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| British Light 12-pounder at Fort Ligonier, Pennsylvania |
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| Ammo wagon at Fort Ligonier |
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| 4-wheel wagon |
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| Conestoga Wagon |
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| British 6-pounders with limbers at Fort Ligonier. |
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| Barrel detail on a British 8-inch mortar at Fort Ligonier |
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More British SYW Artillery Equipment at Fort Ligonier
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Peninsula War Game Tomorrow
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| 83rd Regiment of Foot - Elite Miniatures and GMB Flags. Buildings by Herb Gundt and backdrop from Pico. |
I finally get to play in a game for the first time since I don't know when tomorrow as I travel north to Chez Protz to resume the 1809 Campaign in Portugal. The antagonists include the British army of Major General William Justinian Pettygree and the invading French army of Marshal Soult, the Duke of Damnation himself. Click the blog link below to catch up on the back story:
Campaigns in Germania
I hope to have plenty of pictures to post on this blog by Sunday.
As I understand it, one of our game group, John M., has been busy painting redcoats at a pace that reminds Fritz of the days when he painted 150 28mm figures per month. Nicely done, John M.!
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Some Thoughts on Manners
Manners. You either have them or you do not.
Courage. Like manners, is something that you either have or you do not.
In the early 21st Century, there is a distinct shortage of both manners and courage. You see it in your daily life, maybe in the way that customers treat the waiting staff in restaurants or fast food stores. You see it on the highways of this country, often in the form of one vehicle cutting off another vehicle which in turn, is followed by an exchange of bird flipping by both parties. Taken to the extreme, we call this "road rage". I know of one acquaitance of mine who was actually shot and killed as a result of a road rage episode. For what purpose?
You see people in public shoving food in their faces, speaking loudly on their cell phones, oblivious to the fact that everyone around them can hear every word of their conversation. You hear their music blasting out of their head phones. Hardly anyone opens doors for seniors or women anymore. Fewer still seem to have any idea as to what table manners are. Table manners are a dying art form, sad to say.
Things are worse on-line
The paucity of courage and manners is even greater on the internet. People who lack the courage to say something negative to the object of his/her derision face to face, think nothing about being uncivil or rude to another person since they have the safety of their anonymity of their keyboard and the internet.
You see it often in the comments sections of on-line news sites or political opinion sites (for both the Left and the Right). I can not believe some of the rude, dishonest and untrue things that people will post on the internet. It is particularly rampant on Facebook, where many "friends" seem to delight in posting disparaging "stories" culled from their favorite Liberal or Conservative web sites. Do people really believe that they are going to change other people's minds by posting their personal political propaganda on a Facebook page?
Let me put it to you this way: I've been married to my wife for 15 years and I have yet to convince her, on any point, that my political opinion is correct and hers is, well, incorrect. If I can not change my wife's opinion, what makes me think that I am going to change your opinion by posting some canned political propaganda on Facebook. I think that you, the reader, know the answer to that question.
This is largely why I am staying away from certain wargaming internet forums for awhile, i.e. I am tired of having to deal with the cowards and the ill-mannered in an area of what is supposed to be a hobby for me. A hobby is supposed to bring you some entertainment and relaxation, and not aggrivation.
My friend Stokes S. says it much better than I can, so I have copied his thoughts about manners on many online discussion forums. You can find his thoughts on his new blog: "The Average Guy's Guide To Classic Style".
In many online discussion forums, some of which do not necessarily concern clothing, there are a lot people who view manners and dressing decently as somehow false, stiff, and unnecessary. What a sad state of affairs that is. How can basic polite behavior and consideration for those around us be bad things?
The truth is that there is nothing at all fake about coming across as a nice and agreeable individual, whether at work, at a ball game with friends, or enjoying a glass of lemonade with the family on the back porch. As average guys, let's strive for better standards in our personal interaction with others -- including our behavior at the table -- and the way we dress. It's just the right thing to do.
If we make an effort to remember and practice the things our families hopefully taught us*, good manners and proper decorum will not come across as insincere and forced. They will, instead be what they should. Natural, easy, and comfortable. Like a well worn-in pair of loafers. You don't even have to think about them, but they are there. You wear 'em all the time without a second thought. They're just part of the scenery.
Making a good impression with people -- friends of long standing and new acquaintances both -- is not about tacky and ostentatious displays, obnoxious bragging, or making others feel bad about themselves. Demonstrating a certain level of basic respect for people, occasions, and settings is, however, vital when it comes to leaving a favorable impression with those we meet. Even if you're knocking back a few cold ones at the campsite with your old college buddies after a day of fishing on the lake.
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At the end of the day, I think that it is much easier being nice to people and respectful to others, even if you don't agree with them. It really does not take a lot of effort to be civil and nice.
Or as Abraham Lincoln said in the movie "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure":
"Be excellent to each other."
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Some Thoughts On Deployment Intervals
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| Four French battalions converge on the British garrison at Aveiro. Are they using intervals in their deployment? |
On the French right flank of their army, a division of 4 battalions (72 figures each or 360 figures in total) formed up in a massive column (see the picture above), sending three battalions over the bocage, disordering the battalions, and hurling into the thin red line of British (the 52nd Light Regt, I believe). The French had nearly 216 figures (with 72 figures in support ) to fight with maybe 70 British. Any guesses which side won the melee?
If you guessed the French, then you were wrong. As I understand it, four of the five battalions in the first wave of the attack failed their morale and routed back over the hedges. Eventually, they were able to reform and renew the attack, finally capturing the little village of Aveiro, but at the cost of more than half of their troops.
Now let us take a look at how General de Division Morand deployed his battalions during the opening moments of the Battle of Auerstadt in October 1806. Notice how Morand has deployed his battalions in a sort of checkerboard manner with considerable intervals between each unit so that they have the flexibility to change formation into line, column or square, as the situation required.
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| Morand's Deployment at Auerstadt. From Napoleon's Finest, Davout and His 3rd Corps, Combat Journal of Operations, 1805-1807, Military History Press, 2006, page 66. |
A closer look at the map indicates that the interval between two columns of grand divisions was 250 yards side by side, and 90 yards between the second and third rows of battalions. Furthermore, each battalion formed in column of grand divisions occupied a frontage of 44 yards and a depth of 88 yards (see diagram below). And to top things off, Morand has used the l'ordre mixte by deploying two of his legere battalions in front of the division: the 2/13 Legere on the left is in a serre en colonne formation (close in column) as protection against a likely Prussian cavalry attack, while the 1/13 Legere is deployed to the right in a line formation. Both battalions have deployed their skirmishers to their front and there is a section of two 4-pounders limbered between the two Legere battalions, ready to deploy.
Now my scan of the diagram cut off the right hand side of the page, so let me tell you that after the first line of 13 Legere battalions, Morand has deployed the four battalions of the 51 Regt. de Ligne and the 61e Regt. de Ligne in the second row of the divisional formation. Each regiment of two battalions has a two gun section of artillery deployed between the two battalions.
The third row of battalions (1/17 Line and the 2/30 and 1/30 Line are also deployed in columns of grand divisions with three more 2-gun sections of artillery limbered in support. Every battalion in the division has its skirmishers in front of the parent battalion.
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| Symbol and scale key showing foot print required for a French column of divisions (Colonne a Grand Distance). Diagram is from the same book as the first diagram. |
I am not trying to be critical of the way that the French tabletop commander deployed his battalions or of his decision to rush the town of Averiero with overwhelming force. It made a certain amount of sense from a wargaming standpoint, but the wargame deployment was quite different from the deployment that a French General a Division would have employed in battle.
I want you to take another close look at the intervals that Morand used at Auerstadt as he advanced towards the Prussian army. Now think about how that might translate to the table top. Just off the top of my head, I would estimate that one of my stands of 12 French infantry occupy a frontage of 4 inches and so a column of divisions would have a frontage of about 8 inches. So at the very minimum, our table top general should have had 8 inches of space between each battalion. The 8 inch interval could have then been filled by another battalion deployed behind the first row of battalions, ready to support the pending melee with the British. Of equal importance, there would have been a gap through which the front French battalions could have retreated or routed through when they failed to win the melee.
Had this checkerboard formation been used:
(British Line is Here facing the French (M) )
^ ^ ^
MMMM MMMM MMMM
MMMM MMMM MMMM
MMMM MMMM MMMM
MMMM MMMM
MMMM MMMM
... then the first row of three French battalions could have engaged the British regiment in line. They now have an avenue in which to retreat, if needed. Even after routing, the British are disordered from being in the melee and now the second wave of French battalions (2 btns) can charge in and have the advantage since they are in good order whilst the British are disordered.
This is something to think about the next time you are playing in a wargame: am I using enough interval between my troops in a manner similar to their historical deployment, so that if something bad does happen, my troops have an avenue of retreat. Then the second wave of battalions can move in to finish off the opponent.
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Battle of Aveiro in 1809
This evening, I plan to download the pictures that I took at last weekend's Napoleonic BAR rules game that we played as part of our Iberian Campaign. I have some good pictures taken on my iPad, but if I download directly from iPad to Blogger then one cannot enlarge the image by clicking on the picture. So I will have to do the tedious task of emailing the images to myself and saving them onto our desktop computer, then uploading them into Blogger. There must be a better way of doing this and I'm rather amazed that the Blogger App isn't more like its desktop version. As Stokes would say, "sigh".
In any event, here are a couple of teasers from the battle for your enjoyment. For a more complete telling of the story, check out Bill P.'s story on the Campaigns in Iberia blog.
Campaigns in Iberia
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In any event, here are a couple of teasers from the battle for your enjoyment. For a more complete telling of the story, check out Bill P.'s story on the Campaigns in Iberia blog.
Campaigns in Iberia
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| Royal Artillery Section of 9-pdrs supports the British Counter-attack |
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Catching Up On Things SYW
I have been taking a little bit of a break from painting AWI figures following Historicon three weeks ago after painting nothing but AWI for at least the past twelve months. It is time to return to the Minden Project and augment my Austrian forces.
First of all, I needed to set all of my Austrians out on the gaming table to assess what I needed to add to the army in order to finish it. When you see the whole collection stretched across the table before your eyes, all of the missing pieces become quite apparent.
1) I need more Austrian cavalry. I only have one 24-figure regiment of dragoons and a partial 12- figure regiment of the Alt Modena cuirassiers ( the only cuirassier regiment with blue facings). So the first project was to paint the next dozen figures in this regiment, which I accomplished last week.
2) Artillery support equipment. I need to paint limbers for 4 guns and add 4 ammo supply wagons for each gun. I might add a couple of three pounder battalion guns.
3) Hungarian Regiment Josef Esterhazy needs its second battalion. I have five other musketeer battalions completed plus two grenadier battalions and two Croat battalions. The extra Hungarian battalion will complete my Austrian infantry contingent.
4) Army Command. I need to paint a command stand for Marshall Leopold von Daun, using the Minden Austrian senior command figures.
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The Fritz List
The other day I was musing (as I am wont to do) about what I would do hobby-wise if I were to have an unlimited amount of time to do everything and anything. Unfortunately, I did not win the millions in the recent Power Ball Lottery, so I am left to ponder the ideal rather than to live it out.
First of all, I would form a company and hire all of my wargaming buddies as employees so that they would be available for gaming all week, if need be. So their job would be to play wargames from 9 to 5. Hmm, I like to sleep in so if I'm infinitely rich, I guess that the games would begin at 10 AM or Noon and go on until dinner time.
When I wasn't gaming, I'd be making terrain or painting. Here is my wish list of things that I would like to paint sooner rather than later:
NAPOLEONICS:
British 45th Regiment (84 figures)
42 nd Black Watch (110 figures)
88th Connaught Rangers (84 figures)
2nd Regiment Garde de Paris (2 btns of 72 figures)
1st Regiment Garde de Paris (2 btns of 72 figures)
85e Regt de Ligne (2 btns of 72 figures) in Bicornes
2/25e Regt de Ligne (1 btn of 72 figures) in Bicornes
Oh heck, let's just do 8 x 72 French in shakos as well since most of my French are wearing Bicornes.
20 more Vistula Lancers ( Fritz loves his lancers!)
10 more 20e Regt Dragoons
1806 Prussians: I have about 10 battalions of 60 figures to paint and one each of cuirassiers and dragoons and hussars to paint.
1805-07 Russians: I have about 8 x 60 infantry to paint, and could use some heavy cavalry and light cavalry, probably 5 or 6 regiments of 48 figures. Oh, and some Russian lancers too!
SEVEN YEARS WAR MINDEN PROJECT
1 x 30 Josef Esterhazy Hungarians
4 x 30 "German" Austrians to be determined
1x 32 Austrian cuirassiers
1 x 32 Austrian hussars
Gobs of artillery (too much for my personal Prussian tastes)
2 x 32 Prussian cuirassiers
1 x 30 fusiliers IR49
1 x IR 6 Grenadier Garde
1 x IR 2/15 Garde
4 x 30 Prussian musketeer regiments, to be determined.
BAR 1:10 SYW ARMIES:
120 DR5 Bayreuth Dragoons ( he, he,he,he) :)
That would be enough to keep me going for the next year, at least. Yes, that will do.
First of all, I would form a company and hire all of my wargaming buddies as employees so that they would be available for gaming all week, if need be. So their job would be to play wargames from 9 to 5. Hmm, I like to sleep in so if I'm infinitely rich, I guess that the games would begin at 10 AM or Noon and go on until dinner time.
When I wasn't gaming, I'd be making terrain or painting. Here is my wish list of things that I would like to paint sooner rather than later:
NAPOLEONICS:
British 45th Regiment (84 figures)
42 nd Black Watch (110 figures)
88th Connaught Rangers (84 figures)
2nd Regiment Garde de Paris (2 btns of 72 figures)
1st Regiment Garde de Paris (2 btns of 72 figures)
85e Regt de Ligne (2 btns of 72 figures) in Bicornes
2/25e Regt de Ligne (1 btn of 72 figures) in Bicornes
Oh heck, let's just do 8 x 72 French in shakos as well since most of my French are wearing Bicornes.
20 more Vistula Lancers ( Fritz loves his lancers!)
10 more 20e Regt Dragoons
1806 Prussians: I have about 10 battalions of 60 figures to paint and one each of cuirassiers and dragoons and hussars to paint.
1805-07 Russians: I have about 8 x 60 infantry to paint, and could use some heavy cavalry and light cavalry, probably 5 or 6 regiments of 48 figures. Oh, and some Russian lancers too!
SEVEN YEARS WAR MINDEN PROJECT
1 x 30 Josef Esterhazy Hungarians
4 x 30 "German" Austrians to be determined
1x 32 Austrian cuirassiers
1 x 32 Austrian hussars
Gobs of artillery (too much for my personal Prussian tastes)
2 x 32 Prussian cuirassiers
1 x 30 fusiliers IR49
1 x IR 6 Grenadier Garde
1 x IR 2/15 Garde
4 x 30 Prussian musketeer regiments, to be determined.
BAR 1:10 SYW ARMIES:
120 DR5 Bayreuth Dragoons ( he, he,he,he) :)
That would be enough to keep me going for the next year, at least. Yes, that will do.
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Battle of Aveiro in Portugal - British Right Flank
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| One section (2 cannon) of Royal Artillery 9-pdrs open up on the French. A company of 5/60th Rifles and the 5th Regiment (in the trees) provide support. All figures are from Elite Miniatures. (Click to enlarge pix). |
On August 3, 2013 we convened in Brown Deer, Wisconsin to resume our Iberian Campaign between Major General William Justinian Pettygree and Marshal Soult (the Duke of Damnation, Himself) near the village of Aveiro, just south of the Douro River in Portugal. A very good battle report is provided on the Campaigns in Iberia blog:
My brief report will post some of the pictures that I snapped of the British relief column, on the right flank of the British defensive position in Averiero. As I recall, Brigadier General Kinch had marched north from Lisbon with the intention of linking up with Pettygree's two brigades of infantry and one brigade of light cavalry. The Duke of Damnation had apparently stolen a march on Pettygree and was descending on Kinch's position with two full divisions of French infantry and gobs of cavalry. Kinch was to hold on until relieved, or withdraw from the town, at his discretion, if it meant saving his brigade from destruction.
My role, as Brigadier General Alexander Sinclair, as one of the two infantry brigades in Pettygree's main army, was to advance from the right flank (the French left) and intercept any French forces to my front. Brigadier Peter Young's brigade (5th and 9th Regt.s) and Paget's light cavalry brigade was deployed to my left and those two brigades were to make the primary thrust to relieve Kinch's brigade in Aveiro.
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| A view of the wooded area on the British right flank. The French would be advancing from the right hand side of this picture, just beyond the iron support pole. The rest of the British team await the appearance of the French. |
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| The French left comes over the ridge, with a screen of chasseurs a cheval covering their front. |
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| The French brigade advances forward. They don't see anything yet, or do they? Note that the chasseurs have now formed into close order squadrons. |
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| The French chasseurs see the vanguard of Paget's light cavalry brigade arriving on the field to their left. |
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| Sinclair's brigade is screened by a company of the 5/60th Rifles and the light company of the 2/83rd Regiment. They find a company of French voligeurs in the woods. |
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| Sinclair's 2/83rd, commanded by Lt. Colonel Charles Gordon, had hoped that the French columns would pass his front without seeing him, allowing him to strike the French brigade in the flank. However, the French have spotted the 83rd and they begin to deploy their battalions into line formation to meet the British threat (to front and flank). |
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| Brigadier Young's brigade (5th and 9th regiments) attack the front of the French brigade, which is now formed with a dangerous bend in their battle line. This is not a good situation for the French. |
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| General Pettygree has a little surprise waiting for the French: a six gun battery of Royal Horse Artillery 6-pdrs prolong over the ridge and open fire on both French infantry and their supporting squadrons of dragoons on their right flank. Pettygree appears to be having FUN. |
Towards the end of the battle, the French left hand brigade of infantry decided that it would be best to disengage as best they could. Their chasseurs a cheval covering their front while the infantry battalions fell back to the back table.
Lt. Colonel Gordon was content to watch les Crapauds retire without moving his regiment closer and risking needless casualties. When your foe is doing what you desire of him (in this case, retreating) it is best not to intefere in his plans. So the 83rd was content to herd the French off the battlefield with no more loss of life. In a campaign, where casualties reduce your effectiveness in the next game, there is a time to attack and a time to hold back.
Sinclair's activity was limited in this game. His skirmishers and supporting section of Royal Artillery, commanded by Lt. Harry Pearson, did most of the damage to the French. The French commander in this sector appeared to be protecting the left flank of the main French assault on the village of Aveiro, so he did not advance up the British held ridge to his front or be overly aggressive, i.e. rash. He played his hand the correct way, in Sinclair's opinion.
Tomorrow is always another day.
I have no idea of what happened in Aveiero as it was too far away from Sinclair's position. I have heard that Brigadier Kinch held off the French attack for several hours, before finally retiring from the village. The French brigade, though, was badly mauled in the attack, as was Kinch. Both of the brigades in this sector had casualties approaching 40-50%, from what I could tell from a distance. It was a very bloody affair.
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54mm SYW Models
I was strolling through the Internet this morning, looking for some information about the Russian army in the Seven Years War, and happened to come across a range of collectors' models depicting the Russian artillery and the Prussian von Bevern Regiment (IR7) at Kunersdorf. I believe that these are 54mm figures and they are a bit pricey at around $60.00 per foot figure, so they are not something that most of us would choose to Wargame with. However, they are beautiful models and are wonderful to behold.
The company is called Ted Toys and they are located in Owensboro, Kentucky. Their web site URL is listed below:
http://www.tedtoy.com/index.htm
Now if you are really interested in 54mm gaming, then I would direct you to pay a visit to a company called All The King's Men, which offers an attractive range of American Revolution figures.
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The company is called Ted Toys and they are located in Owensboro, Kentucky. Their web site URL is listed below:
http://www.tedtoy.com/index.htm
Now if you are really interested in 54mm gaming, then I would direct you to pay a visit to a company called All The King's Men, which offers an attractive range of American Revolution figures.
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Minden Prussian Command
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| Frederick the Great and his staff. Minden Miniatures painted by Leuthen Studios. |
Here is a little bit of Minden goodness that was painted by Leuthen Studios on commission from me. I wanted my Frederick the Great command stand to look extra special and I think that Ioannis and his team did a really nice job. Great figures, great brushwork, and great composition and terraining of the base all add up to a really nice showcase piece for my Minden Prussian Army.
I was going to paint the Austrians myself, but after seeing these pictures, I asked Ioannis to add the Austrians to the commission.
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New Box O' Stuff
I received a heavy box of lead from Old Blighty today, containing an order from Elite Miniatures. Among the contents are 120 of the newest addition to the Elite range: SYW Prussian Dragoons. That is enough for me to paint the Bayreuth Dragoons at a 1:10 ratio. Yikes! That ought to look awesome when completed, but it is a daunting task to get all of them painted.
On the Napoleonic front, I am working on the 45th Regiment of British infantry to add to my Peninsula campaign brigade. I have 54 of the eventual 84 figures completed and hope to post some pictures within a couple of days.
On the Napoleonic front, I am working on the 45th Regiment of British infantry to add to my Peninsula campaign brigade. I have 54 of the eventual 84 figures completed and hope to post some pictures within a couple of days.
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A Royal Mess
A law of physics states that nature abhors a vacuum and will fill it ASAP. There is a corollary to this law called Fritz's Law of Wargaming Tables which states that if there is an empty surface on your war game table, stuff will find a way of accumulating on the table.
Here is proof of Fritz's Law of Wargaming Tables (do not attempt to do this at home):
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Here is proof of Fritz's Law of Wargaming Tables (do not attempt to do this at home):
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The Mess Is Addressed
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| Fritz's Man Cave is looking a little bit better today. |
The state of Potsdam parade ground was really starting to annoy me, so last night I was faced with the choice of painting more figures or picking up the basement. I chose the latter and you can see a general improvement in the room in the accompanying pictures when compared to the pix post yesterday.
The next step is to tidy things up a bit beneath the table ( akin to the warehouse archives building in the first Indiana Jones movie) where what goes in is never to be found again. However, that is a job for another day. I still need to hook up the old Compaq PC in the back corner -- I still use this to print out name tags on my figure bases or print orders of battle. The laser printer is still much better than the inkjet printer on our main iMac computer and while the PC is probably 12 years old, the word processing function works just fine, so I keep the old beast for Wargame purposes.
My painting table is still a wreck, but I can't do much about that. An artist needs his work space, don't you know.
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| The painting table in its usual state of appearance. |
I will post some pictures of the 45th later this evening.
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British 45th Foot - 1809
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| British 45th Regiment (Nottinghamshire) added to my Peninsula Brigade. |
I have been working on another British Napoleonic regiment to add to my brigade for our Iberian Campaign with Major General Pettygree. The figures are all from Elite Miniatures and the flags are my usual choice - GMB Designs. Through the Labor Day weekend, I have built the regiment up to 60 figures (or 600 men at our 1:10 ratio) and I have another company of 12 figures nearly completed. The regiment will eventually be 84 figures strong (or 840 men).
I have decided that the regiment is of sufficient strength to have the finished component board ships and sail to Portugal, where they will be temporarily assigned to the Lisbon garrison. Eventually, they will join Alexander Sinclair's brigade which includes the 83rd and 94th Regiments and three companies of the 5/60th Rifles. The latter two regiments are part of Pettygree's army, currently deployed near Aveiro, south of the Duoro River. Once I paint the other 24 figures, the regiment will be completed, as will be the brigade. Three regiments in a brigade seems like enough figures to me.
While I have many more unpainted British figures (enough to add one British and one Highland regiment and one Portuguese regiment), I will probably leave them alone for awhile and wait to see how the campaign carries on. For one thing, I do not want to paint an endless number of redcoats. My original plan was to keep my force at one brigade and I would like to stick to that plan. Mind you, painting 90 Connoisseur Highlanders as the 42nd Regiment is a very tempting prospect as I love Highland regiments.
You might have noticed that I terrained the bases on the 45th, whereas my other two regiments have metal bases painted green, in a kind of Old School theme. However, it was always my intention to terrain all of my troops so I thought that I would break the ice by finishing off the bases on the 45th as I complete the painting of the same. This is better than putting off the task for another day -- that usually leads to nothing happening. I also applied the spackle compound and grit to the 83rd and the next step will be to dab brown ink onto the base, let it dry, then dry brush flesh color, and finally, add the static grass. I have chosen a dried out looking grass since the troops will be in the Peninsula, and I think that the effect is very pleasing to the eye.
This post is my 108th post of the year: a new record for this blog. The previous annual high posts was 107. I have surpassed that level with four months remaining in the year, so undoubtedly the records will continue to be broken.
You might have noticed that I terrained the bases on the 45th, whereas my other two regiments have metal bases painted green, in a kind of Old School theme. However, it was always my intention to terrain all of my troops so I thought that I would break the ice by finishing off the bases on the 45th as I complete the painting of the same. This is better than putting off the task for another day -- that usually leads to nothing happening. I also applied the spackle compound and grit to the 83rd and the next step will be to dab brown ink onto the base, let it dry, then dry brush flesh color, and finally, add the static grass. I have chosen a dried out looking grass since the troops will be in the Peninsula, and I think that the effect is very pleasing to the eye.
This post is my 108th post of the year: a new record for this blog. The previous annual high posts was 107. I have surpassed that level with four months remaining in the year, so undoubtedly the records will continue to be broken.
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A Format Change
I decided to really get wacky and add a picture that I scanned into the header of my blog page. Technical things like scanning pictures and uploading images into Blogger are not easy tasks for this old wargamer. So I am quite pleased with myself this evening for having accomplished the format change.
So every time you look at the page, there you will see the header picture of Frederick being greeted by the Bernberg Regiment after the Battle of Lignitz. The regiment had been disgraced in an earlier battle for its poor performance, but after its heroics at Lignitz, Frederick restored their colours and other honours and the regiment was back in his good graces. That did not happen very often, for if you got on the wrong side of Frederick, the consequences were usually dire for you.
So every time you look at the page, there you will see the header picture of Frederick being greeted by the Bernberg Regiment after the Battle of Lignitz. The regiment had been disgraced in an earlier battle for its poor performance, but after its heroics at Lignitz, Frederick restored their colours and other honours and the regiment was back in his good graces. That did not happen very often, for if you got on the wrong side of Frederick, the consequences were usually dire for you.
The picture is a scan of a Richard Knotel drawing found in the book "Der Alte Fritz in 50 Bildern". I must say, aren't those Prussian uniforms magnificent?
All right then, I am going to retire to Fritz's Man Cave (how would you say Fritz's Cave in German?) and sort out some of my Minden Prussian and Austrian cuirassiers. Enough of this Napoleonic jazz, it is time to get down with the 18th Century again!
I think that I will top off the evening by reading a little bit of Charles S. Grant's "Wargaming In History, Volume 2" and see if I can figure out a way for the Good Guys to finally win the battle of Fontenoy in 1745.
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Wilhelm zu Inn und Knyphausen
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| Lt. General von Knyphausen |
I have been hunting down information about Lt. General Baron von Knyphausen, the commander of the Hessian forces in North America during the American Revolution. I happened to stumble across this picture of the general in what looks like the uniform of the Hessian Lieb Garde, although it could well be his own regimental uniform of the von Knyphausen fusilier regiment. Maybe senior offiers had more gold or silver lace on their lapels. I found the picture in Christopher Duffy's book, The Best of Enemies, Germans Against Jacobites, 1746 published by The Emperor's Press (Chicago) in 2013.
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| Wilhelm von Knyphausen, at at younger age than shown in the first picture at the top of the page. |
A little more pictorial research provides this picture of the Landgraf Friedrich II of Hesse Kassel wearing his Lieb Garde uniform and the same award as Knyphausen has. Friedrich also wears the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle over his heart.
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| Frederick II of Hesse Kassel |
Here is a brief biograph of Knyphausen, copied from Wikipedia:
His father was colonel in a German regiment under the Duke of Marlborough. Knyphausen was educated in Berlin, entered the Prussian military service in 1734, and in 1775 became a general officer in the army of Frederick the Great. In the army of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Knyphausen was a lieutenant general. In 1776, with 42 years of military experience, he came to the Thirteen Colonies of North America as second in command of an army of 12,000 so-called “Hessians” under General von Heister.
I tried searching on -line to see if I could determine which Orders Knyphausen had received, but I did not find his name in the limited lists of Pour-le-Merit or Order of the Black Eagle recipients that I found on-line. Perhaps someone has a book that would list this information for the 18th Century and could confirm or disprove the Orders for our general.
Oh, by the way, the information that I am collecting is going to Richard Ansell so that he can sculpt the von Knyphausen personality figure that is one of the rewards in the Fife & Drum Kickstarter project that closed in July 2013. We want to tie down some of the information on Knyphausen before the sculpting begins.
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It's Cuirassier Week!
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| Von Seydlitz Cuirassier Regiment (KR8) by Knotel. |
The other evening, I broke out the unpainted Minden SYW Prussian cuirassiers from their storage box and resolved to finally paint them. I have probably had them for at least a couple of years, but my "Minden Project" kind of got derailed by Fife & Drum and the development of our BAR Napoleon rules for 1:10 ratio units.
I completed some Minden Austrian cuirassiers several weeks ago, so I figured that I should return the favor and paint a Prussian cavalry regiment next. If they are Prussian cuirassiers, then they can be none other than KR8 - the von Seydlitz regiment. The regiment was considered one of the finest cavalry units in the Prussian army, due in large part to the strict training of its inhaber, von Seydlitz.
The regiment was very active during the Seven Years War, participating in the battles of Lobositz, Prague, Kolin, Rossbach, Leuthen, Zorndorf, Hochkirch, Hoyerswerda, Liegnitz, Torgau, Langensalza, Kloster Wahlstadt, Leutmannsdorf (also known as Burkersdorf) and Reichenbach.
So I have started work on the first 16 figures and should get those completed by the end of this coming week and then I will pitch into the second 16 figures to complete the 32 figure unit. I like to break the figures down into smaller batches so as to trick myself into thinking that I am getting something done.
I always begin by painting one figure completely, from start to finish, so that I can get a better sense of the order in which all of the pieces should be painted. This also alerts me to any difficult parts of the figure, which might be easier to paint if done earlier or later in the painting process. The figure also serves as a painting template for the rest of the regiment as I start to paint the other figures.
The test figure was fairly easy to paint - no tricky bits to worry about. I have recently changed my painting process a little bit so that I paint the basic colors of the horse first, and then work on the riders to completion, then finish off the tack on the horse and add any finishing features such as socks, blazes, etc. I used to paint the horse last, which can be a bit complicated if you use the dry brushing technique, for you might get some of the paint on the rider's horse furniture. It seems to work well for me.
I will provide more updates on the von Seydlitz Cuirassiers throughout this coming week.
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Cuirassier Progress Report
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| Von Seydlitz Cuirassier Regiment (KR8) - Minden Miniatures. |
As of Monday evening I have completed the first 12 figures in the von Seydlitz cuirassier regiment for my Minden Miniatures project. I have another five figures in primer so I can start working on those tomorrow evening. Then I plan to primer another 8 figures to bring the regiment up to 25 figures. Eventually, it may be as large as 32 figures.
I am trying to figure out what to do with the Minden kettledrummer that I painted. One option is to base the figure on a 2-inch round base and use it as a sort of vignette that can follow the regiment around on the tabletop. The other option is to make the kettledrummer an integral part of the wargame unit, i.e. base the kettledrummer with another figure (probably the standard) on a 2-inch square base.
I don't know, what do you readers think I should do?
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| Minden Miniatures Prussian Kettledrummer, painted in KR8 livery. |
These figures will be a part of my "Minden Project" of armies using a 1:20 figure to man ratio. They will have approximately 30-32 figures per regiment or battalion, as opposed to the BAR units which use a 1:10 figure to man ratio. One of my regular opponents was getting a bit worried that I was building up more cuirassiers for my BAR army. That is not the case, so let not your heart be troubled my dear friend. The same player regularly command the Russian army, which has defeated my Prussian army something on the order of 3 out of 4 games that we have played. The Russians are armed to the teeth with cannon and I don't particularly like doing battle with them for that reason. A cannon ball doesn't care if it is striking down a guard grenadier or the lowliest freikorps soldier. It is all flesh and bone in the end.
Um, moving on to other more pleasant topics, it seems that Fritz is back in full SYW-painting mode as he uses the time between now and the release of the Kickstarter AWI figures to do some recreational painting. In this case, we are talking about Minden SYW figures, which are a real joy to paint. I had a lot of fun painting the Prussian kettledrummer and I have one more such figure, which I might paint as a member of the KR13 Guard du Corps or the KR10 Gens d'Armes.
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A Herd of Horses Arrives for AWI
Richard Ansell sent me some pictures of his work in process on the AWI dragoons for the Fife & Drum range. For starters, we have six new horses to add to the range to go along with the dragoons .
Next, Richard has been working on the basic "dollies" for the British and Continental dragoons. These will serve as the starting point for each casting. The point is that by creating some torso pieces, heads, and equipment, Richard will not have to keep making these parts over and over again for each individual figure. The parts are on their way to Griffin Moulds for casting. Once the metal components are cast, then Richard can start turning them into finished dragoons by adding arms, heads, coats, belts and equipment, etc.
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Next, Richard has been working on the basic "dollies" for the British and Continental dragoons. These will serve as the starting point for each casting. The point is that by creating some torso pieces, heads, and equipment, Richard will not have to keep making these parts over and over again for each individual figure. The parts are on their way to Griffin Moulds for casting. Once the metal components are cast, then Richard can start turning them into finished dragoons by adding arms, heads, coats, belts and equipment, etc.
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Fife & Drum Rules For Free
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| Continentals observe the approach of the British Light Battalion. Will the Americans stay or will they go? I really want to know. (Fife & Drum Miniatures - click to enlarge the view). |
There was a nice wargame report posted on The Miniatures Page today, featuring my Fife & Drum rules for the American Revolution (or AWI, if you are so inclined to call it). A number of people were asking how they could obtain a copy of the rules.
TMP AWI AAR
Here is the link to the original blog posting on the Land of the Lead blog in Australia:
Land of the Lead Blog
I wanted to remind everyone that the Fife & Drum rules are free for the asking. They are printed on one side of a single sheet of 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper in PDF format. Just send me an e-mail with your request and I will zap you a copy via e-mail at no charge.
fife_drum_minis(at)yahoo(dot)com
I have been reading several books about the 1776 campaign in New York and one of the constant themes is that many, but not all, ran away or skedadled when the British infantry approached there position. I wanted to recreate this aspect with a "test of nerve" for all American troops to see if they would stick around whilst "seeing the elephant".
So what I plan to do is use a D6 and each time the British approach within say 12 inches of any American regiment, then said regiment will roll one D6 to see what they do:
A roll of 1-2 = Rout (immediately)
3-4 = fall back 6" facing the enemy, in good morale order
5-6 = stand your ground (no effect)
Once an American regiment has performed this roll of dice, it will not have to take the test of nerves for the remainder of the game. It will still take morale checks, when needed, but the D6 die roll will determine how they react to the British today.
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