Another update to Prussian Resources Page

Standard bearer 2nd Silesian regiment (IR11)

Just a short note to say that I’ve started adding images of the Sturm cigarette cards created by Herbert Knötel and Martin Lezius. Last night I had initially thought it would be a relatively quick and simple job. That was before I realised just how many cards there were in the full set – 84 of them. And that’s just the Prussians! There are some Saxons too.

So I made a start by adding the ones for the line and reserve infantry regiments. Hopefully, I’ll gradually add all the rest over the next week or so.

New Prussian resources page

The eagle-eyed among you might notice that a new link has appeared in the menu above. Yep, I’ve finally got round to adding a Prussian Army Resources page to complement the Saxon one I’ve already done. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, it doesn’t make sense to have a Saxon one and not have a Prussian one; secondly, it’s easier to find and maintain if there’s one page; thirdly, the Saxon page has proved to be consistently one of the most viewed parts of the site, so a Prussian page seems as though it would be something popular.

But those reasons apply at almost any time. The spur for doing it now is that my Wargames Illustrated article will be published soon and it would be embarrassing if there wasn’t a Prussian resources page to accompany it on BfK. So I’ve decided to get started now to give me sufficient time to have it up to scratch. So far I’ve concentrated on adding the Knötel plates and that’s made me realise just how much material there is to get through. There were only 13 Knötel plates for the Saxons but I uploaded 49 for the Prussians this morning and I’ve a worrying feeling that I might have forgotten some!

Anyway, that was enough work for one go along with links to the Napoleonic Association’s pamphlet about the reserve infantry regiments. I’ll save adding further resources like the Knötel cigarette cards, the Jugel/Wolf plates and a list of books for future updates. If you can think of any other items that should be included, feel free to add a comment.

Don’t you just love e-mail?

Well, sometimes…

And last night was one of those sometimes because I got a couple of messages that made my day.

The first message was from Grahame Black (of GMB flags fame) to let me know that he’s completed work on flags for all eight 1811-15 Saxon line infantry regiments and he’s now working on the ones for the Lieb Grenadiers and researching the old 1802 flags (some of which were issued to battalions in 1813 as replacements for those lost in Russia in 1812). Each pack contains two flags: a Leibfahne and an Ordinarfahne. The Leibfahne was on a white background carried by the first battalion of the regiment; the Ordinarfahne was on a background in the regimental colour carried by the second battalion of the regiment. Other details of these flags and their histories are complex and sometimes disputed so I’ll save them for another time. In fact, Grahame says in his e-mail that he’s going to send me samples for review, so that’ll be the ideal time for me to go into all that.

The second message came from Dan at Wargames Illustrated to say that he’s checked over the article I’ve written for him about collecting a late Prussian Napoleonic wargames army and he’s really pleased with it. I’m basking in the glowing comments he’s sent me and I can’t resist quoting him here (sorry but it’s not every day you get sent something like this):

“It’s a great fully rounded read that manages to cover all aspects of a complex issues i.e. army structure, command and toy soldiers – everything a potential Prussian gamer would be interested in, and no padding.”

There’s more but I think I’ve stroked my own ego quite enough for one Saturday lunchtime. The article is scheduled to appear Issue 264 which will be published in September and the plan is for it to be illustrated with photographs of Peter F’s collection of his own Calpe figures.

I made it!

I might always miss the painting deadlines I set myself but today I hit the deadline for delivering my Wargames Illustrated article about building a late Napoleonic Prussian wargames army. Dan will be pleased (I hope).

It’s been a bit of an up-and-down experience. Some parts just flowed really easily while others were smelly socks that I kept putting off until the end. I’m glad I made a solid outline plan at the start though otherwise the thing had potential to take on a life of its own. The thing I found hardest was to remember that it’s supposed to be an introductory article which brought two challenges. Firstly, I couldn’t assume the reader has familiarity with terms and facts that I take for granted. Secondly, and almost an opposite consideration, I had to resist the temptation of going off into too much detail in any specific area.

So I hope I’ve struck a balance – I’m sure Dan will tell me if he wants any changes plus I’ve asked Peter F. to cast an eye over it so I know I’ll get some useful expert feedback from that direction. All being well, the article is still scheduled to appear in the September 2009 issue.

If that works out, I’m going to try to tempt Dan with an analogous article about the Saxon army.