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Following on from my post about White Coated Russians and the Turks, I left out the 1904 white coated Russians and got out my 'other Russians' see my post of 11th February.

Bob and I set about fighting a small battle to control a village somewhere in Russia.

The Whites had 50 infantry, 16 cavalry, a gun, a Rolls Royce armoured car and a heavy machine gun.  The Reds had 80 infantry, 2 Renault machine gun armoured tanks a gun and 8 cavalry.


Reds line up to take my village


Ivan and his armoured car and a squad of infantry wait in a nearby forest.


2 squads of red infantry sprint down the road

All these figures are ARTS and I particularly like these riflemen


The Red Guard advance on the left flank.




My men wait in ambush for the advancing Red Infantry






 Ivan's armoured car grinds to a halt as the tyres are shot out!  Ivan fights on as bullets whistle around.



 My gunners find their target!.......and miss!!!!!


 My brave lads face the advance of the Reds tank.

 Still Ivan dodges enemy bullets.. well Bob's dice are poor but it amounts to the same thing!

 The Red Guards pour forward.




A brave Red Guard Officer peeks around his troops.




 One unit of Red infantry break and run.

 My hidden heavy machine gun opens up and destroys the advancing Red cavalry.


 Ivan eventually falls!



With my armoured car silenced the Red Guard advance more boldly.


 My troops eventually retire having caused some damage.


A welcome return by Kitten Force.  Kingston who is half of Kitten Force and as laid back as the island capital he is named after walked across the table, inspected the 'Butcher's Bill' and was singularly unimpressed by the tactics and the rules!  

To be honest it wasn't the best game. I shouldn't have given the Reds two tanks, they were in the box and I wanted to just get them out having discovered them again.  The figures promised so much and looked good but we tried a set of free rules which I had adapted before discovering the Warhammer Great War rules rules on my shelf which might have been a better option, but you only earn by experience. So these 54mm figures have gone back in their boxes for another time. 

I have in a couple of blogs said that I swap the heads on my Recast Minifigs S range figures to give more variety.  It is fairly simple with the right tools and reasonably quick.  So I thought I would try to show it in pictures.

Stage 1 - hold the head in a pair of pliers and twist them whilst holding the figure



Stage 2 - the head then comes off with a clean break.



Stage 3 - use a pin to help locate the point for your drill.



Stage 4 - drill a hole in the body.



Stage 5 - superglue a piece of brass wire (or paper clip) in position.
I tend to use a much longer piece of wire and cut it down as it easier to locate and glue. 

Prussian Officer ready for a new head and Saxon Officer - head donor - ready for his conversion.



Stage 6 - using the pin locate the drill point on the new head and then drill a hole.  Cut down the wire and test whether there is a good fit between the new head and body.  If not, drill some more or cut some more wire away and superglue the head on the pin.



Original Prussian Officer, new Prussian Officer and original Saxon Officer,



Only to be based to be the finished product.

 Following on from my blog about the fact that I am building S range Franco Prussian War armies. I posted some pictures of some conversions of, amongst other things mounted officers.  I had been using the French Generals body and swapping the head.  By chance or design I got a lot of Prussian Generals in a bag of castings that I had ordered from John Cunningham - more than I knew what to do with.  Looking at http://www.grosser-generalstab.de which has lots of pictures of Prussian and allied uniforms, I came across Prussian Officers in peaked caps and plumed helmets.  So I came up with these conversions and paint jobs.  All the conversions are straight head swops



The entire Prussian and allied mounted command including earlier Bavarian and Hussar conversions.






The Crown Prince in peaked cap



Prussian Cuirassier Major



Mounted Silesian Officer



Russian Crimean War General painted as Prussian General in parade dress


In case you are worried that this is a bit of a waste, all the Prussian heads that I have removed will be mounted on the Saxon Infantry Officers body to give me variations of Prussian Infantry Officers.  The pose for the Saxon Officer is for some reason completely different to any other officer in the Franco Prussian range.  

Earlier this month, I posted some conversions of FPW S range recasts, including standard bearers and gunners.




Prussian Gunners


Bavarian Gunners

I know that not everyone is confident about wielding a scalpel, so how about these as an alternative to converting the line infantry figure?


I am pleased to say that these gunners and standard bearers are now available from John Cunningham at CunnJoh@aol.com as part of his Franco Prussian War S range recasts. 

With the help of those who have a nostalgia for the old S range, he has been able to add missing figures to his lists and the entire original 25mm FPW range is available again. 

I have added some pictures of my own FPW figures so you can see what they look like (still building the army; Prussian Dragoons and Uhlans being painted, French Marines and Infantry arrived today; Bavarian Infantry coming, will the lead mountain get to big and put me off?).   

So if you fancy a trip down memory lane ..........


Prussian Infantry



Silesian Riflemen


Bavarian Light Horse


Prussian Cuirassiers

ACFPW 7  Silesian standard bearer

Two different shades of green coated Bolsheviks

Having got my old Minifigs S range Crimean War figures out on the table, I was impressed with their charm, all the figures in the same pose and the nostalgia of simple figures.  I could paint up more figures with recasts, or try something new.  I decided on something new.  The Franco Prussian War to be precise.

 I felt that I already had a substantial part of the French forces. The Guard, Zouaves, Chasseurs D'Africa and the Spahis would move reasonably smoothly from the Crimean to Franco Prussian War.  A  repaint of some S Range Napoleonic Cuirassiers and Carbineers gave me my French heavy cavalry.  



I consulted John Cunningham's recast list for the Franco Prussian War and ordered figures. The problem I felt was that the list lacked the 'extras' that I love to have where possible , namely flags and musicians.  I painted up some Prussians and Wurttembergers and did what I think is the classic conversion by making one of the officers into a standard bearer by replacing his sword with a standard. 





To be honest whist it worked, I wasn't that happy with it.

So I came up with a couple of conversions which each took 10-15 minutes.  I know the timing is right because I have been listening to a serialisation of the Matrix on the radio and each episode lasted 15 minutes.  It (the conversion, not the Matrix) involves snipping away as much of the gun as you can with a pair of pliers, then slowly carving away the remaining parts with a scalpel and filing it down.  The left arm can them be gently repositioned, raised and twisted slightly for the standard bearer.  You can leave the arm in the same position for the drummer if you like. Then it is a case of drilling holes in the hands to take the standard and drum sticks.  The drum itself is made from Milliput or Green Stuff, whichever you prefer.

Silesian Riflemen and Wurttembergers converted to standard bearers and drummers.

I actually used a small piece of wooden dowl to make the drum drilled a hole in it and the figure and superglued the two together.  It was a lot easier and quicker for me that green stuff.

I think they work.  I am now working backwards to give my units musicians and standards.  Here are my Bavarians again just made from the advancing rifleman and a Prussian drummer also made from the infantryman as described above.


Mounted Officers

With a few head swaps which are very easy - a pair of pliers and a quick twist and the head is removed a couple of minutes with a 'hand drill' , a thin piece of wire to link the new head and body and held in place with super glue and the job is done - it is possible to create new command figures. 



I had to file away the braiding on the French General coat for the Bavarian General.  The great thing about the Minifig S Range figures was that getting the right anatomy wasn't sometimes highest on the list, so a slightly over sized head does not stick out too much. I did however angle the Bavarian infantry officers head slightly to reduce the 'oversize' effect.


I used a Saxon Officer head to make the Prussian Colonel of the 5th Hussars and then it was just a paint job.

 For those of us old enough to remember the only way to get a certain figure with Airfix was swapping heads and using pins to fix them to the new body none of this is new.  This is just the same except you have to drill two small holes to get the pin into the head and body. 

I am doing the same thing to make Prussian Gunners.  The original Minifig S range only made the Wurttemberg gunners.  Again a quick head swap and a file job on the spike changes the Picklehaub into a ball.



I hope to finish my Prussian Army of the next couple of months and they can take to the table to continue to promote a range which is still full of charm.  They can then take the field against the French and result in another battle report.