Brunswick Owls

This has to be the fastest I’ve ever completed a Hinton Hunt infantry unit as the whole lot have been prepared, painted and based in just over one month. Not quite sure how it happened but as I mentioned in my last post I’ve been assisted by the relative simplicity of the uniform.

The figures are:
2 x BRN/1 Officer charging (one converted to standard bearer)
11 x BRN/4 Private charging (one converted to drummer)
9 x BRN/5 Private firing
1 x BRN/6 Officer marching
1 x BRN/40 Avant Garde Officer marching
The flag is an old Revo one (the battalion didn't actually carry a flag but I wasn't going to let that stop me!)

The Leib Battalion had a rough time of it at Quatre Bras where they took 127 casualties and famously broke, leading to the incident in which the the Duke of Brunswick lost his life. At Waterloo they were held in reserve on the right flank in the area behind Hougoumont. Eventually they moved forward to support the British line where they formed square and helped repel the French cavalry attacks.

As a dog lover I won’t be stationing my Brunswickers anywhere near the 95th Rifles. The story goes that they had a liking for dogs (but not in the British way) and ate the mascot of the 95th, a dog called Rifle, who had survived shot and shell only to be “devoured by the insatiable jaws of the Brunswickers”.

Leib-Battalion in progress

Since painting the Black Duke I’ve been slowly plodding away at the Brunswick Leib-Battalion to give him something to lead and/or rally. I’ve always wanted to have a unit of Brunswick infantry and these figures (acquired back here) have been waiting way too long in the painting queue.

The drummer is a conversion of BRN/4 knocked up for me by
the very talented Wellington Man. The Avant Garde Officer is
BRN/40, this figure didn't appear in my 1974c catalogue and
may even be a Clayton production.

Half the unit will be made up of BRN/5 Private (firing), and the other half are BRN/4 Private (charging). There will also be a smattering of officers including one from the Avant Garde just to spice things up.

BRN/4 - there's a bit of swagger to this chap!

I’ve just passed the halfway mark and the reasonably rapid progress (for me) is helped somewhat by the black uniforms. Although, having said that, there is some fiddly detail like the horses painted on the packs. The uniform colour is a 50:50 mixture of black and Foundry 34B which gives a subtle difference between the coat and the cross-straps although that may not be easily seen in the photos.

Village idiot

For some reason I couldn’t resist the urge to re-base the buildings in my village. This involved removing the models from their single A4 size base and putting them on individual bases which was in line with my original concept (click here). I must admit that this work was carried out without planning permission or any consultation with the residents.

The three buildings can still be arranged together as a single built-up-area, but it gives me the flexibility to use them individually as well.

Something else I couldn’t resist recently was splashing out and buying 96 French infantry from the 1807-12 range. This was a bit of a punt as I couldn’t be sure from the photos if they were vintage Hinton Hunt or not as the seller had miscaptioned them. For once I got lucky as all the figures turned out to be vintage castings in good condition except for a dozen or so broken bayonets.

The bulk of the figures are FN244 fusilier (charging) but there
are some others which I didn't already have in my collection
such as FN16 Voltigeur (marching) in greatcoat, although the
plumes have been cut down, and also marching/charging line
grenadiers.

At a stroke this gives me a full division (three units in my organisation) of French infantry but also undoes all my progress this year - figures painted vs figures acquired. However, vintage stuff doesn’t come along all that often and certainly not at a half decent price and these reinforcements do sort of fit into my long-term plan for this project.

Rear-guard action

I had a few hours spare yesterday so decided to play a small solo game. It was a chance to get a few of the figures out of the display cabinet and put them through their paces. The scenario was simple enough – a small allied rear-guard was attempting to hold off a larger French force.

Marshal Grouchy was in charge of the French aided by
 General Lasalle as second-in-command.
"I say Lasalle, if you'd told me you were wearing your red
trousers and green top I'd have worn a different uniform!"

The allied force consisted of Austrians, Prussians and Russians.
 The Russian Grenadiers were commanded on this occasion by
General Alten (I have a Russian General but he's still in the
painting queue).

The French force advances and despite some seriously good
shooting the Austrian Jagers are forced to give ground. The
newly formed Guard light cavalry were well up in the front
line with the Guard heavy cavalry not far behind.

Turn 3 and the battle is in full swing. The French are making
a nicely coordinated attack. The cavalry have forced two units
of infantry into square whilst the skirmishers and horse artillery
do their thing. Behind them the infantry columns move up -
textbook stuff.

Those pesky skirmishers are making things hard for the 51st
Gabriel Spleny Regiment who are starting to take casualties.

The Guard infantry bring up the rear of the French line. From
this angle General Cambronne appears to be conducting
an orchestra!

The Guard heavy cavalry see an opportunity and charge the
Prussian Dragoons who fail their counter-charge die roll and
get hit on the back foot. The melee result is a foregone
conclusion.

This is the obligatory 1970s flashback scene of the fighting.
Straight off the pages of Miniature Warfare magazine.

The Spleny's become disordered by the effects of all the
incoming fire and the Guard light cavalry choose that moment
to charge and sweep them from the field.

The 45th Regiment charge and are repulsed but behind them
the Combined Grenadiers take on the Russians and force them
to retreat. It's game over for the allies.

Blucher and Mack look on as the rear-guard melts away.
"Mein Gott Mack, have you got zat map ze right way up?"

Men of the match - the French skirmishers.

It was a fun little game that enabled me to iron out a few details about the use of skirmishers. I really should give the British a run out next time.