Régiment Deux Ponts - Duexième Partie

This, the First Battalion of Régiment Deux Ponts, is the final unit I am making for this French AWI collection.

As tempting as it is to do the Régiment de Bourbonnais and the infantry of the Volontaires-étrangers de Lauzun (the only units of the French Forces in America under Rochambeau that I don’t have), I am resisting since I my original intention was to do four battalions and have already expanded that to six. On top of that this is after all really intended as a support force for the rather large American collections held by others in the group. But never say never…

Of course there has to be a parade!  

Paraguayan Fortress Guns - Part Three

Following on from my post last month, I have finished the remaining three gun positions for the Paraguayan fortress guns. These three are the three bastion positions. I have made each one as varied as possible in terms of the types of materials used in their construction, assuming that the poorly equipped Paraguayans would have had to use anything they had to hand.

And all three together.

And then all five pieces together, showing how the bastions fit in with the two recessed sections.

These are the final pieces in the Great Paraguayan War collection. Now I am ready for a game!

Värmland Jagares

The Värmland Jagare Regimente regiment presented here didn’t actually serve in the Finnish War, but I didn’t know that when I ordered them.

That said, the Karelska Jagare regiment present in the Savolaks Brigade wore a very similar uniform although they wore the standard top hat without the green crest. For a while I did consider converting the figures by whipping the heads off some line troops, but what would I do with 24 headless figures? I can’t abide waste like that.

So I have decided that the Värmland regiment will replace the Karelska regiment in my structure - when did historical accuracy get in the way of a good model soldier collection!

And here is the Savolaks Brigade on parade…

The whole brigade, including two batteries of the Savolaks artillery regiment

…on the left the Savolaks jâger regiment 

 covered by two companies of the Värmland Jägers

…and on the right the Savolaks Infantry Regiment
covered by the other two companies of the Värmland Jägers

This collection is rapidly coming to a conclusion with just four battalions and a few guns required to finish it. All of the figures have been purchased and are stacked in the queue.

The only outstanding item will be the mounted officers, that are not yet available…need to convince the Perrys to make them!

Two Units and a Game…at Last!

I realised yesterday that I haven’t posted since the 18th when we returned from our sojourn in the Deep South. It is not that I haven’t been doing any hobby work or have been layed low by the plague, rather real life has intruded into preferred life and absorbed too much of my time. The net result is that units that have been painted for a few days have lingered far too long in the basing department. That said, here are two newly completed units.

The first is the First Battalion Régiment de Saintonge for the French AWI army to go with the Second Battalion presented back in February.

This finishes Régiment de Saintonge. The last unit in my intended French force is on the painting table now.

The second unit is the Second Battalion 53rd Regiment for the Prussian army for 1870.

There are only eight battalions still to go in this force (including the jäger battalion just ordered).

And finally last Friday we actually managed a face-to-face game! A Borderer’s game in which three raiding parties attempted to raid cattle from a family farm with the farm owner, supported by a small force with the local warden tried to fend them off. I managed to completely wipe out the defending farmer and his supporters while my two fellow raiders gathered up two thirds of the cattle. I am sure that Keith will write up a more complete report of the event.

Up in truth we spent more time talking (having seen each other so rarely since January) than gaming, but a  game, a good natter and a shared meal was just the ticket after a difficult week in the coal mines.

Home again… 😞☹️😩

Our pleasant five days in the lower South Island is over and we are back in Auckland, back to the bloody awful traffic, rain and to work tomorrow.

Tuesday was her indoors’ birthday and it dawned a brilliantly sunny day, pleasantly warm, but with a bit of wind. The birthday girl wanted lunch at The Stoaker Room in Cromwell so we started a coffee at a popular local spot then stopped in at Lake Hawea, about 15 Km from Wanaka. It is a lovely spot with a beautiful beach and stunningly blue water, but the wind blowing straight up the lake was a bit strong although the temperature was surprisingly mild.

Cromwell was about a 30 minute drive away past vineyards and apple orchards and we arrived there just on mid-day. A great lunch was had in very balmy conditions for the time of year (19 degrees C), but on the return trip the clouds had begun to close in and there was rain on the horizon. However, it never eventuated and we were still able to take our afternoon walk into town along the lakeside track for a quiet drink (pausing to listen to the large number of native birds in the picturesque grove below)…

…and just as importantly for me to gather some a several handfuls of small stones from the beach for basing purposes - how could any good wargamer let such a rich resource go unexploited?

By the time we were ready to walk back the sky was threatening again. Again it came to naught, but provided these wonderfully moody shots.

A light dusting of snow on Mount Burke provided a great waking view on the Wednesday. 

We had a late afternoon departure from Queenstown that meant we could have a leisure coffee in town then take a drive across the Crown Range to have lunch in Arrowtown.  However, our Arrowtown lunch was thwarted because our preferred venue was closed so we continued on to Queenstown where we were spoiled for choice (although Arrowtown option would have avoided a visit to the Louis Vuitton store - well it was her birthday), before returning the rental car and catching our flight. By 7:45 PM we were home.

Still on the road…

With Milford done we headed north to Wanaka, via Gibbston Valley where we picked up some wine then Cromwell where we lunched at the Stoaker Room, a favourite stop of ours in the region. As you can see I am in a happy place with a generous serving of porchetta…this place does great food!

The rain of the previous day had cleared although the clouds were still low around the mountains, but didn’t detract from the stunning view from our hotel balcony.

By evening the clouds had all but cleared for a great sunset across the lake.

Monday dawned a little overcast, but by lunchtime the skies were blue and we took a picnic to Glendhu Bay, just a few kilometres out of town. With not a soul around we sat enjoying the serenity of the place…and people wonder why I am attracted to this part of the country.

Returning to the hotel we spent the early afternoon sitting on the hotel balcony in the hot sun reading with a glass of Pinot Noir occasionally glancing out over the glittering lake.

Then we walked along the edge of the lake into town (about 2 km) for a drink or two with magnificent views across the lake.

I could really get used to this!

After a more spectacular sunset than the previous day the whole day was topped off with a great dinner at a fabulous Chinese restaurant overlooking the waterfront.