Another new addition: this time it's the German Legion of the Hungarian Revolution, an exercise in gray tones. These fellows were not uncharacteristic of any number of volunteers of the era. Earlier, I created a more colorful set of general purpose German volunteers, inspired by a similar volunteer uniform from the Schlewsig Holstein affair. In this case, I wanted to adhere to an actual documented historical uniform. Depending on the source, the color of the German Legion's uniform runs from more black to more gray (I believe that the sharpshooter company of this unit was actually in black). I went with dark gray uniforms and black hats. As usual, clix pix for BIG PIX...
To represent the unit, I went with the Perry ACW Iron Brigade figures:
I turned up the hat brims on the few that didn't already have them turned up and I fabricated a feather out of lead foil, reinforced by liquid weld. I drybrushed the black hat with a bit of gray to give it texture. I went with the gray feather as in the illustration. The results:
The cap badge wound up being a bit more impressionistic than I had hoped (the gap between what we aim for vs what we achieve being apparent), but at gaming distance it evokes the death's head better than in pictures. The shading strokes are a bit more abrupt in the photographs than with the naked eye. Another one of those effects that doesn't draw attention to itself (I hope). Not the most colorful unit, but a distinctive one--and what black powder era gaming table isn't spruced up by a unit of Germans in dark garb wearing a totenkopf badge? I can see these fellows being referred to as the "black hats" in play.
Great job, Ed, I have the German Legion in my Hungarian Revolution armies too only I went for black rather than grey....gamer's license I guess, they more likely were grey in the 'real thing'.
ReplyDeleteYeah, what is it with Germans and their death's heads though????
Following your project with interest.
I saw (somewhere on the web) that someone had done the German Legion in black, in 54mm plastics, I believe: they looked really good! It became a toss up by the time I actually did them.
DeleteCan't say much about the Germans and death head (having a last name like "Mueller" you would think I had some insight...LOL). You can certainly find the symbol on multiple flags and guidons among German units in the Thirty Years War.
Interesting to note that the British 21st Lancers, a very un-German outfit, adopted the symbol "Death or Glory Boys."
Great work and beautifully done. Your project is coming along nicely. Can not wait to see it on the table top.
ReplyDeleteDon't know anything about the Hungarian revolt but those guys do look cool! Nice work!
ReplyDeleteEd what size are your individual stands of three figures
ReplyDeleteHi Cash Strapped,
ReplyDeleteIf you go to the Chocolate Box Wars Post at the below URL, you can download everything I have on the system right now (it includes mounting conventions). And if you scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, you'll see some references to an interim variant of Volley and Bayonet that I've come up with to use the same figures (so in the meantime, the figures can get some use). Hope this answers your questions:
http://edmwargamemeanderings.blogspot.com/2017/03/work-in-progress-chocolate-box-wars.html