Preparing for November 20th

Last night I received my latest order from Old Glory Miniatures, all the figures I need to complete a full strength French Brigade for Batailles de l'Ancien Régime.

The first Battalion to be completed will be the 2^nd Battalion of the Guyenne Infantrie Regiment. For which I have 30 Figures already completed out of the 54. I spent the evening cleaning up the figures, getting them mounted on bases and prepping for priming.

The Second Battalion I am planning to work on will be a little strange. I had Fernando Enterprises paint up 24 figures for the 1^st Battalion of the Royal Roussillion Infantrie Regiment however since I cannot match that painting style the figures I will be painting up will be for the 2^nd Battalion of the Languedoc Infantrie Regiment.

The next two battalions to be worked on next month will be the 2^nd Battalion of the La Sarre Infantrie Regiment and 2^nd Battalion of the Bearn Infantrie Regiment.

My goal is to get Guyenne Infantrie regiment done over the next week. Lots of work, however this is my shortcuts of short cuts regiments the first time around so I will be matching that painting style mostly. The Figures will be primed white, the boots and belting Natural Leather, the muskets bestial Brown, the hats and a few high lights black, flesh, trim and shiny bits followed by a dip for completion.

The Priming will be done tonight, than I will start cleanup work and mounting the figures for Languedoc.

Wish me luck

The Austrian Balloon Game.

I hosted a Seven Year's War Game at my place in 15mm using Koenig Krieg (2nd Edition) on August 7, 2010. The game was played on three 4' x 5' tiles (from my Waterloo Collection) and one generic 4' x 6' tile shaped in sort of a T Shaped formation.

The Prussians would be on defense with Austrian Coalition defending.

The Prussian order of battle consisted of 44 battalions of Infantry (8 of which were British), 1 Battalion of British Light infantry, 12 Regiments of Cuirassiers, Two Heavy batteries, Eight Light Batteries and 3 Regiments of Hussars.

 

 

Storm over Bavaria

On Saturday May 8th, at the Levee Café in Hastings, MN five members of the Centurions gaming group meet to refight the Battles in Bavaria during the “Storm over Bavaria” April 19-23, 1809. I would like to thank Fitz, Joe, Chris and Noel for an incredibly enjoyable game.

Austrian III Corps, IV Corps, V Corps, IR Corps and IIR Reserve Corps, slightly more the 1000 figures representing approximate 90,000 Men squared off against Oudinot’s II Corps (partially commanded by Lannes), French III Corps, Two independent Divisions, the Bavarian Army (VII Corps) and the Württemberg Army (VIII Corps), slightly less than 1000 figures representing 90,000 Men. The Austrians had great number of Infantry, but fewer Cavalry, and was on equal footing for Artillery.
For those keeping track at home, the Austrian Organization made one tiny-tiny mistake, we doubled up V Corps. So the Austrians had III, V, V, IR and IIR as an organization Louis (4) activation was going to sort of haunt the Austrians throughout the game. However for clarity purposes I will be call command of Austrian command of Joe IV Corps, which it was supposed to be.

The battle was played on three tables. The two outer tables were 18’ x 30” wide and the central table was 18’ x 6’ giving a total playing space of dang near 200 square feet. The outer tables which were separated physically from the inner table by 3’ were considered directly connected for game purposes.

The game started on the morning of April 19th with Austrian III Corps moving into position near Hausen. Davout’s III Corps was in position, a defensive position, near Teugen. For game purposes each of the Corps rolled a D10 to determine when they marched on. A Score of equal or below the turn number allowed you to march on. While Oudinot’s II Corp marched on on turn one, most of the rest of the forces were closer to turn 8.

April 19th was a boring day as Troops marched into position across the board. It was interesting given free will (and for the most part not a lot of knowledge on the specific campaign) how the players tended to follow the historic precedent. Had we actually had a bigger tabletop (something at some point I would love to try) I think we would have ended up with actual historic battles, not approximations.

We did movement during the night, turns represented 2 hours, all command radius were cut in half and activation numbers reduced by 1 and units could move no closer than 12”.

The Austrian players discovered a small whole in their plan. It took so long to move Austrian III Corps into place, two turns at night, that moving V Corps from their planned river crossing was out of the question mathematically. The problem with the low activation numbers and the decision to focus on the Austrian Center was tactically sound but a strategic mistake. In retrospect as the Austrian player the biggest single error I made.

April 20th, using the weather rules opened with down pouring rain. V Corps attempted to take the river crossing south and west of Hausen. We knew at 9PM turn that it was a bad idea, and yes it was. The Cavalry attempted to open a hole in the French Line was repulsed and what little bridgehead we had was gone. The decision was made to leave a brigade plus the shattered Advance Guard Division to hold the far side of the bridgehead and move the rest of the V Corps east to another bridge head.

The Austrian II Reserve Corps sat waiting for the time to move against the French Reserve Division holding the second bridge head. They waited most of the day trading fire but never able to disorder the French Legere brigade that held the bridge. Late in the day the First Grenadier Battalion went forward in an ALL-OUT attack and was defeated, the second Grenadier Battalion took the bridge later in the same turn.

On the other wing the Austrian IV Corps battled with the Bavarian Army. An early charge of the Bavarian Light Cavalry Brigade seemed to open a hole in the Austrian Line, but in their exuberance the Bavarian Light Cavalry ended up a mile away from the battle (failed control roll with no target to their front).
Later the Austrian Light Cavalry Charged the center of the Bavarian Army, breaking two brigades and opening a good sized whole before swinging around and taking two Bavarian 12# batteries from the rear. By the end of the Day the Bavarians were strung out and the Austrian IV Corps was attempting to reorient itself to attack the flank of Davout’s III Corps.

In the Center Oudinot’s stripped down II Corps and Davout’s III Corps made a slow plodding move against the Austrians. In a well coordinated attack the Cavalry from Oudinot’s II Corps charged home, forcing the Austrians to square before bouncing home. The French Attack in the next turn caught three Austrian Brigades in Square. Across the line the French Attack was successful, four Austrian Brigades Routed as well as their light Cavalry Brigade in the center. The Center Collapsed.
Charles attempted reorganize the line but it was too late. The Austrians were forced to retreat, the initiative Charles had in the campaign gone.

We called the game a minor French Victory, while they were able to defeat the Austrian Forces, the Austrians retreated in good order with realitivily minor losses (two to three thousand) most of which would be reconstituted in the coming days.

http://s433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/the_goldy_gopher/2010%20May%2008//

Not as productive as I wanted to be.

I was not as productive over the weekend as I wanted to be. I cleaned and primed 20 AWI British with Command as British Independent Comapnies for AWI and 30 Figures in Hunting Shirts as the Viriginia Regiment; both units are for the French and Indian War.

In addition I finished up a company of 10 figures as Rangers for the French and Indian War. The figures didn't turn out to bad.

I used another technique for faces, I think I will use this method for a while. The Faces are completely painted "Dark Flesh" and than I add in a few spots of lighter flesh. It is not as clean as the method I used on the Compagnies Franches de la Marine however it takes about half the time and beyond 3 inches you couldn't tell the difference.

I think the unit is James Roger's Rangers but i will have to pull up the source material for me to know for sure.

Just to let everyone know I wasn't slacking completely, I also painted up a unit of Virginia Continentals for Fitz. Not exactly the greatest paint job as it was getting late on Saturday when I did these 12 figures. I used the 7th Virginia Re-enactors as a guide to paint the figures, so they don’t um match the descriptions in a couple of Ospreys, the one thing I didn’t do, and if Fitz wants to he can, is put hat tape on them, since neither the contemporary painting and descriptions list hat tape.

Compagnies Franches de la Marine

As I prepare for my upcoming Warfare in Colonial America game at the Levee Café in Hastings for my Birthday May 8^th and 9^th I am attempting to finish painting the figures I own for the period. It is sort of depressing that I need to order six bags of figures as the Local Stores don't have what I need, on the plus side I am saving some money. Any ways I have been working on Compagnies Franches de la Marine over the past week. I have 31 figures of Old Glory 25mm figures, without command in Blue Waist Coat in Fatigue Cap, which I divided up into 6 companies of 5 figures. The problem is there is little to differentiate the companies, so basically as I finish up the last of the figures it looks more like 3 companies of 10 figures.

I changed how I was painting faces about half way through the project, I may go back and attempt to update the first 12 figures or so but I am not sure I will have time before the May games with another 120 figures left to paint. I'll post pictures later today, but I like the way the later figures turned out.

This weekend I will be working on a battalion (30 Figures) of Colonial Militia in Hunting Shirts, they shouldn't take long, Air Brush a Dark Brown, a Quick Dry Brush of a lighter brown, leather work, face and Weapons. In addition I have a few more 15mm 1809 Austrians to mount up, but that's another posting. I am hopeful that beyond them I can get to my two units of British Independent Companies or more Indians, I guess we will see.

BAR Games at the SYW Convention

I played in two BAR games hosted by Jim Purky and Bill Protz (the rules author) while at the SYW convention in South Bend, IN; the Prussian Assault on the Luethen Church and the battle of Mollwitz (First Silesia War).

The first game on Friday was the Prussian Assault on Leuthen Church. Yours truly had Rot Wurzburg and the Church, my orders hold the church. Special rules the walls are considered 8 feet high and only one battalion in the walled courtyard at a time. In addition to Rot Wurzburg, I had a battalion of Hungarian Infantry (YARK), two battalions of Austrian German infantry and two pieces of artillery, a 12# and a 6#. On my right flank was Rolf Running and his four battalions of infantry and two 6# guns, Paul (whose last name I didn't catch) had another four battalions of Austrians, including our Grenadier Battalion, on my left. On the right Flank Brent Olsen had a contingent of Austrian Cavalry and I forget who controlled the Austrian light Cavalry on the left.

Facing us was three brigades of Prussian Infantry (each of four Battalions and two pieces of Artillery) and Prussian Cavalry on both flanks.

The game opened with Cavalry actions on both flanks. I moved my battery up to a position I was told was going to be supported and deployed them out. Paul on my left became extremely aggressive and moved out of the Leuthen Village and started forward against the Prussian, to achieve balance in the whole thing Rolf dug in behind the village leaving my artillery high and dry.

I cannot give details of the Cavalry Battles, as both flanks worth of cavalry on BOTH sides ground each other into oblivion. On the Left flank in Turn 5 there was a grand total of 6 Austrian Light Cavalry figures left out of nearly a 100 figures on EACH side. On my right flank while the destruction wasn't quite as complete neither side was going to have a usable force left.

I am not sure why Paul launched his attack, the problem is because I was anchored in the Leuthen Church he had his right flanked exposed and took fire from Chris Combs Prussians who was straight across from me as well as the brigade directly in front of him. My poor unsupported Artillery Battery took 20 some potential casualties of fire and evaporated.

I realized on turn two when I started waving at Chris and Fitz we were doomed. The Prussian plan involved removing our cavalry than focusing on the two flank infantry brigades before converging on the my Brigade. Paul moving his brigade forward unsupported on my left allowed his brigade to get wrecked sooner than Rolf's on my right. After five or six turns the artillery started to fall on Leuthen Church and Rot Wurzburg was done for, Rolf began retiring from his position and the first wave of the assault finally came, a Fresh Battalion of Prussian Line led the charge. After the Referees changed the height of the wall, the first wave was defeated.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, I sent Ensign Parker to see who it was, and more Prussians poured forward, my Second Line was engage in a fire fight to the rear of the Church and against Prussian Infantry deployed in the village of Leuthen on my right. Ensign Parker informed me the Prussian Garde Grenadiers wished to make a donation to my funeral arrangements all I need to do was open the door. I said no, poor Ensign Parker had to go tell them the news.

The next wave came and that damn knocking on the door continued. I held strong and still refused to let the Garde Grenadiers make a donation, they actually offered to double it.

In the end Rot Wurburg was compelled to withdraw, however we held, the reality of the situation was they were going to be ejected at some point allowing a Prussian Victory, my goal of delaying to night fall was almost achieved. In the end it was a costly piece of real estate for the Prussian resulting in a Swedish Victory.

TBC

Pictures by Jeff Knudsen and can be found on his site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/war_artisan/collections/72157623604512741/

Jim Purky comments and description of the action can be found on his site: http://altefritz.blogspot.com/2010/03/syw-assn-convention-update.html

A quick report back from the SYW Convention

Over the past weekend I attended my first SYW Convention, in the Tourist Capital of the World, Sunny South Bend Indiana, and I am fairly impressed with the whole thing. My wife accompanied me and I meet up with other members of the Minnesota Crowd, Fitz, the other Jeff, Brent Olson, Rolf Running, and Chris Combs and I think I speak for all of us a good time was had by all.

The drive down was uneventful, we dropped our "two" children off with Melanie's parents on the way down and made the 525 mile trip in three legs (To Melanie's Parents 200 Miles, To Chicago 200 Miles and Finally South Bend 125 Miles). I have to say the drive from Chicago to South Bend seemed a lot longer than 125 miles at that point. Fitz gave me directions for the trip home, 10 to 15 miles further (30 actually) and you skip driving through Chicago. Whether or not the drive was longer, that route seemed MUCH MUCH longer as there was absolutely nothing to see but flatland in IL, on the plus side virtually No tolls on the way home.

Of course the tourist capital of the world didn't really leave much for my wife to do while I was playing with little toy soldiers. She visited the College Football Hall of Fame, The Studebaker Museum, (A bear in his Natural Habitat), the Oliver House, and about six trips to the Fiddler's Hearth (one of four Bars in South Bend). However as a guy who grew up in a small town, it seemed eerie to walk around South Bend because there was never anyone on the streets. I do have to recommend Tom's Café for breakfast, $11 for both Melanie's and my breakfast was well worth the price since neither of us could finish our meal there was too much food.

I participated in both of Jim Purky and Bill Protz BAR games (the assault on Leuthen Church and Mollowitz) and kibitzed a number of other games. Many games had a great look to them, but I will be honest there is little chance I would be pushing figures in their games, and to be more honest I have to wonder if the scenario designer flunked scenario design 101 as I spent several long minutes scratching my head. Example, a 12 x 6 table, a game for 12 players, game played on a corner of the table using maybe 16 sq feet (8' x 4' triangle) because the center of the table had a 24 square feet of impassible terrain (dense wood). When I asked the scenario designer… "well um we didn't play test it specifically but we thought player might want to use the rest of the board."

Jeff Knudsen's game of "Paper Ships and Portly Men" was spectacular, except the players were Portly, funny thing at a gaming convention. The Swedes/Ottomans vs. Russian game by Panzeri was intriguing, the 10mm game had an okay look, A cow Too Far (skirmish Game) looked like a hoot.

On the down side my camera and I had a disagreement on it function at the convention. Most of my pictures are unusable as they somehow got over exposed (the shutter speed slowed down because the room was not the bright place on the planet and what I was focusing on was too far away for the flash, so it tried to be helpful.

We already are discussing plans for next year convention (Mar 25, 26, 2011) hopefully at the same location. We have already had some discussion about running the battle of Krefeld, Ottomans vs. Russians game AS WELL AS a potential Battle in the Wars of the Jumbled Alliances all using Koenig Krieg (2^nd Edition). Additional the plans for BAR locally have been pushed and discussed. Fitz and I will be flipping a coin to see which one of us (the Prussian Players) is going to be Freddie, Brent has some figures already, Chris is painting the Swabian Circle, and Tom is painting Austrians.

I'll be posting a detailed battle report for the two BAR games later this week (hopefully with some pictures).