The Eve of Waterloo

Well almost, actually we're playing the game on Wednesday but today with Goya's assistance I finished setting up the table. I can't believe it's almost a year since we last played a game of Muskets & Marshals in the Hut, how time flies.

Not quite on the scale of Vintage Waterloo but we will still have upwards of 900 figures on the table.

The playing area is my maximum 8' x 4' and the troops are drawn from mine and Goya's collections.

I think I did say you can never have enough FN5 Fusiliers!

Now who left them out front?

Goya just completed this excellent Airfix Papelotte conversion.

And on the subject of wargames, last week I was fortunate enough to be invited to Tony's for a full-scale trial of his Corporal John rules for the War of the Spanish Succession. As always Tony's table was stunning full of beautifully painted Les Higgins figures. I won't attempt a narrative but here are a few photos to give you a flavour of the game.

Another of Tony's amazing looking tables. I played the Franco-Bavarians (nearest the camera) and he played the Allies.

Mt left-wing cavalry just itching to get across the stream but that was to prove difficult.

My lads go forward in the centre aided by some very useful Command Cards.

Some intense cavalry action on the right flank - a whirl of sabres/

My elite cavalry on the hill just before they delivered the coup de grace.

It was nice to win a game (although only just) after the recent drubbing at Goya's.

DBA and a Drubbing at Goya’s

Earlier this year Goya introduced me to the dark art of DBA games and to my surprise I have really enjoyed playing them. The limited figure numbers and playing area coupled with games that last less than an hour have a real appeal. The resulting games have been fun with more tactical depth than you would think at first glance at the rules. Goya also kindly gifted me an Essex Miniatures DBA Carthaginian Army that I have been slowly painting.

I'm just over halfway through the Carthaginians, there are four more infantry bases and of course an elephant then they'll be ready for action.

But this is where praise for Goya ends (only joking) as he invited me over this week to play through the CCN Essling scenario knowing that I was suffering from jetlag (excuses, excuses). The result was something of a drubbing for me as I lost both the games we played.

This is the initial deployment as per the CCN scenario. We played normal Commands and Colors rules but with Tony's firing amendments for Ramekin.

The centre piece of the game was this magnificent model of the Granary. The model is actually 15mm but works perfectly with Goya's 20mm figures.

All the troops on the table were from Goya's vast collection of (mostly) vintage Minifigs. There were lots of Austrians and all superbly painted - a joy to behold.

Austrian Cuirassiers riding the famous Minifigs 'fat bottomed' horses!

Some very nice French Guard Horse Artillery - love the moustaches.

Goya played the Austrians in the first game and managed to eject my French infantry from the Granary gaining vital VPs in the process - 9 to 6 final score in favour of the men in white.

When I saw this chap with the shako on his musket it brought back memories of the front cover of the old Minifigs catalogue.

Game two saw us switching sides and as I had a preponderance of Left Flank cards, I tried to turn the French right but it didn't go well. The hussars in the centre of this shot are from the Hinton Compatriots range.

Try as I might I could make no progress and my units were getting chewed up at a terrible pace.

This time the Granary stayed securely in French hands.

Great fun even if the 9 to nil score of our second game still smarts!

Old Soldiers

A couple of weeks back Tony gave me two rather unusual castings that had originally been in the Eric Knowles collection. They are figures believed to have been converted by none other than Peter Gilder for the famous 1965 refight of the Battle of Waterloo at the Duke of York’s Headquarters in Chelsea.

As far as I can make out they are two-piece castings and meant to represent Royal Horse artillery officers.

These are not Hinton Hunt and Tony believes they may be converted from Alberken figures. I confess that I know very little about figure types other than Hinton Hunt available in the 60s and the only Alberken horse I have does look cruder than these. I have some other horses that I think are Rose, but they don’t seem a good match either. Any ideas?

The famous 1965 refight of Waterloo at the Duke of York's Headquarters. All the figures here appear to be Hinton Hunt. I do like to see wargamers in formal attire.

This photo from the same event is tantalising. There are two British limbers in the background and possibly some mounted figures with them but even zoomed-in it's not very clear but I like to think they may be there!

The conversion is clever as wire reins and sword have been carefully added together with what I assume is a plasticine blanket roll (possibly hardened with the mysterious ‘banana oil’). The painting however is frankly pretty basic which is not what I would associate with Peter Gilder judging by the photos of his superb Hinchliffe figures in the early 70s. However, Matt G told me that, having seen some of Gilders ACW figures from the same era, his painting at that time was minimal. It may be that speed and quantity was the aim rather than quality.

"I say Mercer, haven't seen you since 65!"
"Ah Ramsay, good to see you looking so well!"

I couldn’t work out if the figures are meant to be RHA officers or just mounted RHA gunners but as a sword has been added to each, I have assumed the former. I didn’t strip them (they may well have fallen apart in the bleach) and have just repainted them sticking to the original colour scheme. Hopefully this refurbishment will see them through for the next 58 years and allow them a few more outings on a wargame table.

1st legere

Gentleman (and others) I give you the 1st legere.

For the record the figures I have used are:

1 x FN/1 Officer (charging)

1 x FN/4 Colour Bearer (charging)

20 x FN/5 Fusilier (charging)

1 x FN/6 Drummer (charging)

1 x FN/8 Officer (marching)

Despite the name they have been based as regular close-order infantry.

All the figures are very nice first-generation castings previously in the collection of Neville Dickinson, repainted by me.

Battle of Warve – I was fortunate enough to play in Norm’s (Battlefield & Warriors blog) recent Warve PBEM game. The game had ten players and was superbly run by Norm. I took part as GdD Habert, 10th French Infantry Division, you can follow my exploits on his very detailed AAR - you'll need a cup of coffee and in my case sedatives...

Light Infantry Progress

This is a quick update to prove that work on my French Light Infantry unit continues. I have completed all the rank and file and started on the four remaining command figures.

The unit will represent the 1st Light Infantry who as part of 6th Division, II Corps, took part in the attacks on Hougoumont at Waterloo. It was Sous-Lieutenant Legros of this regiment who, seizing an axe from one of the pioneers, smashed his way through the north gate into the courtyard. Not that it ended well for him.

Strike up the Band

A few weeks back I came across the Miniature Figurines S-range Imperial Guard Band that Tony kindly gave me a couple of years ago. Looking at the figures again it struck me it was a shame that they were hidden away in a box as they are a really charming little set and the painter had done a good job.

Now, of course, these are not Hinton Hunt but they are contemporary being from the period when Miniature Figurines produced 20mm figures. I vaguely remember seeing listings for the band set in 1970c but back then I would never have invested pocket money in non-combatants. I have no catalogue now, but the code numbers are clearly stamped on the top of the bases. This is what I have:

2 x No1 Bassoon

2 x No2 French Horn

2 x No3 Trombone

2 x No4 Serpent Horn

1 x No5 Trumpet

3 x No6 Oboe

2 x No7 Flute

1 x No8 Drum

1 x No9 Drum

1 x No10 Bass Drum

2 x No11 Cymbals

1 x No12 Triangle

1 x No13 Jingling Johnny

1 x No15 Bandmaster

Percussion section

Brass section

Woodwind section

As far as I can find out the complete band should be in three ranks of seven (percussion, brass, woodwind) plus the bandmaster. I’m a bit puzzled as to what the missing number 14 would have been – any ideas?

I didn’t repaint these as that would have been a diversion too far, so I just jazzed them up (no pun intended) by touching up the white then giving them a couple of coats of gloss varnish and basing in my house style.

Order of Battle – I have added a new page to the blog listing all my units together with links to their debut appearances. This has been useful to me in focussing my mind on gaps in the OOB’s and hopefully you’ll like perusing them too. There is a link under the ‘pages’ heading on the sidebar or just click here.

More French Infantry

During my recent reappraisal of this project, I realised that, believe it or not, I don’t have enough French infantry units painted. Now I know ‘enough’ is a bit of a moot point for wargamers but I’m basing my requirement on the French army I need to balance either the Anglo-Allied-Prussian forces or the Austro-Russian-Swedish-Prussian forces. Whichever way I look at it I’m shy of about three French infantry units.

So, I have begun work on another unit using the FN/5 Fusilier (charging) figure but for a bit of variation I will be painting these as Light Infantry. As far as I can see by 1815 there was no difference between the employment or organisation of Light Infantry and Line Infantry. However, the difference in uniform is a help for me when trying to tell one unit from another on the table where they’re made up of the same figure type.

To be honest when I’ve brought the French side up to strength I will have about as many troops as I can use on my maximum 8’ x 4’ table but of course that won’t stop me painting more.