The 18th Regiment Of Foote . (Royal Irish)

Well I've finally got them finished ! - there was a slight hold up due to my gas bottle running out and needing replacing . Sorry for the rather poor lighting in these photos , I had to photograph them on my table during the daytime with the sun streaming through the window - which does strange things to the colours !.

They have 3 companies each of 12 Sentinels , Sergeant, Drummer and Officer and a headquarters of a Lt. Col. , Major and 2 Ensigns . A total of  48 foot figures and 1 mounted .

I decided to use the older flatter Holger Erikson figure for the infantry as I have 3 of these moulds which speeds up casting .

The Drummers should have mitre caps really , but I thought this was a conversion too far !.

I've been using the old one piece casting for the standards , these took several attempts to get right ! (and quite a bit of bad language) . The next thing will be casting up some French infantry to match the figures I was given .

Fatter Generals .

There is not that much 40mm SYWish stuff about out there and when I saw Front Rank had done some 40mm generals for their AWI  range I was intrigued enough to purchase a couple . They are rather expensive but very nice , above is one of their Hessian Generals who will represent a rather more rotund General Comte D' Fru-Fru. 

This figure is General Howe and unlike the other figures doesn't come with a selection of alternate heads , he is to portray General Carlsburg of the Allied forces . 

This is all well and good but how do theses VERY chunky figures match up with their slender Prince August brethren ? - not to badly I think, I have not yet based them but when done they will look okay . Strange when I look at the above photo I think for all the accuracy and detail of the Front Rank ones the Prince August have a bit more character !?. 

New Generals .

I've been aware for a while the lack of suitable General Officers for my light cavalry units , so I decided to cast up a couple of  Hussar figures to remedy this.The problem was that the French Hussars are a bit boring mainly dressed in blue and red , so I thought I'd be a bit different and use a officer from the Swedish Hussars that were allies to the French . The Allied General is a Prussian Hussar . Surfing through the various regiments I came up with the above figures , on the left General Wartenburg and his faithful hound Moritiz from the Hussar Regt. Puttkamer (The White Hussars) and on the right General Baron Georg Gustaf Wrangel of the Gula Hussars (The Yellow Hussars).

I converted the Swedish figure by adding a Busby from 'Green Stuff'. The faithful hound is from a Prince August mould .

I have also re-based some of the figures I was kindly given , they are the first two companies for the French Regiment Orleans , I will be casting up some more to complement them .

In Memoria.

I was contacted by Graham Cummings from the 'A Military Gentleman' Forum asking me if I would like some 40mm Prince August SYW figures that belonged to his friend Lee Maxwell who had sadly died , I was overwhelmed by this kind offer and said that I would be honoured to accept these figures and give them a good home .

They arrived today , the figures are beautifully painted in a 'toy soldier' style . With these figures there are enough unpainted figures to form 2 new regiments to enhance my collection.

I would like to thank Graham and pass on my condolences to Lee Maxwell's family and hope I can do these figures justice in future games . I will be re-basing the figures and painting the rest up in a similar style to match them , the first unit will be the French Regiment Orleans and I will post reports on my progress .

A Surprise Attack (Parte 2)

The French force comes under fire from the Allied gun as they move forward to attack.

The French Chasseurs open a lively fire against the gun crew .

Major Shandy organises the defence .

The 18th open fire on the French Hussars , as the French Chasseurs take cover behind the earthworks .

The French Hussars try to charge but suffer heavy casualties and rout from the melee. (lesson learnt - don't charge formed infantry frontally !)

The Chasseurs drive off the gunners !.

And then move forward to capture the gun !

They capture it ! , but the 18th charge them ! ( colour problems on this photo - due to sunshine streaming through the window !).

The Saxon LiebGrenadierGarde deploy ready to attack in support .

The infantry forces exchange volleys , and the French deployment becomes somewhat jumbled as the cavalry seeks to move around the flank .

The Irish drive off the Chasseurs and recapture the gun !.

Then reinforcements start to arrive ! . Too be continued .....

Breaking News !

Just had a Email from Prince August to say they are issuing some new SYW  moulds , above the infantryman mould with choice of heads .

The NCO and Drummer mould.

The Officer and Standard Bearer. These look very good for the home-caster and are more sensible than some of their recent moulds.

http://shop.princeaugust.ie/recent-releases/

B.A.R. Test Game (Part 2).

This is the position we find units in at the start of the next move , the Regt. D Roi has deployed as has the Allied gun its all down to who gets to fire first !

The tension is almost unbearable ! - you can almost feel the Hessian Grenadier Sergeant wincing on their nearest flank 

And the French get to fire first - they score high plus first fire at close-ish range and the Hessian's make some rubbish saving throws and it's disaster time for the Allies ! . To add insult to injury the French draw the next card as well and the Swiss fire more or less finishing off the Grenadiers . Well this more or less finished off the game, the Allied gun fired causing light casualties and the commander thought it wise to limber up and retire , the British Grenadiers got a volley off at the French Hussars perched in front of them (I'd forgotten all about them !) and they broke . This allowed the Allies to retire unharmed , a French victory !. Well what are my impressions of B.A.R. ? , I like the card drawing system which adds uncertainty to who moves and shoots, the moral system doesn't really kick in till units reach 50% casualties (similar to 'Charge') , ranges are greater - the saving throws keep casualties down . Not being based on company bases I did not use their manoeuvre system and I get the feeling they are aimed at set piece battles (although after only one playing this may not be true), they are slightly more complicated than 'Charge' - but not much so as to make them hard to use . Will I use them again - Hmm not sure ?! - I may use the card system for 'Charge' though!.

I 've got the Starlux Hussar figure repaired , his sword is a flattened pin bent and a hole drilled into the hand and glued in place. I drilled another hole in his Busby inserted another pin glued it in place and built up the plume with 'green stuff' , the scabbard is a piece of scrap spear cut to size and glued into position . The flag is a download (not very good one) which needs tarting up a bit , think he is ready after a final clean up for a undercoat and then re-painting . Watch this space ......

B.A.R. Test Game (Part 1).

Having had these rules (Battle of the Ancient Regime) for awhile I have decided to give them a try out . I pointed up a couple of small armies and planned a meeting engagement . The French have a Squadron of Hussars and 2 Regiments of Foote. 

Hodge disapproves of 'new fangled' rule sets and starts a sit in protest. The Allies had a Squadron of Lt. cavalry 2 composite units of Grenadiers and a Lt gun .

Units are moved/shoot on the turn of a card - black for the French red for the Allies. When a joker is drawn it can be used to preempt opponents moves/firing etc and can be held in hand till needed.The French played their's to move a unit first.

The French deploy having past through the hamlet .

The Allies move into line.The drawing of cards leads to a certain tension who moves next and is great for solo gaming I've always found.

The French move their next regiment up to try and flank the Allies line , in the background the cavalry clash and the Allied Carbineers are routed.

The Allied Command draws a joker and uses it to fire the Hessian Grenadiers first.

Movement is generous and and shooting distances greater than the ranges in 'Charge', this means things start happening sooner in the game .

The Allied cavalry flee and are pursued by the French Hussars , unlike in 'Charge' there are moral tests after melees , rout and pursuit move distances are determined by dice throws.

The situation at present, the French cavalry have retire to reform , in the centre the Allied Grenadiers and the French Swiss Regt. are engaged in a fire fight and the French Regt. Du Roi is about to turn to the flank to form a line which will threaten the Grenadiers flank . The Allies are trying to bring up support with the British Grenadiers forming up in the distance and the Artillery is going to deploy to cover the left flank . So far the rules seem to be working okay - you only use the play sheet and consult the rules for the occasional clarification . There are 2 play sheets and which one you use is dependent on your table size , I am using play sheet 2 as my table is 5' x 8'. I'm continuing the game and will report further in the next posting.

A Change Of Rules.

Whilst sorting out the dozens of rule sets I've acquired over the 40+ years of wargaming I came across this set , The sad thing is I don't remember ordering them (first signs of senility ?). I've heard good things about them - they are a slightly more detailed set of 'Charge' type rules , so I have decided to give them a try out . At my time of (wargaming) life I dislike learning new rules but these look simple enough being D6 based and are designed to play just using the 'Cheat sheet' .

I have set up a small meeting engagement with the Allies coming on to the table in the bottom right and the French top left.

Here we see the French High Command , Count D' Fru-Fru is being given tactical advice by Voltaire assisted by his servant 'Wee Jocky' - I wonder if he will take it ?.

In the Allied ranks is the young Duke of Cucumberland taking part in his first action . I will report on how the rules work in the next entry.

New Recruits

I've got the first company of the 18th Foote (Royal Irish) cast up and painted .

For the basic infantryman I used a older Holger Erikson casting from Prince August . The first reason is that I've got two of the moulds so casting is quicker and easier - rarely a miss cast ! , the other is that having very little surface detail they are easier to paint - you simply paint the details on. The uniform is 'correctish' and will do for me, the drummer should really have a mitre cap but converting him would be tricky as he is one of the older slimmer models .

I also have converted and painted three new General Officers . I got these in a job lot off eBay and they were damaged and were destined for melting down , then I noticed that Ross on 'Battle Game of the Month' had converted a cavalry trooper into a General - so I decided to copy him .

I added wigs and sashes and converted damaged weapons into batons . No names yet but from left to right - vaguely French, Prussian (with a passing resemblance of 'Ald Fritz') and British (looks a bit like the Duke of Cumberland).