1st Duchy of Warsaw skirmishers

Au menu today we have five Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw skimishers, from Murawski Miniatures. The figures are from the Voltigeurs in Full dress, campaign dress set as well as the new "extra" scruffy Campaign dress figures. And boy are they scruffy! Roger has a real problem and just keeps producing more and more Poles! The sheer variety is one of my favourite thing about the range, and oh if all Napoleonic armies could get this level of completeness and love (other than the French and British, the boring and annoying favourites, of course).

The figures are fusiliers and voltigeurs skirmishers from the Duchy of Warsaw 1st infantry regiment, presumably in the middle of an exhausting campaign! I'll probably end up using them for skirmishes set in the 1809 campaign between the Poles and the Austrians (and maybe Brunswickers 'cause they look cool).

They are meant for a small Napoleonic skirmish project I'm just starting, the goal to play really small scale skirmishes and maybe eventually bigger ones like Sharpe's Practice. But mostly, it's an excuse to give extra love to my favourite Napoleonic ranges: it seems I always paint Naps in batches of 16 or 24, and I wanted to work on small batches and individuals for a change. I must say it was a very different experience from batch painting Napoleonic battalions!

The Murawski figures are as usual lovely (I'm biased), and I'm always surprised I don't see more Duchy of Warsaw in blogs and on the battlefield, as it is really a lovely army with their distinctive Czapka and colourful facings.

So, for this entry that's 5 28mm figures, 25 pts.

Duchy of Warsaw Hussars

The very first pictures of Murawski's Duchy of Warsaw Hussars, sculpted by Mr Hicks.
To be released this fall

Dashing, are they not?!

Imrie paints Murawski

Just a quick pic of a Duchy of Warsaw figure painted by the incredibly talented David Imrie, one of my favourite miniature painter. 

Carry on...

2nd battalion, 1st infantry regiment, Duchy of Warsaw

I recently finished the 2nd battalion of the 1st infantry regiment of the Duchy of Warsaw. You might remember a while ago I painted the 1st battalion. 

For this unit, I decided to use the recently released "Duchy of Warsaw Retreat from Moscow/Campaign gear" from Muraswki Miniatures, which I really like, combined with a mix of campaign and full dress figures, to create a diverse and rag tag bunch. I also used some figures from the new firing line command. As with the rest of my Polish force, they are meant for the 1809 era, specifically for the battle of Raszyn. 

I'm quite pleased with my work on this battalion, I think it is one of my better painted Napoleonic battalion. I'm getting used to Paul Hicks sculpting, which helps. It's weird to say, but before painting Murawski figures my Napoleonic collection was basically all sculpted by the Perrys! I also used this regiment to try different greys and white/beige recipes, as I'm currently looking for a new way to paint white uniforms. I might go with the method I used for the trousers of that grenadier on the far left.

So I now have 2 regiments completed, the 2 battalions of the 1st and 2 battalions of the 8th. Not bad. I intend to work on an artillery battery next and a command stand, and I should have enough to field a brigade for our games. When that is done I'll post a pic of the complete brigade.

Here is my now customary picture of the complete regiment. I love the 1st regiment in 1809, with the yellow facings and the big white flags.

Up next on the historical painting table, either some Canaanites or more Poles. I haven't made up my mind yet.

Exclusive first look : Poniatowski and the Polish high command, from Murawski Miniatures

It's the summer of the Poles, apparently, and we have even more new stuff coming from Murawski Miniatures, and it's just not any stuff! Yes, the Prince Poniatowski himself is almost ready to ship and he is just stunning! And he comes with his own unique rearing horse.

 

 He’s actually been designed to be standing up in the saddle but also fits well on the standing horse and also works on the galloping horse if you prefer (not as dashing if you ask me, but to each their own) :

Roger has yet to confirm this to me, but I believe he will be sold with his AdC.

And that's not all folks! 

Also soon to be available is a pack of Duchy of Warsaw high command

All in all, the new sculpts consists of : 

Poniatowski
Chef de Brigade
General / ADC
General with sword
General in Colpack
Cavalry general
ADC

Those figures are the last of the summer releases, but expect even more campaign dress in the fall. 

Polish horse artillery now available from Murawski Miniatures

And the new stuff keeps on coming from Murawski Miniatures, this time in the form of Horse artillery in busby. Yes, we are keeping Paul Hicks busy!

The Horse Artillery are for the period 1812-14 and are available in either firing or loading poses. The loading comes with 2 figures with the "firing rod" for you to choose which one you use as the head gunner - just get the modelling knife out and cut it off.

And here are a few picture of the Retreat from Moscow skirmishing pack inked by Roger (we only had pictures of the greens before that).

2nd battalion, 8th infantry regiment, Duchy of Warsaw

Here is the second battalion painted by Roger for my collection, meant to represent the 2nd battalion of the 8th infantry regiment of the Duchy of Warsaw. 

For those you missed it, pics of the first battalion can be found here . This one is in the traditional march attack, and again Rog has done a beautiful job. I finished basing it a while ago, but in a moment of stupidity/absentmindedness I glued the damn flag upside down! So I had to reorder a flag from GMB and carefully remove the upside down flag to put the new one. Doh! 

I intend to start painting another battalion soon, the 2nd battalion of the 1st regiment (I already painted the 1st battalion) so to have 4 battalion. Add a artillery battery in there and I should have a small Polish brigade for my next game, once all those knee problems are behind me.

 

and a pic of the whole 8th regiment

First ever sale from Murawski Miniatures

Roger celebrates his 50th birthday in style with his first ever sale. 

Prices have been discounted by up to 25% where possible, in order to help the old man thank the supporters of the range and mark his half century. Roger hopes this will drive sales and allow him to fund the next string of releases, i.e. the Polish hussars, chasseurs and cuirassiers. So if you have any interest in seeing these made and you've been itching to start a Polish force, now is the perfect time to take advantage of some really good prices. 

For a detailed price list, showing all the discounts available, check the ordering page of the website 

There are a host of releases in July and August, so please keep an eye out on TMP and on this blog for more.

The first of the releases is the now-completed firing line.

 

  

It is comprised of 18 unique figures, and is designed to represent a Grand Duchy of Warsaw battalion 1809-13 giving fire. Each pack contains:

  
Command – six figures – £8.00 GBP, reduced from £9.25 GBP

Fusiliers – six figures – £7.00 GBP, reduced from £9.00 GBP
Grenadiers – three figures – £3.50 GBP, reduced from £5.00 GBP
Voltigeurs – three figures (these can also be used as extra skirmishers) – £3.50 GBP, reduced from £5.00 GBP

1st battalion, 8th infantry regiment, Duchy of Warsaw

We go back to Napoleonics today, it had been a while. 

As mentioned in an earlier post, I'm working on a Polish force based on the battle of Raszyn using Murawski Miniatures. In hindsight, and if Roger had manufactured his Poles earlier, I think I would have started my Napoleonic collection based on this battle. You got the Poles and the Saxons on one side, both of which I really like, and of course my favourite Austrians on the other. The forces on both sides are very manageable to build, and it takes place in 1809. Everything I like, really! Damn hindsight... I do have a master plan for this project, and hopefully I'll talk more about it in a future post.

But I'm currently working on a Canaanite army, a Oldhammer army and a French Indian war project, and with my recent health problems, I decided I needed help. So I contacted my good friend and Polish enthusiast Roger Murrow, of Murawski Miniatures, to help me build my Polish force. I recently received the first two battalions I commissioned, so I've spent last week basing them. Here is the first unit I finished basing, the 1st battalion of the 8th regiment. The 8th Regiment was part of the 3rd Division, and as such had crimson facings and lapels, giving them a very smart look.

The drummers were painted with white coat based on an illustration of the battle of Raszyn 

As usual I think Roger did a splendid job on these, and as soon as I get back to work I intend to commission a few more battalions. 

This unit is made-up of the recently released Duchy of Warsaw infantry in firing line poses, and with a few injury figures sprinkled here and there it makes for a lively unit.
 
I'll post pics of the 2nd battalion in a week or two. Also on my workbench is a unit of Oldhammer Beastmen and a Chaos Spawn. And I should have pics of some new Murawski Miniatures this week (its a surprise).

New Brigade/Divisional commands from Murawski Miniatures

Hot of the presses, Murawski Miniatures just released two new sets of Brigade/Divisional commands. And they are pretty!

The first one is composed of an ADC on a rearing horse (yes, rearing horses are awesome) delivering a message to a cavalry general with an elite company Uhlan in support

 

And the second one is composed of an ADC on a horse pulling up with a infantry general and a staff officer

Both packs are priced £12 and are available right now from Murawski Miniatures

My first Duchy of Warsaw Poles

Well, I finally found the time to base and photograph my very first unit of Poles, from Murawski Miniatures. They are meant to represent the 1st battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. As with almost all of my Napoleonic collection, the uniforms used are those of the 1809 campaign, which suits me well as I prefer the Polish uniforms of the 1807-1810 era. The Polish uniforms of 1807-1810 had varied facings and lapels based on the Division the Regiment was from :

Regiment	facing(1)	lapels	buttons
1 to 4 (1st division)	scarlet	yellow	yellow
5 to 8 (2nd division)	crimson	crimson	white
9 to 12 (3rd division)	white	white	yellow
(1) worn on collar, cuffs and turnbacks.

This can make for a colourful order of battle, and just great looking units. My force will be based on the OOB from the battle of Raszyn, an ideal battle for someone with a sizable Austrian army like yours truly. 

I painted these using my newest technique of a grey undercoat, 3 layers technique and a final coat of army painter. This method was used for my biblical army and some of my FIW, but it was the first time I was using it with Napoleonics. Before, I was mostly using a technique of black undercoat and black lining. I think it came out great, and the colours looks very realistic to me. I also tried a new way of painting yellow using mostly ochre colours instead of actual yellow. Again, I find it looks more realistic. 

I also painted 2 skimishers to go with the unit, however I'm still unsure of what basing I will use for my skirmishers stands from now on so I have yet to base them. I ordered some bases style from Litko to do a few tests.

Those damn Poles have more stuff on them than christmas trees! ;-) Looks great, but they are a bit more work than your usual Austrian soldier. But that's just me being lazy, I'm very pleased of the figures and my painting. 

So here it is, le 1er Bataillon du 1er Régiment d'infanterie du Grand Duché de Varsovie. As usual, flags by GMB, bases from Litko.

 
The 1st Regiment was part of the 1st Division and as such had yellow lapels and scarlet facings. The drummers and Sappeur's uniforms are conjectural and a bit of artistic license from my part, but from my readings we can safely assume the Poles were quite extravagant in their uniforms. It seems they would even vary from one battalion to the next! Which is always something that makes a miniature painter happy...

The figures were as advertised; lots of character, crisp details and just a joy to paint. I especially enjoyed painting the faces, and it seems all the figures have a personality of their own. And I decided to mix both full and campaign dress in the same unit to create a lot of diversity.