Victrix Voltiguer Skirmishers

These voltiguers are the first off the painting table from the new Victrix French Napoleonic Infantry. As previously observed, I found these quite difficult to assemble. Generally, I do not like crouching figures as they are hard to set up in battalion order. Since I had no skirmishing stands for my French battalions, I thought that these 8 figures from the box could be used in skirmish order on 40 x 20 mm bases. Only 4 of the figures are voltiguers (the ones on your right on each base), but the differences are obvious only on the left side of each figure. I think it would be unlikely that I shall ever notice. All those little extra heads are very useful.

I was hoping that they would be easy to paint, but I found them a little challenging. I suppose, that I have never painted such an elaborate uniform and the fact that they were in a crouching position made some of the details of the uniform difficult to tease out.

Generally, GW washes were used over a white prime coat, with the details picked out using acrylic GW paints. Overall, I am not completely satisfied with the result, I feel I have done better. I shall have to see how the standing infantry figures go.

Huzzah, Huzzah.....New Napoleonic Forum

Go to Clash of Empires for the new Napoleonic forum.

What a mess...what a mess...

In a recent post's comments, I said I was going to start to post photos, a division at a time, of my figures completed to date. The above photo show all the Anglo-Portuguese units I have now painted. I started painting on a regular basis 3-4 years ago. At the time, I decided to attempt to paint the forces, at around a 1:50 figure ratio, that were present at the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro in May 1811. This was a pretty ambitious project and I am surprised that I am about maybe a third of the way there.

Above are the Third, Light, First and Cotton's Cavalry divisions, aside from the Scots Guards and 2 regiments of cavalry, which are still left to do. All the command figures (Wellington, the divisional and brigade stands) and artillery are also done.

Looking back now, though I realise there are many problems. It is amazing how little I knew at the time about uniforms. The most glaring error is that the is that they are all in Belgic shakos!!!! Also I bought figures with a firing pose which are a nightmare to pose on the small bases I like. They look good on the base, but are difficult to align into march column. Certainly too late to change out the figures.

It is also interesting to look at my painting style. At the time I use a black undercoat and was a very poor block painter with some elementary shading. I did not appreciate the subtleties of the detail on the figures and never painted in the muskets etc. properly. Well I do not think that I am going to repaint them and they do document the evolution of my painting ability (my wife says I have improved greatly; I do not show her the photos of some of your work!).

Another problem is that I switched from basically Foundry figures to Front Rank figures somewhere along the way. If I remember correctly, I think it was because of the way that Foundry command figures were packaged. When I started to paint the Front Rank's, I liked them and started to buy their basic infantrymen. Somehow or another, I ended up mixing the figures together within the battalion unit. I think I will fix this as much as I can by moving around the figures and repainting the appropriate facing as needed. This I hope will not be too big a job.

I am also going to slightly change my basing scheme. My original thoughts on basing has changed. I am ok with the everything I originally planned, except the the British Infantry battalions. I think now that I will increase the unit size to 14-15 figures (5 bases) from 11-12 (4 bases) figures. You may notice that all my British infantry battalions have an integrated mounted officer while my French units have the mounted officer at the regimental level (3 battalions). The British units look lopsided with one 40x40mm base and three 20x40mm bases. I realise the 3 figure 20x40mm base is not the norm and that most of you use 4 figure square (40,45 or 50mm) bases. I am not really in to creating mini-dioramas so I feel my scheme is more historically accurate, ie. it gives a thinner looking line. I can also suck this up historically as the British arrayed themselves in lines of 2 deep, while the French were 3 deep. Therefore I think it reasonable that my British Battalions when in line are 200 mm wide, while the French are 160mm wide for units with generally the same number of men (500-600).

So how shall I start? Well, I am going to have to raid some of the infantrymen of the 4 battalions of KGL line to build up the other British units to 5 bases and to make the battalions uniformly either Front Rank or Foundry. I hope this is not too much work. In the end I can order some new figures for these units with stovepipe shakos and they should stand out nicely.

I also still want to adhere to some historical orders of battle for my units, so I am still not sure how many figures I will use in the large Guard (Coldstream and Scots)and Light (52nd) infantry units. I would appreciate any suggestions.

War of the Sixth Coalition: Allied Army of the North: Wallmoden's Korps, Division Tettenborn, September 1813

I have finally completed one of the four divisions in my Wallmoden's Korps project. I actually think it is wrong to use the term division in respect to a Prussian Korps, but most will understand what I mean. The unit contained a brigade of infantry with an attached artillery battery and a brigade of cavalry. Most of the figures are Calpe, with the exception of the Tyrolean jaegers and Hanoverian Foot Artillery (Perry Brunswick and Hanoverian ranges) and the Cossacks (Front Rank).

Baron Friedrich Karl of Tettenborn

The standing figure represents a general staff figure rather then an ADC.

Ratt: Infantry Brigade Commander

Lutzow's Freikorps

Von Reiche's Feldjaegers

Hanoverian Kielsmansegge's Feldjaegers

Hanseatic Artillery

(if someone can find me a picture of what an artillery unit from the Hanseatic states looked like in 1813, I will change out the unit; otherwise we will keep this Hanoverian battery as is)

Tyrolean Jaegers

Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow

I decided to paint Lutzow as a hussar officer and make him the cavalry brigade commander.

Lutzow's Hussars

Don Cossacks

I am not sure if I would do that again!!

I am sure that I have spent at least 15 hours assembling and prepping this box of Victrix French Infantry. I used every figure in the box, plus 6 extra figures from the Perry French. I got five 12 figure battalions and 8 skirmishing voltiguers. There is still prep work to do on 2 of the sticks and I notice I am missing a left arm on one of the voltiguers. They still need their knapsacks attached (I will do that after the figures are painted) and the swords for the elites are still not glued. And although they are nice figures and relatively easy to paint, I am not sure if they are worth the work. I could have had 2 battalions of Calpe or Front Rank painted in the time it will taken me to just prep these figures. Maybe I am just slow.

Latest Units off the Painting Table

Russian Cossacks from Front Rank for my Wallmoden's Korps. Aside from the piping and the horse leather, the figures were done with GW washes over a white primer. The headgear were done with just a black wash, but the distinct difference in the chords and the colpack was done varying both the number of coats and the dilution of the wash.

My Highland battalions

The new Hanoverian range from Perry.

AR for FoB: Engagement at the Ventosa

For my second go at solo wargaming using the Field of Battle Rules, I thought I would do the Engagement at Ventosa, the action on the left flank of the British forces in the Battle of Vimeiro fought in August 1808. For a brief synopsis of the battle see Wikipedia. The order of battle is here.

Junot, the commander of the French forces was badly outnumbered, and hoped that a flanking maneuver would give him an advantage. He sent two infantry brigades north and then to the east in an hope to surprise Wellesley on his left flank, northeast of Vimeiro. On reaching the farm at Ventosa the lead French brigade commander Solignac could see some British skirmishers west of him on top of a small hill. He ordered his brigade to attack. What he did not know was that on the other side of the hill were the 3 British brigades of Nightingale, Ferguson and Bowes. Solignac's only support was Brennier's infantry brigade with an attached dragoon regiment, which was almost a mile east of Ventosa.

I took the idea of the scenario from the General de Brigade rulebook, thus there are some alterations in the order of battle. It will be a 3 turn game.

Order of Battle

Terrain (scale 1"=25yds)

Vimeiro is in the extreme west. There is a class III forest north of the farm at Ventosa. The hill has 2 access points (both Class I terrain), the one to the east is 250 yds wide, the other on the northwest face is 150 yds wide, the hill is otherwise class III. The rest of the terrain is class I. The Maceira river, the town of Vimeiro, and the features in the corners of the terrain should not come into play.

The position of the 5 brigades is described below, all units start the game in a column of march, except the 1/95th which are attached to Nightingale's brigade who are in skirmish order. The other 2&3/95th are in line at the beginning of the game. The 3rd Dragoons attached to Brennier's brigade are just off the table and come on with Brennier's first move card. Nightingale's and Solignac's ADCs assume the Group Commander role for their respective brigades.

Looking from west to east with the town of Vimeiro in the foreground. There is Wellesley west of the river!!!

Victory Conditions

I am still thinking about this, maybe I will poll TMP. ...................Well, that was useful!! So let us decide on some victory conditions. Well if the British or French drive their opponent off the hill at the end of 3 turns they win. If at the end of 3 turns both sides have men on the ridge the calculation will depend on the total AMP lost. Well on to the game.

First Turn

Here is Brennier's brigade at the far east of the terrain.

So the cards were shuffled and the die were thrown, both D12 leadership dice: French throw a 12 and the British a 4; 8 Initiative ponts, French take first go and have 8+ cards to turn. Not much happens, poor cards turned, some movement, the dragoons get on the table, both French brigades creep forward, Solignac's brigade maneuvers into attack column.

The British move forward, Nightingale's brigade maneuvers into line. History repeats itself!! Bowe's brigade moves forward.

Desultory die throws occur, cards are slow, but then suddenly the French throw again for 8 IP and the game moves quickly. The 3e Dragoons move into line and advance, Solignac's brigade moves forward. The 1/95th skirmishers spot the 3 French infantry battalions advancing rapidly in attack column.

Solignac's brigade crests the hill, the 95th opportunity fire; no effect. The 29th Foot opportunity fire and the 58e ligne fall back out of command. The 12e léger and 15e ligne advance to engage, they hold their fire.
More move cards are drawn (the French have a superior deck), Solignac's brigade is relentless. The 12e légere and 15e ligne fire and the 1/95th are routed back, the French smell blood. The 12e engage the 82nd in melee and the 15e and the 58e engage the 29th in melee.
The 15e rout the 29th, but not before the 29th rout the 58e, but the unit integrity of 29th drops below zero and they are destroyed. The 12e rout the 82nd and fire into the retreating 82nd, their unit integrity drops to zero.

End of Turn 1. So history may not repeat itself, the French are in good position as they have only 1 unit in rout, have lost zero Army Morale Points, have a lot of leadership cards in their deck and hopefully Brennier is close. The British have lost the 29th, and both the 1/95th and the 82nd are at zero Unit Integrity. They have lost all their AMP. Not a good situation!!

Second Turn

An 11 vs 7 for 4 IP in favour of the French is thrown. Brennier's brigade moves forward, they are at the base of the hill. Solignac is able to bring his units back in command. The british get their Foot Artillery up the slope and the rest of Ferguson's brigade advances. The 3e Dragoons maneuver into attack column and advance and engage the 6th Foot in melee, they are repulsed. On the third IP throw, evens are thrown and turn 2 comes to an end.

Third Turn

The French again capture the initiative, the 3e Dragoons again attack the 6th but they stand firm. The remaining units of Bowe's brigade; 2/95th and 32nd Foot form square.

Almost all of Brennier's brigade is on the summit, the French advance is relentless.

Brennier's and Solignac's brigades can now smell blood, they advance rapidly firing as they go, the 6th Foot and the 2/95th are routed.

The French maneuver into position, the British initiative is lost, poor cards are drawn and the leadership fail to rally the troops.

The French move forward in attack column firing as they go, the 2/95th and the 6th are destroyed. The Foot Artillery battery is enveloped by multiple French infantry units. The situation is hopeless. The French are victorious.

Game Over
Well the French certainly trounced the English in this scenario. The British had lost all their AMP by the first turn and by the end of turn 3 the French had 5 extra AMP. What happened, well maybe I favoured the French a little in this scenario; I have a tendency to favour the underdog. At the same time the random generator had given the French a average card deck and the British a poor card deck. The die also seemed to favour the French. The turn ended before the British were completely turned off the hill, but it was very close to happening.

I still do not really have the rules down. I missed that on the lull card, the opposite side get a chance to turn a card. I am also still struggling a bit with close in movement, but a re-read of the rule book (thankfully very short) cleared a lot of things up.

AR for FoB: Engagement at the River Coa

After 4 years of painting toy soldiers, making terrains and dithering over rule sets, 5 days ago I told myself to take a rule set and play a game. I made one previous attempt with Le Feu Sacre, but got bogged down in the details and did not finish the game. An informal poll conducted by myself on TMP appeared to suggest that Field of Battle and Le Feu Sacre are the most popular mainstream rulesets played by solo wargamers, like myself.

I like historical scenarios so I picked the Engagement at the River Coa, with which I was already familiar. I used the following order of battle. I used the random die generator on the Piquet Yahoo Site.

Order of Battle

British (9 units, 7AMP,excellent sequence deck)

Crauford(D10): (C-in-C) Light Division
Beckwith(D10): 1/43rd Light(D10,D8), 2/95th Rifles(D10,D10),3rd Portuguese Cacadores(D10,D8)
Barclay(D8): 1/52nd Light(D12+1,D8), 1/95th Rifles(D10,D10),1st Portuguese Cacadores(D12+1,D8)
Anson(D12+1): 16th Light Dragoons(D12,D6),1st KGL Hussars(D8,D8), 1 Bat RHA(D10,D10)
French (18units, 20AMP,average sequence deck)
Loison (D12+1): (C-in-C) Ney's VI Corps French Army of Portugal
Simon (D12): 4e(D10,D6),5e(D10,D6),6e(D8,D6) Btns/26e Ligne; Legion du Midi(D12,D4); Legion Hanovriene(D10,D4); 1 Bat FA(D10,D6)

Ferey (D12): 1e(D12+1,D8)2e(D10,D8) Btn/32nd Leger; 4e(D10,D6),5e(D10,D6),6e(D12,D6) Btns/66th Ligne; 1 Bat FA(D8,D6)
Lamotte(D12): 3rd Hussars(D12,D6), 15th Chasseurs(D12,D6), 1 Bat HA(D10,D8)
Gardanne(D10): 15th(D10,D6) and 25th Dragoons(D12,D6), 1 Batt HA(D10,D8)

I have no line hussars or chasseurs painted, so I had to use some guard and line lancers and some guard chasseurs.

Terrain (roughly 2x1 miles)

I have a 9x5' modular terrain table(no roads yet), so I set up something similar to the historical setting. The River Coa is in the extreme west, the class III town of Almeida is in the north central and the Vale of Maida is 2/3 of the terrain east. There is a class III forest blocking direct access to the bridge of the River Coa, with class I terrain, north of the forest. A small forest represents the vale. The River Coa is not fordable. The rest of the terrain is class I.

Action Plan

The French units all start east of the Vale of Maida, with the orders to advance to the bridge over the River Coa. French victory point locations were placed just west of the Class III forest north of the River Coa and at the north edge of the bridge.

The view looking from east to west with the French forces in the foreground.

The British situation was a little different as I tried to mirror the historical situation. Crauford starts the game with Barclay on the south side of the River Coa, he has deployed Beckwith far forward in around Almeida. Anson is deployed north of the River Coa, but west of the class III forest. Even though all the British infantry units are light infantry only the Cacadores are deployed in skirmish order. Crauford has ordered Beckwith to reconnoitre forward, Anson is deployed in order to protect Beckwith, in case he engages the French. Barclay has been ordered to hold the bridgehead to cover any retreat of Beckwith and Anson. British victory points are placed north and south of the bridge.

Fitting the Rules to the Scenario

I do this with trepidation as this is my first go at the FoB rules and I know little about wargaming. To make the scenario work, I need a few extra rules though. Since this is a reconnoitre/retreat scenario for the British. I need a visibility rule. Using standard FoB measures, I make visibility at 1/2 mile (36"). That seems simple, but I also need some way to spot the French for the forward British units, plus a method for Command Groups to communicate with each other. So if the French are spotted (come within 36" of any British unit), then the British unit or the CG Commander needs to move in order to contact either the CinC or another CG Commander in order to activate the specific CG's orders. Contact is defines as being 1/8 mile (9 inches). This does have the commanders running about, going out of command with their units. We will have to see how it goes. Maybe in the future, I can work out some ADC rule to serve this purpose. So here we go!!!

Looking north at the town of Almeida, the 3rd Cacadores are deployed forward.
Looking from west to east.
The Game

Turn 1:

The French advance with Simon's brigade leading the way.
Barclay deploys the 1st Cacadores east.
The 3rd Cacadores are enveloped by the leading French brigade. The 26e ligne fire, the legion du midu fire, Cacadores fire and fall back. The legion du midi engage in Melee with the Cacadores (down 3UI), they rout back. The 43rd retreat back out of command. The 2/95th have to extricate them selves from Almeida (lucky Sharpe is there!!!). Beckwith's rally attempts fail.
Routing cacadores.
Barclay informs Crauford that the 1st Cacadores have seen the French advance. Crauford contacts Anson, he then advances through the forest to support Beckwith's withdrawal. The RHA are left with Crauford to protect the withdrawal. Barclay sends the 52nd forward and deploys the 1/95th in line to protect the bridgehead.
Back at the front, there is lots of action. Anson has broken through and is causing havoc among the French (lucky die throws help). Legion du midi are destroyed in Melee. Great cards for the British, the Light Dragoons destroy 6/26e and the KGL Hussars destroy the legion hanoveriene. The 2/95th somehow or other escape intact from Almeida and withdraw.

Turn 2:

The British cavalry take Gardanne's cavalry units in the flank. Multiple fires from the French FA and HA, as well as elements of Ferry's infantry brigade soften up Anson's cavalry. Eventually both the 16th Light Dragoons, the KGL Hussars and French 15e Dragoons are destroyed and the 25e Dragoons rout off the table.

Aside from the cavalry the British withdrawal is going well. But then tragedy strikes Crauford roll a D12 survival test and gets a 1 and dies. Beckwith of the 95th is promoted to CinC and MG Picton gets teleported in as GC for the Beckwith's brigade. The French cavalry under Lamotte advance west of the forest with Ferry's Infantry brigade following. Picton successfully rallies (it must be the tophat) his new brigade and they start their withdrawal to the bridge.

Turn 3:

The advance of both the British and French forces is quite rapid, but on the second IP generation the die is equal, the cards are reshuffled.

Turn 4:

All elements of Barclay's brigade are south of or on the bridge. The 1/95th and 1st Cacadores are in position to give flanking fire to the French advance. The 2/95th are attempting to deploy in line to also provide flanking fire. The RHA under Anson is in position. The 43rd are almost there.
The RHA, 1/95th and the 1st Cacadores fire with devastating effect (and good die). The 4/26e ligne and the 3e Hussars (masquerading as lanciers polonaise) rout and the 5/26e fallback.
But alas, the 43rd taking a flanking fire from the French FA and are destroyed.

GAME OVER as all the British units are now south of the bridge.

The Reckoning

I think I have probably made some errors in the counting, but I got as follows.

British: 3 units lost, 2 victory points achieved and at least 17 AMP's lost.

French: 5 units lost, 1 victory point achieved and at least 14 AMP's lost.

Who won, I am unsure, I will let you judge. I did have a fun and I will definitely continue to use the FoB rule set.