"Polish Horse Artillery " Topic

Murawski Miniatures have just released Grand Duchy of Warsaw Horse Artillery for the period 1812-14. Available firing or loading.

I've also put some pictures up on the blog of inked Retreat from Moscow Poles.

More pictures can be found on the blog:

rtbatlarge.blogspot.co.uk

And further information may be found on the website:

murawskiminiatures.com

Excellent figures, especially the '1812' group. I have a question about the Horse Artillery though. They seem to be wearing infantry equipment i.e. ammunition pouch, sabre briquette and bayonet, trousers and gaiters. That seems odd for horse artillery. Was it a Polish peculiarity?

the front pouch isn't an ammunition pouch but for storage of utensils needed for firing the gun

I really love the 1812 stuff – Murawski has very fast shipping to the US (Virginia) – got mine just a week and day after ordering.

Von Winterfeldt, I understand about the fuse pouch, but if you look at the detailed pictures of these figures on the blog, you'll see what I mean.

The figures need swapping as well. The four on the left are firing, we are told. The four on the right are loading. If so why is the ventsman closing it with his downturned thumb? He would only do that during loading? Where will the firer stick his portfire I ask myself, if the other guy's thumb is already blocking it? Swap him for the guy second from the left, I think.

Wait a minute. Did not only one member of the crew have the waist pouch thing? In the firing crew two do. One is in the wrong set……….gets complicated now.

Beautiful casting though! Cleverly shown as well. That wash or ink really shows off the fantastic detail….even if the bayonet and sabre briquette is indeed a bit dodgy for HA……well spotted!

I've worked out how they have ended up with foot artillery equipment. It is because that is how they started out. They are in fact the Murawski foot artillery in shakoes, with a head swap for "Busbies" (Colpacks). See them on the website gallery in their horseless guise…same figures.

Artilleryman did well to spot that. I was more concerned about two ventsmen serving one gun, with the potential for very burnt thumb.

Still great figures, but, at the least, the big ammo pouch needs to become a smaller giberne on the shoulder strap, the bayonet goes and the sabre briquet becomes a light cavalry sword. They did convert the cuffs and took off one shoulder strap….and they do look right!

These figures get better the more I compare them to foot. They are "just" remodelled, but they have been very well done. They took off a cross belt, put on a new head, changed the cuffs to pointed………….

But now I see the lapels are lost, to create a single breasted coat…correctly. Also they have changed the turnbacks on the coat tails to kurtka style (apex of triangle at top, not bottom)

All they got wrong was the ammo pouch, the short sword and the bayonet. You have to forgive that for this quality.

I know this sounds nerdish…..minor details, but it is not meant as any criticism. No harm in us all spotting minor errors. As I said above, I did not!

Other than the gun crews mixed between loading and firing, of course…but no-one gets that right!

All they got wrong was the ammo pouch, the short sword and the bayonet. You have to forgive that for this quality.

Don't agree – for this quality of casting and general range of figures, I think we, as the consumers, have a right to anticipate that the attention to uniform, pose, and other details are equally as high. Having to tolerate the fact that, the ammo pouch, short sword and bayonet are incorrect, is unacceptable – these are 28's not 6's where you can potentially paint out the detail. Sorry, but these should be remodeled and corrected – hopefully they will be.

I know what you mean. But I am no expert on Duchy of Warsaw…indeed anything beyond 18th June 1815 is too much for me (no idea why!)

I think we do have the right to feedback that you folk have produced some really good castings, with mistakes. The end result is great. You have produced something that no one else makes, to a really high standard. You have altered the foot artillery brilliantly, but missed some minor details, which will bother some (I must admit I would have to work on their kit carried,though, to spot the problem).

It took Artilleryman to spot the error. I'll bet I would not have, at first glance. ( I would like to think that something would have alerted me, eventually)

Let us hear from the manufacturers? Great conversions, Minor errors. Are you listening to us? Or is it too expensive to change now? Either way seems fine to me…….

They look right. They look brilliant actually, but Ligniere is right….they are not 100% right

I am with Deadhead. This is a great range of figures and up to now you could not fault the detail. It seems a shame that there should be these fundamentals wrong with the horse artillery (do not forget the infantry leg and footwear). I hope Murawski will correct these as I was planning to buy some.

I still am planning to do so. I do not fight wargames. I just collect figures and artillery are easier as they fit on a base as a single small unit. These are great. I may yet tackle the conversion but it will be hard on the Dremel this one………if only they could rethink them.

Are the legs wrong, in practice? Overalls seem fine to me for HA, but again I admit, I did not spot the fault with the equipment. Credit to he…Artilleryman… (I presume XY chromosomes) who did! Not sure I would have spotted it till I got the figures….how annoying then though.

Murawski, are you following this one? Does anyone monitor feedback? Constructive, not critical. You got this 95% right…….

At least the faces look less miserable than those of the infantry. Any Pole I have ever known has been a cheerful type, who could outdrink any Irishman (such as moi) and, as for the bucktoothed occifer……..

Yes, I am afraid that the legwear looks like trousers and gaiters rather than overalls (buttons on the side or without). That would be a tricky conversion task.

God. He is good at this. The gaiters I did not notice…..

The trousers into overalls is a cinch though. A stripe down the side, freehand, then a series of dots using a cocktail stick. Not sure all light cavalry had exposed buttons on overalls anyway, (as you've said)but HA I have no idea.

I think most of us would put up with the strange looking exposed tip of the gaiters. The rest does look odd for HA though

Trained observer me…. also a wee bit sad!