1807-1813 Napoleonic Poles by Paul Hicks

[Arthur]

Paul Hicks posted about this a few months ago on the Steve Dean forum when the range was still a work in progress, but the Napoleonic Poles he sculpted for Miniature Painting World are now available. This is a private commission similar to Emil Horky's TYW Bohemian Troops or Der Alte Fritz's AWI Fife and Drum ranges, with the figures being available for sale to individual customers to help cover the sculpting and casting costs. Miniature Painting Service honcho Roger has given me the green light to post about the range, so here's a list of what currently available along with retail prices :

- Skirmishing voltigeurs  x 3 all different - £3.25
- Grenadiers x 3 all different - £3.25
- Voltigeurs x 3 all different - £3.25
- Fusiliers x 6 all different - £6.50
- Command x 6 all different - £6.50 (2 officers, eagle bearer, Porte-aigle, 2 drummers)
- Specials – sapeur and bareheaded fusilier – £2.30
- Mounted officers x 2 different - £6

The figures represent the Duchy of Warsaw's line infantry regiments and can be used for the 1807-1813 period (they won't do for the Vistula legion though). Roger plans to add to the range later in the year, with high command, artillery and cavalry in the pipeline.







Interest parties may contact Roger at info@miniaturepaintingworld.com for further info or to place an order - or you can alternatively go through the Miniature Painting World website :

http://www.miniaturepaintingworld.com

I've already ordered a couple of battalions myself and these are top shelf figures : the usual Paul Hicks excellence in the sculpting department plus some super-clean castings with next to no flash and nary a mould line in sight. Size-wise, they were designed to fit in with Perry and late Foundry Napolenics. My photographic skills are decidedly underwhelming but I have put together the following comparison shots. They won't win any awards but they should give you an idea of what the figures look like next to Perry and Foundry :

[inkydave]

Superb sculpts. The faces are full of character but not cartoony. Great stuff.

[Anatoli]

Vistula Legion are cool, but I actually prefer the regular Grand Duchy of Warsaw troops - love their uniforms 

[joroas]

These look really full of character.  

[DonVoss]

To me (noob) they look like french with pointy hats...

Nice sculpts thou...

DV

[Prof Steelblade]

Really nice figures!!!
I have som questions thou. Do you know how to get a commission? and do you know how much it would cost?
I really would like to get my hands on Swedish troops for the Russian-Swedish war of 1808-09.

[Kingscarbine]

 

How much does such a commission cost?

[joroas]

Will this be a full range? 

[Arthur]

I have no idea how much a commission costs exactly but Roger at Miniature Painting World may tell you that if you drop him an e-mail. Basically, what you do is get in touch with a sculptor and work out a fee with him. Dunno how much Paul Hicks charges for a figure but I've read on various forums that the cost of an individual green may be anything between £500 and £1000 depending on the designer (don't hold me to those figures though, they're just hearsay)   

The designer will only provide finished sculpts, meaning that once the greens are your possession you need to hire a caster to create master metal figures and production moulds. I know Emil Horky (Bohemian Troops), Frank Hammond (Minden) and Der Alte Fritz (Fife and Drum) use Griffin Moulds : Stewart isn't cheap but he is extremely good at what he does.

Between sculpting and casting costs, commissioning your own range of figures IS quite expensive, which is why some help finance the process by selling castings to individual customers without setting up a company. 

[nevermore]

You know over the years the making of miniatures are getting better as time goes by, excellent miniatures love em.

[Painter Jim]

Nice review, comparisons like this really help, thanks for taking the time to post.

[PAULSPENCE]

Fantastically interesting post and the figures look really good.

The size comparisons are very helpful too and answer many of the questions I would have asked.

Shame is that I don't think that they'll match my Front Rank Polish figures too well but there's no harm in acquiring a couple of battalions!

Cheers,

Paul

[Aaron]

I'm going to have to save enough pennies for a Sharpe Practice regiment at least.

[traveller]

Nice! 

[ARKOUDAKI]

Great looking figs. So how many men in a unit??? Come on, someone knows the answer as I am too lazy right now to do the research... I have to know how many figs to buy now don't I