Robert Mantle RIP

I met Peter F. for lunch this week and in amongst our discussion of Calpe Towers topics, he mentioned that he’d received a distressing telephone call from Robert Mantle’s wife saying that he had died recently after an operation. Robert was the author of one of the few books in the English language brave enough to tackle the complex subject of the Prussian Reserve Infantry regiments. That book was published by the Napoleonic Association in the early 1970s, remains a sound reference and the text of it can still be found online.

When I added a link to this text to my Prussian Army Resources page I was surprised and delighted because Robert himself took the time to post a comment there. While we never met in person, I got the distinct impression from those comments of a modest and likeable individual. My condolences go out to Robert’s wife and family.

Too busy to post

The surviving Ordinarfahne of the von Niesemeuschel regiment

Most of October seems to have slipped by since the last time I posted anything new. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy and it certainly doesn’t mean that the rest of the world has been idle either.

Barry and Clarence, as you may have noticed from a recent comment here on BfK, are now on the very cusp of publishing the Republic to Empire rules. Apparently the proofs are back from the printers, the presses are rolling and pre-orders will be available within a week.

Also, I seem to be in a modicum of demand. Rosemary of Rosemary and Co. has been in contact with me and we’ve had a very civilized correspondence. I’ve heard from several other painters that Rosemary makes excellent brushes at VFM prices so it was a pleasure to hear from her directly. I now have several review samples of her Kolinsky sable brushes that I’m going to try out over the coming weeks and review here.

So just what have I been up to? Well, mostly, I’ve been digging into the arcane mysteries of 1813 Saxon line infantry flags. You may recall that, in my review of the GMB 1811 Saxon flags, I mentioned that the history of what happened to these flags in the 1812 campaign and how the lost ones were replaced in 1813 was very complex. Well, it certainly was! But I think that a joint effort by Grahame Black, Peter F, me and a couple of our correspondents (thanks to Andrew Brentnall and von Winterfeldt) means that we’ve almost got to the bottom of it. And I know (again from another comment here at BfK) that Grahame has almost got the 1813 sets ready for release. So expect to see those reviewed here in the near future too. At that point, I might also share the results of our research and add it to the Saxon Army Resources page. But in the meantime, as a taster, the photo at the top of this post is of one of the flags that survives to this day.

Twitter enhancement

Some of you will recall the brief BfK experiment with Twitter at Salute earlier in the year. Well, that didn’t turn out quite as I’d hoped – mainly because I spent more time enjoying myself than tweeting.

Now, with a recent addition to WordPress functionality, I can link my blog to my Twitter account and make it automatically tweet every time I add a new post on the blog.

Why should you care? Well, if you’re a Twitter user, you can now follow BfK on Twitter and know within minutes when I add a new posting here. Give it a go and let me know how you get on.

A game of musical figures

At some point in the next day or two I’m going to remove the link to The Assault Group and replace it with one to Alban Miniatures. Why? Well, rest assured, it’s not because I’ve had a tiff with the boys at TAG. Nope, rather it’s because TAG has just sold its Richard Ansell-sculpted range of Napoleonic 1809 Austrians and Saxons to Alban, so they won’t any longer have anything of relevance to BfK in their product range.

To be honest, this change ownership doesn’t come as much of a surprise to me. Progress on new releases for the range has been painfully slow and the fact that Ansell also scuplts Napoleonic figures for Alban makes this a natural move. I wish all concerned a fruitful future.

Perry French Imperial Guard horse artillery greens

Perry French line horse artillery greens

Meanwhile, one range that seems to keep growing faster than a weed in a compost heap is the Perry Napoleonic range. The latest additions are set to be French horse artillery of both the line and Imperial Guard varieties. I do have a soft-spot for artillery, especially if the crews offer a good range of poses and all those little extras like caissions are covered. I’ve included a couple of shots of the greens for your enjoyment.

Of course, I’ll be resisting this particular temptation because Calpe Saxon artillery is on my horizon.