Batthyányi Dragoons

I have completed my latest unit. These are the 7th Batthyányi Dragoons.

During the Seven Years war they were commanded by Heinrich Hartenberg.

I am using Acrylics to paint my Zinnfiguren. For shadow I use Acrylic inks with Burnt Umber and Sepia working well on horses. I use  grey ink to add a little highlight.

These figures are from Kieler set 1428  - Dragoons in Angriff (attack) and are certainly dynamic looking chaps.

I have started my next unit - the Mainz Lamberg Infantry.

Zinnfiguren - First units completed

I have now painted extra figures to bring my first units up to strength. I have used 90 by 40mm bases for Infantry and 90 by 50mm for Cavalry. 

The bases are painted a nice shade of Green using Vallejo Golden Olive (857) and I have stuck a piece of green felt to the underside to make it easier to slide the bases across my kitchen table or green mdf playing surface.

I am loosely basing my collection on the battle of Freiberg on 1762 as this has a nice mix of troop types.

The Erbprinz is an Imaginations unit, perhaps the most famous in Wargaming history. This is the first Zinnfiguren flag I have painted.

Infantry units consist of 10 figures or in some cases I will use 8 plus a mounted officer.

The 4th Hussars were commanded by Bohlen in 1762. Prussian Hussars are main battle cavalry and I use 5 figures per unit. For skirmish cavalry I will use 4 figures per base.

I have 2 units of Prussian Grenadiers completed. They are the 17/22 Rothenburg and 19/25 Woldeck.

I have my next unit, the Austrian Batthyanyi Dragoons, 90% painted. After this I will do an Austrian Infantry unit.

Kieler Austrian Grenadiers

Occasionally Zinnfiguren do come up on Ebay in the UK. When a box of Austrian Grenadiers come along I made an offer and the troops have now joined my growing collection.

The figures came in their original box and where painted on the 31st Jan 1936.

Kieler produced many pre painted sets and this set is 589.  Kieler first produced figures in 1924 and you can still buy them today. 

https://www.kieler-zinnfiguren.de/index.html

This box was sold in Vienna and interestingly the shop still exists but no longer sells Zinnfiguren.

The box has still got it's original packaging and includes 18 infantry figures and a mounted officer. The painting is very basic however the only damages are two missing scarbards and one broken bayonet. Not bad for figures that are over 87 years old.

I gave one of the the figures an overnight bleach bath which stripped the old paint revealing the figure details hidden below. 

These figures are enough for two battalions of Austrian Grenadiers.

Puttkamer Hussars

I have completed my latest unit of Zinnfiguren - they are the 4th Puttkamer Hussars.

Cavalry will be mounted five figures on a 80 by 50mm base and will represent a 5 squadron regiment.

I have also reconsidered my Infantry organisation and basing and will now have 9 figures on a 80 by 40mm base.

This a mock up the new basing. I have slightly staggered the line as I feel this adds movement to the basing. 

First Zinnfiguren base completed

I painted these 6 figures over 11 years ago when I got my first Zinnfiguren. Yesterday I rebased them on my new basing as part of my restarted project.

This unit is the Erbprinz from Charge. I have on 60 by 30mm and stuck two mdf bases together so the bases are easier to pick up and move.

Each base of Infantry will represent a battalion and I will paint two battalions for each regiment giving me the option of deploying 2 bases as a unit if I wish.

I will probably do a few Imagination units as well as core Austrian and Prussian units. This allows greater flexibility as they can fight for either side depending on the scenario.

Next up will be some Prussian Grenadiers which I painted 7 years ago. Once these are done I will start painting some new figures.

Berlin and Zinnfiguren

I have just got back from a short city break to Berlin. While there I was able to visit the Berliner Zinnfiguren shop for a spot of shopping.

Over 10 years ago I had bought a few Fechner Zinnfiguren online and painted a few of them before putting them away. Well I now had the opportunity to buy a few more so I could create two small armies.

Berliner Zinnfiguren sell both new and secondhand figures so I picked a few of both. Here's the haul.

3 boxes of new Schulz figures. The boxes contain 23 Prussian Infantry, 27 Austrian Infantry and 9 Prussian battalion gunners.

I bought 2 secondhand boxes of old Kieler cavalry figures that cost 15 Euros a box. I am not sure how old these are but the packaging could be pre war.

The first box of 15 Prussian hussars included 5 that have painted as the 4th Puttkamer Hussars the remainder are unpainted figures. I will do a paint restoration although I am not sure if these are original factory painted ones.

  

The second box contains 10 part painted Austrian Dragoons and goes to show that lead, or should that be Zinnfiguren, piles exist in Germany.

Thus is going to be kitchen table collection and my current thoughts are towards a battalion represented by 6 figures on a 60 by 30mm base and cavalry on a 60 by 50mm base with 5 figures. I have enough figures now to do 14 infantry bases and 8 cavalry and a couple of guns. 

Rules wise DBSYW, Volley and Bayonet and Charge come to mind. For Charge each Infantry base will represent 12 figures and a cavalry base 6 figures.