More Progress: Early Napoleonic Russian Update

 A very quick and short post to show how my 1807-1809 Russians are getting along.

They’re not finished yet obviously but almost there; flags ready, basing to do and a coat of varnish and Ivan’s your uncle. Nine battalions including two jäger and the grenadiers of another two battalions are shown here, half of which were painted for me by Chris Brack of Marching in Colour.  I’ve already finished two half batteries of artillery so their other halves will be started shortly. Then it’ll be time to work on the other 10 infantry battalions, more artillery and a bit of cavalry and commanders.

A fantastic game to come home to! Napoleonics in 54mm.

On Saturday I got my first game in for several weeks due to gadding about in India again, when Steve came up with his wonderful 54mm Napoleonic French, Russians and Prussians armies to run a Sharpe Practice game. Conrad, Paul and Shaun were the French while Dave, Nigel and myself were the allied force. I played the Russians and the other two were the more numerous Prussians, but I was CinC.  It was to be a meeting engagement, a clash of vanguards. The Russians were deployed on our long table edge in the centre while the Prussians would be arriving on the road to my left on the short table edge. Most of the enemy would enter more or less opposite the Russians while the remainder arrived on the road on the other short table edge. Neil and Steve  ran the game as the rest of us had either never played before or were very rusty. So in the usual time honoured tradition here are some photos which I hope help convey the spectacle.

General Barclay de Tolly the allied commander (me).

Russian cuirassiers.

The French light cavalry and attached horse artillery.

Conrad’s shirt in stark contrast to the advancing Young Guard in the centre.

Shaun’s light infantry make an entrance.

One group of French legeres made it to the enclosed garden around the Manor House on our extreme left.

Cossacks! Bullet magnets, which was the plan.

Shaun’s infantry shake out into line.

A group of my Russians. These are laser PLA printed scaled up from 28mm files. Awesome!

One of the Russian commanders, at the head of the Russian infantry.

The Young Guard advance. Would they be able to crush my outnumbered Russians before the Prussians arrived. 

More of the Young Guard.

And more….

N. Buonaparte, sometime dictator of the French leading his troops from the front.

The Prussians arrive.

Landwehr cavalry.

French Light Horse lancers under Paul’s command head out to intercept the Prussian cavalry 

French Horse artillery, unloaded with Prussian cavalry getting very close.

The Landwehr cavalry had been hit by the enemy artillery so these uhlans moved ahead to cover them

More Prussians arrive!

I pushed my Cossacks and cuirassiers over the stream together with some jäger to slow down Shaun’s troops hoping to prevent them from interfering with the allied attack on their main body under Conrad. They were going to suffer but it would be worth it.

The French centre keeps on with its advance…..but very slowly.

The is out of sequence but shows the earlier arrival of the Prussians.

These are simply gorgeous.

Even my Gnome Guard got into the action 🤣🤣🤣

A fierce melee took place when the French interrupted a Prussian charge. The French were defeated and their commander wounded which had major consequences for the French cavalry.

Nigel’s jäger were now, close enough to take some pot shots at Conrad’s French.

The Prussians press on.

Napoleon was plagues by an unfortunate run of tokens and some low dice scores meaning they struggled to cover much distance. They were now engaged by the Prussians and Russians and taken damage.

The Landwehr cavalry - awesome.

A view of the table showing the Prussians closing in on the French.

Prussians again.

Russian infantry. They did sterling work shooting up the French under Conrad until their muskets became fouled.

Heroic Russians.

Landwehr advance.

Lovely, what more to be said?

The French in the centre under Conrad were struggling against the Prussians who had charged and driven back their adversaries after a full-on bayonet charge and some fairly effective Russian musketry.

Prussian attack column piling in.

More Prussian infantry; the second wave.

Over on our left the Cossacks had been driven off by Shaun’s light infantry battalion and his skirmishers, although the Russian jager were holding their own in the wood. My cuirassiers’ mere presence was causing the French to hold back lest we find out how effective or not they might be if I ordered them to charge. Having fought to the last Cossack I didn’t wish to loose these fine chaps.

Close up of these very splendid miniatures.

Paul’s other cavalry regiment was broken after being charged by Dave’s uhlans. Conrad’s centre was going nowhere and was under pressure from the Prussian and Russians and Shaun’s flank was stuck due to the presence of my cavalry which made advancing too risky. So a convincing allied victory was declared. The man of the match award went to to Dave and his Prussian cavalry who contributed so much to our victory. 

This was a tremendously fun game, to play and also visually. Steve says he’s not quite got the hang of painting 54mm figures yet but I shall leave you dear readers to be the judge of that. Steve and Neil should given a special mention and a big bunch or flowers and box of chocolates for so successfully herding half a dozen players who were unfamiliar with the rules. I’m not a big fan of skirmish games but Sharpe Practice are actually easy to pick up and play so long as someone can crack the whip to keep us under control…..not an easy task.

Armies of the Italian States, 1660-1690, part 1

One of the more prolific of authors, Bruno Mugnai has recently seen the publication of the sixth volume in his superb series covering the ‘Wars and Soldiers in the Reign of Louis XIV’ with the ‘Armies of the Italian States, 1660-1690, Part One’. As is frequently the case, in my opinion at least, this book series just keeps getting better and better with the arrival of each new volume, and this one is no exception.

Starting with some quite detailed discussion on the geopolitical background of the Italian peninsula, this volume covers just about everything one might wish to know about the armies of Savoy-Piedmont and the Venetian Republic and her allies, such as the Papal States, the Order of St John and Tuscany. We are introduced to a detailed explanation of different troop types, recruitment methods, training, weapons and equipment, dress/uniform, organisation and leadership. There is even a diagram which serves to explain the chain of command of the Savoy-Piedmont army. As noted earlier there a wealth of background information covering the ever changing political situation, the numerous military operations of these two powers and their relationships with their often more powerful neighbours makes fascinating reading and gives some useful context. 

The author is also an accomplished artist, and there are eight pages of gorgeous specially commissioned colour paintings that take pride of place in the centre of the book, depicting a wide range of dress, uniforms and troop types. The Venetian ‘Oltramarine’ troops illustrated look especially interesting. There are also a large number of contemporary black and white images, and both these and the colour plates are each accompanied by a detailed and very helpful commentary.

As an admirer of Bruno’s work I wholeheartedly recommend this book as it is a valuable addition to the series, whether for general historical and military research purposes or for wargamers searching for something by way of a different sort of project. I await Part 2 with a high degree of impatience.

ISBN 978-1-915113-57-3 Soft cover, 232 pages.

Russians Update. Not the progress I had hoped for but……it’s still progress

Well, six weeks in I had been planning to have rather more of this Russian force at the point I wanted them at, ie ready for a little highlighting and varnish then basing. I brought two regiments of Russian infantry, six battalions of 32 figures (24 musketeers and 8 grenadiers), and two half-batteries of artillery, minus the actual cannon.

Musketeers but off the top of my head I can’t remember which regiment they are destined to be.

Grenadiers

Should get these finished before we come home.

The shambles that is my temporary painting station.

Well I have failed 😞. There is only one battalion ready, plus two of the three grenadier companies of the regiment (one per battalion). I will more than likely get the other two battalions of the first regiment finished and all the others have had their greatcoats speed painted (still not wholly convinced as I like contrast paints better I think). You never know I may well get them pretty much along the road to completion as they’re very simple figures to paint and the greatcoats make them even simpler; collars, shoulder straps, cross belts, faces and various applications of black.

So it may be a bit longer before these boys take on the valiant/dastardly (delete as applicable) Swedes, let alone any Frenchies.

An interesting anecdote, or not? I very occasionally have used a painting service in Kiev, and keep in touch quite regularly, so given the current circumstances and to support them in their time of need I sent about a hundred figures to Vladimir to have painted. I mentioned that I had lots of Russians needing painting but thought it might be a bit insensitive, so they were sent loads of Steel Fist peasants. Not a problem I was told “as those Russians are history and we’ve been accepting commissions of Russian figures throughout the war” or words to that effect. I imagine many more present day Russians will join their forbears before this madness stops and Putin goes.

Onwards to Omdurman

Onwards to Omdurman, the Anglo-Egyptian Campaign to Reconquer the Sudan, 1896-1898by Keith Surridge is No.26 and a most worthy addition in Helion’s ‘From Musket to Maxim 1815-1914’ series. This book was published earlier this year and it has been inexcusably sitting on my to-do pile of books to review for some time. Well, having now got around to reading it I am very happy to report that this is a fascinating account of the campaign that culminated in the iconic battle of Omdurman in the Sudan following on from the shock of General Gordon’s no less iconic death at the fall of Khartoum over a decade earlier.

The author provides detailed information on the background to the conflict and the relationship between Britain, Egypt and theSudan. The chapter covering the Mahdist state that emerged following the conquest of Sudan provided for me an insight into the demographic, geographical and geopolitical issues. The chapter covering the British led Egyptian army is no less interesting in describing the recruitment, training and armament of this much maligned force.

The meat of the book are the chapters covering the advance to Khartoum up the Nile, and each of the encounters with the Mahdists on the way, from Dongola through to Atbara, Kereri and Omdurman. Each of these is examined in detail, supported by helpful maps of the battlefields depicting the terrain, dispositions and troop movements. There is also a nice postscript as the author then examines the final stages of the campaign culminating a year later in the battle of Um Dibaykrat, the death of the Khalifa and the famous Fashoda Incident which almost sparked off a war between Britain and France.

I found the discussion and narrative covering the British utilisation of the ultimate in Victorian technology to pursue their goals by far the most interesting. This was not just about magazine rifles, machines guns and modern artillery but also about the use of the telegraph to ease communication difficulties caused by the vastness of the territory being campaigned over, but also rail and river transport, supported prefabricated gunboats, to more quickly move troops and vital supplies.

The book contains a large number of contemporary black and white images together with a central block of 14 full page and largely colour illustrations, some contemporary and others especially commissioned from renowned artist Peter Dennis.

This is a well written and researched, with contemporary published and unpublished material and interestingly tries to see the campaign from the perspective of the Mahdists through the use of published sources where available also from intelligence reports from British officers and spies and informants in the Sudan. I enjoyed this book and can recommend it to anyone interested in British campaigns of the late Victorian era.


ISBN 978-1-915070-51-7 Softback, 155 pages