Military Miniature (digital) Magazine subscription sale!

 OK, I'll admit that I had never heard of this (US) e-publication before. Evidently they had a booth at Historicon in July, but I spent so little time in the dealer's area I missed it. A chance FB post over the weekend about the 25% off subscription dale they were having lead to a subscription (and a free back issue when I mentioned publicizing it on my blog. The sale is good until October 11th. 

    MMM for short, is a digital only product; there is no print edition. The "production" quality is outstanding; professional, and fully equal to the British glossies. The sample issue was 94 pages long, and packed full of an all wargames relevant mix of historical background, games played out, product reviews, rules reviews, book reviews, and more. Despite the title, this is NOT a magazine for collectors (although there are articles on modeling and painting) It has been a long tome now since the US had a decent wargames periodical, even if this isn't quit ion the style of the long defunct Courier or Midwest Wargames Newsletter. The 25% discount (with the FALL coupon code) brings the cost to about $3.50 an issue for 6 issues; well worth supporting, don't you think? I did! I like it enough to consider contributing in the future, at least to the reviews section. 

Links:

Website  https://militaryminiature.com/

Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/militaryminiature

Why digital?  https://militaryminiature.com/case-for-digital-magazine/?fbclid=IwAR2cSp9A5zKdWODiaOhucUcIQWhx4hhYLBjfXaeNhIrLl_5lGkast99g2RY

PS - I had a bit of trouble getting the coupon to work for me on the website, so emailed them via the contact information and it was all sorted out very quickly. 

Indian Chariots #3

The last of the trio of new Chariots for my Indian Army makes its debut.

"Blazing Saddles"!

A "Flame-boyant" paiont scheme!

View into the cab.  Next project is the new units of Indian Cavalry. 

Indian Chariot #2

The second of thee new Indian Chariots gallops of to join the fray! 

The actual model is essentially identical to its predecessor.

The color scheme is different, of course. 

These Old Glory figures were quite easy to assemble and paint!

Indian Chariots #1

Careening off the painting desk comes the first of three new Chariots for my Indian Army. 

These are Old Glory figures; excellent sculpts and an exceptional value (especially in the US, and with the Army Card!). 

Chariots (and Elephants) were the prestige troops of the Indians from the era of Alexander the Great (sometime referred to as Mauryan India). 

The reins once again are made of painted dental tape. 

Granaderos a Caballo de Fernando VII

Or in English, they are the Horse Grenadiers of Fernando the 7th; much akin in name to Grenadiers a Cheval.  Despite the name, this was a Light Cavalry outfit. 

It was a volunteer unit raised September 8, 1808, by Count Fernan Nunez, with three squadrons and 540 men total.

These fine fellows are Perry figures. The unit initially wore bearskin colpacks, but is depicted in shakos by 1810.

It was converted into Hussars on May 1, 1811 (one of 4 Hussar units remaining at that time). They are then shown wearing a similar uniform, but with yellow breaches, and a green pelisse with black fur, laced white.

  The unit continued past the end of the Napoleonics Wars as the  Husares de Fernando VII, but was eventually disbanded in 1825.

Some sources show the borders of the shabraque in yellow instead of white, and some show the plate on the colpack to be brass as opposed to silver. In either case the plaque bore a F-VII monogram.  I have gone with the more standard interpretation. 

The trumpeter's uniform is somewhat speculative, but follows the usual pattern for Spanish Cavalry - red coats with facings as per the regiment. Yellow faced green would be the main other option for the trumpeter's uniform. 

The standard is unknown; I have used one for the Lusitania Dragoons, modified to replace the badge with a gold F VII monogram on a green field, almost certainly incorrect, but it works! I painted over the black cravat of the "Dragoons of Death" for the actual unit. 

Hessians Arrive!

 A few days ago, a rather hefty parcel arrived from Germany, bearing the fruits of the Price of Crowns 3 Kickstarter. It wasn't half as weighty as the big box from the earlier Price of Crowns 2 (Wurttembeurg) Kickstarter , though!  :-)

 

Hessen-Darmstatdt Chevau-Legers w/ command. These guys were the biggest reason for backing this project. Coming to an 1809 battlefield soon! Lovely figures, really! 

Hessen-Darmstatdt infantry officer, Prince Emil of Hessen-Darmstatdt, Georg of Hessen Darmstatdt (L to R)

The Emperor himself; a free Kickstarter incentive for this project. The sculpting on the face is amazing! 

Hessen-Darmstatdt battery. The gun components are just press fit in this shot. 

Another view. The uniform is fairly distinctive with black facings piped red, and white button hole lace on the lapels and cuff flaps.

Icabod Crane on the march! The heads are supplied separately for these Hessian troops; the press fit example quickly demonstrated that this would allow a of head position variants when assembled!

Another view of the Line infantry figures. All digitally sculpted by Lucas Luber, Piano Games. 

The infantry all laid out. I will paint them as one unit ("brigade") for each of the three in the Hessian army, with 2 stands (6 figures) from each in the green coats of the fusilier (light infantry) battalions. One such stand will carry a flag, accounting for the 4th flag  This will also allow them to be fielded as 4 stand units, 3 line and 1 fusilier, with a couple of stands left over. Historically, the yellow faced  Gross und Erbprinz regiment, yellow faced, was sent to Spain and adopted the 6 company French organization, including shakos and Epaulettes for the elite companies. The Kickstarter included troops in the "Spanish" uniforms, too, but I passed on those. 

I also ordered one additional set of Wurttemburg Line infantry along with this KS, which arrived with the figures above, plus a second pack, I think meant to replace some of the broken bayonets from the earlier order. The Hessians have slightly more robust muskets, and that plus improved packing for their trans-Atlantic journey meant NO broken bayonets at all on any of these, and much less bending of the muskets as well. Good work!

The next project for Lucas is the Tyrolean revolt of 1809. He has been busy sculpting Tyrolians, Bavarians, Austrians, and who knows what else! I suspect it may be a while until the next Kickstarter launches, but it would be good for my budget if it is not until after the first of the year!

Olivenza Cazadores a Caballo

 The first unit of Spanish Cazadores a Caballo (literally "Hunters on Horseback", akin to French Chassuers a Cheval, or German Jagers zu Pferde) was raised in 1762.

In 1802, the green coated Cazadores were converted into Husares, and, amazingly, the 8 yellow coated Dragoon regiments were then converted into green coated Cazadores in 1803.! I wonder who had investments in the uniform production industry?!

  In 1805, those 8 regiments were then converted back into yellow coated dragoons, and the former Cazadores, the Voluntarios de Espana and the Olivenza converted back to Cazadores again! 

More money for uncle Roberto!

The Voluntarios had a similar uniform with sky blue collars, cuffs, and waistcoats, in place of  the red of the Olivecza regiment. A shako was also adopted (officially) at that time.

I have always loved the depiction of the Cazadores a Caballo in the Funken books of the 1970's.  I have thus  chosen to show the unit in their earlier Tarleton style helmets (properly part of the uniform of the 1802-1805 Dragoons!).

The figures used are in fact Perry British Light Dragoons in their earlier uniforms. The chest lace was painted on (easy enough to do), as the Perry's depicted these troopers in their every day uniforms, without the braid. 

The standard is that of the Numancia Dragoons. Even though the Cazadores likely didn't carry standards in the field, mine had to! I chose this flag chiefly because I was too cheap to pay for shipping for just 2 more of the otherwise excellent Adolfo Ramos flags. 

The flag above is taken from the excellent Little Wars site: http://littlewars.se/spanish/dragoons.html