Literary Victory !.

Well I've finished reading 'Tristram Shandy' - phew !! - not easy but I've completed it , something I've been trying to do for years . I found there was enough interesting stuff amongst his wilder flights of fancy to keep me engaged , I formed a strong liking to his Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim and their excavation of the bowling green to play out the various continental sieges - the first effort at wargaming ? . The humour is of the age it was written and some of it is maybe lost on a modern audience , the accidental circumcision of Tristram as a child as he pees out the bedroom window by the falling sash window - The lead counter weights and pulley wheels had been removed by Corporal Trim to cast up miniature cannon for their reconstruction of the siege of Namur - I found hilarious and as a home caster I applaud his ingenuity !. Now is there room in our back garden for a siege ?!.

French Regiment Orleans - First Battle .

Having caught the Allied force spread out (I diced for units arrival and point of entry) the Regiment Orleans move forward bravely (I counted them as poor troops - as it was their first battle).

Scheither's Frei Korps Jaegers took cover in the wooded hillside.

They open fire at long range and cause few casualties. The rest of the Allied force move onto the table , A squadron of Light Cavalry , a company of Grenadiers and a gun - all from Scheither's Frei Korps . I rolled three '2s' and all the reinforcements arrived at the same point on the table.

The view from the Allied ranks . The Allies were rated as Regulars , I was using 'Battles of the Ancient Regime' to play this game , units are activated using a pack of cards - Red for the Allies , Black for the French.

The Regiment Orleans opens fire ! - throughout this game they were lucky with their dice rolls , they caused heavy casualties on the Jaegers who failed their moral test and fled ! .

Luck swung the other way in the cavalry melee, the Allied Carbineers  charged and routed the Veteran French Hussars and pursued them - scattering them off the table .

The French Chasseurs De Sombreuil advance onto the table - and taking their time about it , it took 4 dice throws/ moves to get them on !.

The Allied troops try to swing around to confront the the French . The Allied Commander has been dealt a Joker card which can be played at any time to preempt the enemy move/ firing .

Both sides take casualties , but the Allied cavalry were taking their time to rally and taking casualties from the French Chasseurs in the woods , so the Allied Commander decided that disgression was the better part of valour and signalled a retreat . The Regiment Orleans had won its first victory - think it could be a 'lucky' unit.

I think our cat 'Tilly' (short for Matilda - not the 30 years war chap !) should have the last word !.

  

French Regiment Orleans .

Having finally got the regiment finished it seemed appropriate for the Comte Du Fru-Fru to review them as they march off to joint the main French army.

Suddenly the parade is interrupted by the arrival of a dispatch rider with alarming news that Allied foragers had been sighted despoiling the nearby villages . (click on photos to enlarge them)

Quickly the Comte orders the regiment to march and attack the Allied force .

With an escort of Hussars the Comte dashes to the scene of the action in his new coach .

A rather poor rendition of a sketch made by the Montgolfier brothers from their hot air balloon of the scene of the action . The Regt. Orleans can be seen marching on in the upper left corner and the Hussars moving down the road on the lower left. The Allied force is somewhat scattered and has not yet entered the board . Too be continued.......

French SYW Heavy Cavalry.

Originally posted on the 11/11/12  , I am recopying my original postings on my SYW 40mm armies from my old blog which I am unable to post on due to the changes to Blooger , so that they are not lost to posterity. This will be a longish  project as there are over 90 odd posts and will be done at intervals over the next year or so , I thank you all for your indulgences - Cheers Tony.

Decided it was time to tackle some more cavalry for the French.

The vast majority of French cavalry wore grey coats so I decided on something different, the regiment Nassau-Sarrebruck a German unit in French service.

This is the first of two Squadrons that I will be casting up.

They are rushing to join battle with their varnish still a bit tacky !

Rebased !

Originally posted on the 21/10/12

Not got much done on the modelling and painting scene of late - real life has been interfering with things , however I  have got my 40mm SYW  French Regiment Du Roi rebased .

Looks a lot better ! more compact and business like .

I have had to photograph them in the bathroom as my table is set up for a FOW  desert game and it is not the easiest place to get a lot of figures into shot.

Pleased with the results ! , now I have to tackle my British Regiment .

I have managed to cast up another gun limber and team and some Hussars for the Allies and hope to start getting them painted this week .

Rebasing

Originally posted on the 14/10/12

When I  sat down to look at the photo I took a couple of weeks ago I thought something did not look right.

After some thought it struck me that the figures were to spaced out !, they are mounted on 30mm X 30mm bases which I happened to have lying about (think I use them for my 54mm FLW  figures) and when they are fielded in individual companies of 12 rank and file it is not as noticeable , however on mass they seem a bit spread out (incidentally when I  mentioned this to 'A' he had seen the photo and come to the same conclusion) . Having played a couple of games this problem became more evident as well , so I  have decided to rebase them . I have decided on 20mm X 30mm, these have been ordered from Warbases and being delivered very quickly I have started the task of rebasing . The figures are easily removed from the existing bases with a sharp knife and have been glued onto new ones and await painting and a coat of varnish , I will publish photos when this is done .

Literary Battles.

I've been battling for about 30 odd years to read this book , I first came across it being mentioned in Chandler's 'Warfare in the Age of Marlborough' and got a copy - but failed miserably . Over the next decade or so I tried several times but failed , It's a hard book to read being written in the mid 18th century so the language is archaic and he does ramble so ! (which is part of the charm of the book but b****y annoying !) . I resorted to taking it as my only book on a camping holiday ( I managed to read Tolkien's 'Silmarrillion' this way )  , but could not manage it and resorted to borrowing another book from a friend . The draw of the book is of course Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim's recreation of a siege in the back garden - the first wargame ? (of a sort) . I have now got a free copy of the book for my Kindle and am proud to say I'm 30% of the way through it (so my device tells me) which is the farthest I've every managed and I do believe I'm going to finish it ! - hopefully I will report my triumph in the near future (fingers crossed)

French 'Flying Artillery'.

First posted on 07/10/12

Tired of having to manhandle their artillery piece about, the French have just received a method of propulsion - I've cast up a limber and horse team for them .

Swiftly the gun is brought into position and deployed !.

Ready to fire !. I am going to try playing a game using the 'Charge' rules by Brig. Peter Young so I have been reading them and have tracked down a rules summary/playsheet on the internet . Though similar to Grant's 'The Wargame' rules I think they will play quicker as they use larger movement distances and are generaly simpler.

A Potential Grenadier.

First posted on 23/09/12

Been thinking about a suitable figure for the Grenadier company for Scheithers Frei Korps

Amongst my collection of molds I have the above figure , purchased as a job lot, it was not one I would necessarily have bought myself as it depicts a Swedish grenadier (I think). As I wanted to do something different for the Frei Korps I wondered if I could convert him , my info on Scheither's comes from Osprey's Frederick the Greats Allies and this has a illustration of the grenadier but not a very good view of his cap (a sure sign the artist is not confident in depicting it) , the text mentions that they may be captured French grenadier caps - so I'm going with this . I have filed the cap down a bit scored the front to look like fur and added a bag from 'green stuff' , I know the grenade throwing stance is anachronistic for this later period but now I've got him cast up I find it cute and different and its my SYWish army so I'm going with him !

Colonel Scheither.

First posted 19/09/12

Having been busy casting and painting up elements of Scheither's Frei Korp I thought it time to provide them with a commander.

So here we have Col. Scheither seen here urging his Carbineers on, I'm not sure who the manufacturer is as it is a casting from a metal mold I got cheap off EBay ( German I think ?). But he looks suitably dashing . The Frei Korps also had a Grenadier company, these had a sort of fur mitre cap which I am at the moment trying to reproduce . I am also bringing my line infantry regiments up to strength by adding a extra company to them .

Comte Du Fru-Fru's Coach the final touches

Voltaire bids farewell to the Comte as he sets of to rejoin his command in his new coach . ( Voltaire is secretly miffed because he has not been invited to have a ride in it ) . The model coach comes with a seated passenger figure which I have converted into a Comte lookalike .

As a further embellishment I have added a couple of Footmen to the rear of the coach , these are a couple of gunner figures that seemed suitable .

Another view of the Footmen which are from a Prince August mold , they are wearing the Comte's livery colours .

And so the Comte Du Fru-Fru sets off for further adventures resplendent in his fine new coach .