Monday, May 27, 2013

Prussian Infantry of 1848 - 28mm Flats



Here's another set of old Heinrichsen flats, #3099, originally issued in 1853.  As can be seen in the above photo, they are quite diminutive.  Nominally 28mm, they measure 25mm from the feet to the eyes.  The quality of these antique designs never ceases to amaze me, could have been newly issued by a flats editor last year and no one could say they're crude or overly toylike.

The set contains 21 figures, an officer and 20 infantrymen in 4 poses of 5 figures each. That is, the two seen below and two other figures firing and loading. I got two sets so as to match identical figures in each rank which will make for two battalions when completed.  The small size of the figures makes the work go quickly even when painting them with reasonable care. Painted in acrylics.



There's a couple of enticing ways I can go with these 28-30mm figures. First, borrowing shamelessly from John Bertolini's "Great European War of 1850" concept, I could eventually make three armies, French, Austrian and Prussian (or German Confederation).  Old school rules like Featherstone's seem right for this.  Secondly, something circa 1900 with a Funny Little Wars flavor is another possibility.  Although shooting down my figures with a spring gun is off limits, no doubt less violent artillery rules could be substituted.   

12 comments:

  1. These are absolutely lovely and, to my eyes, look every bit as good as fully round figures. The proportions are exact too. No oversized hands, feet, heads, or lower legs.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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  2. Really nice minis! An army would look fantastic.

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  3. They are very nice figures indeed and you did them great justice with the painting.

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  4. Thanks very much, gentlemen !

    Regards,
    Steve

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  5. Thanks for the advice, tragardmastare. I do have the FLW rulebook.

    Regards,
    Steve

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  6. Lovely little figures, beautifully painted. Very tempting were I to need a distraction. To my mind, these figures look more 1860's ish than 1900 ish but either could be good.

    Should I mention that Joe Morschauser used flats for his rules?

    -Ross

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  7. Thanks, Ross. You're right on the dating of the figures, they are for 1848. Uniforms not so different from later Prussians although the tall helmets are a giveaway.

    Thanks for the tip on the Morschauser rules, I will look for them. Kind of a "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon" style connection to Morchauser in play here. In the early 60's, my father happened to meet a gentlemen named Herb Roig at a tennis tournament in Poughkeepsie, NY. Mr. Roig invited our family for a visit and chess with my dad. Turned out he was a wargaming buddy of Morchauser. He had a big gaming table in the basement on which his son and I played with a large collection of Britains. Just found this with a quick google search.
    http://www.tabletoptalk.com/?page_id=519

    Regards,
    Steve

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  8. Steve,
    The 19th century up to 1914 is my sweet spot. I am really enjoying this vein you are mining at present. Great stuff.
    John B

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  9. Hi, John. Good to hear from you. I hope all is proceeding well with your projects, feel free to shoot me an e-mail any time.

    Glad you like the figures. I do have a few more things for this era, an complimentary set of French infantry ca.1850, they're in the same scale and size as these. Also a couple beautiful sets of antique Rieche flats, kind of out of scale with these though. I think I can get away with using everything together by means of differing base thicknesses.

    Regards,
    Steve

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  10. Nice blog you have here, thanks for sharing this

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