From the 1970’s era I have had three cavalry types – Cuirassiers, Hussars and Lancers in my collection.
They are all minifig.
The Lancers and Hussars have done sterling service especially in more recent times appearing as mid 19th century units for my Italian Wars of Independence forces and their Fauxterre equivalents.
These French lancers have served many a country both real and imaginary across the nineteenth century These French hussars have also become generic as well – often appearing as AustriansThese minifigs cuirassiers don’t get out much as the battles in the mid nineteenth century were the twilight era for cavalry
In addition I have some Warrior Miniatures French dragoons. The first batch were in green and were sold years ago. Then I got inspired by a funcken image of French napoleonic dragoons in red……
These warrior metal french dragoons have been a more recent addition long after they were bought!
It’s not often you get a major historical movie these days and even less by a mainstream producer. So Ridley Scotts “Napoleon” is a good excuse to get some figures on the pedestal.
First up is the man himself – Napoleon – as imagined back in the early 1970’s by Miniature Figurines (the Warlord of their day).
Next up is one of a kind for me…..
*the painting of the same name by edouard detaille hangs in the New South Wales art gallery showing the charge of the 4th hussars at Friedland 1807.
The tanks in use were the usual suspects, however the C19th game included several units which were converted – head swops or using different paint jobs.
Here are some of the units that were in play.
For 1859 Piedmontese I basically used these Hat ACW Infantry Firing, a paint job adaption. Crucially the kepi gradually replaced the tapered stove pipe in Piedmont/Sardinian Armies between 1848 and 1870 so ACW sets are a good source for these forces and require little adaption. And at a squint can cover Danish troops in their German wars 1848-1864, but thats another story.Hat Napoleonic Russian Militia were simply painted as Milan Civil Guard. A couple of figures had flat hats created to replace their busby like hats. The Flag is a home made effort using artists acrylic pens on dried out glasses cleaner material. Yep some “value” glasses cleaner wipes don’t have a long shelf life – and I have packets of them! However oddly they are a bit like tough crepe paper so of course ended up in the hobby spares box.
The biggest conversion on show was my 1849 Piedmontese or Sardinians – rapidly expanded infantry were sent into battle with simple frockcoats and larger red tapered shakoes. (the regulars had double breasted frockcoats and smaller tapered stove pipe hats). I used Hat marching ACW union troops and took the Shakoes and back packs from Hat Dutch Napoleonic Infantry. These lancers are circa early 1970’s Minifigs – conversion is in my “minds eye” to some Piedmont Lancers who of course did not wear green! or had combs on the helmets, red on their pennants……oh well its amazing what you can forgive.
These figures are Strelets 1877 Russian Artillery posing as french artillery circa 1850. The “piece” is I think a Zvezda item from their Great Northern Wars rangeThese trusty Hussars date from the 1970’s and are French Napoleonic. They regularly turn up as Austrian Hussars in my games.The river is from S&A Scenics and the bridge is a laser wood cut kit from 4ground
My last unit on show is the 1860 British Legion – that sailed to Sicily with Garibaldi’s Mediterranean Invasion Army. The figures are Strelets Russian Turkish war of 1877 Russians in summer uniform.
Even in these days of a truly massive games market the more obscure historical events being modelled benefit from some conversion and adaption in order to capture the flavour of uniforms.
Neil Thomas offered this battle as an example of a small action using his mini battle setting. His rules assumed a 2’x 2′ or 600mm square. So thats board game sized.
His rules say you do not need to rebase. Always a positive these days.
I have a mixture of units – a result of my lock down era painting activity tending to paint what I fancied than worrying about actual armies!
The action is straightforward – the Danes are retreating and use a bottleneck on the key route north towards Jutland. The Danish rearguard are buying time for their main forces to retreat to their last defence line in Schlieswig – the Duppel fortifications.
suggested set up from book – copyright Neil Thomas.
Their opponent was the geographic “Empire” effectively still the Holy Roman Empire but now really the German Confederation post Waterloo with Austrian and Prussian interference/support.
In this case the Austrians were attacking the rearguard.
The Danish Rearguard
Infantry Unit A
Infantry Unit B
Infantry Unit C
Infantry Unit D
Artillery Battery E
The Artillery was Bronze Rifled while the Infantry were all Levy in loose order armed with rifled muskets.
The Danish troops are all deployed in the bottleneck.
The Austrians Attack starting at the river line comprise
9th Hussars – Average
Artillery – 2 batteries both with bronze rifled cannon
Their main forces arrive from move 1 on the main road
Jaeger Infantry unit – elite, rifled musket, loose order
Skirmishers – elite, rifled musket
On moves 2 & 3 the following units arrive via the same southern road access
Infantry Unit 6 – move 2 – average, rifled musket, loose order
Infantry Unit 7 – move 3 – average, rifled musket, loose order
Infantry Unit 8 – move 3 – average, rifled musket, loose order
Battle Narrative
With the objective to clear all danish forces from the road (at least 12cm from the road) essentially the Austrians simply went through the Front Door.
They had 10 moves to do it in with a win lose outcome and no draw.
Special Rules as suggested by Neil Thomas were used
Colonel Muller personal leadership of the Danes means any one unit at the start of any turn can be elite.
The Danish Artillery were quite ineffectual so get half the nortmal values in defence and attack
The Austrians fresh from rough handling by the French in 1859 adopt bayonet charges in preference to distance firefights. They stay in column the whole game and can charge without restriction (no unit base quantity advantage required)
Some shots of the action
Danish defence face the Austrian advance guard
The stream has no effect on movement except Artillery must use the bridge. The town can be accessed only by Infantry. The lake is impassable to all troops while infantry can move through the wood.
The Austrian battery drops into action as the 9th Hussars begin their fateful attack
The Danish front line are in line and not moving, supported by more mobile Column units behind. If infantry want to move in Neil Thomas’ rules they must be in column.
The 9th Hussars much reduced by musket fire charge home. The Austrian Skirmishers have made little impact but the Artillery have seriously depleted the Danish infantry to their front.The Danish front line has been blown away by the Austrian Artillery and the Elite Jaeger unit
Note in this game I chose not to field the woeful Danish Artillery ( i.e. I forgot to place them on the board!)
The second line of Danish infantry eventually destroy the Elite JaegerBut at the cost of another Danish unit when more Austrians charge homeIts the end of move 10 and the final Danish defence was about to be overrun by the Austrians
An Austrian victory seemed to confirm Neil Thomas’ view that history repeats itself with his suggested set up. In his notes he offers several options to up the defence capability of the Danes.
In this case a very narrow Danish Victory suggests a well thought out scenario by Neil Thomas. Generally I have found Neil Thomas scenarios are fun to play because they tend to lead to a lot of action and no quick outcomes. So although asymmetrical in set up they seem to be well balanced games.
Footnote:
The Figures are Irregular Miniatures and Hat for the Danish
In this picture top right clockwise – 1848 Danish Infantry, 1849 Danish Infantry then 1864 Danish and finally some rogue 1860 Piedmontese.The Austrians are top left clockwise Hat Grenzers – being Skirmishers then Minifigs (1970’s) French Hussars posing as the 9th, Waterloo1815 1859 Austrian Artillery and finally the elite Jaeger are WW1 Belgians painted as Neapolitan 1859 Cracciatori Light Infantry
Elsewhere in the photographs the regular Austrian Infantry on show are Waterloo1815 1859 Austrians in their white coats – in 1864 it was bitter winter weather so soldiers actually fought in their greatcoats.
Neil Thomas offers the mini game as a quick affair and it certainly was. Lots of enjoyment from a two foot square, scenery, dice and some figures.
I am not a snow scenery person so you will have to forgive this small quirky offering.
Merry Christmas One and All!
Veteran Minifigs from 1970’s to the front and a kit theatre from the Norman Palace in Parlermo – its side frames show off the famous marionettes or puppets – a theatrical tradition stretching back to the 13th century.
Grognardia has been running a series of posts on 1970’s roleplaying which have prompted my memories of encountering D&D.
His post showing the No7 edition of white dwarf took me back 5 decades to that moment when D&D took off – well arrived in my backyard.
It has meant I have dug out some pictures of my historical figures of that time.
1970’s Ral Partha Knight – my 12th century army that never happened
I play fantasy historical anyway – this theme has a long history and I could say my introduction was Charge or How to Play Wargames where the “tailpiece” exhorts all gamers to abandon thoughts of modelling real units. In fact there is an allusion to Charlotte Bronte and her brother and their fantasy stories.
In fact I think my influences were in the 1960’s – airfix soldiers, my mates playing with the US union troops against the British 8th army! well thats all we had! Then I had a magazine called Ranger (later Look & Learn) which typically in those days offered children a whole range of articles although mainly science and history as I recall. Nestled in there was a cartoon strip in colour called tales of the Trigan Empire. Pseudo Roman soldiers armed with ray guns and swords complete with monsters and a little magic meant I had no compunction about twisting history when it came to gaming with model soldiers.
1970’s 5th Edition WRG with 80mm x 60mm large bases decades before IMPETUS!!!!! element basing with no figure removal was happening even then……..1970’s Regal Hinchliffe 25mm Persians to be admired mainly because minifigs were cheaper1970’s 25mm Garrison Vikings – came in at almost small 28mm causing grief in the 20-25mm world and having no match with the other garrison ranges either!1970’s more unfinished hinchliffe as in 40 plus years in undercoat…………..1970’s billy no mates – a complete george gush rules minifig ECW unit – their brethren lie unpainted in store to this day1970’s minifigs hussars, lancers and cuirassiers napoleonic cavalry Fantasy Zvezda 1/72 Great Northern Wars rub shoulders with Minifig 25mm 7YW Austrian Grenadiers and Musketeers plus some Warrior 25mm French Napoleonic Grenadiers
Finally 25mm Minifigs 7YW Austrian Free Corps rub shoulders with Warrior 25mm Napoleonic French, Tradition 25mm Russian Guards, Hinchliffe 25mm Bavarians, Minifigs 25mm 7YW Grenzer, 1/72 Hat Napoleonic Austrian Grenzer and finally some early Minifig french napoleonic infantry of the very slim variety.
Grognardia has been running a series of posts on 1970’s roleplaying which have prompted my memories of encountering D&D.
His post showing the No7 edition of white dwarf took me back 5 decades to that moment when D&D took off – well arrived in my backyard.
Here are some figures I have never been able to part with – perhaps it is just the memories of fun attached to them? Well except for one…..
1970’s Minifigs Orc Captain – this guy was slim by minifig standards1970’s Ral Partha Knight1970’s Ral Partha Thief complete with chips and memories of so many pockets filched and locks picked in a mythical world far far away……..The one who never played – this elf warrior was painted and then put his feet up for 40 odd years – he is still at it!
Grognardia reflects on various aspects of D&D and notably the split between historical gamers and fantasy gamers. I was lucky – I started historical and never lost my interest and I also enjoyed those first few years of D&D. And we gamers played anything fantasy/historical no one cared as I recall.
When I returned to the hobby in the 1990’s I felt Fantasy had gone off in a different direction and created a completely new industry. Whereas I could still connect with Historical.
The fantasy world of Warhammer, Gameshop etc. is fantastic but just like sci fi, naval or air warfare it is just a theme. You pick your theme and play the games you like. For a more nuanced and dare I say it very intelligent analysis of fantasy gaming, Grognardia gives you detailed posts in spades.
adventurers Left to Right: overweight warrior I think was Asgard?, minifig elven guardsman, warrior monk again Asgard? then Ral Partha – my thief figure and next to him a desert warrior from Ral Partha who was another character I used.male and female warriors were I think Asgard, the footpad was Ral Partha as was the elven warrior on the rightminifig skeletons minifig forest orcs?
Finally – painted at the same time minifigs 25mm ECW figures – all podgy faced and extremely well fed to the point of being bloated. The ancestors of todays 28mm monsters?
Do bases matter that much when it comes to miniatures used in wargaming? By current standards they clearly do with plenty of trade offerings available and a wealth of DIY advice online.
Also the preference for elements without individual figure removal permits more imagination to be applied around a base. Perhaps the exception is skirmish gaming but even here you have the option of sabot bases providing the individual figure movement while retaining the convenience of the larger element base which can still be given varying levels of decoration.
My basing journey has been pretty basic. Back in the dim and distant past I painted desert or green paint onto cardboard bases. I still have them and they work after a fashion. The figures are 25mm. They look a bit tired though.
I think this figure is a citadel adventurer from the 1970’s when my painting hand was patient and my eyes still worked! note the ageing gloss varnish.
Then I started a 15mm phase and actually paid for painting including basing. The quality was good but somehow they did not grow on me. They look accurate but……
15mm Essex Byzantines professionally painted with matt finish and understated basing!
I did some of my own and I was even less happy!
And then I caught the plastic fantastic bug and returned to simple painted bases for some 1/72 scale figures.
Zvezda Russian Cavalry cruise past some positively ancient 20mm minifig french napoleonics and giant 25mm tradition russians
In the middle of this phase I moved into 28mm figures and thought they needed something extra. As it happened despite all the wealth of offerings and advice in all the various magazines and books I had collected, I stumbled across the humble warhammer guide in one of their rulebooks – maybe shieldwall – where they recommended simply gritting the bases, basecoating and drybrushing once. Somewhere I found a suggestion to use budgie grit. I tried it and painted it up, except no dry brush, but added some static grass and…… I was still underwhelmed. There is no pleasing some people.
Perrys 28mm Continental Burgundian Pike on DBA bases
I then had another surge of plain painted bases when I reworked more of my old 25mm metals.
You can see them next to the Zvezda Russians above – Minifigs French circa 1972? and Tradition Russians from the mid 1970’s. The bases they replaced were very dark green painted airfix box card – the figures have been transformed in my view, although unbelievably garish – they cheer me up!
And then I decided to do some mediterranean normans. Coincidentally I had watched both British cycling, Le Tour and La Vuelta races and the penny dropped. All my scenic basing had generally used dark green/dark brown earth (or grey brown for 15mm) colours – and I had not recognised why I liked the bright green bases beyond their simplicity. British cyclists rode through dark earth countryside with bright greens but La Vuelta cyclists went through fantastically bright coloured soils of many hues and even with brighter green shrubs and trees on top. (well except in the picos mountains in the north).
So I got my paints out and started experimenting – and so I have now found what I want for my Normans. Well until the butterfly lands on the next flower…..
The Wargaming Erratic 