Sunday 10 May 2015

More SYW cavalry with dodgy flags

According to my Oxford dictionary, the definition of DODGY is "1 dishonest. 2 risky. 3 not good or reliable." Of these, I would choose 'risky' and 'unreliable' for these flags.

The flag for the Kolowrat-Krakowski Dragoons is very 'risky' and wholly unreliable.   Kronoskaf has no description of Ordinair-standarten other than they had a red field. Following the general Ordinair-standarten 'formula', I have chosen to put an imperial eagle on the obverse and the Kolowrat coat of arms on the reverse. I got the coat of arms from the internet so I can't be sure if it is right for this period. I particularly like this coat of arms because it follows the uniform of the dragoons very closely and consequently it ties in very well. I have also taken a risk with the fringe, tassles and spear point. I have chosen to do these as 'silver' rather than the usual 'gold' for no other reason than this regiment is one of the few regiments that used steel hilted swords.

The flag for the Wurtemberg Dragoons is loosely based on the description given by the entry on Kronoskaf. The description, like most of the complex flag descriptions on Kronoskaf, is a little hard to visualise and this one makes no sense at all  (to me); still, this version is pretty enough.

Some pictures of the figures. All are Front Rank Miniatures painted by yours truly in enamels. They will join another four recently painted units on the 'to-base' list.



The Kolowrat-Krakowski Dragoons. I have chosen to field this regiment represented by horse grenadiers from its elite company; this will allow me to field this unit as either ordinary dragoons or as a unit of converged elite companies. The Austrians often split off their elite companies so this will probably prove to be a very useful unit, and I aim to do another one.

The 'Kolowrat' coat of arms is rather pretty, isn't it?

The Wurtemberg Dragoons in fetching red and black coats and straw waistcoat. I particularly like the casualty on the falling horse.

This is my simplified version of the flag described on Kronoskaf. Red, yellow and 'silver' work very well. I never use metallic paint on 'flowing cloth' of any description because to me it always looks wrong. 
So there we have it: Two more units for the Austrians. Next up, with the Chotusitz scenario in mind, I will do a unit of Austrian cuirassiers and a few units of (the last four units I plan to do of) Prussian infantry, including IR 15 The Garde. I've chosen to do the latter as III battalion in mitres, so it will stand out on the table - grenadiers with a flag!

EDIT: From the last photo I noticed all of the right cuff buttons I missed - now done yellow metal like the others. It's a funny thing that when you start missing a detail you miss it quite often - a blind spot so to speak. I must have worked sword hilt, then front of figure, and having seen the sword hilt done (because it sticks up) stopped turning the figure and missed the cuff buttons.

5 comments:

Sgt Steiner said...

Lovely flags which is what counts in absence of facts :-)

DeanM said...

Beautiful work on all of these, James. Impressive to read you used enamels too.

El Senyor Verd said...

Superb job!

Steve said...

Great work matey!

Phil said...

Beautiful uniforms and great painting!