Thursday, January 30, 2014

more napoleonic Russians and such

this weekend I pounded our 2 more units of Napoleonic Russians, and a skirmish unit of Baden Jagers.  39 figures this week to round out my January painting.

the first is the 1st battalion of the Narva Regiment.  and yes, the grenadiers are on the wrong side.

Perry Plastic Russian infantry, representing the 1st Battalion
of the Narva Infantry Regiment



the next unit is the last of the 26th Infantry Divisions Jagers, a battalion of the  42nd Jagers, in line.

Perry Plastic Russians and a metal perry officer representing
the 1st battalion of the 42nd Jager Regiment



rounding out the group is a unit of Baden Jager battalion "Lingg" these are bavarian elites from Foundry.

Foundry Bavarian Elites representing the
Baden 'Lingg' Jager Battalion

 I'll be away over the weekend doing revolutionary war Drill up north, in the snow(YAY!). should be lost of fun.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Flag Day!

Today I spent about an hour converting all my Napoleonic  Russian flags using my new flag texture. I had previously spent many hours cobbling these together form pictures in books, and scans of the centre crests. I could not find all the flags commercially so i decided to make them myself(mostly). this is the precursor to my returning to painting my 28mm perry Russians.

The force I chose to build this time was the Rievski's 7th Corps(Kolubakin's 12th and Paskievitch's 26th Divisions) at Borodino . I also chose 2 grenadier regiments to build from the Prince of Mecklenburg's Grenadier division. also, for the battle, the Ahktyrka Hussar regiment was detached from Sievers 4th Reserve Cavalry Corps, along with the 8th light(horse) artillery Company.

The regiments are listed in order of seniority inside the division.  This is important because the epaulettes on Russian uniforms were colored different colours for the seniority in the divisions: red for 1st, white for second, yellow for 3rd and light green lined red for 4th. each division also includes 2 Jager regiments, but they were never issued standards.  Jager epaulettes were pale yellow or light blue, based on seniority again. All grenadier epaulettes were red.

Paskievitch's 26th Infantry Division
Jagers: 5th and 42nd Regiments
 Artillery: 26th Heavy , 47th & 48th Light Companies

Nigegorod Infantry Regiment
Lodoga Infantry Regiment
Poltava Infantry Regiment
Orel Infantry Regiment


Kolubakin's 12th Infantry Division
Jagers: 6th and 42s Regiments 
 Artillery: 12th Heavy , 22nd & 23rd Light Companies

Smolensk Infantry Regiment
Narva Infantry Regiment

Alexopol Infantry Regiment
New Ingermand / New Ingria Infantry Regiment


Random Grenadiers from Mecklenburg's Grenadier Division

Fangoria Grenadier Regiment
 
Moscow Grenadier Regiment

I'll be working on the 26th Division first.

I still have Sievers 4th cavalry Corps from  alst time i build (and then sold) a Russian army. i picked the infantry corps before i started researching so i had not yet realized teh obvious(hussar) connection between these 2 corps(they also were on the same part of the battlefield at Borodino).

I also Still have 3 battalions of a the Preobrajanski Guard Regiment, Guard Artillery, Guard Jagers, and the Emperor's(guard) Curiassier Regiment.  Also have 5 battalions of Foundry Opelchinie(3 painted, 2 in the queue), 2 of which are pike armed.





Sunday, January 26, 2014

Electorate Mounted Pandours

Just a quick entry, I painted up my 8 mounted pandours of the Köztársaság  regiment. along with them is Vargha Gyorgy,, a ruthless commander with a penchant for the macabre(hence the head).

Köztársaság Mounted Pandours. Figures by Front Rank


The figures turned out well. these may stand in for some polish cavalry until I get the actual figures for them i plan to use.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Onikszta Haiduk Regiment

or Hajducy Muszkieterzy na Onikszta in polish.   Onikszta is the Powiat(country) in which the regiment is raised, and quartered in times of peace. most counties are responsible for the raising of at least 1 Haiduk Regiment.

Hajducy Muszkieterzy na Onikszta with command.
figures are of course The Assault Group

 the Commonwealth of Polhynov is coming out of a period of reorganisation of  it's military into a more modern fighting force.   Although they keep their more traditional style dress, the colours have been made uniform for each district and the colours are of  the voivodeship that each country belongs to.

they have been trained very similarly to other western infantry. the one concession was the use of the light bardische axes.  the veteran haiduks refused to give them up, and units have been training in their use anyway, so the king decided to include them in the new military system.  they do have the added impact of making the polish infantry hard hitting in a charge. the guard retain their heavy bardische axes, making them formidible against cavalry as well. they do sacrifice a great deal of firepower in doing so(in Maurice they count as pike units)





Next is the army command stand, Hetman Wielki(grand hetman) Wlodzislaw Mielczewski.    Mieczewski grew up in a Koenigsreich occupied county. he was joined the a konigsreich infantry regiment on the far side of the empire and learned their trade.  but his heart always belonged to polhynov.  when the current kings father pulled together the voivodes and  reclaimed conquered counties, Mielczewski abandoned his post in the Konigsreich and returned to Polhynov to aid his country. he quickly rose through the ranks wand was an invaluable advisor and general when fighting the more western style armies. 


the  banner was a new  attempt at making my own wavy-flag texture. it turned out quite nice.  this is battlestandard of the Rzechczypospolita na Polhynow.  the crest is actually

the Battle standard of Polhynov, without being all wrinkled and wave and crap.

Jan Sobieski's, but the red and blue fields are of my own design. It turned out quite nice.

this was was pretty productive, I've painted 45 infantry and 2 cavalry. i plan before the weekend is out to paint my mounted pandours as well.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Sunday's ACW game and the culmination of last week's terrain Blitz.

closeup of tree bases made for martin. there were 7 in total.
this past Sunday we played a game of 28mm ACW at my friend Martin's house.  some of the buildings, fences, roads, and woods and a field were a good portion of what I spent the previous week making. it was played on an 9x6 table, with foam terrain tiles made by Myself and Dave Hoyt (unfortunately not present).

shot of most of the table.

Berdan's sharpshooters in some spiffy woods


Dan's zouaves wade through a pond for an
advantageous position on Martin's line.

Dan's brigade closes with Martin's Confederate line.


Tthe figures were painted  from several sources, Martin painted some, I painted 3 units of zouaves for martin, and he bought some already painted.

zouaves are egged on by a union commander,
painted by Martin


the rules used were Foundry's From bull run to Gettysburg. these were odd rules, which really trivialize morale, cover, and artillery.  it was fun rolling dice and shifting figures around with friends, but we all thought maybe next time a different rules set is in order.  unfortunately i can't really do a battle report because the confused nature of the rules keep me occupied enough that i forgot to make mental notes. not that I usually remember to do that anyway...


The church and confederate supplies


on the left, the 3rd Union brigade closes on the flank
of the farm under covering fire from the guns.

Martin and I, along with our friends Dan and Jon try to get together every 2 weeks for a game. The next game however will be in 3 weeks, as Dan and I have a rev war reenacting Drill  weekend on scheduled weekend.

My main brigade assaults the confederate
defended farm commanded by Jon.

This week appears to be the week of the polish. already painted 24, painted another 12 today plus a polish general. i hope to finished the 2nd 12 by the end of the weekend, so I'll post them then.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Haiduks galore!

Well, not really.

 however during a bout of insomnia Sunday night, I painted 16 polish haiduks.  I've had TAG renaissance polish for 3 or 4 years now. i haven't really done a whole lot with them.  however I was considering turning them into a 3rd imagination,  Rzechczypospolita na Polhynow (formerly Vojvodstwo na Polhynov).  the republic of Polhynov is obviously of polish origin. the infantry tradition comes from the eastern haiduks. the heavy cavalry will be using something like WSS french horse grenadiers, or dragoons. the light cavalry will be Polish Uhlans from Eureka. the artilelry will be haiduk artillerists and guns from Old glory.  I have 24 more haiduks with musktest ready to be painted, as well as 24 haiduks with bardische axes for the Rzechczypospolita Gwardia.
Hajducy Muszkieterzy na Brodnica. figures are TAG haiduks.
and while I was doing some terrain for my friend martin last week(pics will be forthcoming), I  painted up a Grand Manner renaissance cottage that he gave me.  this is a nice addition to my  terrain collection. It's also the first look i have ever gotten in person at a Grand manner building.   tehy are very nice.

Polhynov Hajducy marching past a local cottage.
 the other great thing about the grand manner building is the detailed interior.  the walls have wattle showing through, the floor is stone, and the fireplace is well represented.  the casting is also top notch.  I will be getting this on a base like my other buildings, i just need to get myself some suitable stone walls to go with it. i don't think wattle fencing will do it justice..


I will have some pics posted of the culmination of last week's terrain blitz. it was an ACW game at my friend martins.  we took pictures on his camera, so I am just awaiting an email with them attached(nudge nudge wink wink hint hint...).

Thursday, January 16, 2014

More terrain Blitziness

Yesterday I stated work on 4 ACW buildings, a bridge, and 4 haystacks. Now some might wonder why I'm painting ACW buildings when I do not collect ACW.  This stuff is being done for my friend martin, who does have an ACW collection. All are from Hovels.


Add caption





Some of this stuff was relatively easy,  like the wooden shacks haystacks & bridge.  the  clapboard siding was however a pain.  Even having  primed in white, it still required 2 or 3 coats of white paint before I could do anything else.  the final effect is nice though, although the pictures don't look nearly as good as the do to the naked eye.


I'll have the cottage and some tree bases(also for martin) done by tonight, so expect another update tomorrow.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Terrain Blitz

yesterday afternoon I found myself overcome with the need to do.. something.  I spent a little while trying to decide on what to do, then i decided to try something I've been looking at doing for a while: new, larger hedges/bocage.

German supply convoy driving along side bocage/hedge

Hedges and road with recently repainted foundry
Russian officer and Jagers

I cut up some MDF into 12", 6" and 4" lengths.  i then tested the concept out on the 2 12 inch bases. I used Spanish moss, found at most craft or floral stores.  i bunched it together in long thin-ish strips, and hot glued it to bases. i then watered down some carpenters glue and sprayed down the moss and flocked it with Woodland Scenics green blend flocking.  finally, once dry  I take some very watered down carpenters glue and i soak the Spanish moss , which after drying, hardens flocking, making it less likely to come off.

hedges and road with AGNM WW2 German transports

Once this was drying I was looking for some other stuff, to do, so I went into my gaming cupboard and fished out 6 12" lengths of roofing shingles that i had cut several months ago, to make roads using an Architects of war article. I was initially skeptical because it is difficult to see a grain worthy of drybushing on the backside of the shingle but it got getter looking as I  drybrushed progressively lighter, and looked pretty darn solid once flocked..

Field with all pieces in place.
still needs the basing painted and flocked
 
finally I  then decided to pull out one of the bristle door mats from the back room and make a field with removable sections. i cut out a 12" piece of MDF and beveled the edges.  I then cut out an 11" piece of mat, and then cut a 1/2" around the inside of that, and glued it down.  i based around the outside and in the centre.  finally i cut the 10"x10" section that fits in the middle down to 9.75" x 9.75". this has to be done because the mat flares out at the edges. if you want to be able to fit it inside the boarder, you need to cut it down a bit.  I then cut it into 8 pieces of various sizes.
 

Russian jagers hiding out in a field.
Removed pieces shown behind
 this week's objective is to complete some more terrain, renedra fences, as well as paint a tank for a friend's Russians.

Friday, January 10, 2014

A Day of Maurice

I picked up a copy of Maurice and accompanying cards last week from J & M Miniatures.  I made plans with my friend Dan and Mike G.(I know many mikes, so I always specify) to get together this week and try them out.


We got together around noon yesterday, and began setting up the table using terrain generation rules. I pulled out my Electorate and Asaryan force, and my FIW provincials and some Napleonic cavalry to support Dan's Poblacht forces.

We used 80 point armies(as that was the extent to which Dan could field forces). we also stuck with 2-base units for now as we don't have any larger figure trays, and Dan would have barely made 3 infantry units.   Dan's army played both the Asaryan and Electorate forces. his national advantages were  Skirmishers, Lethal Volley, and a la Baionnette! he kept these throughout the battles.  the Asaryan national advantages were Cadence, Steady Lads, and rally to the colours. the electorate took Professional Train, Oblique order, and Cavaliers.

the battlefield after setup
the first game saw mike take the helm of the Asaryan army  against Dan's Poblacht na hIbornea army in plains terrain. I GMed. Dan was the attacker, and took a unit of  Electorate cavalry as his mercenary unit.


 The  Poblacht  infantry advanced across the field, and the asaryans took up a defensive line on the road behind a stone wall. following that the cavalry advanced.  the cavalry traded blows but the sipahis eventually came out on top.

Asaryan Sipahis prepare to charge Poblacht Carbiniers,
who apparently get all the big horses
 Dan  Charged his infantry into the Asaryan line after softening up some of the janissaries. we then, as a group, discovered how good defending a wall is.  the hIborneans managed to beat one unit, the DISR from which destroyed the unit.  the one hIbornean elite unit lost and succumbed to disruption, one was outright destroyed, and a 3rd one combat.

at the point the game was almost over, but another cavalry pushed killed a 3rd group of Poblacht Horsemen and the game was decided.


At this point, Mike had to leave. Dan and I went and grabbed an early dinner,  and returned a few hours later for another game, this time  Dan was the attacker against my electorate.



now, as per my usual habit, I completely forgot to take pictures once we were embroiled in the game. basically, Dan concentrated all his activations on pushing my left flank.  I made the mistake of trying to think defensive. I did however place my pandours on the left masterfully, as they were just close enough to cause Dan some consternation, and could not charge en masse until they were dealt with. the left side became a struggle of wills.  Ultimately, Dan lost all but one fresh regular infantry unit, and i lost all my infantry. but it bought me enough time to make one last concerted push against Dans cavalry who finally moved form their starting position. this sudden cavalry charge  managed to save my flank just in time.  I caught one of dan's cavalry on the flank, and it was outnumbered. it was doubled and destroyed, and dan's army morale failed.

If Dan had managed to charge my first, or survive combat and attack back, the game could have very easily ended in disaster for the electorate.  So once again the Electorate is saved by it's cavalry(specifically the Metzger Curiassier!). this seems to be the norm for this army.

Dans drawing of cards was devilish in the least. he always seemed to have a counter to a card I played, and he constantly had tons of modifier cards. also, whenever he needed to hit with volleys on 6s, he always rolled at least one.  this was rather frustrating!

Generally speaking, Maurice is an excellent system. it's fairly fast, has plenty of turning point in the game, and the end result is not easily predictable.   the rules are easy to pick up, yet surprisingly complex. it gives an excellent impression of a struggle of wills.

 the only thing  all 3 of us noticed was that artillery is effectively useless. Dan and I discussed it after the 2nd game, and it definitely feels strange. I know artillery was not as useful during the seven Years War as it was during the later periods like the Napoleonic wars.  but if artillery was as useless as this game portrays it,  I doubt anyone would be using it by the napoleonic period!  to top it off, as the defender, your cannons are even more useless, since  the attacker can simply avoid putting things in front of them. so they never get the use canister unless you move them. generally speaking, it's better to move infantry or cavalry rather then artillery, since they can take melee and not be at a disadvantage.  Mike and I were also less then enthused that my gigantic Turkish cannon did the same amount of damage  as my electorate 3pdrs. again, this  could be historically accurate, but it jut feels wrong.



Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Last HG walls building painted, plus first line jagers.

Hi all.

I finally got to painting and basing the last H.G. Walls building I picked up at Hotlead a few years ago.  as per usual, I separated a roof with a  hobby knife so that is suitable for skirmishes, and based it with a fenced yard suitable for how we run buildings in massed combat games.


side on shot of the barn

The base is my standard 8x12" MDF board with some wood filler to make it a bit uneven. inside the wattle fencing, which is renedra.  I was originally going to do it my self with wire, but it was knocked off my base while i was wiring the fence, and all the posts broke off, so i gave in and picked up some fencing when i bought Maurice and Chain of Command recently. 

 Next I have a battalion of Russian Jaegers in line.  these are perry plastics with a spare foundry mounted officer from the Pavlov command pack. I am including mounted officers in lieu of standards in my line jaegers since they did not have standards.

Perry Napoleonic plastic Russians
with Foundry mounted officer.

 I really do like the quality of the perry figures.  so much that in fact that I'm planning on selling off my 2 warlord  Russian army boxes, minus 2 units of 16 Pavlov grenadiers. these 2 units are already painted, so i might as well not waste them.  these perry boxes also get exactly 3 units of 16 figures each if you add 2 command sprues(something I have in abundance).  

The warlord figures in the smaller boxes are more expensive for lower quality. In the army boxes they are a little cheaper, but come with only 1 set of  command(which are atrociously sculpted) and the average sculpting quality is noticeably lower then perry.  

if anyone is interested in the warlord Russian Napoleonic started sets, let me know via facebook(click the badge on the side bar). I'm in Canada(only mentioned because that has begun to matter these days)

Should have a  few pics of our napoleonic game at Martin's from the weekend up soon, and tomorrow we are trying out Maurice, so I'll be sure to take pictures of that as well.