PTN 17 Portuguese Cacadore marching

I had not previously listed this figure and had not seen it before, nor was it listed in either of the original catalogues I have seen. It is lsited on Vintage 20mil and from its code number was obviously a later addition to the range.

Iberian Contingent - Portuguese reinforcements

Recent figure swaps with two different people have resulted in a timely boost to my Cacadores battalion (some Der Kriegspieler, David Clayton and even some vintage Hinton Hunt castings), and an additional nine Der Kriegspieler line infantry (the officer is a spare David Clayton casting) I also hope to have an additional 24 man Der Kriegspieler Cacadores battalion arriving soon - when finished this will give me three and a half line and two Cacadores battalions, nearly enough for two Portuguese Brigades, a great contribution to the Allied Peninsular forces.

Iberian Contingent - Spanish Line infantry reinforcement

A swap deal has seen (among other things) some Minifigs S Range Line Infantry figures leave me and be replaced with some original Hinton Hunt Spanish line infantry castings. These are now awaiting further reinforcement from another source by some David Clayton marching compatriots, and some Der Kriegspieler Spanish Light Infantry. I have not seen these light infantry figures and will be interested to see which unit they represent, and how they are uniformed.

This should leave result in a reasonably strong three battalion brigade, supported by a large number of guerillas, with carts, mules and muleteers.

Iberian Contingent - muleteer reinforcements

From two sources (Jack and Tony) my Iberian transport train has received significant reinforcement, with the addition of a further ox cart, and both original and David Clayton castings of SN 51, together with another couple of figures previously unpainted from my collection. Through a swap with Jack involving some David Clayton Austrian castings, I have also acquired a further seven H41 Portuguese Long horned oxen and two further H 46 Mules with panniers. All in all my Corps of Muleteers should be busy.

Prussian National Contingent - Command Reinforcements

A recent purchase has led to some useful command reinforcements for the Prussian National Contingent, namely two generals and officers and converted standard bearers for two of my Landwehr battalions.

At Roy's suggestion, I have tried the replacement of the spyglass of one of the generals by a sword, to give a more active pose and some variety.

I am awaiting further High Command reinforcements, together with a squadron of Landwehr lancers, which will complete the balance of this contingent.

Swedish Contingent

I was thinking I had enough figures for one strong or two weak battalions when I found 24 painted Der Kriegspieler Swedes I had no recollection of having (the blue battalion). Now I am tempted to try and field one blue and two weak grey battalions. I am an officer short but I think I have some spare Brunswick Avant Garde figures, one of which could stand in.

The grey battalion is interesting because it includes four different types of Hinton Hunt figures. The two officers and three or four infantrymen are from the original reference collection which inspired the creation of this blog - these are genuine early Hinton Hunt castings. There are four David Clayton castings 0f SWN 4 charging infantrymen. There are 8 Der Kriegspieler versions of this figure (these can be identified by their packs, which are not present on the original Hinton Hunt and then the David Clayton figures). Finally there are some SWN 7 marching infantrymen. Two of these are original Hinton Hunts, the others came via Ian of Hinton Hunt Vintage Wargames Figures blog fame. They are decent castings but have very thick bases. I know these are not original Hinton Hunt or Der Kriegspieler figures;; I am 99% certain they are not David Clayton figures; so I am now wondering if maybe they came from the Replacement Depot (though I don't know whether their figures had thick bases).

All in all a surprise to have this many Swedes, though nowhere near as impressive as Ian's Swedes.

Iberian Contingent

Ever since reading C.S Forester's Death to the French, the Peninsular Campaign has been my primary interest for the Napoleonic period. After completing the Prussian contingent, my thoughts turned to what to do next, as a quieter time with work has given me a bit more time to paint. The contingent approach seems to offer the satisfaction of completing something, in reasonable manageable chunks, - so long as I leave the British and French out of it for the moment - so I fixed on the Iberians, the Portuguese and Spanish allied force.

I had already completed around 30 Spanish Guerillas (mainly David Clayton castings) and 12 line infantry (original castings), together with a marching Portuguese officer painted as Spanish. I had some further David Clayton castings (a more recent acquisition) and still have unpainted three original figures, including two further muleteers. I also had two painted muleteers and two mule teams. The set up is completed by a mounted colonel, a field marshal, lieutenant general and brigadier from the old Rose Wellington figure, of which I have around 30. This seems to be an appropriate command element for fourty or so line and and thirty or so guerillas! I am currently hopeful of secuting a further 12 Spanish Line (David Clayton) and 18 Der Kriegspieler Spanish Light infantry, which would give me a brigade of three weak battalions. Cavalry and artillery cover will need to be provided by the British.

On the Portuguese front I had the Der Kriegspieler battallion already posted here (whichhad packs added to give them a different look. I was surprised to see I had based these in sixes, rather than threes as is my normal practice for British and allies - I will probably rebase this battalion. I also had acquired two further battalions from Tony, which he had replaced with other figures. These had been painted in a Plaka blue in the 70s, and as this did not match my existing battalion and I had some additional figures to add and paint, I hdecided to repaint the blue on these figures. This has now been completed. I only have 6 original Cacadores (I am currently hoping to acquire some Der Kriegspielers which would complete a battalion) - also have some S Range figures in barretina which will be posted shortly on the Lone S Ranger. So at the moment I have a brigade of three line battalions and a scattering of cacadores; eventually I hope to have a brigade of two line and one cacadores, representing Collins' Portuguese Brigade in the 7th Division, and a reserve independent line battalion. The Portugues contingent is completed by an ox cart.

Iberian Contingent - Spanish forces

The generals aren't pictured here, just the line infantry, guerillas and mule supply teams.

Iberian Contingent - Spanish Line infantry

These two photographs show my current Spanish line infantry forces. They form either one strong or two weak battalions. The top picture shows David Clayton castings (with bayonets), two original Hinton Hunt officer figures and a mounted colonel made from a very early Rose 20mm figure of the Duke of Wellington (see also post below on Spanish Generals). The grenadier company (red plumes) are original Hinton Hunt castings.

The second picture shows original Hinton Hunt figures (minus bayonets) accompanied by a marching Portuguese officer painted as Spanish. I am well supplied with charging Portuguese officers but short of these, so in due course he may return to his true colours and be replaced by a charging colleague. (The Spanish and Portuguese officers are most easily distinguished by the shoulder belt - if it's there he's Portuguese.)

It's also interesting (I think) to note that the original Hinton Hunt Spanish infantry figures have a wooden cylindrical canteen while on the Clayton figures these have been flattened into a water bottle.

I am hoping to secure in the near future some reinforcements of 12 David Clayton marching figures and 18 Der Kriegspieler Spanish light infantry - I haven't seen these or a picture of them, so am not sure what to expect. This would then enable me to field a weak brigade plus guerrillas.

Iberian Contingent - Spanish Guerillas

These are David Clayton castings. I have a further three., original Hinton Hunt, figures to paint, including two muleteers, one of whom will take charge of the Portuguese ox cart.

Iberian Contingent - mule teams

Iberian Contingent - Spanish Generals

These Spanish Generals are paint conversions of three of my surplus Rose Duke of Wellington figures (see The Old Metal Detector here). They are after Bueno, from his Uniformes Espanoles de la Guerra de Indepencia. Becausee these very early figures lack raised or engraved detail they are very good for paint conversions. Also their long pointing arm offers some simple opportunities for animation.

Other figures I have produced using these include the Spanish colonel seen elsewhere here, plus a Polish Staff officer (after Knotel) and a mounted naval Captain to command my Hinton Hunt RN Landing Parties and Marines.

Iberian Contingent - Portuguese Brigade

My Portugues brigade in its current format. I'm hopeful of acquiring enough Der Kroegspieler cacadores to make a full battalion - I'll then field a brigade of two line and one cacadore battalions, with the Der Kriegspielers as a reserve battalion. Logistics are loooked after by the Hinton Hunt Ox Cart. I will be adding a dedicated driver using a spare (as yet unpainted) original muleteer figure.

Currently with no commander, this seems to be a likely job for one more of my surplus Rose Wellingtons.

Iberian Contingent - Portuguese Line Battalion Der Kriegspielers

A cropped version of an old picture. The figutres are Der Kriegspielers with Hinton Hunt officers, with ensign from Kennington and standard bearer from NapoleoN (I think). I added packs to distinguish the figures better from the Hinton Hunt ones, and mixed blue winter, white summer, and brown local replacement trousers to goive a mixed campaign look.

Iberian Contingent - Portuguese Line Battalion summer trousers

The ensign and drummer are Tony's conversions with replacement heads - the ensign is S Range, I believe the drummer may also be but not so sure.

Iberian Contingent - Portuguese Line Battalion winter trousers

The ensign is Tony's conversion of an S Range figure with a replacement head.

Iberian Contingent - Portuguese Cacadores

The Replacement Depot

Another US source of Hinton Hunt "tribute" figures seems to have been The Repalcement Depot of Rockaway Park, New York. The Courier, the bulletin of the New England Wargamers Association, carried an enthusiatic review and a listing of figures in its Volume III Issue No 4 in 1971.

There seem to be some figures not present in the Hinton Hunt range - for example sapeurs in bearskins and shako - contained in the list. The copy I have has two blank double pages within these lists but it looks like they may have been complete. It certainly would be unusual to release such a full range in one go, rather than bit by bit.

I haven't to my knowledge ever seen any Replacement Depot figures so would be grateful to hear from anyone who has any further information.

Reproduced below are the review and the original figure listing from the Courier.

Der Kriegspielers - First UK Appearance 1971

From Wargamer's Newsletter 110, May 1971, the earliest UK reference I have found to Der Kriegspielers. Interestingly there is no mention of Hinton Hunt in this extract from that issue's "Must List" feature.

Cover picture Wargamer's Newsletter No 152 November 1974

Those voltiguers in Colpacks fighting 95th Rifles somewhere in the Peninsula?

Mysterious WN 13 variant

Another slightly mysterious figure is this advancing Polish infantryman. I have seven of these figures, which came without muskets. They don't look as though these have been removed, so I suspect they were cast open handed. I had assumed they were home cast pirated versions, but on undercoating them I realised they were very crisp castings, and don't have misshapen bases, often a sign of the pirated figure. I don't think I have imagined the presence of epaulettes, which has led me to paint them up as voltigeurs. From the same source I have a similar open handed advancing Prussian infantryman.

It is hard to find suitable replacement muskets for Hinton Hunt figures (often the "separate musket" figures have been separated from their muskets by several decades). Here I have used Jacklex colonial rifles, which while not ideal serve perfectly well, I think.

Painted Norman infantry

I have just been painting Norman Conquest infantry and they illustrate a couple of dilemmas. Firstly, the unarmoured archers and spear men both have headgear which could either be pointed helmets or cloth hats - I'm not sure which. I have painted them as helmets but suspect this may be wrong - can anyone comment? Also very few of the spear men's weapons are complete, so I suspect I will replace these. This is the same problem as I have with the accompanying cavalry. I only have a few (less than ten) Saxons, so I think I will try to do these before tackling the Norman cavalry.

Der Kriegspielers

While their exact relationship to Hinton Hunt figures is still disputed, Der Kriegspieler figures may be of interest to Napoleonic collectors of Hinton Hunt figures. I have posted new (better) scans of listings from the 1975 Walthers catalogue over on the Old Metal Detector blog.

The picture with this post is of Der Kriegspieler Portuguese infantry 243, almost identical to Hinton Hunt PTN 4. As these DK figures are substantially thinner that the two battalions of Hinton Hunt figures I recently acquired with them, I distinguished them and bulked them out a bit by adding packs. The officers are Hinton Hunt, with a Kennington standard bearer and a NapoleoN drummer (with a very small shako).

The Hinton Hunt figures are painted in a blue I am finding it very hard to match with Vallejo acrylics, and I have a number of original Hinton Hunt figures to add tot hem to bring them up to my normal battalion strength. I therefor have to decide whether I can live with different shades, or whether I have to repaint 45 or so figures to achieve consistency. When they are eventually done I will post some pictures here.

Units - Landing Parties

More views of Royal Marines and Royal Navy landing figures. Some additional figures have been added. You may also spot two Minifigs 20mm Marines mounted in a three together with a S Range Marine officer.

Off topic units - Sepoys

Not strictly relevant to this site, squeezing in though through their officers, these are privately commissioned sepoy figures - two battalions of Bengal infantry, one of Madras, and one of Bombay Grenadiers. For their European officers I have used spare Hinton Hunt Royal Marines and a Portuguese officer.

Units - Chassuers a Cheval

A recent seam of e-bay purchases yielded 20 Hinton Hunt Chasseurs a Cheval, in addition to Minifigs 20mm Polish (or possibly Dutch) Guard lancers, and Minifigs 20mm/Alberken Cuirassiers - these will be posted on the Old Metal Detector blog. The figures are FN 122 one piece castings. Often overlooked in favour of their flashier lancer or hussar brethren, the Chassuers were the workhorse of Napoleon's light cavalry.

Prussian National Contingent - the finishing touch

I am rather proud of these - my "armless" Prussian lancers, with donor plastic arms from the Emhar Charge of the Light Brigade set, painted as the Prussian Guard Lancer Squadron. This means the contingent has some scouting capability, rather than relying on the dragoons.

Prussian National Contingent: Those Engineers again...

This time bringing up the bridging train. The wagon is the excellent HaT French Pontoon Wagon (if buying these, remember they do not come with the teams and the front axles, for which you have to buy the French limbers set); the team I have used here are very old S Range draught horses - I prefer to use metal ones to give the piece a bit more heft for the table.

Prussian National Contingent

After running out of steam on the ACW project, mainly due to the horrible quality of most of the figures, I thought a more manageable and satisfying project might be to tackle one of the medium sized groups of Napoleonic figures. The Prussians fitted the bill and over the last six to eight weeks I have completed them.

I haven't yet worked out how to stitch photographs together to give an acceptable panorama, so the pictures are four part views of the assembled forces. There are three guard infantry battalions (one small); four line infantry battalions (one small); a small jager battalion; and three Landwehr battalions. There is a heavy cavalry brigade with two regiments of Cuirassiers and a squadron of Garde du Corps, a small attached dragoon squadron, and a troop of hussars. There are five guns and two howitzers - one gun is Hinton Hunt, the others are Newline - with crews and three limbers, and a small engineer battalion.

They are posted here for interest, certainly not for the quality of painting, which is very basic, but as an example of the kind of force which can be built up in bits and pieces. While at times it would be nice to just to be able to order the particular figures you need, the serendipity of what you can find over time and how you can organise them into units is one of the fascination of the collecting side of the hobby.

Alan, who very kindly sent me a general figure to take command, also sent me pictures of his Prussian forces, which have a strikingly similar over-representation of Guards infantry and Cuirassiers (though they lack the Landwehr). I suppose the Guards are just another example of the difference in numbers of Riflemen, Old Guard, Polish Lancers, Highlanders and Scots Greys in metal and in the flesh.

The Prussians are waiting for flags. They are over provided with artillery and under provided with light cavalry and jagers, but otherwise seem able to function as an infantry division with attached cavalry brigade and artillery. There is a pleasing (if slightly unrealistic) variety of troop types.

I am limited at the moment in access to many of my figures so the next project will depend on what I can get at. I am also in the middle of finishing off and independent Portuguese brigade, two battalions of Hinton Hunts and one battalion of Der Kriegspielers, which may be next (the DK battalion is done).

Prussian National Contingent: General and Hussar escort

I am indebted to Alan for sending me this Prussian General. While I have found I have a Kennington Blucher figure, I think it is approriate to leave this general in command. His hussar escort may well at times find themselves in a converged squadron with the dragoons to undertake light cavalry duties. The lack of lights is the real weakness in this force - I do have four PN89 Lancers with separate (missing) arms. I have the same problem with 10-20 FN44 Guard Lancers, so if anyone has a stock of these limbs I would be glad to hear from you...