More British in Egypt...and some French

The latest units in the British in Egypt project are the Corsican Rangers and two 12lb guns and crew. i have also added a couple of French guns.

 

The rangers were another of the émigré units recruited in the late 1790s. The unit came into British service following the secession of Corsica from the French Republic and the subsequent

Anglo-Corsican Kingdom. But when the Kingdom collapsed and the British withdrew from the island a number of the secessionists fled or were exiled. From this resource a light infantry company known as the "Franc Tireur Corses" was formed at Menorca.

 

Brought to Gibraltar in 1800 where Abercromby was preparing the Egyptian expedition they were issued with new uniforms and Baker rifles, and placed in Moore's Brigade. After the landing at Aboukir Bay they were re-titled the Corsican Rangers and fought in all of the subsequent actions in the campaign. 

 

When the campaign ended the unit went to Malta, where it was disbanded.

 

I like this unit. It is like a precursor for the 95^th Rifles with the green jackets and black facings, piped white.

 

The 12lb guns sets are superb…

 

…firing the gun and…

 

…running the gun forward.

The two 4lb light batteries represent the half batteries that were attached directly to fhe demi brigades.

Regiment de Roll

A couple of large parcels of the Perry Egyptian Campaign figures (mainly British but some French) arrived last Tuesday and I at once set working on the next unit.

This one is the second of the émigré units in the British Army. Like de Watteville's it is a Swiss unit in British service. In 1794 Baron Louis de Roll, a former officer in Louis XVI's Swiss Guards, recruired a regiment two battalions in his name from Switzerland, Alsace and Germany for British service and the regiment was posted to the Mediterranean with De Roll as its colonel, serving in Corsica and Elba before transferring to Portugal where it was reduced to a single battalion. Further postings around the Mediterranean continued with the regiment sent to Minorca and Gibraltar before ordered to Egypt.

In Egypt command of the regiment passed to its lieutenant colonel, Jost Dürler, another former Swiss Guards officer who had commanded the rearguard of the Guards in the defence of the Tuileries on 10  August 1792,  where he was captured, but managed to survive the subsequent September Massacres. The regiment fought with distinction at the Battle of Alexandria, where Dürler was killed, and lost so heavily in the campaign that it was forced to recruit from French POWs. 

After Egypt the regiment continued service in the Mediterranean before merging with Dillon's Regiment to fight in the Peninsular. At the conclusion of that campaign the regiment returned to the Mediterranean and was disbanded at Corfu in 1815.

This unit sports the thirteenth different type of headwear in this army of millinery oddities and there are still more hat variations to come.

WWI Game

Today's regular Sunday game was an early (1914) WWI  game. The game was very much an ad hoc affair.  We had four players two playing Germans and one each playing British and Belgian.

On the German side there were three battalions each of four companies, supported by four machine guns, a jäger company (with a machine gun attached), a single squadron of uhlans and two guns.

The British had six companies of infantry, supported by two machine guns, two squadrons of cavalry and a horse machine gun and two guns. The Belgians had four companies of infantry, one machine gun, a squadron of cavalry, an armoured car and two borrowed French 75mm guns.

The Belgians moved swiftly to take a position on a central height, while the British marched across a canal - the reason we had a canal on the table was simply because one of the group had bought the Sarissa canal bridge and wanted to see it on the table.

The Germans took the initiative and made for the Belgians with eight companies while four companies prepared to hold off the British. The Belgians did well initially, knocking back one of the German battalions, but numbers began to tell and the Belgians were eventually pushed from the hill with heavy losses.

Meanwhile the British cavalry advanced boldly, dismounting and taking a position in a wood while the third German battalion fell back to a better position. 

As the Belgians slowly broke apart the Germans surged forward and broke the dismounted British cavalry and began close on the rear of the British Infantry. Here the game was called with the Germans having the upper hand.

So to some images, in no particular order.

Māori Whares Completed

The last few days has seen the completion of the Māori whares started last week.

The final three buildings of the Māori whares are below.

And here are the whole six buildings, each of which is built to a slightly different design.

Also completed is a blockhouse that will form a part of a forthcoming War of 1812 frontier post. The construction process of which will form the basis of a future post.

More Bit and Pieces...Bring Out Your Dead!

While I wait for parcels to arrive I am continuing to work on those bits and pieces that inhabit the edges of the painting table.

This week's batch includes another two Māori whares - just three to go...

...and a bunch of Napoleonic casualty figures. These came with the French Heavy Cavalry and Dragoons boxed sets where there is one of each figure on the horses frame so there are twenty-one of each figure, French...

...and British.

I am not quite sure how I am going to use these yet, but at least fhey are all painted. I will have another six of each when the dragoons are finished later in the year.