Scots Greys, Waterloo re-enactment.

Its been a long time between posts, I really should be more motivated.

Having been involved in this hobby for 40+ of my 48 years on this earth I have finally painted a Napoleonic unit... the Scots Greys.

This period is really not my thing, I'm an ancient gamer at heart but I was invited to take part in the Napoleonic Wargames Society re-enactment day organised by the ubiquitous Mr. H.  I have to say I'm glad I did. The day itself was magnificently organised, tables groaning with lead and lots of "Nappy heads!" around. 

See these posts for further details...

http://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/waterloo-2015-in-15mm-battle.html
http://avonnapoleonicfellowship.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/wargaming-waterloo-1815-2015-9-waterloo.html

The figures themselves, supplied by Mark are from the excellent AB range and were beautifully cast with little flash and no deformities.  One quibble I have is that the troopers with sabres at rest had a web of metal between he left leg and saddle cloth that needed to be removed but this was quite simple if the metal was fairly thick.  This small issue aside, I cannot recommend AB enough but bear in mind my experience with these figures is limited.

And so to the Greys...

Reminiscent of Lady Butler's epic painting

Forward lads

they are NOT retreating

Officer and bugler on temporary bases

On the day, ready for action

 

I cannot take credit for the basing, only the painting. 

 

On the day they acquitted themselves quite well making a headlong dash directly at Mareschal Ney, the look on Richards face was priceless!  Sadly le brave des brave didn't end up le mort des mort and escaped with a red face.

In the meantime I have not been painting much due to work commitments etc but my 6mm Polybian Romans are well under way.  The first of 3 legions is finished, the second undercoated and ready to go.  Pictures soon.

Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton

Got this fantastic AB figure from Mark H yesterday to use in the upcoming NWS Waterloo bicentenary re-enactment.  I'll be commanding the afore mentioned gentleman on the day and was glad to get a figure to paint myself. 

Beautifully sculpted and cast as a one piece, the old bugger will hopefully do better than yesterdays debacle (http://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/quatre-bras-ney-vs-wellington.html).

I'm not a fan of Napoleonics, never have been, but its nice to do something different once in a while and with this being such a milestone event it was hard to say no.

To today's fox gentlemen.  Tally ho!
 

Freeeeedoooooom!!!!

Played Mark today at FoG v1, HYW English (Continental) versus Later Medieval Scots (Britain).

It was a bloody affair, in the first 2 rounds of combat I lost 3 groups of 8 spearmen and 2 generals, however weight of numbers finally turned the tide in my favour with both English wings collapsing and the centre having marched through the Scots lines were hemmed up on both sides.

This is the first time I've taken photos of my Scots in action were the pictures turned out ok (and they won!) but I think I might have to rethink my photography strategy to get better pictures.

For better pictures, try Mark's blog :

http://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/100-years-war-english-versus-late.html

The lines are about to close

English archers giving their Scots counterparts a pasting

Thank you Mr. Postman

After many years of waiting to get all my other stuff finished I got a nice little parcel in the post yesterday... 2 Polybian Roman army packs from those terribly nice chaps at Rapier Miniatures.

It has been my intention to move to 6mm for over 6 years but sadly my mountain of lead was such that my long suffering wife wouldn't let me spend any more money until I had got near the end of what I had in front of me.  Thankfully though my negotiation skills are such that I managed to convince her to let me spend some money while Rapier had their Christmas postage sale on... GBP3 postage for any size order anywhere in the world!!  On reflection I wish I had got the Carthaginians too but there is always next year, rubs hands and cackles.

I bought a few sample packs of these fellows when I went to Sheffield Triples in 2011 so I knew what I was buying but after placing the order I got terribly itchy feet and decided to paint a few samples, just for fun.  These are the results...

2 bases of hastati and principes, at the moment 14 men to a 40x15mm laser cut metal base but my intention is to base them 16 to a base for heavy and medium foot, 8 for cavalry and 6 to 8 for light foot. 

I love 6mm.  They are easy and quick to paint, cheap to buy and post and most importantly you can have an army with 1000s of figures in it without having to play on the back lawn!  For me the mass effect is the main drawcard, bearing in mind that ancient battles had often upwards of 50000 soldiers per side.  A 15mm army of 500 or so figures really doesn't cut it for me anymore.

In the long term I would like to have at least 2 large armies from each of the Field of Glory army list books (my friend Andrew reckons I'm a megalomaniac) before I move on to WWII.

So all I have to do now is finish my 15mm ancient Indian army, should take me about another 4 weeks.  I hate being impatient.

Some pics of my Fallschirmjager

 

A few shots of my Fallschirmjager platoons.  I've been sitting on these for about 4 years and got a notion to paint them at the end of last year.  Unfortunately I haven't quite worked out the best settings for my camera so the pictures didn't turn out brilliantly.  Following is the best 5 shots from about 80 that I took.

 

This force consist of 2 platoons of rifle/MG, 9 stands per platoon with commander, overall company commander and company 2IC, a platoon of 4 HMGs with commander and a platoon of NbW35 10.5cm mortars with commander and spotters.  I bought the mortars by mistake thinking they were ordinary infantry mortars.  All figures are Battlefront Miniatures.

 

The camo pattern is my interpretation of Splittermuster 31, splinter pattern.  One thing I noticed when researching this force is that most painters paint headbands on the helmets however I could only find 1 picture in hundreds that actually showed it in real life.

 

 

Heavy machine guns

The best picture I took was of the backs! 
No, they are NOT retreating!

Mortar commander

Some SS I painted for Richard

Richard had asked me to paint a company of SS for him in pea-dot camouflage.  The figures are Battlefront and Command Decision and took a hefty toll on my eyesight.  Each figure has in excess of 250 dots!!  I ruined the tips of 3 00 brushes painting these guys.  NEVER AGAIN!!!!

I think they turned out rather nicely though.  Sadly, my photography skills are lacking, these pictures were taken on my mobile without any staging or pre-arrangement.  Hopefully you'll be able to get a sense of the work involved.

Another game of Blitzkreig Commander

A 4 player game this time, again US against Germans in an encounter scenario.

Mark H with the US left and me with the US right against Michael on the left and Richard with the right.

I like Blitzkreig Commander, I find it a lot more playable than Flames of War.

After some massive artillery bombardments by the Americans the axis was defeated but it was a close run thing.  The Americans made the mistake of breaking cover in front of the German left and paid a very hefty price.  The Shermans in the centre got caught in the open and decimated by the long range guns of the Jagdpanthers then after a short fight what was left were destroyed by SS assaulting with Panzerfaust.  American AT guns managed to halt the panzers on the left but after a command blunder early in the game were severely hampered by attrition.  The pesky American artillery observer managed to call in a very effective bombardment, Calliopes coupled with a battery of 105mm managed to wipe out several PzIvs and most of the SS. 

Some valuable lessons were learned in this game:

Artillery is too potent and we will limit the amount in future games,
Too many points per side make for a frustrating game,
NEVER crest a hill in front of any type of late war German tanks,
Sherman tanks are rubbish against any late war German tank, the figure of 30+ American tanks was quoted at one point as needed to make a difference.





American off table artillery.  Very effective when it came to it.



German right wing, beautifully painted
PzIV and Konigstigers supported by SS.



German left wing, Jagdpanther supported by
 Heer troops and some towed artillery.



On the American left wing some M10 tank destroyers
and towed AT guns.



German right advancing along the road.



Logjam or "blocage"

American left crests a hill to stop the panzers. 
This tuned out to be a disastrous move as most of these tanks
were destroyed by opportunity fire as soon as they came into view.

American right, 101st Airborne dig in to wait
for the Jagdpanthers.

The FAC calls up some support in the form of a P47 armed with rockets.



Damage done by the Jagdpanthers.

Some Shermans in the centre manage to catch some
SS in the open. Looks like a bloodbath is likely to ensue!

Shermans assaulted by some Heer that had
been hiding in bocage.



The SS join in the assault but come off worst. 
This fight didn't last much longer than this!