On the Buffet Today...

A fair mix has passed through the uniform store in the last week or so.

First up is the Second Batallion, 48e Régiment de ligne from the French 1812-13 project.

Second, and also a part of the French 1812-13 project is the Third Batallion, Joseph Napoleon Regiment.

Third is two gun sets, again for 1812-13, to represent the half batteries of 4lb guns that were attached to the infantry brigades.

Fourth, on a similar theme, is two half batteries of 4lb guns attached to the Demi-brigades for the French in Egypt project.

Fifth and final, two regiments of dismounted dragoons for the French 1812-13 project, the 30th regiment first, followed by the 28th.

A Visit to the Great War Expositions in Wellington

Yesterday we flew down to Wellington for the day with the goal of visiting the Great War exhibitions at both the National War Memorial Museum and at the National Museum at Te Papa. The forecast for Wellington was for strong north westerly winds and rain so we were ready for a bumpy arrival (actually I have been in much worse), but what we were not prepare for was the first day of the school holidays (why did I think this was next week) and we were on standby tickets. However, we got seats and got there pretty much on time.

Apart from a bit of an issue where the taxi driver was heading for the wrong museum, we got to the National War Museum by about 9:45 and went through the main exhibition. Created by Peter Jackson it begins with a walk through a Belgian village in 1914 and then traces its way through the war with a strong New Zealand focus. The displays are astonishing with stunning features such as the omnibus, the Mk1 tank, the elevated gun and limber team (below).

For a wargamer the key part of this visit had to be the huge diorama of the attack at Chunuk Bair on 8 August 1915, featuring more than 5,000 54mm figures. Now famous amongst wargames and model soldier collectors for its sheer size I took a few quick snaps, but most will have seen better shots posted on various blogs over the last few years.

Perhaps the most striking thing for me was the colourised photographs. It is astonishing to me how black and white strips life from imagery. Some of these scenes of every day life, often behind the lines, look grim and deathly. But add the colour and there is life, hope and even humour.

The second part of the time at the exhibition was a walk through the trench and tunnel system of Quinn's Post. This section has taken a bit of a bashing in the local press recently, but it is superbly done. Jackson has applied his film making skills here and made use of holographic imagery. The sights, sounds and smells are all represented, applied with a bit of that dark almost ghoulish humour that exists amongst a group of men in this sort of situation portrayed by different actors to demonstrate life in what was a hellish place.

After this we met up with long time Wellington based gaming friends Terry (https://terrysgaragegaming.wordpress.com) and von Peter himself (https://vonpeterhimself.wordpress.com) who kindly drove us down to Te Papa where we went through the exhibition there. This was a very different exhibition. Much more touchy feely with a darker social view of the horrors of war. Again it was brilliantly done. The key for me was the three times life sized mannequins created by Weta Workshops of soldiers and medics that capture in their oversize that blood, sweat and raw emotion of what it must have been like at times.

Any Kiwis who have not been to see this shoud do so soon before it closes.

We then had coffee with Terry and Peter before we headed back to the airport for our trip home. And there was quite a different story. We were a couple of hours early so we thought we would be able to move our standby tickets to an earlier flight, but with the worsening weather a couple of flights had been cancelled and we were unable to transfer, but there were still seats on our existing flight so that was OK. We went to the lounge and had something to eat and drink. Then our flight was cancelled. Luckily we could transfer to another one, but that was delayed. So we waited. As we waited there was an announcement that we had just a experienced an earthquake (I didn't feel it) and all flights were suspended. The collective groan around the terminal was quite audible. Then a minute or two later another announcement apologising that  there was no earthquake and that the announcement was an automatic one and was the result of a system error - there is huge relieve that we are still going, but another short delay. Our standby seats come through and to my delight are a flight deck seats so it is an exciting view fir us, especially taking off in a 20 knot wind gusting 60 knots. It is a good flight home and we pick up a Chinese takeaway on the way home. It has been a long and tiring day. I slept well last night.

Ottoman Janissaries

The second unit in the Ottoman force to oppose the French in Egypt, an Orta of Janissaries was completed over the weekend, but only based last night.

Again these are Brigade Games figures.

The next batch of Ottomans will be a little way off, probably as far off as September or October, after the French in Egypt expansion and a few more French 1812 units are completed.

American War of Independence Game

On Sunday 1 July we pre-empted the US Independence Day celebrations by playing an American War of Independence game.

 

The scenario set up was that a British frontier fort, supported by an outer line of earthworks, came under attack from a significant American force.

 

On the British side there were six battalions of regulars, one of rangers and four field guns and a cavalry unit in garrison with another ten battalions of Hessians outside the fort. The Americans had four separate commands, two largely militia and two of Continentals.

 

All description of the battle are given from my (British) view so that my end of the table is the near end,  The battlefield was laid out so that we were playing along the length of the table. The fort stood left hand near end with a town in front of it. To the right of the town was a large flat and relatively open hill. About a third of the way down on the right, beyond the hill, was a farm. A stream divided the table in two across which ran the main road.

 

Two brigades of American militia were on the table, on the fort side of the stream, but beyond the town. A third militia brigade was advancing on a road running in from the right edge between the farm and the hill. The Continentals had to march pretty much the full length of the table to get into the fight.

 

We were told that loyalists had advised high command of the American attack and we were to take the fight to the Americans and drive them back across the stream. Following orders I marched out of the fort with the Hessians on night right. Immediately I struck problems with terrain. The town seriously constricted my ability to manoeuvre. If I wanted to get at the enemy I needed to move to the right of the town and the wood that stood beyond it, but if I ignored the town the Americans would be free to occupy the place and have access not only to my left flank and rear, but also access to the almost undefended fort. I decided instead to let the Americans come to me, while the Hessians took control of the hill and drive off the other, weaker, American force.

The Hessians advanced boldly up the hill and secured its far slope with some ease. There they formed and no sooner had they done so than the Americans attacked. While the Hessians should have driven them off easily the Americans put up a good fight. One of their units broke and was destroyed, but two other fought on in an extended fight. The Hessian line began to look a bit ragged. When the Americans were reinforced on the hill things began to look grim for the Hessians.

 

On my front I occupied the two with three battalions of line infantry and pushed the rangers forward to engage the militia on the left. The remaining three battalions formed in the clearer space to the right, with the guns to their right where they had free reign.

 

The Americans on my front pushed three battalions towards the town while and other five made for the open ground in the centre. Four of these battalions formed one great column of battalions and made straight for the guns. The guns should have blown them away, and while they scored nine hits but for the American player rolling saving throws for eight! The gunners were driven from their guns but were not dispersed.

 

Next turn a British battalion charged the Americans, routed them and broke through onto the unit behind, breaking them too. The gunners rallied and, covered by that single battalion, recovered their guns.

 

Meanwhile on my left the rangers were shot to pieces by the militia, but the Americans were unwilling to push against the British in the town.

 

It was becoming increasingly evident that the British and Hessians could not push forward, even with some reinforcement, and they close to fall back on the fort…well the British fell back on the fort and the Hessians were told there was no room at the inn and they would need to make camp in the woods. As the game drew to an end the last of the British fell back into the works around the fort. The officers retired to the mess where a goodly portion of beef and potatoes had been roasting most of the day, and a few bottle of fine claret were broken out and one, that had been opened the previous evening was sent over to the Hessians.

Half Year Results

With six months of the year gone it is time for my half year wrap up.  In the past I have had a rather cavalier approach to my projects, flitting between them like a butterfly, but in recent times I have been a much more disciplined butterfly, and this year even more so.

 

At the beginning of the year I determined to focus on eight specific projects:

• The completion of the French in Egypt (that included an expansion)
• The completion of the French 1812-1813 army
• Adding the Heavy Brigade to the British Crimean War army
• The start and finish of the British in Egypt 
• The start of the Ottoman Turks for 1798-1801
• The expansion of the War of 1812 collection
• The start of a Spanish Napoleonic army
• The start of a Swedish Napoleonic army

On top of these projects would be a number of terrain items that would support the various projects. These would be my butterfly items that I could flit between to provide a bit of variety amongst the masses of figures.

 

So what is the state of the project plan? Well it is pretty good really.

• The main part of the French in Egypt collection was completed in January, with a small expansion in May/June. The figures for a slightly bigger expansion are on order
• Heavy Brigade for the Crimea, well only half of that is done due to figure supply issues. These figure are still unavailable, but I hope to be able to to complete this expansion before year’s end
• The British in Egypt collection is completed except for two gun sets that are on order
• The French 1812-1813 collection is progressing well and will meet the completion deadline of November
• The War of 1812 expansion exceeded its targets by being ahead of time and larger than was intended
• The Ottoman Turks project has started, but is intended to be a “gathering” force, with units being added here and there over the next year or two
• The Spanish and Swedish Napoleonic collections are not yet started, but do have slots in the schedule from October through December.

On top of the figures I have made some terrain pieces – the War of 1812 blockhouse, the Maori Village, some woodland indian houses, the Egyptian village and based all those palm trees!

 

So to the statistics:

Item	Foot	Mounted	Guns	Points	Percentage
French in Egypt	87	18	2	635	10
French 1812-1813	198	124	6	2290	36
British in Egypt	304	33	4	2060	29
Ottoman Turks	34	0	0	170	3
Crimean War	0	12	0	120	2
War of 1812	48	6	0	310	5
Spanish Napoleonic	0	0	0	0	0
Swedish Napoleonic	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	671	193	13	5415	100

In addition to this are 30 terrain items with a points count of 1,020, giving a total points count for the year to date of 6,435.

This year I created a number of reporting tools to not only monitor my progress, but to manage my purchases too, keep me within my budget and out of serious trouble with her indoors.

A half year result of 6,435 painting points is pretty respectable in my books. The second half year won’t yeald as high a total because there will be a couple of significant disruptions to painting time, but Istill anticipate meeting all my targets.

 

Oh dear,  I have just read through what I have written and realised how close to my real life performance review it reads…although if I could count as many successes in real life I would be much happier, but then I don’t have to deal with insanely beaurocratic corporate IT group in my hobby life.

Ottoman Nazim-i Cedid infantry

Ever since I started the French in Egypt project back in in November last year it has been my intention to include a force from the Ottoman Empire. I do not intended this to be a standalone force, but rather supports for the British.

 

As a support force this will be relatively small (did I really say that?) and I have decided on a force of six infantry units and three cavalry. I have decided to go with the Brigade Games range, largely because they are they are the only manufacturer of specifically Napoleonic Ottoman troops, but also because they are Paul Hicks designs and a wonderful sculpts.

 

The first figures arrived a couple of weeks back and had been waiting for the French dragoons to clear the painting table.

 

The first unit is a regiment of Nazim-i Cedid (sometimes Nizam-i Djedid) infantry supported by their Imam. 

Above the command set and below the Imam who will provide inspiration for the regiment.

 

Following the humiliating defeat in the Second Russo-Turkish war in the late 1700s Sultan Selim III instituted the Nazim-i-Cedid, or “New Order” to westernise the Ottoman army. He brought in foreign military advisers and organised two training institutions along European lines. He used French drills and instructors. The first test for the new order troops came early in the campaign against the French in 1799 at the Siege of Acre where they performed well.

 

This regiment is the first of what will be two in this force. The simple uniform is striking as it is simple with red jacket and headgear, and dark blue pants…and let’s face it, how often do you get to paint red shoes on historical wargames figures?

30e Regiment de Dragons

The last week was a bit disrupted with wedding anniversary and birthday celebrations, so this regiment has taken a little more time. But here it is.

About this time astute readers will be thinking " now hang on a minute, this looks exactly like the post of 17 June titled 28e Dragons: all Perry plastics and with orange facings..." But you would be wrong to think that because while the figures and facings are the same they are in fact two separate units (the key differentiator being that the 30e elite squadron has the bearskin, whereas the 28e have the plumed helmet) and his is an image of the two units side by side.

This completes the four regiments in two brigades that form the 6^th Heavy Cavalry Division as it stood at Borodino. Still to come are the command figures and the horse batteries.

Also completed are 16 of the 24 dismounted troopers. Since the remaining eight are yet to arrive, I shall post a few shots of them in a few weeks’ time.