Jumping the gun...

...or that's what it feels like, making the flags for a unit when I've only managed to paint one miniature. However in this case it's more of a necessity. As we don't know what flags Frei-regiment von Gerlach had (if they existed at all) I've decided to create some myself, and the only decent laser printer I have access to will become somewhat unaccessible when my current job ends at the end of this week. For the flags themselves, I've used one of the later Hessian flag designs by Frédéric Aubert from Kronoskaf as a basis. The later flag seemed to be appropriate as Prussia's allies in the west introduced a greater variety of light units towards the end of the war (Hannover with its British Legion, Brunswick and its Volontaires auxiliaires, etc.).

Creating the flags wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be. On NBA, David said that he'd added texture to his flags by importing the texture as another layer. I don't have the program that David uses but found a youtube tutorial for something similar using the free 'paint.net' program. For a suitable texture I used a portion of one of Da Vinci's drapery studies and followed this tutorial on youtube. Later I did a google image search for drapery study and found a large number of images with more suitable folds for a rippling flag, but I'd already done these and can't be bothered changing them, to be honest. This method won't replace the high printing quality of commercial flags like GMB, but for making hypothetical flags it's a lot easier than painting freehand (which I don't think I have the skill or patience for anyway!). The flags are relatively plain (compared to the line regiment versions) which I thought was more fitting for a Frei-regiment. I plan to have a stand with four standard bearers on, as I like the depictions in Rochling et al's paintings of Prussian regiments with their stand of a few colours and I've got a couple of extra colour bearers who are just gathering dust in the lead pile. As I'm planning a large regiment of 60 or so (I'm trying to build kleinkrieg forces with only a few units a side, but a larger figure to historical numbers ratio), I don't think the four colours will overpower the unit as it might a small one.

Getting There, slowly...possibly surely

Well, after four months of lying abandoned, half finished in my drawer, I've finally finished painting a miniature. Apologies for the slighty blurred photos although this is a bonus in my case, as you can't see how thickly the paint's been laid on. The crossbelts look especially chalky, for want of a better word.

When I promised in my last post that I would have a unit done in a months time this wasn't the intended one. I'd spent ages cleaning up a unit of Hessian Jaegers, but these fell victim to disaster while I was spraying on the undercoat (moisture in the air/using the dregs in the can/not shaking the can enough/spraying in a dark shed and not seeing that they were turning into black blobs -the last two are more likely, to be honest). The undercoat turned a streaky black/dark grey combination when I left them outside to dry.

The miniature I've painted is one of the 'semi-mythical' Frei-Regiment von Gerlach. A couple of TMP posters (David from NBA and Crogge1757) indicate that the unit probably didn't exist at all, but I had my heart set on the unit after I found the old cigarette card for it on the excellent Grosser-Generalstab website. The uniform card is below:

The reason there is only the one of them is that this was finished as a test. I was doing 6 in a production line but I wasn't happy with the triad I used on the musket stocks and satchel. I decided to finish one off to make sure I was happy with the rest of the colours I'd be using. With any luck I'll have the first company of 12 done only shortly after the end of the month-long deadline. I'm going on a pre-booked holiday in a week or so's time, but this is offset by the free time arising from ending of my contract in a week's time, so it's back to this for me.

Another book has been added to the list:
Memoirs of Field Marshal Leopold Count Daun

Edit: And I've just noticed I've missed a bit!