Imperial German VII

Having cracked half of 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, I Corps of the German 8th Army c.1914 last year, it was time to move onto the second regiment - 41st Infantry Regiment 'von Boyen' (5th East Prussian) (Infanterie-Regiment von Boyen (5. Ostpreuß) Nr.41).

The acquisition of Kraus's excellent work on the uniforms and personal equipment of the Imperial German army sees this battalion enjoy a few refinements.

Firstly and most simply, the canteens went from being painted as all leather to my giving the canteen a dull brown to represent felt.

The main difference is the painting of sword knots in company/battalion colours - in this case with a white background to denote 1st battalion.

Here we have the second company, leading the fourth company:

As always, officers - both commissioned and non-commisssioned - followed their own rules:

For completeness, here are the rules of cap buttons.

 These plates all come from Ruhl, M., Die Uniformen der Deutschen Armee, Volume 2, (Leipzig, 1899).

Big Brothers III

Onto the next squadron of the 2nd Cuirassiers:

I think more detail survived this time due to a lighter (in thickness) undercoat. As usual, I dry brushed dark brown over the undercoat to help lift the detail for later painting, as well as provide another level of shading.

As I messed up last time and had to convert two figures to the 3rd Cuirassiers, I took the chance to squeeze in the replacements this month.

So, I'm two figures ahead, which is always useful in a larger project. 

As an aside, a grey gelding has just moved into our corridor at the stables, which has prompted me to consider a more dappled mount for the next trumpeter.

Some Archers

.. to whet the appetite whilst I sort out a post on the next batch of cuirassiers.

These form part of my project to convert two HYW armies to Hail Caesar rules, which requires the sixteen figure archer units to be bolstered by a further four figures.

Onwards and upwards ...

Big Brothers II

Despite finishing these off last month, the real world intervened. So My apologies for the time taken to put words to the pictures.

My aim was to complete the second squadron of the 2nd Cuirassiers, but as the more observant will note, plans changed.

Yes, I managed to mount three figures on identically posed horses! So two have rebadged 3rd Cuirassiers, i.e. rather than sporting red lined collars of blue, they have blue lined collars of red.

So onto the next six,  two of whom will now join this squadron...