Bataille Du Village De La Scierie * (Part 1)

One of my favourite classic wargaming battles must be 'The Battle of Sawmill Village' made famous by Charles Grant in his book 'The Wargame' and I  have re-fought it many times using different armies and periods . So today when I was at a bit of a lose on what to game I thought I would set it up and use my O.S. Franco- Prussian War figures to fight it . The French force is coming onto the table in the bottom right hand corner and the Prussians in the top left . Guess who has been busy with Google Translate !.

The French force comprises of  Chasseurs De Pied  ,  Zouaves  a unit of Line and a gun and crew .

The Prussians have two units of Line , Jaegers and a gun and crew .

The object of the battle is to capture Sawmill Village (Scierie Village) , here we see the Jaegers being sent on a flanking manoeuvre over Sandy Hill (Colline Sablonneuse).

The rest of the Prussian force heads directly for the village .

The French force also divides with the Line battalion being sent down the flank under cover of the ridge , the gun and crew move to the high ground and the rest of the force moves towards the Old Dover Road  (Vieux Dover Route)  . That is the end of the first move , the battle will be continued in part two which will follow shortly ..........

P.S. The Battle of Sawmill Village - it's a pet peeve of mine which annoys me greatly when people use French words and sentences without a translation - my French being of the level that if I stare at a French menu long enough I can sort of work out the food on offer.

Seeing The Wood For The Trees.

I was needing some more trees for my 10mm AWI  project and had a look on EBay , you could get a bag of 50 (!) for only £4.20 from China - post free !

I thought how do they do that price wise and make a profit !? , not knowing anything about the economics of The Peoples Republic of China I thought I'd order some thinking that I couldn't be bitten at that price . They duly arrive after about a weeks wait , they of course don't come with bases but I had some small MDF circles for this . The only problem was that the foliage which has been glued to the plastic trunks/ branches seemed to want to fall off very easily (note the loose flock in the bottom of the bag )

I had to have a sit and think how to stop this deciduous behaviour - with a cup of tea and biscuits of course ! , I drilled holes in the bases and glued the trees in place , then I sprayed them all over with some green spray paint and set them aside to dry .

This seems to have stuck the flock to the branches so I tarted the bases up  and here are the first six completed with some British Light Infantry bases . Not bad for less than 10p a tree.

Success And Failure .

A few weeks ago I started using a wet palette and am pleased to say I have found it a great success ! . It works and keeps the paint usable for each painting session and of course you don't waste as much paint . Some of the colour pigments separate and need stirring with a cocktail stick from time to time but its no big deal .

However - I've had problems with the magnifying lamp , the daylight lamp is very good - just the thing for these dismal winter days but I've had problems using the magnifying lens - the problem is it magnifies things ! - those mould lines that you thought you had got rid of - but haven't ! , that tiny tremor of your hand (which you have never noticed before) magnified is spectacular ! , I found it started to give me motion sickness as the figure leaps about under the glass and you loose the whereabouts of your painting palette - and the brush handle keeps catching the lamp , also it shows up all of the detail on the model (which it is meant to do of course) - which you now have to paint because you can see them now . I think I don't paint to the same standard that I used to especially with the soft plastic figure I use now for several projects - wanting to get the figures onto the table and a high gloss varnish covers a multitude of sins . I'm still going to use the lamp but for the present will be doing without the magnification .

Preparing TYW Light Cavalry.

Spurred on by my successful painting of an infantry regiment for my Thirty Years War project I have turned my attention to the cavalry . I'm lacking any light cavalry and as both sides seem to have used Cossacks/ Hussars I opened a box of Orion Cossacks .

The figures are a very pleasant surprise - NO flash ! and are very nice figures indeed , twelve different poses and four different horses . The cavalry fit the horses well but I pinned them with a dress pins and super glue anyway .

Got them finished this evening and tacked onto their bases temporarily ready for spraying . They are much nicer sculptors than Mars and Stretlets and MUCH easier to put together !

Back To Painting !.

I've got back into the swing of things and have completed another unit for my Thirty Years War project . The figures are by Mars and of course in a softish plastic .

It is the Protestant Bohemian 'White' Regiment , there doesn't seem to have been any real uniforms early in the TYW - only the Swedes seemed to have made an attempt . There is also very little information on standards and none that can be linked to individual units . So this Regiment is VERY conjectural .

The figure are rather crude but have a charm all of their of their own I think . I didn't spend a lot of time painting individual figures only blocking in the colours and then giving them two coats of yacht  varnish - which I think is crucial to protect the paint from peeling off . Having got into the mood I'm going to paint some more TYW cavalry next .

Clash In The 'Valley of the Kings'. (Part 2)

The Treborian 'Hussars of Excellence drive the Haraboan Lancers back once more .

But as the Lancers retire the Hussars come under fire from the Ferraro Rochain artillery - here we see the blast circle devise deployed to see who might be a casualty.

The Treborian artillery struggle with the boggy ground and are slow getting into position .

But when they do !

The effects are alarming ! . The new improved matchstick shells are a great improvement ! .

On the other flank the Ferraro Rochain reserve infantry face off the Alicia Dragoons who have dismounted and deployed in skirmish order .

The Ferraro Rochain artillery retire down the road covered by the Lancers .

The final positions of the troops . I had decided to play eight moves and it was a marginal victory to the Treborian forces . However reinforcements for both sides are moving up so hostilities may continue in the morning .

The Treborian Commander Gen. D' Laye  meets the English tourist party and promises his protection and to arrange transport for them , their 'steam coach' having been damaged in the action . We will follow the next phase of this action in the near future .

Clash In The 'Valley of the Kings'. (Part 1)

The Treborian scouting force comprising of the Hussars of Excellence and a gun move towards the road leading to the disputed territory .

The force of Hariboan Lancers and artillery move down the road from Ferraro Rochai .

And in the middle is an English tourist party comprising of H.G. Wells his 'travelling companion' Polly Perkins , famed writer Oscar Wild and the eminent archaeologist Sir Mortimer Weeler , who are inspecting the temple of Jove whilst a small crowd of locals look on at the foreigners and their steam carriage .

At this point a 'Chance card' was drawn .

- and applied to the Treborian artillery ,  who are delayed for two moves due to getting stuck in the mud .

The cavalry forces move forward and deploy , the locals scatter and the English tourists take shelter in the temple.

The Tourist party - left front H.G. Wells , left rear Miss Perkins , centre Sir Mortimer Weeler , right Mr Oscar Wild .

The next two photos were actually taken as the cavalry melees in front of the temple by the quick thinking of the aforesaid Miss Perkins who had the presence of mind to use her 'Box Browning' camera .

Although of poor quality due to the rapid movement of the combatants these are some of the earliest true combat photographs taken and congratulations must go to the member of the fairer sex for having the courage to take these photos .

The Hariboan Lancers are driven back by the elite Treborian cavalry .

As they retire their supporting Ferraro Rochain artillery opens fire , but causes no casualties .

The second shot went completely wild and landed near the Treborian artillery , but again caused no casualties.

Reinforcements move onto the table - for the Treborians its the Alicia Dragoons who dismount and open fire on the Ferraro Rochain Reservist Infantry unit as it moves over the hill .

One of the problems with using matchstick firing cannons inside on the wargaming table is that the matches/shells have a tendency to bounce all over the place so I decided to add some 'Bluetack' to the matches to aid accuracy , I wonder what the Geneva Convention will say about this devilish weapon of destruction !? . Part 2 off the battle to follow ......