Thursday, November 26, 2020

Hessian Jägers - Quick and Simple

Yesterday I counted my units for Germantown and kept coming up 1 short for the British.  A perusal of my OOB showed that it was the Hessian Jaeger detachment that I was missing - but what to do?  I don't want to buy an entire bag of Jaegers, and a bag of Jaeger commands in 15mm, and pay shipping for a small, 4 x stand unit.  I knew the lead pile would hold the answers.

 Painting by Pamela Patrick White - found from a Google search - used without permission

Bear in mind, there are more 15mm painted and unpainted figures wearing 18th Century Tricorne or Cocked hats in this house than people you saw last month. There are SYW Austrians, Prussians, AWI British, Americans, Hessians - you get the idea.  I found a very convenient 4 x stand unit of "leftovers" from a huge SYW painting commission from about 5 years ago.  I took a number of command, and men in fighting poses that were left over when I was finished with "the big battalions" and based them to serve as light battalions.  This worked out perfect and one of the Austrian light battalions, based 2 to a base, would be pressed into service to become the Jaegers at Germantown!

Button counters beware - you may not wish to proceed any further beyond this point.  Whether you don't want to see the atrocity of turning perfectly good Austrian musketeers into green coated Jaegers, or you don't wish to see the many uniform sins I committed with those Jaegers, just bear in mind desperate times call for desperate measures!!!

Austrian infantry in skirmishing or fighting poses.  Based 2 x to a stand to represent a light detachment.

I used my favorite green that I normally use for British Rifles and a few other green coated forces, and generously applied it to the white coats, leaving the facings and the cuffs red, and being careful to not paint over the belts, which I left white because it added some color to the units - and NOT because of any historical tendency.  I also noted the coats are way too long, but that's okay because they're 15mm and my gaming buddies don't see all that well!


I painted over the white trim of the hats and added a light green cockade to them, as well as some better flock.  I touched up the muskets, trimmed them down by snipping off the end of the barrels and bayonets, and presto - a respectable looking Jaeger detachment who look almost perfectly at home on a battlefield in North America!  Their uniforms are a bit "over the top" for Jaegers, but they'll do.

The color bearer on the right is now holding a rifle - not a flag stand!

Yes - I know the Jaegers didn't have drummers but this figure looked cool and I did not want to hack the drums off.  He gives the unit a bit of character.

Here they are fighting with Armstrong's Militia at Germantown

That is all!  I hope my American readers have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving day today.  We will be celebrating Thanksgiving today!  I'm thankful for great family and friends, and the ability to continue to game and engage in this wonderful hobby of ours.


22 comments:

  1. Well they look perfectly acceptable to me, but then I'm guilty of similar 'sins' with my figures! It is only a game afterall...

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    1. Thank you Steve! I'm very happy with them and they were certainly worth the price :)
      That said they would probably make some eyeballs pop out of sockets with rage on TMP!!!

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  2. Frustrating to be one unit short ...... and funny, repeated re-checking doesn’t get one any closer (been there, so it makes me smile) :-)

    Good solution and the opening photo is a lovely piece of artwork.

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    1. Norm I know! I always seem to remember these things right before a game so luckily this time it was a few weeks in advance! :)

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  3. I bet I could have dug up a spare or two! Next time, ask!

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  4. All makes perfect sense. I have done this myself. To be fair, they look like Jaegers to me!

    In 1/300 and 1/200 I commit the 'sin' of using T64 as T72 as T80 all the time...truth is I don;t really know the difference myself LOL

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    1. Thank you Darren! Also there have been MANY substitutions of Russian tanks on my table! T55s and T62s, T72s as T890s, etc! There is no shame in it!

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  5. I’m a great believer in “good enough” and they look more than good enough to me.

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  6. Totally unacceptable. You will be shunned by your community. To be honest, if you hadn’t mentioned it I wouldn’t have noticed and that’s at close range too!

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    1. Jeffers,
      You know a quick post on TMP with these fellows would yield hisses and rotten tomatoes thrown at me!
      Thank you sir!

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  7. Well done. They fit the bill and pass the five foot rule (do they look goid enough at five feet? Yes! Then they are alright!).

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    1. Thanks Mark! The best thing too? The Jaegers will be deployed in the woods hidden by trees! Even more effective at 3 to 5 feet! :)

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  8. Perfectly acceptable thing to do when faced with such a crisis as being short of a particular unit. Especially as you seem to have plenty of raw materials laying around.
    Being 15mm, I doubt anyone would even notice during a wargame with so many other units. 😀

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    1. Stew, i'm counting on their bad eyesight at the Germantown game!! :)

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  9. They look fine and are immediately recognizable as Jagers; more than good enough!

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    1. Tell that to the crowd on TMP! Apparently I should be boiled in my own pudding for using a 15mm napoleonic regimental color on a 15mm AWI unit... coupled with these Jaegers, I should be excommunicated from gaming!

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  10. I'm sorry, I've reported you to the authorities and struck you off my Christmas card list.

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    1. Even better - please report me to "historical gamer" on TMP. That would make my day. Perhaps he'll comment on this blog? Probably not.

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  11. Great site, love the Jaegers!
    Your blog got hijacked an post on The Miniatures Page.
    http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=543332
    Several are already doing time in the Dawghouse attempting to have blogs credited by name rather than just "Link". Tago01 and Bill Armintrout have no problem being discourteous toward hard work.
    Please keep up the great blog!

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