Experiments with Flats

I've recently been playing around with an idea for a war game inspired by Harry Pearson's article in MW after the change in management.

As you can see, I've been trawling about on German eBay for flats.

I'm not getting too hung up on figure ratios and all that sort of thing. As far as I am concerned, one stand is a squadron, battalion or battery. To my eye about four cavalry look good, as do a dozen infantry or a single gun.

Things are not too far along at the moment; I'm really just playing around with the aesthetics of the thing. That said, I envisage using mini dice to record combat attrition. I also envision using written orders that may be deviated from through the expenditure of initiative tokens. Different armies might have different numbers of them to expend per turn. I would expect the Prussians to have more than the Austrians who, in their turn might have more than the French.

Any feedback would be highly valued.

Valiant Miniatures Fallschirmjager

 I have a deal with my nephew.

I give him figures. He assembles them. I paint them and hand them back.

Here's the latest batch. Rather enjoyable to paint in the old wash and line technique. But I should have painted their chin-straps... And I wish they had more riflemen options and replaced at least some of the MG42s with MG34s

A Diversion

Due to some home renovations severely impacting my available hobby space (!) I've consequently downsized my hobby efforts. This state of affairs ought to last until about Christmas.

So, then, i needed something o occupy my hands and mind but which needed to be quite self-contained. I have had a small collection of 54mm knights from the first "Knights of Agincourt" Britains range that have been nicely recast by Dorset Soldiers. These are pretty suitable for painting one at a time out of my small painting tray.

So, of I went and here's the first fruit. Sir John Chandos.

A Glorious Cavacade (and a small Cannonade)

 Not all has been connoisseur toy-soldier nobbling and John Garrett reading, oh no, no, no! Here in the Duchy of Alzheim, we believe in the virtues of hard work, buckling down to it and of course, getting on with things. So, in that vein, a small reveal of the fruits of my various labors.

Starting with the freshly-mounted CR#5, you may note that I have splashed out and bought the riders in from another painter with some money I was fortunate to receive for my birthday back in March. Well done Rich from DPC. I am well pleased with his tiny troopers as they sit astride my own horses. I have no fears they will not fight for me as those I myself have painted. My own generalship is far more likely to let me down.

My current butterflies have led me to the 7YW for the now, and thus I am inspired to get on with my Prussian Cavalry arm. Here (along with the Cuirassiers) we have the current state of affairs. HR#1 and HR#5 both provisionally complete but for a single wretched casting I was short for each. Nonetheless, close enough for now.

 The artillery has long needed limbers and so I have cranked a couple of out. I am just painting up another team or two to draw them as we speak (so to say) and am waiting on the first wash to dry before i paint their manes and harness.

 They do look the part, do they not?

What's next? hard to say. I have a regiment of dragoons who need a bit of a spruce-up before I will be happy t add them to the order of battle and a further half unit of von Kleists dragoons likewise in need of a little tidy up and a small reinforcement. That will bring me to two each of dragoons and Hussars and a single unit of Cuirassiers. I guess one more of Cuirassiers is in order and we might be about done for the Prussians. Although...

Alec Harrison

 I sometimes think that with two large 18th Century armies, a large Colonial army, various WW2 forces, quite large Ancient armies and so on and so forth if my days of building huge forces of 7-800 figures a side might be drawing to a close. Obviously this is nonsense, but if it were ever to happen (and there is yet time, I am but a mere lad of 47 years) then this is one diversion for my declining years.

 I was leafing through my old magazines over the weekend. What better way is there to pass the time these bitter cold winter nights, I ask you? Anyway, in between glasses of Shiraz, I came across these articles featuring the work of one Mr Alec Harrison of the BMSS in the March 1988 issue of Military Modelling and the inestimable Practical Wargamer of January/February 1994

His work is utterly charming in my eyes and has the advantages of using 30mm Willie figures, all converted to one degree or another yet retaining that certain poise of the originals. It has been a fun process trying to work out the original figures and I am tempted to say that much that may have been in the original catalogue may not now be there. I am lookng especially at the Gensdarmes above, although they have since turned up again as remastered figures in the Tradition Catalogue. The wheel turns again.

I would like to try my hand at this kind of thing at some time in the no too distant future. I just need to lay in a stock of lead foil and learn how to solder.

Omdurman 1898, a Sticky Situation

 Cor, what a pickle.

Willie Lancers with Perry Plastics.

A Few of my Favorite Things

Minots

 Over the past couple of years I have been building what I would describe as a collection of figures rather than a complete war-gaming army. Every now and then I come across small collections of quite well-painted vintage figures by Stadden, Willie or Minot. Painted or unpainted they may be and I try to snap them up; sometimes in the face of fairly stiff opposition!

Staddens

 I am very keen to leave them as much as possible in their original conditon if they are painted.

 They all seem to mix in quite well. A happy coincidence.

Willies

Staddens

 Sometimes they are quite familiar subjects like these staff officers.

 And sometimes they are not like this Minot(?) Emperor at his work.

 They also work well together.

 Some are not quite so felicitous, but what the hey.

Unpainted ones I am happy to paint at my no pace. As I have no goals for this collection I am quite happy to potter about, take the Funckens and my Blandfords as references and simply enjoy the work of the master craftsmen who made these delightful miniatures.

Remember Majuba or; Up the Chamla with Old Buller

African or Indian?

He was beloved by his troops, reviled by Leo Amery as symbolizing everything that was wrong with the British Amy at the time and somewhat rehabilitated by Thomas Pakenham as the man who perhaps first taught the Army how to fight a modern war. This rendition of Redvers Buller VC is of course a simple conversion with paint of the Willie "von Bismarck" from their Franco-Prussian War range.

Some more Willies ready to give Johnny Pathan one up the Chamla. not too sure as to whether they may join the "Littler Britons" collection or my broader colonial forces. They were at least an entertaining challenge to paint.

Test Game

Well, I managed a small test of the rules this evening. I laid out three units of foot, one of horse and a gun per side, wavered and added another unit of foot to one army. And made it a guards unit. In for a penny, in for a pound.

The scenario involved an attack on a village. The weaker side was defending with two units and a gun lining a wall at the perimeter with the third staggered back a move outside to the flank but still in communication with the garrison. The cavalry were staggered further back again. The attackers came on, three units of foot abreast, the fourth tucked behind that on the right flank. Their cavalry faced that of the enemy although neither side really wanted to plunge in.

The attackers declared a charge after two moves of steady advance. Steady artillery fire had removed a pip from one of the enemy units in the village and it was this that the Guards (who were also a little depleted in their pip store) attacked, driving it back from the wall and electing to follow up with another round of melee which drove  their opponents from the field. Their comrades had likewise been driven back, but had manfully rallied and cast their own opponents back out of the village.

The remaining units continued their advance until within musketry range, their generals joining them in order to prepare to bolster their pip store. One General lost a pip when his unit was fired on. The attackers had their fourth unit in close attendance on that which was to the fore should it need to fall back.

So, three moves played out in thirty minutes on the living room floor. Lessons learned? I think the defender ought to have a cover bonus when being fired on. Can't believe I missed it, really! Also, I think a defender ought to be able to shoot as a charge reaction. Evading as a charge reaction? I don't think so.

The rules seemed to work fairly well. I like the shooting rules, simple and fast moving. The melee was rather fun with some real ebb and flow. The Guards were tough, but now overwhelmingly so. I'd like to try a larger game with say six units of infantry per side to check the command and FBIGO rules.

So far so good.

ALSO - I thought it might be a good idea to put a copy of the rules on their own page. I'll just update that so the most current version is permanently up there.

The Age of Linear Warfare

I've been tinkering a little with a set of convention rules. The basic idea is to get out either the Prince August and Meisterzinn moulds and get casting.

Any comments would be welcome:

The Age of Linear Warfare

Notes

*Equipment: A 48” baton marked in 4” increments. A number of six-sided dice for the adjudication of combat; a number of six sided mini-dice equal to the number of units on the table and; one extra token to mark the extra pip Guards units may have.

*Units, be they Foot or Horse, have an 8” frontage. Figures are mounted on two 4” wide wood strips. As many figures as are regarded as aesthetically pleasing may be used.

*Every unit gets a number of pips (generally six). When this store of pips has been exhausted, the unit is considered destroyed.

Move

*Line Infantry 8”

*Light Infantry and Line Cavalry 12”

*Artillery 8”

Any unit may expend a pip to gain a double move to charge. Charges must be declared at the start of the turn.

Shoot

*Infantry – I die per stand. Range 8”.

Cavalry do not shoot.

*Artillery – 4 8” bands: Band 1 – 5 dice, Band 2 – 3 dice, Band3 – 2 dice, Band 4 – 1 die.

Procedure: roll dice and pray for 4+. Every Hit thus obtained removes one ‘pip’ from the defender’s store.

Melee

*Melee is adjudicated with a simple opposed dice roll with modifiers as follows: +1 if Guards, defending a linear obstacle, charging unto melee or if the pip difference between the attacker and defender is two or more "pips".
*Loss of the Melee results in a one-move push-back for the loser and  the loss of one 'pip'. The victor may elect to follow up with another round of Melee with a +1 advantage on the dice roll. A subsequent second will result in the losing unit being destroyed regardless of remaining 'pips'. Draws result in a mutual push-back of a full move.

Morale

*Units down to the last pip may perform no offensive action.

*When half the army has been destroyed, the remainder must withdraw.

*A unit may choose to Fall Back In Good Order. It retires a full move during the next move Phase. Thenceforth, it may recover one pip per turn in which it may perform no other actions.

*Guards units may have an extra “seventh” pip. Light Infantry have four pips only.

*Generals. Have two pips. They are not affected by morale rules. On joining a unit, they will recover a pip for that unit. Any unit attacked whilst with a General attached must flip a coin to see which of them bears any pip loss.

EDIT - Melee Rules updated. 
EDIT #2 - Melee rules updated again.

Down t'pit

Just digging through the lead pile at the moment, and just as I send the boy down the mineshaft to see what he might pull out next, my eye alights on these:

I think the mounted officer is from the mountain gun set

Hmmm. Willies. All dressed up for the Boer War. Or the Sudan. Or even rather usefully on the North Western Frontier.

The Conoisseur gun looks good with them, and I think the boy has come back, all smirched with dust and dead daddy-longlegs with...

Nineteen of the 21st Lancers, a mule-borne mountain gun (5 mules, assorted gun bits, 5 muleteers, four gunners and an NCO - one question though, are the long strips depending from their hands casting vents or walking sticks?), assorted British and Highlander infantry and enough Ghurkas to bring a tear to the old man's eye. And look, there are the sample Pathans, Boers and Zulus I ordered at the same time. And the extra Bismark I wanted to paint as General Buller.

Imagine me in khaki

Oh dear, whatever shall I paint next?

IR#40

 Well, it would seem to be a case of another week, another regiment. In this case it's they Kreytzen Fusiliers. Still waiting on flags, so the standard-bearers are not in the shot.

I'm told this was a fairly undistinguished regiment, although did see it's fair share of action in the Seven Years War. Yes, I did paint them for the fairly unique pink small-clothes. The white gaiters are a piece of semi-artistic license as I felt that black would suck a lot of the life out of the pink.

That might do me for the immediate future as I seem now to have enough Prussian infantry to be getting on with. I've also painted my way out from under my pile of RSM Prussian infantry, as well. I'll be moving onto renovating and fleshing out three or four regiments of cavalry that I have knocking about here and the it'll be time to get on with some games.

Although, as Chris said in a recent comment, I might do a few bits and bobs just for the fun of it. I have a couple of dozen von Kleist grenzers that need basing up and then too I'd love a couple of Jaeger detachments to round things out. Oops, then there are some limbers that need painting as well.

Plenty to do.

How Large an Army?

I am currently painting my seventh unit of RSM Prussians and in the process have just about painted myself to the bottom of my Prussian Infantry silo. Don't get too excited. There are plenty of other silos.
That being said, I laid out the first six of these 36-figure units last weekend and thought, phew, chappie, these do take up a goodly bit of the table-top, watteau?
Now, I've a French army that with a bit of stretching could easily come up to - shall we say - 10 units if infantry and 6-8 units of cavalry of thirty-six and a dozen figures respectively. I can't imagine that you could really get many more figures on a table without it collapsing under the strain and the combined weight of figures acheiving some kind of critical mass and forming a singularity. If I were to hive off some of the grenadier stands I could probably come up with a few more units as well. Likewise the Prussians. They could easily be made up to nine units of infantry if we combined the grenadier companies from the existing units and settled on 30 figure units of foot. I've three units of Horse in varius states of repair and enough bits and bobs to flesh them out.
It may be that I am at the point now of having workable armies for most occasions. The end may be in sight.
Now what do I do?

Built Up Areas

 Change is slow to come to the Duchy of Alzheim. Still after many years of contemplation, I have finally started making the change over to using 15mm scaled buildings.

 The buildings are resin Medieval types by Hovels and not the Franklin Mint, although you might be forgiven for thinking otherwise.  They are nice buildings, decently priced and very easy to paint. I could have gone for their "European" range, but they speak to me a little too much of Belgium when I am looking for an effect more reminiscent of Bohemia and Silesia.

 I hope this picture shows what I am doing. I've taken a leaf from Keith Flint's book and standardised my town sizes. The square of felt is 12" to a side and roughly equivalent to my unit frontage. This is the smallest town size. More can be grouped together to form larger conurbations.

 A battalion/regiment/unit can defend two sides of the area. These buildings represent light cover. They are not proof against artillery fire. Only the entrenched position shown below is.

 The village below is garrisoned appropriately enough by Garrison Regiment #2. It's still awaiting its flags and standard-bearers, but is close enough to being finished to be worth photographing.

Painting, painting, painting

As you do.

 First off, I scraped up every last RSM Prussian I could find to put together most of IR#1. Six figures (as you may recall) need to be sourced. Althouh it may not be too clear from this picture, I've decided to use the AWI marching British Officer as the standard bearer as the RSM "Cadets" just don't do it for me. The Colonel is just about ready for paint, so expect to see him soonish.

 I also scrounged up this heavy HE piece and four-horse limber. I like this gun and it will make a fine 12-pounder for my Prussians. The Limber is quite nice and the horses look fine from what I can see on the Spencer Smith website. I'll be remaining strong however!

I'm currently about 40 percent through another Prussian unit. They are shaping up to become either Garrison Regiment #2 or the du Verger Freikorps battalion. Both have quite similar uniforms and are being painted up from the RSM Russian casting which, while not perfect, is all there is available from the range to really represent these canaille.

After they are finished and providing I still have the strength to go on, I'll turn my energies to another unit of Prussian Fusiliers, possibly either FR#40 or FR#52, although the former will require a small conversion-with-paint with regard to the lapels of the figure.

I've bough some of "Body's Banners" from the Redoubt web-store to flag and even re-flag my Prussian infantry. I'm dying to see how they look in the flesh.

Don't you hate it when...

... you've just finished painting the first 30 figures of a 36-figure unit of RSM Prussian infantry (in the marching pose), then you reach for the little plastic bin they live in only to find that you're actually now  completely out.

And you've pledged not to buy any more lead until the end of the year.

It's taken a while, but...

... I've finally started getting around to basing up my artillery.

I'm considerably under the influence of Keith Flint's proposed games rules at this point in time and as you've guessed am moving smartly away from singly-basing everything.

I've made a start on some of my French guns and limbers.

These are a couple of middle-weight guns, something like 8 pounders. Guns, teams and limbers by RSM.

This is a heavier piece. Pretty sure it's a Holger Ericsson design. The limber an team are once again by RSM, as is the driver. I think the latter is one of the best mounted figures I've ever seen, with lovely, natural posing; a real credit to the sculptor, Steve Hezzlewood.

Next up, I'll start on my Prussian Artillery.

IR #48 Erbprinz von Hessen-Cassel

More RSM Prussians

I'm going to take a week off painting RSM minis as I was given by madame and the kids a couple of packs of the re-engineered Tradition "Willie" Gardes Francaises for my birthday last Sunday. They look rather nice and will go well with the couple of the older Suren officers I painted up a few years back.

As to the Prussians, I have four units of Foot and three of Horse with another three units worth of foot on the blocks in the form of unpainted castings and another of Horse to be getting on with. After them, I'd rather like to do one more of foot and horse each. The former preferably as one of the Grenadier Battalions of IR 15. I mean, if you can't paint the Garde, then what's the point of toy soldiers then, eh? That ought to get the Prussiand up to a state where they can reliably match it against my French armies - eight battalions and seven squadrons once everything is all based up.

From Kronoskaf:

This Fusilier Regiment was created on July 28 1755 from Garrison Regiment XIII stationed at Minden, which had been raised in 1743, and from Wied Fusiliers. Furthermore, Dossow Fusiliers, Jungkenn Müntzer Fusiliers and Garrison Regiment IX contributed another 360 men. The new regiment also received the "old" uniforms of Wied Fusiliers. The regiment had no district to levy its troops and had to rely on recruitment.
In August 1755, the new fusilier regiment was transferred to Wesel where it replaced Wied Fusiliers while the latter took post at Minden. On May 31 1756, the Hereditary Prince Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel took command of the new regiment.
During the Seven Years' War, the regiment was under the command of:

• since May 31 1756: Friedrich Erbprinz von Hessen-Cassel
• from January 8 1757 to April 28 1763: Friedrich Wilhelm von Salmuth (aka Behringer)

The fruit of the past week and a halfs' painting time

Service Record
In 1756, the regiment garrisoned Wesel.
In 1757, the regiment formed part of the Prussian contingent which joined the Allied Army. On March 24, the regiment marched to Bielefeld. In mid June, it took part in a minor engagement against the French near Bielefeld. The Allied Army vainly tried to prevent the French invasion of Hanover. The regiment then retreated towards Magdeburg.
In 1758, the regiment initially served in Saxony under Prince Henry. During the Autumn, it joined Wedell in his campaign in Pomerania against the Swedes. However, the regiment was soon recalled to Saxony to defend Dresden.
In 1759, the regiment began the campaign with Prince Henri in Saxony. On May 23, it took part in an engagement against Austrian light troops at Aue. On August 6, during the Austro-Imperial invasion of Saxony, the first battalion capitulated at Leipzig but was allowed to retire freely. On August 20, part of the regiment was part of the garrison of Wittenberg who surrendered and retired to Potsdam. The second battalion took part in the defence of Dresden which surrendered on September 4. The defender were allowed to retire freely from the town and the second battalion joined Finck's Corps. Meanwhile, on September 8, the 1st battalion of the regiment took part in the Combat of Zinna where it was deployed on the left wing. It was at the recapture of Torgau.
In July 1760, the regiment took part in the unsuccessful attempt to recapture of Dresden. On August 20, it fought at the Combat of Strehla before retiring towards Torgau.
In 1761, the regiment served on the Mulde under Prince Henri.
In 1762, the regiment served in southern Saxony. On October 15, Syburg detached the regiment to get hold of the heights of Erbisdorf before Campitelli but it was surrounded and captured as soon as it debouched from the village.
N.B.: The grenadier company, which originated from the Garrison Regiment XIII, never joined the regiment and kept its former uniform until 1776. This company was converged with grenadiers from Dossow Fusiliers (2 coys) and Garrison Regiment IX (1 coy) to form the Nr. II. "Standing" Grenadier Battalion 

Done - IR Nr5

I polished off the last little steps of this project this morning - green bases and a good coating of gloss varnish.

I'm pretty satisfied with the look of the regiment so far and will now noodle away at a few grenadiers for them then finally some command in the shape of a few standards, some drummers and a colonel.

I think I spied some fusilieers in the pile, so perhaps they may be next.

Sessions Five and Six

Again a poor photo for which I apologise.

Sessions five and six saw all the black bits painted - hats, cartridge boxes and gaiters. A little toucching up was done on the white cross belts.

I like a nice cross-belt, I do.

Then some black-brown for the muskets, , then some yellow-white-red for the pom-poms, more red for the neck-stocks. metallics on (sword-hilt, cardtridge box plate and mustket battel and bayonette and we were pretty well done. I'll do the bases in green tonight and then gloss the living daylights out of them before sitting back and waiting for my next batch of Renedra 45*40mm placcy bases. Lovely.

The eagle-eyed among you will note that I have made a belayted start on the Regiment's grenadiers. Well done you! A day or do more and I'll have them done along with the command types ans we'll have them done by my birthday this Sunday.

A very satisfactory state of affairs.

Now, on a completely unrelated note, I was reading Charge! on the bus yesterday morning as I made my liesurely way to work and noted the following passage quoted by Young and Lawford from one Captain Nolan:

"In the retreat of our army from Burgos (in the Peninsular War) three squadrons of French chasseurs charged some squadrons of our rearguard; one of these advanced to meet them; both lines pulled up and stood fast, until one Frenchman made a cut at the man opposite him, upon which both lines instantly plunged forward and engaged; the Colonel of the chasseurs was killed, most of his officers wounded and the French were driven back with heavy loss."

It is interesting how like accounts of tribal warfare this sounds. How tentative the confrontation is to begin with.

How unlikely it is that masses of horsemen will go crashing into each other.