutch army.

At last, a full-size Napoleonic French flag!

I’ve always wanted a full-size Napoleonic French flag for my study wall.  And now I’ve got one!

A few years ago I tried to get a full-size French Napoleonic standard flag made when I was on a business trip to Cambodia. The company were going to do 20 for a very reasonable price. But then they began mucking me round, and by the time I left the country a few weeks later, they hadn’t produced a thing, despite my $100.00 USD pre-payment. I never got the opportunity to return to Phnom Penh and follow up, so I had to flag (ha ha!) that project.

But recently on TMP a guy called ‘Jomini’ posted a link to a German company, Universal Handel 24, that advertises a huge range of historical military flags.   These are made of synthetic fibres with printed motifs, so are not the heavy embroidered cloth that real historical flags were made of.  This keeps the costs down (relatively speaking!).

I ordered one French flag at 49.99 Euros to see what they were like.  They quoted 8 Euros for postage from Germany to New Zealand. They took PayPal and credit cards, so payment was easy.

I chose the flag of the 85ème Régiment d’Infanterie de Ligne.  This is the unit that my son and I were part of during the 2005  reenactment of the Battle of Waterloo.

I am pleased with the result, which arrived in today’s mail.  The flag is printed on a heavy nylon-like material (a bit like a rain jacket).  The printing is simple and bold, but effective.  The design is on one side only, so you see a back-to-front image on the obverse.  So the flag is only suitable for wall display, not flying on a pole.  It has gold threads bordering all sides.  All in all, while not absolutely realistic, this flag gives exactly the effect I was after for my study.  It’ll also be a great backdrop for display games.

Here is the link to the Universal Handel 24 website: http://www.universalhandel24.de/standarten-und-regimentsfahnen/

A haughty general officer of the Barryat of Lyndonia

Here’s a haughty general officer of the Barryat of Lyndonia, wearing the uniform of the Truchseß Dragoons (Minden Miniatures, 28mm).

This is a sneak preview of a project  I’ve been boxing along with in the background of my other painting over the last few months.  He is the first completed figure of a new fictitious unit for the army of the Barryat of Lyndonia, my 18th century  imagi-nation based on the movie Barry Lyndon.

As I’ve now completed infantry units based on all three British, Prussian and French infantry regiments that feature strongly in the movie, I’ve now turned my hand to cavalry.  While there are a few Prussian cavalrymen in the movie, they are basically in infantry uniforms with attached plumes, and don’t do anything for me.  So I decided to do a completely new unit, not from the movie at all.

I chose to loosely base my first cavalry unit for the Barryat of Lyndonia on the real-life Prussian Truchseß regiment of dragoons.  Why?  Because when I met my wife back in the 80s, pink and light-blue were the ‘in’ colours – she not only wore (very attractively, I might add) pink and light-blue eye-shadow, but we painted our first house together with pink and light-blue trim.  Despite being well out of fashion now, I still have a fondness of that colour combination, so how could I resist a unit dressed in light-blue uniforms with pink facings?!

As this figure was originally a Minden Hanovarian officer, and not a Prussian at all, he is wearing his sash incorrectly across his shoulder for a Prussian (who wore them around the waist).  Even though with an imagi-nation army I’m not bound by accuracy, I decided to paint the sash as a military decoration ribbon instead – the orange ribbon of the Order of the Black Eagle.  With such an important decoration, he has been duly promoted to a general officer.

My Truchseß Dragoons will eventually have 24 figures, divided into two squadrons of 12.

Oh, by the way, the photos were taken on my phone.  While not as crisp and clear as a camera, they are certainly quite adequate enough for blog pictures, don’t you think?  The background is our front paddock, on the last day of an absolutely beautiful Easter weekend here in Paraparaumu.

First look – Empress’s second release of NZ Wars

They’re heeeere!  Empress Miniatures’ forthcoming second New Zealand Wars release!

Above:  Regular skirmishers.  These unusual poses will be an interesting challenge to include in a gaming unit, as they won’t fit on most people’s regular bases.  But I’m sure that I’ll find a purpose for them, nevertheless!

Above: Regular officer and sergeant.  The first release also had regular officers and an NCO, so this pair will give your units a bit more variety.  I especially like the pose of the officer looking at his watch.

Above: Militia sappers. Again, the two on the left I’m not sure how you would use in a game.  But the two on the right would be good to lead a storming party on a pa.  And I do like the guy wiping his brow, just as a great model.

Above: Māori with shotguns.  Shotguns, called tupara (literally ‘two barrels’) were popular weapons amongst Māori warriors.

Above: Armed Māori women.  A taua (war party) was typically composed of males, although there were occasions when women fought as well.  And it was traditional for women to defend the pa when the men were away at war.

More info on the Empress Miniatures website.