Bohemian Rhapsody! White Mountain in 1/72nd Scale

Yesterday I'd been invited to take part in a recreation of the Battle of White Mountain at the outset of the Thirty Years War in 1618. A battle between the Protestant 'Winter King', Frederick I of Bohemia, who was also Elector Palatine. He was also married to James I/VI of England/Scotland's daughter, and father of, amongst others, Rupert of the Rhine of English Civil War fame. More info on the man here.

Anyway, back to the game, which was organised by Mike using his extensive and lovely 1/72nd scale plastic figures. We knew from the start that it would be a hard game for the outnumbered and outclassed Bohemians but we were determined to make a game of it. The Catholics were commanded by John H (Catholic John) as Tilly on their left and Neil W was Bucquoy on the right. The Bohemians were led by me as Thurn on our left flank, with Matt as Anhalt in the centre, and John the Red (Bohemian John) was Schlick on our right.

We used a set of rules provided by Mike. I don't know what they were called but they were easy to follow and worked well. We used rules to determine the weather, and as it turned out most of our battle was fought in rain, limiting movement and firing. As usual I will let the pictures tell the story of  how the game unfolded.

Both armies deployed for battle. The Bohemians are on the right on the slopes of White Mountain.. There were an awful lot of Catholics and their six tercios looked menacing.

The Bohemian left wing commanded (up the edge of the cloth) by me. The three infantry regiments  were rubbish, the Harquebusiers in the background were ok and the Cuirassier were good. They were going to have to be!

Lots of Tercios!

The Catholic centre.

One Tercio. Each one was over twice the size of our regiments.

My one regiment of cuirassiers was facing all this Catholic horse.

My soon to be heroic cuirassiers.

Wicked Imperial cuirassiers. (booo!)

More wicked Imperial/Catholic cavalry.

The Red, Green and White regiments. All of very low morale.

This is what my three regiments of foot were facing!

The battle began with a general advance by the Catholic army and a desultory cannonade from our side. We did force one enemy battery to break before it could deploy.

Another Tercio.

The Catholic centre, advancing slowly due to the rain.

Faced with overwhelming numbers of enemy cavalry my only obvious course of action was to retire in front of them. Nope. My cuirassiers charged the leading enemy unit, bringing the advance of the whole wing to a halt.

While the Red and White regiments withdrew, refusing my flank, the green regiment advanced  to bring the enemy horse under fire.

In the centre a gap had opened up between two Catholic Tercios so I ordered my Harquebusiers to charge.  Their target was unfortunately able to form a hedgehog so my cavalry pulled up short.

Neil reinforced the melee between the cuirassiers but still my regiment held its own for another turn.

The Red and White regiments withdrawing up the hill.

The Tercio charged by my  Harquebusiers was now pinned and unable to move until the threat from my cavalry was removed. Neil's artillery eventually drove my horsemen off to rally on the Mountain.

My musketry had been less than effective and the return fire shattered the Green regiment, seen here routing from the field.

My cuirassiers were still fighting, although Thurn was knocked from his horse and unable to influence the game for a turn.

Sadly being outnumbered four to one had only one possible outcome and the surviving Bohemian cuirassiers fled.

The Catholic cavalry pursued my fleeing troops up the hill. To add to the chaos Thurn was killed in the rout.

Matts cavalry exploited the gap in the Catholic line and attacked their Croats.

My Red regiment soon followed their Green compatriots in flight!

My now rallied harquebusiers charged the Catholic cuirassiers, blown from their pursuit. Sadly my men bounced and in the following move were chased down by all of Neil's cavalry and driven from the table.

In the centre Matts cavalry struck the enemy Croat cavalry and routed them and the unit following.

A large gap in the Catholic line of battle now filled with Bohemian horsemen.

Back on my flank the sole surviving infantry regiment and the battery of cannon in the earthwork were all that was keeping the enemy from rolling up our flank. My cavalry seen here lasted only another turn before being shattered. 

Over on the other flank I am unsure as to what exactly happened. I do know that Catholic John managed to throw three 1's in succession which resulted in three of his units routing! He failed to take Bohemian John's battery in the first attempt but pressed on again for another go.

This time Catholic John's Tercio hit one of Bohemian John's regiments and completely destroyed it in a couple of rounds of melee.

The battlefield at the end of the game. Our left was gone, with the White regiment finally being surrounded and destroyed to a man. 

So what was the result? The game had been set to run 12 turns, which we played out comfortably. The weather rules played a big part in the game as the game started in light rain, then cleared for a while, then the rain came back, torrentially for the final couple of turns. The effect on the Catholic army was profound as with movement reduced to 50 per cent and no firing permitted their victorious right wing was never going to get to grips with our centre. All bar one of the catholic Tercios was pinned in hedgehog by Matt and Bohemian John's cavalry so was unable to move. This allowed our surviving infantry to withdraw safely without the danger of a damaging pursuit, although I suspect we would have lost all of our artillery, being unable to extract any guns due to the weather. The Bohemians had done far better than in the real battle (not too difficult as the entire army was broken) and managed to withdraw to fight another day, so the game was declared a Bohemian victory, or as Matt suggested, a Bohemian Rhapsody!!! Mama Mia!

Thanks to Mike for setting the game up and for umpiring. The game was played in the usual gentlemanly way and was a pleasure to be involved in, even if I got my figure killed and my entire command was routing from the field or surrounded and wiped out to a man! A grand day out (and thanks to Bohemian John for the lift).

More 1792 Prussians

I found enough tufts to finish the remaining five battalions of my 1792-94 Prussians from Revolutionary Armies. The units shown below were painted by Northumbria Painting Services and based by me. The flags are from Adolfo Ramos (the missing flags are en route from Madrid as I type this).

A combined grenadier battalion.

What, I ask myself, am I to do with 24+ battalions of Prussians? (If I include my 1806 ones as well). I shall give it some thought, but in the meantime I shall enjoy just looking at them.

Prussian Fusilier Battalion, War of the First Coalituon

A quick look at another unit I based up yesterday in the garden, a Prussian Fusiliers battalion for the French Revolutionary Wars.
The castings are by Revolotionary Armies, the painting is by Northumbrian Painting Services and the basing is by me (tufting and tidying up  still required when the tufts arrive).

I LOVE these figures. The whole range is tremendous and hopefully I will be able to post pictures of the grenadiers and musketeers before then end of the week. 

Polish Legion Lancers, Italy 1799

These have been knocking around for a bit waiting for pennants to be fitted to their lances.

There were several Polish Legions during the Wars of the French Revolution, both on the Italian and the Rhine fronts. These uhlans are to join their comrades for when I get back to the 1799 campaign in Northern Italy culminating in the battle of Novi.

The figures are by Elite Miniatures, were painted by my mate Barry and based by me

More 18th Century French - Button Counters look away now!

Here at last, now they've had their bases (almost) finished (I need to order a few tufts) are the first five battalions of my French army for the War of the Polish Succession. A battalion of Gardes Francais (Cran Tara figures),  the Royal Italien, Royal Suedois (Technically Swedish but....) Buckley and Roth (both Irish) have now joined forces and are on their way to barracks. I’m in the middle of slowly painting the first (Regt Auvergne) of what will be a further half dozen normal grey/white coated battalions although I ought to do a Swiss battalion.  Tedious though and it's no fun compared to what I've been doing for the first half of the year as returning to 40+ figures battalions compared with 20’s for the Sikh Wars can be a strain on the mojo.

As I said in the previous post I got a mega discount on a load of Ebor WSS figures (thanks Nick) so the temptation was far far too great to ignore. Yes, I know the hairdos are wrong. Yes, I know they should be wearing gaiters but paint solves that one. Yes, I know the coats and pocket arrangements and their belts and shoulder straps are slightly wrong, but as with all these things at a distance of 2 feet these uniform fudges disappear. They're my toys and they will do perfectly well at a pinch for the War of the Austrian Succession as well as the Polish one, and of course if I were ever to consider it, the WSS, but I won't. I do actually have a couple of battalions of Cran Tara WAS French and will no doubt get another one or two in time. Once I've got these bloody French out of the way that is. Now to finish basing the cavalry and awarding them their colours. And I STILL haven’t finished my Bengal Horse Artillery limber teams!

Button counters may now look again.

Sneak Peak - 28mm 18thC French

The Royal Italian regiment. They need some tufts adding and a little tidying up but otherwise they're ready to go. [I have since painted their legs white as they’d be wearing gaiters by the WPS]

Here is a sneak peak of one of the infantry battalions forming my French army for the War of the Polish Succession, the Royal Italien regiment. Right, I freely admit that I am fundging a few things with this army. I had the chance to buy the core of the army in bulk from Ebor Miniatures. Now, I know that Ebor’s figures are for the War of the Spanish Succession which ended 20 years before the WPS and 30 before the WAS, BUT I got a whacking great once only discount of approx 45% so this unit of  about 40 figures cost me a tad over £20! A no brainer really and the French uniforms didn’t change very much until the middle of the SYW. So, if one is prepared to overlook the  hairdos, which I am, that is how I’ve ended up with a big box of French infantry and cavalry, most of whom are finished and just in need of basing. My mate Barry painted 10 units of cavalry and six battalions of foot, and I have another six of foot, some artillery and commanders to do myself.
So, watch this space.

War of the Polish and/or Austrian Succession Spanish Horse

The two regiments of horse referred to in earlier posts have now been awarded their colours. They are now off to join their compadres in barracks until such time as they are called to action. These two units were painted for me by Old Guard Painting Services in the Ukraine and were great value for money even if they are a bit too detailed for my taste. They are gorgeous though. The figures were based by me, the castings are Elite Miniatures and the flags are I think from Vaubaner Graphics.

The regiment in blue are the Brigada de Carabineros Reales. They fought in Italy during the WPS and WAS. In red we have the Reina regiment was also active in Italy during the WPS and WAS.