French Legere - 1813

Tour de France - Stage 16

Oh dear ... running well behind schedule now, and only just made it in before the next stage starts.

Here is a single battlalion of French Lights from Lancashire Games .. photographed without the aid of sunlight.

eeeks !

View of the climb up through the "Circle of Death".

Late war French - 1813

Tour de France - Stage 15

2 more battalions of late war French roll off the production line ...

French Division - 1813

Tour de France - Stage 14

Great stage race last night with huge amounts of drama ... sabotage on the course, killer hill climbs at 18%, death defying descents down wet slopes, chaos, drama, and sportsmanship.  Wiggo is a true British champion !

Good stage to pull out some masses now and look at a Division on the table, all based up on battalion sabot bases.

Here is what an 1813 Division roughly looks like at 1:60 scale.  This is modelled on the French 6th Division / II Corps on the Southern front at Leipzig in 1813.

Lucky for me ... the French units are quite 'understrength' for this campaign.

The leading brigade - 3 battalions of Legere with 3 battalions of ligne in the 2nd wave.  3 Battalions in column of divisions on each flank, and 2 batteries in the centre.

Note the lack of cavalry at the Division level.  Not much more at Corps level for this unit either.

French Brigade in Greatcoats

Tour de France - Stage 13

Here is the 2nd Regiment of French Ligne in Greatcoats ... paint is still wet on the basing !!  Only just made it.

French in Greatcoats - Regiment

Tour de France - Stage 12

3rd Battalion in Greatcoats ready for the storage box

That makes up the 1st Regiment in Greatcoats

French Line Grenadiers

Tour de France - Stage 11

Finished off some French Line Grenadier companies, as I watched the race unfold through the mountains for France last night

French Cuirassiers

Tour de France - Stage 10

Thank goodness for rest days.  Back into it now, with lots of big climbs to get over ..

4 Squadrons of mixed French Cuirassiers - bit of the old style uniform and facings, bit of the new . with a later period flag .

4 Squadron bases fit nicely on a 'Cavalry Regimental Sabot Base' ... which is a standard MDF drink coaster from the dollar store.

Struggling to keep up the pace at this stage of the race, and still a few weeks to go yet.

Lets see how we go tonight then ....

French line in Greatcoats - other Battalions

Tour de France - Stage 9

No time for a detailed post today  . which is quite suitable, as its a time trail stage.

Rush rush rush.

Greatcoats, representing a generic battalion of a generic regiment.

Done !

French Line in Bardin Uniform - Leipzig 1813

Tour de France - Stage 8

Great racing last nice with another long stage of over 100 miles, with lots of nasty hills ... and some more unfortunate accidents.

Was shocking to see Sanchez (defending Olympic gold medalist) crash out with a broken collar bone, so he is out for London 2012.

What we did see though was a memorable win for a young French rider in his first tour. It was one of these rare occasions where the risk of hopping onto the breakaway group actually pays off.

A memorable win for Thibaut Pinot - the youngest rider in the race !

What better way to capture that in miniature, than finish off a unit of French Ligne using some of the youngest (newest) figures available ... Eureka's own amazing late French in Bardin uniform in 18mm.

French Ligne in Greatcoats - 1813+

Tour de France - Stage 7

What a great nights viewing last night ... spectacular scenery into the Vosges mountains.

Took a few shortcuts myself, and finished off a single battalion of French line in Greatcoats.

The first real climbs of the Tour saw the real contenders come to the front and fight it out for the last 6km all uphill.

This last section is at 20% slope ... ouch !

15mm Tanks, superbly done

Recently bumped into this guy who does some of the most excellent WW2 era armour in 15mm.

He has just started up a new blog, and should have some truly excellent stuff to post as time marches on.

Definitely worth following .. so say d'day and welcome him to the blogosphere :)

OwlFinger armour in 15mm

French Dragoons

Tour de France Peter Sagan - Stage 6

Bit of crazy carnage last night in stage 6 on the road to Metz .. it was a bit like watching live coverage of Borodino !

At the end though ... somehow .. Peter Sagan held it all together to jump just at the right moment, and power over the top of Greipel.

Amazing effort. Im stunned.

Grand Duchy of Warsaw - 1st Regiment

Tour de France - Stage 5

Finishing off the next Polish regiment in the line ..  2 more battalions of Polish line infantry.

So as far as Leipzig goes, we have the VIII Polish) Corps, 26th Division, 1st Brigade.

OOB for this brigade is :

- Vistula Legion light infantry - 2 Bns at around 400 men each.
- 1st Polish Line Regiment - 2 Bns at around 400 men each.
- 16th Polish Line Regiment - 2 Bns at around 400 men each.

Vistula Legion - Leipzig 1813

Tour de France - Stage 4

Continuing on with the painting challenge, I was struggling to get a bit finished last night.

Quite appropriate, as the high pace of the race so far so many riders struggling to hold their line and stay out of trouble at the front of the peleton.

Part of 2 battalions of the Vistula Legion - Leipzig 1813.

Head tube airbrush work on That Rider's bike.

French Chasseur a Cheval Regiments

Tour de France - Stage 3

Only stage 3, and Im feeling like I'm struggling to keep up already !

 Lucky for me, I have some Chasseur a Cheval already finished off, which fits in nicely with the results from Stage 3.

Peter Sagan - again - puts the hammer down at the end of 197km of too-fast racing, to grab an easy sprint finish ... on a set of climbs .. against the best in the world.

.. And still has plenty of time to stop before the finish line, smile for the cameras and perform an intricate victory dance on the saddle as he coasts over the line to another stage win.

That's none less than Mark Cavendish and Fabian Cancellara struggling in the background to take 2nd place.

WTH ?  How good is this kid ?

French Allies - Hesse Darmstadt and Baden , Jena Auerstadt, 1806

Tour de France - Stage 2

Well, its only stage 2 of a very long race .. and already  Im wondering how on earth I am going to get out 1 French-related post per day ... for the next 3-4 weeks.

 Ah wel, lets see how we go.

Last night saw the Tour head through the fortress of Namur, and towards the French border as it heads out of Belgium.

Just over the Rhine are a couple of German states - Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt, who formed an alliance with France, and loyally provided some good regiments from Jena in 1806, to Spain, to all the way out to Leipzig in 1813.

Here we have a small battalion sized contingent of Hessians and Badeners to add to the French forces at Jena.

French 7e Legere - Wagram 1809

Tour de France - Day 2

Following on from the prolog with Stage 1 proper, we had an exciting race last night, featuring the yellow jersey making a bold statement up the front of the race .. a few crashes .. and a mad pace all the way to the line.

Right at the end, a young rider from Slovakia .. showing something short of contempt for the rest of the field, almost cruising past Spartacus to take the stage win in the final metres.

So Ill throw in some colourful French Legere to match the feel of that stage.

French 5th Hussars

Tour de France - Stage 1

Following along with the bike race of the same name - a 3000km race all across France, through every single village and up every single mountain pass ..... equates to a lot of late night streaming video watching here in Australia.

Reasonably important down here in Australia, as one of 'our' blokes is defending the yellow jersey for the first time, so its a must watch for all of us.

A perfect excuse then to build up stock levels for the French Forces at Leipzig 2013, whilst staying up late every night to tune in on the race.

Stage 1 of the Tour is typically a short prologue event - a 6km time trial at sprint pace.

What better way to equate that short but fast dash of an event in miniature ... a Squadron of dashing French Hussars !

You can follow the real race HERE each day at cyclingtipsblog for more 2 pedalled mounted warrior action.

Leipzig 2013 - Austrian Commanders

Officers of the Day

Adding some extra officers for the Austrians to take over Divisional commands, and a CHQ.

The Colloredo CHQ being pulled from my Wagram 1809 collection to make up the numbers ...

Italians - 19th Century

Regiment of the Day

In the 2nd Italian installment for the Giro d' Italia, here we have some 19th Century Italians in spectacular, glossy style !

Italians in Greece - 1940

Regiment of the Day

15mm WW2 Italians !

Steampunk Chicken

Art of the Day

Here is one of Kat's latest creations - a mechanically enhanced flying creature.

Prussian Army 1813 - New Recruits

Regiment of the Day

Early next year - probably around March 2013 at this stage, I am running a reasonably massive convention / public demo game of "The Battle of the Nations" - Leipzig 1813.

Running at 1:60 scale in 15mm .... so at best we can probably look at fielding around a Corps+ for each of the armies involved (Russia / Prussia / Austria / Other Allied ) ... with at least 1 opposing French Corps on each table as well. Should be massive !

For the Prussians, I am going to concentrate on Kleist's Corps for starters.

On to the miniatures then - here are this week's recruits for Kliest's Corps :

 2nd West Prussian - 1st Battalion.

Each battalion sized unit is anything from 3 bases for some of the more understrength units (such as the Russians and some French) to 6 bases for the larger battalions (some Austrian units for example).

The Prussians are mostly 4 base battalions (12 figs).

Mourman line regiment - Dresden campaign 1813

Regiment of the Day

Now on the the Russians.

Useful for the any period from 1812 onwards ... I am hoping to get in a little mini-campaign for Borodino this year, and then build on that collection for the Leipzig campaign next year.

So here we have some Russians in Kivers.

French 12e Ligne - Wagram 1809

Regiment of the Day

Here we are with the last of the Republique scaling regiments .... gearing up now for doing Leipzig in 1:60 Empire scaling.

So here is yet another small group of French line. 

More Battalion Sabot Bases

Battalion Scale Sabot Bases

Following on from the previous post, here is a brief selection of some of the other Battalion scale Sabot bases that I have in  mind for running big games.

After many play tests, I am convinced now that using Sabot bases is not only convenient for ease of movement, but it also adds a lot of clarity to the tabletop.

It is definitely something worth playing with.

The rationale of using Sabot bases for each Battalion scale unit are many :

• Speed up moving lots of figures around, whilst holding their formation.
• To denote a sort of 'Zone of Control' for each battalion.  As units start to lose cohesion and take losses, bases from the unit can remain on the table, but off the Battalion base .. so they become stragglers that clutter up the table.  I like having my figure collections nicely organised if possible ... but I find that removing bases during a game and putting them back in the box just creates chaos. This solution of leaving stragglers and wounded on the table solves that issue, and also does away with needing to have tokens on the table to denote cohesion / morale losses as well.
• Battalion bases that are close to each other (or touching) mean that 2 battalions are in close support, and are acting as a single group despite the gaps between the figure bases. 
• More flexible units have larger battalion bases, which gives a larger zone of control.
• Restrictions on the types of formations that the unit can assume are defined by the physical size of the Battalion base.
• Changing the formation within the confines of the Battalion base is a 'free' move as part of standard tactical movement in the game.
• If a formation change requires adding additional Battalion bases to the unit to accomodate the formation, this requires the expense of some 'Command Points' or something similar.
• Also provides a holding spot for labelling each unit !  
• I want to start playing with embeded RFID tags on the unit bases, for use with computerised tracking of the game. Battalion sabots make sense for this.
• In order to build 'Every single unit in every campaign' ... All I really need to do now is build a Battalion base for each unit, and just fill them up with figures on an as-need basis. I don't actually NEED to collect and paint up 3 million figures now if I do it this way :)

So lets have a look at some possible designs of Battalion Sabot bases to reflect different scenarios :

Start with the simple ones ....

3" wide, 2" deep - for a 4 company Prussian Battalion, 1813 Leipzig campaign.

My Prussian Musketeer battalions for this campaign are operating almost exclusively in Battalion masses, 2 companies wide.

Due to the large scale of the campaign, and need to compress as much mass as possible on a given frontage, this formation allowed easy control of the very large and not very well drilled armies.

They rarely changed from this formation (as far as I know).

This Battalion base allows for the following Formations : 

• 2 x2 companies in closed attack column (as shown here).  
• 2x2 companies with a space between the lines for supporting waves of 2 company wide columns.  
• 4 company square fits nicely on this base. 
• Throw 1 company of troops out front of the Battalion base, to denote the 3rd rank deployed as a semi-skirmish order screen.  
• Sideways orientation - 1 company wide column, 4 companies deep. 
• Add a spare base next to this base and re-arrange as a single line of 4 companies .. a 'complex' move for this unit, so that requires some command point cost.

Prussian Army of the Revolutionary Period

Regiment of the Day

IR 49 - Von Muffling
IR 32 - Hohenlohe

As luck would have it, I managed to score a couple of small batches of extra Prussians for the early Napoleonic campaigns. Can never have too many early war Prussians !

For the actual Jena/Auerstadt campaign in 15/18mm, nothing comes close to ABs in terms of figures. They are spot on, and a joy to paint.

Prior to Jena / Auerstadt, there is the French Revolutionary period, with a great variety of very intriguing little mini-campaigns of the First and Second Coalitions. For the Prussian involvement during these earlier campaigns, the cut of the uniforms was quite different to those used by the army at Jena / Auerstadt.

So, I grabbed a few Revolutionary period Prussians with a view to covering this gap, and a at pinch ... maybe fielding some of them in the older cut of uniform for the Jena Auerstadt campaign.

They also make a great subject for trying out some new ideas on basing, sabot bases, and 1:60 Battalion organisation.

Introducing ....
Revolutionary Period Prussian Infantry

1 Battalion, IR 49 of the Prussian Army, 1792-1801. Figures by Lancashire Games.

EmpireV - Morale Tests all done, and a new messaging system.

Computer Hacks of the Day

Ooops - This report is from the 15th April 2012, and I never got around to posting the update.

So here is a belated progress report on the computer system.

...

Got Phase 3) of the Empire system complete today, which includes applying ME determination tests, and all of the subsequent morale checks.

In addition to that, I have added a messaging system, so that the little metal men on the tabletop now start sending messages back to whichever player commands them.

Army of the White Citadel

Horde of the Day

Every 3,333 years .. the planets align in such a way as to bring into existence a gateway to an ethereal Kingdom known simply as -

The White Citadel

From this White Citadel come warriors who are true of heart, and as brave as lions.

They fight against injustice and oppression, righting wrongs and rescuing damsels in distress .... before the planets once again begin to un-align ... and whereupon the White Citadel fades away for another 3,333 years.

They have been known to appear during several famous conflicts, such as :

• Pretty much any 18th Century battle
• They were at the Berezina during Napoleon's retreat from Moscow
• They appeared briefly at Jena to cover the withdrawal of the Saxons
• They appeared in Berlin during the Kapp putsch, and convinced the Freikorps to head back to barracks.
• They appeared at Rouke's Drift to save the Welsh Choir from being washed on the spears.
• They opened the gates of Palermo to Garibaldi.

This is their story.

Von Kochitsky Karabiniers

Regiment of the Day

Getting on with posting my monster backlog of forces

Some 1806 Saxon Heavy Cavalry - Karabiniers von Kochitsky.

These are around 5 squadrons at full strength, attached to Zechwitzs 2nd Division (Saxon), part of Hohenlohes Army  Group South.

In Republique scaling ... that comes out to 1 base of Cavalry. Yay !


It was the Southern army group that ended up getting smashed at Jena by several combined French Corps.  By all accounts, the Saxons had a favorable position on the flank, and came out of the engagement in better shape than the Prussians.

The Saxons managed to extract themselves from the battlefield in good order, never once falling to pieces in the same fashion as the less fortunate Prussian brigades.

Napoleon was so impressed by the Saxons, especially their heavy cavalry, that he went out of his way to sign up Saxony in an alliance and incorporate their forces into the Grande Armee, where they continued to serve with great distinction pretty much up to the end in 1813.

As always .. my history lesson is probably a little off there, but that interpretation makes for a ripping yarn if ever there was one.