Monday 15 January 2018

Napoleonic Brunswickers

Hussars are on the move in an old battle fought with good friends


I have always had a fascination with the Black Brunswickers of the Napoleonic Wars.  The early reading of Otto Von Pivkas ( aka Digby Smith) Black Brunswickers Osprey Men at Arms fed the craving to read about them.  I still recall a visit to CANCON, our largest wargaming show in Australia, many, many years ago where I saw the very lovely George Stosic playing the old WRG Horse and Musket rules with his Minifig Brunswickers on the field and they looked sensational.


I had the great opportunity years ago to meet up with Alan and Michael Perry one day in Nottingham to share a few beers and to buy my full complement of their wonderfully sculpted and designed Brunswick figures from their range.  It was a memorable and most enjoyable wargaming experience for me.


These are great sculpts however I have since re-based them and am about to add traces.


Great Light infantry advancing at the trail resplendent with some fine command figures


Battle lines drawn to defend this particular section of the field



French columns meet Brunswickers with overwhelming odds.  If memory serves they held up the advance
for a while however the odds were simply too great.


Always like to try and find a few new shots to show these lads off as I love these figures.  I think my youngest son has decided, like his old man, that these look the part in their cool black uniforms, that this is his force going forward.


Classical old school Osprey Men at Arms that got me started on these chaps many years ago.




Well done that man.

27 comments:

  1. Excellent looking troops.

    I have them in 6mm, still need to do them in 15/18mm.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A beautiful uniform and a great job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Phil - the black is a difficult colour to paint and these have come up well I think.

      Delete
  3. Always loved the Braunschweig army! Great work, Carlo! Here is my Duke of Braunschweig:
    https://olddes.blogspot.com.by/2017/08/friedrich-wilhelm-duke-of-braunschweig.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Sergiuss and your work on your blog is absolutely superb.

      Delete
  4. Nice troops. I too had been bitten by the 'black bug' and have the full contingent from the Perry range. Great figs!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you P and I can certainly understand the bug as well as you can see.

      Delete
  5. Those Brunswickers look great!
    I just bought the whole contingent for a future Quatre Bras game (planned next year). All Perry Mins.
    Thanks for the inspiration!

    BTW, I knew Otto Von Pivka was not the real name of the author, but I didn't knew it was Digby Smith! I'm currently reading a book from him on the SYW.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Wim - that would have ben a hefty bill. Can I ask what rules will you be playing?

      Delete
  6. Nice to see the Brunswickers in action! Terrific Perry figures in your superbly painted collection - well done Carlo. Terrific feast for the eyes, thank you! I hope I was not the cause of your rebasing and tracing of the artillery limbers? Our man James created the entire Brunswick contingent for Quatre Bras at 1:20 - 370 figures; fair play to the man! (They make an appearance en masse in April). Looks like yours are very similar if not identical ratio too Carlo?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah Kevin once I saw your artillery teams and limbers I was always going to have to redo them. Yours are just wonderful and I know that Mark at Chasseur in NZ has also done a wonderful job. I look forward to following on your groups efforts for Quatre Bras.

      Delete
  7. Very lovely figures Carlo, our James has met his match! But with all this talk of black uniforms it's giving me ideas for a new Hussarette..........
    Chris
    http://notjustoldschool.blogspot.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Chris and I look forward to seeing your Hussarette work!

      Delete
  8. They look Marvelous. I too have my contingent of (minifigs) Brunswickers... much underused to date!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much Peter. It is amazing that so many of we Napoleonic wargamers have a few Brunswickers in the collection for all the reasons above. Their is something special about seeing them all clad in black on the field.

      Delete
  9. Seems like a very nice collection of napoleonic figures. I don’t know much about this genre but your enthusiasm is very catching. 😀

    ReplyDelete
  10. Pretty in black Carlo. A great fashion statement! 8O)

    I have fading memories from when the Otto von Pivka books were some of the few easily obtained reference books. Not so happy memories! 8O)

    Salute
    von Peter himself

    ReplyDelete
  11. Pretty in black Carlo. A great fashion statement! 8O)

    I have fading memories from when the Otto von Pivka books were some of the few easily obtained reference books. Not so happy memories! 8O)

    Salute
    von Peter himself

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Black is always in style Peter as a fine fashionista such as yourself would always appreciate.

      Delete
  12. Your Brunswickers are very cool in their black uniforms!

    ReplyDelete