POST NAPOLEONIC COMMAND STANDS

 

Danish Commanders: from the indispensable NYPL Vinkhuijzen Collecton.

In this post we report on the completion of another "round out the collection"  project, one more modest than the previous two consisting of Prussian and Austrian 1866 infantry.  This one addresses the major remaining loose end of my post-napoleonic forces: commanders/command stands. Specifically for my Danes, Prussians, and Austrians.  Although each force contains sufficient command stands to fulfill the modest framework of my yet to be completed Chocolate Box Wars system, I have been successfully playing these armies using my Post Napoleonic VnB variant , for which the command stands are sufficient, albeit with a few compromises (depending on the situation).  Having a campaign or large game idea kicking around in my head for these forces, I wanted to do a proper job of rounding out the command figures in case more were needed.  And so, dear reader, this post I report on the rationale and completion of these figs.  As usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX in this post.  First up, the Danes...

...Above, Danish Commanders featuring the very characteristic look of many post-Napoloeonic generals (again, from the NYPL Vinkhuijzen Collecton). My Danes are a hybrid of repurposed figures, and that includes the command: although Northstar does make Danes, they still make no mounted commanders for them.  As is my norm, I tackled this problem by repurposing other figures....

...when doing my Danish command, I turned to the Perry Carlist War line, at first, the Isabelino Foreign commanders (left), and now also the British Auxillary Legion Command (right). The major sticking point for the former is the headgear...

...they lack the characteristic feather plume, a marker of not only the Danes but of many of the continental mid-century commanders. So I modified the figs by shaving down some of the ornament and adding the feather plume using green stuff.

Above, the previously completed Danish Army command stand included as an illustration: the modified Bernelle figure (plume added) serves as the Army commander along with the Evans figure (to the right) in the role of ADC...

...in that earlier project, I modified the generic Isabelino command figure (boxed in the foreign command figure picture) by adding the plume and painting him up appropriately...

...for this project, I added a second conversion of this figure: always tricky to get two modified figures to look consistent.  You'll see this figure again, by the way, later in this post.  If you're looking for a basic command figure to repurpose, you can't go wrong with this fella, as far as I'm concerned (I keep a few on hand!). 

So, although this gave me two Danish subordinate commanders, I needed three (figuring that in a six player game there would be three per side, each needing a command figure).  As I was digging through my Isabelino figs, I ran across this previously overlooked figure among the British Auxillary Legion commanders (he is boxed in the picture at the top). For some reason, he struck me as a likely lad: so I did him up as my third Danish officer. Given that the other two are twins, he adds some variety to my set. In smaller games, I can use two different sub commanders and save using the twins for larger games where I would need  the third.   

The Danish Command, now a proper group providing me more options. 

When I was putting together my 1866 Austrians, Northstar had not yet produced any command figures.  Thus, I used some out of production command figs that I found along with some other substitutions. Northstar has since come out with more Austrian command figures, and so I decided to round out my Austrian command as well. 

It all begane when I picked up this spectacular Austrian high command figure (left), which I added to my Army command stand...

...in place of the previous Austrian Army Commander, which was this figure, which you may recognize.  In this case, I had shaved down the epaulettes and other ornaments on his coat to give the clean lines of the Austrian uniform and added the large green/black plume using green stuff. For those with too much time on their hands, there is a more complete account of the production of the original Austrian command set in this post from July 2017. Having pulled him from the Army command, I plopped him on an individual base and he now provides me with an additional sub commander figure. 

This elegant fellow came in the Austrian High Command set, and so I did him as well. One thing I'll add is that--by happy accident--I found that Front Rank horses compliment these figures particularly well, and so I use them instead of those that come with them. 

The complete Austrian command, filled out to suit just about any combination I might require. 

Last but not least, I added this Guards Officer to my Prussian Command set.  Like my Austrians, I had put together my Prussians when command figures were not available. Thus, I supplemented what was available by putting cavalry trumpeters on command stands.  

...The complete Prussian command set, now structured to be able to handle the deployment of the complete Prussian force without pressing cavalry trumpeters  into the role of infantry commander (instead, they can be used for cavalry commands). 

Excelsior!