Second Hand Swedes

As you may or may not know, I have a 1/72 scale WSS/GNW project running, with actually quite good progress, only I hadn't properly photographed everything. The figures are safely packed away for now in a 8l plastic box.

I got the 'From Narva to Poltava' big box made by Strelets for last Christmas (among other things), and this includes twelve Swedish pikemen and the same amount of musketeers. For obvious reasons, this is not the best distribution, chief among them the fact that my sixteen-figure units contain one central element of four figures and two 'wings' of six figures. 

(Of course it means different base sizes within a unit, but my OCD wouldn't let me get away with the command element not being perfectly in the middle.)

As I completely ran out of Swedish musketeers (that is because I traded my GNW collection for some Perry HYW figures IIRC before our previous move), I had to find more. Zvezda, being a Russian company, does not really import anymore to the EU and they only re-released their stuff once some time ago, so resources are scant.

As mentioned on the 'Carp to Gold' build log, my significant other convinced me to register on the second hand marketplace app Vinted, and just by searching for Zvezda, I hit the jackpot: not one, but two sellers offering used GNW Swedish figures.

I bought both and they were with me in a little while, about sixty figures in total (plus a complete unused box of Swedish artillery, and thirty-odd Streltsi, all for good use). I washed them, removing some of the old paint, and using the remaining unpainted Strelets pikemen, organized them to battalions, trying to maintain similar poses throughout. I made the above reference picture before stowing them away, but fortunately I could find a box with internal compartments, so I probably won't mix them up.

The wonders of the internet I guess! Now, on to painting them (after a unit of Russian foot, test pieces for my AK Mint Green colour, and two more Saxon infantry are completed, among other things)...

The Merchant Ship sets sail

Apologies for the delay, I just had no setup to make good pictures. It turns out that the flash on my old Fuji camera is actually working, I just have to pry and keep it open with my fingers.

Anyway, here it is, with removable top masts and a small crew fit to serve a merchant vessel. All the sails except one are made from cloth, the masts are bamboo kebab sticks, which is a really awesome scratchbuilding material if you find the right quality.

GNW Russian (?) artillery

This is a mixed lot of Zvezda and Strelets gun crews, originally Swedes, but as they have the long cuffs, they pass as Russians as well. I know the Russian gunners had a red vest, but I like this color combination better.

A Frenchman, a Swiss and a Pole walk into a bar

And the bartender says, "Get lost..."

My French and allied armies are taking shape nicely - as explained before, visual variety means a lot when all of your footsoldiers basically wear blue. This is why I originally bought the Strelets Poles - and then there's enough German (and Swiss) troopers in the same model of uniform with different colors. I think you could have seen the Swiss in the previous battle report (where they got badly thrashed and then stood idly for the rest of the game).

General Ktoplowski's Polish Brigade

A rather tasteful array of Polish arms: a dozen Uhlans and two groups of infantry. The title of course refers to Polish players proudly declaring "KTO PL" in every online multiplayer game.

The muster contains the following:

• six Zvezda Polish Guard Lancers
• six Vistula Legion horse
• A 16-figure unit of GD of Warsaw infantry
• A unit of Vistula Legion foot

Karl XII and Ivan Mazepa

Still working on the Strelets figures, this time a small diorama of Karl XII of Sweden and his best buddy. Not as limited in use as some might think (for a while I was thinking about a Maurice de Saxe conversion instead).

A bit of Gå–På every day

Since its arrival, I have been working on the Strelets 'From Narva to Poltava' big box at a steady pace. You can inspect most of its contents above.

Corporal Punishment

This small diorama represents something we wargamers usually forget: the part of 18th century military discipline nobody's really proud of. It might not be very useful in a game, but honestly, what else should I have done with the figure tied to the pikes? 

The figs are both from the Strelets Swedish artillery box (which was bought as part of the "From Narva to Poltava" set). The pikes are made from tooth picks and the whip is a piece of folded thread.

Coaching Coaches

This 18th century coach is ideal for skirmish scenarios, or it can simply be a nice battlefield prop.

It is painted in bright Swedish colors, so it can be used both for my imaginary Varangian forces and historical GNW Swedes.

Formaggian Honor Guard

Some fresh and some older figures in this post: the last GNW figures from the big Strelets box, and a group of Zvezda SYW Prussians in very bright uniforms, rebased as a part of the bigger project.

GNW Swedes, part the ten thousandth

I've completed two more units of foot and rebased the Västerbotten unit for my 1/72 Swedes. I also converted/sculpted a unit of horse.

GNW cannoneers

Some of the last pieces of the Strelets big GNW box are finished: an officer in half plate, six gunners and a dude using a blunderbuss for launching a grenade.

Also, some earthworks made from PVA, sand and sprue rubble.

I've baked a cannon!

It's trouble getting enough cannon for my Napoleonic troops. These sets are the most expensive, and often contain a few cannon only - or if they have enough cannon, there are no horse teams and limbers at all.
To remedy this, I have bought a pack of sculpey and made this prototype, an Austrian cavalry artillery 6-pounder. The pieces made from sculpey are the barrel, the wurst and the rims of the two wheels.

More tricorne

Quite a handful of 18th century figures are the topic of this post. They had waited for a long time, primed and hanging out on one of my temporary storage trays. Four Strelets personality figures on the left from the Court of Peter I set, a mounted officer (perhaps the Tsar himself) and a trumpeter from the same, then the thirteen remaining figures from the Accurate AWI militia, and some others below in the post!

The Saxon Muster

One more infantry and two cavalry units were completed, bringing the GNW Saxon army to a playable size in Maurice... All I need now is an opponent.

The original setup looked like this:

NA Cavaliers 9 - 9

4x ART 10 - 19

6x RI Trained 36 - 55

1x RI Conscript 4 - 59

6x RC Trained 36 - 95

+ upgrade 2 cavalry to Elite 5 - 100

+1x mercenary RI Trained when attacking

Army Morale 13

As you can see, I switched up the composition so I have seven cavalry and six infantry units. I'm out of infantry figures, so it's going to stay like this until I buy another few boxes of Zvezda foot figures.

Big Tricorne Post Number Three

I've finally had the spirits and determination to push through a pile of plastic again, and have completed ten Zvezda SYW Hussars, sixteen Swedes as WSS Austrians, a similar number of Strelets foot as WSS French, and eight Strelets horse as Saxon Guard horse.

Wolves of the Sea

A handful of assorted Strelets figures, still from the Tsar Peter I big box, mostly artillery crews, officers and pikemen without pikes.

They will be used for various sea-going actions, but right now I'm stuck with the corvette as I couldn't gather enough courage to continue painting it. 

Soldiers of fortune

Right after the real deal come these sixteen pseudo-Frenchmen, a group of Glambrian mercenaries for the Calvacasa rebellion. They are Strelets figures from the 'Court and Army of Peter I' big box. The rank and file only appear in this one while the officer and halberdier are from the 'Guard of Peter I' separate set, included in the big box.

As I mentioned before, there was a surplus of infantry figures (two sprues were included twice judging from the PSR review), which meant I could muster three 16-figure units: this is the second, the first one was painted as WSS Bavarians and the third one awaits judgement. I primed the latter two black and did not bother much with detail, a very useful approach considering how botched up proportions are on these fellows. I would still not rate them cannon fodder (e.g. figures painted only to bolster the ranks of the 'good ones') as they paint up rather easily. 

Since the beginning of the year, when I stockpiled all these 1/72 plastic tricorne dudes, the Heap had been greatly reduced, which means that now I can play quite large battles.
I think a few more posts similar to this will follow, with only a handful of figures as I complete them in smaller batches.

Drowning in funny hats now

This is, of course, not my regular output. In my younger days I could finish an entire box of figures in two or three days. Which is possible with 20-40 figures per box.

Now the Strelets set 'Court and Army of Peter the Great' has over 130 figures and a pair of cannon inside it. The PSR review says it contains 108 figures, and mine was stuffed quite full, which led me to believe that I've got a pair of extra sprues. No worries, though, I can tackle this.

Let's see what we have on the above photo. Some were shown at the S-B ImagiNation blog as an illustration, some were not. From left to right:

• three ladies of importance
• a 'talion of sixteen figures, the vast majority of these appear only in the 'Court and Army...' box, and I received extra sprues of these. With 48 of them, I can make three 16-figure units. 
• a group of Strelets foot officers for the rebel cause, one Varangian (Swedish) and four civilians.
• a scratchbuilt amusette gun
• four Zvezda Russian dragoon figures painted as officers 
• in the foreground, another bunch of Strelets officers, these are the loyalist ones.

Saxon additions

The Kurprinz infantry regiment and Kurprinz dragoons are finished for my 1/72 GNW Saxon army. The infantry is Zvezda and the cavalry is Strelets.