Newsflash! New Figures in the Works!

Some Hessian mercenaries retreating during the Saratoga Campaign of 1777.

A new line of realistic, life-like 1/56th, or 32mm, figures with human proportions (in campaign dress as they actually appeared, no less) is in the works for the American War of Independence! The sculptor is -- Wait for it! -- the famous Richard Ansell, who has also done yeoman's work for Frank Hammond's Minden Miniatures among others.

You can view several photographs of Richard's greens in-progress by visiting the Hesse-Seewald blog, whose own Alte Fritz is heavily involved in the project. You can also click on Battleroad Games & Hobbies, to be transported directly to the website of the U.S.-based producer and distributor of these figures-to-be. Or, you can scroll down the page and look for the links to both at the bottom right of this page.

While the American Revolution is not exactly my period of interest, you cannot help but feel excited and inspired by these wonderful previews of the planned range. And hey, with any luck, maybe some Hessians or other German mercenary figures might come along soon that would be a good fit for an extra unit in the Grand Duchy of Stollen's growing army?

Comments

Steve-the-Wargamer said…

"mercenaries"....hmmm.... whilst strictly speaking accurate, a mite pejorative perhaps??? :o))

6:56 AM

Big Andy said…

I can see me buying some of those. Incidentally Mercenaries has only BECOME a perjorative in the modern world because of Les Affreus in the 60s and of course beciuse government don't one anyone but them to control the violence. Anyhow they are called PMC's now...

6:27 AM

Bloggerator said…

I don't want to be a wet blanket or start a fight with anyone, but isn't this ground pretty well covered in both breadth and quality by the Perrys?

Curious minds want to know...

Greg

3:36 AM

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said…

Yes, Greg, but to my eyes the hands, heads, and legs on many of the Perry's figures, nice as they are, are always a bit too large/fat. Now, that's just me, but the slimmer figures sculpted by Richard Ansell seem to be what many wargamers are looking for. Maybe Alte Fritz himself will weigh in here with additional explanation and rationale?

Best Regards,

Stokes

10:54 AM

Steve-the-Wargamer said…

Stokes is right - the Perry figures are also very "static" or un-animated to my eyes.. the marching infantry always look like they have piles.. :o))

12:23 PM

It's Early Days Yet. . .

M aking some early progress with Batch A of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment over the last several days/evenings. Nothing terribly exciting just yet, but the basic black, brown, and flesh areas are done as are the green bases, and gray undercoat. The latter two areas needed some careful retouching early in the week. Next up, the neck stocks. I might just do these in red for the enlisted men although some of my source material suggest they were black, but I always look for an excuse to shake things up a bit. Any errant splotches of red (or black) can be covered with another application of light gray before I move onto the next step. "Giddy up!" as one Cosmo Kramer might have said. -- Stokes

A Little More Brushwork. . .

A little more brushwork on the first batch of (my version of) the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment yesterday (Saturday). Taking a different tack this time and addressing many of the details first before the white coats and other larger areas of uniform. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I've painted the (dark) red stocks of the enlisted men. Always a difficult and frustrating item to paint, it made sense to paint from the inside out as it were and get that particular detail out of the way first rather than try to paint it in later after much other painting has been accomplished. Trying to reduce the need for later retouching of other items on the figures you understand. Hopefully, I will be able to get back to these later today after a second trip back to the Apple Store for help with a couple of new iPad issues and, following the return home, some revision of Google Slides for tomorrow's meetings with my students. -- Stokes P.S. And according t...

And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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