From GregB - Bismarcks Boys - 28mm Prussian Infantry (71 points)

Prussians charge to battle for their King!

 I'm continuing along with my established theme for this fourth submission to the Challenge - more 28mm infantry for the Franco-Prussian War. Hopefully you are not bored yet!  In these photos you see the bulk of my Prussian infantry that I will be using for skirmish gaming in the setting - they are all 28mm castings from "Eagles of Empire".  There are 29 figures in total here, but some have already been submitted (see if you can spot "Mr. Glowing" among the mass) and others were painted before the Challenge started - so only 14 of these will count for scoring purposes today.

Nice, aggressive posture on many of the castings

These castings show that distinctive casting style of the Eagles of Empire figures - the castings are tall (essentially 30mm) and thin, with more sort-of "true scale" Dreyse rifles and spikes on the helmets.  This already caused one casting to lose his pickelhaube during shipping, but as I am keen to have as many Prussians jump in on the table as possible, I painted him up anyway, figuring some manner of franc-tireur shot the spike off his helmet in a skirmish behind the lines...

The Prussians sporting their distinctive pickelhaubes and rolled coats

This is meant to represent four full squads of seven troops each, as well as a couple of senior officers - the equivalent of two boxes of figures from Eagles of Empire - but I'm two figures short to represent the full group of four squads. This is because the Prussian boxes come with two different types of musician, and I had no use for the drummers...so I'll need to scare up two extra figures to balance this all out.  When combined with the Jagers, it is still a substantial force for a skirmish, ready to enforce the will of the King and bring the pesky French to heel on the battlefield!

I quite like the once NCO, on the right, beautiful animation in the pose

Rear view, showing the kit the Prussian infantry hauled with them

The NCOs are on square bases, the senior officers are on hex-shaped bases, and there is one very-senior officer (would be something like a status level three or four leader for Lardy-style-games) based together with a standard bearer on a hex base.  I have tried to use different colours of flowers to help with unit identification, but as I have worked through this I have seen I need to be careful a bit as the overall effect can be a bit too bright.  France is a beautiful, beautiful place (and the "Imperial phase" of the War of 1870 did take place in the summer) but it is not Lothlorien and too many bright flowering bushes has a bit of a detrimental effect to the overall game.  I may go back later and scale it back a bit more still.

An assortment of close-ups - the arm of the officer was a challenge, as the part was mis-cast - his shoulder must have been wounded at Sadowa or something...

The Prussian flag is from GMB.  Finding flags for this period is a challenge - GMB is the only source I have found for Prussians, and nobody is making any for the French as far as I can tell, with a small exception that you will see in my next posting!

Senior command base - flag from GMB

Ready to conquer in the name of the King!

So that will be 14 different 28mm castings, good for another 70 points if my math works (always a big "if").  Up next - vive la France!!

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Of course, I can't forget to toss in some "Challenge Tunes", can I?

Artist: God is an Astronaut

Album: All is Violent, All is Bright

I lack the cultural depth to say much about this group beyond the ambient tones help keep my mind calm and paint like crazy.  I also first heard this group while visiting Curt in Regina, so I also associate painting with music from the group and my good friends down the Trans-Canada Highway!

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You are lighting this stuff on fire, Greg. Awesome work! 

Such wonderful, clean painting. I've always admired your use of colours and I really like your take on Prussian Blue. Again, the pickelhaubes are terrific, they look both wonderfully ridiculous and menacing all at the same time (a piece of headgear seemingly designed to be shot at, it would seem). The larger officer stand with the Big Moustache and the flag bearer is brilliant (love the white gloves). 

If you want to tone-down the 'We're fighting in a flower nursery' look, try cutting the flower tufts in half or, better yet, in quarters. Then tuck these smaller sprigs in between your taller grass tufts to give your base a more natural, meadow aspect. 

These lovers of all things Wagner will give you 71 points, with one extra for the banner.

Great work, Dude!