Just musing...

The first template, the generic hussar, is looking a little feeble now I've had some practice drawing the templates so I'm pondering whether or not to do some more detailed and specific hussar templates. Bleckwenn's 4 volume set on the Prussian army 1753-86 came through the post today (bought s/h via Abe Books from Germany; I missed it when it came out new in the '80s!) and browsing through that has given me a lot of detailed material to use. There are many Freikorps units with exotic uniforms which often included hussars. First I'll probably do Prussian dragoons and cuirassiers, followed by some tinkering with infantry uniforms - well, we'll see...

SYW Austrian Cuirassier Template

The last one today, an Austrian cuirassier. Well then, where is the cuirass, you might ask. As it hides much of the regimental uniform detail and was worn virtually only in battle, it seems reasonable to leave it off. I might get round to doing one wearing the cuirass, eventually...

I'm never quite sure at what point to leave the very fiddly details. At this sort of resolution very fine detail can be lost anyway but in this case, as it is a rather plain uniform, I have drawn the fastening and small buttons on the breeches to add a little variety. In the original vector drawings all detail is very crisp at any magnification but these bitmap images are really quite coarse. It is a pity in some ways that there is still no compact and widely accepted vector format on PCs.

SYW Austrian Dragoon Horse Grenadier Template

As the title says... ;-)

SYW Austrian Dragoon Template

Here's the first of the Austrian heavy cavalry, a dragoon. Next will be a horse grenadier of the dragoons with the fur cap.

It seems that a file this size (15k) is not reprocessed and enlarged by the blog - so it's somewhere between 15k and 32k that the problem starts!

One more Prussian Infantry Template

The last one today - another more complex uniform, that of IR 18, one of the old Prussian regiments. This one has lapels. Definitely one for those (like me) who really enjoy the detail! :-)

Yet another Prussian infantry uniform variant

I've had some enthusiastic feedback from another Prussophile so perhaps another Prussian infantry uniform is called for - and here it is, a more complex variant with Prussian cuffs and rather attractive lace on the buttonholes (IR 10). This level of detail is more typical of the old Prussian units rather than the new fusilier units raised by Old Fritz.

This is a slightly higher resolution image which reduces the jaggies - and is also still below whatever the file size limit is beyond which the blog starts to do funny things with the files. It looks like we're limited to very small files indeed, although I still haven't fully explored the problem and I haven't heard from Google in reply to my bug posting. Oh well - it's possible to work within the limits for now.

Consternation and glum faces in Tippelbruder

Well, the new cavalry templates product line seems to have flown like a lead balloon. The shop is empty! Perhaps no-one wants cavalry anymore - not surprising really, when one considers the cost compared with infantry. Horses are very expensive to buy and maintain. Projected templates - Austrian heavy cavalry, Prussian heavy cavalry, may never see the light of day. Back to tinkering with the infantry, I think...

Update to Hanoverian Heavy Cavalry Template saga

Update: As a temporary measure, I've put the 3 new Hanoverian heavy cavalry templates (one Horse, two Dragoons) here: http://www.woodward.toucansurf.com/sywtemplates/ (The picture above is just a snapshot to show what they look like.)

Hanoverian Cavalry delayed by blog weirdness

Well, I have tried today to post the Hanoverian heavy cavalry templates but something very odd happens when I post the pictures. The blog is converting them from simple 16 colour PNG files into 24 or 32 bit images which are over 10 times the size! I've sent an email to post a bug but for the moment I'm not posting my images here. If anyone desperately needs Hanoverian heavy cavalry templates, contact me via comments here; I'll keep looking in. Hopefully there'll be a solution soon.

New - 2 Prussian uniform variants with grenadier cap

And here are the 2 Prussian infantry variants with the grenadier mitre cap - which I also rather enjoyed drawing. :-)

Well, that's definitely the last of the Prussians for now - and the last template for the weekend. I just couldn't resist getting the grenadiers done and drawing the mitre cap was fairly quick (done in snatched intervals whilst looking after the evening meal which I was cooking!). :-)

New - 2 Prussian uniform variants with fusilier cap

I rather enjoyed drawing the fusilier cap :-) - here are the 2 Prussian uniform variants with it.

New - The second Prussian Infantry Template

Here's a variant of the last template with lapels.

New - First of the SYW Prussian Infantry Templates

Here is the first of the many possible variants of the Prussian infantry template - a simple uniform without lapels or brandenbourgs. A number of regiments wore this very plain uniform.