Wednesday, May 1, 2013

That Special Figure...

Gentlemen, we never fire first; fire yourselves!



I am sure many of you share my impression of mid-18th Century European battles playing out as initially very structured, ceremonial, parade-like ceremonies that rapidly devolved into bloody mayhem and chaos.   The archetypal example of this is the exchange at Fontenoy between an officer of the Gardes Françaises , and Lord Charles Hai, a captain in the English Guards who cried, "Gentlemen of the French Guards, fire!" - with the Comte d'Auteroche, then lieutenant of Grenadiers, replying, "Gentlemen, we never fire first; fire yourselves."   Bloody mayhem ensued.

As I build an army of 40mm Prince August French – primarily from the timeless sculpts of the great Holger Eriksson – I was missing “that” figure.   The figure of the French officer doffing his tricorne to the enemy, while issueing some ridiculously pompous, vain, honorable or valiant statement prior to receiving a ball to the head.  I determined to do the unthinkable – modify one of Mr. Eriksson’s elegant semi-rounds to achieve the effect.  A figure form the PA artillery crew set became the object of my simple modifications.

Pictured is the result.   I have home-cast eight of these figures, of which I will have 3-4 in my army and distribute the rest to friends with an interest.  As I have yet to paint a Gardes Françaises  battalion, I painted the first new casting as a more generic French company grade officer.  Hope you like him.


L to Right - new casting,  modified artillerist, original Eriksson artillerists

 
The great sculptor and figure maker - Holger Eriksson

4 comments:

  1. Splendid work, Joe! Adds a certain something to the 'French' army.

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  2. Oh I do like your conversion ! as a collector and caster of Prince August I am always on the lookout for new ideas ! may have to pinch your idea !very good indeed !

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  3. Thanks Moss, pinch away! Love to see your results. I may do other conversions and post at a later date.

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