Russian Generals

These are in fact the AB Russian staff officers made up to be generals. I'm sure of the composition but this base will serve as the main Russian command base. I have WM and OG officer figures to paint up which ought to allow for another three bases of two each. Apologies for the quality of the pictures.

Some Toys and WIP

Santa had been very busy, he delivered lots of shiny lead, mainly Russians and Austrians (Old Glory, Blue Moon and Warmodelling). He also managed to frame a print of Captain Sharpe and his merry band. This print was a birthday present that sat in its tube for many months and now graces my study wall. Checking out the ladies present I think there's only two that he didn't have his wicked way with! I also have three other prints to frame and hang (Napoleons farewell to the old guard, France 1814 and Borodino by Lejuene).

The first WIP picture is of OG Russian artillery and three AB generals, along with the old guard. The second shows a host of Prussian cavalry, French Cuirassiers who need to wait until the Russian horsemen are sorted(these are WM figures on the bottom right handside)

Hopefully, Santa has been generous to you all!

Troitsk, Vilno and Osdessky regiments

I painted up three old glory Russian units, the pink & green flag belongs to the Troitsk regiment, the red & white to Vilno and the yellow flag identifies the Odessky regiment. The flags are from Maverick models, I always remember now to touch up the edges of the flags with paint to cover white bits. These are the last of the road march pose, probably not the best of the OG sculpts. I replaced the flag poles which were a bit short with metal spears I bought from the York wargame show a few years ago. I also had to convert a couple of officers to standard bearers since I didn't have enough to go around!

Next to be completed will be the Napoleons Old Guard Grenadiers (again old glory) and some Russian cavalry (Fantassin/warmodelling), hussars, cuirassiers and dragoons.

Lithuanian Dragoons

These are AB figures and are the last of my Prussian dragoons. The flag is by Fighting15s, I have no idea if this flag is correct or not but I did notice that Paul from http://napoleonicsinminiature.blogspot.co.uk/  has the same flag, so thats good enough for me! This was the unit commanded by 'crazy' Platen, there is a nice picture of him and his trumpeter in the Osprey Lutzen & Bautzen book (the trumpeter actually used his trumpet to clobber a French lancer!).

Prussian Supply Train

Didn't take too long to complete these, basically the same old glory 15mm caissons and wagons as per the French. The wagon packs came with three nationalities (French, Prussian & Austrian), I've had to use all three since I added extra horses. I didn't paint the bases, just added tufts and static grass.

Thats £15 per pack of 2 x wagons (or caissons), does anybody know a cheaper option?

L'Empereur 1814

Well, here he is with Marshal Ney and three others somewhere in France during the 1814 campaign. The Napoleon figure and Ney are by Warmodelling (a.k.a Fantassin). In fact this company has created about six or seven versions of Napoleon based on the different campaigns. I gave Ney the usual blue cloak rather than the brownish one that Messionier has depicted him in. The two similar looking generals are AB but the middle one is an AB body with a Warmodelling headswap (why? because he was a colonel in shako and it was the only spare general head I had). Well, there they are with their cloaks and greatcoats in the miserable winter of 1814. Not my greatest of command bases with such a mix of figures.

French Supply Train

One thing my armies have been sadly lacking are ammunition caissons and supply wagons. So I ordered 2 x large supply wagons packs and 2 x ammunition caisson packs. Each pack comes with two vehicles, the others will be painted up for the allies. These are of course old glory 15mm, they were easy to assemble (superglue) and with a bit black wash have turned out reasonably well. I did add two extra horses to the wagons to make up the numbers to four horses with two outriders riders (the caissons came with four horses).

My first 1814 battle (Brienne) scenario calls for a Prussian supply train to used as part of the French victory conditions, so they won't just be used for eye candy! These French wagons will have double up up as Prussian/Russians since the train stretches across the table. The vehicles are based on 100 x 40 mm MDF with magnetic backing.

Prussian Dragoons

I bought a shed load of Prussian cavalry a few years back and never got round to painting them all up. Here is the 8th Prussian Dragoons, a unit that saw action in the hundred days. They have yellow facings and I was damned sure that a second regiment had yellow facings also but no - I checked one of the online resources and only the 8th had yellow, never mind! These are AB figures and the flags are from Fighting15s and I'm not even sure if the flags are for these specific regiments. However, I'm happy enough with them.

I have about 3 x 12 man regiments of landwehr cavalry and 2 x 12 man regiments of uhlans primed and waiting. I already partly painted the Lithuanian dragoons.  I guess I'll complete the Lithuanians and start on more Russian units. Otherwise 1814 will not happen.

France 1814

In the New Year (like many others I suspect) I am planning on wargaming the 1814 Campaign in France. I will simply be taking each battle in turn using the OOB's based on the approximations found in Andrew Uffindels book and various scenarios that have appeared on the web over the last few years.

This means of course painting up Russians, Bavarians and Austrians! Given the lack of time as the battles started in late January I will be using the brigade as the basic combat element. I already have the French and Prussian forces although will need to paint up the old guard infantry units. This will give me something to work towards as I spend very little time gaming, so there is motivation to eventually drop the brush end of January next year and pick up the dice!

Since the scale will be grand tactical I will probably use Grande Armee, I have other rule-sets such as Snappy Nappy (gotta love the name) and DBN, but I'm not so familiar with these. I may tinker with Grande Armee's combat system by limiting the number of combat dice a brigade can use. Often a strong unit can steamroller all opposition despite the fact that the reserve battalions in the brigade would not be in a position to attack the enemy. There have been some interesting posts on WD3 to that effect.

Wish me luck!

Empress Dragoons

These are AB figures and had been kicking around on my workbench for nearly two months! I've had a bit of a painting block, not sure why really although I will say the last few weeks at work has been hectic.

This last unit completes the Guard Cavalry, I have both light and heavy now completed. I don't think I'll bother with the Guards D' Honour as they were a short lived unit (full of spoilt, rich kids anyway!). 

I have a lot more Prussian cavalry to paint up, three regiments of dragoons and three of Landwehr. Two battalions of the Old Guard Grenadiers and two battalions of the British Guards all primed and waiting!

Another trip

We went to Gibside Hall on the outskirts of Gateshead. We did quite a bit of walking here and there and hiding amongst the trees were re-enactors of the good old 68th regiment!The hall was built in the early 1600's and fell into disrepair around 1860. Back then it was the property of the Bowes family (Queen Mum's lot) and is now in the care of the national trust. The Sergeant allowed child number two and myself to have a bit play with a Brown Bess - a joy to hold and I can tell you with the bayonet fitted you're just looking for the excuse to run somebody through!!

1/4th Tirailleurs

Here is the 1st battalion of the 4th Tirailleurs and I've put them together with their 2nd battalion and the 3rd Regiment. These painted up very nicely although I missed the buttons on the soldiers coats and the white piping on the front which I can never do. The officer on horseback is General Delaborde, one of the Young Guard Divisional commanders - all figures are AB's.