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The Napoleonic Prussian Curse.

Hi everyone,
With the latest release of Prussian staff by Waterloo 1815 and their 28mm size, I start to wonder what makes so difficult to make correct 1/72 Prussian figures. Strangely it affects all manucfacturers.

HAT:
The first sets (cav and art) were ok at that time but not anymore. Their 1806 line is a castastrophy with a chunky style so awful that I think I never saw them out of stock.
Fortunately, the later sets were good.

ITALERI:
I think it is self explanatory to see how catastrophic that line was.

Waterloo 1815:
Well useless 28mm although figures looked great. Their infantry is also not well designed. Cavalry is 50/50.

Revell:
Superbe, a bit small

Finally our dear host, STRELETS:
Beautiful masters... But as many of us pointeD out it seems thE haversacks are on the right side suggesting thE cartdridge box to be on the left side. So a potential major historical inaccuracy if not dealt with prior release.

So overall, it looks a challenging army to tackle for our manufacturers.
Have a great weekend.
CPN

Re: The Napoleonic Prussian Curse.

There was definitely a WW2 Fallschirmjager Curse & possibly other periods/troop types share a similar fate.

I must say the later war Nap. Prussians haven't suffered too badly. Line infantry is well covered by HaT, Strelets & Revell. Jager & militia are not too bad & the HaT Landwehr very serviceable as replacements for the tiny Airfix chaps. Staff, if you allow the HaT set, are pretty fair, too.

Now cavalry could be better (Landwehr types especially) as could artillery.

So perhaps not a "curse". Maybe more of Nap. Prussian reproof.

Re: The Napoleonic Prussian Curse.

I agree with the disappointments previously noted but before we begin to ask for better versions of those already produced is there any chance of filling the main Prussian gap, that is the Artillery Train. A set of three Limbers or Cassions with teams and drivers, in the same style as Hat French, would be very welcome.

Re: The Napoleonic Prussian Curse.

I suspect that some re-tooling may be the reason that the lovely Set 174 did not make the cut with the recent 15. I do hope that it does not delay them too long as they look superb.

Personally, I do not mind about the white bag being on the right hand side. I have seen it depicted as such (e.g in the colour plates included in the book 'Waterloo' by Lachouque), or not present at all—including on the cover art of Set 174! We all know how non-uniform Napoleonic soldier's uniforms were, especially after a few days of campaigning and the 1813–15 Prussians were an especially polyglot lot.

I just happened to be sorting some late Prussians for painting in the past week and agree whole-heartedly with Donald. Once released, Strelets set 174 will add to nicely to the existing line infantry by Hat and Waterloo 1815 (which blend together well) and the excellent Revell figures—which stand up to the others bit of thickening/boosting of the base.

The Hat cavalry are okay and all look really good painted—even the dragoons and uhlans, though they look particularly ordinary in raw plastic.

It would be nice to see some expanded variety of Landwehr cavalry, perhaps some more/improved dragoons and uhlans (possibly hussars), the guns could be 'spruced up' and, as Endeavour says, some limbers and teams would round it all out nicely.

James

Re: The Napoleonic Prussian Curse.

Cuirassiers?

I know they had no part in the 100 Days Campaign but they did feature in some of the 1814 battles.

They look cool, too.

Re: The Napoleonic Prussian Curse.

Can the Zvezda Russian dragoons not stand in for Prussian cuirassier?

Re: The Napoleonic Prussian Curse.

Marc
Can the Zvezda Russian dragoons not stand in for Prussian cuirassier?
Yes except Zvezda have only ever made 2 mini set of the Russian Dragoons 3x troopers and 3x command at £4.50 per box or £1.50 per figure, Waterloo 1815 did make Prussian Cuirassiers in metal £23.60 for 6 figures or £3.93 per figure.

I think the best bet would be to ask Strelets to release their Russian Dragoons from the Borodino big box separately.

Re: The Napoleonic Prussian Curse.

I would like to add my support for Strelets to make Nap Prussian Landwehr Cavalry using their latest Napoleonic sculptors.