Back to Napoleonics

I have been having a break since June from painting classic Napoleonics. However I am putting a participation game at a small get together in late November and I  really need another alied cavalry unit to balance the armies.

I have quiet a few unpainted units to choose from including Austrian, Prussian and British.  In the end I decided to go with a unit of one piece castings of the Scots Greys.

I got these figures a while back and the previous owner has altered some of the figure positions to make the unit more  animated. The horses have all had their tails docked. The figures have been painted some time in the past as there is still some red left on the uniforms.

Originally I was going the repair the tails but I have decided to go with the docked look. One figure had no hand or sword so I decided to graft on a bugle cut from a Newline figure. Some of the swords were a bit weak so I covered them with a thin layer of super glue at the weak points.

I used gorilla super glue to a fix the bugle hand to the figure as I have found this is a strong enough bond. As a change I will be using a grey undercoat rather than my normal black as I hope this well speed up the painting time.

I have also be doing some more rebasing and refurbing of my 28mm ACW collection.  

About 50% of the collection is done and I hope to complete by the end of the year. 

The vast majority of the figures are by First Corps and painted about 25 years ago.  

Altar of Freedom

My interest in the ACW goes back to my very first Airfix figures.  I have a fairly large 28mm collection but as my gaming table is limited I was looking for something in a smaller scale.

Last year I bought the  Altar of Freedom rules and over the last few weeks I have been adding to my 10mm AOF collection. I have been basing the figures with between 12 and 14 figures per brigade base. The figures are mostly Blaze Away with a few of the old Pendrakens mixed in to add variety. I have also done a few head swaps.

I have also being making fences and trees. I need to get some more tree armatures as I am going to need a lot more trees. 

I have another 6 brigades on the go and just need to paint the command to finish them off. I also have 4 command bases undercoated.

Take the High Ground

With retirement fast approaching I thought it would be a good idea to try a game of Neil Thomas One Hour Wargame rules solo as a possible set of rules for some light gaming.

This morning I played my first solo game using scenario 4 - Take the High Ground.   I used one of the alternate firing mechanisms with each unit having 5 strength and cavalry, artillery using one D6, infantry two D6 and Zoauves three D6 to fire. A four plus is needed to score a hit.

The union start the game holding the high ground and they have 3 infantry, 2 cavalry and one zoauve unit. They deploy  2 of the infantry units on the hill.

The Confederates have 3 infantry, 2 zoauves and 1 artillery unit.

I played the game with no sutility to the tactics and saw the Confederate and Union trade musket and loses in a stand up fight for the hill with the rebels gaining the advantage.

In the woods both sides had a zoauve unit and the fire fight lasted a number of turns  before the Confederates down to 1 hit managed to destroy their opposite number.

The other Confederate zoauve unit is able to emerge from the woods and take on a union cavalry brigade (represented by dismounted 7th Cavalry).

When they are joined by the 2nd zoauve unit.

The combined fire quickly destroys the union cavalry. The union have now lost 5 units to the confederate 2. A rebel victory.

I plan to run the game again later today and look to apply the lessons learnt from my first game.

I am wondering if 6" bases are a bit large as there was little room for manoeuvre particulary when using cavalry.  I am thinking of increasing the table size to 4ft 6" by 3ft or alternatively reducing the sabot base to 4".

54mm ACW ready for action

I have now assembled my two 54mm ACW armies for Neil Thomas OHW using my old childhood figures. 

The figures are a mixture of Britains Swoppet and Deetail together with a few  Herald ones. The union cavalry are Deetail 7th cavalry figures.  I have made the movement strays from artist board painted a suitable green and used white tack to hold the figures in place.

My son has unpainted Imex, Armies in Plastic, BMC and Italeri figures which I can always raid to paint up a few extra if needed.

I plan to play a game tomorrow. Take the High Ground looks a good scenario to start with.

54mm ACW for One Hour Wargames

As a kid I had 54mm ACW Britains and Herald figures and I still have them after over 50 years together with some later Britains Detail figures.  

Yesterday afternoon I spent a few hours putting as many figures together from the bits and pieces I have and realized I have enough for two ACW armies for Neil Thomas One Hour Wargame. Each army consists of 6 units and I will be using 6 infantry, 3 cavalry figures per unit.  I also have 3 Britains 12Lb Napoleons plus gun crew.

I have made a cardboard base 6 inches by 2 1/2 and painted it green to go with the old toy soldier style and put together my first unit.

I am missing a few muskets and will make some replacements from plasticard.  

My few old Herald figures date from the mid 60s and will need some re painting to make serviceable. The Britains Swoppits are in pretty good condition.

Prussian Artillery

My latest unit is a 6LB Prussian Field artillery battery. These are recast Hinton Hunt figures and are manning SHQ artillery pieces.

Napoleonic Prussians are a nice army to paint as they have a good mixture of unit types wearing a range of uniforms. They are not all Prussian blue. Not as pretty perhaps as other nations but functional and business like.

The figures used are 

PN 30 Officer

PN 31 Gunner with porte fire

PN 32 Gunner with rammer

PN 34 Gunner with handspike

The gun is available from SHQ and is code GUN02 - Prussian 6lb Gun

Reinforcements and painting progress

In the last couple of weeks I have been very generously been given some original Hinton Hunt figures by fellow enthusiasts.

Firstly from the East.  Dave V has sent me 6 French one piece line lancers (FN118). One has a broken lance so I am going to convert him to a trumpeter. These figures will bring my 5th Lancers up to full strength.

Secondly from the West I received 24 French Guard Marines (FN 94) from David C.  The officer is a recast Marine Officer (FN 90) l had in my spares box.  I will use a line drummer and standard bearer to complete the command.

Meanwhile on the painting table I am close to finishing 8 Prussian gunners and a couple of SHQ artillery pieces. These should be completed this weekend.