BOX OF BAVARIANS

 

Bavarian Contingent Command

Greetings, dear readers.  The period of disruption continues in these parts, with its impact on blogging and things hobby. However, there has been an upside.  As part of the process, I have decided to use this process to round out hobby loose ends, the subject of this post being a prime example.  While bundling and packing up my toy soldier stuff, I ran across a box of painted mid-century (probably 1870ish) Bavarians that were generously gifted to me by a friend and fellow club mate, Bruce.  Not having a complete Bavarian "army" (like my others), I stored them away "for later."  When running across them again, I decided that later had arrived.  I came to the rather obvious realization that I did not need to build a whole "army" of Bavarians to make use of these, but they could be used by themselves to field a very nice allied contingent.  So, rather than packing them away again to not be seen until who-knows-when, I pulled them out and got down to rebasing them. 

THE INFANTRY

I could have broken the infantry down several ways, but decided to organize them as a brigade of two regiments of two battalions each (using the two-stand per battalion model per my VnB Post-nap variant), with a half battalion of Jagers. 

Above Left and Right: one regiment in rose facings and one in yellow (mit Fahne). 

I pulled these Jagers in kneeling poses and spotted them on a single stand to represent a half battalion of Jagers.  

THE CAVALRY

There were two fine regiments of Bavarian dragoons in the collection (four figs each)--providing a nice cavalry brigade to accompany the infantry brigade. 

The cavalry regiments are distinguished by separate poses, with one having sword on shoulder and one sword carried, and by their rose and red facings. 

ARTILLERY

I decided to be a bit more selective with the artillery. There were four stands of guns and gunners in the collection, but I decided on rebasing only two. This was due in part to the fact that the mix allowed for two "standard" 3-figure gun crews (as depicted, with a commander, a loader, and a ramrod holder), with the remainder being multiple figures in the same pose (pushing the gun carriage).  Had I needed four guns, I could have come up with a way of configuring them (as Bruce had), but given the size of the contingent, two batteries are about right. 

THE COMMAND

Although the contingent doesn't technically warrant an "Army" command stand, I had a Prussian command stand left over, which started out with the figure in the greatcoat nearest to the flag (and an aide, which I pulled).  I then added Bruce's command figure (the one in the foreground in the brown boots) and retouched the other, covering up the dark Prussian blue with Bavarian Cornflower Blue.   I figure I can still add this element as an allied command stand as needed, particularly if I pull the flag (which has a magnetic base), making it more generic. 

And there was this handy command figures in the mix, which I simply mounted up. He will do nicely as the contingent/brigade commander in a game. 

USEFULLY BOXED 

And perhaps best of all, the entire contingent fits nicely into a single Very Useful Box (blue, of course, to signify Bavarians).  Bruce has since moved on from our club, but I would like to publicly thank him for this splendid gift, which I have finally done some justice to.  I intend to add this contingent to the first game that I get on the table (once I have a new permanent gaming space again). 

Excelsior!