Austrian quiz

During my recent birthday extravaganza Nigel kindly gave me this superb pair of vintage Hinton Hunt Austrian generals painted by his own hand. They spent the whole of the battle as observers on a hill safe behind the allied lines and it wasn’t recorded what they thought of the Duke’s handling of events.

The one on the right (in the white coat) is general Klenau hero of Essling and the one on the left (in the blue coat) is general Gyulay who I’m reliably informed by Nigel “nearly closed the door on Napoleon’s retreat from Leipzig”.

Now, as I’m sure you’ve spotted, neither of these are actually Austrian figures but are in fact very clever conversions carried out by Nigel. So the quiz is – what base figures did he use to create these little masterpieces?

Birthday Bash

As you may have noticed, last Saturday I hosted a game of Muskets & Marshals using pretty much all of my Hinton Hunts plus a smattering from Roy’s collection. The excuse was the celebration of a significant birthday and I thought it would be nice to invite some fellow bloggers and HH enthusiasts along to enjoy the fun.

The scenario was quite basic and the allied army was a rather eclectic mix of nationalities but we managed to play a full 12 turns and reached a satisfying conclusion (satisfying if you were on the French side). I was so busy playing that I didn’t stop to take enough photos for a proper narrative but I hope the following give a taste of the occasion.

Prince Murat commanded the right wing of the French army - more used to wearing white, Nigel put in a good performance as the emperor's right hand man.

A general view of the table at the start of turn four. French on the left commanded by Tony, allies on the right commanded by Matt. The troops look quite thin on the ground even though we had approximately 900 figures in play.

The churchyard was the focus of a lot of heavy fighting throughout the day.

Another view of Nigel's command contesting the churchyard with Clive's men on the opposite side of the hedge. The Swiss moved forward in an attempt to claim the place for the emperor but were cruelly cut down as they did so.

The Blues & Greys were transferred from Clive's (left) flank to reinforce Roy's (right) flank. I'm not sure that Clive was too pleased about this particularly as Roy had already lost four cavaly regiments by this time.

Poniatowski (that's the birthday boy) had some spectacular success with his cavalry on the French left flank forcing Blucher's infantry to spend the remainder of the battle in square. Sadly, due to a slight tactical error the French horse artillery were not able to capitalise on this situation.

The Swiss pictured just before they were forced to quit the field (being reduced to nine men). The Nassau grenadiers opposite them are worth a mention for the exceptional performance they put in during this fight.

British heavies clash with French cuirassiers - I can't remember who won this melee - let's just assume it was the French!

The famous 45th ligne take on some Swedes (oops thats actually the 105th - if only I had some way to tell them apart).

The 42nd Black Watch move up to the hedge under the watchful eye of Picton (Clive).

This was the start of Napoleon's winning move - a pincer movement from both flanks against the weakened allied centre.

The Old Guard close with the British Foot Guards. Even the presence of the Duke (Matt) could not keep them steady. A French victory, but a slim one!

My thanks to Matt, Tony, Clive, Nigel and of course Roy for a thoroughly enjoyable day. For some better photos take a look at Matt’s blog here and Tony’s blog here.