"Duke Seifried Napoleonic Uniform Guides" Topic

I have twelve 8.5" x 14" (heavy paper) color Napoleonic uniform guides acquired in the early 1970s. They were produced by Duke Seifried and the individual sheets include colored drawings of: Russian inf, Russian cav; French inf, French inf and guard, French cav; British inf, British Cav, Austrian inf, Austrian cav; Prussian inf, Prussian cav; and personalities. On the back it says the purpose of the plates is to aid in the painting of "Napoleoniques" (15mm produced by Heritage if I recall). The illustrator attributed is John Steile. Is anyone familiar with these plates, seen them before or able to provide me with any additional background? I've tried looking them up online but found nothing. I'd like more information on them before making a decision about what to do with them. I'd hate to toss them because they date from the early days of wargaming. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

I have twelve 8.5" x 14" (heavy paper) color Napoleonic uniform guides acquired in the early 1970s. They were produced by Duke Seifried and the individual sheets include colored drawings of: Russian inf, Russian cav; French inf, French inf and guard, French cav; British inf, British Cav, Austrian inf, Austrian cav; Prussian inf, Prussian cav; and personalities. On the back it says the purpose of the plates is to aid in the painting of "Napoleoniques" (15mm produced by Heritage if I recall). The illustrator attributed is John Steile. Is anyone familiar with these plates, seen them before or able to provide me with any additional background? I've tried looking them up online but found nothing. I'd like more information on them before making a decision about what to do with them. I'd hate to toss them because they date from the early days of wargaming. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Gray, illustrator was John Steinle. I used to game with him back in the 70's when I started gaming and Duke had a hobby shop here. They were exactly that, for painting reference. I used to have the Prussian plates. I'm not sure I spelled his name right either. He did other illustrations for Duke back then. Not much new for you. That was my introduction to wargaming back then.

Thank you 35th OVI. I got these when they were new and found them while sorting through stuff.

Sorry for the double posting.

I had a set of those. Maybe I still do, but I haven't seen them in years. I'd love to find them and frame them in my game room.

Perhaps connected to this book

Yaple, R L and John Steinle, illustrator. The Regiments and Uniforms of the British, Portuguese, Spanish, Brunswick, and Netherlandish Armies, 1802-1815. Dayton: Der Kriegspielers; 1975.

"Aimed at war gamers, this work presented a lot of information regarding the armies and the uniforms of the named countries. There are eight pages of black and white line drawings illustrating uniforms, headgear, colors, and equipment. The accompanying text provides details on army rosters, lists of regiments, further details regarding the uniforms and their changes, and army organization."

link

I was at Fort Hood Texas in the late 1970s. I started out with first generation, stick, Minifigs. When Heritage released the Napoleonic range, I quickly shifted to Heritage. To play test my rules, I built 10-30 battalions of each nation.

Those painting guides were posted on the bulletin board at the local hobby store, The Bunker. The store sold sets to customers.

Yaple has been dead for years. My brother and I went to an apartment he had in Dayton, Ohio to talk Napoleonics, and my brother bought one if his published uniform books.

79th – Yes Yaple was "unique" individual. Went with our wargaming group to his apartment once. British military gear everywhere, amongst all his other stuff. 😉 He did love Wellington's Army. His book on British Napoleonic uniforms and troops, was pretty good for its size. I sold it a few years back.

Thank you all for the replies and recollections. The quality of the illustrations are not as refined as those in the link to the book provided by DisasterWargamer. I'm not sure when I bought the plates but it was when I was very young and might have been when I met Duke at a local game convention when he was demonstrating as early version of contrast paints. He made painting look easy and sold me a variety of the available colors. Good memories.

Gray Bear,
I remember him coming to a convention in Lincoln, NE in the early 80s and teaching a technique he was calling stain painting, diluting your own standard paint. The hard part was that different colors needed different amounts of thinning. Contrast solved that.

Valmy92, my recollection is he was demonstrating and selling specifically formulated paints to give darker color in crevices while concurrently yielding lighter color on raised areas. He was working at his trade stand on Heritage figures with a bright painting light and yielding great result very quickly. I was sold and bought some of the paints. They worked ok but not as well as he demonstrated (undoubtedly due to my lack of skill and not a deficiency in the product). The paints are decades gone so I have no proof they were special paints or just their standard line. When modern contrast paints were released (never tried them), it brought my mind back to Duke.

Have a set of those somewhere around here ? A great guide :)

I also have a set of these prints. They've been superseded by other reference works in the years since I bought them (late 70s/early 80s) but they may be "collectible" as old school gaming artifacts and I'd like to know more before parting with them -- already let too many things go from that era for ridiculously low prices, long ago at cons and eBay, compared to what similar items sell for nowadays to the newbies and collectors.

Heh, the Duke and his "stain painting" seminars! I well remember those from that time period.

Piper909 – I too was a little hopeful that these might be worth something given the relatively early time period when they were produced. Unfortunately, a friend graciously sought out additional information on the prints and reported: "A couple of [guys] have them [the prints] including one guy who says he's been trying to sell a set for $3 USD a page for a few years with no luck." Even if they are not worth what a first printing of D&D or Chainmail can bring, they are still neat and evocative of a bygone period in wargaming.

@Gray Bear

What's a first edition of D&D and Chainmail bring. Had the first and gave it to my son in law, I never played it. I may have a first edition of chainmail buried in a drawer. Thanks

FYI Duke got into wargaming in the 70's. He had a wargame at a mall near me. He then ran two hobby shops in town for a while.

35thOVI – I've "heard" those items can bring each bring into a few hundred dollars but have no direct experience of buying or selling and own neither. I am sure they would bring considerably more than the Seifried Napoleonic guides (unfortunately for me). I do have an early Guidon Games edition of Chainmail I got as a kid and would not part with it offered $100. USD

Duke was a great showman, salesman and modeler. I had the privilege of playing in one of his Historicon games. I'll never forget him telling one of the opposing players who was dallying about, "I'm trying very hard to like you but you are making it difficult." What a character.

Thanks