Teddy Bear Wars: Battle of the Biscuits

Lady Emma Cuddleston-Smythe directs her Pink Bear Army. Click all pictures to enlarge the view.

Saturday afternoon Lady Emma Cuddleston-Smythe and Lord Paddington Bear decided that it would be the civilized thing to hold a wargame to see who would get to eat all of the Oreo Biscuits (i.e. Cookies, in Americanese). The winner would take all, so Lord Paddington had no intention of throwing the game - he was hungry and wanted those tasty biscuits. On such things are wars commenced sometimes.


Lady Emma and Lord Paddington mug for the photographers before the commencement of the match. The Pink Bear Army has just entered the table on the road.

The Battle of the Biscuits was loosely based on the Charles Grant "Ambush" scenario. Lady Emma's Pink Bear Army was traveling down the road heading for the safety of the Honey Pot Inn. Lord Paddington Bear's Blue Army was waiting in ambush to attack the Pink Army and take away any biscuits that Lady Emma's foraging party had collected along the way. Mini Oreos were scattered about the tabletop. A bear figure had to move to the biscuit for a turn, and then carry it back to the supply wagon that was coming down the road.

Lord Paddington Bear's Blue army was divided into two groups: there was an ambush group that was waiting in the Ten Acre Woods atop the large ridge that you can see in these pictures. A second party of Blue Bears was assembling in the road at the opposite end of the table, in front of the Honey Pot Inn. They had built up a nice collection of Oreos that they were storing. A third group of Blue Bears were coming back from a foraging expedition near the Inn and would hopefully arrive in time to lend a hand to the defense of the Inn.


The Pink Army begins its advance down the road.


The Pink Army is halfway down the road, sending flankers out to scout the ridge to their left, while another flanking party secures a biscuit near the clump of trees. The first company of Blue Bears advances up the road to contest the grabbing of the biscuits.


The rear-guard of the Pink Bear Army guards the supply wagon, which will soon be loaded full of biscuits.


The battle lines are drawn and the firing begins. You can see one downed blue bear in the foreground and one pink bear is also down for the count. A die roll of a "1" or bullseye resulted in a "hit", but this proved to be too hard to hit anything. So Lady Emma decided to resort to the tactic of "melee" instead of using firepower.



Here is the big melee, which produced quicker results than musketry.


The Pink Bears win the melee quite handily as one lone Blue Bear survives the onslaught and flees back to the Honey Pot Inn.


The Pink Bears capture the Honey Pot Inn, collect all of the biscuits and set up a rear-guard to fend off the company of Blue Bears who descended the ridge too late to ambush the Pink Bears. In the distance, you can see the third company of Blue Bears arriving too late to affect the outcome. Lady Emma won the nice snack and her Daddy went hungry that evening.

The game ended with Lady Emma knocking down all of the defending Blue Bears in the road and pursuing the sole survivor back to the Honey Pot Inn. There the Pink Bears captured all of the supplies that the Blue Bears had collected. A party of Blue Bears arrived to late to defend the Inn.

As usual, we used the Eureka Teddy Bear figures in our game and we sort of made the rules up on the go. A unit could walk (throw two D6) or run (3 D6) while the wagon could move at 4 D6.

Shooting required that each figure throw a D6 and score a hit on a bullseye ("1") and save on a natural 6. Melees were fought with each bear facing off one on one and rolling D6 to fight. The highest die wins the melee. We allowed bears to gang up on one bear, up to three bears maximum. The single bear had to defeat all three bears with separate die rolls in this instance.

Koningen Dragoon (DR5) of 1806

Two squadrons of the Koningen Dragoons. Imperialist Enterprises figures painted by Der Alte Fritz. Elite Miniatures officer on the round stand. GMB Designs flags. Click all pictures to enlarge the view.

Since the beginning of June, I've said au revoir to the French because now it is time to build up the Prussian army in my ongoing 1806 Project. Through the first six days I have been able to complete two twelve figure squadrons of DR5 Koningen Dragoons (the Queen's Dragoons). These fellows are the descendents of Frederick the Great's famous Bayreuth Dragoons from the WAS and the Seven Years War.

The figures are from the Imperialist Enterprises range of 1806 Prussians, although it is my understanding that Bob Haggerty sold the Napoleonics ranges to Chris von Fahnestock of Outland Games. Whatever the ownership, these are huge figures, measuring much larger than 30mm and they tower over my Elite Miniatures Prussians (which are listed as 28mm but for all practical purposes are much more like 30mm figures). As you can see from the pictures, they are beautiful looking figures. They come in four poses: officer, standard bearer, trumpeter and trooper and one horse pose is available. I don't mind the uniformity of appearance as this is a trait that says "Prussian" to me. I have 48 figures in total, and 24 of them have been painted so far, with a third squadron of 12 figures getting black primered this evening. So I plan to add the third squadron this week and then switch back to Prussian infantry.


The first squadron of DR5, with the white colonel's colour, from GMB Designs.


The second squadron of DR5, with the regimental colours, also from GMB Designs.

One of the reasons I like the 1806 Prussian army is that they still have an 18th Century appearance to them with their long coat tails, turnbacks and lapels, an bicorn hats. So I kind of feel like I'm painting a SYW army, even though I know that it will face off against Monsieur Bonaparte's formidable army. They are still organized in the same manner as Frederick's army and the flags look nearly identical.

I am using mostly Elite Miniatures' 1806 range of 28mm figures for my infantry, cavalry and artillery units. I will also have two Imperialist cavalry regiments, one of dragoons and one of cuirassiers. Wargames Foundry has just released the beginnings of an 1806 Prussian army and one can expect that the Foundry will have a comprehensive range of figures. That said, I plan to stick with Elite Miniatures and dodge in the occaisional Foundry unit such as jagers, horse artillery crew and personality figures.

After the third squadron of DR5 is completed, I plan to shift over to IR23 von Winning musketeer regiment in the new march attack pose and then IR5 von Kliest which will be in a firing line pose (front rank kneeling firing, second rank standing firing, and third rank at the ready).

All of this points to our first official play test of our BAR styled Napoleonics rules on July 18, 2009. We set a firm date for our first game so that I would have a deadline to paint against. Otherwise, the 1806 Project might have lingered on and on; however, the incentive of the game should result in a sufficient number of infantry, cavalry and artillery for both sides. It should look spectacular.

ITGM Day Two - The Austrian Center

At the end of Day One, the Austrian infantry was converging on the Grosserdorf farm, mildly contested by the French, who have advanced a few skirmishers into the farm enclosure.


Austrian horse artillery, supported by cuirassiers, hold the entry to the town of Altenberg (it had no previous name, but I've just given it one to keep track of things).


The Russian cavalry and a battery of horse artillery control the area to the right of Altenberg.


A long column of Austrian infantry march towards the town of Altenberg, in the center of the battlefield towards the end of the first day.

Day Two Battle in the Center Around Altenberg


What a difference a day makes: the Austrians have firm control over the Grosserdorf farm enclosure, while the French have retreated to their back table. A small group of French skirmishers hold out in the woods on the left, but not for long.


As the Austrian and Russian cavalry push the French off of the center table and onto their own back table, the second Austrian infantry corps makes a leisurely march through Altenberg to support the attack in the center.


Uncle Duke, commanding the Austrians and Russians in the center, has pushed the French back onto the back table. This was one of the finest examples of wargame generalship that I have ever seen in a game.

Day Two of the battle of Altenberg commenced with the French deciding that they would need to fall back and form up a defensive position on the back table in their own center and right wings of the army. As noted in yesterday's report, Davout was also holding the defense on the left. So the offensive initiative was ceded to the Allies so that the French could build up their infantry strength.

Duke Siefried commanded the Austrians and Russians in the center and he put on a wargaming clinic on how to use combined cavalry and horse artillery to defeat one's opponent. It was one of the best displays of table top generalship that I had ever seen. It seems like the French were always on the run and Duke never gave them breathing room to recover. There always seemed to be a squadron of cavalry to the front and flank of any French cavalry attack, while the horse artillery was used with deadly precision.


A second French corps arrives in the center (mixed group of Bavarians and French) and occuppy one of the farms in a defensive position. The battery on the right is about to get over run by the Russian cavalry as the French cavalry has abondoned the centre, leaving the French infantry to fend for themselves in square.


The French First Corps in the center holds to its squares, while the cavalry seeks refuge behind them in hopes of reforming.


French cavalry in the center try to reform behind the protective squares of the First Corps.


So at the end of Day Two, the French now have two infantry corps pinned down in the center by hoards of Austrian and Russian cavalry. The French Fourth Corps commander was last seen sending most of his heavy cavalry over to the center to assist his beleagured comrades. I should point out that it was the French plan to consolidate on the back table, but we were a bit surprised by how aggressive the enemy cavalry were. The Austrians are now well screened so that they can bring up their infantry and hold the ground gained by their cavalry. These are not the usual Austrians, my dear Chanticlare.

I will post pictures of the French and British battle on the French right within the next couple of days.

In The Grand Manner - Day 2

Russian cavalry (21 squadrons) deployed to attack Davout's corps (13 squadrons) at the end of Day One



Davout's defense of the French left at the conclusion of Day 1 (April 19, 2009)

Today we reconvened the In The Grand Manner Napoleonic wargame that started on April 19th. As you may recall, the battle began with cavalry brigades entering the tables from a variety of directions. The French dice rolls resulted in two of three cavalry brigades entering on the same road as well as two of the three infantry corps. So we were sort of bottled up in a bridgehead that was reminiscent of Aspern-Esseling. Some relief was provided by Davout's large corps of 14 battalions and two field batteries entering the table on the far left flank of the French. We concluded Day One with Davout holding onto the high ground for dear life, hoping to buy enough time to get his corps across the river and set up for an eventual attack. Today's post will focus mainly on the fight that occurred in Davout's sector during today's battle.

Opposing Forces

The Russians began the day with a very strong cavalry corps of 21 squadrons, consisting of 7 squadrons of elite cuirassiers, 6 squadrons of hussars, 8 squadrons of those dreaded pig stickers (aka Lancers) and a horse artillery battery of three light guns.

Davout had only 13 squadrons of horse, consisting of 7 squadrons of dragoons, 4 chasseur squadrons and 2 squadrons of lancers. These were all deployed across the river on the Russian side of the table. Their mission was to provide a screen that would enable Davout to cross his corps of 14 infantry battalions, one 12-pd battery (4 guns) and one 6-pd battery (4 guns). Davout deployed all of his artillery on the French side of the river (which was not fordable, so it could only be crossed at one of the two bridges spanning the water) so that it could enfilade any Russian attack on the long ridge that was perpendicular to the Russian cavalry, thereby screening the advancing French infantry. Three infantry battalions had already crossed the river and they were deployed in square, screened further by the ridge and by all of the French cavalry. The Russians could not charge anything on the reverse slope of the ridge because it blocked line of sight. You can not charge what you can not see.



The final positions of the French infantry & cavalry versus the Russian cavalry at the end of Day Two. The columns of infantry in the upper left are the vanguard of the French Old Guard division which are positioned the exploit the exit of the Russian cavalry corps.

Davout commenced Day Two by opening an artillery salvo against the Russian cavalry, with orders to pay particular attention to the cuirassiers, lancers and then hussars, in that order. Several turns of long range artillery reduced the Russian hussar screen and forced two cuirassier squadrons to return to their own lines. This narrowed the Russain advantage from 21 squadrons to 17 squadrons, versus the 13 French squadrons. At this point, Davout ordered the heavy dragoons on his far right to engage the Russian dragoons (another 4 squadrons of which joined in on the assault) and cuirassiers. The French gained a slight advantage in the ensuing melees, forcing a couple more squadrons of cuirassier and hussars off the field.

Now Davout ordered an all out cavalry charge at the remaining Russian cavalry -- and then a wonderful thing happened. A single squadron of French lancers won a melee against a larger and heavier Russian cuirassier squadron, forcing to to flee, but more importantly, pinning the two cuirassier squadrons that were stacked up behind it. The lancers lost nary a trooper. They also rolled an immediate pursuit, which is a good thing. To the lancers left, the French sent in two squadrons of chasseurs against a similar number of Russian lancers. They lost two troopers, but Davout picked the right moment to start rolling hot dice. The French chasseurs downed 6 Russians! The Russian lancers turned and fled, also pinning more Russian cavalry behind them. As for the chasseurs, Lady Luck speaks French today, for the chasseurs rallied on the spot and were thus in a position to ride down the rest of the Russian cavalry, which was either pinned or fleeing. Pictures of the end result can be seen below.

At the end of Day Two, we see the victorious French chasseurs turning back the Russian lancers in the front line. Their retreat will pin the three Russian squadrons behind them To the right of the chasseurs, you can see the French lancers driving off a squadron of Russian cuirassiers. The cuirassiers will pin the two squadrons of lancers behind them when they rout. The French lancers will have an uncontrolled pursuit into a mass of pinned Russian cavalry. French infantry squares can be see atop the key defensive ridge.

The Guard cavalry division plus a regiment of line cuirassiers arrived on the far side of the river on Turn 18. Here you can see the cuirassiers crossing the river to help out the French cavalry in the main fight. They did not arrive in time to cross swords with the Russians, but they are well posisitioned to follow up and send the Russian host on the run.

While all of these glorious events were happening on the main cavalry field, the Old Guard infantry was arriving behind the large wooded area to Davout's right. The Guard cavalry division was also arriving on the French side (the side where the French artillery is deployed) of the river. This caused a division of Russian infantry, attempting to march up the table edge across the river, to pause and fall back. Davout sent the Guard Lancers and Guard Horse Artillery after the Russians, and maintained four or five infantry battalions on the short side of the river to protect the French grand battery. The line cuirassiers and Guard Horse Grenadiers and Chasseurs began to cross the river.

So the day ended with Davout and the Guard poised to push the Russians back onto the middle table. Now that most of the Russian cavalry was fleeing or falling back into walk-about mode for two turns, it would be safe for the infantry to get out of their squares and advance forward. So things look very promising on the French left flank as we head into Day Three, which will be played on June 24, 2009.

As for events in the center (Austrians versus French) and right flank (British versus French), I will post more pictures over the next several days and do my best to tell that story. To put it briefly, the Austrian cavalry commander in the center, the Duke of Siefried, aggressively pushed the French off of the middle table and well back onto the rear table. The Duke put on an impressive display of wargaming skills and had the French on the run in the center. On the far right, the French fell back onto the back table to deploy into a battle line and play defense (which was our plan), enticing the British to advance.

I did not spend much time monitoring the events in the other sectors, for I was too busy tending to affairs on the left. How's that for fog of war? You don't need special rules for FOW when you are playing on 24 foot long tables. You are too busy in your own sector to even notice what is going on elsewhere on the table.

French Cuirassiers & Dragoons

French heavy cavalry brigade of 3 squadrons of dragoons and 3 squadrons of cuirassiers. Figures from Elite Miniatures, based on single stands for the BAR Napoleonic rules that we are working on. click the pix to enlarge the view.



The results of an evening's worth of figure basing: Elite Miniatures French cuirassiers, dragoons and, oh, one Minden SYW Austrian cuirassier in the front row on the left. In the background you can see part of a 60 figure battalion of Minden SYW Austrian infantry that is waiting to get primed and painted.

The first leg of my 100 Days Napoleonic painting blitz was completed this evening with the completion of 34 French cuirassiers and the basing of said figures plus a few dragoons. You can see the results in the picture above. By the way, I really do not like terraining the bases of my figures. It can be a royal pain in the neck. I figure that it takes me about a minute to apply the spackle compound (paint is mixed in already), sprinkle some grit or gravel, then apply some flock while the spackle is still wet.

If I want the bases to look really nice, then I do what I call The Frank Hammond Method of spackle, grit, dry overnight, apply ink, dry brush and then apply static grass. This takes two evening's work because the goop needs to dry overnight before the ink wash is applied. It results in a more professional looking base, but it takes longer. Usually, I use this method for command stands or smaller wargame projects.

Here's a little basing tip that I picked up on TMP this week. When you want to remove figures from old bases, and the figures were glued using super glue, then you simply put the figures in the freezer for an hour or two to chill. This breaks down the glue bond. Then, simply pop the figures off the stand using a #2 Exacto wedge knife. I was amazed at how easily the figures popped off of the wooden stands.


Another view of my heavy cavalry brigade for the 1806 Project.

It seems like I have been on a heavy binge of Napoleonic cavalry painting this month. That's because I had the incentive of round two of the In The Grand Manner game on Saturday May 30th, and I wanted to paint a couple of 32 figure ITGM cavalry regiments for the French. Nothing like a deadline to get the brushes moving fast. That said, once the game is over, I will have to take a short break from Napoleonics and paint at least a squadron of the Minden SYW Austrian cuirassiers to relax me and restore a sense of sanity.

Foundry 1806 Prussian Generals

Foundry's version of Blucher (left) and Hohenlohe (center) compared to an Elite Miniatures general (right). Please click on all pictures to enlarge the view.

The Foundry has begun releasing the first of its new 1806 Prussian Napoleonic range and so when I saw that they had some mounted personality figures, I was eager to order some and see how they looked first hand and up close. As you can see from the picture above, the two ranges appear to be fairly compatible in terms of overall size, heft and height.

There are two personality packs so far: one contains Prince Hohenlohe, the loser at Jena and General von Ruchel (in an overcoat) and von Yorke (also in an overcoat, modelled after the Knotel drawing of Yorke leading his light infantry). The Blucher pack contains the generals and two mounted aides. All of the personalities are nicely sculpted, and von Blucher actually looks like the person that he is modeled after. Since Elite Miniatures only has a couple of mounted officers, the new Foundry generals are a welcome addition to my 1806 army.

Prince Hohenlohe (left) and an unknown Elite Miniatures general (right)


Blucher, Hohenlohe and two Elite Miniatures generals (on the right). French dragoons from Elite are shown in the background, but pay no heed to them for now.


Here's a peak at some Minden SYW Austrians that I've been working on: infantry officer (left) and cuirassier trooper (right).

As a bit of a teaser, I have included a photo of the new Minden Austrian cuirassiers above. I've only painted one trooper so far, dressed in the distinct blue facings of the Alt Modena regiment, i.e. the only cuirassier regiment that did not wear red facing distinctions. I will try to work in a squadron of 12 Minden cuirassiers so that I can get a better idea of how they will look in mass.

I also finished off 24 French cuirassiers for my 1806 French army and boosted the 20th Dragoons up to 40 figures. I will post pictures within the next couple of days.

The Hundred Days of the 1806 Project

French battalion formed in a line of 6 companies, per the 1808 regulations. For the 1805-07 campaigns, the French would have 9 companies instead of 6.

On May 1, 2009 , I decided that it was time to concentrate all of my efforts into finally getting the 1806 Napoleonic project off the ground. Earlier in the year, I had done a similar focused painting effort to get my SYW Austrians, while the month of April was devoted to increasing my Jacobite Rebellion forces. I decided that this method of focusing on one army for a month or more seems to work for me. So with that in mind, I turned my attention to the revival of the French and Prussian 1806 army building.


The regimental colonel has deployed his company of voltigeurs out in front of the battalion. Now a player will actually be able to deploy a "cloud of skirmishers" that really means business.

My plan is to spend the next 100 days painting nothing but figures for the 1806 Project, effective May 1st and continuing on through August 8th. Hopefully this will result in the build up of a critical mass of infantry and cavalry for both sides so that we can start play testing the rules and organizing games. Bill Protz, Randy Frye and I are concurrently developing a set of rules, based on the BAR mechanics used for the SYW, albeit with plenty of Napoleonic twists. I think that the effort will result in a fun set of rules that are easy to learn, yet have plenty of nuances and set forth choices for the player.

I began the 100 Days Project by starting on the French 20e Regiment de Dragoons, and as of this evening, I have 36 dragoons and will have the regiment completed at 48 figures by the end of May, a week hence. I also have a battalion of 60 Prussian musketeers on the painting table (32 done so far) and I will work on the Prussian infantry once June rolls around.


The battalion changes into a column of divisions, the so-called Attack Column that we all know and love. Doesn't that column look a little more imposing at a 1:10 figure to man ratio?


The plan is to paint two more Prussian infantry units, a 12-pounder battery of four guns and crew, and maybe a couple of squadrons of dragoons by August 8th. These additions will augment the current inventory of four Prussian battalions and two 6-pounders that I had completed last year. So that will give me a total of 6 btns and six artillery pieces. I have 36 converged cuirassiers and plan to use my SYW Black Hussars in my 1806 Prussian army. I can also use my SYW dragoons as stand ins until their actual 1806 counterparts are completed. The Prussians can be augmented by two battalions of 1805-07 Russians that I have already painted plus a Russian horse battery.

As for the French, they need more up front attention. I have two 72-figure infantry battalions, one legere battalion and these will be joined by Bill's two French line battalions. I have also painted an 8-pounder battery of four guns. The cavalry will consist of 40 cuirassiers, 48 dragoons and hopefully 48 chasseurs a cheval at the end of the 100 Days.

I am still trying to decide how to base my French. The 1791 regulations call for 8 companies plus one company of voltigeurs (beginning in 1804 with the addition of voltigeurs. Or I might sort of fudge it and use the 1808 organization of six companies, which is easier to work with when it comes to basing the figures.

Our first scheduled game is set for July 18th, so I should have plenty of time to paint some new units for both sides. We will undoubtedly have some informal play testing sessions in the interim so that we can work on our ideas for cavalry charges, square formations and changes, etc. and skirmisher rules. I am highly encouraged by some of the ideas that Bill has come up with so far. So stay tuned as the 100 Days rolls along. The French dragoons are nearly done and I am looking forward to adding more Prussians soon.