Wednesday 22 August 2012

Austrian Command WIP

Our Austrian command figures arrived the other day, 2 hours before I headed out for work. I was tempted to clean them up as I knew it would be a few days before I would get a chance however I resisted.
  
When Cameron and I played the other night we had to use Prussian brigade commanders and CnC so I was determined that by the next time we play the Austrians will be all Austrian (except for the Saxons ;0)
  
So I bashed together a Battle Honor's CnC with 1 added AB figure on BH horse (can you spot him? Na I wouldn't be able to either as they are exactly the same size and style). There is a wee French casualty added to.
  
1st of the brigade commands. I know almost nothing of Austrian general uniforms other than the pics I have seen on line so my apologies if they are wrong.
  
And the 2nd. I still have to block in a few areas as well as paint the bases once the sand is dry the apply Army Painter.
  
I didn't take a photo of the whole group before starting painting but this is Cameron's batch. Swapped in a few different horses as almost all the horses were in boring poses.
  
Cameron bought a brigade of OG German grenadiers from Robert to start him off, I cleaned this lot up and hit them with AP before detailing them. The turned out not bad at all and when Cameron finished the ground work the will fit in with his army.
 
This is a little side project that I would have finished long ago if not for the Kutuzov figure I converted. I have never like the head on the AB Kutuzov figure and found a great head on 1 of the early AB Prussians. I clipped his hat off, drilled and pinned him as well as adding the soft cap in hand. The block I have is the sash and medals etc, I have never seen Kutuzov wear his sash on this side of his body and it bugs me as I don't know what colour to do it. My buddy has suggested blue silk, If you have the answer please let me know and also I am not sure if I should add eppaulettes, I guess if he has all the medals he should have the eppaulettes to? I also did a couple of other head swaps, I'm chuffed with the mounted guard officer.

19 comments:

The Angry Lurker said...

The last time I did head swaps I lost the figures to a tantrum, good patience my friend!

Paulalba said...

Thanks Fran,
I have drilled the odd finger in the past and been very close to loosing the rage but the AB metal is good to work with and the figures are pretty expensive so they generally survive!

Anonymous said...

I like the individuality you achieve with your work. Something (else) to aspire to.

John (VonBlucher) said...

Paul,
Glad you were able to join in the competition over at La Bricole. I was getting lonely as now there are 3 of us working on 15/18mm
projects.

Ray Rousell said...

Looking grand Sir! No head swaps for me, I've been doing hat swaps recently. WSS Generals, tricorn cut off replaced by a floppy hat. I only stabbed myself once!

Gonsalvo said...

Looking good as always, Paul.

Austrian generals wore *red* pants and had gold trim on their red collars and cuffs... this is for the Generals, lesser officers (and probably some generals in the field) would wear the dark grey/black Uberock, as some of your figures have. The dark green plume on the hats are correct.

Hungarian Cavalry generals had some other variations and make a fun change up!

Ken said...

Excellent work Paul! I've only done one metal head swap before. I wouldn't want to do a whole regiment!

Good work mate.

Ken

Rodger said...

Great work there Paul. I don't mind chopping up plastic fig's but somehow I struggle with lead.

Sgt Steiner said...

Hi those look great as ever. Kudos on head swapping with 15mm

Phil said...

Great work Paul...Command stands are looking very very nice!

Captain Richard's miniature Civil War said...

Great looking Command stands, Paul

ljr70 said...

I love your creativity and modeling skills! Fantastic. You push me to get better. Thank you!

Oleg said...

Paul, excellent works!!! You well done!!

Oleg said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paulalba said...

Thanks very much for all the kind comments and also info about uniforms. Stuck at work at the moment. When I finish tomorrow I am hoping to finish off the 2 small commands at least. Thanks again, best Paul

Curt said...

Beautiful work, Paul! I'm looking forward to seeing the final results of that conversion in the last pic.

Doc Smith said...

Wow Paul! I'm really liking your command vignettes. They are really coming along and will make great eye-candy on the wargaming table - plus, they're a great idea too. Looking forward to the finished article!

Cheers,
Doc

Iowa Grognard said...

Inspiring work as always!

Paulalba said...

Hi Fitz Thanks!

Hi John,
I was thinking the Austrian commands were never going to come. I'll pos the 2 I have finished later.

Hi Ray, Thanks! I'll look out for the floppy hat!

Hi Peter, Thanks for the kind comment and also the uniform info!

Hi Ken, Rodger and Sgt S Thanks, The metal on the AB figures is pretty soft not so bad although I think a regiment is out of my league, fingers would be like a pin cushion.

Thanks Phil and Captain R, The command stands help our wee armies stand out on the table that little bit more.

Thanks very much ljr70, very kind of you to say!

Thanks Oleg, Are you still doing your Naps?

Thanks Curt, Doc and Iowa Grognard, I'll try and get the commands finished pretty fast. Curt, I would like to get the Kutuzov command finished soon also.

Best regards
Paul