AB British Napoleonic Royal Navy Ship's Boats

 

 Another project cleared from my to-do list were a couple of Royal Navy boats. Doing Corunna has always been a bit appealing and as in Wargames Illustrated Corunna display, just really nice to look at.

I went with seated soldiers as opposed to the seated marines option. One day this may get worked into a convention game where there may be some landing and these will be useful. This was fun to paint and I got to paint some of the striped pants for the sailors.

I used Liquitex modelling medium/gel for representing the waves. A solid layer of blue paint followed by multiple colors of drybrushing to achieve the peaks of the waves. A fun set to paint and try something different.

Russian Napoleonic Pre 1809 Sapper Conversion

A short post about a conversion I put together recently. Finding sappers in 15mm scale for the more common armies isn't a problem. I was unable to find a suitable sapper outside of a possible Capitan/War Modelling figure. Not finding a picture of what I might be getting from that shifting company, I declined to experiment with my money. So I needed something to work with as a base for a conversion.

Does a pre 1809 Russian sapper take on the appearance of a grenadier? Unable to find anything written about their uniforms, I decided that the Russians probably imitated other armies in having sappers with grenadier hats. A French sapper seemed like a possible good start, but I settled with using the British AB sapper. Removing the little tuft, I then carefully fitted a Russian grenadier plume in place along with a small amount of green stuff to smooth it out. Primed and painted, it is now a part of my Russian Lasalle army.

Does anyone have a similar dilemma with figures that have to be converted to fill in a gap?

Russo-Ottoman War 1806-1812 Debut Battle

After years of work by myself and another gamer who contributed to the Ottoman painting and the terrain, my Russians and Ottomans are now meeting to begin their war. Here we have the Russian center and right coming quickly onto the field in march column to get at the waiting Ottomans.

The Russian left has the Siberia grenadier regiment and Olonetz musketeer regiment escorting some cossacks. This flank will be making contact first as they show no fear of the Ottoman forces they are facing.

The Ottoman left has a cavalry brigade backing the army's heavy artillery. The battery has a dominating presence that the Russians will feel as early as turn 1.

The Ottoman center is a bit weaker, comprising of militia units and a foot battery with medium guns. The woods are going to be their real defense in slowing the Russian advance as a barrier.

The Ottoman center remains relatively quiet for the first few turns. Only the Ottoman artillery could make itself felt by hitting the fast moving Cossack cavalry who were screening the Russian advance. A few shots found their mark and the Cossacks decided not to move any closer to the guns.

The Russian left continues to march up, unconcerned with deploying for action this far out. Their fast marching didn't give the Ottoman right much time to perfect their ranges of the artillery.

The Russian center is moving a little slower. The foot battery is still limbered and the Russian player is contemplating just exactly how to move between the obstacles and appear right before the waiting Ottoman guns.

The 5th Jagers are attempting to slip around the church and get up and clear the woods. Backing them is the Russian horse artillery battery that is attempting counter-battery fire against the Ottoman heavy battery just opposite it.

Here the Ottoman right waits for the Russians. They considered coming out to meet the Russians head on but were no confident the odds would be in their favor. Those tall black plumes indicated grenadiers were coming.

On the Ottoman left, the squadrons of the Belarus Hussar regiment are looking to clash sabers with the Ottoman sipahis cavalry. Maybe they could not see all the Ottoman cavalry stacked up behind the guns?

The Ottoman cavalry struck first. Preferring to counter the superior quality of the Russian cavalry with numerical advantage, the chance move was to pay off with a victory over the hussars.

One of the Ottoman militia units has now come into musketry range of the lead grenadier battalion. The single disruption caused would prove to be entirely useless for the upcoming turn.

The Russian infantry moving up is a feigning gesture as they cannot initiate contact with the Ottoman cavalry. They are probably hoping the Ottomans will surge forward and smash themselves uselessly against squares. I would not oblige.

The Russian center is beginning to take hold as the foot battery came up and unlimbered in canister range of the Ottomans. Some Cossacks are positioning themselves for a quick strike at the Ottoman battery before them.

The Russian battery managed to force the Ottoman battery to limber up. As it turns out, the other Ottoman battery experienced the same dilemma and was forced to limber. Limbered guns cannot fire and now the Cossacks are feeling much braver.

And as expected, the Cossacks surge forward. As it turned out in the combat, the Cossack were clumsy and did as poorly as possible with the dice rolls and were thrown back. Lucky me as my guns are saved.

A couple of grenadier battalions charge into the Ottoman militia unit at the upper right. Some other Cossacks are coming up and looking at engaging the Ottoman cavalry.

The Russian grenadiers are now on contact. They will break the front battalion with ease and will advance to complete their break through of the Ottoman right.

The jagers form into line and continue to meander their way forward. Do the woods make them uneasy and so they don't rush in and clear them? Or is it all that Ottoman cavalry that has them concerned?

As mentioned above, the front Ottoman battalion collapsed immediately. This second one is facing the same scenario. The Ottoman infantry is inflicting a few disruptions upon the Russians with musketry, but rolling poorly in combat won't allow them to hold on.

And here is where I made a mistake. After just barely beating off the Cossacks in the previous combat, I somehow forgot to move this battery or unlimber it. Had I just umlimbered it and opened canister fire upon the infantry, it would have slowed the Russian onslaught. My mistake gave the Russian infantry the chance to eventually charge into the limbered guns and break it.

The Ottoman cavalry managed to destroy part of the hussars but the rest the remaining squadrons of the Belarus Hussars attacked and were repulsed from their charge. The Ottoman heavy battery is back in action once again.

My neglect allowed my battery to be hit by some Russian infantry. The Cossacks decide to be aggressive and go after the Ottoman cavalry.

So as it turned out, the jagers were perhaps concerned about the bulk of Ottoman cavalry waiting for them. The jagers successfully formed square and managed to throw back the first charge.

The hussars and Ottoman cavalry decide to go at it again. All the Ottoman cavalry here makes any victory by the hussars useless due to the numerical odds.

The overall view of the tactical situation. I am surprised the Russian players both opted to ignore the villages and not waste troops holding places that had no value to winning the scenario. Most players cannot avoid these black holes that suck up manpower that could be used elsewhere.

The extreme end of the Ottoman right is practically gone and now some Russian musketeers are attempting to engage and finish off the flank. An Ottoman cavalry unit eyes a chance to hit some surprised Russian troops.

The Cossack's luck was in play as they both managed to win decisively and break the Ottoman cavalry they charged. Just out of the camera's lens are two more Ottoman cavalry units they will now have to face off against.

The Russian foot artillery continues to blast away, unopposed. The Ottoman infantry partially in the woods is getting sprinkled with long range canister fire.

And here we say goodbye to what's pretending to be the Ottoman center. As it would turn out, the grenadiers held a near perfect success anytime they made contact. The Lasalle Rules for a Valiant rated unit against a Shaky unit is significant. On top of poor dice rolling, the grenadiers have the punch to break through about anything.

The Ottoman right has routed and now the Russians begin their wheel toward the center to wrap it up and call it a day.

Two Ottoman cavalry units remain but since their command has broken, they will flee the field and deprive the Cossacks of another taste of combat.

The jagers had pushed off the first Ottoman cavalry charge while in square and thought that they would have no more trouble. As soon as they changed back into line, the cavalry took advantage of the situation and hoped to obtain an easy victory.

And here we see a parting shot of the batteries attempting to duel it out. Some Ottoman cavalry attempted to snake around the village to hope for a dash at the Russian guns but the battle is lost. The Russians chose to get into close combat and not exchange fire with the Ottomans and it worked out well.

AB British Light Dragoons

I've had some time to paint over the last couple of weeks or so as I've been fighting off a cold and managed to finish up the British light dragoons I bought 6 months ago. This has been sort of a gap in my collection for a long time.

Here is the 14th Light Dragoons. The trooper without a helmet (rear rank, center) was an interesting variant from AB. Sometimes we forget equipment could be lost or destroyed and replacements scarce.

And lastly, here is the 16th Light Dragoons. I chose to paint units which were active in the Peninsular War and the orange facings was something a bit less common in the British army. I'm happy with how they turned out and look forward to seeing them on the field.

I've been working on 6mm Baccus French Napoleonics for a while. In March I hope to have them debuted here. For grand tactical games, smaller figures can make larger game possible without the need for a super-sized table.

AB British Hussars

In my attempt to keep my armies made up of the same figure manufacturer (or at minimum, the 18mm scale) I parted with my tried and trusted Battle Honors KGL hussars recently and bought some AB British hussars and light dragoons. Only the Hussars have been finished so far.

As with all AB figures, they paint up quite well. I used a different blue on these figures and like how it turned out (Vallejo Model Master Dark Blue). A simple drybrush of white on the raised areas over the black primer gives this a deep blue look without looking like a Prussian blue. One white horse... still don't think I got it quite right!

Twistercon 2014 Lasalle Scenario: Castrejon

I realize I've been very distant from this blog for quite a while but I've been spending much of my time preparing for the convention this past weekend. One of the primary projects during 2013 was painting new AB French to replace my Old Glory units and go with a complete AB French army. All the months were spent on completing several new battalions as well as some cavalry and artillery.

So here are some images of the game I ran with my figures for the Anglo-Portuguese and the French forces.

Castrejon was a skirmish fought between the 4th and Light Divisions who were left more or less as a rearguard by Wellington during the 1812 campaign just right before Salamanca. Finding specifics on French units engaged has eluded me so I had to fill in units present with the Army of Portugal (and a couple of other units I simply liked the uniforms of). I suspect the French did not have many units up and in line, so this scenario was played as if the divergent column was part of the battle.

The battle was fairly slow to get started as the allies decided to slowly push their way forward.

A few turns in, the British artillery tried in vain to cut a path through the French units but failed to do much of anything. The British cavalry and their Portuguese allies were more aggressive and would suffer the brunt of the casualties despite facing almost equal numbers.

The French decided largely to leave the town to the Light Division that came up to occupy it. Multiple attempts would be made by the French 36th Ligne and 2nd Leger without any luck. The French hoped to lure the Light Division into the town and then use the weight of numbers to overwhelm the defenders.

The 3rd Btn of the 36th Ligne and the Cameron Highlanders engaged in a several turn struggle for securing the eastern edge of the town. The Highlanders were unable to recover from the multiple disruptions and were eventually swept away.

As the Anglo-Portuguese force reached its breaking point, much of the Light Division was weakened by failed attacks and two battalions occupying both sectors of the town. By the end of the final turn, the British cavalry was mutilated and the Light Division was facing some surely fatal flank attacks. Allied casualties were double that of the French and beyond the 33% army break point. Wellington will surely be upset at this loss!

May not be shown at the bottom of the pictures, but there were a few units present on both sides. I believe I counted 1450 figures. A nice game of Lasalle that out-shined all the other Napoleonic games going on at the convention.