Navarre Regiment SYW

I am working away on my task for the Snowlord, but also have some bits and bobs from stuff left mostly completed before submitting.  In this case I had all of the figures painted before I hit the summit, but I hadn't based them.

In my terms this is a paint bomb, maybe my largest ever point total.  It's a full 24 man battalion of the Navarre Regiment from the French Army for Seven Years War project.  Navarre was one of the oldest regiments in the French army, dating back to 1558 but not joining the French Army until Henri IV because King.  They served in Western Germany from 1757-1762 and took part in most of the big battles.

He doesn't show well here but I really like the Crusader drummer.  The  standard bearer in the front rank is from Front Rank

Close up of the Grenadiers.  The NCO pointing is Front Rank.

You can see the variations in Crusader's marching figures.  The office waving his hat  is FR.

Normally I roll my battalions out in three lots of 8 so as to keep up the image of progress, so a 24 man posting is rare for me.  I had planned to do the same here, but when I finished the first lot I realized that I was out of the bases I use for this project.  Challenger Byron of https://northernlightsterrain.com/ sourced me some free of charge (thanks Byron) on his most recent trip to Regina, but which time I had all 24 set to be based.  My Sarissa order has since arrived so I'm now Covid-19 prepared with bases.

Figures are Crusader mostly with a few Front Rank command figures.  I've done most of the unit with turn backs but added a few figures with coats undone for variety.  There's the normal command treats, two drummers in King's Livery, two flags (sourced from a gamer blog and printed at home) and a grenadier stand.  The grenadiers are over represented in the unit as there should be only 1-2 in the 24  man unit but I like the bearskins. I like to think that fusiliers were detached to guard the camp, perform picket duties etc upping the proportion of grenadiers in the main unit.

The Crusader and Front Rank figures both paint up nicely.  I like the Crusader private soldier figures with their subtle mix of related poses and the drummers are nice.  However, Crusader's officer, NCO and and standard bearers are a little static and low key so I often sub in replacements from Front Rank.  The two companies work ok to my aging and fading eyes.


Points wise that's 24 figures @ 5 point a pop for a grand total of 120, which leaves me almost exactly at my Challenge target of 500 points.  There's more stuff in progress plus the Snowlord's Challenge so I'll make my target with some room to spare.

SYW Action - Battle for Windmill Hill

Last week I put on a SYW action using my 28mm toys and using Honours of War for the first time.  This featured mostly units that i had put together in the past two editions of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and the first action for a lot of the units on table.

The opposing forces were as follows
British-Allied
CinC General Mohr (Jeremy)
Infantry Brigade (dithering)

• Royal Welsh Fusiliers (superior), Keith's Highlanders, Hessian Erbprinz Regiment, Hessian Garrison  Regiment Kutzleben (small)
• Hessian light artillery battery

Cavalry Brigade (dashing)

• 15th Light Dragoons, Hanoverian Luckner's Hussars (inferior)

Detached unit Hessian Jaegers light infantry with rifles

French 
CinC General St-Andre (Stacey) 
 
Infantry Brigade (dithering)

• Grenadiers de France (superior), Touraine, Diesbach, Nassau Royal-Louis
• Light artillery battery

Advant-Garde (dashing)

• Orleans Dragoons (inferior), Bercheny Hussars (inferior)
• Chasseurs de Fischer light infantry

Detached unit Volontaires de 'lArmee light infantry 

Each side deployed 6" on the table with the objective of taking Windmill hill in the centre.  Terrain wise the hill was gentle,  I counted the windmill base as light cover but not as a BUA and there were some BUAs and woods and a stream on the flanks and back table edges.

The table after one move, Allies on the left and French on the right.

The French deployment with Curt looking on philosophically

Allied deployment

The start of the cavalry clash.  This ended up with the French routed and the Allies victorious in no state to continue without rallying

Infantry scrum with Diesbach fighting the highlanders with Grenadiers and Fusiliers in support.  On the right Touraine has force the Hessians back and captured the battery.  On the left the Voluntiares charged the Fusiliers in the flank to remove their support from the Highlanders.

Later in the action with both sides taking casualties, retreating and/or routing.  Fischer have occupied the windmill and force the Jaegers back.  On the far right the cavalry battle continues towards it's bloody conclusion

I'll put some thoughts together on the rules.  In general the gave the right result and were easy to pickup, but felt too mechanical.  

Sharp Practice 2 Thoughts

Curt and I were both planning SP games for this weekend coming, but he got his note out first so mine will wait a week or two.  But the thought process (my brain hurts) made me realize that I had not posted my thought son the rule system following my AAR a few weeks ago.  So here goes.

·         Overall things ran smoothly, and gave a fun game with lots of action.  The system is intuitive and we got into the swing of the play very quickly.  All good stuff.

·         I liked the unit/leader activation system which gave suspense and randomness without being too wacky.  We used cards, but long term I will use poker chips.  I found it hard to adequately shuffle a small hand of cards, much to Stacy’s disgust as he had to take several random event rolls following the appearance of the 3^rd command card in a row.  If I don't get my poker chips painted in time (they are fiddly), I'll resort to fanning the cards and letting players choose one at random.

·         Getting the feel of when to use Command Cards will take a bit.  Stacy and Sylvain tended to hold on to them to make sure that units activated on the tiffin card, but I think that both made use of Cards for “Step Out” actions adding movement or prompted activations out of sequence

·         Movement is based on a number of d6s making it random, but that was just fine by me and it worked in practice.  Cavalry take some thought as they need to take a turn to slow down or speed up. 

·         Small arms fire was a snap to get – lots of d6s with simple to remember scores to hit.  We rarely need to resort to a table.  If three men in their 50s don’t need reminders, the system is pretty idiot proof!  Units need to test to stop uncontrolled fire once they start, which is something that we forgot to do.  

·         Artillery fire is also simple and can be deadly (or not).  Stacy cunningly placed his gun on a hill and Sylvain obligingly deployed on a hill in the line of fire.   In retrospect he could have avoided some of the fire by coming down off the hill but that didn’t seem obvious at the time.

·         I liked the differentiation between musket and rifle armed troops, and formed troops vs skirmishers.  Both sides’ skirmishers were effective, but Sylvain unfortunately turned his Jaegers rifles from a plus to minus by moving into close range.

·          Cavalry is brittle and tricky to use, as it should be.  Both players got their hussars into tricky spots where they were shot apart by musketry.  A learning opportunity hopefully!

·         We used a big table that allowed a lot of flexibility on deployment.  It also had the plus of letting both players get familiar with movement and activations before running into the enemy.  A few units on a big table gave a very nice feel.

·         We never got to fisticuffs so I have no idea how well that works!

·         As commented on the SP forum over at the lardies home, there are some unit points costs issues that need to be sorted out.  I went by the points in the book and may have given Stacy an advantage as the Brits seem overpriced.   We can work this out over time. 

Ad in conclusion I can't wait til we go tho the Penninsula with Curt's lads this week and hiope to go to Hesse soon with my SYW lads.

The Coldest Night of the Year - and a Game of Maurice

Friday night we had a game round at Curt's on what was the coldest of the winter - temps at -40 degrees C with wind chills pushing -50C.  Sylvain of course left a perfectly good car in his driveway, turned down the offer of a lift and rode his bike.

After months of board games and skirmish actions we played a set piece battle using miniatures.  Having being worn down by Ray Roussell's endless stream of floppy hatted fops and Stoke's Imagination I have re-discovered my interest in the lace wars period.   So, three different sets of rules have appeared in the house recently as follows.

Maurice by Sam Mustafa (as a PDF)

Beneath the Lily Banners (BLB) the original in PDF form as neither my budget or my patience was interested paying the monetary or time costs required to ship the new version by mail.

The Last Argument of Kings the Black Powder supplement not the excellent fantasy novel by Joe Abercrombie.  I took advantage of the post Christmas sale.

So we put my French and Indian Wars troops from the Louisbourg Campaign on table for a trial of Maurice.  This was the first time that these troops saw a game freaturing except for one or solo games.  Not bad considering that i started them in 1998!  No pictures were taken unfortunately - I think that our brains froze.

Maurice is a card driven system with a lot of period flavour and it gave a good game.  (Sam makes a free "Lite" version available as a PDF to give you a taste.)  It really reinforces period tactics - troops are easier to arrange in line at deployment than after manoeuvre, linear formations in two line work well and look after your flanks.  Players have to decide where to focus their attention, although it is possible to get infantry into a fire fight and then let them blaze away for a while without requiring much further attention unless you want them to charge home.

I used the Broken Ground from CS Grant's classic Programmed Wargames Scenarios.  Stacy took the Brits defending the hills attacked by Sylvain and Jeremy's French with Indian allies.  There were some predictable fumbles as the players (especially the attackers) got use to the period and system.  The first time the French tried to move an infantry force they managed to violate 3 of the 4 conditions required of a force (same terrain, same formation and within range).  At least they got the Regular Infantry part right!.

A French bombardment was followed by a fire fight between Indians in a woods and the Redcoat line. The French tried an attack on the British right, but got a nasty "surprise" when a light infantry unit hidden in woods charged their flank.  Really guys - you couldn't foresee light infantry hidden in a wood!  Talk about being blindsided by the blindingly obvious.  The attack came close to success, especially since Stacy left his unit of Colonial Conscripts on the far right and neglected a second line.  But in the end the French cracked before the British.

All in all it gave a good game and the card system worked really well.  I hope that they boys see action again.  Now I just need European light troops and cavalry!

Not In Over 30 Years (Yikes!)

I played a game over at Curt's last night using his beautiful 28mm Napoleonics - a bridge demolition scenario from about 1808 with the Brits hoping to hold a bridgehead long enough for their engineers to set their charges properly.

This morning I realized that this was the first time I played with 25/28mm Napoleonics (a scale and period I would describe as bread and butter of wargaming) since I was in high school. Now I feel old (this was when Carter was president and likely Joe Clark was Canadian PM).   Napoleonics since then- yes (many, many 15mm games but not for 15 years).  25/28mm in the intervening years yes - but with Ancients, Medievals, Seven Years War, Colonials.

Long story short, it was fun.  Sylvain and I had two brigades - 6 battalions, a Dragoon regiment and a battery- facing a lone British brigade (3 battalions and a horse battery).   Sylvain took a beating before I arrived, but we had pushed the British back on the bridge and they would lose most of their troops on the wrong side.

The rules were a Heinz-57 mix concocted by Curt and Stacey - not perhaps the way I would have done it , but they gave a good game for a Table Top Teaser scenario.  If some else does the work and the rules get the job done then I'm a happy camper.  To me getting he job done means that they give a good game that is intuitive enough to use and has the appropriate rewards for table top decisions.

The Reading Shelf

With the living space occupied by kitchen furniture and the basement cleared to allow for the table saw, there's no space for modelling right now.  So I've been reading a lot.  Currently it's Duffy's book on the '45, which I highly recommend.

This has lots of good war games appeal, even if you don't plan to game the '45 (I'm not planning to ...yet).  I'm still in the early chapters but two key points jump at me.  The first is that I can't remember another occasion where the red coated infantry turned and ran like they did at Prestonpans.  The second is that the Jacobite army showed incredible flexibility and speed on the march.

The Barolo Campaign

I've taken up Bluebear Jeff's challenge, but been Steve the Wargamer has out marched me!  Here's my mini-campaign.

Situation

The fortress town of Montferrat (held by the Electorate) controls a major crossing over the Barolo River.  Montferrat cannot be attacked from the west due to the river frontage, but siege operations can approach from the south once the river is crossed.

The Empire forces represent a covering force with the mission of securing crossing points over the Barolo to the south of Montferrat and defeating the Electorate field army to the east of the river.  This will allow the siege train to safely cross the Barolo and open trenches to take the fortress.  Two crossing points have been selected at San Giorgio and La Morra.  The Electorate forces have taken some steps to prevent the crossing of the Barolo and are moving additional troops into the area.

1)    The Bridge at San Giorgio (Teaser 20 Reserve Demolition)

a)    Orient the map so that the Barolo River flows from the south to the north and Empire (red forces) approach from the west.  The Electorate (blue) forces follow the instructions in the scenario. 

b)   Outcomes:

i)      Empire (red) victory secures the crossing at San Giorgio.  Empire forces detach a garrison to hold San Giorgio and disperse in mop up operations, to attack Castelli di Gabbiano (Game 3) or support the main army at La Morra (Games 6, 7 or 8).  Electorate forces to the east of the Barolo retreat further eastward and regroup and join up with supports.  The reinforced Electorate counter attacks San Giorgio (Game 5).

ii)    Electorate (blue victory) denies the crossing of the Barolo.  The Empire brings up reinforcements and boat and tries again (Game 4)

iii)   Electorate forces stranded west of the Barolo retreat south to the Castelli di Gabbiano.  They can be isolated, but remain a threat to communications and are attacked in Game 3.

2)    Bridgehead at La Morra (Teaser 21 Bridgehead Breakout)

a)    The Map is correctly oriented.  Montferrat lies to the north and San Giorgio to the south.  The river flows northward.

b)   This represents the vanguard of the main Empire (Blue) forces and the main body of Electorate (red) troops in the Barolo region.

c)    Outcomes

i)      An Empire (red) victory results in a successful bridgehead and the retreat of the Electorate forces northwards.  The Empire follows up its success in Game 8.

ii)    An Electorate (blue victory) forces the Empire forces west of the Barolo.  If the Empire has won at San Giorgio (i.e. won Game 4 or 5), they regroup and shift their focus through the South road and move to Game 9.  Otherwise they try again at Falletto (Game 6).

iii)   A draw (the most likely outcome by far) sees the Empire retreat in good order to the prepared position at Fontenorro (Game 7).  However, if the Empire has won Game 9, they outflank the prepared position and move to Game 8.

3)    Castelli di Gabbiano (Teaser 13 Last Stand)

a)    Orient the map so that the Castelli lies on the eastern shore of the Barolo River. 

b)   The red garrison should be made up of the Electorate forces stranded at San Giorgio (if any).  The Empire (blue) forces should include some regiments from the San Giorgio action.

c)    Outcome:  once the garrison is overwhelmed the Empire regiments (less casualties) leave their own garrison and return to San Giorgio.

4)    Assault at San Giorgio (Teaser 19 Assault River Crossing)

a)    Orient the map with the positions X and Y on the eastern shore of the Barolo.  Adjust the terrain so that the village X closely resembles the town of San Giorgio from Game 1.

b)   Electorate (blue forces) at X and Y are fresh regiments, but the reinforcements should include regiments from the action in Game 1.

c)    Empire (red forces) should include regiments engaged in Game 1 plus reinforcements.

d)    Outcomes

i)      An Electorate (blue victory) will result in the termination of the southern attack at San Giorgio.  The opposing forces will result to trading insults across the Barolo and await the results to the north.

ii)    An Empire (red victory) will secure a crossing but allow the Electorate to retire in good order.

5)    Counterattack at San Giorgio (Teaser 16 Reinforcements off the Table)

a)    Orient the map with the point 2 on the eastern shore of the Barolo.  Adjust the terrain and replace the single building at the bridge with the town of San Giorgio from Game 1.

b)   Electorate (red forces) include regiments from the action in Game 1 plus fresh reinforcement

c)    Empire (blue forces) initially on table is composed of the garrison detached at San Giorgio from Game 1.  The blue reinforcements should include regiments in action from Games 1 and 3.

d)    Outcomes

i)      An Electorate (red victory) will result in the termination of the southern thrust.  The empire troops will hold San Giorgio or the west bank of the Barolo depending on the scale of the victory. 

ii)    An Empire (blue victory) will secure the crossing and see the end of serious Electorate resistance in the San Giorgio area.  The Empire moves sends  a column to Segharia (Game 9)

6)    Crossing at Falletto (Teaser 18 River Crossing)

a)    Orient the map with the town of Falletto on the west bank of the Barolo.

b)   The Electorate (red) forces on table at B and the reinforcements from C should come from refinements engaged at La Morra (Game 2).  The reinforcements from C should be refresh regiments.

c)    The Empire (blue) forces should include regiments engaged at La Morra plus fresh reinforcements.

d)    Outcomes

i)      An Electorate (red victory) will result in the termination of the siege campaign.  Having failed to cross twice with the main army, the Empire general should retire on fortifications provided by a bottle of strong Italian red wine!

ii)    An Empire (blue victory) will secure a crossing but allow the Electorate to retire in good order on Fontenoro (Game 7)

7)    Battle at Fontenoro (Teaser 1 Positional Defense)

a)    The map is correctly oriented with a tributary (the Asti) of the Barolo flowing southward.

b)   Electorate (blue) forces include regiments from La Morra (Game 2)

c)    Empire (red) forces also include forces from La Morra.

d)    Outcomes

i)      Electorate (blue) victory or draw halts the empire advance south of Montferrat.

ii)    Empire (red) victory allows for the siege to begin. 

8)    Battle of Montferrat (Teaser 15 Reinforcements on the Table)

a)    Orient the map so that the town (Montferrat) lies on the Northern edge.

b)   Electorate (blue) forces should include regiments engaged at La Morra.

c)    Empire (red) forces also include regiments from La Morra.

d)    Outcomes

i)      Electorate (blue) victory or a draw slows the empire advance south of Montferrat but allows for the siege to begin. 

ii)    Empire (red) victory allows for the siege to begin and catches the garrison at a disadvantage.

9)    Action at Segharia (Teaser 41 Chance Encounter –segharia is Italian for “sawmill” or so says babelfish)

a)    Orient the map 90 degrees clockwise so that the wall runs north-south.

b)   The Empire enters from the Southwest and the Electorate from the Northeast (after rotation)

c)    Empire regiments should come from the troops who originally attacked San Giorgio.  Electorate regiments should include some from San Giorgio plus reinforcements.

d)    Outcomes

i)      An Empire win allows the forces from the southern crossing to move north towards Montferrat. Depending on results at La Morra, move to Fontenorro (Game 7) or Montferrat (Game 8).  In either case, the Empire can draw on all of their regiments to fill their unit rosters for the game 8 or 9.

ii)  An electorate win or a draw halts the southern thrust be leaves the bridgehead securely under Empire control.

SYW/FIW French Infantry

Here's some shots of my 25mm SYW troops, the French regiments stationed at Louisbourg in 1758.  They are blurry, as I am still learning how to use the new cam for close up work.  I would have reshot them last night but Lynne came home from book club earlier than I expected!

Cambis Regiment (RAFM)

Artois regiment (RAFM figures in waistcoats)

Bourgogne on the right (RAM) and Voluntaires Etranger on the left (OG, from the 1745 range)

Compangnie Franche (fielded as a line battalion) plus artillery (all RAFM)

French staff reassure the women folk (who look more than capable of looking after themselves), while scruffier elements of the French forces lurk nearby

Peninsula Campaigning

Well David Crook asked, so I should probably scope out some plans.  Here goes with my wish list for 28mm Peninsula campaigning.


French

1. 4-6 battalions of Ligne 24 strong (Victrix, Perry's in greatcoats)
2. 2 battalions of Ligne 24 strong (Perry's without greatcoats paint conversions or Hat)
3. 1-2 battalions of Poles (Perry's without greatcoats straight up)
4. 1-2 battalions of foreigners like Swiss  (Victrix)or Hessians (Perry's)
5. 1-2 battalions of young guard (Perry's)
6.  2 regiments of 12 light cavalry (Perry Hussars, no Chasseurs available in plastic)
7. 2 regiments of 12 Dragoons (Perry's converted to earlier uniform)
8. 1 regiments of 12 Cuirassier (Perry's)
9. 2 units of 12 detached voltigeurs (Victrix, Perry's, Hat or all of the above)
10. 1 unit of 12-dismounted dragoons (Perry's converted)
11. 2-4 guns with foot artillery crews (metals)
12. 2 guns with horse artillery crews (metals)

British and Allied

1. 4-6 battalions of British or KGL Foot 24 strong (Perry's or Victrix)
2. 1-2 battalions of Highlanders (Victrix)
3. 1-2 battalions of light infantry  (Victrix flank companies)
4. 2-3 battalions of Portuguese (Perry's or Victrix paint conversions)
5.  2 regiments of 12 light cavalry (Perry Hussars, metals for lt dragoons)
6. 2 regiments of 12 Dragoons (metals or Perrys French Dragoons heavily converted)
7. 2 units of 12 flankers (Victrix, Perry's, or both)
8. 1-2 units of 12-rifles (Perry's)
9. 2-4 guns with foot artillery crews (Victrix)
10. 2 guns with horse artillery crews (metals)

Painting Projects

Painting and modeling the Peninsula continues.  I have a battalion of French line infantry painted, based and flocked, and a unit of the 60th rifles painted but un-based.  On the way - the 24th foot built, primed and about 1/3 painted.  So far I'm really having fun with the plastic figures, even if my plastic modelling skills are rusty.  They paint up well, and I like the ability to vary the poses and equipment.  And you can't argue with the price - about 80 loonies gets 2 boxes of Perry Brits- 3* 24 man battalions plus a unit of 8 rifle.  That would be 14 boxes of Perry metals or $224). 

Victrix French Infantry 1807-12.








The same from an overhead view.

A company of the 5/60th.  From the Perry's British Infantry box set.

The same group of riflemen.  Since this is the 60th not the 95th these must be Fredericksson's men.

Reading List for Napoleonics

Following David Crook's comment on my last post, I put together a small list.  A few personal favourites and in no particular order

.  Before the inundation while I like Bernard Cornwall, I would much rather read  the real thing over fiction.  So Sharp's not on my list (the TV show is great to paint to however).

This was a gift from my English Grandmother in the late 70s.  Gran lived in the same small Cotswald village as Michael Glover, so she knocked on his door and got me a signed copy.

Well, we have to give the other side of the hill it's due don't we?   IMHO the best one chapter get-you-hooked-for-life introduction is the chapter on Davout's Corps at Auerstadt.  It's an amazing view of an army (and generals) at their absolute peak.  If only wargames rules let us be as flexible as Davout - here M. Engineer- lead these infantry companies in a bayonet charge, hey sappers go take that battery over there!

Brilliant history, a great read, and great scenario ideas.   Many volumes love the Allies as dunderheads model but Duffy makes the allied command very human and realistic.  You'll really feel sorry for Kutusov after this one.  And for a general and an army cursed for slowness check out the march rate required to get them into Bavaria to link up with Mack's Austrians and then back to Moravia when the unfortunate reality was revealed!

My current read (ok one of several books on the go).  I'm on my second go round and it's both information and highly entertaining.  Covers more than Napoleonics but a lot of period stuff.