Start collecting: Wurttemburg!

in this video, we look at getting started with collecting a minor nation using the superb Piano miniatures!
At the end of the vid, I talk about some plastic alternatives, and this is the Garde du Corps video! • Maxing your minis! Get...

[@Featherus_]

I love Piano Miniatures minis. I only started Napoleonics a short while before its first Kickstarter. Wurttemburg is now my main army and I've almost 3D printed the entire army. Just don't ask how much is fully painted!

[@davidcollins2648]

How much is fully painted?

[@gwrdriver1660]

i have recently started a joint Wurttemberg and Bavarian army of 1809 and my son is doing 1809 Austrians. this video is therefore ideal, thanks for sharing, Rich

[@PsykerKaregg]

Start collecting black brunswickers next?

[@Castillo525]

Hell yes!

[@scabbarae]

HaT makes some solid figures in 1:72, but not sure about getting them in 28mm. Just can't beat those black uniforms with the totenkopf, though.

[@zumerset8739]

Yes please

[@merlin4084]

You should next try to do Sweden. That's way more difficult to get an accurate army, depending on what regulation uniform you're after. There's basically nothing around for 1802 Regulation uniforms, Perry Miniatures do the 1807 Regulation uniforms, and there's barely anything for 1810 regulation uniforms. I know the pain of trying to build up a force of Swedes for 1813, from researching it, to cross referencing the research with other sources, to asking the Swedish army museum for information and clarification (they were really helpful and I even got a free book from them about the flags of the Guard infantry....it was in Swedish, but that's not hard to get around nowadays with camera apps). The best places to find minis for the Swedes, depending on uniform regulation, are as follows: 1802: there are none for this regulation, but you can proxy early war Danish minis from Eagle Figures Militia range, as they seem to have had a close enough uniform...though you'd have to fix the lack of shoes on some of them. 1807: Perry Miniatures is the obvious place to go. Additionally, Eagle Figures do a big range of Napoleonic Swedish, but their historical accuracy and poses are generally poor. You can paint around most of the inaccuracies though. A plastic alternative would be the Perry Miniatures Austrian box set. You'd just need to get a head from Steve Barber Miniatures or a British Marine head from somewhere and you've got a good approximation for Swedes, you'll just have to do a bit of green stuff work on the back as the Swedes didn't have back packs until after 1810. They used a satchel. 1810: Steve Barber Miniatures has an 1810 regulation battalion you can use (I know, I got him to make it). It's as accurate as it can be. You can go back to Eagle Figures for most everything else, as they have the most cavalry and artillery for this period, though you can also use Perry for some of those too. Lastly, there is Elite Miniatures range of infantry. I don't rate the minis too highly, but beggers can't be choosers and they'll do a job if the others don't work for you, or if you want to add some variety to the poses in the line. I don't think there are any plastic sets that could be used to represent these guys. Not without extensive use of green stuff in any case, as I once tried to use Victrix Austrians for this purpose. It didn't work out very well. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these are all metal models, so it's going to cost an arm and a leg to collect it.

[@bonysminiatures3123]

wow those figures and painting awesome

[@adamrodaway1074]

A few thoughts on Wurttemberg - I was looking around for a possible starter army and decided independently that these guys are ideal. 1. Plenty of variety in all three arms. So could act as an independent army but… 2. They swapped from anti French in the early revolutionary wars, to part of the Confederacy of the Rhine (and had contingents fighting with the French in both the Peninsular and Russia) then swapped back again after Leipzig…. 3. Which means that even if you don’t have a full army they could be slotted in on either side. I’m not a big figure person (I’m tossing up between 15 and 10mm) so I have made a few 3D models - currently just early, mid and late period infantry (i.e. different hats) but hopefully more to follow. And on the subject of hats, the early and mid period look much more interesting with their helmets. The late ones have shakos and just look like frenchies from all but the closest distance.

[@NapoleonicWargaming]

Absolutely agree, mid war for me all the way! Yeah, it's great they have variety, and the army is small enough that (esp in 10 or 15mm) it is actually possible to collect the entire thing!

[@theenigmaticgamer]

I’m building a Wurttemberg army from Front Rank and nearly finished. Those Piano Miniatures are absolutely first class!

[@warbanda]

great models

[@johnmc703]

Another advantage of a Wurttemburg Napoleonic army is that 8 Line battalions and the 2 light and 2 rifle battalions give you effectively a Division of 3 Brigades for both 1809 and 1812 campaigns along with 2 Brigades of 2 Lt Cavalry each in a second Division. Wurttemburg Artillery has 2 6pdr horse batteries, 2 6pdr foot batteries and 1 12pdr foot battery. For a total of 5 batteries. All together this basically Vandam's 8th Corp in 1809. Napoleon planned to add two small French and Rhinebund divisions but it never happened.

[@NapoleonicWargaming]

Great point!

[@dtcspyker6599]

What a great looking range. Hats off to Stephen Huber's paint jobs.

[@richiehall3042]

I have such a soft spot as this was my first army (figures) I owned when I was 12 😊

[@nikivogelaars]

Great video i think your vid helped me to finaly made up my mind on starting napoleonics wurttemberg it is

[@NapoleonicWargaming]

Good man! They are a super cool army! I'm working my way through the Garde zu Fuss at the mo

[@Billa2720]

Interesting to see this army. Thanks, I did not know about Piano Miniatures.

[@OW...]

Nice one........

[@nickhindley4295]

Regarding lookalike plastics the royal guard infantry looked very similar to Imperial Guard of which there are a few plastic sets. Taking that a bit further it might be feasible to buy some plastic cavalry, not sure which, probably heavies, and do a head swap with grenadier heads to create the mounted grenadiers. I'm also thinking that he shako wearing infantry could be created from french plastic infantry.

[@Haydinius]

I love these videos so much, especially for the more niche factions like these guys and the Ottomans etc.

[@AS-qy1zl]

It’s an interesting option to be a hipster and to make this my second army after the French.

[@BrushQuill]

Very nice list matey. Looking forward to some other small factions!

[@johnmc703]

I highly recommend Micro Mark List G4N "The Kingdom of Wurttemburg" 1805-1815 available at Wargames Vault for building and organising your army. Finally Wurttemburg Infantry were trained to fight in 2 ranks like the British and although they learnt the French 3 rank formation drills and could use it if required they still preferred the 2 rank formation as standard.

[@martinradcliffe4798]

Those Piano figures do make the Wurttemburgers very tempting, but I'll be brave and stick with the Poles. For now!

[@johnmc703]

As someone who started his 25mm Wurttemburg army 42 years ago using Minifigs I found your video quite interesting, right up to the suggestion of using plastic Austrians. NO, NO, NO! When I started Minifigs did the a full range of Wurttemburg troops in 15mm but only had the Line and Light foot and cav in 25mm. I even sent letters asking if they would expand their 25mm range to match but it was not to be. Although you could substitute French Foot guards and Horse Grenadiers to fill the gap it wasn't until Front Rank and others added Wurttemburg troops to their respective ranges that true appropriate figs (in 28mm) became available. The beauty of the Wurttemburg army is all the line and light infantry regiments have 2 battalions and effectively each two regiments (2 battalions ea) formed 1 brigade. 2 of the Brigades had Line Infantry and the third had the 2 Lt Infantry and the 2 Foot Jager (rifle equipped ) battalions. The Foot Guard remained at home until 1813/14. The Garde de Corps cavalry was only a squadron as was the Liebjager (Guides) Sqn. These joined with the 2 Horse Grenadier Sqns to form a combined Horse Guard Regiment of 4 Sqns. When together they all wore Bearskin caps the 1st Sqn had green coats and the other 3 wore dark-blue.

[@kejmanghafari8607]

Hey where can i get information about the army like how many men did have and how big is core and stuff like

[@gwrdriver1660]

I am going to use Bavarian infantry for Wurttemberg, they have the double breasted tunic, the helmets aren't quite the same, Austrian helmets are, but the tunics are more noticeable. As you can see in the video, once the helmets are painted black, the raised crest is hardly noticeable, in fact from the pictures I thought they had Bavarian helmets

[@clive3490]

After 1808, the regiment was comprised of 2 Battalions of 4 companies each, only the first company of the first battalion were grenadiers

[@scabbarae]

I'd love to see a "Start Collecting Spanish" video. Unless it's already out and I've just missed it.

[@jaja_nelson8610]

Beginner question but how does one turn the paper flags in the waving examples on the tabletop? How do you form them and keep them in form?

[@NapoleonicWargaming]

I'll do them in a live stream, but ultimately, thinned down pva. Then you 'crimp' the flags and once they dry they stay rigid (ish)

[@JustACarnotaurus]

Does anyone know where I can get Swiss miniatures,I know that warlord games does some of the Swiss Gaurd,but what about the line infantry and Calvary

[@marknightingale2760]

Oh no don't get me stockpiling another army, I've got enough French and British to paint already

[@markusburger2262]

I really like your getting started videos 😊. Is there a possibilty to also cover the Grand Duchy of Baden army from that time? Keep up the good work!

[@williammountfield8508]

I’m constantly tempted by piano miniatures, but not owning a printer the price is always a bit much to swallow… especially given my backlog, I know that sooner or later I am going to cave though.

[@abelpaoli6836]

Thanks for the vid. I was under the impression that Wurttenburg was a kingdom during the Napoleonic wars. I'd it was a Duchy, there wouldn't be a crown prince, would there?

[@davidcollins2648]

You can create a Wurtemburg army in 1/72 scale but the figures won't be amazing like the Piano miniatures. HaT makes Infantry w/grenadiers and light infantry all in the same box as well as 12lb artillery and Chevaux-leger. If you want the Cuirassiers Zvezda makes a very nice set of those. I own all these and plan to get around to painting them up eventually. If I had a wish it would be to get Piano minis in 1/72 scale.

[@websterlf]

If you're 3D printing you could adjust the scale and make your wish come true! 😉

[@johnmccann5725]

Hi you can print Piano Wargames figures in 1/72nd if you have access to 3d printer. My core army are Hat but will be supplementing with Piano Cavalry, staff and Garde. Cheers

[@OW...]

Minimum order quantity is a big no no for me.. is it still £135..? ouch thats a lot of bread...

[@bibyboy9085]

i want to start a danish army, it wont be easy to start but do you know of any websites were i can buy them? defiantly a more rare nation to collect😂😂

[@TwisstedSage]

I started out March with that hideous cough, wasn't Covid when home tested, took all month to clear it out and still low energy now. I'd been admiring the Werttemburgers for a couple of years, especially the Jagers with their distinctive shakos but bringing them to Texas from Piano Mini's is pretty much out of the question. Since they'd simply be an ally to the French I can't really justify a 3-D printer. I was wondering why you went with the Perry plastic Austrians rather than the Victrix Bavarians as an alternative to Piano's originals ? Since they have the double breasted plastron, bib tunic, they would only require shaving off the bottom corners of the bib to come pretty close to the Wurttemburg tunic and the helmets look fairly close as well. Do you think the Victrix troopers are just too hefty to fit in with the Piano or what ? If I ever get around to an ally brigade of Wurttemburg, my priority will have to be with the Jagers from Piano and those too cool looking shakos. P.S. Have you looked at the new Ottoman Napoleonic units from the Perrys and or the French Mamelukes from Brigade Games ? The Perrys are so brightly colored, they might even be considered camouflaged with the grass tufts you use. Hugs

[@imrahilvondolamroth4205]

Yea Bavarians are probably better when it comes to the uniform, but the rumford helmet is just way too tall. So the best way would be to take austrian heads on bavarians ig

[@imrahilvondolamroth4205]

and why do the Württembergers have to be french allies? There was an entire seperate Württemberg corps under Vandamme in 1809.

[@TwisstedSage]

@@imrahilvondolamroth4205 Righty O', then what do I do with a box full of headless Austrians ? Besides, I've been saving those Perry Austrians to use as Irish militia, trained up and uniformed by the French, wearing left over Kleber uniforms & helmets from the Egyptian campaign. I think I can trim the comb support from under the "caterpillar" , slap a tuft of resin on top & a ban around the helmet & Bob's your pet sow, a Kleber helmet. These puttied up boys will be putting some marrowbone in the spines of the rebels of the 1798 Irish rebellion or so I hope. I can also hope to live long enough to put some Danube campaign armies on the table. Thanks for the reply "Imrahil". Hugs

[@konradson]

Piano Miniatures makes great work, as expected from a German...

[@Beltayn7272]

You haven't done Saxons either 😂😂

[@imrahilvondolamroth4205]

100 pounds would be 120€ or about 125 dollars

[@shaunyams]

get a printer and do a series on 3d Napoleonic printing.