Prussian hussars - 1st Silesian regiment

Well, it took longer than anticipated but I finally got round to finishing the unit of Prussian hussars I started in early December. They've actually been finished for about a week or so now, but it's taken me some time to dig the camera out to take a few snaps.

I decided to paint them as the 4th hussar regiment, which I believe is also known as the 1st Silesian. It seemed to fit with the fact that I've painted a lot of the line infantry as Silesians. I also liked the idea of doing the brown and yellow uniforms, which might not sound like the most colourful uniform choice from the Napoleonic era, but which is still rather smart I think. I still need to add a flag for the unit, but so far I've been unable to find out any information on what the flag looked like for this particular regiment. I thought about just using a generic Prussian flag but I'd rather use the correct flag, so I'll keep looking.

I must admit, I put off painting these hussars for a long time. They were part of the initial main purchase I made a couple of years ago, and having never painted hussars before I was a bit daunted by the uniform details. There were certainly some fiddly bits - and I'm sure I haven't got all the details correct (the blue horse reins / bridle etc are pure fantasy, no doubt) - but I persevered and got there in the end. They make a good addition to the collection and now gives me four cavalry units for the Prussians (besides the dragoons, landwehr and cuirassiers).

These will likely be the the last of the 20mm Naps to be painted this year, since I now want to spend some of my free time in enjoy playing a few games with what I've painted up so far (some battle reports to follow, hopefully). As the year draws to a close, I'm also starting to think about other projects for 2019, so don't be too surprised to see other wargaming periods (and scales) popping up on the blog. However, I'm certain that the 20mm Naps collection will continue to be added to throughout next year, so I look forward to sharing more with you as the collection grows.

Prussian horse artillery and terrain boards

Too late the join in the tabletop parade, this is the first of three horse artillery bases I'm planning to do for the Prussians. I'll likely do the remaining two in between other paint jobs, and eventually I'd like to add some limbers and horse teams.

I used a slightly different base size for these guys - 50x50mm instead of the 45x60mm I used for the foot artillery. I didn't have any of the latter size to hand, but I think I like this size better anyway.

For the Prussian blue, I experimented (yet again!) with my mix of paints, using Vallejo Model Dark Prussian Blue mixed with Charcoal Grey as a base, then adding a light grey to that same mix for the highlight. It gives a nice greyish blue colour which I think I'll use again for future units.

I'm spending a bit less time painting and more time on terrain at the moment. These are the first four completed Terra-Former tiles from Sally 4th. I picked up a set from their stand at the Carronade show earlier in the year but it's taken me this long to get round to putting them together. If you like the idea of using modular terrain boards for your games, I can highly recommend them.

If you haven't heard of them before, Terra-Formers are mdf frames, 30x30cm, that you glue together and fill with terrain of of your choosing. Different profiles are available, from flat tiles and hills to roads, streams and rivers, and more besides. The photo above shows one of my hill sections in progress. The idea is that you fill the frame with polystyrene or foam and then finish off with scenic materials.

What makes the tiles so neat is that they come with magnets for each side, which you glue in place. This means your tiles click neatly together on the table. So far, I've found that the tiles join very well, with minimal gaps.

Here's one of the stream tiles in progress. I used Kingspan foam, which is cut to size and glued into the frame. Next, I'll carve out the stream bed before painting, adding scenic water and finishing off with foam and static grass. It does require a bit of work, but I think it will be worth it in the end to have a collection of boards that can be used in lots of different configurations.

Here are some road sections in progress. I still need to add some more ground cover and finish modelling the roads. You can see how neatly the sections join.

I'll post some more pictures of the boards as they take shape, and I hope to have time to share some battle reports using them.

Meanwhile on the painting side of things, I have a unit of Prussian hussars on the go, which I'm hoping to get finished next week. Hussar uniforms are a bit fiddly to say the least!

Till next time, happy wargaming!