SERBS FOR ONE HOUR SKIRMISH

 

The latest contingent in my Balkan collection: Serbs, circa 1877-78 (and later)

Greetings, dear reader(s).  I am gratified to report on the addition of the Serbs for my One Hour Skirmish Muskets to Rifle variant. For anyone stumbling on this blog for the first time, my focus is on the age of the rifle--post-Napoleonic to pre-automatic weapons. My Balkan focus is on the era roughly from the Russo Turkish War through the Balkan Wars.  As with a good number of others in the collection, these figures are from the Outpost Miniatures Russo-Turkish line: now available at Badger Games in the U.S. 

The Serb "People's Army" uniform of the era--the only difference between this uniform and that of the regulars was the collar (the regulars had a standing collar), so as far as the look on the table, they would be the same. As can be seen, the signature look is brown over blue, with a blue cap--in sources, the blue is variously described as a light or gray blue (per the above right image from Helion and Company From Musket to Maxim, 1815-1914,  #55, The Serbian Army in the Wars for Independence from Turkey 1876-1878). Images of actual surviving uniforms, like the above left, indicate a more robust blue. More on that in a bit...

My contingent consists of three poses plus command (as usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX in this post)...

Serbian Line Firing

I used a wash of black and a drybrush of lighter blue to bring out the details of the cap lines in the sculpts. 

Serbian Line Advancing

I struck a balance between the dark and light blue options by using a mid-blue, Humbrol World War One Blue, for the trousers and caps. I decided to go with black belting rather than brown to add a bit more detail. Speaking of which, on a utilitarian uniform such as this absent any trappings, I add detail by emphasizing the strapping and equipment--first underpainting it in black and then going over it in the respective colors, with an eye towards bringing out points where straps cross  or equipment is nested together, like the water bottles over the haversacks. 

Serbian Line Charging

This sculpt is my favorite in this line: very animated and finely detailed, right down the facial details. 

Serbian Command

Given that One Hour Skirmish is a very low level game, I needed an NCO, so I took the standard bearer and gave him a guidon, something appropriate for a small unit: both he and the musician can serve as NCO leaders as needed.  Of course, since I had him I also worked up the officer.

Figure Comparison

Outpost Serbs next to Outpost Montenegrins.

I have previously posted about the variation in sculpts within the Outpost Russo Turkish line. The Serbs are among the smaller figures: they are "true" 25mm. I would guess that they are from the same artist who sculpted the Montenegrins. 

Three Foot View

The collection as seen at gaming distance (the colors in the picture are a bit washed out). 

The Serbs round out my collection of forces for the Balkans. Most conventionally, they would be put on the table in games against the Ottomans starting with the Russo Turkish War of 1877 and continuing through to the Balkan Wars. However, given the troubled history of the Balkan region and the small scale actions represented in the One Hour Skirmish system, they could be put on the table against just about any of the other contingents in any number of plausible scenarios. The possibilities are nearly endless. 

Excelsior!

LOGISTICKS

 

An uncharacteristic foray in DIY terrain for the Meanderer: stacked log piles. 

Greetings, dear reader(s). In this post, I will show not only the latest bit of hobby production 'round here, but how a trip down the rabbit hole brought me to the "need" to create such an eclectic bit of terrain.  As you can see from the above, these represent limbed and stacked logs.  Read on for why and how I wound up doing such things.

Well, doctor, it all started when I completed my "Jager" project: a contingent of Prussian and Austrian Jagers (left and right above, respectively).  Although certainly suitable for other scenarios in my One Hour Skirmish Musket to Rifle variant, I wanted to pit these two contingents against each other as a classic confrontation of the 1866 Austro-Prussian war.  It didn't take me long to find a suitable battle and sector where direct action between Austrian and Prussian Jagers did indeed happen...

...in the heavy, back and forth fighting in the Swiepwald (above) during the Battle of Koniggratz  (above image of one phase of the fighting from the superb Battlefield Anomalies Blog: highly recommended). 

...this is another view of the Swiepwald as shown on the Kriegspiel map. The Austrians were pushing in from the right (east) and the Prussians from the left (west).  I wasn't really interested in a fight "in" a forest as a game. So, upon first blush, I was thinking of looking at the fighting near the Swiepwald as opposed to in it. But upon further study (it's always good to have books and references)...

...I found that the Swiepwald was not a monolithic piece of forested terrain, but  variegated, with some open meadows (in green), new growth and old growth areas, a gully (shown in brown in the upper right), and most of all, an area that had been cleared where the trees had been harvested and stacked into log piles (shown as the lighter green area at the lower right with the stacked log piles in brown). The above map came from the Prussian staff study of the battle (the image was found in the Wargaming in History series, Volume 12, Koniggratz, 1866, by John Drienkienwicz and Andrew Brentnall)

This cleared area became known as the "Meadow of Death" as the units from both sides were fed into it and fought back and forth across the stacked log piles (the above image was found on the aforementioned Battlefield Anomalies blog--it is a motion picture still from a movie on the battle).  My sense is that during the battle there were few if any standing trees in this sector (as opposed to the above picture--which is a good representation of the action, otherwise). 

So, now I had to find me some stacked logs suitable for 28mm gaming. Being a lazy sod, I first scanned the model railroad terrain sites for likely subjects: long story short, there was only one, and it was expensive and consisted of plastic logs that I would have to paint, anyway.  Confronted by the fact that I couldn't buy these ready made, I contemplated the sober realization that, one way or the other, I would have to fabricate them myself.  I then thought about all the articles, blogs, and youtubes I had viewed of more industrious fellows than me who gathered sticks and whatnot from 'round their houses to use as scatter terrain. It was then that the 40- watt bulb of inspiration started sputtering above my head...

...and looking at the "back 40" behind our house, I came to the astounding realization that I had my very own Swiepwald out there...

...complete with ready made log piles (well, piles of branches and sticks that I had stacked to clear the paths: but you get the idea).  I then went through these and picked out sticks of likely suspects with similar diameters and reasonable straightness (not as easy as it sounds). I then cut them into 6" and 4" lengths (for longer and shorter log piles). Then--when the wife was out--I baked them in the oven at 250 degrees for 15 minutes to kill any creepy crawlies that might be lurking...

...and from these, I created a series of two-level log piles, with the base level consisting of three sticks and two sticks for the second level.  Knowing that white glue itself would not be sufficient, I pinned the top level sticks onto the lower level  by drilling holes in both and using snipped lengths of florist wire for pins: and then slobbering white glue all over the pins and any parts that contacted each other... 

...For the lower (base) level, I drilled three horizontal holes through each of the sticks and threaded florist wire through them, pulling them together tight and tucking the wire out of sight on the underside (shown above). Once completed, I sprayed them all with a generous coating of Scenic Cement  (lazy man's white glue mixture) to seal them and help keep the bark and other bits from flaking off through use (or at least to minimize shedding).

Of course, I had to produce enough of these beasties to sprinkle over a 4 foot by 6 foot area, which took me about a week (sheesh).  When this all started, I didn't even know that I needed (or wanted) a single log pile, much less a bunch of them. But now I am outfitted to set games in the Swiepwald--and I reckon that I may be able to find other uses for these as well.  

Excelsior!

HUNGARIAN "MILITIA" IN NATIONAL COSTUME

 

Completed contingent of Hungarian Militia in Peasant Costume for my One Hour Skirmish (OHSK) Balkan/Frontier project collection.

Greetings dear reader(s).  Here is another addition to my OHSK project. These figures are from the discontinued Keelman/former Steve Barber Hungarian Revolt line: "Hungarian Militia in Peasant Uniform" (more on that in a bit). As usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX in this post. 

They would appear to have been, at least in part, modelled on the above left illustration from the Gyozo Smogyi Honved Army, 1848-49 book, which calls them by the same name. I'm sure that in the very specific context of the Hungarian Revolt of 1848, 1849 there may have been militia units (or a militia unit) raised and garbed as such. But my purview is wider, and I will treat these not as some specific militia unit, but as armed citizens in national costume (in this case, Hungarian)--irregular local defense forces not uncommon to frontier regions and the Balkans in particular. 

Doing a bit of research into the Hungarian National costume, I found that the signature look was/is a grand, embroidered mantle. These figures, however, are not in such garb: as a matter of fact, they are in waistcoats and shirt sleeves.  So, I looked for samples of what sort of costume might be commonly worn underneath the mantles...

    

...and I found that, like the figure in the Smogyi illustration, there was a consistent theme of black underclothing beneath the mantles. The bottom illustration of the three seated men, in particular, illustrates a very consistent uniformity--and their costume is a close match for the figures. So...

...my initial take was use this illustration as a model, and do these figures in the same motif. As an aside, the "white" is not actually white, of course (nothing is that simple). To get some texture and differentiation, I did the white areas first in Humbrol light gray, then a wash of black, followed by a highlight and drybrush of flat white.  Similarly, the black areas have a drybrush of  Humbrol gunship gray. But I digress. Getting back to the figures...

                                     Montenegrins                          Bashi Bazouks

                                                                       Seressaners

...these black-and-white Hungarians were okay, but seemed monastic compared to my other contingents in national costumes (Montenegrins, Bashi Bazouks, and Seressaners) .  So, I did a bit more research into embellishments that might be appropriate for the shirt sleeve and vest configuration...

...and found several examples such as the ones above. These plus the  patterns found on the mantles provided models for adding some color to the lads...

...and here is one example: each figure was given a unique set of embellishments. I abstracted the patterns to give a general impression rather than trying to render micro details, and kept them all within the same representative color palette.

  

Here are four figures showing a 360 degree view of the sculpts. 

A view of the new contingent of eight figures and their distinctive patterns. 

View from the in-game ("three foot") perspective. 

Excelsior!