"Home Boys Home"

The English leaders were stirred to revenge the Scots ambush last summer (see Ambushed!)  and so sent out a force of cavalry backed by some bills and bows. After causing havoc and destruction, they turned to head back to Haddington but they were on the far bank of the Blutaip River. Scouts reported that there was a nearby village with two bridges and a small garrison. 

So it was that the English raiders sent a company of archers to make their way to a wood by the northern bridge during the night, ready to surprise the Scots at dawn.

Dawn breaks!

The English archers soon forced the Scots picquet from their post and the cavalry moved to cross the bridge. Alas for the English, the infantry commander missed the order to advance while the mounted arquebusiers were slow to finish their breakfast and join the column of cavalry. 

The archers' arrows were too much for the Scots pikes and they fell back. The Scots cavalry rode forward to repel the English cavalry but they were also forced back. The road over the bridge seemed open.

The English infantry was not as fast as the cavalry, and the eager Highlanders were soon locked in hand to hand contact with the Sassanach while Scots pikemen marched forward to block the English escape.

The fighting was fierce but the Bills & Bows did their work.

The Border Horse were first to cross the bridge while the rest of the English moved as swiftly as possible to cross the bridge and resume their march back to camp. It seemed to be all over until there came the roar of canon!  A battery of guns had been established on the river bank, pointing across the river, but the gunners had slowly dragged a gun through the streets of the village until they had a line of sight.
(Rumours that the Scots commander forgot about the artillery until the game was almost over, are firmly denied by the Scots commander.) 

The Scots were not strong enough to stop the remnant of the English raiders but they inflicted heavy enough casualties to dissuade their commander from trying it again. 
( The scenario was #35: "Surprise 2" from "Scenarios For All Ages" by Charles S Grant and Stuart Asquith.  The goal for the English was to escape without losing more than 3 stands, but they lost a 4th on the last turn!) 

Down Tools! Clear for Action!

Its that time of the year, getting ready for winter, cutting and stacking firewood, trying to manage water supplies after more than 3 months of drought, sorting out and reorganizing miniatures for North America from the 1740's to 1760, casting, painting, and on and on. 

Its time for a game! The rest can wait.

 

       
"Sergeant Major! Clear the table! Get work parties together, ready to set up terrain as instructed!"

  "Army commanders, meet in my tent to discuss scenarios, then draw cards for sides"

Everyone, else....Stand by!

The Battle of Notenoy (Pt 2: Conclusion)

 While the Germans and Emigres were tackling the redoubts, the British infantry enveloped two sides of the central village while leaving a clear line of fire for the Royal Artillery.

The fight for the town was bloody and sustained while the opposing cavalry units eyed each other. If either had charged and won, the victorious horsemen could turn the tide in their side's favour but if they lost, all might be lost. So it was that neither General ordered them in and the opposing cavalry stared at each other, ready for pursuit if their infantry triumphed, or to cover their army's retreat if needed.  

A balloon's eye view of the battlefield, 1/2 way through the day.

With the redoubts cleared, the General ordered his left wing to detach a battalion to join in the attack on the village. He also ordered the redcoats to side step to give the artillery a clean line of fire to the stone house. The Black Watch, having suffered heavy casualties was ordered to fall back and guard the flank of the infantry in case the French cavalry charged. Slowly, the allied infantry fought their way into 1/2 the houses in the town. 

On the far left, the German battalions stormed the town and, despite heavy casualties, they drove the French out with the points of their bayonets.  The Republicans themselves had taken even heavier casualties and there was no chance that they could attempt to take the town back.  The Republic still held two of the objectives and the sun was sinking low. Was it time to gamble with the cavalry?

There was no need. The allied infantry manged to take most of the town and after very heavy losses, the remaining Republican infantry broke and ran. The Republican cavalry covered their retreat and the Duke decided not to risk his cavalry in pursuit when there were so many of these French Republicans to fill the ranks of their infantry. (ps this was the 3rd last turn.)
  

Up next?   hmmm....

The Battle of Notenoy (Pt1)

The 1st Coalition armies were getting restless in the fall of 1793. The campaign seemed to have stalled but eventually the Duke of Belmont had received orders to advance with an allied force of British, Emigre and Brunswick units and seize the strategical town of Notenoy where the road splits, and either the town on the North road or the redoubt blocking the South road.

Cavalry scouts reported that the Republicans had occupied the town and both exits but with a smaller force. After a quick council of war, a plan was decided on. The British infantry would seize the central town and road junction while the Emigre and German brigade would storm the enemy redoubts and seize the smaller town. The cavalry would guard the flank of the infantry while the light troops would work their way through the forest and try to silence the enemy artillery which was holding the third objective.  

The British infantry headed straight forward to the main objective, supported by all of the artillery and were quickly engaged.

On the left, the French musket and canon fire was causing serious casualties. The Emigres were first to reach their target but they were blown back by cannister fire.

The veteran Brunswickers also took heavy casualties but they cheered and swarmed over the redoubt, capturing the French guns and raising the morale of their experienced supports.

"Advance The Guns!" came the order. The bombardment against the redoubt had done little damage so they were ordered to advance to a more effective range. Supported by infantry musketry, the artillery did its work.  

On the Southern flank, the German Jagers slowly forced the French skirmishers back towards the redoubt beyond the woods. In the clearing between the woods and the town, the opposing cavalry sat and faced each other. If either side charged and drove off their enemy, they could wreak havoc on the already engaged enemy infantry or exposed artillery, but it was a dangerous gamble, one to only be used if absolutely necessary.   

After a brief bombardment by the British artillery, the Royalists charged again and captured the second redoubt. Now it was time to move on the crucial goals but the day was half spent and not one objective had been taken. Could it still be done?

...............To Be Continued 

At Last!

Its always something!   Routine chores, helping out with a litter of 3+ week old puppies, oh and rediscovering that the scenario called for twice as many Coalition troops as I have. Luckily, a number of German states had not changed their uniforms as drastically since the Seven Years War as the British and French had done, and it didn't take long to cast and paint a few more Dragoons for the Coalition army. I could use double the number of artillery pieces, but, not today!

Hmm, A little crowded but....

Let the battle begin!   (But not today, now I have errands to run in town.....sighhhh).

Rangers Training

 Another step towards being ready for action.

Given they'll likely be used for historical fiction games, I just call them 'Ross's Rangers'

Meanwhile, Back in France....waaay back.

The table is reset, the rules have been slightly revised, (one page rules here), a scenario designed, and there is no other plan for the day. 

What are the odds that something will interfere? I think I'd rather not know!

The French army finds the pass blocked.

These 40mm armies are mostly original homecast figures,  reinforced by various commercial figures and some Elastolins.

To be continued.....

We're Back!

Belmont Island is about to become a warzone again and the heat and humidity in my room is adding a touch of reality to the setting......

I've just about re-based enough figures to get a semi-skirmish game on the table before the weekend is done.

The New Recruits Have Arrived Sir

"Right-o SergeantMajor, make sure they have their arms and their heads in good order then I'll come inspect them."

Cast from new Prince August SYW moulds

"Well, they're a promising lot, but it'll take a bit of work to get them ready to face the enemy. Best start by getting them into uniform."

To be continued.......

Back To Base Lads

When I bought my first Prince August moulds, in the 1990's, it was to bring a regiment to play in the Hartford Area Weekly Kriegspiel's (H.A.W.Ks) club's multiplayer Charge! games at H.M.G.S. conventions. To fit in, I mounted each figure on a 1" wide metal washer. Since then, as the armies grew and I started experimenting at home and at conventions with different rules and levels of game, my poor armies went through a variety of basing ideas from single figures, to fixed stands with markers, to magnetised bases and so on.  

Well, life goes on and making a 3,200 km round trip drive is less attractive now than it was 20-25 years ago. This year, I donated a large contingent of my "Rosmark" troops to the H.A.W.K's to do their bit in club and convention games, and kept the units that would be useful in my planned not-quite-historical Acadian and Quebec campaigns.

My process: The single figures were mounted on steel washers using ordinary White (aka Carpenter's) glue and an hour of standing in water up to their shoes, makes it easy to pop them off. Being thrifty by upbringing as well as necessity after my choice of very early retirement, I cut my own bases from scraps, mostly from the boxes of Clementines etc.. Once the glue is dry, I flock with sawdust I've saved when doing repairs or projects and finally paint to match my table as well as I can.   

 

I confess that it hadn't taken long pushing scores and at times, hundreds, of individual figures to become a bit tiresome and, over the years, I have experimented with various alternate solutions from magnetic multi-figure stands and steel washers as bases on the figures, to a mix of multifigure and single figures and so on. Well, these days, the less fiddling with individual soldiers, the better, and since this is a solo project, open to a club or convention game now and then, all my armies, except Prince Valiant and friends, are going back on multi-figure stands.

Since I want to do both battles and large skirmishers, and want to play a game of toy soldiers, not conduct an accurate recreation, I have opted for an Old School approach where a Battalion of 300-500 men in a battle will be represented by 3 stands or "companies" of around 6 figures on a base.  In small actions or certain scenarios, an individual stand might be used to represent a detachment of 100 or so men or even less, depending on the situation, but with no change is ground scale, ranges etc.. Remember, its a game of toy soldiers. 

For my own convenience, the same rules will be used for my 1840's games at the other end of the smoothbore musket era but with different hats.

More to follow.   

Battle of Saint Croix: 1746

Popular history has little time for what is known in the US as King George's War, or the contemporary Duc d'Anville's unfortunate 1746 expedition to reclaim Acadia for King Louis. However, for someone who grew up on the banks of the St. Lawrence and now lives in what was Acadia, and has a friend who worked hard and finally bought back his Acadian ancestor's farm, some 250 years after their expulsion, that expedition seems like a good inspiration for a Not-Quite-Historical narrative-campaign. (i.e. a series of games linked by a narrative.) 

That campaign begins here.

------------------------------

As General St. Lambert crossed the Petite Riviere, he could see clearly the approaching column of redcoats with General Ross at their head. The French advance guard had done well to be first to cross over and occupy the little village on the far side of the bridge and be in position to cut the road to the next bridge. All he had to do now was to hold his ground. 

The British force seemed to be a bit hesitant if not confused in the face of the constant trickle of casualties from the Mi'kmaq and Acadian skirmishers and the approach of French reinforcements.

Once the British managed to deploy, the affair no longer looked one sided. Their attack seemed to be aimed evenly across the whole line (or not aimed at all according to some of his subordinates), so St.Lambert decided to put his faith in La Reine to hold the bridge and sent his last reserve to cross the ford and cut the road to the east.

When the Massachusetts regiment joined the battle line, the fighting raged from end to end. A company of La Reine was forced to take over the defence of the Inn and soon their 3 companies were the only defenders of the town against 8 British companies including Grenadiers and Rangers. 

At last, the Rangers managed to push the last Frenchmen from the Inn but it was too late. Moments later the Grenadiers and 26th broke after heavy casualties, followed shortly by the Massachusetts regiment. General Ross had no option but to order a retreat.  

Note: The armies were recruited from Prince August moulds with the exception of a few Irregular figures amongst the French skirmishers.

An Origin Story

How my old 15mm French Rev collection became a new 40mm one.

Really, it was all Rob Dean's fault!  (See his  French Revolution Project blog post). This was back at the 'turn of the century'. Rob had introduced me to homecasting so I naturally went from commercial moulds to making my own masters and moulds. One of the earliest projects were some 'sans culottes' for his Scarlet Pimpernel skirmish games. 

The peasant figures, sculpted, cast, modified, and painted by me some 20 years ago.

Those were very entertaining games with each player having secret missions from smugglers, young officers seeking promotion,  a marching band gaining points for playing La Marseilles (out loud) to as many French units as possible (incidentally preventing that unit  from doing anything that turn), and so on.  Naturally, one player was the Scarlet Pimpernel helping a group of escaping emigres which would be disguised as one of the French or civilian units, while one player was a spymaster trying to identify and arrest the dastardly Englishman. 

Good memories. 

Rob's French band, based on the Meisterzinn moulds.

We started planning to get them out again for a larger Scarlet Pimpernal game at Huzzah in 2020 and I started painting up more figures but COVID struck and then schedules got tangled. 

Well, we'll just have to seek to field him here, or there, or somewhere.

A New Order

Considering the important role Turkey has played over the last few centuries, I was surprised how hard it was to get useful, detailed information on Turkish armies of the late 18thC, especially in English, and if you aren't interested in peacetime  Istanbul.

A detachment of the 2nd, overseas, regiment of the new army.

Nonetheless, I did what I could with the half dozen or so books and magazine articles on hand, as well as online sources, and imagined the rest like a movie director.

The other side.

These were  homecast from Prince August SYW Russian's in summer dress with Grenz caps, floppy hat bags and baggy pants from epoxy putty.

I'm just about ready for a solo test game.

There Once Was A Troop of Republican Dragoons

 and there will be again ere long.

Prince August SYW Dragoons with Zinnbrigade Waterloo British Dragoon heads.

In addition, I finally broke down, gave in to temptation, and ordered a pair of Irregular kneeling camels to give the Mamluke column some firepower once I've added swivel guns and crews. Each stand can replace a stand of Mamlukes....(-sneaky eh?)  and give the player commanding the Mamlukes some firepower.

OK This guy is a Persian but I found a reference to some Turkish/Mamluke cavalry being supported by camel guns during Bonaparte's Syrian campaign. Close enough for me.

Oh, and I'll have to add light artillery to the weapons chart.

Recycle, Reuniform

Late last century......when I found the HAWKS running a "Not Quite The SYW" Charge! game at Cold Wars...'98?... using homecast Prince August and Meisterzinn figures, I was hooked! I bought my copy of Charge! in 1972 but had only played a few small 30mm skirmishes before getting sucked into WRG Ancients.

When I got home from that Cold Wars, I ordered 1 infantry and 1 cavalry mould, converted command figures where necessary with such a thin recruiting pool, and brought them down to join in the next time I went to Cold Wars (Y2K iir).  Well, the years have rolled on and my SYW troops haven't been making it to the table very often. As far as I can tell, my Orleans Cavalry last saw the table in 2019 and before that, well, its lost in the mists of time.

While browsing my Funcken Lace Wars, looking for something else, I noticed that the early 90's  French cavalry could be made from the PA charging cavalryman if I swapped their tricorne heads for my bicorne heads. That thought soon grew into: "If I did a head swap on my Orleans cavalry and repainted just the coats and belts, they'd work fine. My oldest cavalry regiment would see more action and I wouldn't have to wait until spring before casting more cavalry to add to the over crowded shelves and storage boxes.

" Gentlemen, I need a volunteer...."

Incidentaly, if anyone is wondering why the posts have suddenly slowed down its partly household winter duties and partly a trip to the dentist which resulted in an immediate, unexpected, extraction of 2 teeth. Ouchhh!  A week later its still sore enough to be distracting and demotivating but there are signs of healing so a test of yet another go at a the rules is imminent!   

Vive Le Roi!

 My Breton "Chouans" are now ready for battle the new (old) way.

The figures are a real mishmash.They started as a mix of 1837 Upper Canadian rebels, 1812 militia, pirates and spanish guerillas, conscripted for a one off game. Since then various additional figures have been converted based on the handful of pictures I've been able to find. 90% are original sculpts, home cast, then converted to fit the new role and to provide variety. The 10% include some Perry Spanish guerrillas and converted Prince August cowboys and SYW figures. 

All in all, probably no more that Hollywood levels of historical accuracy but that works for me in this context.

4 stands of pikemen, 6 stands of skirmishers with muskets and 2 leaders. The flag is the Bourbons' "unstained banner", a white cross on a white field. (I need to have another go at two shades of white.....) 

Having added a 5'x1' unpainted extension to my table I decided to throw one of my cloths over it. I decided that this one with fields, forest and roads painted on would make for the simplest setup. I need to add a few more hedges etc and round up some teamsters for the mule train, maybe add some more French cavalry (just because), and then give it a go.

And I'm......Back!

Last weekend, I was away visiting family, followed by some recuperating before returning to routine.   (Jeez, its only a 6 hour drive each way, you'd almost thing I was getting.....) Anyway, with chilly showers outside today, I stayed inside and painted Lady Violet. 

Not looking so bad for a hastily dressed, 100 year old lady really.

My plans for a Cross Border, "Post the worst of Covid", return to Huzzah in May, have hit some wrinkles and I'm now examining the possiblity  of a first visit to Havoc in the Boston area at the beginning of April. If it works, she'll be there with me.

Uhmm, no, that's not me escorting Lady Violet...

More bad weather on Thursday if I'm lucky.

One Done

Seven more to go! 

2 Frenchmen, 1 Mamluke, what are the odds?

Like all my French Rev 40's, not proper 'toy soldier' style but glossy but with a little bit of shading. Not a replication of any particular style other than my own but perhaps a subconscious bit of 'homage' to  both toy soldiers and to some 70's glossy wargame figures. .   

Recruits Have Poured In

Actually, they were poured a couple of years ago, but are just now being armed and dressed.

Homecast original Turkish infantry to fight the French.

The unprimed figure is there as an example of the original casting from nearly 20 years ago with his too thin bow. The shield and quiver were separate and the intention was to do some as archers, some with arquebus and others with shield and scimitar or spear. The three painted figures in the back were all that were painted and they have now been updated with muskets apart from the chap with sword and buckler.

I'm still undecided as to how uniform to make them. Obviously they are all dressed alike (having come from the same mould) but the colours might vary or I might give them uniform coats or do them all in blue trousers for ease in sorting should I do a second unit. Opinions on the question welcomed.

Just Like Old Times.

Its raining today! Hooray!

Back around 1969/70,  before I became a Wargamer, inspired and informed by Henry Harris's book "Model Soldiers", I started converting and painting my old toy soldiers into display models and making little vignettes. So, it is always a pleasure to get back to chopping, gluing, puttying and generally individualizing figures. 

An officer with three more privates for the 2nd Origawn Infantry. These will deploy as skirmishers for the marching battalion when required.

These figures are all based on the same multipart Castings moulds (now sold by the Dunken company, a company well worth supporting.) The basic ACW body bears a remarkable resemblance to  the old line of Imrie Risley kits that I spent so much time dreaming about as I browsed the catalogue and occasionally managed to fund so I was hugely pleased when I was able to buy these in the late 90's. Other bits and pieces came mostly from two of the Castings Coldstream Guards spare arms moulds but the officer's head was an original homecast piece gifted to me by an e-friend from the old Little Wars email group years ago. 

Enough of that, the glue, putty and primer should be dry by now so...let the business of painting begin!