A Royal Mess

Fritz's Man Cave in a considerable state of disorder.

A law of physics states that nature abhors a vacuum and will fill it ASAP. There is a corollary to this law called Fritz's Law of Wargaming Tables which states that if there is an empty surface on your war game table, stuff will find a way of accumulating on the table.

The above picture is proof of Fritz's Law of Wargaming Tables (do not attempt to do this at home).

I am somewhat embarassed that my Man Cave has become such a mess (somewhat, but not totally embarassed), but one can not fight the law of empty table space. All of the mess on the left is Fife & Drum related stuff as it has become my order packing area. The area on the near right is my painting table and that will always be messy. The main table, well, that one is my fault. The back table -- for some reason I can't seem to put away the French cuirassiers from a Napoleonic game fought last January, darn those guys -- they just won't put themselves away.

Obviously I have a project to work on this weekend.

New Box O' Stuff

I received a heavy box of lead from Old Blighty today, containing an order from Elite Miniatures. Among the contents are 120 of the newest addition to the Elite range: SYW Prussian Dragoons. That is enough for me to paint the Bayreuth Dragoons at a 1:10 ratio. Yikes! That ought to look awesome when completed, but it is a daunting task to get all of them painted.

On the Napoleonic front, I am working on the 45th Regiment of British infantry to add to my Peninsula campaign brigade. I have 54 of the eventual 84 figures completed and hope to post some pictures within a couple of days.

I have updated this posting to include a photo of the New Prussian dragoons and a sample horse from the Collectors Series Range that Elite has. This is not a very good picture so I will try to post something better this weekend.

Minden Prussian Command

Frederick the Great and his staff. Minden Miniatures painted by Leuthen Studios.

Here is a little bit of Minden goodness that was painted by Leuthen Studios on commission from me. I wanted my Frederick the Great command stand to look extra special and I think that Ioannis and his team did a really nice job. Great figures, great brushwork, and great composition and terraining of the base all add up to a really nice showcase piece for my Minden Prussian Army.

I was going to paint the Austrians myself, but after seeing these pictures, I asked Ioannis to add the Austrians to the commission.

54mm SYW Models

I was strolling through the Internet this morning, looking for some information about the Russian army in the Seven Years War, and happened to come across a range of collectors' models depicting the Russian artillery and the Prussian von Bevern Regiment (IR7) at Kunersdorf. I believe that these are 54mm figures and they are a bit pricey at around $60.00 per foot figure, so they are not something that most of us would choose to Wargame with. However, they are beautiful models and are wonderful to behold.

The company is called Ted Toys and they are located in Owensboro, Kentucky. Their web site URL is listed below:


http://www.tedtoy.com/index.htm

Now if you are really interested in 54mm gaming, then I would direct you to pay a visit to a company called All The King's Men, which offers an attractive range of American Revolution figures.

Battle of Aveiro in Portugal - British Right Flank

One section (2 cannon) of Royal Artillery 9-pdrs open up on the French. A company of 5/60th Rifles and the 5th Regiment (in the trees) provide support. All figures are from Elite Miniatures. (Click to enlarge pix).

On August 3, 2013 we convened in Brown Deer, Wisconsin to resume our Iberian Campaign between Major General William Justinian Pettygree and Marshal Soult (the Duke of Damnation, Himself) near the village of Aveiro, just south of the Douro River in Portugal. A very good battle report is provided on the Campaigns in Iberia blog:

Campaigns In Iberia: Battle of Aveiero

My brief report will post some of the pictures that I snapped of the British relief column, on the right flank of the British defensive position in Averiero. As I recall, Brigadier General Kinch had marched north from Lisbon with the intention of linking up with Pettygree's two brigades of infantry and one brigade of light cavalry. The Duke of Damnation had apparently stolen a march on Pettygree and was descending on Kinch's position with two full divisions of French infantry and gobs of cavalry. Kinch was to hold on until relieved, or withdraw from the town, at his discretion, if it meant saving his brigade from destruction.

My role, as Brigadier General Alexander Sinclair, as one of the two infantry brigades in Pettygree's main army, was to advance from the right flank (the French left) and intercept any French forces to my front. Brigadier Peter Young's brigade (5th and 9th Regt.s) and Paget's light cavalry brigade was deployed to my left and those two brigades were to make the primary thrust to relieve Kinch's brigade in Aveiro.

A view of the wooded area on the British right flank. The French would be advancing from the right hand side of this picture, just beyond the iron support pole. The rest of the British team await the appearance of the French.

The French left comes over the ridge, with a screen of chasseurs a cheval covering their front.

The French brigade advances forward. They don't see anything yet, or do they? Note that the chasseurs have now formed into close order squadrons. 

The French chasseurs see the vanguard of Paget's light cavalry brigade arriving on the field to their left.

Sinclair's brigade is screened by a company of the 5/60th Rifles and the light company of the 2/83rd Regiment. They find a company of French voligeurs in the woods.

Sinclair's 2/83rd, commanded by Lt. Colonel Charles Gordon, had hoped that the French columns would pass his front without seeing him, allowing him to strike the French brigade in the flank. However, the French have spotted the 83rd and they begin to deploy their battalions into line formation to meet the British threat (to front and flank).

Brigadier Young's brigade (5th and 9th regiments) attack the front of the French brigade, which is now formed with a dangerous bend in their battle line. This is not a good situation for the French.

General Pettygree has a little surprise waiting for the French: a six gun battery of Royal Horse Artillery 6-pdrs prolong over the ridge and open fire on both French infantry and their supporting squadrons of dragoons on their right flank. Pettygree appears to be having FUN.

Towards the end of the battle, the French left hand brigade of infantry decided that it would be best to disengage as best they could. Their chasseurs a cheval covering their front while the infantry battalions fell back to the back table.

Lt. Colonel Gordon was content to watch les Crapauds retire without moving his regiment closer and risking needless casualties. When your foe is doing what you desire of him (in this case, retreating) it is best not to intefere in his plans. So the 83rd was content to herd the French off the battlefield with no more loss of life. In a campaign, where casualties reduce your effectiveness in the next game, there is a time to attack and a time to hold back.

Sinclair's activity was limited in this game. His skirmishers and supporting section of Royal Artillery, commanded by Lt. Harry Pearson, did most of the damage to the French. The French commander in this sector appeared to be protecting the left flank of the main French assault on the village of Aveiro, so he did not advance up the British held ridge to his front or be overly aggressive, i.e. rash. He played his hand the correct way, in Sinclair's opinion.

Tomorrow is always another day.

I have no idea of what happened in Aveiero as it was too far away from Sinclair's position. I have heard that Brigadier Kinch held off the French attack for several hours, before finally retiring from the village. The French brigade, though, was badly mauled in the attack, as was Kinch. Both of the brigades in this sector had casualties approaching 40-50%, from what I could tell from a distance. It was a very bloody affair.

The Fritz List

The other day I was musing (as I am wont to do) about what I would do hobby-wise if I were to have an unlimited amount of time to do everything and anything. Unfortunately, I did not win the millions in the recent Power Ball Lottery, so I am left to ponder the ideal rather than to live it out.

First of all, I would form a company and hire all of my wargaming buddies as employees so that they would be available for gaming all week, if need be. So their job would be to play wargames from 9 to 5. Hmm, I like to sleep in so if I'm infinitely rich, I guess that the games would begin at 10 AM or Noon and go on until dinner time.

When I wasn't gaming, I'd be making terrain or painting. Here is my wish list of things that I would like to paint sooner rather than later:

NAPOLEONICS:

British 45th Regiment (84 figures)
42 nd Black Watch (110 figures)
88th Connaught Rangers (84 figures)

2nd Regiment Garde de Paris (2 btns of 72 figures)
1st Regiment Garde de Paris (2 btns of 72 figures)
85e Regt de Ligne (2 btns of 72 figures) in Bicornes
2/25e Regt de Ligne (1 btn of 72 figures) in Bicornes

Oh heck, let's just do 8 x 72 French in shakos as well since most of my French are wearing Bicornes.

20 more Vistula Lancers ( Fritz loves his lancers!)
10 more 20e Regt Dragoons

1806 Prussians: I have about 10 battalions of 60 figures to paint and one each of cuirassiers and dragoons and hussars to paint.

1805-07 Russians: I have about 8 x 60 infantry to paint, and could use some heavy cavalry and light cavalry, probably 5 or 6 regiments of 48 figures. Oh, and some Russian lancers too!

SEVEN YEARS WAR MINDEN PROJECT

1 x 30 Josef Esterhazy Hungarians
4 x 30 "German" Austrians to be determined
1x 32 Austrian cuirassiers
1 x 32 Austrian hussars
Gobs of artillery (too much for my personal Prussian tastes)

2 x 32 Prussian cuirassiers
1 x 30 fusiliers IR49
1 x IR 6 Grenadier Garde
1 x IR 2/15 Garde

4 x 30 Prussian musketeer regiments, to be determined.

BAR 1:10 SYW ARMIES:

120 DR5 Bayreuth Dragoons ( he, he,he,he) :)


That would be enough to keep me going for the next year, at least. Yes, that will do.

Catching Up On Things SYW

I have been taking a little bit of a break from painting AWI figures following Historicon three weeks ago after painting nothing but AWI for at least the past twelve months. It is time to return to the Minden Project and augment my Austrian forces.

First of all, I needed to set all of my Austrians out on the gaming table to assess what I needed to add to the army in order to finish it. When you see the whole collection stretched across the table before your eyes, all of the missing pieces become quite apparent.

1) I need more Austrian cavalry. I only have one 24-figure regiment of dragoons and a partial 12- figure regiment of the Alt Modena cuirassiers ( the only cuirassier regiment with blue facings). So the first project was to paint the next dozen figures in this regiment, which I accomplished last week.

2) Artillery support equipment. I need to paint limbers for 4 guns and add 4 ammo supply wagons for each gun. I might add a couple of three pounder battalion guns.

3) Hungarian Regiment Josef Esterhazy needs its second battalion. I have five other musketeer battalions completed plus two grenadier battalions and two Croat battalions. The extra Hungarian battalion will complete my Austrian infantry contingent.

4) Army Command. I need to paint a command stand for Marshall Leopold von Daun, using the Minden Austrian senior command figures.