Prussian Workbench 3

When my brother and I set out collecting our 15mm Napoleonics all those years ago we concentrated on collecting units from the Battles around Waterloo.

Since joining our local club and starting our collection again we seemed to fall into the same pattern of collecting. Thankfully some of the guys have built up armies for other Napoleonic periods (Chris put together a Bavarian army and Stuart has his Russian army).


When I planned my Old Glory Prussian army I made a point of hitting units that could be used through 1812-1815. I know this still leaves out a lot of nice Prussian units so I decided that if I really want a unit that interests me (Life Hussar, Cuirassiers, Guard) I'll do them with AB figures, at least in part. I always fancied a Prussian Cuirassier unit and I think the East Prussian uniform is the nicest, also I don't have any other East Prussian's to my name so these will be my 1st. I wish I had researched before hand as I am told the Battle Honours Cuirassiers are pretty much the same as the AB versions, Ahhh, such is life!


I had a brilliant GdB Naps game with JP the other day. We played out the Plancenoit scenario in his garage and it worked really, really well. We were not so sure how it would run at 1st but we had a great time. Laughed all the way through and hardly noticed the below zero temperatures (scarfs and hats the order of the day, hardy types us Scottish wargamers!. Over on the GdB website there are a lot of battle reports from the southern hemisphere and I often think how great it must be wargaming in your garage with shorts and a cold beer and maybe the BBQ on instead of freezing your **** off in Scotland in winter!). Sorry got a little distracted there, anyway the vast majority of the troops were JP's and it dawned on me that I need to get my ass in gear and start painting Landwher and Reserves so I have cleaned up four battalions of Landwher and have started painting them as Pommeranian's, the 1st is almost finished. Will post pics of our little Plancenoit experiment soon when JP sends me the pics . . .

More Prussians

This is the last of my current workbench items I have finished and it was great to get them all polished off.

My First Guard Battalion: I decided it was about time I had some Prussian Guard and I wanted to make them look a little different from my regular line battalions. As luck would have it I had seen at TimeCast that there was a set of Prussians advancing they had just begun to stock that were different from the other Old Glory Prussians I had purchased. These guys actually ended up as West Prussian Grenadiers with a different flag!


It was a coincidence someone had posted some on ebay so I didn't need to buy a full pack, also I notice some AB figures listed as well in similar poses. I worked out that there was enough for 2 battalions if I mixed the sets and with a few charging guys added in I would have a fusilier battalion to complete the regiment. Thankfully I won both auctions at low prices and set to work. I decided to add mounted officers to each battalion and have lightened the uniforms a bit more than my other units to help them stand out.

These are a real monkey off my back, it seems as if I've had them sitting around forever. I must admit I lost interest in them as they just seemed so dark. When I varnished them the highlights just disappeared. However with the grass around them they look fine.

I actually really enjoyed doing the volunteer jager for my regiments so it must be the dark facings as well as the uniforms that put me off these guys? The main thing is they are finished and I don't have to paint them again!

My 1st Horse Battery: I know they probably should have the cavalry coat on but as far as I know Old Glory don't do horse battery figures so I figured it could be sunbathing weather!

I did a little bit of converting with Milliput and my scalpel to give them the proper overalls and painted the bedroll blue with the white belting. I think they'll pass as horse artillery?

These are actually the guns I painted for my foot battery and I switched them as the ones I did for these guys had more detailed barrels and looked slightly heavier. I figured the horse battery would be slightly lighter looking? (nonsense I know but that was my thinking :-). Stuart had the barrels spare and very kindly passed them onto me, I think they are from AB or Battle Honours? Cheers Stuart.

Prussian Command 2

I finally feel as though I am starting to get my little army together. I've been clearing a load of the figures I've had nearly finished for a while from my workbench and it feels good!

This is my 1st main command base and I was aiming to make it Bulow (if anyone can see a problem with that let me know). I used a mix of Old Glory and Battle Honours figures and a little gun from the spares box (cheers Chris). I snipped off the cap of the ADC and replaced it with a plastic card and miliput bicorne and also did a little work to the saddles. I wish now I had filed down the fancy red one and made it the fur type.




My 1st cavalry command base finished. Lithuanian and West Prussian Dragoon officers and a cavalry general. I have the West Prussian regiment completed and I've started cleaning up the Lithuanians. All the figures are from Old Glory and I picked them up from TimeCast down in England.

1st West Prussians

I finally got them finished and about time too!

I have been working on this regiment for quite some time now and have had the 2nd and fusilier battalions finished since the start of the year before getting distracted by other units. The vast majority of the figures in my battalions are from Old Glory.


My plan is to use only the march attack figures for my musketeer battalions and the advancing/charging guys as fusiliers.

Here is the command base of the 2nd battalion with a Lancashire Games drummer added in for variation.


I have been buying my Old Glory figures from Timecast in the UK.




The fusilier command base, not sure about the officer with big fluffy hat? I think with my next fusiliers I'll be giving him a shako. I decided early on to put the charging men at the back and the high port men at the front so the bases could fit together easier in column. A wee note if you are buying the charging guys some of the rifles are fragile and could do with a little drop of super glue added at the weakest point for strength.


And here is the one that took me so long to finish the regiment, the 1st battalion. I had it sitting for months all ready to varnish and grass but kept on starting new figures.

I added a mounted officer from battle honours as well as figures with caps from the reserves pack to add some interest. The flags are from napflags and were printed out by Chris, Cheers big chap! Also thanks to Robert for giving me my 1st Old Glory figures, they are a cheap alternative to AB and come up nice. The flag poles are made from straightened paper clips with the tips flattened and files (another tip from Robert!).

Lawhallwolkwitz 1813

Sorry for the delay in updates, I have been busy working on our club blog lately and getting my Prussian workbench cleared. I actually managed to complete every Prussian figure I had on the go and will post pics of them soon. Here are a few shots from our recent 15mm Napoleonic club game in our new home of the Tom Craig Centre, Law using the GdB rules.

The full report can be found over on our club blog at: http://carlukewargamesclub.blogspot.com/2009/11/blog-post.html

My Prussian Dragoons on the move with my newly finished cavalry command base.

The battle begins to heat up.

The stuttering cavalry battle out on the right flank with the weirdest dice rolls I have ever seen.

The Dragoons are gone! A sad day as my West Prussians are lifted from the table. Thankfully I was not in charge of them at the time!
Make or break in the centre with my daft idea of assaulting a strong French line before really weakening it.

And break it was!

Run forest run and that's exactly what they did they ran straight past the forest.

The other Allied armies hold out and luckily my Prussians manage to rally but sadly a French victory was declared on the day.
http://carlukewargamesclub.blogspot.com/2009/11/blog-post.html