Picture of the Week: LaSalle In Spain

 

This week’s picture features a diorama that I set up in 2013. It depicts a column of French light cavalry and light infantry in Spain marching under the gaze of General LaSalle.

The figures are a variety including Elite Miniatures ( chasseurs a cheval), Old Glory light infantry and an assortment of civilians from Perry Miniatures. The buildings were scratch built by Herb Gundt.

After looking at these pictures it makes me want to haul the collection out of storage and set up a Peninsula game or two.

They Certainly Have A Lot of Gaul

 

Yesterday I finished the painting of 8 more HaT Gallic Cavalry figures, adding to the 4 figures that I painted about a month ago, thus bringing the  unit up to its designed 12 figure unit of cavalry.

I have 36 more Gauls to paint in order to complete the unit at 48 figures. They will become part of Hannibal's Carthaginian army in Italy. My Carthaginian cavalry contingent will be comprised of Numidian light horsemen and heavier Gallic cavalry. I also have a small contingent of 12 Carthaginian heavy cavalry that will fill out the overall Carthaginian and Allies combat arm.

In many of Hannibal's battles in Italia he had a numerical cavalry advantage over the Roman armies whilst the Romans usually had more foot soldiers. That should create some interesting differences in the armies of the two mortal foes.

The cavalry figures will be based two per stand (90mm frontage and a depth of 90-110mm). I don't want to mess around with having individual figures romping around the table top on movement trays.

As is the case with most 54mm (1/32 scale) HaT Industrie figures, they are easy to paint and are fun to paint. The Gauls (or Celts) should have an irregular unformed appearance so I try to plan things out so that each figure has its own unique uniform, representing the individualistic nature of the Gallic warriors. Uniform inspiration is found on Pinterest and there seems to be an unending variety of images for Gallic infantry and cavalry. In a future blog post I will elaborate on how I tackle all of the different plaid patterns that go on each figure.

Next Up: another 32-figure Celtic war band .

Picture of the Week: Croebern Diarama

 

I found this picture of the massed Austrian cuirassier brigade at Croebern in 1813. The battle was a part of the greater Battle of Leipzig. The figures are all 1/72 scale, or 20mm. The buildings and terrain were hand made by the diorama modelers in Germany.

This is one of the most magnificent pictures of Wargame figures that I’ve ever seen. The picture looks so lifelike.

Thank You Robbie Gould

 

The San Francisco 49ers eliminated the Green Bay Packers from the NFL playoffs with a 13-10 victory. Robbie Gould (an ex-Chicago Bears kicker) kicked the game winning field goal as time expired. Thank you Robbie. We don’t have to see anymore of Aaron Rodgers this year.

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Picture of the Week -Dhows on the Nile

 

This week’s picture ( I’m changing this concept’s name from Picture of the Day to that of the Week since that is the frequency with which I will post favorite pictures going forward) comes from a game in February 2019 that was played at General Pettygree’s Barracks. It was a 28mm Sudan colonial era game. The Dervish were attacking a British-Egyptian fortified town (sound familiar?) and out of nowhere appeared a fleet of dhows that were packed full of Dervish warriors. This picture reminds me of a scene from the movie “Khartoum “ and is a photo that I’ve always liked. It is well composed with a nice background free of clutter.

The boats were made by Chuck the Lucky and they really look the part.

Roman Legions On Parade

 

A unit of Republican Roman Triarii figures from John Jenkins Designs. 
Scipio Africanus can be seen in the back row, on horseback.

Last week I cleared the Carthaginian army off of my game table because I decided that it was time to give the Romans some equal time on my blog. So this post is an update on the progress that I have been making with the painting of my 54mm Republican Roman army.

My Roman army will be divided into several legions (legio), each comprised of 12 Velite skirmishers, 32 Hastati, 32 Princeps, and 24 to 32 Triarii. The quality of the troops improves from the front (Hastati) to the back (Triarii). The Hastati are lightly armored with just a pectoral plate on their chest and one greave on the left shin. The Princeps generally wore chain mail and were considered to be veterans with more experience than the younger Velites and Hastati. Finally, the Triarii formed the third line of the legion in battle formation. The Triarii were the older and most experienced soldiers in the legio.

Two Roman Legiones or Legionibus in battle formation.
Velites at the front, followed by Hastati in white tunics, then in the second row are the Princeps in red tunics,
and Triarii in the  third row.

The above picture depicts two Roman legiones: red shield on the left and yellow shield on the right. The John Jenkins Designs Roman Triarii are stand-ins for the yet-to-be-painted yellow shield Triarii. Each Roman player in my game will command one legion.

My initial plan was to have two legiones so as to have sufficient room on the flanks for cavalry and general movement. However, I now plan on adding a third legio with green shields. As long as the legiones are deployed in three row there will be sufficient room on my 12-feet long game table to deploy the infantry and cavalry without having "edge of the world" secured flanks.

Isn't this how it usually goes? You plan on a moderate sized army, but once you start collecting the figures and painting them, you feel a need to make the army bigger. Three Roman legiones is enough. No, I really mean that.

I find that setting up the painted/completed units on my game table keeps my painting mojo going. Over the course of several weeks and months I can see the growth in the army. I can also see what still needs to be painted in order to finish the army.

Here is a picture of the various Roman units deployed in the checkerboard formation, representing maniples or cohorts.

I generally paint the cavalry in my armies last. I don't know why, I just do it that way. I think that I like to see how the main component of the army (the infantry) is growing, while cavalry can be a pain in the neck to paint.

Some HaT Italian Allies cavalry serving with the Roman army.
I found these on eBay and plan to touch them up with paint and
give them a first class, fully terrained base.

Here is a picture of the Roman cavalry contingent on the left flank.
Italian allies on the left and Romans on the right.

Overhead view of the Roman army as of today.

Here is a picture of the red shield Triarii that I finished last week. The two movement trays in the front row were  painted awhile ago. Then I discovered that the Triarii figures are out of stock and additional figures are as hard as hen's teeth to find. I hit the jackpot on eBay when I found the 16 additional figures that I needed to bring the legio up to 32 figures. I also acquired enough Triarii figures from another collector to add a 32-figure yellow shield Triarii unit. I am working on this unit right now and hope to have it completed next week.

Roman legiones of the red shield legio. These are HaT figures.

Next in the painting queue are another dozen Velites skirmishers for the yellow shield legio. And then maybe I will be in the right frame of mind to tackle the Roman cavalry.

Salve!

Picture of the Day - Grand Battery

 

The picture of the day depicts a Prussian artillery battery during the Seven Years War. Most of the figures and artillery pieces are from the Minden Miniatures and the Fife and Drum artillery equipment. The limbers are from Berliner Zinnfiguren and a wagon is from Front Rank. It is impressive to say the least when it all comes together like this.