Scaling a Lead Mountain....Part 2

A useful reference on the army of Hanover during the Seven Years War. Eric had one of these (I mean the army - I am not sure about the book although it would not surprise me in the least!)

Following on from my post of earlier I received a very helpful email from Bill in connection with the ‘missing’ 18th century unpainted figures and it not only confirmed a couple of things for me but also raised yet more questions! To give you a better idea of the enormity of this undertaking, the sorting and cataloguing, I am showing you the list that Bill sent me. The figures are all in unit boxes so he merely carried out a headcount based the labels of the contents in each one. Taking that into consideration there is around another 5 or 6 crates worth which I shall be taking delivery at the end of next month.

The questions that were answered for the main addressed some gaps in the army compositions of those force I have already. A good example of this concerns the Polish army. I have all the cavalry whilst the infantry lurked in Bill’s loft. The British infantry for the 1680 to 1700 period - all 734 of them - was another notable absentee. It is safe to say that Eric liked his armies in ‘the grand manner’ and one wonders when on earth he would have gotten around to painting this lot, much yet use it!

I have added a few comments alongside some of the entries but the names and

Indian or Afghan - I have a small selection of Indian types - foot, mtd and gunners

34 mtd

14 foot

1680-1720 Turkish - I thought I had the whole lot already but obviously not....
162 foot

238 gunners, train guards, drivers etc

SYW 1740-1780 Italian Umbriago - NEW
77 mtd
235 foot

1680-1700 Polish - I already have the mtd element for this army
2 mtd
358 foot

Marlburian Danish - NEW
149 foot
64 mtd
6 guns and limbers

1680-1720 miscellaneous - NEW but there are also some other miscellaneous types I have
124 foot
79 mtd

1680-1700 British - I already have the mtd element for this army
734 foot

1680-1720 Dutch - NEW
438 foot
113 mtd

Marlburian French - I have a good selection of other figures for this army
108 mtd
33 foot

1720-1780 French - I have the foot for this army
108 mtd

French Colonial - NEW
235 foot
6 Canoes

Prussian Brandenburg 1680-1720 - I have a selection of foot and mtd for this army
28 foot
108 mtd

1740-1780 Prussian - I have a small selection of figures already for this army
390 foot
67 mtd

1740-1780 Hanover - NEW
126 mtd
613 foot

4 guns and limbers

1680-1720 Portuguese - NEW
79 mtd
209 foot

SYW Austrian Cavalry - I have the foot and some mtd for this army.
217 mtd
44 foot

Of all the above the one thing that really piqued my curiosity was the army described as the Seven Years War Italian Umbriago - a collection of some 77 mounted and 235 foot. I will check with Bill but if this is correct (and I have no doubt that it is) then Eric was organising a second ‘imagi-nation’ alongside the Electorate of Bustenberg. At the time of writing Bill is preparing a list of the units for 'Umbriago' so we can see what is there and if my theory is correct. Again, should this be correct then it is a second 18th century 'imagi-nation' that Eric was considering.

Until I take delivery of this lot I have no way of knowing what figures Eric has used although I suspect that usual suspects of Minifigs, Front Rank, Essex, Hinchliffe and even Wargames Foundry will feature alongside the smattering of Hinton Hunt and Les Higgins.

'Umbriago' was a song (and an imaginary comic sidekick) by the famous American entertainer Jimmy Durante. Whether or not it will receive a reinvention as an Italian themed 18th century 'imagi-nation' only time will tell!