PRUSSIAN CUIRASSIERS 1866

The Prussian 7th (Magdeburg) Cuirassiers (left) and 3rd (East Prussian) Cuirassiers (right) join the establishment (Northstar 1866 Figures).

In this post, dear readers,  I am gratified to report the completion of the aforementioned Prussian 1866 Cuirassier project. As expected, I did not complete these figs within the optimistic two week window.  However, I can say that I did complete them earlier than doing this posting (so let's call it three weeks).  As is the usual, I'll provide a study of how I did these figs and a bit of background on the units.  I must also recommend that anyone interested should also visit Dean's  WAB blog to see his superb rendition of these figures (which was both inspirational and aspirational for my own efforts).  Moving on, here is my study of these figures. As usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX

Trooper of a Prussian Cuirassier of the period (unfortunately, I can't dig up the source)

Although the Cuirassiers are among the highest prestige units of the Prussian Army, with lineages stretching back in some cases to the 1670s, tracing these regiments, post the 1806 Prussian Army reconstruction, is complicated, to say the least--much more so, for example, than the hussars, which also reach back a long way (to Frederick the Great's Army).  The difference is that the hussars (for example) were either continued or eliminated--and new ones formed, so the history/lineage of each is fairly linear. With the cuirassiers, however, the original thirteen regiments (pre 1806) were amalgamated into four regiments for the Befreiungskriege  (1813-14)--and then five more regiments were added afterwards (in 1819).  Thus, the post-Napoleonic Prussian Army had nine cuirassier regiments (not counting the Garde du Corps) that persisted to the end of WWI, that amalgamated the traditions and lineages of old regiments.  So please excuse the seemingly superficial treatment of the background information on these units...

 7th Magdeburg Cuirassiers (Von Seydlitz)

Image of the 7th Cuirassiers in Von Bredow's "Death Ride" found on the Planet Figure Forum (unattributed).

The Magdeburg Cuirassiers are the darlings of any Post-Napoleonic Prussian Army. For anyone not familiar with their history, they along with the 17th Uhlans--who definitely get second billing--conducted the famous charge at the Battle of Mars La Tour  known as Von Bredow's Death Ride. In terms of celebrated actions, this would be the Prussian version of  the Charge of the Light Brigade (but in typically Prussian v British fashion, it was a calculated risk as opposed to a magnificent blunder). For anyone curious, I recommend that you follow the aforementioned links or check out the excellent post at Black Powder Games on the topic. The 7th Cuirassiers (Magdeburg) began as the 4th Cuirassiers in 1809, created from an amalgamation of squadrons from the pre-1806 Silesian, Brandenburg, and East Prussian Cuirassiers. They carried the silver kettle drums that came down through the old Leib Cuirassier Regiment. They were later renumbered as Cuirassier Rgt #7 in 1819. The "new" regiment's post 1806 battle record includes the wars of Liberation (1813/14), the Austro-Prussian War (1866), the Franco Prussian War (1870--where they did the "Death Ride"), and World War I. Suffice it to say that anyone building a post-Napoleonic Prussian Army would probably include these among their cuirassiers. And so did I...

The yellow distinctions present both an attraction and a challenge given the low contrast between the yellow facing color and the white trim. I initially did the white in "light gray" and built it up with flat white until it stood out. For the yellow I brought out my last bottle of  "Deep Yellow"  (I use enamels, and this "deep yellow" is a Testor's Model Master product--no longer in production).  This shade of yellow comes in handy with low contrast combinations like this. Whenever I do two cavalry units of the same type, I generally have one with standard bearer and the other with trumpeter.  In this case, I decided that the Magdeburg Cuirassiers would carry the standard.  

3rd East Prussian Cuirassiers (Count Wrangel)

A good representation of what the 3rd (East Prussian) Cuirassiers would look like (only in  white steel cuirasses).  

Despite it's low number, the East Prussian Cuirassiers were a "new" regiment that was converted from dragoons to cuirassiers in 1818. Despite this "creation" in 1818, its lineage stretches back to a dragoon regiment formed in 1717, and it continued to carry the silver kettle drums that were captured from the Russians at the Battle of Zorndorf in 1758.  Its battle honors include the Wars of Frederick the Great, the Befreiungskriege (1813/14), the Austro Prussian War (1866), the Franco Prussian War (1870), and World War I.  

I very much liked the combination of the light blue facings (with white trim/button color) of this regiment, particularly next to the white on yellow of the 7th Cuirassiers. Given the higher contrast, I decided that this regiment would have the trumpeter (why do all that work if nobody can see it?).

Trumpeter/Command Figure 

I did, of course, produce a trumpeter for the 7th--as is my tradition, I used the "spare"  trumpeter as a command figure. 

Display Figures

By the end of this painting project, the issues with my neck and shoulder had flared up (it sucks getting old).  This was not a surprise; going in, I realized that given these issues that this would probably be my last major painting project. In the future, I'll probably only be doing one offs and specialty figures--no more units and armies. I've now got more than enough painted toys to play with :).  Given these circumstances, I decided to paint a few extra figures and put them on a display stand representing the color party of the 3rd (East Prussian) Cuirassiers. 

Although I don't have the space to line up my toy soldiers on display like some other gamers, I do have a display case with collectibles and other bits and bobs--these figures are on display there representing the rest of my little armies that are stowed away in boxes. 

The newly added gaming figure set on parade.

Excelsior!

PRUSSIAN CUIRASSIERS 1866 WORK IN PROGRESS II

 

One week's progress (after horses): left, Cuirassier Regt #7 (Magdeburg); right: Cuirassier Regt #3, East Prussian

As repeat visitors of this blog may recall, my painting rate cannot be described as fast. Neither can it probably be called efficient--which may not necessarily be a bad thing. Who wants "efficient" toy soliders? Blech! But, as usual, I digress (aka, meander): apologies, dear reader.  Back on subject...I'm now one week into the Prussian 1866 Cuirassier project, and as anticipated, nowhere near finished. This despite dedicating several hours per day to painting (did I mention it's good to be early retired?). I am about mid way through painting these 12 figures (well, 24 if one counts horses). Anyway, here is a report on how I'm working through these.  Let's start with the above image.  I spent one entire day on the shabraques--getting the the lines and corners consistent, not only on each figure (parallel lines) but across all figures.  This kind of thing really doesn't leap out at you (nobody picks up a stand and says, "Gee, lookit those lines!"), but I find that a repeated geometric pattern like this has a collective effect, and inconsistencies jump out. 

One way I look at painting is to identify areas of special focus/difficulty where details that I feel need to be brought out will take special attention. Often, this involves identifying areas where there is alot going on in a small space. On the Prussian cuirassier outfit, these involve the base and other openings of of the cuirass, where you have rows of rivets (brass on steel), a black ruffle edged in white sticking out (a very signature look for these fellows), a belt across the midsection, and a confluence of straps and brass hinge straps at the shoulder. 

The Northstar sculpts, which I've commented on before, are quite exquisite. I would call them "photo real" in their accuracy and detail. As such, however, they don't give you much to work with as a painter in the way that less finely sculpted figures might. Others' opinions may differ: it may just be the way I paint that creates the challenge (entirely possible).  In the above picture, you can see the fine details of belt, rivets, and ruffle all near the base of the cuirass: excellent though they are, bringing them out and giving them some separation to the eye took some trial and error (to say the least), particularly the ruffle, which sticks out not much more than 2mm or so (which is about how this detail is depicted in images, to be fair, and so it is on the figures).  Whether anyone else will ever notice these details remains an open question. My thinking is that rendering such things, regardless of how small, still contributes to the overall look of the figure. Some might call this wasted effort given that figures are going to be seen at 4' to 5' distance on the table, or that nobody probably even knows (or cares) that there should be a white edge on a black ruff at the base of the cuirass, or given the state of eyesight in our gaming group nowadays (we're no longer youngsters).  All true: but that's just how I paint at the end of the day, regardless. Like others have said of their painting practice, I'll know it's there, and in the end, I'll feel like the figures are "finished."   

Normally, I paint "assembly-line" style, meaning that I do the same detail or color across all the figures at the same time. However, when confronted with a project that involves lots of what I call "high control" painting--which progresses very slowly--I generally take a few figures and do them to completion ahead of the rest. This project fits into this category. Having a few figs done not only gives me a momentum boost to get me through the project, but also helps me to get the trial and error out of the way so that I have the techniques down for  later figures.

Given their unique qualities, I finished the trumpeters for both regiments...

...and the command set for the Magdeburg Cuirassiers: with these figures, I learned how to deal with the cuirasses. 

Having one command set done, I'm moving on to the East Prussian Cuirassier command set. I may be done with these fellows given another day or two. 

I'll then move on to the troopers for both regiments.  These will move along more quickly than their predecessors and I'll do them in one batch of six (as opposed to the three sets of two that I've done to date).   

Then, of course, I'll do the final touch up, the varnishing, and then the basing. Perhaps I'll be able to bring this project to completion in an even two weeks. And if I don't, well, no matter. It may be three. 

Excelsior!

PRUSSIAN CUIRASSIERS, 1866, WORK IN PROGRESS (BARELY)

Prussian Cuirassier, Franco Prussian War Era, Edouard Detaille, 1882

Wikimedia Commons. 

Well, dear readers, there's not much new to report on the gaming scene.  I recently ran another game of BBB with KS blocks, but was so engaged with facilitating it that I didn't capture any photos. You can, however, check out a report of the game on Mark's My Brave Fusiliers Blog. I'll eventually update the information on the BBB Resources Page to reflect the tweaks that I did to that scenario.  In the meantime, I thought I'd put up a work in progress post on my current painting. 

Northstar Prussian Cuirassiers and Cuirassier Command 

Not much to look at, really, but these will eventually be two regiments of Prussian Cuirassiers for my Chocolate Box Wars Prussians.  These figs have been primed and sitting about waiting to be done for months (maybe more...I lose track). I finally picked up a brush this week and  tackled the horses (more work than they would seem: undercoated with burnt umber, wash of black, then drybrushed with burnt sienna; then painted the manes/tails black and drybrushed them dark gray; still need to do the harness--which will be leather).   Although I already have two regiments of Prussian Cuirassiers, they are Foundry. They're nice enough, but given that all of my other Prussian Cav are the larger and more detailed Northstar figures, I could not resist "upgrading" my heavies to fit in (chore though they may be). 

As a primary reference, I'll be using Bassett-Powell's excellent Armies of Bismarck's Wars, a "usual suspect" sort of text.  It is a fine reference (don't get me wrong: I highly recommend it), and in my earlier years, given how comprehensive it is on the subject, a text like this would have been the only source I would have used.  However, nowadays I also consult other materials, such as prints, uniform plates, and paintings by artists like Karl Rochling and Eduoard Detaille; these latter may be romanticized, but I would wager that they accurately render uniform and equipment details given that they were produced at a time when those who actually wore the garb and carried the kit were among the primary audience.  I think I really began to appreciate (and use) these other kinds of sources when I was creating forces outside of what the "usual suspect" references addressed. It's not that I don't use Ospreys, etc, any longer, but now I don't rely on them exclusively.  So what began as a necessity has grown into an integral part of my process. If anyone is really interested in going down the rabbit hole of seeing how I incorporate "alternate" references, I would encourage them look over the posts on my Russian Army of the Russo Turkish War era as a good example.

In that spirit, for this project, I am drawing on my collection of Sturm Cigarette Cards. I was fortunate enough to pick up several albums of these on ebay; the bibliophile in me likes them, but they're also useful references (imagine that; a practial curio!).  To use these alternate references, I take digital snaps (or download digital images), paste them in a word document, enlarge them, and bring that to the painting table.  For the curious, here is a pdf version of my Prussian cuirassier cigarette card compilation and my other sources compilation for this project.  And just to round out this post, here are some nice pictures of the relevant cigarette cards (as usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX):

And that's all for now...

Excelsior!