More Foundry Prussians

Another unit joins my 28mm Prussian collection...

I'm continuing to burn the brushes painting up figures from the late 19th century in Europe and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.  This is a second unit of Prussian infantry, rather similar-looking to the first unit I completed a couple of weeks ago.  That similarity is no accident, as both are comprised of 28mm Prussian castings from War-games Foundry, and use GMB flags.  There is some slight variation in the ground cover and the nature and placement of the officer figures, but overall still very familiar - 20 figures based in the main unit, and four figures on individual round bases to represent the deployment of skirmishers.

A somewhat rotund officer directing his men in the firing line...

There is also an additional figure on a round base at the corner in the photos - this is an artillery officer.  He looks very similar to other Prussian officers, but the helmet is a little different - a rounded thingy on top instead of a spike. His artillery piece and crew hasn't been painted yet, so he joined this infantry unit for the group photo.

Artillery officer in the front left of the photo...would stand in well for a general infantry officer too, I think

Individual castings on round bases will be used to represent the deployment of skirmishers

These Foundry figures are, as before, a complete joy to paint.  Figures sculpted by the Perry twins always seem so familiar, even when the period or setting is relatively new. It has been great fun to paint these fellows up.  In general, I still continue to be pretty locked in on this period and am even dabbling in some other scales!

Love these Foundry castings!

As before, still a long, long way to go with this project - even though I can now report that the forces available to the Kingdom of Prussian have doubled! Last time I mentioned an approximate goal of 166 infantry castings for my 28mm Prussian forces.  With this second unit done, that is 48 castings out of the way, leaving only 122 or so to go...patience, patience, slow and steady will be the path to the goal here...just need to keep chipping away, adding a unit here and there, and maybe by the fall or winter it will be time for a game of "Black Powder"...

Franco-Prussian Progress - First Foundry Prussian Unit

28mm 1870 Prussians from Wargames Foundry

In December of 2017 I first posted about a new period and project - the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.  I had started down the path of 28mm figures, with an eye on one day staging a battle for the group using formed units and the very-flexible "Black Powder" rules.  I knew this would take a long time, for even a small such game (longer than the actual war, I expect) but I haven't given up on the goal - here is the first unit of Prussians!

As with the French from last December, these are castings from Wargames Foundry.  The overall unit is 24 castings strong - 20 foot models in the formed unit, and four individually-based figures to be used to represent the deployment of skirmishers.  The flag is from GMB, one of the only sources I have found for flags from this period (I think it helps that the Prussian flag bears a very strong resemblance to the colours carried by Prussian units back to the late Napoleonic era in the early 19th century).

For the King!

These Foundry castings were sculpted by the Perry Twins "back in the day", and while sculpting styles have evolved since that time, these are still really beautiful castings and I just love painting them - each time is like catching up with an old friend! The Prussian uniforms lack the true panache of the French uniforms of the Second Empire era, but these figures are still a lot of fun to paint, and I'm pleased with how this first unit has turned out.

Lovely castings, lots of fun to paint, even if the variety is lacking in the posing...

Any headaches? Maybe one - the standard bearer has some lovely ribbons cast on the pole, which would be fine if the ribbons were not set in such as way as to be stuck to the pole, making attaching a flag or banner all but impossible! It takes some delicate snipping, but the ribbons can be removed and bent back without too much damage, making it possible to attach a banner. 

So...one unit down, six more to go...?

So, this is one unit of Prussians, and it joins the two units of French I have already painted.  How many of these will I actually need in order to put on a decent game? I have done some back-of-the-napkin math (i.e. the highest level of math someone with my squirrel brain can manage), and I figured I will need about eight to ten Prussian units of some sort for the game - let's say two of them are cavalry, and one is an artillery piece, so that would leave seven foot units....at 24 castings per unit, that's about 168 castings just to cover the infantry!  In comparison, my 30k Sons of Horus collection, which is also quite (ridiculously) large, includes about 200 foot models, and took a couple of years to amass, so obviously this whole "Let's play Franco-Prussian War with Black Powder" is going to take a while.

But progress is progress! With these fellows out of the way, that leaves another...144 Prussian infantry castings! In the meantime, we can continue to play some skirmish-sized games with the awesome Eagles of Empire figures I have been painting as well over the past few months.  And if you go back to that original post from last December (and I salute your perseverance if you bother), you might have noted that I also ordered some figures in other scales at the outset...well, stay tuned for more on that...