Personality (test or disorder?)

As I finish off painting the last few personalities for the Estavian army, I've been musing about why I have so many in my SK armies.

Obviously one of the main influences stems from Charles Grant and "The Wargame" where his general figures appear: Fritz von Tarlenheim and the figure miscaptioned as Graf von Grunt (the Wargame Companion reveals this is none other than Von und zu Trinksblut und Eisenessen). These were wonderful Willie 30mm miniatures, some converted. To a lesser extent I was also swayed by Peter Young and "Charge" where numerous Staden and Willie staff figures were shown cantering all over the table (it always looked like too many to be practical to me....).

As an aside, I liked one of the figures so much, I had to try and replicate it, so the Graf von Gruntzen, Herzog von Landesburg was made:

When planning the campaign I relied on Tony Bath's book for ideas. He was very keen on creating characters; this had also appeared in the Grants (senior and junior) writing, so it seemed perfectly natural to incorporate these ideas, after all who doesn't like a nice general figure? I had initially planned to duplicate the Wargame and use Willie figures. However, when creating family trees as per Bath, I realised I would potentially need rather a lot.....

At that time, they were difficult to get hold of being manufactured in Sweden. They have since become easier to obtain and are competitively priced. There are however, a limited number of miniatures to choose from, even if using Stadden in addition. I realised I was generating far more characters than the 7 to 10 suitable figures could accommodate, even with conversions.

I toyed with just having them as the monarch; what to do about the rest? In the end inspiration came from a different source, Peter Dennis:

https://www.wargamesillustrated.net/sculpting-figure-from-fimo/

Unlike the obscenely talented Mr Dennis, I couldn't imagine attempting a horse. I did have some old GW plastic horses and some old Rospak ones (which look like the odd way horses are painted in C18th portraits). So I gave it a go.

My early efforts; nothing was wasted or thrown away:

I later discovered a source of plastic toy horses; by then my sculpting skills had improved. For those not in the know, Fimo or Sculpy is firm enough to support itself. Unlike other clays (Miliput and Green Stuff) it doesn't require a dolly or armature to sculpt onto. It does however loose details at the merest touch.....

The trick is to work downwards and shape out the basic rider, including face, then go back and add arms and finer details. The esteemed Tony Barton uses Fimo and sculpts in two halves, baking inbetween. It's possible to add to a baked figure and re-bake. Getting the temperature correct is essential. I have had disasters both when sculpting and baking. If it's during the sculpt, it's possible to simply start again. When baking, most of mine are under-done which makes them brittle. Quite a few sword scabbards and legs have broken off. Fortunately, PVA and Cyrnoacetate glue works. There were some that were left a little too long.....I rescued them before they melted! While hard, I had a lot of distortion with finer thin parts....

Anyway, while still not ready to tackle horses, I have made a few dogs.......

General knowledge

Last weekends output. Seven "Division Commanders" ( in VnB terms) - Spencer Smith staff officers, plus a pair of unfinished Fimo "Army Commanders" Graf von Weisen and Markgraf von Brauneburg.

 The Army Commanders are awaiting brass and gold having just had a bit of fettling (Brauneburg had natural brown hair but has had black applied before white powdered hair / wig as replacement).

There are four Fimo Corps Commanders awaiting paint. Then it's the staff to be varnished, flags to be drawn and painted, bases to cut out, magnetise and paint before the army is finished.

The Emperor's New Clothes

While I should perhaps have started with the Spencer Smith staff figures, I followed my inclinations and instead made a start on the personalities.

Here are the Emperor Augustus of the Zweikreis Reich and Crimson Throne and his son and heir (as well as commander in chief of the Estavian army) Prinz Charles Xavier on his horse Ajax and accompanied by his dog, Achilles.

Augustus and Charles Xavier (as well as Achilles) are my own Fimo / Sculpy creations mounted on a GW and plastic toy horse respectively.

I had created the piratical one eyed eyepatch wearing general from one of my doodles / sketches and had another figure in mind for the Prinz. However when creating his character it threw up "scar" twice and it seemed to fit my eyepatch wearer better.

The name was a nod to Austrian and Saxon commanders (rather than X-men) and the dog and horse were a sudden inspiration.

Should the Emperor die, I can see a potential objection to the election of a "maimed" prince and so providing a Causus Belli for a war of the Estavian Succession , assuming said prince doesn't become a casualty first!

An even bigger boom!

The last of the Estavian Imperial artillery park has joined the ranks in the shape of a heavy gun (Spencer Smith naval gun barrel on standard carriage). 

Following a comment by Stew (see comments previous post) I can no longer think of them as anything but Willhelm von Pfiffig's Zirkus Artillerie (full marks for non-UK visitors if they get that reference).

So much so, that I have decided to incorporate it into the fabric of the Soldier King campaign:

In 1722 Wilhelm von Pfiffig was appointed Inspektor General of the Imperial Estavian artillery. Von Pfiffig found the artillery park was virtually non-existent and so set about creating a new and efficient set of modern guns and gunners. Freshly cast bronze cannon were set upon new carriages with woodwork painted in white lead and metal in red. At the initial unveiling, one commentator remarked they looked like "something out of a carnival or a circus". The name stuck and the train of artillery was referred to in some circles as "Pfiffig's Circus" with some wits suggesting they should be drawn by elephants and camels instead of horses.

 "An occasional history of my travels in Estavia" Colonel Pedersohn.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With apologies to Blackadder fans; when thinking of a title for this post, the only thing that popped into my head was Baldrick's poem of the same name.

the Estavian artillery so far. Only one heavy gun and crew to paint.

To complete, some previously unshown Grenzer.