Merry Christmas

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and that you have time to spend on your Wargaming plans for next year.

French reinforcements

I do enjoy opening packages when they contain hobby items.

Yesterday, following a recent figure trade, the postman yesterday delivered a small package which I duelly opened  with a thrill of anticipation.

Inside I was pleased to find some very nice original Hinton Hunt French figures which I had swapped for some Lamming SYW figures.

Firstly there are 16 French Line Artillery crew. Enough for 4 complete gun crews.

In addition there are 2 Artillery riders which I will use with my Newline Limber horses.

Finally there are 4 each of FN2 and FN3  Line Grenadiers which I will be using as the elite companies for a Line battalion.

On the painting table I have started  on the first 6 figure squadron of the 1st British Life guards.

1st Hussars Completed

I have finally finished the 1st Hussars. It has taken me a bit longer than planned but I now have my elite Hussar regiment finished.

The 1st Hussars are made up of 4 recast figures and 2 originals. Now they are painted its hard to tell them a part.

I found the braid on the front of the coat a bit tricky to do and overall Hussars do have a lot of fiddly bits on them. As per usual they are finished with 2 coats of gloss.

And here is the combined 1st/8th Hussars. The 8th Hussars were one of the first units classic Napoleonic units I painted over 18 months ago.  Perhaps I need to paint up a spare Hussar figure I have as Brigadier Etienne Gerard.

Newline and Hinton Hunt

Yesterday at the Battleground show I took advantage of the 25% sale to pick up a few bits and pieces from Newline.

Newline figures are true 20mm and therefore smaller than Hinton Hunt figures.

Firstly I bought some British Lifeguard command to see if I could use them to with a unit of Hinton Hunt I had in pipeline.

I am going to use the Newline figures with Hinton Hunt horses.

The first and third figure are Newline with the second and forth being Hinton Hunt.

Side on view with a Hinton in the middle flanked by the Newline figures.

I think they mix very well and will look good once painted. I am going to get thus unit painted next.

This next image shows a Hinton Hunt horse next to a smaller Newline one

I also bought some Newline Limbers and horse teams.

Firstly a British RHA Limber with a Hinton Hunt Horse team and Newline riders.

A Prussian all Newline Limber, team and riders.

The Newline Horse team are smaller so will need a little Miliput to raise the height of the figure.

Hinton Hunt Commanders

I spent a very pleasant day at the Battleground show. Unfortunately the Lancaster Cellarmen where unable to put on their Hinton Hunt game as planned.

Mark L did however bring his Hinton Hunt commanders with him. And I thought I would share some photos of his collection. He has quiet a few.

I spent  an enjoyable time chatting to Mark and Clive S (of the Hinton Hunter blog fame) about classic Napoleonics. Its possible that at next years show we will cooperative on a Classic Napoleonic game.

I rather like this last one. I wonder who manufactured the coach 

I purchased some Newline Limbers and horses as they have a 25% off sale on at the moment together with some British Lifeguard command I intent to use with Hinton Hunt horses.  I will do a few comparison photos in my next post.

I do like visiting my local Oxfam

As regular readers of this blog will know there is a rather good Oxfam in Ilkley. I have over the years managed to obtain a number of hobby related items including 150 or so original Hinton Hunt figures.

A couple of years ago they opened a secondhand bookshop and I have bought some good books from the shop.

This morning I dropped in and managed to buy a copy of Scott Bowdens book on the Grande Armee of 1813 for the princely sum of £2.49.

I will peruse the book this afternoon as I listen to the rugby.

Waterloo Fans cut

I watched the film, Waterloo a Fans Cut in HD, on youtube today. This included some extra scenes I had not seen before. There were a few extra little scenes added in the battle sequences.

It was fun trying to spot them.  Here are a few. Excuse the poor images.

The pictures below show short scenes that have been added for Ligny and when the Prussians advance at Waterloo. I have heard that the original film had more scenes covering Plancenoit. Shame they were cut.

This last one looks like a mock up board of a scene and includes this dialogue.

Blucher "We drew blood, Wellington, but you cut the throat. You had the bucket of it"

The HD version is worth watching even without the extra scenes.

1st Hussars - Work in Progress

I have been rather slowly painting 6 French Elite Hussars to add to the 6 figures I painted 18 months ago.

https://ilkleyoldschool.blogspot.com/2017/05/hinton-hunt-french-8th-elite-hussars.html?m=1

I have got the main colours completed and have started on the white bits.  Once I have the main colours on I then go over and clean up the black items before adding the final details and the all important tidy up to get, as close as I can, clean lines between the colours. The braid on the front of the jacket will need particular attention on these figures.

The finished unit of combined 1st/8th Hussars will join the Carabiniers  to bring my French Cavalry strength up to 2 regiments.

I have also started prepping 6 recast British Dragoons in bicornes to add a second unit to my allied cavalry.

Blucher reviews his troops

I have finished my Blucher and thought it would appropriate for him to review his small, but growing, army.

So far I only have the 9th RIR and Von Lutzow Lancers but I do have 4 battalions, a dragoon regiment and 2 batteries in the painting queue.

The Blucher figure is a JC recast as is his horse. I don't think is the correct horse to use for a mounted Prussian officer but its the only one I had.

Blucher address his troops.

'Raise high the black flags, my children. No prisoners. No pity. I will shoot any man I see with pity in him.

Lutzow finished

I have finished my Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm Freiherr von Lützow conversion.

I added a bit of gold and silver bling to act as a contrast with the black uniform.  I had a bit of trouble as his head came off and I have to reinforce with a small pin.

I added a small leather knapsack to help cover up the area where the the stock of the carbine had bee.

I could not find any reference to Lutzow ever wearing a hussar uniform . But then again I could find any references that said he did not wear one.

I used my pea dot effect on the sheepskin saddle cloth using 2 different shades of grey. Whilst slight cartoonist I do like the effect. I used the same effect to edge the fur on the pelisse.

A double anniversary- 1st October

The 1st October is a double anniversary.

Firstly the Battle of Lobositz was fought in 1756. I first came across Lobositz in the Miniature Warfare magazine in 1970. I thought I would share this bit of memorabilia.

Oh yes - The 1st October is also my wedding anniversary. 

Charge

I am getting close to playing my first game with my classic Napoleonics. My plan is to the first Wargame rules I used as back in the late 60s.

So I have pulled my old copy of Charge from the shelves.

There have been a couple of blog were others have been using the Charge rules for Napoleonics. Firstly Keith F has been posting of his dining table games with one Stuart A. 

https://keefsblog.blogspot.com/2018/04/old-school-napoleonics-2.html?m=1

Andy C has been using Charge for his Shinyloo Project.

http://gloriouslittlesoldiers.blogspot.com/2018/07/shinyloo-two-bigger-longer-shinier.html?m=1

I have been reading the rules and have come up with some rule amendments I intend to try out.

Firstly I am going to downsize all units and measurements by 50% to fit in with my 24 figure battalions and 12 figure cavalry/light infantry units. Each unit will consists of 2 companies / squadrons which may act independently  if required

Secondly I am going to add morale rather than using the 50% rule. I going to use a variation of the morale rules used in Grants the  Wargame based on loses and officer casualties. 

Every time a player loses a figure roll a D6 for each figure lost. If you get at least one 6 then an officer is at risk. Any extra 6s are ignored. An officer at Risk is saved on a 5 or 6. I will mark Officer loses with an appropriate marker.

Morale is based on a basic unit value

7 Grenadiers and some better elites 

6 regular

5 militia and less well trained.

Every time a unit loses a figure/officer you have to take a morale check. 

- 1 for each have lost 1/6 strength lost

- 1 for each officer lost 

- 1 for each rally attempt (max 2 attempts)

Roll a D6 and add the units base morale. A unit needs to make a 6 or fails the morale check, if advancing the units halts and may not move or fire next turn, otherwise the unit routs.

A routed unit gets 2 chances to rally using tge standard morale test with a -1 on first attempt and -2 on second attempt.  A command officer may attach to the unit and adds 1 to the morale test.

The final change is to the infantry melee. Units in line/skirmish melee as usual with figure vs figure melee rolls.  If a column hits a line take the total number of figures in the column and divide by 2 rounding up.  The result is the number of melees that are fought as 2 to 1 individual combats against the defender. There can never be more melees than there figures in the defending unit. Remember that loses from firing as the unit charges in are added to the attackers loses when determining the melee victor.

To test these rule changes I am planning my first small game  - Battle for the Bridge loosely based on Blasthof Bridge.

Von Lutzow

I needed a Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm Freiherr von Lützow figure to command my von Lutzowers.  So a quick conversion was needed.

Using a recast Prussian Hussar as the starting point I used my dremmel to remove the carbine and fashion a small pouch at the end if the cross belt.

I then added the buttons down the trouser using the point of a file.  I then bent the sword arm so the sword was at porte rather than straight ahead in a charging pose as this more a officer inspiring his troops.

Finally I cut off the head and replaced it with a Prussian Guard Officers head with feathered shako.

All in all not to complex a conversion.

9th Prussian Reserve Infantry - done

This lunchtime I finished off the 9th Prussian Reserve Infantry.

Forming figures in a firing pose with muskets and bayonets is a bit of a jigsaw. As a result these guys will probably send most of the time in line.

The nco is a an old Rose miniatures figure and fits in nicely. The standard bearer is a Douglas figure with cast on flag

So what next.

I think I may have enough units painted for a small game.