The Contents of "The Package". . .

Sounds like the title of an old Christopher Lee horror movie made by Hammer Films, doesn't it? Anyway, I've had a chance to sort through Jim Wright's package from yesterday, do some rapid organization, and snap a several pictures, which present a few highlights of the package contents.

So to begin with, you can see several pairs of mounted officers and ADC's above, which will eventually become brigade commanders and their aides, in keeping with what is suggested for these figures in Charge! and The War Game along with a few officers on foot. The latter will eventually become someone's personal attendants, staff, or something-or-other.


This unit (already painted nicely by Jim) will become an engineer/pontoon battalion for Stollen. I've already placed a small order with RSM in Dayton, Ohio for two officers on foot to round out the unit according to Charge! stipulations. I'll paint them and the drummer plus the two NCOs in the third rank of the line in a similar style and color scheme to that Jim used, and bingo! They'll be all ready to go. Very soon as a matter of fact.


Jim also included almost an entire regiment of Prussian hussars, and here they are in all their sartorial glory. Again, I'll get a few RSM Austrian hussars in busbies (part of the small order to the Dayton Painting Consortium), to represent officers and bring the unit up a strength of 30 figures.


The package from Jim also contained enough dragoons, officers, and extra equines to make up an entire dragoon regiment of 30 men and horses. In my little world, these figures will probably become a regiment of Chevau Legers with a fancy name at some point, maybe a mercenary regiment from one of the minor principalities adjoining Stollen and Zichenau (Pillau-Zerbst, Pillau-Reuss, Tauroggen-Fiebus, Zeller-Schwarzekatze, and so forth), assuming that a territory could be any more minor on the stage of 18th century European politics and events than The Grand Duchy and its mortal enemy The Electorate!


But wait! There's even more. The parcel of figures also contained a huge number of RSM Prussian musketeers in the marching position, almost enough to form a brigade of two 60-figure battalions. Once more, all I need to do is add two standard bearers (these, I have already), a few officers on foot, and six drummers to the existing formations. I e-mailed my small order, to bring everything up to strength, to Rich at DPC this morning early.


And finally, feast your eyes upon these! Eighteen Spencer Smith dragoons in the classic "charge" pose along with three officers with raised swords. Eventually, I'll paint these up as the fourth and fifth squadrons of Zicheau's Grenadiere zu Pferd, which some of you might recall was a 30-strong unit of Spencer Smiths brought to me by the Grand Duchess in June 2007, and painted during December 2007-January 2008. As an elite unit in the Zichenauer army, it will be quite a bit larger than the standard 30-figure organization laid out in Charge!, at least 48 in number.

So, it seems that my pile of lead really has become a pile of lead at this point! But, I now have more than enough RSM figures to complete the Grand Duchy of Stollen project with many Revell plastics unused and left over. I guess there is nothing for it but to plan on adding these to the collection too, albeit at a slightly more leisurely pace once the initial project has been completed (December 2010 is the target). But, most of that project will, indeed, consist of metal figures now. I really like the Revell plastics and have enjoyed painting and collecting them, but the RSM figures just have a certain something about them. I like the way the metal sounds when they bump against each other -- a nice, satisfying and musical "clink!"

Thank you again to Jim Wright of Phoenix, Arizona, who offered these figures to me at an incredibly fair rate, really too good an offer to refuse. With the transferral of his RSMs to me, Jim makes room for a bunch of early 18th century figures. I believe he mentioned the War of Spanish Succession in particular. In any event, one man's unwanted figures are another's windfall. . . and this has certainly been the case here. Tally ho!!!