Mustering Forces for Waterloo - Part 7 - The French

And here are the French.

The Imperial Guard

I Corps

II Corps

III and IV Cavalry Corps

VI Corps

Mustering Forces for Waterloo - Part 6 - The Anglo-Allies

Almost there, I am just two figures short and they are currently undercoated ready to paint.

The cavalry.  The assembled miniatures are not as homogeneous as those in the other collections I have used.  The Dutch-Belgians and Brunswick troops are uniformed correctly (as far as that is possible), but basing is totally different (generally two figures rather than four).  Seems to work okay for infantry, but cavalry is a bit out.

Brunswick, Picton and Alten and the missing figures.

The rest.  Some of the figures are based on inch frontage bases which are part of the rule's basing system for troops in two rank lines, although my personal opinion is that was a wrong move and probably done to accommodate other basing schemes.  I raised this with the author once and while he was adamant, I wasn't satisfied.  Doesn't matter except for the most pedantic/discerning/calculating of players.

Some of these troops maybe be upgraded on the day depending on what new troops/figures show up.  I've already seen the replacement Picton and Uxbridge.

Von Bulow vs Reille and D'Erlon

This week I ran through six turns of a Napoleon's Battles game for Darren, Graham, Stephen B, Mark B and Dave B ahead of the big Waterloo game on 13 June.

This was the set up, with the Prussians holding the two boxes (as a visitor called them when asking about our game while she took lots of photographs).

Darren needs to learn about cavalry (as he will be Uxbridge) so in they went.  French formed squares.  Cavalry bounced.

Reille (Graham) made a determined attack just as more Prussians were arriving.

The Built Up Areas, eh "boxes", proved very tough, although an initial attack in column might not have been the best tactic.

With just three turns it was noticeable how quickly troops were being worn down.

I have been too clever with the labels by adding the unit names and need to go back and update the OOB which just has the generic brigade/division/corps reference.

28 Orange-Nassau

My order of battle for Waterloo required a unit of 16 figures to represent the 28 Orange-Nassau regiment.  Given its size it is equivalent to a brigade unit with the Napoleon's Battles rules I use.

The figures were undercoated with Tamiya Flat Black which I find doesn't obscure details.  I then painted the figures as follows:

Base coat for jackets	VJ Prussian Blue
Pants and greatcoat	VJ German Field Grey
Gaiters	Mix of JS Carbon Black and Titanium White
Base	Tamiya Flat Earth
Backpack	VJ English Uniform
Basecoat bag and plume	VJ Stone Grey
Cockade and sash	JS Orange
Collar, cuffs and coat tails	JS Napthol Red Light
Water bottle	JS Sapphire
Water bottle trim	JS Provincial Beige
Drum and sword scabbard tip and sword trim	JS Rich Gold
Belts, webbing and plume	JS Titanium White
Face and hands	VJ Flat Flesh
Musket stock	Tamiya Flat Brown
Shako ornaments, musket barrel and sword	VJ Oily Steel
Shako, scabbard, ammo box highlight	VJ Black
Pant and greatcoat highlight	Mix VJ German Field Grey and Stone Grey
Jacket highlight	VJ Dark Blue
Face and hands wash	Citadel Shade Reikland Flesh Shade
Metal high lights	JS Silver

VJ is Vallejo and JS is Jo Sonja's.  I also painted hair and drumsticks etc, but didn't take a note of what colours I used. 

When finsihed I gave the bayonets and sword a strengthening coat of PVA glue.  

After flocking I varnished with a Matt Varnish Spray from Jackson's Art Supplies here in Perth.

Here's some more photos of them (but I've put them down here as I don't feel they do the finished figures justice).

Kiev to Rostov - Turn 36 and 37

Another chance to continue this game today.  There is a lot more action.

The end of Turn 36 and the Soviets are starting to pull back.

End of turn 37 and the Axis are expanding from Kremenchug.  They are still hammering away at other points and the Soviets are now in full withdrawal mode.

Mustering Forces for Waterloo - Part 5 - The Prussians

Originally my Waterloo project was just going to be Plancenoit as I knew I had the troops for it (just about).  While I still need to revisit the Plancenoit scenario, the Prussians are now headed for Waterloo.

I have probably been a bit chauvinistic in my utilisation of Mark Adkin's The Waterloo Companion, but the order of battle and maps are just what I was looking for.  I did the Prussian OOB first and may have done somethings different after I did the French and Allies, but really only one unit is over size.  I did drop one of the batteries from IV Corps and went with a 6# horse artillery for another after agonizing over the artillery for von Bulow's corps.  What persuaded me to deviate from Adkin was this site and Prussian OOB: http://web.archive.org/web/20120717034255/http://www.napoleonic-literature.com/Waterloo_OB/Prussian.htm

On to the pictures which, with all units labelled, should be fairly easy to see, especially if you click on the pictures to bring them up to full size.

IV Corps

I and II Corps

These are just the troops that historically made it to Waterloo.  Given the conditions and timing they were lucky to do so.

With the exception of one unit (thanks Myron!) all these figures are mine.  I've even painted them all except for one unit of uhlan which were originally by DPS (and Myron's unit of course).

The figures are Old Glory, Essex, ABs, Battle Honors and unknown (Myron's).

Waterloo by Andrew Roberts

I think this is the same book as Waterloo: Napoleon's Last Gamble.  It is part of the Making History series by Harper Collins and just meant as an introduction and as such fits the purpose.  Richard lent me his copy and it was an enjoyable, quick read.  One new bit of information, the massed French cavalry charge might have been the result of "irrational exuberance" to use a modern phrase.  Once one excitable cavalry unit moves forward another joins in, in case it might miss out in the glory.

http://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780007190768/waterloo-napoleons-last-gamble

I've read Andrew Roberts Masters and Commanders which was a much more in depth book and have his Napoleon the Great to look forward to for my birthday.

Mustering Forces for Waterloo - Part 4

There is supposed to be a before picture, showing the sorry state of these troops after being handled by the postal service, but it has disappeared (either I set up the photo and got distracted so only thought I'd taken it, or I deleted accidentally while taking photos of last night's game).

Anyway, horses restored to bases, men remounted, swords and lances straightened although more reinforcing is required on the later.

These are from my friend Myron's collection and it is very kind of him to lend them to me.  Thanks Myron, I am sure they will fight well.

Defence of the Lego Factory

Last night at the club we had a six player game, one plane each, of Wings of Glory.

I'm flying an Albatross DII and the Lego Factory can be seen top left hand corner of the photo.

The bomber, an Italian job, is being flown by Craig and Simon C is escorting him in the Bristol Fighter and Mark B is in the Camel.  On my side is Brendan in the yellow Fokker (very top of the picture) and Stephen N in the other Albatross.  All miniatures and terrain and scenario design is Stephen's as per usual.

It soon turned in to a conga line as we successively dropped altitude and turned in on the lumbering bomber.

The Camel got into a spot of bother and wasn't seen again, but the Bristol was closing in.

Playing with altitude is a curse as once you miss a dive it is hard to catch up, so while we all look close, we are actually mostly out of range.

The Fokker dances about the bomber and I get some well aimed shots in.  However the Bristol Fighter serves Stephan's Albatross a critical hit.

The bomber can take a lot of damage.  To my horror, having positioned myself in his blind spot we find this particular model plane doesn't have one, well not according to the manual.  Worse the Bristol Fighter is now firing on me as well. 

The bomber does its ghastly work and turns to home.  Its escort does the same.  With fifty percent damage I am going to head for home.

Minifigs Nassau Grenadiers

Phil's comment on my post about the 1st Nassau reminded me I had a stand of Minfig Nassau somewhere.  After a bit of searching here they are:

Just for the record, the figure codes are NN4 - standard bearer, NN6 - officer, NN5 - drummer and NN2 - grenadier.  I remember getting these and thinking one day I might be able to afford more.  By that time I was into 15mm and Minifigs, while cute, no longer do it for me.

Kiev to Rostov - Turn 35 and 36 (part)

Things are starting to get serious.  The remnants of the the Soviet forces north of the southern sector portrayed in this game have now started to make an appearance, pursued by part of the Axis Army Group Centre, some guy called Guderian...

Kremenchug has fallen, and even though the bridge has been blown, it has given the Axis a bridgehead over the Dnepr.

The outline of the pocket.  With the start of game turn 36 the Soviets can start to withdraw, but it is going to be a tricky affair.

Down south the Axis clear the way to the gateway to the Crimea and launch an attack on a key road and rail junction further east.

At the end of the Axis 36 turn their bridgehead has started to expand...

The northern front is now active and the Soviets are going to be in a race as they pull back.  Kiev is now under close assault.

The Axis start to break into the Crimea.  For the focus of this game, this is just a sideshow.  The Axis attack east was repulsed and now they must wait for their supplies to catch up.

1st Nassau

The bag of Old Glory Nassau figures I got in December allowed me to create two units for Waterloo.  This is the second one, which I've painted as the 1st Nassau, not that there was a lot of difference between the two regiments.

As usual these days with my Napoleonics, the flag is printed from the warflags site.

AB RHA Mounted Officer

A fine sculpt that I hope my brush work has done justice too.

D'Erlon and Milhaud's Attack

Lovely rainy weather, great for practicing some Waterloo options with Napoleon's Battles ahead of the big day which is less than four weeks away now.

Mark B took the French I Corps and IV Calvary Corps and attacked Picton's Division and the 2nd Dutch-Belgian Division, which were supported by the Dutch Belgian cavalry division, the Brunswick division (which saw no action), some British light cavalry, the Hanoverian cavalry and a few extra troops (I'm still mustering the allied forces).

One of Picton's brigades is holding La Haye Sainte and was left well alone.  The other two came in for some rough treatment and routed.  The French held the ridge.

Jacquinot and Durutte attempt to cross the Smohain Brook (or is it a stream?)  Fording takes time even with a bridge and Wellington saw it coming and was able to interrupt their progress, even though the British cavalry ended up recklessly charging off to meet the Prussians.

Allied counterattacks re took the ridge.

Even though we were just having some practice we still had an interesting time, with lots of indecision about the best course of action.  We played five or six turns and it was proving hard going for the French.

Kiev to Rostov - Turn 34

Axis logistics pause... Didn't seem to hold them up much.

Only time for one turn.  Axis failed where it didn't matter and succeeded where it did.  Things will start to get more interesting next turn as the troops in the north are freed from movement restrictions.  Unfortunately if I'm not careful they will just become part of the pocket.

The Axis are closing in on Kiev and the Soviets are running out of troops to fill the holes.

A breakthrough threatens further east.  All available reinforcements are being sent here.

This was an unexpected crossing, still further east, but it doesn't look that serious... Yet.

The big picture.  The Axis continue to swarm towards the Crimea, but there is not a lot in it for them (I hope).