Thursday 2 February 2023

The Complete Bohemian Village Units

Once again it's been a few weeks since I've managed a post on here, and once again the excuse is that I've been working hard on my Franco-Prussian War rules. What also didn't help me get around to it was knowing this post was going to be quite a lengthy job. I wanted to  put together all the Bohemian buildings in their village units as intended, and also show the 1866 figures that haven't yet been featured. You've seen my Austrians more or less, and some of the Saxons and Prussians, so here are the rest. Come to think of it, my Prussian cavalry and staff still seem to have escaped the net. But I've still got to photograph some coniferous woods made for this campaign, so will drag the missing figures in there. And then I'll be done with showing my past work and we will be moving on to new efforts and the long-promised tutorials. 

These shots show pretty much what I wanted to do with the appearance of 1866 wargames. The soft greenery and the dull colours of thatch and woodwork set off the bright uniform colours rather nicely I think. 

Prussian infantry  of IR58 double through a Bohemian village.

Here and in the next photo Saxon infantry of the Life Brigade march though another settlement at a more measured pace. In 1866 the Saxons managed the trick of gaining praise from both Austrian allies and Prussian enemies without either suffering great casualties or particularly knocking themselves out. 

Saxon flags were remarkably consistent over the years: a coat of arms and an elaborate border did the job distinctively. On the other hand they managed to get through five uniform colours between 1735 and 1867: red coats, white ones for a long time, green briefly, mid blue here and finally dark blue! By the way, my Saxons are all conversions, mostly from Perrys plastic French and ACW line infantry.

Here the Saxon second brigade defends a chateau. Like most of the German states each brigade comprised four line battalions and one of Jaegers.

And here are the Jaegers, apparently defending the rear of the same village. You've seen this stand before, but I like the poses, so not apologising.

Here a Prussian brigade defends another village.

Thes figures are mostly Helion/ North Star 1866 figures, but there's some heavy conversions amongst them.

Another unit marches steadily towards the foe, although the general wants them to hurry up. He's coverted from a Perry ACW general. Such chaps are rich conversion fodder for Prussian staff as they share both frock coats and copious facial hair.

Saxons defending again. Probably the secret of their good reputation and low casualties was that they did a lot of defending rather than headbanging bayonet charges like their Austrian allies.

Prussians defend yet another village, no doubt against a hopeless bayonet charge. At least they are taking a bit of Austrian artillery fire.

And in the last three photos is my 1866 Baden division. Not many wargamers have one of them, I think it's fair to say. I started to do the German Federal armies for this period, but only got as far as the Badeners, who are quite easy conversions from Austrian infantry. 

Both brigades were made up in the way described above, ie four line battalions and one of light infantry. The Badeners only had one Jaeger battalion, so made up the shortfall with a Fusilier unit.

It's a colourful period, isn't it?



10 comments:

  1. The combination of figures and buildings is a delight and so evocative of time and place. I hope you get a lot of enjoyment from them.
    Stephen

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  2. Simply wonderful this is a lovely set of figures and the terrain looks marvellous, it all looks brilliant together.

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  3. Wonderful builidngs and troops - together beautiful scenes.
    Richard

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  4. Superb photos, the figures and scenery/terrain are top notch. Great stuff!

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  5. Wonderful photos. The natural colours of the buildings and greenery do contrast perfectly with the bright uniforms.

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  6. Just more cracking buildings and figures once again John:).

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  7. Thanks very much, fellers, much appreciated. In a week or two's time I plan to start photographing the coniferous trees I did as part of the Bohemian setup.

    Currently I am starting a new project to build villages for my Franco-Prussian War games. Research stage completed, and hoping to get the tools out later today. I have chosen to do villages from the province of Lorraine. It'll be a little while before there's much to show of these.

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    1. I need to build some more coniferous trees so looking forward to seeing these to get some inspiration, and looking forward to seeing the new buildings too, of course!

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  8. I’m so curious how you did the Saxons? What miniatures or combination of miniatures you used to convert? They look amazing!

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    1. I'm so sorry, I only just noticed your comment here. I wouldn't be so rude as to leave a question unanswered, so I'll reply as best I can, and perhaps you'll come across this extremely belated response at some point.

      I converted those Saxons back in about 2010, and looking at them I sometimes wonder myself what was used! Most of the figures began life as Perry plastics, although some metals were also incorporated, mostly Perry ACW. The marching unit was based on the Napoleonic French line infantry. The firing line unit and Jaegers were more of a mixture: the skirmish figures of the French, plastic ACW infantry, and metal firing line, casualty figures, etc.

      Quite a lot of Green Stuff was used. My system is to do all the joining of plastic and metal parts first, then apply GS in a series of stages. The first of them would be to just fill in gaps, etc. I attach GS and sculpt it roughly, then when hardened I trim it neat with scalpel and file. Then I apply the next stage of GS and so on.

      Hope this is of some use/ interest, and once again I'm sorry to have missed your question up till now.

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