A New Paint Storage Rack

Fritz is better organized now that his paints are neatly stored in the Hydra paint rack, shown in the picture above. (click pix to enlarge)

Last week on The Miniatures Page ("TMP") I saw an advertisement for this nifty tiered paint storage rack available from Hydra Miniatures LLC (28118 James Drive, Warren, MI 48092, USA). Hydra imports these "MiniaturicuM" brand paint racks from Germany. They are made from wood and the pieces appear to be laser cut so that the mortices and tenons fit precisely. I liken the assembly to putting together a model with Tinkertoys (plug in and push system).

You can contact Hydra on line at www.hydraminiatures.com to place an order. I ordered the 72-bottle paint rack for $35.00 plus shipping for a total cost of $40.20. The assembly was very easy an I had it put together within about 5 or 10 minutes and loaded it up with my paint bottles. You can see the finished results in the picture above (click to enlarge the view). I was able to get about 62 bottles into the rack, but about half of my bottles were older, wider Ral Partha/Iron Wind Miniatures bottles that are a little bigger diameter-wise than the standard Reaper or Foundry or various other bottles available these days. You can also buy a 92-bottle rack or you can purchase racks for eye dropper style bottles (such as Vallejo) that allow you to store the bottle upside down. Kind of cool.


Fritz's painting desk is now free of the clutter of multiple bottles of paint, now that they are stored away in my Hydra paint rack. Above is a picture of some Elite Miniatures French Napoleonic Dragoons and Cuirassiers that I am working on for my 1806 Project.

The main point is that having this rack made it easy for me to clean up my painting table and get things organized. So I am really glad that I found this product, as I had been looking for a tiered storage rack for some time. Highly recommended! (as Hal Thinglum would say).

Jacobite Skirmish at Culwhinic Moor

The two battalions of the Atholl Brigade protect the Jacobite left flank near the town of Cardhu. Click on all Pix to enlarge the view.

On May 8, 1745 the Jacobite army of Bonnie Prince Charlie fought a bloody action against the Government forces of King George II on Culwhinic Moor, not too far from Curmudgeon Castle. As our readers may recall, the Jacobite army descended on the supply depot at Curmudgeon and routed the Government forces out of the village, out of the second line of redoubts, and chased them back into Curmudgeon Castle. For the past few months, the Government garrison has held out, defying the rebels overtures to surrender. Finally, the Government sent out a relief expedition to seccour its forces in the castle and hopefully deal the rebels a severe blow. This then, is the account of the battle between Lord Keith Leidy of Woodstock's Government army, and the Jacobites commanded by Lord George Murray and the Earl of Talisker.


Lord Woodstock surveys his deployment with a certain degree of detachment. "Tis just a little tussle with the rebel rabble. It ought to be over in a matter of minutes," sayeth His Grace. (View of the Jacobite center atop of Culwhinic Moor with its left anchored by the town of Cardhu. The Earl of Talisker (me) commands the Jacobite left).

We assembled in the wine cellar of Lord George Murray (Randy F.) to settle our differences on the Field of Mars. The Earl of Talisker (der Alte Fritz) and Lord George Murray commanded the Jacobite forces. We rolled for the charisma of Prince Charles, which today was Poor (-1) so needless to say, we did not bother to attach the Prince to any Jacobite unit for morale enhancement. Keith L. (Lord Woodstock) and Bill P. (Lord Brown Deer) commanded the Government forces:

JACOBITE ARMY:

Lord Talisker (left wing)
5 x 30 Clan Regiments - Veteran
1 x 30 ECW Unit - Veteran

Prince Charles (center reserve)
1 x 24 French Regiment d'Albanie - Veteran
6 x Mounted Bodyguard - Superior Hussars/Elite
6 x ECW Hussars - Baggot's Hussars - Superior Hussar/Elite

Lord George Murray (right wing)
1 x 60 Royal Ecossais French - Veteran
1 x 45 Camerons - Veteran
1 x 60 Black Watch standing in for Highlanders - Veteran
1 x 25 ECW Scots standing in for Highlanders - Veteran
2 x 4pdr artillery with 8 crew- Trained


The Jacobite center, with artillery and the Royal Ecossais and Atholl Brigade on the front line. The clan regiments can be seen skulking behind the ridge, waiting for an opportunity to charge.

The Government forces were divided into two wings, each of 3 x 60 figure battalions of redcoats. The right wing under Lord Woodstock was to hold back and perhaps contest control f the village of Cardhu, thereby keeping the Jacobites from reinforcing the center. The left wing was commanded by Major General Lord Brown Deer. He had the two 6-pd Royal Artillery battery attached to his command. He also controlled the reserve of 43 converged grenadiers and 12 mounted 2nd Royal North British Dragoons (the "Greys").

Lord Woodstock (right wing)
1 x 60 3rd (Buffs) Foot - Trained
1 x 60 8th (King's Regt.) Foot - Trained
1 x 60 27th (Inniskilling) Foot - Trained

Lord Brown Deer (left wing)
1 x 66 44th Foot - Trained
1 x 72 46th Foot - Trained
1 x 54 60th Foot - Trained
2 x 6pdr Royal Artillery - Veteran

Reserve
1 x 43 converged grenadiers - Veteran
1 x 12 horse grenadiers - Veteran


Jacobite center (2nd Atholl and Royal Ecossais) gang up on the 8th Foot and charge down Culwhinic Moor and open up a huge hole in the center of the Government battle line.

I had not played the Jacobite BAR rules for quite awhile and so I watch three 60 man red coat battalions march towards the town of Cardhu with some trepedation. I pulled back several of my clan regiments to get them away from the dreaded British first fire bonus and hopefully draw them in and attack any kink in their battle line. Then I remembered that the rules favor the Jacobite charging and getting into melees, so I sent in the 2nd Atholl and the Royal Ecossais, from our center, where they outnumbered and overwhelmed the Government's 8th Foot. I had not consulted the rules and forgot that the first fire bonus is only +3 instead of the normal BAR +5. Also, the redcoats were only trained, rather than veterans, but I did not know that at the time. So we charged.


The fury of the Highland Charge routs the 8th Foot from the field with 2nd Atholl losing more than half of its men, while the Royal Ecossais lost a hole stand of 15 figures. Very bloody. Very deadly.


The Clan Fraser Regiment plays "capture the flag" with the 27th Foot. This picture gives one a sense of the whirling back and forth nature of fighting the melee-focused Jacobites.


The 1st Atholl battalion finishes off the 27th Foot, but the Buffs do an about face and prepare to finish off the 1st Atholl instead. This is the "Before" picture.


And here is the "After" picture after the Buffs have shot the Athollmen in the flank and rear. The Buffs would then charge and finish off the Athollmen.

I was too busy to keep track of what was going on over on our right flank around the town of Drambui. There was an intense hand to hand fighting inside the town, and I heard that The Blade and Captain von Bergmann of Tradgardland both fell in battle. (The two heros were later given the benefit of a second saving throw and both survived to tell their tales).


The fight over Drambui (the town, not the whiskey unfortunately). Government redcoats at the bottom of the picture fight the red coated Camerons (top right) and some ECW Scots that we drafted into the Jacobite army. Pikemen counted as two fighters in the melee, a good idea that Bill made up on the spot. The Government captured Drambuie by the end of the game.


The Cameron Clan Regiment (Center left with red flag) and the Black Watch (upper left) stand in for Jacobite units in the game. Both are actually the Black Watch, but since they were wearing kilts, we drafted them into Prince Charlie's army.


The Royal Artillery blasts the Jacobite long arm into kingdome come at very close range.



Well that riles up Clan Stewart of Appin, which comes roamin' from the gloamin' (out of the blue so it seemed) and avenged the Jacobite artillery by charging into the flank of the Royal Artillery battery and wiping it out.


But then the 2nd Royal North British Dragoons materialize on the flank of the Black Watch and make them pay for switching sides. Again, one gets a feel for the sense that units from both sides are charging hither and yon and seemingly hitting each other in the flank. There were no secure flanks by the end of the game.

By the end of the game, the Government forces had captured the towns on each flank of the original Jacobite position, while the Jacobites held the center of the field with two strong battalions of French regulars and a few remaining clan regiments. Lord George Murray advised the Prince that it would be a good idea to retire from the field and pick up stragglers. Lord Woodstock's relief force was in tatters and as he aptly put it, "my relief force needs some relief!"

Thus we assumed that the Jacobites would probably withdraw back towards Curmudgeon Castle and lift the seige and consolidate their army so that it could fight another day. Lord Woodstock decided that he would not be able to fight his way through to the Castle, so he withdrew his forces back to the coast where the Royal Navy could protect them until more red coats arrived.

20e Regiment de Dragoons

Elite Miniatures French Dragoons painted by Der Alte Fritz

The picture above depicts the 27 French dragoons that I have painted so far for my 1806 project. I could have painted more, but I ran out of horses and so I have to wait for the next shipment of reinforcements from the UK. I like to glue the rider onto the horse and the base before I prime the figures. I am not really keen on painting the rider and horse separately and then gluing after the painting is done. You get a better "metal to metal" bond with the glue when you glue the pieces together unprimed.

In the near term, I will top up this unit to 32 figures so that I have enough to use in our In The Grand Manner wargames. Eventually, though, there will be four squadrons of 12 figures for a total of 48 figures under the "BAR Napoleonique" rules system. If you look closer, you will see that each figure is sitting on its own 1" by 2" metal base. Later, I will make wooden movement trays, covered in magnetic sheeting, large enough to hold 3 or 4 figures in a single rank. A squadron would then be three stands of four figures, lined up in three ranks.

I seem to be in a Napoleonic painting spurt once again, probably inspired by the ITGM game that we played in April. Part II of that battle will be played on May 30th. I figured that as long as I am so inspired, that I might as well take advantage of the situation and make a significant addition to my 1806 project in May and June. Last weekend I primed two 60-figure battalions of Prussian musketeers (one in the march attack pose, and one in a firing line pose-standing and kneeling firing) and began work on the first 30 of the march attack battalion. These will have the rose colored facings of IR23 von Winning while the firing line will have the straw colored facings of IR5 von Kliest. Completion of these two battalions will then give me 6 Prussian battalions, which should be enough to conduct my first play test of the rules.

In June, I hope to complete a battalion of French line musketeers (72 figures), which would bring the French contingent up to three battalions (plus two more battalions that Bill has already painted). Of course, I could totally burn out on painting Napoleonics by then, but I am willing to bet that the continuation of the ITGM game in May will keep me going.

I will post the pictures of our Jacobite game this past weekend within the next day or two. I took a fair number of pictures, but the strong natural light in the room made most of the pix too bright and so only a few of them are worth saving and publishing. I will keep you guessing as to which side one. An item of note, both The Blade and von Bergmann were slain in battle. I was all prepared to make little balsa wood casks and mail the figures back to their owners, but then we hit on the idea of rolling saving throws for the characters. A roll of a 4, 5 or 6 would save their lives. Thus, both The Blade and von Bergmann survived and have proven to lead rather charmed lives. The Blade has a 4 month recovery time and von Bergmann will be out of action for 6 months (both amounts of recovery determined by the roll of a D6).

What's New At Schloss Fritz?

2nd Atholl Battalion (Front Rank Figures)



MacDonnell Clan Regiment (Front Rank Figures)

As you can see from the two pictures above, I've been busy painting Jacobites for our game next Saturday, May 9th at DeKalb. Ostensibly, we will continue the seige of Carmudgeon Castle that we started last summer (gee, has it really been that long?). On the other hand, with the two new units that I painted in April, plus some French reinforcements that General Chevert is painting, we may opt to fight a larger set piece Jacobite battle. I enjoy painting the Front Rank Jacobites, and thought that I might be able to paint a third 30-figure clan regiment, but then I sort of burned out on kilts and plaids and turned my painting attention in another direction.

My April Olley Painting Points totalled 92 points, down a bit from the 115 or so that I notched in March. The April talley included 60 Front Rank Jacobites and 16 Elite Napoleonic French Dragoons (cavalry count as 2 points since they include a horse and a rider). The Napoleonics were a needed diversion from plaids and no doubt our In The Grand Manner game last month had something to do with that choice.

1806 Project Revisited
As mentioned above, the big Napoleonic game we played stirred up an urge to get back to the painting of Napoleonics so that I can move my 1806 Project along the way. As of this evening, I have finished 27 French Dragoons and probably would have finished a full ITGM regiment of 32 figures, had I not run out of suitable horses. Reinforcements from Elite will be on their way within another week or two, at which time I will increase the dragoons to at least 36 figures, and eventually a final total of 48 figures.

In the meantime, I have a 60-figure battalion of Prussians musketeers in the march attack pose. This is a relatively new figure that Peter Morbey added to his 1806 range, about a year ago. I primed the battalion over the weekend - we finally had nice Spring weather here in Hesse Seewald so I was going through cans of Armoury Black Spray Primer like there was no tomorrow. I also managed to get a 72-figure battalion of 1805/06 French infantry primed and ready to go. Finally, Elite also introduced a couple of Prussian musketeers in the kneeling and standing firing position, so I plan to paint a battalion in a firing line pose. All of this should keep me busy through the rest of May and June.

I have decided that now is the time to make a big push on the 1806 Project so that I finally have a suitable mass of figures to begin playtesting a BAR variant for Napoleonics. On the French side, we have 5 battalions of infantry (2 provided by Bill Protz), 1 regiment of dragoons and an 8-pounder artillery battery (3 x 8pdrs and 1 x Howitzer). There is also a partially painted 36 figure regiment of chasseurs a cheval.

The Prussians currently have 3 musketeer battalions, 1 grenadier battalion, 1 converged cuirassier regiment of 36 figures from three different regiments, one hussar regiment of 36 figures (a draft from my SYW Black Husssars) and a 6 pound foot battery (3 x 6pdrs). There are also two battalions of Russian foot and a Russian horse artillery battery (4 guns).

So feel like I am almost at critical mass and the addition of a couple more units of this and that should give me a playable quantity of troops for play testing the rules. One day, in the future, I can foresee a large Napoleonic game with a dozen infantry units per side, a couple of artillery batteries, and four to six cavalry regiments per side. It will truly be a grand sight to behold.

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Dragoons Rico, Hundreds of Them!

French 20th Dragoons (Elite Miniatures) painted by Der Alte Fritz

Dragoons are a wonderfully handy thing to have on Napoleonic battlefield. They are heavy cavalry capable of driving away the light cavalry and skirmish screens of your enemy, yet they move a little bit faster than Les Gros Freres, the iron monsters of the heavy cuirassiers. There is even something about the sound of the word that I like. Dragoons; there, I said it.

A couple of weekends ago, we were playing the massive In The Grand Manner cavalry game and I was wishing that I had more dragoons and cuirassiers to use in the game. Our host, Keith Leidy, indicated that his inventory of French medium and heavy cavalry was a figures shy of a hoard, so putting two and two together, I decided that it was time to paint some French dragoons for my 1806 Project. As a bonus, I get to use them in the ITGM games by simply changing the bases and the movement trays.

Dragoons.

As you might recall, I now base everything on single metal stands, and then place the metal stands on magnetic movement trays. In this way, I can deploy my dragoons and other cavalry figures into 8 to 10 figure squadrons for ITGM, or line them up in three ranks of four figures for the 1806 variant of our SYW BAR rules.

Dragoons.

Oh, did I mention that the French dragoons also have an elite company of troopers in bearskins? And cool looking green uniforms with Roman style cavalry helmets?

Dragoons.

I have finished the first 8 figures suitable for an ITGM ("In The Grand Manner" rules) squadron, as you can see in the picture above and below. I have another 8 on the painting table and a third squadron of 8 figures that need to be primed. The fourth squadron is currently winging its way over from Elite Miniatures in the UK. So I will use 4 x 8 or 32 figures for our ITGM games, but when we start the BAR Napoleonics later this year, I will have three or four squadrons of 12 figures each, or 36 to 48 figures.


Another view of the same dragoons, this time in a single rank for ITGM, representing one of four squadrons in the regiment.

Cuirassiers. The only thing that better than dragoons.


First Cuirassier Regiment -- 36 figures deployed in BAR styled three ranks. This is a hint of things to come.

In The Grand Manner Napoleonics Game

Marshal Lannes' V Corps arrives on the table in road column, on the French right flank.

Note: click the pix to enlarge the view.

And now for something completely different: Napoleonics, played with In The Grand Manner rules by Peter Gilder. Keith Leidy played host today to another one of his super-sized 28mm Napoleonic games, played on his vast table space of three 6ft by 24ft tables. There were eight players, with Randy F., Bill P. and moi commanding the French army against an Allied contingent of Russians, Austrians and British, commanded by five players, including the well-known Uncle Duke Seifried.

The scenario was interesting in that the game began with nothing but cavalry forces entering the table from a variety of directions, all determined by dice roll. I rather enjoyed playing a game with nothing but cavalry and horse artillery and it is a concept that I would like to try with my Seven Years War armies one day.

We played 15 game turns with the infantry starting to appear on the table around Turn 11 or 12, as I recall. As commander of the French army (Monsieur Bonaparte), I was given the task of rolling the dice to see where our initial 3 or 4 cavalry corps would arrive.

Two of our initial three French cavalry divisions arrived on the same road over on the far right flank. I let Randy keep to the road and benefit from the 30" tactical move allowed to units moving along the roads, while I headed off to the left, off-road, to provide more maneuvering space and to clear the log jam of troops arriving on the same road. Sadly, I rolled for Bill's cavalry to enter from the center of the table, but they would not arrive until the second turn.

The French were pretty well bottled up on the right hand side of the table, so once Randy had control of the right flank, and Bill seemed to be doing well in the center, I sent most of my cavalry, except for a regiment of Carabiniers, off to the left flank, where I eventually ran into a lot of Russian cavalry.

Around Turn 10, our infantry began to arrive: one corps on the crowded right hand road, and the other, better placed, in the center. Eventually, Davout's large corps arrived on the French left, where it was sorely needed. I leave you with a few of the pictures that I took during the game, captioned with a description of the action. We will reconvene at Keith's house on May 30th to continue the game.


Randy (center) leads the French cuirassier brigade onto the center table and successfully drove off the British Household Cavalry early in the game. Mike (foreground) and Derek (far right) provide the opposition to the French.


Uncle Duke (beyond the metal pole) and Bill (Monsieur Protz) went head to head for control of the key town in the center of the middle table. The cardboard boxes that you see everywhere are for rolling dice. In cavalry melees, you throw a D6 for each figure and score a "hit" on a natural "6". I cannot roll roll a "6" on a D6 to save my life, which is why I prefer to command infantry in these rules.


From left to right: Uncle Duke, our game host Keith Leidy, Stan and Curt watch the progress of the Allies as they try to fend off the French heavy cavalry in the center.


A view of the French left flank. Napoleon has sent a division of dragoons and a regiment of chasseurs to protect the vital road, possession of which allowed Davout's III Corps to arrive. You can see the forward elements of Davout's corps arriving on the right hand side of the picture, about to cross the bridge. Russian cavalry (left) moves up to contest the road and bridge.


Another view of the furious fighting for the central town. Austrian horse artillery was the target of numerous French cavalry charges. Monsieur Protz was able to maintain a stubborn toehold on the center table, as he awaited the arrival of the infantry.

Jacobite Rebellion Update

Front Rank Jacobites painted by Der Alte Fritz, about a year ago.

Last evening I completed another 30-figure clan regiment of Highlanders to use in our upcoming game on May 9, 2009. They will probably become either the MacDonnell or McDonald regiment, depending on which flag I choose to paint. The Highlanders did not wear any distinct "clan plaid" in the 18th Century, so the figures can represent any clan that I desire to rise for the King Across the Water.

I haven't painted Highlanders in quite awhile (the colonials don't really count since they all wear the same uniform), so it took me a little bit to get back up to speed with my bottles of plaid paint. What, you mean you don't own any plaid paint? A week ago friday, I pitched into the first 20 Front Rank figures, put a few bagpipe CDs on the player for inspiration, and started slopping on the paint. By Saturday afternoon, it was apparent that I would have this batch done by the end of the weekend on Sunday night. That left 10 more figures to bring the regiment up to full strength, and two more painting sessions proved to be enough to complete the job.

Now I have a Lowland regiment on the painting table ready to paint. I figured that I have a decent chance of painting three 30 figure regiments this month, so I cleaned another Highlander regiment and mounted them on their metal bases. Tomorrow night I will spray them with black primer. They will become either the Keppoch regiment or the Ogilvys. That would bring the Rebellion up to 6 regiments plus the Black Watch standing in for Clan Cameron, temporarily. Eventually, I want to have 10 or 12 regiments plus the Irish Piquets in my Jacobite Army completed in time for next year's SYW Association convention in March 2009.