The Graf von Bruhl's Regiment

From Prussian Musketeers, the regiment von Bruhl.

I will be adding more figures to all three of these regiments over the next week while I await the delivery of more RSM French to round out the Gardes Francaises; I added four men to von Bruhl yesterday, with another four to paint tonight.

More Saxons - The Kurprinzessin Regiment

Prussian Fusiliers masquerading as Saxons. One is a Grenadier, painted as a test figure and plopped in the centre of the line. All are based on GW plastic bases.

Money where the mouth is...

Leibgrenadier Garde from RSM Prussian Grenadiers. Note the grenadier Drummer and the Officer wither the pole-arm

Saxon Army, 1740-63

I may have let on at one time or another over the past few months that I'm rather fond of the Saxon Army for this period.

I think this fondness came out of their "Army in Exile" status during the Seven Years War, a bit of sympathy for an underdog.

I have over the past few years put quite a lot of thought into recreating this army using RSM Miniatures and I thought I might share my ideas here.

The Infantry

The Infantry uniform was in it's cut not dissimilar to that of the Prussian army of the day - with certain differences!

At the start of the period - say, 1742 - the uniform was worn with lapels. No problems there - the RSM Prussians all have lapels cast on. This changes for most regiments after 1745 where all regiments apart from the Leibgrenadier Garde lost their lapels. Another change was to the grenadier cap which previously had been very similar to the later Prussian fusilier cap and now came strongly to resemble that of the king of Prussia's grenadiers.

My sources have little to say on Saxon uniforms at the start of the Seven Year's War, but after the constitution of the army in exile, uniforms were being worn with and without lapels depending on the regiment - the von Rochow Fusiliers, von Bruhl's, the Kurprinzessin's and the Leibgrenadier Garde wore lapels on their coats, the remainder did not.

So what does this mean for figure purchases?

For the period from 1740 to 1745 the infantry can adequately be represented by RSM Prussian musketeers with their Prussian Fusiliers standing in for the Saxon Grenadiers.

For the remainder of the War of the Austrian Succession I'd suggest using Russian infantry with either head swaps from RSM Prussian Grenadiers or just using the Prussians with their lapels either filed off or painted over.

For the Seven Year's War, RSM Prussians can be used without modification for the von Rochow Fusiliers, von Bruhl's, the Kurprinzessin's and the Leibgrenadier Garde. For the rest of the army, I recommend the Russian Infantry, again with head swaps from RSM Prussian Grenadiers or just using the Prussians with their lapels either filed off or painted over.

One thing I'd like to see (purely selfishly) is a dedicated 7YW Saxon 28mm range...


From 1740 to 1742

Regiment Bourbonnois

Feeling a bit uninspired this week, so I'm re-basing the Bourbonnois regiment. Half will be on the induvidual 20mmx20mm bases, and the other half will be in fours on the 40mmx40mm bases.

Then I'll see if I can summon up the energy to create some movement trays.

RSMs on GW bases

You'll notice they do fit pretty well...

Looking at the infantryman, I wonder if you couldn't use him as a marker (along with 40 or so copied comrades) in illustratind a battle-report...

Woodland Indians - RSM

Here's something I found last night while going through my painted miniatures.

Some day I'd like to paint some Canadian Militia to go with them. RSM do a nice casting of a man in a capote and cap.

Basing Again

I've re-based the whole of my Gardes Francaises. I hope it's not vain pride, but they look very much improved; I'm really impressed with how good they look like this. Click on the image for a larger picture.

Basing

I'm thinking very hard about changing my basing from the coins I have been using to the 20mmx20mm square plastic bases availavle from GW.

Take a look at this picture and contrast it with those from my recent posts.

I think you'll agree they rank up better and are more amenable to being used with movement trays than the old kind.

Yes, they are painted Goblin Green!

Gardes Francaises

Here then in no particular order are some progress shots of the Gardes Francaises who are coming along nicely. 13 figures to go. All are RSMs except for three officers who are Willies that I added in because they look nice.

You'll also notice a teaser photo I took of some sample Gardes Suisses I painted - and very much enjoyed, too. It shan't be too long before they join the King's Household.

Battenburg Chronicle, 1743

de Saxe, a man for whom the dice can do no wrong...

Move the Fifth

The cavalry renew their fight, von Brownes with desperation, de Saxes with casual arrogance. Remarkably they inflict only two casualties for the loss of three. This is due to Trooper Scheiss fighting a combat against two Imperial troopers and triumphing. He has been nominated for the Order of the Black Eagle (second class).

Taking heart from this Von Brownes Infantry close their files and fire. Again their Grenadiers cannot draw a line of sight and thus only 24 men may fire. They do, and inflict a miserable three casualties! Damn it! His gunners have scrambled to man the piece left by their slaughtered comrades. They fire and miss! Hell fire!

de Saxe, with a wry "alea jacta est" has his men discharge. As they have been all day, the dice gods are with him and 11 casualties are inflicted.

von Browne, finding that his force is now at 50% effectives glumly orders a retreat. The rags of his dragoons will cover the withdrawl. He has decided that when he relates the battle to His Highness he will dwell on the actions of Trooper.. no Corporal... no, Ensign Scheiss. yes, that's the stuff. This is just a tactical withdrawl. He'll never listen to Bauer again...

Move the Fourth

The turn of the Tide?

von Brownes Infantry make a last move. It is discovered much to their discomfort that the Blasthof Berg blocks line of sight. When the firing begins they'll be out of the fight!

de Saxes men, not having moved fire immediately and with effect, eight of the Itzenplitzers being rendered hors de combat. Things are looking brighter again for de Saxe.

von Browne likes not what he sees and deploys one of his guns to fire on de Saxes' infantry next move.

Tragically for him, de Saxes Gunners can fire THIS move and allow themselves the pleasure of firig on his artillery, wiping out the crew who have so bravely advanced their gun in the face of the enemy's fire! de Saxes Gunners allow themselves a "Hurrah!" and tricornes tumble through the air.

The other is trained on the cavalry but dares not fire for the melee that has erupted. In a mad flurry of dice rolling de Saxes' Cavalry inflict 5 casualties for the loss of two. This restores the numerical superiority they had at the outset.

Things are looking grim indeed for von Browne.

His infantry have taken 20% casualties, half his gunners and half his cavalry are casualties also. de SAxes troops are reasonably intact apart from his cavalry who stand at about 70% of their strength and are far from being a spent force.

Move the Third

de Saxes Cavalry continue to close the range with that of von Browne. His artillery bang again. This is more like it! Both are hits! And five casualties are caused! At a stroke de Saxe loses his cavalry advantage. Mentally von Browne rubs his hands together in glee while maintining his exterior sang froid. He'll unleash his cavalry next move.

de Saxe has his gunners fire again at Itzenplitz's Foot. No restlt. De Saxe turns to his ADC and says "There seems to be something wrong with our bloody artillery today."

Move the Second

de Saxes Cavalry continue their ride. Will it be a death-ride? Only time will tell.

His gunners resolutely ignore the temptation of a counter battery duel with von Brownes Gunners and instead let fly at Itzenplitzes' Regiment. Neither shot hits and the sturdy infantry continue their advance.

von Browne breathes a small sigh of relief at this and orders his gunners to let fly at the worryingly large Cavalry force bearing down onhis lads on the left flank. DAmn and blast! His gunners are just as bad as de Saxes!

Move the First

de Saxe orders a general advance, meaning to get his infantry into a secure position with it's flanks resting on an unfordable portion of the River Blast and the flanks of the Blasthof Berg. His guns move forward to cover the bridge. The Horse take a full move toward that of von Browne in hopes of trying conclusions with them.

von Browne is sensible of the threat posed his smaller cavalry by that of de Saxe and accordingly positions his artillery to fire at their flank as they close with his smaller frce of Dragoons. He is confident of the ability of his infantry to handle that of de SAxe and advances them on a broad front.

Arraying the Armies - von Browne

Arraying the armies - de Saxe

Blasthof - the battle

I fought out the battle of Blasthof this weekend as a solo game.

To refresh everyones memory, the two sides Electoral and Imperial were commanded by our own von Browne while those of the Imperium were commanded by de Saxe.

Von Browne commanded 40 Infantry, a dozen cavalry and a pair of guns.

de Saxe had 32 infantry, 16 cavalry and two guns of his own.

The battle was fought out on Blasthof Heath, the objective being that one side or the other be left in posession of the bridge over the River Blast.

The map has come down to us from the von Browne Collection. It may be seen that the electoral forces were to begin from the Northern end of the map while those of the Imperium under de Saxe were positioned at the Southern.

Gardes - progress

Done all the lacing, muskets, hair and gaiters!

Really just got the highlighting on the faces, hat lace and belts to go. Thursday night should see them done, I think.

I have some more castings that ought to serve to get the regiment to the 43-figure minimum level, so that's the next tranche.

As a sideline, I'm also starting to paint some Hanoverian grenadiers - I think I've one a pretty good job on their red coats, and the orange facings clash terribly. Still, they'll look better once their white lace is done.

Gardes Francaises

I've gotten on with the Gardes Francaises regiment.

I have two companies - one of Fusiliers and one of Grenadiers on the paint-bench today. I have taken them through a blue base-coat and highlight, done the base coat on the faces and facings (a dab or two of brown really helps the red cover over where the blue has been splashed with merry abandon) with an eye on doing the hats, hair and highlighting the facings this evening.

Once they are done, this will push the lads up to 30 figures which is only a baker's dozen or so short of their establishment of 43. I do intend to push the size of this regiment up to about the 60+ figures mark eventally to at least give a nod to the fact that this was more like an infantry brigade in "real life".

Guests will be arriving for lunch soon, so adieu for now.

Mein Gott, these Englaners fight like madmen...

The lads are in the midst of a highly unsuccessful "cover the bases with sand and paint them green" experiment! Painting of the induviduals is complete.

What to do...

Just realised I have quite a few projects on at the moment.

I'm home sick today with a badly rolled ankle and am examining my (worryingly-growing) pile of lead and wondering what to do.

Shall I put my troops on maneuvers? Read a couple more table Top Teasers? Actually paint something? I've been shying away from painting my WAS/7YW troops for some reason recently. Perhaps it's time to get stuck in; do those light troops I've been banging on about. It'd be a good way to use up some odds and ends in varying poses. I'd like to do a Charge!-style regiment of two companies, each 12 strong of light infantry. OK - you talked me into it.

On the subject of being talked into doing things, I'd love some feedback on the Bauer-His Majesty-von Browne vignettes. What I'm trying to do with them is add a little depth to the Alzheim setting. I though it might be a way of exploring their little world. I have at least two more in mind and wonder if people are finding them, if nothing else, entertaining? If that's so, I'm really thinking of carrying on with them in the long term.

Sculpting. This is a rather scary word for me, but I'm starting to come up against the limits of what I think I can do with the RSM range. I'm starting to think about some head-chopping conversions, but this is going to lead me down a certain road. A road paved in greenstuff.

For example(s), the Prussian officer with spontoon would be better-looking were he looking off to his left and encuring the troops were maintaining their alignment. The von Kleist infantry (Loading) is the whole of what's available. I'd like a little more variety and think a von Kleist head on a Hungarian infantry body might broaden the range of what's available to the King of Prussia. On the topic of the head-swap, it might be nice to produce a British Light Dragoon who is doing other than firing at the halt - Emsdorf, anyone? Likewise, I wonder whether an "Advancing" torso mounted on "Marching" legs might not produce a somewhat satisfactory standard bearer.

Melee - quick and dirty

Figures or unit bases in contact with each other during the melee phase are engaged in hand to hand combat.

Maximum odds are 2:1.

Procedure:

1:1 - each player throws 1d6**
2:1 - roll 2d6:1d6

Compare the scores*:

a) If equal, another round of HtH must be played out next turn;
b) Difference of one, the loser flips a coin - heads, his figure surrenders, tails he withdraws a full march move and;
c) Difference is more than one, the loser becomes a casualty and is removed from play.

Figures that have withdrawn may be rallied by an officer by making contact with the cotacting them and rolling on 5-6 on a d6.

*NOTE: Figures defending an obstacle get +1 on their score.
** NOTE: Cavalry throw 2d6 per figure if against foot.

Morale - quick and dirty...

Morale Checks are made under the following circumstances:

a) A unit takes 50% casualties;
b) A unit's immediate commander in the chain of command has become a casualty or;
c) Any unit subjected to artillery fire in the previous turn.

Procedure:

For a) or b) above, throw d6 per unit: 4+ they operate normally 2+ they may operate defensively 1 they must either surrender to an enemy unit that is within 12" or run away in the next move phase a full charge move.
For c) above: 4+ they operate normally 1, 2 or 3 they must either surrender to an enemy unit that is within 12" or run away in the next move phase a full charge move.

An "Actions" move

I was daydeaming yesterday morning in the shower.

I was thinking about what I'd been re-reading in "The War Game". I was also thinking about points which had been somewhat discussed of late on the OSW Group.

Points do strike me as a very useful concept, not so much in terms of providing game balance - I'm not really very interested in balanced games; give me a long, losing retreat any day. I like points as a measuring stick, either of damage done or to limit what may be done.

Apropos of nothing I started applying the concept of points to the move.

For the sake of argument, lets say a unit has 20 points to spend on actions per move. Unspent points are lost.

10 points - fire a volley;
5 points - move 3" (5" if cavalry...);
5 points wheel 90 degrees;
10 points to change facing of rear rank;
15 points to about-face the entire unit;
5 points stand fast.

Any casualties are removed at the end of the "actions" move - before the "melee" move begins.

I suppose you could make an argument whereby a unit that stands fast for so many moves (shall we say 3?) may accumulate 5 points per move that may be expended on movement only. Perhaps this could represent a charge that descends with the fury of a thunderbolt?;^) Perhaps such a charge ought to get a bonus in HtH combat?

Give me a week and I'll try to draft a one-page ruleset to test the idea and I'll put it up here.

Any comments?

Old School Pub

*Act the First*
"Bauer, stop fussing! It's only a puddle!"
"Your Majesty's shoes ARE only embroidered paste-board..."
"Don't call me that! One is enjoying a night of roisering abong thelower orders! One is incognito! Remember! tonight I am merely the simple old Fritz. Now, Browne, you go first; what about that one there? You'rethe military man - reconnoitre."
Von Browne looks dubiously at the sign above the door. The sign reads 'Scab and Piquet'. "This one?" There is quite the hubbub comingfrom within.
Bauer says: "Isn't this the one you always take us to?"
His Majestat shrugs his beefy shoulders then winces. "Damnation takethis gout! Now, are we going in or what?"
"Chacun a son gout, I suppose."
"Bauer, you speak French too! Is there no end to your accomplishments?"

Inside, the three are momentarily taken aback."Good God, they've changed the place around haven't they? Look, youcan nearly see the floor, AND there's an oompah band playing in thecorner. I love a good oompah band! Nothing like a little oompah! Eh,what! Browne, the drinks are on you. Bauer here will have a porter andI'll have... ohh, there are just so many choices. I'll have one of those estalian lagers with a slice of lemon in it. Unbelievable -who'd ever have thought you could get a beer with a lemon stuck in it?"
"Your Majesty remains as ever a paragon of taste and discernment -er, I mean, what ho old Fritzy, this porter's going down a treat, me old mucker. Hey? where's von Browne going?"
"Don't let's be TOO familiar, Bauer - Whey-hey-hey! looks like he's going to challenge those old fellows in the corner to a game of some sort."
"Whazzat Fritzy? Er, your Majesty."
"Hm. Those sour 'old Prussians' in the corner there. Look at 'em -here every night just about, swanning around in their red coats. Hob-nobbing with one of my Sergeants of the Grenadiers! Always hogging the booth in the corner. Scoffing beefsteaks. Look at 'em with their pipes (incidentally, when we get back to the palace, make a note thatI want a pipe just like that one) and their enormous steins (and one of those steins) - they probably don't like the new rushes on the floor! Ha! I like them just fine. Probably muttering in their moustaches about the oompah band, too!"
"Uh-oh. von Browne just stuck four creutzer on the table." Bauer wiggles into a more inconspicuous posture.
"Well, good. It's everyone's toy soldier table - it's there by My decree. I love those tables. I used to have one for playing football when I was just a princeling,but the handles came off. Look they even have a little woodencannonball for the grenadiers to kick around! Barkeep! Bring me wine!Bauer! He's ignoring me! I say this is a rather splendid disguise; I'll have to make you Master of My Revells!"
A loud shattering noise marks the breakdown of amity over the toy-soldier table. Cries of "Take that Jerry" and "Mein Gott, theseEnglanders fight like mad-men!" are heard.
"Your Majesty, I suggest we retire to the palace."
"A capital suggestion Bauer. You know, you really are quite theindispensable factotum."
"Why, thankyou your Majesty. Ah, shall we leave von Browne to it?"
"Well he IS a military man. He should know what to do."
*exeunt omnes*
*The curtain falls*

Daydreaming when I should be at work...

I was noodling around the internet and straggled my way to Phil Olley's Italian Wars page of his excellent website (http://www.warcabinet.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/army_showcase%20%20italian%20wars.htm) when I remembered I have some GW Empire plastics floating around at home somewhere. I could do some of those halberdiers... Then I remembered that I have a dozen or so of their Greatswords...

This is the point when alarm bells start to go off in my head and I start looking on eBay for bits and bobs I can buy on the cheap.

Help!

Rapid Fire Progress

I've just about finished the first battalion of British infantry - just two more figures to go then it's on to basing. I'm going to go pretty simple, just sand stuck to PVA glue painted green and washed with brown ink. I might dry-brush if it seems necessary.

About half of the second battalion is either undercoated or has it's first wash. I've another dozen figures in the "almost finished" state, too. along with two stands completed.

Two more boxes of Revell Infantry arrived last night, so, on I go.

The Achilles TDs have been base-coated and washed as have the first two M4 Shermans. The second pair are under construction and will be finished off tonight. I finished assembling and undercoating a Matchbox Dingo scout car, too which is the cutest little thing... Sometime I'll have to assemble Monty's Caravan as well! Nice little group of Officers with this kit; I'll turn them into my Brigade Staff with an addition of two from AB. Still looking for a pair of Fireflies.

So I'm looking at about a Brigade of Infantry with an attached MG Company, SP AT Battery and a couple of Squadrons of tanks. I was thinking this could be supplemented with a towed 17pdr Battery and a Battery of 25pdrs and another of 5.5in with Matador tows. I'd probably expand the Tanks to a full regiment and then take stock. I might also need a Squadron/Company of Churchills at some point, too...

Just free-wheeling here...

Painting 20mm Plastics

As you can see from the pictures i'm using promarily a "wash" method of painting the troops. I start by preparing the figures with a wash in dishwashing detergent, then a spray of varnish to stiffen the figures up followed by a spray of white.

Then the fun begins. I mix up my version of khaki and add a very generous amount of water and slop it all over the figure, really trying for a thorough coverage. I'm really only careful to keep the hands and face clean.

Next I paint the face and hands and helmet with a slightly thinned flesh wash. I also paint any wooden items (like pick handle and entrenching tool handles) brown. Leather jerkins also get a careful wask of slightly thinned brown. If I'd been thinking, the rifles would have been done at this stage too!

Finally the whole figure gets a wash overall of a dark-brown ink - again rather thinned. This really defines all the straps, does a lot of the work on the fleshy areas and defines the details of netting and camoflage on the helmets.

Later I'll paint all the boots and metalwork black with some mid-gray highlights, give the web equipment and bandoleers a little targeted highlighting to make them stand out and last of all run a mix of red-brown into the lips and jaws to bring them to life. I might follow up with a little highlighting on the faces if they seem to dark.

Latest goodies from SoldierPac

Just arrived in the mail, five marching Infantry ad one officer from SoldierPac in the UK. These are very reasonably priced at GBP1.80 for a foot figure of GBP5.00 for a cavalryman. I'm very impressed with the cheapness of the postage to Australia and the speedy delivery. All round excellence is something that you don't come across too often, but here it is.

Bloody good show all round.

Cuirassiers du Roi

The first instalment. Love that officer.

Achilles

Snapshot taken of a pair of Achilles Tank Destroyers passing through Alzheim in MArch 1945.

Captain Crunch was told by a native: "Thank heavens you're here! None of us were Nazis, you know. It was all that fellow Hitler's doing! I hope you won't be turning us over to the Russians?"

Sadly, Alzheim spent the next fifty-four years as part of East Germany.

Riders of Alzheim

Riders and Warriors of Alzheim as depicted by the Alzheim Histoical Re-Enactment society (Keeping History Alive!).

There is some debate as to the veracity of the green cloaks, and some still question the absence of horns from the helms of the mounted men.

Most of the information we have from these, the dark ages of Alzheim are taken from the famous "Donau Tapestry" depicting the victory of Helm Eohorn over "Da Orkz" in the year dot. As is well known the tapestry now resides in the Louvre, having been looted by a revolutionary army en route to Italy in 1795.

New Blog

Take a look at Scott Robertson's new blog. It's a thoughtful look at WAB/WHECW with some very well photographed pictures of his lovely miniatures - those Cossaks! Those Lithanian Hussars!

One for all the WABBITs out there!

http://wab-ramblings.blogspot.com/

War Plan Red

The War Room.

A terrain is laid out on a large table. It groans all the while under the weight of all the hills and valleys laid out in dampish sand. Streams and ponds and so forth are finely shredded blue paper. Figures by Meisterzinn.

"Ah ha" cries his Majesty in triumph. "Caught you there Keith you old devil!" I bet you never expected my Cuirassiers to be lurking behind that hill!"

"No indeed, your Majesty", says old Keith. "But did your Highness note my Croats in that spinney yonder? What do you think of that, eh Bauer?"

"I am sure His Majesty will riposte in a most effective wise in the fullness of time. Now, gentlemen, some light refreshment? Where is Schmundt with those sweetmeats? Schmundt? You, blaggard, idling as usual! Ha! Shall I cuff him Your Majesty?

"By all means Bauer, deliver the fellow three solid buffets! Stint not your blows! You see Keith? That's how to keep the idlers and shirkers in line! Eh! What! (Strike on Bauer) "Oh, blast my breeks! The fellow's knocked the table over. Imbecile! Conduct the Generalfeldmarschall hence that he may have the sand brushed from his coat!"

"Your Majesty, realy I am quite all right."

"No, no Keith, I do insist!. Bauer will set the table for us that we may take up later; I assure you my memory of our respective dispositions is quite exact."

"Your Majesty."

"My dear Generalfeldmarschall."

Bauer walks over, a silver Grenadier in his hand, bayonet slightly bent. "Your Majesty has the same way with the soldiers as the King of the Prussians."

"Why thankyou Bauer. You are really quite a usefull fellow yourself."

Insupportable!

In the robing chamber, the Southern Wing of the palace.

"Insupportable!" bellowed His Imperial Mightiness.

"Indeed Sire" murmured his suportive valet.

"It's not to be borne!" The walls quaked before the Royal Wrath.

"Indeed, not, your Majesty!"

""I've never cheated at cards before in my entire life..! Sparing that regrettable incident when I was Rosenkavalier to poor von Ochs!" A sniff. A delicately applied kerchief.

"Tsk, tsk. More powder sire?"

"A little, yes. I say, do you think this bit of broderie anglaise sets off my coat nicely? Ha! Bah! Have the court assembled. It's war to the very knife!"

"Your Majesty will cut quite the dash, of that I am sure, Sire."

"You are a fine fellow Master Bauer. Whatever would I so without you?"

"I'm sure your Majesty would soon find someone."

New Toys Courtesy of eBay

A couple of Britains Hussars c 1993.

More Gunners

Three od the same basic casting with one arm change to produce the bloke with the rammer. I've two more in preparation at the moment - another gunner and an officer with binoculars.

Stuff for Sale/ Trade...

I've a small offering of about 18 Sash and Sabre 7YW Prussians that I bought a couple of years ago as samples that need to go to a good home. I've nothing against them, but I settled a long time ago on RSM as my mainstays...

Some are undercoated black. Most are innocent of paint altogether.

Drop me a line at: bloggerator@gmail.com

I'd trade them for a couple of boxes or Revell Brit WW2 infantry, for example...

OT - WW2 stuff - bits and bobs

Just recently I was browsing the blog "The General's Tent" and saw there some very nicely painted Revell WW2 British Infantry. This led me to the Plastic Soldier Review Sites' review for an in-depth and then I also stumbled across an article by Richard Marsh on the RF website on creating a 1944 battalion out of this very box!

Well, the local model shops were no use to me but eBay came through with a couple of boxes of these chaps. While I'm waiting on their arrival and eying off some others, I've gone through my old plastic armour collection to find pretty substantial amounts of Anglo-American vehicles; a converted Bedford from Airfix, M3 Half Traks from the same source, a Hasegawa M3 Scout Car, a couple of resin Cromwells, an Airfix DUKW and four Buffaloes in varying states of repair as well as a Churchill. Matchbox have also provided a Humber A/C, a Churchill AVRE - a chopped down bridge-layer, and another that didn't get chopped about.

Naturally I bought an Aifix refuelling set on the way to work this morning for the Bedford. I'll need to take a look at my Airfix guides to see what I can do with the AEC refueller leftovers. I need a few more Bren gun carriers, too. Good old Airfix.

NW Europe 1944/45 here I come?

Toy Soldiers

Ever since I came upon the "Brigadier" Toy Soldier shop in Beechworth a few years ago, I've harboured a desire to own some "Traditional" toy soldiers.
I ordered some castings from them recently and finally got around to painting one of the gunners this week.
He's all done in Humbrol enamels on a white undercoat with a sprayed on coat of gloss varnish to give him a nice finish. The one "painter's" touch he has is some black base-coating on his metalwork to make the "brass" colour pop out a bit more.
I'm a little unhappy with the blue of his coat - I feet it's a little greenish unvarnished, but it looks a bit better now.
I've put in an order with Soldier Pac for some of their Marching Infantry and a couple of Officers with Binoculars.
For the moment I'm gluing the "movable arm" in place - does anyone have any suggestions as to how to splay the head of the pin it hangs on to permit it to move?

RTS Games as a Seige Campaign Model?

I've been thinking about some of the issues raised as I've been thinking about seige rules.
I've really been thinking of seiges as campaigns.
In this context, I wonder whether the ideas contained within real time strategy games might not be useful. Consider that a tunnel or trench might need so much wood per inch on the table. That forest or town might yeild a certain quantity of wood, but this would have to be processed into useful material via a Mill which would itself cost so many "Wood" and so many Ducats/ Loius d'Or. A town would yield so much Grain, but a bakery would be needed to process it into Bread.
For our Army to survive at full fighting strength and morale it would have to consume so many "Bread" and "Gold". Gold might be bought at towns for "Gold". An area of land might yield so much "Forage" to feed the cavalry for so may strategic turns dependant on type as well.
Likewise, goods might be brought from distant locations by Barges or Carts, each of which could carry so much Bread or Wood or even Gold to pay the Army with.
The beseiged would have a stockpile of Wood, Bread and Gold and would draw upon then to supply the garrison and repair the defences.
You could attempt to spin out the Food supply by going to half rations with the concomitant reductions in morale and Build effectiveness and a rise in the rate of Desertion. A fortresses Horses might also be converted into "Bread" but a Butchers might need building.
Any thoughts on this model?

Quiet week

I've not been doing too much this week, just pottering about finishing the Cuirassier du Roi Officer, doing bits of the troopers. I polished off five new recruits to la Reine, so that regiment is now 17 strong. Fouquet's is now up to 19 figures, which seems like the current establishment for my cavalry; Colonel, trumpeter, standard-bearer and two squadrons each of 7 troopers and an Officer.

For a change of pace I painted up an English officer of the 51st and a Hanoverian Jaeger, both as per my Blanford "Uniforms of the Seven Year's War". The rest of the 51st will follow with the French Lights as part of the same batch.

I've gotten my hands on a copy of Duffy's "Instrument of War". Odd book, poorly proof-read, witha strange format and choice of illustrations. It's almost a coffee-table book, handsomely bound with an annoying two-column layout that makes it a bit of a chore to read, especially as it's not a size you could easily manage sitting on the train or up in bed. The maps are oddly inadequate and difficult to make out and there are NO colour illustrations which considering the format, would have been a natural inclusion.

Oddlu too the text is a grab bag, a compendium of facts that seems to lack a narrative. The Seven Years War is the main focus, but little enough is done to put the Army of Maria Theresa in a broader context that I can see so far. How has the Infantry developed since the WAS? What shortcomings were addressed by the reglement of 1752..? One interesting part was a discussion in detail of the organisation of the military academy, but again this is a lost opportunity as there is no discussion of it's contribution to the course of the 7YW which IS the focus of the book, temporally. If it had no efect on the KuK Army of the time why talk about it?

When you compare this to Kennets much more compact history of the French Army of the period or Duffy's own on the Army of Frederic the Great, I am left with the feeling that this is an inferior work.

Oops, here's some controversy...

The Cavalry Brigade

Here you have my brigade of cavalry. Leading from the left are a troop of the Gendarmerie followed by the Fouquet Regiment. Behind them (and very unhapy about it indeed) are the troopers of the La Reine Regiment who at least can relish the idea that the Turpin Hussars are eating their dust as they bring up the rear.

Looking through various boxes and bags I have scrounged up another few cavalry to take Fouquet up to 19 figures, La Reine up to 16 figures and Turpin's up to 14. In the case of the hussars, the five castings I found had already been part-painted, so they won't take too long to paint up. I think they plust the half-done Cuirassiers du Roi might be done by Monday.

I really need to paint an officer and an ADC as a Brigadier for this brigade.

Completed: The Regiment Fouquet

Anyone have even the remotest idea as to what flag I should give them?

Some finished Cavalry

Here are a couple of picture of some of the finished Cavalry I got through last night. Another five remain needing their horses finished. I've never gotten though a whole regiment in a week before and admit to a glow of acheivement!

I am quite inspired to do the cuirassiers now. Especially considering I have now found a total of four fully-painted RSM horses that were lurking on my painting table to sit them on.

A couple more Seige Warfare thoughts.

*Mining. I just had the thought as I was cycling home from work this evening that one way to randomise mining in a game where you couldn't find an umpire would be to establish the line of approach you wanted to take at the start of a strategic turn then roll a scatter die and prodeed in that direction. Perhaps that's a little extreme. Perhaps instead you could lay a right angled template at the mine-head, with each of the arms of the 'L' diverging at 45 degrees. Roll a D6. 1-2 takes you down the left-hand path, 3-4 takes you in the desired direction and a 5-6 takes you down the right-hand path.

Mines will only move at the slowest sapping rate. Only one working party may be working at a mine and this needs to be under the supervision of an Officer of the Engineers.

*Sapping. Every sap must at it's base line at the first parallel be either 18" from an adjacent sap or 6" from either the end of the parallel or an adjacent redoubt. Ths space is assumed to be where troops might assemble or stores might be kept.

Every strategic turn you lay a certain number of lengths of sap. As you get closer to the fortress, the length of each sap you can lay down gets shorter. Each new length of sap must proceed at a 90 degree angle to that which preceedes it. Perhaps in the range band of 72-48" you could sap forward at the rate of 12" per strategic turn; for that of 48-12" you could only proceed at 8" per turn and; in the final 12-0" (0" being the very top of the glacis) perhaps as little as 4" every strategic turn.

*Parallels. Could always be built at the rate of 12" per eight figure working party, with every three working parties needing to be under the supervision of an Officer of Engineers. As do saps, parallels give cover to beseiging troops.

*Engineering. The eight man working party is the basic engineering unit. One of these may throw a length of sap if supervised by an engineering officer. One may also throw up either a battery position or redoubt in two strategic moves if so supervised. Two may throw up a battery position or a redoubt in one move if supervised by two officers. One officer can supervise three working parties at the construction of 36" of parallel because this is relatively less demanding work.

Example: The first parallel has been determined to of necessity be 72" wide. The stern general directs that this must be completed in one strategic move. It will have a redoubt at either extremity. Thus he will devote ten working parties to the task under the supervision of six Engineering Officers. It can theoretically support as many as four saps.

Progress shot

Still a fair way to go, but you can see where we're going with these...

Progress for tonight

The CAvalry are getting there.

The mounts are nearly all done. Hats, hair &c are done. Swords are done.

The riders just need their lace painting and they'll all be there too barring the tidying up.

It's looking pretty imposing; an eighteen figure regiment of Horse and d as such the largest I own.

It's certainly making me want to upgrade the size of my others. The La Reine Regiment would be the easiest to do, being already at a dozen figures.

Another thing, I just found about a half dozen sample Cuirassiers in tricornes who would be perfect for a Squadron of the Cuirassiers du Roi, c.1740-47. That will be the next job - and I already have a couple of horses painted.

Cavalry Progress

I got all the re-blacking of hair, hats and boots done last night.

I also painted the little white wigs they all sport - all my C18th troops have their hair powdered, I know, not entirely correct, but there you go...

The horses are coming along nicely. I have nine of them painted sufficiently that I was able to glue their riders on this morning. I'm doing more tonight and highlighting those which are finished as well. Might be a good moment to to the swords and start gluing them into the little hands, too.

That nameless Cavalry Regiment

OK. I did all the red bits that needed going over a second time just before I left for work this morning, so that's off the list.

Next, I need to give the regiment a name. So far it's a gris-blanc coat, lined gris-blanc. Red facings, housings and shabraque. I've not yet laced the hats nor painted the lacing on the horse furniture.

So here we have it gentlemen (and ladies) here is YOUR chance to interact with the hobby. Provided the regiment existed between 1740 and 1750, you get to pick it within the constraints mentioned above. Nominations will be open for the next two days. Get your kicks in now!

New Cavalry Regiment

The new Cavalry Regiment continues apace with all black-lining, buff small-clothes and gauntlets and faces done. The troopers are starting to get a finished look to them.

Tonight I'll be re-blacking the boots and hats, painting the hair and hat-lace and doing the facial highlights. I also need to give some of the red areas a second coat where I can still see too much of the Undercoat showing through.

I'll get a start on the horses tomorrow.

Sample HE Cavalry all completed

Well, here they are then. Click on this image too get a larger version.

I think that overall I like them quite a lot and will soon be putting in an order large enough to finish the regiment off. They paint quickly and painlessly. I got these done in three days of evenings, not really batch-painting, just going two or three at a time.

You'll notice that the flag is blank. I left it that way because when I started painting them i had (and have) no idea what the Carabiniers standards looked like. Time to put in some research...

New Toys

With the internerd still being down at home, here I am puting together a post at work...

More RSM goodies arrived in the mail last night so I'm now putting together a French Heavy Cavalry regiment. It's pretty generic at the moment. Coat and lining are gris-blanc; facings and housings are red.

Just for once I've decided to go from a black undercoat. It'll sace me some time painting boots, hair and tricornes. I have always liked the fact that with black undercoating you have less miniature to paint. I'm also dry-brushing the coats which turns out to have been a BIG time-saver. I'll paint on a little pure white here and there to tidy up and to put in some of the most prominent highlights. Some black-lining also serves to clean things up later in the painting process.

Faces and buff small-clothes tonight. I'm aiming to see how quickly I can get the eighteen figures of this unit painted. I'll need more to flesh it out to twenty-eight to twenty-nine for the Grant/Young-Lawford worlds.

I also got my French infantry in the "Advancing" pose, so work can commence on my light corps soon, too.

Seige rules - some considerations.

In the past two years I have read about a half dozen sets of seige rules. I've read Christopher Duffy's "Fire and Stone". I've read the Osprey "Fortress" on Vauban fortification (rather derivative text, brilliant colour illustrations). I've even read the article in the 1983 Military Modelling annual on this same subject. Naturally I now consider myself to be an expert.

On the basis of this deep research a few points seem salient.

*There will be two time-scales operating - strategic and tactical. The tactical move might be declared at either the end of the strategic move and needs to be enacted on the table. The strategic move might be defined as "as long as it takes to do 'x'" - with 'x' being something like opening a parallel, or building a redoubt, or driving a sap forward or building a certain number of gabions.
*Per strategic move each player ought to be able to expend a certain number of "build points" to construct or repair works. This number ought to be based on the number of available troops. There ought never be quite enough of these "build points". Perhaps it might be better to call them engineering points. Some of your regiments will NEVER condescend to do manual labour - Maison du Roi anyone?
*On the strategic scale of things, a battery of seige guns ought to have a certain "batter" value equivalent to the number of guns. Per strategic move this ought to be subtracted from a target's build point total and modified further by the build points a defender is prepared to expend maintining the works.
*Parallels should be opened in one movement virtually by the whole army and ought to each take about a night to provide the necessary protection.
*Ricochet batteries. Their task is to demolish the traverses within the covered way. once their points value is reduced to zero, the covered way is untenable and troops in this sector must withdraw to the ravelin or bastion behind.
*Sapping forward. As you sap more closely to the fortress your trenches should become shorter and possibly more acutely angled - ie, progress should be slower as you progress. Perhaps they should cost more build points?
*Mining. Best not done without an umpire. Still, strategic move by strategic move attacker and defender could cut their mines and counter-mines with both sides making their listen rolls (sounds like CoC!) and the umpire ruling that the mine was detected. The map moves made by attacker and defender could be marked on the umpires master map. Intersecting tunnells would trigger a tactical move of underground combat. Mines would produce a zone of destruction relative to the charge placed therein. The amount of powder placed in the mine needs to be limited. Building tunnels costs build points per inch driven. A fortress ought to start the game with a number of listening galeries already built.

I see seiges as being campaigns in their own right. As such, the only real question is how complicated do you want to get? I think supply rules would have a place in determining the limits on the beseiger in terms of what resources they can bring to bear.

More as I think it up...

Staddens - ooooh.

I was mucking about in the cupboard last night and happened to stumble across a dozen Stadden British infantry that I'd bought as samples a few years ago and never got around to painting.

Wow, was I impressed! These are just the acme of 30mm toy soldiers. Such finely-engraved detail I've never seen. Pricey, too at a pound and 5p a go.

To me they look like they might do better for the 1740s rather than the Seven Years' War. I'll get some photos done tonight and see if I can match the codes up to their descriptions.

I also found a "Willie" Cumberland, too. I'd love to get my hands on their Fred the Great figure to complete the "set" - I have a Soubise somewhere.

More HE shots for Bill

Some shots showing front, rear and "the other side" views.

Painted HE Cavalry

I finally got around to finishing off few of the HE cavalry. They are painted more-or-less as Carabiniers. Just another 50 or so to go and I can think of rivalling Bill P's own monster unit.

I think they have painted up quite nicely, although I'm cringing a bit as this rather zoomed-in shot shows up EVERY SINGLE mistake I made while painting them..!

This being said, I do like them and will be buying more. I've also gone and bought samples of most of the HE Infantry - everything barring the pikemen basically, so stay tuned for more on the HE range. Oh, and I also bought a trio of the splendid-looking Spencer Smith artillery - I feel they'll make excellent train of siege artillery. I'm starting to think I may have to buy a unit of the Infantry - perhaps 48 privates and five officers might be a good place to start. Any Tips on what codes you'd recommend Henry?

Enough of me; on to the eye candy. I love that Colonel on the left of the picture.

HE Figures

I was pleased last night on getting home from work to find a sturdily-packed parcel of Holger Ericsson cavalry awaiting me. I'd ordered these from Spencer Smiths in the UK, and once the castings had made it to them from Sweden (a slow boat to be sure) to the UK, they made the trip to Australia very quickly indeed, and kudos to Peter Johnstone for being so on the ball.

So what was in the box?

What you get are very elegant and finely-proportioned figures. They measure about 28mm foot-to-eye and mix well with my RSM Cavalry which you can see from the comparison picture above. Remember that these are a good deal "slimmer" (read better proportioned) than say, Foundry or Old Glory. I'll be buying more of these as well as a regiment of HE Infantry in the very near future.

Be warned that detail is somewhat delicate due to the slenderness of the parts (I fear snapping a sword off!) and the casting a little crude in places due I would say, to the age of the moulds more than anything else; there is some small amount of flash and a little pitting on a couple of figures. For these reasons they may not be for everyone.

Speaking for myself I find them to be dramatically animated - I love the officer looking back over his shoulder as he urges his troopers on. The sculptor has really gooten an excellent sense of movement into these figures which yet retain something of the toy-soldier silhouette.

I would probably base them on larger plasticard bases as their own integral bases are a little slim and irregular in shape and I'd hate to damage the finished figures by having them fall over too often!

I will try to get one painted up tomorrow and post an image so you can make an informed judgement for yourselves.

Price lists and ordering information here: http://www.spencersmithminiatures.co.uk/

Books

I'm currently reading Reed Browning's 1993 "The War of the Austrian Succession" and have just seen the French capture Prague.

Poor old Austria ia at the absolute nadir of it's fortunes.

Still, I suppose the only way is up!

It's quite a readable book that seems to cover it's subject very well. It's refreshingly free of an Anglo-centrist point of view which is a nice change of pace from a lot of the history of the era I read (considering that English is the only language I read with any fluency, I suppose that's to be expected!).

A few more Fortress thoughts

I've enjoyed this project very much. So much so that I'm starting to cast about for another, and I'm thinking of doing a 30 Years War/ECW "Star Fort" - that is to say, a four-bastioned detatched work like the "Queen's Sconce" just outside Newark, Nottinghamshire.

I've an old Ian Weekly article from Military Modelling on building it, and it fooks pretty do-able.

Fortress with Glacis

Fortress Progress Report

As you can see I have started work on the glacis and another ravelin.

The basic shape of the glacis seems about right; I'm fairly happy about how the pieces all fit together. Next stop will be to laminate card to the back and bottom of each piece before I carve the actual slops for each piece. The card will give me a hard couple of edges to run the hot wire cutter down.

Tomorrow night will see me cutting out the third ravelin preparatory to me starting to clad the two new ones in card.

I'm thinking of painting the whole glacis in something like Goblin Green (TM) paint with a couple of handsful of texture mixed into it. Following a suggestion from the OSW group (was that you Henry?) I'll probably go to my paint shop and ask them to mix me up a four-litre lot based on my own DIY colour chip. This ought to be a reasonable colour match for the poster-card I am using for the Blasthof terrain - the hill needs to be re-painted. It's too dark at the moment.

Any questions?

Reorganisation of the Duchy

Reorganisation? Or more possibly a clarification.

Let me make it clear to all who may ever have wondered that the Duchy of Alzheim is indeed a minor European state somewhere to the east of France, somewhere to the west of Saxony and somewhere to the south-west of Prussia.

It may or may not have a sea-coast.

It is a land of quite various geography, with lands both high and low, with mountains and plains. It may well have a sea-coast. It may well.

It certainly has a long history; it is well known that Alexander the Great while on a drunken carouse with a handsome young cavalryman got lost on the way to his tent and accidentally laid waste to three villages of the local celtic peoples, the Alzheimii before founding an Alexandria upon the remains thereof and settling a number of disabled veterans thereupon.

The following history was one of annexation to the Roman Empire, invasion by numerous Germanic tribes and a long, dimly-understood Dark Age under the rule of the Riders of Alzheim who carried on their wars with an unspeakable people who arose from no-where with the alliance of a great Prince who was rumoured to have strange powers of prophecy.

With the ascencion of their King, Alzheim became briefly a Kingdom attached to Lotharingia and then reverted to a more lowly status under the suzeranity of the Holy Roman Empire.

The wars of religion were unkind to Alzheim, who saw much ruin visited upon them by a mercenary who called himself "the Kreighund". The start of the Eighteenth Century was marked by Alzheims' ruling House unwisely allying with France (contrary to the interest of Austria) and thus suffering to have the armies of her greater neighbours marched all over her.

This fate is one which Alzheim seeks to avoid repeating if possible and to this end has imported a number of Hessian and Saxon Officers to the end of improving the state of her defences. Politically at present, Alzheim leans toward a defensive alliance with Saxony.

This may be of interest to Hesse-Seewaldt.

Templates

Gentlemen, the templates you see are from the top of this article, Ravelin bottom; Ravelin top; bastion bottom and; bastion top respectively.

Click on them to see the full-size, printable versions. Make sure that when you print them that the scale I have drawn on them comes out to 30mm long. If not, then right-click on the full-size version and save them to re-size them as you desire...

As you may be able to make out, they have all been folsed in half at some time to determinte their centre line. Superimpose one over the other with the rear edges directly above each other on your polystyrene slabs. Your templates will then be perfectly aligned.

Any questions, please drop me a line.

I want to see your pictures of your own fortresses, Gentlemen.

Wall templates will follow in a few days.

Fortress Templates

I have uploaded templates for Bastions and Ravelins for my fortress to the Old School Wargames Yahoogroup. If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Wall templates to follow.