Armies and Wars of the French East India Companies 1661-1770 by the Late René Chartrand

I learnt yesterday that the author of this book, the universally well known and prolific author René Chartrand had passed away, which makes this review a somewhat poignant one.

Armies and Wars of the French East India Companies 1661-1770 by the late René Chartrand landed on my doormat a few weeks ago, and I had just finished reading it and had started writing this review when I heard of his passing. He was a giant among authors and historians of the 18th Century, and of France (and New France) in particular. People better placed than me will no doubt write of his life and career, so I shall focus on this wonderful book.

This is the first ever book of substance published in English or indeed French that is devoted to describing the military forces maintained by the French East India companies and their far flung trading operations. Following hard on the heals as it does of a number of other Helion books covering largely British influenced activities in India over the same period this book is a good counter balance as it completes the circle with its focus on those often overlooked or skimmed over French East India Companies.

This work is literally packed with the fruits of extensive research collated over many years, and is lavishly illustrated with a large number of colour and black and white images. There are 12 gorgeous colour plates of a number of different French soldiers, European and native, by Patrice Courcelle. Another 18 pages of colour images from a number of sources depict further uniform details and contemporary images of a range of subjects focusing on the Indian sub-continent.

The book tells the story of the development and expansion of the French East India company from its early days, through to operations in Madagascar, India and the Indian Ocean, Siam ( this episode was a new one to me), Africa, Louisiana and other diverse territories. The impact the wars in Europe had on these operations is also examined.

As well as details of the organisational structure, uniforms and weapons, not just of European infantry, but including European cavalry, artillerymen, foreign and native units, we get an insight into the lives of these soldiers, both at home and overseas.There are several interesting appendices and an extensive bibliography for those who wish to research the subject of this book further.

I found this book to be bursting with information largely new to me in such detail. It is well written, and is a most engaging and enjoyable read, where the knowledge and enthusiasm of the author for the subject clearly comes through in the writing. I cannot recommend this book highly enough and it is one well worth getting if you have any interest in what it has to be said having read it, an incredibly fascinating subject. 

ISBN 978-1-804513-40-8 soft cover 319 pages.

French Invasion of Sweden 1808 (as it might have happened): Two Battles for Skane#1

Two games this week. John came over mid week to play a game trying out Valour and Fortitude for a change instead of Gen d’Armee 2. The latter are my preferred set but sometimes I need simplicity.

As I’ve no doubt mentioned on numerous occasions, the French had plans to invade Sweden, the  Britain’s only ally on the Continent. The French Army of Denmark contained two divisions of French, two of Spanish, one from the Kingdom of Holland and most of the Danish army. The Swedes were busy defending Finland from the Russians but still had a reasonably-sized army to defend Sweden, in theory aided by a British expeditionary force under Sir John Moore that the mad Swedish king refused permission to disembark. The practical issues around staging an invasion were stacked against any real invasion taking place but the chance to field such an eclectic mix of troops overrides any such considerations. So here we go. I plan to run a series of linked games in a sort of snakes and ladders approach, each game dependent on the outcome of the previous one, with a few random events. More of those mechanics in another post.

The French have crossed the narrow stretch of water and put ashore a division of Spanish and a division of French. The Swedes, supported by a small brigade of British/KGL are drawn up across the road inland poised to throw the defenders into the sea. Here are a few photos of the game.

The battlefield. 

The Spanish in the French centre. 

Two brigades of French on their left.

Spanish cavalry on the extreme right.

The Swedes attack.

One of the two Swedish cavalry brigades, facing the Spanish cavalry.

Romana’s Spanish on the French right.

Swedish amd Spanish cavalry in combat.

The Spanish Villavicosa Dragoons are about to be defeated.

More Swedish cavalry in the centre.

The main French thrust was up the road

Meanwhile the Spanish infantry quite liked staying where they were.

The French cavalry brigade attacked the Swedish dragoons in the centre.

It didn’t go well for the French. Their Chasseurs were defeated.

With no cavalry left the Spanish were left exposed. One battalion was caught in line and destroyed while the others were able to form square.

Spanish musketry was ineffective, as the dice above show!

Over on the left the French hit the English brigade, who failed to stop their charge.

One battalion of French were defeated in melee.

But next turn one English battalion was broken.

Followed next turn by another. The English brigade passed all their Fortitude tests.

The aNow rallied French hussars caught a Swedish battalion in line and destroyed them. They then had to stand for a full turn while the Swedes shot them to pieces causing them to rout. This is an issue I have with the rules as there is no provision for rallying back or indeed carrying on forward. 

The French advance down the road is a slow one.

The centre, with Swedish infantry threatening the flank of the French attack up the road.

The French hussars have had enough…..

…as indeed have the French infantry on the extreme left.

This was clearly a Swedish victory, but not a decisive one. V and F worked ok; they’re very brutal and bloody and not necessarily well thought out, not particularly well written, and the main driver seems to have been to get them onto four sides of A4 paper. (More precise use of English could have saved them some space). That said, they do what it says on the tin, and they can, and in this case certainly did, provide the basis for a good game where the end result was up in the air until the last turn. A fun game, not wholly satisfying from a historical point of view perhaps, but we got to push lots of colourful soldiers around the tabletop and got a result in just over three hours. 

Next time, more players and more soldiers. 

The Battle of Ucles 1108 Remote Requonquista

 I took part in another remote wargame last Thursday evening, again hosted by Jonathan Freitag of https://palousewargamingjournal.blogspot.com/. I am sure you will find a better after action report there in due course. I joined fellow Virtual Wargames Group members Doug Melville and Stephen Caddy for a recreation of the 12th century Battle of Ucles between the Almoravids and the Christians of Leon and Castile under King Alphonso VI. An outline of the real battle can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ucl%C3%A9s_(1108)

Stephen and I were the Christians and Doug the Almoravids. Would we do any better than the Spaniards managed in 1108? The short answer is….nope.

The Almoravid centre, composed of heavy cavalry, about faced and withdrew to ensure they were out of reach of our Christian men at arms. Both Muslim flanks advanced and engaged with our forces facing them while I threw caution to the wind and did what any God fearing Spanish man at arms would do and launched all five of my units straight at the enemy, led by myself as the king. This was quite a large battle but we skipped though it pretty smoothly.

A few photos now, taken off my computer monitor during the Zoom call. They give a fair idea of what went on.

To cut a long story short, our right crumbled, our left quivered and the centre, well the mounted elements at least, ran out of steam and were picked off and annihilated. The king died with his bodyguard as they were put to flight and it was all over in three hours of very enjoyable play. We used Basic Impetus again, which I am beginning to get the hang of and do quite like. Certainty with a master like Jonathan running the show we were always politely and firmly told what we could and couldn’t do.  A man of great patience indeed. 

I hope next time I am able to take part we might play an ECW game using Impetus Baroque. I have used them for my 1672 collection several years ago and seem to remember they gave me a headache but produced a really good game. 

Big thanks to Jon for hosting and herding us like cats, to my earstwhile compatriot Stephen and Doug the dastardly Moor.  Great fun. Now where are all my unpainted 3d printed Requonquista miniatures?

A Couple More Helion Titles

 

Two for the price of one this time as I try to keep on top of my reviewing duties. Two very different books, but both worthy additions to Helion's Reason to Revolution series.

First up is British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815, volume 2, Foot Guards and 1st to 30th Regiments of Foot, by Steve Brown is the second of a planned series of five books which will go on to cover the remainder of the infantry (vols. 3–4) and Ordnance and other regiments (vol.5).

Again, you are presented with an encyclopaedic array of information relating to the lives and service history of well over1,000 officers commanding the regiments in scope for this volume. I want to repeat what I said when reviewing the first volume that it must not be forgotten that these men, for all their privilege, faults and foibles, and often wealth, gave their careers and lives in many cases, for their regiment and their country.

In a nutshell, if data is your ‘thing’ you will not be disappointed. Pretty much anything one might want to know about any particular individual is there;: dates of birth and death, parentage, education, career, awards and places of residence are brought together. As ever, the use of the purchase system to climb the promotion ladder by migrating between regiments (and arms of service) and the idiosyncrasies of the brevet system are also evident in these pen-pictures.

The author continues with the well-presented format used in volume 1 including, by regiment, service histories of each of the regiments of Foot Guards and the 1st to 30th regiments of the line. The author has consulted a vast array of primary, secondary and unpublished sources to produce this invaluable source book.

Is this book as good as the first volume? Absolutely yes as it 'does what it says on the tin'. Military historians, amateur and professional, war gamers and also from my perspective, with my other hobby head on, genealogists will find this publication of great value. I can recommend it unreservedly. A great source book.

ISBN:  978-1-804514-38-2 soft back 376 pages

The second offering is by Yves Martin and is absolutely wonderful. Citizens to Arms! Uniforms of the French Revolutionary Armies, 1792-1799 is a collection of glorious colour plates completed by French artist Henry Boisselier in 1943. Each of the 56 plates is accompanied by a comprehensive description of the uniform and the unit to which it belongs. 

We are introduced to Boisselier, his life and work and more. This is not just a book of admittedly very pretty colour plates. If it were, it would still be an amazing piece of source material for uniforms during the period. There is also an illuminating and charming chapter entitled ‘Forward, children of the fatherland!’ - True Tales of Volunteers. This is a series of accounts of a selection of these citizen soldiers, men and women, and their experiences during those tumultuous years at the start of the Revolution. Only one is remembered in history but the lives of the others are no less interesting. For me, the accounts of these humble soldiers' experiences and fates raise the book above that of just another uniform book.

For anyone like me who has a fascination, or obsession even, for the French Revolutionary Wars, then this book is highly recommended.

ISBN: 978-1-804515-42-6 soft back 150 pages

The Battle of Barbastro, 2 June 1837, First Carlist War.

Saturday took us to sunny Spain in June 1837, with a game set during the First Carlist War 1833-1840. Conrad brought his considerable collection of 28mm figures to refight Barbastro. You may recall that he has recently had a wargamer’s guide on the war published by Helion. My review can be found through this link: https://www.carryingsonupthedale.com/2024/07/a-savage-and-romantic-war-first-carlist.html and one of the chapters in the book is the Barbastro scenario we were about to play.

There were just the four of us, Conrad and John playing the ‘liberal’ Christinos while Nick and I played the ultra conservative ultra  Catholic Carlists under the late king’s brother Don Carlos. Click on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Carlist_War for a summary of the war. 

The Carlists were on their famed Royal Expedition, and had to hold their position against the attacking  Christinos which, outnumbered in cavalry and with no artillery, was going to be an interesting exercise. The attackers’ cavalry and infantry was better quality, including a battalion of Royal Guard and the French Foreign Legion. The miniatures were mainly from the fabulously tempting Perry range, but other manufacturers featured as well (I think including Lancashire Games). Now, on to battle!

Vast hoards of Christina’s on the right surge towards the Carlists.

Six battalions of Conrad’s finest including the French Foreign Legion supported by cavalry and artillery face our right flank.

Facing that lot were a mere four battalions of Carlists.

The Christino centre under John

Our gallant CinC and his bodyguard.

The enemy flank starts moving. Well, the cavalry anyway  as the infantry failed to get moving.

At the end of Turn 1 not much was happening. 

The Carlist right, poised to take on the Isabellino assault.

We shifted most of our cavalry from the centre over to the right wing.

Once the enemy was in range we charged down the hill! Bugger all this shooting nonsense.

We hit the Spanish Royal Guard and actually broke them! Woopee!

Conrad’s cavalry come racing up the hill.

In the centre and our left the enemy were advancing slowly towards us.

The Isabellino centre trudging towards our centre held by Nick.

The enemy suffered some reverses and some units were pushed back due to musketry off the hill.

Our left wing.

Conrad’s brigade was on the verge of breaking……

Some furious bayonet and cavalry charges confused the issue even more than it was already. 

The Carlist left (on the right) still holding strong against the Isabellino attack.

Some of the Carlist battalions on our left.

The Isabellino centre

 Unruffled Carlists

Even less ruffled Carlists

The fight continued on our left. My infantry were almost broken, as indeed were Conrad’s, and my cavalry shattered.

A battalion of Carlists vainly try to hold up the Legion. They managed for a couple of turns but in the end they broke.

Even a last ditch attempt by the CinCs bodyguard failed to break the enemy square.

The centre

More of the centre…….

The Isabellino cavalry in the centre never got going. Not their fault as Nick kept shooting them.

The final melee on our right. Honours even but it was the end for this flank.

At least the enemy were stuck in square.

Run away!

This was a thoroughly enjoyable battle and I hope not  the last time we get to play a Carlist game here at the Burrow. Black Powder worked fine although we may need a few more period specific tweaks. 

Thanks to Conrad for the troops and John and Nick for playing. It was actually quite a relaxing day and we finished by mid afternoon.

Conrad is taking this game to Claymore next month so if you go, look out for it.