Seven Years War - 54mm Plastic

As I needed a break from the flats, Mark Dudley's very nice HaT Prussians painted as Saxon infantry inspired me to have a go at a box of my own. http://ilkleyoldschool.blogspot.com/2012/08/132-syw-and-some-re-basing.html

Here they are, painted imaginatively as...er, Prussians.

IR13 - Itzenplitz

So far HaT has produced three sets, the first being the marching infantry in two poses as shown here. With 18 figures per box, throw in a 20% discount at Classic Toy Soldiers and @ about $0.60 a figure, they have to be one of the great toy soldier bargains.  The command figure box is also out, or will be soon. The action pose set is more like AIP or Barzso with multiple poses per box.

Who do they fight then ?   Of course, the simple approach of painting these same figures in white coats and calling them Austrians will suffice for some and there's certainly no shame in that. After all, AIP been selling the same sets molded in different colors for years.  Blue plastic ?  Prussians !  Green plastic ? Russians !  Red Plastic ?  British, of course !   But plausible enemies do already exist, Barzso's F&I War French.  I undercoat with Rustoleum Plastic Primer, painted with acrylics.

Penny-pinching Minister of War, curse you for these useless tiny swords !

So where am I going with this ?  Upon further reflection, nowhere.   For one thing, the lack of appropriate cavalry in this scale is problematic.  To my eyes, the Peipp 45mm 7YW Prussian cavalry won't look too badly out of scale as they run large, but @ 12.60 euros a figure, I really can't justify the expense. Not when I have plenty of Prince August molds in the garage and can just pick up where I left off with the 40mm vs. starting yet another project from scratch. 

But I must say, as toy soldiers go, these new HaTs are a good value for your money and quite appealing figures.