PASS IN REVIEW: 1ST SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN WAR DANES

Danish Line Infantry are Perry ACW Union Infantry in Sack Coats

I've reached completion on the initial armies for my Chocolate Box Wars project: Danes and Prussians (with volunteers and foreign units for both).  I've posted individual pictures of some of these, now it's  time for a "pass in review." First up, the Danes...as usual, clix pix for BIG PIX...

All the figures, minus volunteers and auxiliary forces 

Danish Guard are Perry British Intervention Force Scots Grenadier Guards

The artillery and gunners are the only actual "Danish" figures (from the Northstar 1864 line).  The rest are a mix from Northstar 1866, Perry (ACW, Carlist War, and British Intervention Force), and Irregular (Austrain Risorgimento Hussar).   In the meantime, playtesting will begin in the next month (hopefully), with updates and developments on the progress of that to come.

In the short term, I'll be posting a pass in review of the Prussians and the Volunteer & and Foreign troops separately, so Feldmutzekopf advises...

A GAMER AT THE MUSEUM

Friedland by Messionier

 I rediscovered a series of photos that I took last summer during a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.  Battlefields and military museums are great, and I like those, but as any frequenter of museums will know, there's often much of interest to be found in non-military themed institutions, especially the larger ones. I thought I'd post a few items of interest.  The Messonier Friedland (above) is particularly stunning--I came around a corner and it jumped out at me. I had been to the Met many times, but either I missed this one or it has only recently been put on display.  As usual, Clix Pix for BIG PIX.

The arms and armor collection is extensive and well done: not to be missed if you're ever in New York:

Among the armor collections,  they have an excellent collection of 17th century artifacts that I found very useful when painting my Thirty Years War/ 17th Century figures.

Buff Coated Cuirassier and Pike armors

"White" 3/4 cuirassier armor

            The 1/2 armor on the right exhibits the eastern European zischagge style helmet

Nice examples of inlaid "black" half armors

 They have extensive accoutrements as well.

 I found the collection of powder horns (a small sampling of which are above) to be particularly instructive.

 There are also extensive examples of hand weapons (pikes, polearms, swords), muskets, pistols, and a few galleries of Samurai armor and weapons.  Atlhough this pictorial centered on the 17th Century, the Met collection includes a good number of medieval/renaissance items as well. As we conclude this virtual tour, I cannot resist taking one detour along the way towards the exit...

...an astonishingly forward-looking piece: Jean-Francois Millet, 1875:

Maid Texting in the Pasture...

Excelsior!

GERMAN LEGION: MONOCHROME WARRIORS OF THE HUNGARIAN REVOLT

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... 

Here is an illustration of the unit from the excellent The Hungarian Army 1848-1849 by Ralph Weaver (Partisan Press, distributed by Caliver Books).

           
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.