The Weekly Sitrep....Number 39

The Minifigs Sitrep

Not quite "Eleven miles in this disastrous heat" (you can a point if you know what film that is from) but after a week of stifling temperatures and the associated lethargy it was a relief to finally be able to get back to the much cooler man cave at the weekend.

I had a number of things to tend to and am happy to say that I made a reasonable amount of progress.

To begin with the 30mm Spencer Smith ACW figures are now off their multiple bases and as soon as the remainder are available I will be able to rebase them all ready for action. I also had a check on my scratch building supplies in readiness for making the ships to accompany them and have identified a couple of shortfalls which I need to address - nothing major but I am glad I spotted it sooner rather than later.

I was also able to start the packing exercise for the Minifigs Seven Years War collection before it heads off to its new home. This is a big undertaking even allowing for the fact that half of it has already gone. I was also able to list and photograph all of the Minifigs Marlburians and so I thought it might be of interest to share the list with you.

Eric routinely mixed figures in his units and also used horses from other manufacturers on occasion. He was also fond of command groups and often converted junior officers and NCOs to the extent that a typical infantry unit (averaging anything from twelve to forty eight figures) would often field a command group comprising a quarter of the units overall strength. Cavalry units were not quite so bad and he often used three or four figures with a total strength of anything between twelve or twenty four figures. Very early on in the process I agreed with Bill that units were not to be broken up although this has proven necessary with things like gun crews. Eric liked large gun crews and so these would range from three figures at the battalion gun level through to twelve or even more figures for siege artillery.

The list of Marlburian figures uses the unit identifications that Eric employed although for convenience I have lumped gun crews together. It is worth pointing out that this list is probably around half the size of the Seven Years War collection and I hope it will give you some idea of the scale of the undertaking. I have often spoken about x number of crates but this list will show a part of what I have been dealing with.

France

1. Hussar Regiment Rattsky - 18 mounted
2. Hussar Regiment Versailles - 18 mounted
3. Infantry Regiment Soissonais - 28 foot
4. Infantry Regiment Touraine - 28 foot
5. Engineers - 13 foot

Holland

6. Gunners - 53 foot
7. Engineers - 12 foot

Denmark

8. Infantry Regiment Prins Georgs - 37 foot
9. Infantry Regiment Prins Karls - 37 foot
10. Greandiers - 34 foot
11. Gunners - 27 foot
12. Grenadiers (British) - 44 foot
13. Garde du Corps - 16 mounted

Austria

14. Infantry Regiment Moltke - 35 foot
15. Infantry Regiment Hech und Deutschmeister - 35 foot
16. Infantry Regiment Arenberg - 35 foot
17. Infantry Regiment Merci - 35 foot
18. Grenadiers - 24 foot
19. Infantry in Greatcoats - 38 foot
20. Gunners - 28 foot

Spain

21. Grenadiers - 35 foot

Brandenburg Prussia

22 Garde du Corps - 18 mounted

Bavaria

23. Cuirassiers Haraucourt - 18 mounted
24. Cuirassiers Beavau - 18 mounted

Turkey

25. Sipahis of the Porte - 36 mounted
26. Tartar Horse Archers - 18 mounted
27. Janissary Shot - 25 foot
28. Janissary Command and Pike - 53 foot
29. Gunners - 32 foot
30. Command - 21 foot
31. Engineers - 32 foot
32. Tartar light horse - 14 mounted
33. Tartar light horse - 15 mounted
34. Jezzailachies (line Infantry) - 52 foot

Poland

35. Cuirassiers - 14 mounted
36. Cuirassiers - 15 mounted
37. Ukrainian Cossacks - 14 mounted, 11 foot
38. Lisowski Cossacks - 14 mounted
39. Militia - 33 foot
40. Gunners - 18 foot
41. Frontier Irregulars - 22 foot

It is perhaps worth pointing out that what is listed above is merely the Minifigs component of the respective forces mentioned. The additional units making up the respective forces consisted of Foundry, Essex, Dixon, Hinchliffe and even the odd Higgins/Hinton Hunt. With the possible exception of the Turks (even they would need artillery) all of the above would need to have additional units added to get them up to fighting strength if one was going down the historical route but as the basis for an imagi-nation set up this little lot would form a cracking starting point.

To save you reaching for the calculator the above adds up to the following:

Foot: 877
Mounted: 246

There is around another 100 or so foot and 10 or so mounted so you may as well say 1,000 foot and 260 mounted.

However you dress it up it there is a lot of metal there!

The above collection is currently being reviewed by a potential buyer but in the meantime should anyone be interested in any of the above please contact me.