4. New Front Rank Releases: 25mm Austrians <

Emperor's Headquarters was kind enough to forward some samples of the latest new Austrian infantry figures from Front Rank. There are 5 musketeers, 3 grenadiers, one Pandour loading musket, 1 mounted infantry officer, 1 dragoon and 1 horse grenadier. I did not receive samples of the latter two cavalry figures. The infantry are well-animated, somewhat chunky in appearance, have happy looking faces (i.e. they don't have to serve in the Prussian army!) and are loaded with raised details, such as buttons, buckles, and curled wigs.

SYA31 mounted infantry officer has one hand raised over his head as if to signal an advance of his brigade. SYA32 musketeer marching in march attack pose - a battalion of these guys would look great. SYA33 musketeer standing firing and SYA34 musketeer kneeling ready to fire, make an attractive pair of figures in a firing line; the kneeling figure is one of the nicest wargame figure poses that I have ever seen. SYA35 officer marching with spontoon(right hand) has a rather stern and disdainful look on his face. This fellow looks like he wouldn't let anyone get out of line.

The next group of releases includes three Austrian (German) grenadier poses: SYA36 marching, SYA37 standing firing, and SYA38 kneeling ready to fire (note that the latter two poses are the same as the musketeer pair, except for the fact that the grenadiers are wearing bearskins). Each grenadier has braids hanging down the side of his face and a facial expression that tells you that they mean business and they aren't afraid of no stinkin' Prussians. Finally, I received a sample of SYA30 Pandour loading musket: a nice skirmish pose suitable for many a Kleine Krieg scenario. This fellow looks a little thinner than some of the earlier Pandour releases from Front Rank, and frankly I prefer the thinner look. I did not have a chance to look at SYAC20 Dragoon w/ sabre outstretched or SYAC21 horse grenadier in the same pose. Now that we seem to have straightened out the Austrian grenadier question, members will undoubtedly want to add a few units of horse grenadiers and foot grenadiers to their armies.

You can obtain Front Rank Figures from the Emperor's Headquarters, 5744 West Irving Park Road, Chicago, IL 60634 [phone 312-777-7307 or fax 312-777-4828. 

5. Old Glory 25mm Austrians and Prussians

Just when I figured that I already owned all the 25mm Austrians and Prussians that I could ever want or hope to own, along comes something newer and better in the form of the new Old Glory 25mm SYW line. As I sit and write this review, I have before me 10 bags of assorted infantry, 2 bags of artillery crew, and 5 bags containing nothing but artillery pieces. At the very least, the new artillery and crew puts everything that I own to shame, so I will probably start by replacing my old guns with new Old Glory guns and crew.

Prussian Artillery Crew

SYWP-16 contains six Prussian 12# guns and howitzers, SYWP-17 contains Prussian 6# guns and howitzers. Each artillery bag contains four guns and two howitzers, consisting of a highly detailed gun carriage, two wheels and gun that are all cleanly cast and appear to be relatively easy to assemble. The gun carriages in the 6 and 12 # bags are the same size, so it's the gun barrel that makes the difference. The carriages are heavy, bulky looking things (as they should be) with lots of wood grain showing and well-detailed iron work. To man these beauties, you will want a bag of SYWP-14 Prussian Artillery Crew. There are 10 different poses in each bag and 3 of each pose for a total of thirty figures as follows: officer holding map, crewman with powder scoop leveled at barrel height so that you can base him loading powder down the gun barrel; crew leaning on rammer, crewholding rammer across his chest, firer holding lighted linstock or match, crew with trail spike in the ground, crew jogging forward with cannon ball, crew reaching into pouch for match or primer, crew with bandaged head holding water bucket (would also make for nice vignette of dismounted dragoon offering water to Frederick after Kolin per Knotel print) and crew with bandaged head holding mallet and breaking open a powder barrel on the ground (or tapping a keg in one of Bart Redmon's skirmish games).

Austrian Artillery Crew

Now for the Austrian artillery and crew: three bags of guns SYWA17 3# guns and howitzers, SYWA-18 6# guns and howitzers, and SYWA-19 12# guns and howitzers; same deal as the Prussians: four field guns and two howitzers per bag. The guns consist of five easy pieces or 2 wheels, I gun, I carriage and I ammo box that fits onto the gun trail. SYWA-15 is the Austrian artillery crew and like the "bad guys", there are 10 different poses, 3 figures per pose. One noticable problem with these gunners is that they all have lapels on their coats, which would make them Netherlandish artillerists of which there was one brigade of 8 companies in Austrian service. The more common Deutsches Artillerie-Corps, of which there were 3 brigades of 8 companies, did not wear lapels on their jackets. A little bit of filing can cure the problem, and while this might be somewhat of a nuisance, it should not detract from the overall quality of these figures. Also, the artillerists all wear cavalry boots and it appears that the sculptor got this idea from the Mollo uniform book. Other sources that I consulted suggest that the artillery crew generally wore gaiters like the line infantry. Let's look at the individual poses which include: 2 officers, one standing holding a map and one pointing at some unknown Prussian target (nice animation), 2 different rammer poses, 2 trail spike poses, I crew holding cannon ball, 1 crew holding linstock, I crewman covering his ears with both hands (this is great looking casting - I'm glad to see someone do this pose) and finally 1 crewman kneeling over a powder barrell with a mallet in one hand - also a very nice pose.

Prussian Infantry

I was given samples of five of the first six bags of Prussians, all infantry, to review. The cavalry will be released later. I did not have SYWP5 Fusilier Command, but I am certain that the variety of poses will be similar to the musketeer and grenadier command bags.

SYWP1 Musketeer command includes six poses with three of each pose for a total of 18 figures: 1 NCO standard bearer with a stout flag staff molded into the casting, also has baton tucked into his waist belt for a nice little touch; another NCO holds a plain spontoon upright in one hand and is pointing his baton at a 90 degree angle as if to tell the column to march to the left; 2 different officers with ornate spontoons (you can even detect the "FR" royal cypher on them) and 1 officer advancing with sword; and finally, the best figure in the pack is the drummer complete with detailed lace and chevrons on the sleeves that will make this an easy figure to paint.

SYWP2 Musketeers Marching includes 30 figures with 6 discernable poses. The poses are subtly different, but then you want to have a "uniform" appearance in the ranks, especially in the Prussian army and the figures were designed with this in mind, according to Russ Dunnaway, the proprietor of Old Glory. These are all well-animated castings.

And now for the grenadiers: SYWP3 Command Pack and SYWP4 Grenadiers Marching. The command bag contains 5 poses of 3 figures each for a total of 15 figures: 1 flag hearer (use only for guard grenadier btns IR6 and IR15 -2nd and 3rd btn since grenadier companies did not carry flags), 1 officer holding a musket, I officer with sword raised in a classic Three Musketeers Pose, i.e. 'all for one and one for all', but I digress, 1 NCO with spontoon and one drummer. The mitre caps on these figures must be seen to be believed. Not one bad figure in the whole pack, a must have! SYWP4 contains 30 grenadiers with about five different poses, again the differences are quite subtle. These a rather jaunty-looking bunch with great facial animation and uniform detail. I don't have any Prussian Guard regiments in my 25mm army, but I intend to add all of them using these new Old Glory figures.

SYWP6 Prussian Fusiliers Marching give you the same deal as the rest: 30 figures with approximately five different poses. The mitre caps on this group are absolutely stunning, given the detail. These should prove fun to to paint. The command pack, SYWP5 is now available, but I was not able to grab a bag for this review.

Austrian Infantry

There are eight packs of Austrian/Hungarian infantry available now from Old Glory in the 25mm range. Let us begin with the musketeer command pack SYWAI which includes 5 poses of 3 figures each or 15 figures per bag. The "good guys" have I officer standing with his tricorne resting on his arm - great figure for a command stand or diorama, I officer (who looks like Loudon) advancing with cane, l officer standard bearer, 1 NCO with spontoon and I drummer pose advancing. Nice figures all and the flag pole is very sturdy. The other command packs for grenadiers and Hungarians were not included in my sample pack, but they are now available (SYWA3 grenadier command, and SYWA5 Hungarian Musketeer Command)

SYWA2 German Musketeers Marching are advancing at a walk as opposed to their Prussian counterparts who appear to be double-timing. Nice pack of figures. SYWA6 are the Hungarian Musketeers and these look very accurate with the short boots and trouser lace. You can also detect some of the lace on the waistcoat. These little features make it a bit easier to paint Hungarian infantry.

And now for the Austrian Grenadiers; the German grenadiers are in pack SYWA4 while the Hungarian grenadiers are in pack SYWA8. Again no discernible difference in poses, but this is not a bad thing. I agree with the sculptor that SYW troops should have a uniform appearance. Both bags are as detailed as the rest of their bretheren and now that we have gotten to the bottom of the Austrian Grenadier Dilemna, I am sure that you will want to add a unit or two or more of these to your SYW armies. Hopefully, the cavalry for both sides will be released in time for Cold Wars and the SYWA conventions, both in March of 1996. The Old Glory list of figures makes no mention of adding Pandours, but I am sure that these will be included at a later date.

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