Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Dutch from Down Under...

Very nice Dutch flags from Vaubanner.

As fate would have it, just the other day I received an e-mail from Nic Robson at Eureka Miniatures in Australia, informing me that the long-awaited War of the Austrian Succession Dutch miniatures are ready for moulding and casting, and that they will be shipped at the end of September- six months later than bargained for, but welcome nevertheless.

Great news that is bound to get me wanting to immerse myself into the 18th C. again. I've long had the flags from Vaubanner, and am anxious to finally get the miniatures that will go with them!

I'm curious to see what they will be like. My collection- not very big yet- is mostly Front Rank with some Minden Miniatures. The two ranges are not really compatible in style. Which of the two ranges I ever expand on will very much depend on which go best with the Eureka models- I have a lot of the latter on the way, including cavalry and cannon.

For French I am also keeping an eye out on the new "Rank and File" range from
Crusader Miniatures, who have already released some nice-looking British and Russians. If they come out with French in unfastened coats, they may well be worth looking into as opponents for the Dutch.

With great anticipation, M. le Marquis awaits what developments the future will bring.

4 comments:

Bluebear Jeff said...

Here's hoping that you are delighted with the Eureka figures . . . and that they truly inspire you to paint a lot of tricorn troops.


-- Jeff

Ed said...

I got the email too! Woo hoo! The Army of Snibor-Renraw will advance!!

Ed v. H-F

P.S. Great site...love the marches.

ColCampbell50 said...

I did a comparison of several brands of SYW figures on my blog. Look in the Feb 2008 archives and you'll see a picture showing a Eureka Saxon next to a Front Rank Prussian. I think that your Mindens (of which I have none) would be a closer match to the Eureka style than Front Rank.

Jim
http://colcampbellbarracks.blogspot.com/

Robert said...

Jeff- thats the plan!

Ed- thanks for the kind comment. Clearly you've been looking forward to the Eureka Dutch as much as I have!

Jim- The Saxons are certainly closer to the Minden minis in style and size. But IIRC from TMP there were a lot of people who were unhappy with the Saxon range as it was considerably smaller than other minis out there at the time, so it may well be that the upcoming Dutch may not match up with the Saxons (different war, after all!).

Alan Marsh designed the Dutch, and from what I understand they are supposed to match up with the Arquebusiers de Grassins that Alan also did for Eureka (he also did some FIW provincials that do look very nice) I do not have any of these in my collection (yet!), so I am not sure where they fit in in terms of size- although the Grassins in particular are certainly beautiful figures.

I'll just have to be patient and wait and see!