Bridges and Churches - 28mm

Here's a look at five scenery pieces I've painted up. three bridges and a chapel and church. They all had lots of stonework so I did them at the same time using hardware store paint for the grey. Very quick to paint these, with the church at back right having a bit more detail and thus time required. 

First up is a Warlord Games resin stone bridge, suitable for crossing a smaller stream. Some Perry Austrian Chevaulegers on 5cm square base fit across ok.

It will span a 5-8cm or 2-3inch river.

Then two Warlord Games plastic stone bridges which come in six parts on a sprue, but assemble easily with plastic glue. The parts are 2 sides, 2 top parts of bridge and 2 undersides of bridge.  

These bridges are considerably larger and will span a 12.5cm/5inch wide river. They will be needed for the Elster River at Leipzig, though a Hudson and Allen 20" bridge may also be put into service as the causeway.

Next is this Tabletop Workshop 'Medieval Chapel'.  I'm not sure this is currently in production. Warlord Games still advertises it for sale, but I tried to order a couple more Tabletop Workshop products in a recent order and was told they were unavailable. I bought this one as part of a package deal from Tabletop Workshop a couple of years ago before that company folded. I understand Warlord Games bought the rights to the plastic castle they made, so expect they might also have the rights to the building range.

The Chapel is a simple affair, 4 walls, a base, and a roof which comes in two parts.

The roof also lifts off and the inside has details you can paint if you so desire. If I play skirmish games I might paint this interior in the future, but I didn't bother at the moment.

Lastly this solid resin church which I picked up off a New Zealand Auction site. Uncertain of the manufacturer and couldn't find it online, but it weighs a tonne! Also not the best sculpt with a number of marked irregularities in positioning of windows and so on, but looks ok painted up I think! 

Polish Infantry - 28mm Murawski

A couple more Polish units done for my Duchy of Warsaw forces - some much needed infantry. These are from the excellent Murawski Miniatures range again.

1st and 8th Infantry regiments (probably). I say probably because I find uniform details pretty confusing for Duchy of Warsaw even when I have the sources. In reality I imagine the Poles were often even less uniform in appearance than many other nations and prone to changes, and scavenging gear from defeated enemies and so on. Murawski do make "campaign dress" variants if you want them, but naturally I chose to have my Polish all striding along in pretty looking full dress uniform :) 

Here's the 1st regiment, including mounted commander. Once again 36 strong units for these Poles, and flags from GMB.

I also painted up a couple of bases of light company skirmishing for this regiment.

And next is the 8th Regiment with pink facings. These regiments are all in full dress, but I wanted the officer waving his hat from the campaign dress command pack, and Rodger from Murawski very kindly included him for me. Great service thanks Rodger.

I often voice a few minor grumbles about miniatures, in the interests of being objective and because no-one will believe me if I don't suggest a few areas that might be considered in development of future ranges and so on! However I really don't have any grumbles with these. In addition to being very clean sculpts, the sculpting is also done so as to "hide" behind equipment minor details of straps etc that would otherwise have to be painted and slow progress down. This is a great feature that some modern ranges have and it is much appreciated when you're painting many dozens of figures!

That's all the Poles I had planned and my unpainted Polish box is now gratifyingly empty. But these Polish are very nice figures and nice uniforms, and I'm tempted to get some more. Maybe the 13th in their white uniforms, and another regiment of Uhlans, and more command... plus some of Murawski's Baden range of course, got to have them for Leipzig!

Cröbern 1813 - Book Review

Wow! That's the word that springs to mind when you view this book. 'Cröbern 1813 - The Battle of the Nations in Miniature' details the conceptualisation and creation of a truly massive diorama of part of the South sector of the Battle of Leipzig. The diorama is centered on the village of Cröbern 16th October, at 16:10 hours. Austrian infantry, cuirassiers, hussars and allied Prussians and Russians are all concentrating for a counterattack against the Polish and French. The diorama documents the scene at 1:1 in terms of ground and figure scale, using 1/72nd scale figures and buildings. Something that has rarely if ever been done on this scale before I'm pretty sure!

The book provides some background information about this section of the battle. It is a tiny portion of the overall battle in the big scheme of things of course, which also serves to illustrate just how huge this battle was (largest prior to the 20th century).  It was also a fairly important location from my reading though, with Austrian counterattacks halting a French breakthrough on the first day.

Another section details the research involved, which was extensive, including examination of archives in Vienna and elsewhere. The actual village of Cröbern was destroyed for strip mining in the 1970's, but because of this it was photographed extensively at that time, and so some very good records of buildings and terrain that date back to 1813 exist. Architectural plans for the prominent church were also found and used to recreate this in 1/72nd scale. The diorama thus serves not just as a recreation of a battle, but as a memorial of a village that many ex-residents still have fond memories of.

The majority of the book, many dozens of pages of the approximately 200 pages total, is full colour photos of the diorama from various perspectives. The following brief sample gives an idea of these.

Look at those massed battalions of Austrian Grenadiers!

And Cavalry!

Also many close up photos of small details.

The village itself is faithfully recreated including the civilians, who gathered at the church at this time. 

There is also a list of materials used in the construction, and a bibliography.

So as you can see there has been a truly startling effort in the creation of this diorama. If you are interested in the 1813 campaign, this book is something of a must buy for details of the landscape, scenery, and architecture of the area. Highly recommended and I can see myself returning to this for inspiration for years to come. I also hope to visit the diorama in person one day, which seems likely given my wife is a native of Markkleeberg where the diorama is located (though not sure if it is still there).

To order the book I e-mailed a man named Patrick at pat.iis@t-online.de. After a few days I heard back and the book arrived here on the other side of the world in New Zealand a few weeks later for 38 euros including shipping. I think Caliver Books also has some copies but it would have worked out more expensive for me. A few more pictures of the diorama can also be seen at the official Cröbern diorama site.

Also worth viewing here's a short video review of this book from fellow blogger Paul Alba (Napoleonics in Miniature blog) who supplied me with contact details for ordering - many thanks Paul!