Saturday 28 May 2016

Crazy Platen Command Base

After taking a break from Napoleonic figure painting with the Xyston ancients I decided I would finish off a couple of long neglected projects. The 1st is a Prussian command base inspired by a famous painting of an officer from the Lithuanian dragoons (Crazy Platen) and his trumpeter during the battle of Mockern in 1813.


As usual I have made a small video on youtube if anyone is interested.

The story goes that Major Crazy Platen of the Lithuanian dragoons was attack and wounded by a (French) uhlan, fighting back Platen failed to unhorse the enemy horseman when his trumpeter took matters into his own hands. The rest as they say is history. . .

I was quite inspired by the painting and thought I would recreate it in 18mm for my own 1813 Prussian army. The uhlan is actually a Polish uhlan from the AB range with his Czapka removed and placed on the ground plus hair added with green stuff and he was forced back in his saddle with his head forced back further.

An energetic horse was selected and was forced a little into a stressed position and supported on the base.

Crazy Platen started life as a Russian AB figure, had his head removed and replaced with a Prussian head pinned in place. He also had a stray gauntlet removed from 1 hand and his body repositioned a little plus lance freed from its foot holding.

The trumpeter is a Prussian trooper with his hand drilled out and a trumpet taken from a French trumpeter (if you know the AB range then you'll know were it came from). I also added wings to the musician that are missing in the painting (I figured is he was hanging around with a Major than he had to look the part). I also selected another energetic horse and messed around with the position and raised them a little as the Prussian dragoon is a smaller style figure than the other 2. All that was left to do was to paint them.

This is the picture that inspired me to make the little scene.

So not perfect but I did enjoy completing them in the end. It took me so long to finish them as I already had a dragoon command, and my mind set pushes me to paint things I need on the battlefield.
I went with an often discussed lighter blue for the dragoon coat only because that was the colour of coat I had used on my already completed Lithuanian dragoon regiment. The uhlan I copied from the painting is a trooper of the 7th however with a little discussion on the OOB with my good friend John S should probably have been from the 8th? It's been so long since I started them I had forgotten.

Anyway I hope you have enjoyed my little scene and next up some more Prussian foot soldiers.

Happy Wargaming!!!

23 comments:

Phil C said...

Brilliant!

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Agreed! Very nicely executed.

Best Regards,

Stokes

Jacksarge Painting said...

That is very cool Paul! Really like the conversions, and great painting as usual.
What is that brush you are using as your pointer? It seems to have an excellent point to it, sable or synthetic?

Jonathan Freitag said...

What a terrific vignette! I can almost hear the smack of the trumpet against the lancer's skull. Very well done!

Rulane10@gmail.com said...

A fantastic character piece. Will inspire your Prussians to great feats!

Carlo said...

Wonderful work Paul. Absolutely love your level of research and attention to detail with your vignettes and other pieces.

Paulalba said...

Thanks Phil, it's good to have them finally done!!!

Paulalba said...

Thanks Mr Stokes!
It's a nice little addition to the army!

Paulalba said...

Thanks Jacksarge, I think I maybe enjoyed the conversion work more than the painting on this 1. The brush is Windsor and Newton, I think it is the regular range. Aroubd £3-£4 a brush. We have a paint shop about 20mins away. I make sure the brushes I chose the tips are good for our wee men. This is 1 of the larger ones I use.

Paulalba said...

Thanks Jonathan, he is an unfortunate fellow indeed!

Paulalba said...

Thanks Ru, let's hope so! My gaming abilities are not great! Lol

Paulalba said...

Thanks very much Carlo, your to kind! with the research though, I don't catch everything but I do try my best and enjoy putting little projects together. Very glad you enjoy them Carlo, I see you guys doing the same in 28's and wonder if I shouldn't move up a scale. When the 18's are on the table you can't really make out the work involved plus in 28's you have so many good lines of troops and suppliers.

The Angry Lurker said...

That's bloody excellent work Paul!

Rodger said...

Very impressive work Paul!

Paulalba said...

Thanks very much Rodger, I'm just glad that I have completed it!!! It's been a good while I'm embarrassed to say!

Stephen Smith said...

great stuff Paul really nice job on this base

Gonsalvo said...

Wow! Great coversiobns, composition, and painting. Well beyond my talent level, that's for sure!

Samuli said...

Great looking little vignette Paul! Nice to hear about the history behind it as well

Chasseur said...

Great work, if a little bloody! :)

Christopher(aka Axebreaker) said...

Fantastic looking command stand!

Christopher

peter said...

I'm a bit confused! I thought I gave comment on this work but it must have been on FB!
Fantastic made vignette with a lot of action!

Greetings
Peter

Rod said...

What a wonderful vignette!

Phil said...

What a spectacular and impressive job, well done!!