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Post by Graeme on Jul 7, 2018 3:34:07 GMT
No, a kneeling front rank for British Napoleonic line infantry is not strictly correct, the rear rank fired over the shoulder of the front rank. Actually I really wanted to put the kneeling and standing figs in the old Revell British infantry together, and I did have scenes from Zulu in mind at the time. I decided against it but I'm still tempted.
The figures we buy are rarely perfect in every way so sometimes you might have to do what you can with the figures available. As I said I like firing figures in front with loading figures behind, I think perhaps that's not strictly correct either but it's good enough for me. You wouldn't be the first person or the last to have a kneeling front rank in your battalions. Some guys will tell you the front rank shouldn't be kneeling but they will understand that you're just working with the figures you've got. I would say though that you might find that shaving the wings off the other standing figures is easier than you think.
Ultimately these are YOUR figures and you do what YOU want with them. If you want total accuracy then you go looking for the perfect figures or convert the ones you have. If you're not too worried about total accuracy you make compromises. I think we all have different criterea for what compromises are acceptable, and that's fine. If someone else doesn't like the way you did your figures then they can do their figures differently.
My personal oppinion of firing lines with kneeling figures is, perhaps They're not strictly accurate but they look darn good so I'm happy to see pictures of them whenever they're posted. And the various manufacturers have given us a lot of Kneeling firing figures so some might end up in my firing lines. But for any future sets that are made, I'm not in desperate need of more Kneeling, firing figures.
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Post by Graeme on Jul 6, 2018 8:29:20 GMT
www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=144The kneeling firing pose is absolutely fine for skirmishers or light infantry in skirmish mode. Part of the light infantry and skirmishing training was about using any available cover. Skirmishing light infantry or light companies opperated in pairs. one man fired while the other loaded or one man moved to a new position while the other gave covering fire. Based in pairs or based singly and used in pairs you could use either the kneeling or standing firing figures with either of the fast advancing figures (1st fig top row & 3rd fig bottom row in link) or with the guy reaching into his cartridge box (4th fig top row). Mix up the pairs to give variety. For the Gloucesters or light infantry in normal line infantry mode I'd probably stick to the standing firing, reaching into the cartridge box, standing nearly at attention(1st fig bottom row) and standing at the ready/advancing at the low port (2nd fig bottom row) figures. It's OK, I think, to have the firing and loading figures in the same line if you need to, British infantry often fired by companies rather than the whole line together. In general terms for line infantry, including guards, Most of the wargamers like battalions made entirely of marching figures. But if, like me, you like the action poses I think a front rank standing firing and a rear rank loading looks good for a defending line. Front rank advancing at the low point and rear rank, or ranks, marching looks good for an advancing line or column. The standing and kneeling poses with charged bayonets are good for squares defending against cavalry but, honestly, I'm happy to put these together in a line even if it's not strictly correct. These are just my personal guidelines though, the important thing is to do what looks good to you, this is meant to be fun.
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Post by Graeme on Jul 5, 2018 2:15:43 GMT
Crowdfunding? Why should we pay your costs? The figures are expensive enough. We have always paid their costs. We have always paid the costs of the other manufacturers. When you buy a set from a retailer part of the the purchase price is to recoup the cost of manufacture. crowdfunding just pays for the manufacturing costs up front. Why is HaT using crowdfunding? That was explained here on the HaT forum (or, perhaps, on the old forum), most people here are aware that due to unavoidable circumstances HaT ceased production for aouple of years. This lead to complaints from customers about the amount of time they had been waiting for sets so HaT decided to open a second line of production which was funded by crowdfunding In order to get through the backlog a bit quicker. It should be noted that most of the manufacturers making our figures are not huge corporations with unlimited resources but one or two people who either outsource production or cast the figures themselves. For these types of opperations I imagine that production costs of each new set have to be paid for by sales of the last one so, if a second line of production is to be opened, where does the money come from? HaT's answer to that question was crowdfunding. If any economic genius out there has a better solution we would all love to hear it. HaT is still producing figures in the normal way, they are also producing some extra sets via crowdfunding. In the case of these two sets it should be noted that the sets have already been made but due to an error at the factory they were made out of scale and it was decided to sell them as 28mm sets. Some of us here, on this forum, asked HaT to please remake them in 1/72 and to use crowdfunding if that's what it would take to get them done. It seems to me that by crowdfunding the Penisular War light and heavy dragoons HaT is just giving us what we asked for. How Dare They! P.S. Re Pommeranian Piccolo Players, I"M IN!.
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Post by Graeme on Jun 2, 2018 6:57:31 GMT
Great display, the figures look really good.
I particularly like the first and fourth shots because I can't see the edge of the Zulus so it really looks like there's 'Thaasands of 'em'. Your scene gives a real sense of how thinly defended the drift was because it looks like the British are just about modeled 1:1.
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Post by Graeme on May 8, 2018 3:17:17 GMT
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Post by Graeme on Apr 22, 2018 10:08:17 GMT
If HaT made a new set I'd buy it. And horse artillery is something that could perhaps be looked at.
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Post by Graeme on Apr 21, 2018 2:04:26 GMT
Memory is not my strong point but I seem to recall the information we were given on the old HaT forum was that when the Etruscan and Spartan sets got to the test shot stage the moulds failed and couldn't be used. A second attempt to make the sets was made but I think the Etruscan mould failed again (apollogies to HaT if I got that wrong). Actually I thought the Spartan mould had also failed but I see "Spartans 2" on the "What set do you want next" thread.
With three sets of production costs You'd have to wonder if the set would make a profit or even cover costs. Certainly selling the set would reduce losses but making the set would take time and resources. That same time and those same resources could be used to make another set that would make a clear profit.
Claus. I take your point that this can be looked at in a different way. The money has already been lost, nothing will change that so draw a line under it, start from scratch and treat the making of the Etruscans as a completely new project the same as any other. A perfectly valid idea, I just think that Wayne and the other guys are suggesting that crowdfuning might just make it more likely that HaT will do that.
One other possible factor occurs to me. HaT have said they will make sets that have master figures already made first. Suppose the moulds failed because the masters didn't work for the casting process (this is nothing more than speculation on my part). Then this set will not be on the list for the forseeable future because, no masters.
In spite of the negative aspects I think this would be a very interesting set for HaT to make. And if they did make it I'd buy some. But I won't pretend that I'll buy 20 boxes, just an interesting novelty for me.
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Post by Graeme on Apr 18, 2018 2:48:27 GMT
Not as crucial as limbers but if HaT makes Prussian caisons I'll certainly buy a box or two.
It's interesting that on the 'choose which set you want made from this list' thread Prussian Ammo wagons are on the list but there's no mention of limbers. Of course if the Prussian Ammo Wagon set is similar to the French set then each caison will come with a limber. If the caison set came out on it's own then I might be buying a few boxes just to get the limbers, and hope a limber set comes out later so the caisons can be put to use.
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Post by Graeme on Apr 18, 2018 1:38:51 GMT
Yes, I definately want Prussian limbers. The same format as the french limber set will do fine. I don't buy 20 boxes of anything but I probably need to get more Prussian artillery so I'll need a few boxes of limbers.
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Post by Graeme on Apr 3, 2018 10:44:21 GMT
"The Navy's Here"! I really like that shot of the steamers coming up river.
The figures and terrain pieces look great, those Devish figures really look like a rampaging horde.
I like the North african buildings too.
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Post by Graeme on Apr 1, 2018 15:15:56 GMT
Chris.
I've been comparing Clayton's text with Adkin in "The Waterloo Companion".
Clayton says: "About two miles into Belgium Maigrot's men encountered six hundred Westphalians defending the bridge over the Sambre at Lobbes and drove them across the river to the north bank" And later: "Pire's dripping cavalry trotted forward until the imposing walled town of Thuin loomed out of the mist"... "The defenders were six hundred fusiliers-light infantry-of the 2nd westphalian Landwehr led by Major von Monsterberg, with orders not to abandon his post prematurely. Monsterbergs fusiliers were defending a strong position and it took time to dislodge them. Maigrot's better trained veterens stormed up narrow paths into the upper town, but it took nearly an hour and some sharp street fighting to make the Westphalians escape eastwards". Later still he says that the Guard light cavalry: "trotted off towards Frasnes, four and a half miles further north up the Brussels road, followed eventually by Maigrot's light infantry and the rest of General Gilbert Bachelu's Division which was leading Reill's Corps".
Adkin in "The Waterloo Companion", Section One "The Campaign" in the subsection entitled "Thursday 15 June 1815" (page 30 in my edition) says:
"The first clash came near Thuin shortly after 3.30 a.m. Here the leading elements of Jerome Bonaparte's 6th Division opened fire on the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Westphalian landwehr regiment. They were part of the 2nd Brigade of Lieutenant-General von Ziethens I Corps" ( he has the 2/1 Landwehr in the 1st Brigade in his OOB).
I think both authors are writing abvout the 2nd Legere but Clayton has them in Bachelu's Division and Adkin as you said believes they are part of Jerome's. Perhaps Adkin has made a mistake about the transfer or perhaps one of jeromes units was put in the vanguard, possibly because at 4 battalions the 2nd Legere were the strongest of the French infantry units.
Either way, I think that the 2nd Legere was the leading infantry of Reill's advance, who were engaged in the first skirmishes with westphalian Landwehr in the vicinity of Thuin and subsequently were the first French infantry to arrive at Quatre Bras. And also opened the battle the next day with the attack on Piraumont. You just have to decide who's command to put them in.
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Post by Graeme on Apr 1, 2018 3:33:53 GMT
Tim Clayton's "Waterloo: Four Days that Changed Europe's Destiny" has Reill's advance into belgium on the 15th being led by Pire's light cavalry closely supported by the four battalions of Maigrot's 2nd Legere. They seized the bridge at Lobbe and the town of Thuin from Westphalian defenders.
Once Ney had taken command of the left wing his first act was to take Gosselies from Steinmetz's forces this was achieved by the light cavalry and horse artillery of the Guard and the 2nd Legere.
The Guard light cavalry explored the road up to Quatre Bras but came under artillery fire and found the crossroads defended by infantry so retired to Frasnes for the night where at about 9pm the first infantry arrived, a very tired battalion of the 2nd Leger. This is apparently set out in a report Lefebvre-Desnouettes sent to Ney but I don't know if the report mentions the 2nd Legere by name.
Clayton says that Ney delayed his attack on Quatre Bras until he felt enough of Reills troops had come up, but as soon as Foy's division arrived he ordered an immidiate attack which began at about 2pm with an attack by Maigrot's 2nd Legere towards Piraumont.
So clayton at least has the 2nd Legere in the vanguard all the way from the french border to the crossroads.
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Post by Graeme on Mar 29, 2018 1:06:12 GMT
They look fabulous charging towards the camera like that.
Great job, the scale armour is terrific.
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Post by Graeme on Mar 29, 2018 1:03:01 GMT
Very impressive painting indeed, even in campaign dress those fusiliers look magnificent.
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Post by Graeme on Mar 29, 2018 0:48:51 GMT
Fabulous painting once again. And great presentation, those columns would be a daunting sight to any opponent.
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Post by Graeme on Mar 29, 2018 0:41:35 GMT
Scots Grey's only action for the whole of the Napoleonic wars was rather famously at Waterloo That is correct. They did serve in the flanders campaign of The Revelutionary Wars in 1793. They distinguished themselves by breaking a formed square of French infantry without infantry or artillery support. But I don't know what their uniform looked like in 1793, the uniform of these figs is the 1796 pattern. These sprues look like they have a good number of options and I would be happy with them as they are. Adding a fifth officer figure would be a possible change. officers as bonus figures would also be good but as Brian says matching the sizing would be important.
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Post by Graeme on Mar 28, 2018 4:25:34 GMT
After I read Alan's post I noticed the same thing happening to the figures that I tried bending.
But I had another go with the same figures. Dipping them in a cup of very hot water, just boiled from the kettle, bending them into shape and setting under the cold tap. Then I chucked them in the freezer for a minute or two (I wouldn't want to leave them in more than a minute or two). On the first figure the shield arm returned half way to where it was then stopped (still looks better), the others stayed pretty much where I put them. It's been a couple of weeks and the arms are still bent, there may have been a little bit of movement to begin with and I can't be sure that they are not gradually moving at a speed slower than fingernails grow but I think I'll be bending these with the hot and cold method and then backing up by using an exacto knife to slice part way through the plastic on the outside of the bend and filling the gap. the other option is to cut a wedge from the inside of the bend and glue the edges together.
I think it's worth persisting with these because they look fantastic when the shields and, perhaps, spears have been bent a little.
Speaking of filling gaps, i've been using that glue that hardens under UV light as a filler. $14 from the post office and I think it's great. Paintable too but do prime it before painting or your matt paint will have shiny patches.
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Post by Graeme on Mar 25, 2018 0:43:18 GMT
Firstly, I would say that the mini sprue with command figures is an excellent idea if you wanted to do that.
Secondly if HaT wants to give us 15 mounted figures at the same price as a 12 mounted figure set I'm all for it. If they want to give us 20 or 50 or 100 mounted figures at the same price even better.
But I suppose there are good reasons why standardisation works for manufacturers so, if future HaT cavalry sets are going to be standard 12 mounted figure sets then I prefer to have the extra officer figure.
Here's the logic:
A standard 12 mounted figure set contains 12 enlisted men with no officers.
It could possibly contain 9 enlisted men and 3 officers. But it's one or the other, you can't have both options in the same set.
If each sprue has an extra officer figure then:
You can still have 12 enlisted men with no officers if you want.
or you can have 9 enlisted men and 3 officers.
or you can have 10 enlisted men and 2 officers.
Or you can have 11 enlisted men and 1 officer.
Here's the thing, You get to choose! You get all of those options in the same set. And if you have some spare horses hanging around or you buy a bag from Eagle Games you can use the left over figures.
I assume that the reason for the 5th figure idea is that HaT can fit an extra figure on the standard sprue but they can't fit an extra horse.
Which means the extra figure is an optional extra, like the optional heads or spare arms with optional weapons found in some HaT sets.
I like extras. And I don't recall anyone complaining that they don't like heads without bodies or weapons without figures so I don't really understand the resistence to getting an extra figure.
12 mounted figures is my minimum acceptable requirement for a cavalry set. If 1 of those figures is an officer that's excellent. i'm voting for the extra figure.
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Post by Graeme on Mar 21, 2018 4:16:20 GMT
The 95th Rifles were not in La Haie Sainte or the orchard and kitchen garden around it but 2 companies of the 1st Battalion 95th Rifles were in the sand pit across the road from and a little north of La Haie Sainte and on the wooded knoll above the sandpit. The rest of the 1/95th were on the main ridge NE of La Haie Sainte. The initial garrison of La Haie Sainte was the 2nd Light Battalion KGL under the command of Major Baring. Yes, use British Rifles figures, I don't think you'll find anything closer in 1/72 plastic. Haythornethwaite says: the green jackets were short tailed with black facings, black shoulder straps with black worsted tufts and three rows of pewter buttons. The stovepipe shako had a black ball pompom and yellow cockade. Green lacing on the overalls. Officers had braided dolmans and their shakos, perhaps had a folding brim which made them look like a mirliton cap. Field officers (and perhaps Baring) wore low bicorns. At the time of Waterloo the KGL lights were probably all armed with rifles. centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/uniformes_uniteBR.php?uniformes=42&nation=2Around 2.30pm the Hanoverian Luneburg Light battalion was sent in support of the La Haie Sainte garrison but were caught in line and destroyed by Cuirassiers. These were green jacketed, rifle armed troops. Officers had yellow sashes and cornflower blue overalls. centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/uniformes_uniteBR.php?uniformes=87&nation=5Between 3pm-5pm the garrison was reinforced first by 2 companies of the 1st Light Battalion KGL. (Their jackets had a single row of buttons and black shoulder rolls and their shako had a black plume. Officers had unbraided jackets). And, later, by the light company of the 5th Line Battalion KGL, red coated, musket armed troops. 1st Light KGL: centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/uniformes_uniteBR.php?uniformes=41&nation=2Light Co. 5th Line KGL: centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/uniformes_uniteBR.php?uniformes=112&nation=2The final reinforcements around 5pm-6pm were the light company of the first battalion 2nd Nassau Regiment (HaT's Nassau Infantry). centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/uniformes_uniteBR.php?uniformes=45
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Post by Graeme on Mar 18, 2018 8:15:43 GMT
Perfectly reasonable idea to turn it into a blanket roll over the shoulder Steve but for anyone who doesn't want to muck about with green stuff you don't HAVE to, I don't think it's a mistake in the sculpt.
Yes, I'm not at all fond of that pose in the reserve infantry set. a few drummers might be a good option. Along with a few extra loading figures.
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Post by Graeme on Mar 18, 2018 5:30:51 GMT
If they fit well they're OK. The backpacks in HaT's Prussian Infantry are well made for a good fit and really contribute to a good looking figure.
On the other hand, I don't look at the vast majority of my other Napoleonic figs from HaT and other makers, and think "gee these would look better with seperate backpacks". Althoough I have had to carve of useless blocks of plastic around some moulded on backpacks and a lot of neat rectangular cartridge boxes seem to metamorphose into indistinct polygons. There is a tendancy to lose detail.
Like CPN I like head swaps where applicable, I also like spare weapons and equpment but I don't want to recieve half a box of figures in order to fit this stuff on the sprue. This might explain the poll result. People might have been worried about losing figures to the seperate equipment. But HaT's latest landwehr offering has seperate backpacks and there are still a lot of figures in the box. also, in the past HaT have given us sets with lots of extras between the figures without replacing any of them.
I don't actually get excited by the fact that a set has seperate backpacks but if they fit well and are going to make the figures look better and we don't lose anythging by it, fine.
Looking at some of HaT's sets with moulded on packs the detail of packs and cartridge boxes is good and in some cases like the Belgian Infantry the detail is superb. If the moulded on packs are going to be as good as they can be why bother with seperate packs. if the detail of the moulded on packs is going to be fudged, forget it, give us the seperate packs.
I realise the other argument against seperate packs is that some folks don't want to be building model kits, they want figures good to go straight from the box. And that's perfectly reasonable.
One instance where I definately approve of seperate backpacks is Zvezda's French Foot Artillery. Having seperate packs and muskets for these figures means I can leave the stupid trhings off.
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Post by Graeme on Mar 18, 2018 3:35:28 GMT
It could be a bag the drum is stored in when not in use but I think the improvized bag in Brians link is the most likely explanation. Note that the drummer doesn't have a knapsack, so where does he keep his personal kit? Rolled up in his blanket which is tied at both ends and slung over the shoulder. In their early days some of the landwehr were quite poorly equipped.
Regarding greatcoats, aren't all of these guys wearing theirs? Yes I know it's a litewka but if it's made of decent broadcloth I would think it's close enough to a greatcoat for them not to be issued another one by a cash strapped Prussian army. The other figures don't have rolled greatcoats over their shoulder. a few have something rolled on top of the knapsack, probably a blanket.
One curious thing about these, each sprue in the action set has one drummer and one and a half drums. It's not a problem, the half drums will be glued together and I'll have a supply of spare drums for any time I need them. Extras are always good. It's just curious.
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Post by Graeme on Mar 9, 2018 13:13:19 GMT
Marc's right about that greatcoated officer, the second best figure HaT ever showed us. We need that figure in 1/72. Please put him in a set with the action figures. Or any other set, Spartans, Baggage Camels, Pomeranian Piccolo Players, anything.
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Post by Graeme on Mar 8, 2018 6:05:22 GMT
I have one complaint: the nose on the third marching figure from the left on the top part of the sprue is crooked! But I guess I can overlook it... His nose was straight until he criticised the Pomeranians' Piccolo playing Wayne. My Landwehr sets have arrived and they are fabulous! The figures are a very good size match for the Prussian infantry, the poses are really good and the plastic looks like something I can work with, though I dont think I need to do anything to these figures. Also, looking at them close up, the bonus figures are even better than I expected. Deleriously happy with these.
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Post by Graeme on Mar 8, 2018 5:22:49 GMT
In Brisbane Steve and the Landwehr arrived in the same box.
Your's shouldn't be too far away. Perhaps it's an Alphabetical thing, I'm Graeme F.
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