Frederick the Great is a simple conversion from an Italeri Napoleon figure. I just swapped Napoleon's bicorne for a Prussian tricorne.
I had trouble finding Seven Years War artillery sets in 1/72 plastic. I thought American Revolutionary War crews would do, but the figures I saw were all very uninspiring. Instead I reached back to the army of Charles XII of Sweden. Zvezda does a beautiful set, and these looked like proper SYW guns to me. I know the uniform is not exactly right, but the spirit of this whole project was "good enough."
More HaT Industries figures provided the two battalions of grenadier garde for my army. All the HaT figures come without hats, leaving the gamer to choose between musketeer tricorns, fusilier caps, and grenadier miters. 40 of each are provided in the box.
Seven Years War cavalry is also very hard to come by. Revell did a couple of sets, but they are long out of print. I thought HaT's 1806 Prussian hussars could easily go back in time 50 years. These are the Zieten and Seydlitz Hussars.
The Prussian dragoons also required me to find Napoleonic figures and dragoon them into service in the previous century. These are 1806 Prussian Dragoons from HaT. I cut off their bicorns and replaced them with extra tricornes from the infantry packs. These are the Meinicke Dragoons.
I did another hat switch for the Baron von Schönaich and Prinz von Preußen Cuirassiers, starting with HaT's Napoleonic Austrian cuirassiers.
And that, my friends, is that. I have enough Prussian figures painted to play the Kolin scenario for Sam Mustafa's "Maurice." I will probably add to the army at some point, but for now I am calling this project complete.
All told, this army contains 257 foot, 48 horse, and 5 guns. I spent $103 on the figures and another $25 on Litko bases. Now I just need my buddies to venture over for a game!
They look lovely Scott...
ReplyDeleteAll that swapping and chopping has worked well...
All the best Aly
Thanks, Aly! It was a good way to get SOME painting done during quarantine. I love my kids, but when they're around all the time, I don't get any serious painting in.
Delete“Swapping and chopping,” I like that!
DeleteThat's a very inspiring army, even for me as I don't want to paint Prussians myself. These conversions mostly are looking superb. It's a chame, that HäT prefers to put too few different poses in the box.
ReplyDeleteThe Prussian hussars by Revell were reissued for multiple times. For example: Set 02453 (Austrian dragoons and Prussian hussars). The poses are very much superior to those by HäT. However I don't know the quality of the reissues. I had some Austrian and Prussian infantry from the 2000s and got the impression that they are looking odd with many Problems with the sprue etc..
I'm using Revell Prussian hussars for many nations except for Prussians!
In Germany you will find some manufacturers producing Prussian artillery in metal (Schmäling or Hagen Miniatures) in 1/72. Some of them are not too expensive. However the Zvezda figures are just masterpieces in their own right and I love them (using them for French artillery).
The limited poses is a plus for me! I like to have some uniformity in figures in formation. I do with the horse poses were more varied, but that's a small issue.
DeleteYes, Zvezda's figures are always beautiful. I have almost every box they have ever released, and I love just admiring the sculpting.
Your Prussian look great, Scott! It will be fun to move these around the table one day. Are you planning to give Maurice another try? It has been so many years since our last Maurice game, I will need to relearn the rules.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think Maurice is a good rules set. I can always switch to Honours of War if I choose.
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