Mexican Regular Infantry

I haven't posted for a while as it's taken ages to complete this 36 figure battalion. It's the 11th regiment (I think) by Old Glory 25mm, they are from the Mexican war range of 1846. This period was a few years years after the Alamo as you can probably tell by the conical shako's. I couldn't find much on the web about this period even using google translate to get Mexican web sites!

They are painted up for the Ayton game in early May, they will be followed by 20 cavalry, 2 cannon, another regular line battalion and three militia battalions plus two command bases. The Ayton game is now a regular fixture in my calendar and is a great meetup of some very decent chaps from the WD3 forum. We spend the mornings and afternoons of the weekend gaming and the evenings are filled with excellent food, beer and company.

This years theme is the ACW but of course with it being Ayton a lot of the troops will definitely not just be blues and greys! I wanted something exotic and different so the Mexican army sprang to mind! They are based six figures to a stand but with two stands broken into two skirmish bases.

Imaginations Game -Tyneside Wargames Club

I forgot to mention that in December I paid a visit to the Tyneside Wargames club for the first time. The people were very friendly and seemed quite interested in my tropps. I was invited over by Andy and Phil to play a scenario using the 28mm troops we had painted up for the Ayton Imaginations game in April 2012. I forgot to take my camera so the pictures were taken by Andy.

These are a mixture of European and Ottoman types, the scenario involved a convoy of supply wagons crossing a wide river escorted by Andy's contingent of musketeers and lancers. Phil was supposed to capture or destroy these to satisfy his victory conditions (which he achieved!). Phils army consisted of pirates, camel gunners and some light cavalry. My contingent was the rescue column consisting of four battalions of musketeers and native infantry and cavalry.

The desert terrain was supplied by a nice chap called Laurence. There was a copious amount of alcohol available which made the event even better, plus I had to do something as my troops did not appear until later.  Mind you Andy allowed me to command his fine regiment of lancers which routed upon contact with Phils light Arab cavalry thanks to my lack of generalship! He was very nice about it.

I post pictures here but a better write-up can be found on Andy's website here....

http://blog.belisarius.org.uk/2012/12/a-festive-byzarbian-interlude.html

The table, Andys convoy started from the top left-centre and had to cross the river just after the bend and to head for the red dot on the bottom right.

Phil's Camel gunners

 Battle between Phil's pirates and the Andy's musketeers skirmish across the river

 The Hareem set from Eureka!

 Phils infantry

 Andy's Ottomans

 My infantry appear, quite late in the game by turn five but lousy command roles meant that they dragged their feet

 Viscount Gaiscoinge appears

Dutch National Militia

Here are three battalions of old glory Dutch Militia, the flags are by GMB. These were part of Perponchers division and held the crossroads at Quatre-bras. I think they look quite nice with their blue coats and orange facings. They are the 5th, 7th and 8th battalions, to finish this division I need to complete a battalion of Nassau (3rd battalion of the 2nd regiment) and a battalion of Belgian line infantry (the 7th). Plus the artillery, these are all primed and waiting for a paint job!

All the best for a happy New Year!

Prince of Orange

These are command stands representing the Prince of Orange (on white horse) and divisional general Perponcher. It was these two men and the Prince of Saxe-Weimer who had the idea of defending Quatre-bras in the first place and not the Duke of Wellington!

The figures are by CGM, again this is from the batch I ordered from direct from Dermot in Spain. The green clad Nassau officer is by Old Glory.

27th Dutch Jaeger

These are CGM figures, the poses are skimishing and are based a bit different to my usual style. Since I wanted them to act as a skirmish screen but also to deploy as a normal regiment I based these in groups of four on  40 x 20 base. The flag was printed from NapFlag, basic scatter grass was used. They have black crossbelts, which is a bit drab but I have given them off-white straps for their muskets.

The 27th Jaegers were part of General Perponchers 2nd Dutch-Belgian division. They fought at Quatre-bras and Waterloo.Positioned to the east of Gemioncourt farm, the majority of the 760 men were raw recruits and not well versed in light infantry tactics.  They were dispersed over 3km of front (from Gemioncourt farm to the Materne pond) and were to act as an early warning system when the French advanced. They fought well but according to the Mike Robinson book they were at times out skirmished by the experienced French light infantry. They are a welcome addition to my Dutch-Belgian army.

92nd regiment (Gordon Highlander)

These are Old Glory figures (AB officer and piper) with flags from GMB, the pose is that of assaulting so you don't get to see much of the cross-belts and piping. The 92nd regiment had a tough time of it at Quatre-bras, having left Brussels in the early hours of 16th June after giving a display of Highland dancing at the Duchess of Richmonds ball. They occupied the crossroads and then later charged the french troops at the farm of La Bergerie just down the road. During one of the french cavalry charges Wellington himself had to take shelter in their square.

Dutch-Belgian Light Cavalry

These are CGM figures, the poses are a little wooden and too similar but they painted up ok and represent two of few allied cavalry regiments actually present at Quatre-Bras. The light blue figures are the 6th Dutch hussars and the green figures are the 5th Belgian light dragoons. These were commanded by General Merlin who later died at Waterloo. This brigade performed well enough but was later pulled back into reserve after several encounters with the French. Thanks to the similarity of their uniforms with the French, the 5th dragoons were fired on by the English infantry mistaking them for Chassuers a' Cheval! I usually only base divisional generals but I'm tempted to paint up Merlin to go with these guys. I'm waiting for some GMB flags to complete the units.