On the Workbench - French Dragoons

I have my next unit well underway.  These are a unit of French Dragoons. I have gone with Pink facings which add a splash of colour against the Green uniforms.

The unit consists of 12 figures. The 9 troopers are all recasts, as are the horses, with the command provided by Newline. I have used Newline command with my Briitish Lifeguards and they had slightly shorter legs. These Dragoons however have longer legs.

They match very well. I have added a Coke can flag to the standard bearer.

I have enough figures and horses in the lead pile to do another unit of Dragoons.

Afternoon game - Battle of Le Souffle

I set up the Dining Table for a quick game with my classic Napoleonics toys. I was going to play solo and test out some changes to my rules which are basically Charge.  Whilst setting up my Max my son asked if I needed help and could he play.   So we spent a couple of hours playing an enjoyable game.

The scenario was basically a French force depending against a larger Anglo Allied army commanded  by my son.  We played the game without any
reference to rules or quick play sheets. In all it took just over 2 hours.

Truffle Hill and its windmill are depended by a unit of Poles and the Guard Artillery under the watchful eye of Marshal Ney.

 Lutzow leads the Prussian 9th RIR and the Austro-Portugeuse Legion in a flanking attack on the village of Le Souffle.

The French skirmishers depending a sunken lane are no match for Lutzow command who despite the attention of the Guard Artillery take the position.

Marshal Murat leads the French elite Hussars in a flamboyant charge against the Lutzow Lancers but no no avail. In the ensuing the melee 5 hussars are list 3 lancers. Max needs to throw a 4 or more for the melee to continue. He rolls a 1 and the melee ends with both side retiring.

The Poles advance to hold Lutzow in check. 

Whilst the attack on the Allied right is going well Max launches further attacks in the centre. The village of Fondant is defended by French skirmishers and the 10th Legere who drive of the attacking Nassuers but are overrun by the Brunswick 1st Line

The Chasseurs de Flankers  with artillery support hold the Flotant Hill. They are however attacked by the Brunswick Hussars. Max wins for the initiative and the Hussars catch the Chasseurs before they can form square and cut them to pieces.

Le Souffle is defended  by the 5th Regt de Ligne. Who suffer from the attentions of artillery.

The British launch the Fusilier Brigade against Le Souffle. The Welch Fusiliers lead the attack but are quickly reduced to 50% and forced to retire. They are however supported by the 7th Fusiliers who drive the 5th Regt out of Le Souffle. 

With the loss of Le Souffle the French withdraw and concede.

A panorama of my dining table. The terrain is simple. The streams, woods and town sections are made from thin cardboard. The hills are mdf. The table measured 5 by 3ft. 

Napoleonique and Der Kreigspielers

I have a copy of the 1992 version of these classic Napoleonique rules since the mid 90s.  I pulled my copy of the shelves this afternoon for a browse.

The original rules were published in 1971 and were available from Der Kreigspielers. They cost $3.  The rules were written by Jim Getz and are seen by many as a turning point in game design. I meet Jim at Historicon in 2002 and spent a couple hours listening to him giving a talk on game design. 

There are a few pictures in the rules which look to be mostly Der Kreigspieler figures.  Der Kreigspieler were owned by Duke Seifried and were, let's face it, copies of Marcus Hinton figures. They did however add a few figures to the range. The 'Duke' and Jim were lifelong friends.

Massed French Infantry advancing. The artillery at the back look to be Mini Figs

French Engineers consult a map to make sure that they are at the right farm before they knock down the door.

I have 4 units of Der Kreigspeliers  Prussians in my painting pile. Amongst them is a unit of Von Lutzowers.

Der Kreigspieler figures came in blister unit packs of 24 figures. I am not sure when blister packs first started becoming popular in the UK but it must have been well into the 90s. 

DK figures are smaller than HH as they are copies of figures rather than originals. They do however mix well on the tabletop. 

The Hinton Hunt moulds are understood to be owned by someone in Canada and are going to be well worn. I wonder what happened to the DK ones ?

Douglas Voltigeur

I have had this Voltigeur Officer for a while. Looking the shape of the base I think this may be a Douglas figure  possibly code NP17.

He is a bit thicker set than other Douglas figures in the range. I have nicknamed him the Enforcer.

This weekend I painted up an old DK Russian standard bearer to go with the old Alberken figures I recently got off ebay.

These figures are painted to a basic style how the varnish has yellowed with age. I have tried to age the DK standard bearer using acrylic ink to stain the paint. I will leave these figures as they are - at least for now.

So that is 14 Infantry figures completed this year. I have started my next unit - 12 JC recast French two piece  Dragoons.  I just need to decide which Green to use.

Chasseur Flankers finished

I have finished off the 12 figures of the Chasseur Flankers. The unit consists of 22 original Alberken/Minifig figures with a recast Hinton standard bearer and drummer.

The Green and yellow go together rather nicely although it took 5 coats of yellow paint on the flag. I am not entirely happy with the flag as the eagle looks like a pigeon.

Alberken officers have a strange pose which I have tried to alter by bending the arms slightly. I had to do this to make room for the Drummer to fit.

So I have finished my first 12 Figures of the year which earns me 12 points. I have a French Rose (?) Voltigeur Officer almost done. 

In other news I have decided to use the prepainted Russian Alberken figures (see previous post)  as they are yellow varnish and all.  True veterans in more than one way. There are only 20 of them so I am painting a DK standard bearer and coke can flag to add to the unit. The interesting part is I am painting him to match the rest of the figures including replicating yellow varnish. 

Battles of Yesteryear

Over the years I have seen pictures of painted box sets supplied by Alberken in I guess the mid to late 60s. These box sets cost £2 2s 0d or 2 Guineas in 1965.

I have a fondness for the Alberken range and I was pleased to pick up a box of these figures on ebay for a modest outlay (I was the only bidder)

The box contains 20 Russians and look to be Grenadiers possibly codes RN3 and RN4s.  The painting is basic and the paintwork, particularly the white , shows, the effect of age with yellowing varnish.

I will do a bit of paint refurbishment and generally tidy these figures up rather than a strip and repaint. I have 2 Russian DK standard bearers and couple of SHQ Grenadiers I can use to bring the unit up to full strength as the Arakcheyev Grenadiers.

2019 Painting Review

So with 2019 done and dusted I thought it would be a good time to review my classic Napoleonics painting completed in the year.  Each Infantry/artilleryman figure painted counts as a point with a mounted figure and artillery piece counting as 2.

In all I painted 69 Infantry/artillerymen, 28 mounted and 2 guns.  So in all 129 points worth.  I had hoped to do more and aim to do more this year. I am going to move onto some Prussians next and I am hoping that the simpler uniforms may make it quicker to paint

In chronological order this us what I painted.

British Rifles.

British Lifeguards

British Royal Horse Artillery

Brunswick Line Infantry

Wellington and Picton

French Voltigeurs

Davout and Ney

Brunswick Hussars

And finally the first 12 of the Flanker Chasseurs. The other 12 are on the painting table.