Russian Musketeers (1812+)

Russian Musketeers (1812+)

Another quick one .. some left over warrior miniatures later Russians in Kiver, enough to make up 2 battalions.

1813 Russians in field cap

Russians in field caps - 1813

Some later (1812+) Russians in a mix of uniforms and field caps, shown here advancing in Closed Column.


Picked up a few bags of mixed of OG Russians in field caps from the TMP marketplace. Ended up with about 100 figures in this lot.

OG always have a good mix of animations and poses in the bag, so they are quite useful to  create fill in bases to pad out a growing army.

Time to splash some paint on them and get them on the gaming table.

Russian Musketeer 1807

Russian Musketeer 1807

Another Battalion of the wonderfully formidable Russian Musketeer line regiments, shown above in 1-company wide march column.

This time in their earlier 1807 period uniforms, complete with regimental facings.

Japanese - Manchuria 1905

Regiment of the Day

Sort of Russian related -  here is another box from the cupboard, which contains a stack of 1907 Japanese to fight the Russians in Manchuria.

Figures by Irregular.

Russians in Manchuria - 1905

Regiment of the Day

And now for something completely different to kick off Russian Month ...

Some 1905 Russians in Manchuria !

All figures below are from irregular's 15mm colonial range, and painted up as Russians for the 1905 campaign against the Japanese in Manchuria.

These figures are another save from years ago. After doing a monster house move, its amazing what  turns up buried away in the cupboards !  So these figures are on FoW bases, and painted up using primitive techniques from before the discovery of vallejo glazes and sealers. The results are still pretty good though



The Russo-Japanese War

An excellent war to game this one - as the period is still in transition from Napoleonic post-linear style tactics to modern tactics. Artillery, trenches, mines, machine guns, barbed wire, flamethrowers, telegraph and rail .... all conquered by human wave bayonet attacks.

Well, thats how some observers from Europe incorrectly read the results anyway.

By the end of the Russo Japanese war, some observers had noted and learned the real underlying lessons .... some not so much.  The result was clearly shown in the trenches of WW1 a few short years later.

I highly recommend reading up on this war, as the ground battles themselves demonstrate some of the worst possible command and control stuff ups (mostly on the Russian side). It has it all - whole Divisions attacking the wrong objectives at the wrong times,  whole Divisions attacking each other !, orders simply not getting through, total failures of logistics, etc, etc.

In fact, just one short battle in this disastrous campaign has enough WTF moments to justify even the very worst die rolls on the table as being entirely "historical" in their impact.

Anyway, on with the figures .....

Russian field gun.

French Infantrie de Marine 1813

French Infantrie Artillerie de Marine - 1813

Finally got some Battalions out for the French Infantrie de Marine for Leipzig 1813.

After digging around for resources on these guys ... and finding the usual mix of conflicting details from different sources, I settled on this "interpretation", which I reckon fits the feel of these units well.  See what you think.

All of the line troops have greatcoats, and are still equipped in bicornes. Note that all the leather cross belts are black as well.

All pompoms are red, and to distinguish them from regular troops in greatcoats, they have a little brass anchor insignia on the left sleeve.

Finally, the flag is standard French tricolor, with a gold anchor symbol. OK, I made that up, but it works for me :)

ActionFront - Leipzig Nord -Initial Setup

Battle of the Day

A step by step run through of a test game using my new Computer Moderated Napoleonic system - ActionFront !

This is taken from the Leipzig-Nord scenario, with the French III Corps vs the Prussian III Corps in 1813.

Prussian Brigade begins its deployment for the Battle.

To make it even simpler, will start off with the initial contact between a single maneuvre element from each of these 2 Corps sized units.

On the Prussian side, we have the 5th Brigade, on the French side we have the 11e Division.
....

Lets have a look at the 2 forces involved for the initial contact, and how that translates to the tabletop  :

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 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 !

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.

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.

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 !

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.