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Friday 20 January 2012

Hagen Arquebusiers

This, without a shadow of a doubt, is the worst unit in my Imperialist army. I can remember just one occasion when they did not either fail a morale test and flee without a shot being fired (by or at them) or were beaten in combat and fled. It does not seem to matter whether I armour them, support them, stick a general nearby or anything else, they underachieve massively. More than once has the flank of my infantry line had to form a hurried hedgehog or two as these lightweights flood past them for an early shower.

The good news is that I now expect it so can plan accordingly. The bad news is that I do not paint figures to leave them in the box! Also, a certain Colonel Hagen, head of Von Sparr's Kurassiere at Lutzen, along with other officers and several men from the same unit, was executed after the battle as his unit fled the field rather too early (source: "Imperial Armies of the Thirty Years' War (2)" by Brnardic, published by Osprey). I wonder.......I have recently painted a Jesuit priest vignette for the collection, so perhaps a 28mm exorcism is in order?

The flag shows one of the traits of Imperialist (and other) flags, namely that the two sides are not identical. Later Austrian flags have this trait also, which is a great way for we wargamers to not have to worry about symmetricality! How many times has a symmetrical flag been anything but on a wargames unit??? Bonus!!!

The figures are Old Glory.

The head of the column, showing one side of the flag. The arm from the cloud motif is a quite common one in 17th Century regiments.

Maximum variety is again in order - they are Imperialists!

Deploying into line at the head of the village has allowed us a glimpse of the other side of the flag, with a crucifixion scene. The flag was sourced from a German website, the address of which I have tried hard to rediscover. I will post when/ if I find it again.


Having surprisingly survived the loss of a couple of figures, they are still in the fight. Sadly, it did not last......they routed when Pappenheim, to their right flank, was routed in its fight with Baner's Lifeguard. Aldringen and Jung-Tilly, to the top of the picture, were also getting smashed by the Swedish Yellow Regiment at the time, so perhaps I am being a little harsh on them on this occasion.

More pictures later. Time to feed my kids......(human ones, not caprid. I do not even keep goats).

G

4 comments:

  1. They look great to me, if a little shiny. A nice looking flag too!!

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    Replies
    1. Ray,

      One thing I hate doing is varnishing and I have lost many a figure to the frosting caused by matt varnish. Thus, I always gloss varnish "first", usually exclusively, which detracts from the realism but keeps the figure a little safer! When I find a matt varnish that works for me, that will not frost, and the inclination to go that step further, I will tone the glossies down. Until then, I may try and get creative with the lighting or somnething!

      A good matt varnish is the Holy Grail for me. My quest is so far in vain. I have tried several and had good results at times, but not at others.

      G

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  2. Nice!

    A question on the unit and the flag. Were they Protestants raised to fight alongside the Imperialists, or true Catholic units? I ask, because I see the arm out of a cloud on a lot of Protestant flags - especially Dutch and Hanoverian - but not as much on flags of Catholic nations. They seem to prefer the Madonna.

    Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rob,

      Catholics. Having said that, mercenaries, POW's etc would change with the wind, so not necessarily exclusively or devoutly so. Even Henri IV of France, former Huguenot leader, changed religion several times, causing his eventual assassination by a Catholic school teacher who didn't trust him!!!

      G

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