Neckel French Infantry - 30mm Flats

 

Here's a set I've had for a while. Pulled them out when I inventoried my WSS flats suitable for gaming purposes a few weeks ago.  They're sold by Berliner Zinnfiguren as # 229/24, Frankreich 1756-63, Linieninfanterie im Halt. It comes with 25 castings, primarily the three figures which I have test painted here, but also command. The bases are engraved "NS" and also attributed to Neckel by Berliner Zinnfiguren, not their own Scholtz figures which concentrate heavily on the Prussians and to a somewhat lesser extent their Austrian enemies.  Outside of Germany, Neckel is not an easy editor to order from as they have no real internet presence, so dealing with Berliner Zinnfiguren's markup could be the lesser of two evils compared with hassles of trying to order the old-fashioned way.

These aren't bad, but not exceptional either. Certainly not up to the gold standard of the classic Bavarians, Blue King's Army series.  A couple things I don't like about them, the powder flasks look oversized and the hats aren't so good. The static pose is another thing, I've really come around to the viewpoint that for wargaming purposes you just can't beat the utility of marching/advancing figures. But I have these and they're paid for, so sooner or latter I'll get around to painting the rest of the battalion.

BZ stretches a point by selling these as Seven Years War figures. To my eyes, the stockings and belly mounted cartridge boxes place make them better for the WSS - War of the Polish Succession.  They'd be easy enough to convert to gaiters but I chose the lazy route of just painting the stockings white. Painted in acrylics.

Here is most of the command group. Interesting that the standard bearer on the right really is 7YW and an elegant Ludwig Frank engraving which outshines the others.  Not sure if Neckel or BZ substituted him in here with these earlier troops. Too bad the flag seems to be blowing the wrong way relative to the other standard bearer.

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.