Kleine Krieg Project - Hessian Jaegers

My second completed unit for my SYW Sharp Practice Project is a group if Hessian Jaegers.  There are 6 rank and file and one officer.  Once again the figures are from the Perry's AWI range.  Actually the figures were painted a year ago, but needed to be rebased for as singles letting my Bercheny Hussards have the honours of first SP unit completed.

I might have pushed historical accuracy with using AWI for the hussars, but here are no issues with the uniforms here.  The Hesse-Kassel continent wore essentially the same uniforms in both the SYW and the AWI.

I particularly like the officer casually resting on the tree stump and with an eye patch.

Kleine Krieg Project - Bercheny Hussards

The first unit completed for my Sharp Practice Kleine Kreig project is a group (squadron) of the Bercheny Hussards, the oldest Hussards regiment in the French army.  The regiment was founded by a Transylvanian Count Bercheny and the Colonelship stayed in the family until the Revolution.  The uniform of Sky blue dolman and pellisse with red and blue mirliton is quite natty looking.

This unit was over a year in the completion.  I originally bought the figures for an aborted Maurice SYW project, which I put in hold due to cost worries.  They sat half finished for about a year, and were finished in May just before we went to the UK.  Hussars in general are among the most finicky figures to paint, and Seven Years War era hussars felt worse than most.  Finally I got them to the "that'll do pig" stage.

The figures are from the Perrys AWI range.  The wargames fashion police (WFPD) might give me heck on that but the uniforms are very, very similar to SYW era troops and the Perrys don't do SYW.  Also uniform cuts and patterns are much less doumented than for the Napoleonic era, so the exact cut of the cloth is not clearly defined.  Anyway they have the requisite uniform pieces - dolman, pellisse, tight britches and rediculously silly hat!

The Perrys are my go to figure manufacturer for a variety of reasons.  Customer service is top rate, they consistently are able to deliver figures to the Canadian wilds in quick order without over charging for postage plus they don't charge VAT on overseas orders.  Also I love the poses for the variety and the realism.  It seems quite popular to bash the Perrys on the level of flash on their figures, but I don't find that a problem at all.  It may be that I am less fussy about it, don't notice or am just used to dealing with crappy casts!  Or it could be that I fame in obscure periods that no sane individual could give a rats ass about.  Any way I like the figs and am quite pleased with the end result.

There are 6 troopers, officer and trumpeter.  The officer wears a fur busby in place of the mirliton and has a leopard skin shabraque.  Officially he is supposed to have a mirliton, but being hussars the officers apparently wore what they wanted and typically this was a busby!  The trumpeter just to be completely different wears a brown long coat and tricorne!

Back from the UK

My wife and I just came back from a two week visit to the UK.  This was an almost exclusively family and couple based trip with little of wargaming interest.  We visited my Dad near Southampton, (who I had not seen for two years and my wife for six years), and my wife's sister in Bedford who we had not seen in six years.  We also spent some time in London.

Wargaming events missed while in the UK included Partizan, a Jutland centenary re-enactment game and likely many other chances to catch up with UK based gamers I had met through the inter web.  But we were in the UK for two weeks and well family trumps gamers.

One of the highlights for me was a three day sailing trip with my dad, almost certainly the last one before he sells his boat.  We went from the Hamble River to Yarmouth on May 24th, to Leamington on May 25th and returned to the Hamble on the 26th.

Waypoints marked with stars.

Yarmouth Castle From the Harbour Entrance

Yarmouth Castle was built late in the reign of Henry VIII, but lacks the distinctive round style of the other Henrican Fortifications along the South and East Coasts of England.  It was used until 1885, it's purpose of course being to scare off the beastly French.  I did not go into the Castle this trip (I wanted to but missed the entrance before closing) but have in the past.  It is a classic small artillery fort that would be a feature in a small war-games action, on land or by se or both.

Yarmouth Harbour Marina

SP2 Inspiration

In recent posts I've talked about my Kleine Krieg project using Sharp Practice 2.  So what's the inspiration here.

Let us look at the forces involved.  In the Red Corner on the Allied side we have:

• Luckner's Hussars, a formerly Dutch unit that transferred to Hanoverian pay after the WAS and led by a future Marshall of France and the inspiration for La Marseillaise (you can't make this Sh*t up).
• Hessian Jaegers composed of huntsmen and gamekeepers and armed with rifles.  This is the same regiment that served so well in the AWI.
• Brunswick and Hessian Grenadiers.
• Campbell's and Keith's Highlanders who were used frequently as light troops.  And yes I expect to have a Captain Campbell figure based on certain local gamer.
• British Light Dragoons
• Also worthy of note is the presence of the "Hereditary Prince" or Erbprinz of Brunswick who served as a independent command role frequently.  Better known as the Duke of Brunswick who was defeated at Valmy and killed at Jena, in the SWY he was a much younger and much more active commander and one of the better generals.

Meanwhile in the Blue Corner, on the French side we have

• The Bercheny Hussards, the oldest hussar regiment in the French army.  Col. Bercheny was a Transylvanian under Ottoman rule who formed a regiment of hussars and took it to serve the French Kings
• Fischer's Chasseurs and a host of other colourful light units
• The Irish Brigade always good for flavour!
• Dragoons in a mounted and dismounted role
• Exiled Saxons who had been impressed into Prussian service after the conquest of Saxony in 1756 and subsequently escaped to serve in new Saxon units alongside the French.

All good and colourful stuff.  And the actions in the Kliene Kreig - the stuff of Charles Grant scenarios.  Bridge demolitions, raids, ambushes, river crossings the whole shebang.

Sharp Practice Inspiration From Others

As mentioned, I am starting a SYW project based on the SP2 ruleset.  For inspiration and eye candy, I provide the following link from one of the Lardies on his own SYW themed Imagination project.

New Project SP2 and the SYW Kleine Krieg

As is normally the case, when I get busy with real life I spend my down time dreaming of new projects.  It's the old wargamer's paradox.  The desire to paint/game rarely coincides with the opportunity to do so!

After hopping about various proto-projects that died on the drafting table, I had a lit on a project that I might be able to stick with for a bit.  We'll test this theory over the summer and see if I got an attention span that last longer than a Trump policy declaration.  On the way my fight plan passed over 15mm Libya and Abyssinia in 1940, Scotland during the Nine Years War, the Indian Mutiny and AWI among others.

The plan uses the recently released updated rules set Sharp Practice 2 from the Two Fat Lardies.  I had PDFs of two of their WW2 rule sets and liked what I saw.  So I took advantage of their introductory bundle offers and plunked down my shekels.  The PDF looks great with the hard copy following by a much slower snail's route.

The best intro to SP2 is found with the videos in Lard-o-vision.  However, the rules are for small scale actions set in the black powder era - 1700-1870.  It uses a basic group of 6-8 figures which can represent a small group on a 1-1 scale or a company at about 1:5 scale.  There is an emphasis on personalities so that one can be Sharpe, Hornblower, Aubrey or who ever one wants.

So what will I do with SP2?  Well I've long wanted to game the SYW in Western Germany, between the French armies and "His Britannic Majesties Army in Germany".  HBMAIG was a collection of Hanoverian, Hessian, Brunswick and British forces led by a Prussian General.  The campaigns feature large scale actions (e.g. Minden) but also a whole string of little actions between light forces in the Kliene Krieg.  I think that SP2 will cover these very nicely.

Book Tour and Signing

The past week my better half and I did one of our infrequent fliers up the road to Saskatoon (a 2.5 hour drive each way).  Unlike our typical "god we need to get out of town" trips, this one came with a specific purpose.  One of our favourite authors Guy Gabriel Kay was at our favourite bookstore  for a reading and signing.

Kay is a Canadian fantasy writer who writes very very good books set in alternate worlds that close follow our own histories.  This are not slash and f*ck novels, but wonderful thought provoking books that are also great reads.  And yes there is some S&Fing in the process and tons of inspiration for any historical gamer.  The Lions of Al-Rassan (go read this book for El-Cid inspiration, it got me hooked!) for instance parallels el-Cid and Al Andalusia, Under Heaven mirrors Tang dynasty China etc.  His latest is Children of Earth and Sky is in a  Renaissance Venetian Empire themed setting.  It was published on May 10th, and Kay was doing his signing in Saskatoon two days later.  In a case of serendipity, I had a meeting set for the afternoon of 12th, but this was cancelled freeing me to take the day and to do the junket.

Kay was a very funny and interesting speaker and we now have a signed copy of his brand new book.  I am looking forward to reading it once my wife finishes it.